Vuffi Raa

Vuffi Raa represented a fusion of sentient life and sophisticated droid technology, with a design that mirrored the star-shaped original creators of his "species." He was conceived by an interstellar entity known as The One with the specific aim of traversing the galaxy and acquiring knowledge about various civilizations.

Standing at a meter in height, Vuffi Raa physically resembled a slender starfish composed of five extended chromite tentacles. His primary body exhibited a pentagonal form, crafted from refined chromite. At the core of his structure was a potent multi-frequency photoreceptor, enabling him to perceive both ultraviolet and infrared wavelengths. Additionally, Vuffi possessed an array of other sensors and a compact vocabulator concealed within his undercarriage. Powering him was a microfusion pile, providing an almost inexhaustible energy supply.

Each of his five tentacles narrowed to a point before bifurcating into five-tentacled hands, each palm containing a minute optic sensor. The extremities of Vuffi Raa's digits further subdivided into microscopic strands, facilitating the manipulation of incredibly small objects. He also had the ability to channel heat into his tentacles and detach all five from his body, controlling them remotely. These functions were made possible by a dense, blood-like fluid circulating throughout his systems, ensuring lubrication and enabling coagulation in the event of hull breaches. He also possessed the ability to repair himself.

His designation, Vuffi Raa, was in reality a numerical value in the language of the long-gone race that engineered his droid ancestors, and he disliked being addressed solely as "Vuffi".

The intricately designed and constructed droid, Vuffi Raa, was believed to be an agent of the extragalactic species referred to as the Silentium. This race of droids, capable of interstellar travel, built their culture around the prime numbers of one, five, seven, and eleven. They had been manufactured by an asteridian species who had gone extinct when their sun went supernova; their droids lived on and eventually achieved full sentience. Members of his kind included beings referred to as The One and The Other; others were collectively called The Rest. In their home galaxy, the Silentium droids engaged in a prolonged conflict with the Abominor, another droid species characterized by asymmetry and chaos.

Vuffi Raa's purpose was to explore the galaxy and gather knowledge about other civilizations for his droid parents. Early in his existence, he was captured and reprogrammed by the shape-shifting Croke Rokur Gepta, a Sorcerer of Tund and the Scrivinir of the Centrality. Subsequently, Rokur Gepta entrusted Vuffi Raa to his operative Ottdefa Osuno Whett.

Following the rediscovery of the Renatasia system—a lost Human colony founded by ancient settlers from Grizmallt—shortly after the foundation of the Galactic Empire, Whett was tasked by the Empire and the Centrality to win the trust of the Renatasians so as to make them easy targets for the armed forces to subdue. Disguising the droid with an organic exterior, Whett posed as Vuffi Raa's assistant, presenting themselves as representatives of a galactic civilization eager to welcome the Renatasians.

Together, Vuffi Raa and Whett toured the world, aiding the Renatasians in establishing a unified global government. After 700 days, Whett transmitted all of his data, initiating the invasion by Imperial and Centrality forces. Due to the ensuing massacre, Vuffi Raa earned the moniker "Butcher of Renatasia," as the Renatasians were unaware of his droid nature and Whett's orchestration of the event.

Whett, fearing for his safety, underwent radical physical alterations. He shed forty kilograms, augmented his arms and legs with four centimeters of bonemer each, and added a vertebra. Furthermore, he altered his hairstyle, which turned white due to stress. Whett concealed Vuffi Raa on Rafa IV, within the Rafa system.

Subsequently, during Lando's visit to Oseon 2795, Whett engaged in a game of sabacc with Lando Calrissian, where Lando won Vuffi Raa, although he had to travel to Rafa IV to acquire the droid. However, before he could depart, he was arrested on trumped-up charges by Governor Duttes Mer and forced to aid Rokur Gepta in locating the Mindharp of Sharu. Equipped with a transdimensional key, Calrissian opted to commence his search on Rafa V, the location of the largest Sharu pyramid in the Rafa system. He was ambushed by several Toka, who tied him to one of the crystalline lifetrees, hoping he would freeze during the night.

Despite the lifetree impairing his cognitive abilities, Calrissian managed to free himself, though his feet suffered severe frostbite and required treatment with bacta in a portable gel-bath aboard the Falcon. Later, Calrissian and Vuffi Raa investigated the largest pyramid, located the Mindharp, and were immediately teleported back to Rafa IV.

Vuffi Raa, pre-programmed to betray Calrissian, promptly turned him over to Governor Mer. Mer seized the Mindharp and sentenced Calrissian to a lifetime of forced labor. However, Vuffi Raa, having fulfilled his directive to betray Calrissian, rescued the gambler just as Mer activated the Mindharp. As they fled Rafa IV, the artifact's subharmonic emanations transformed the Toka back into the Sharu they once were, and the great pyramids of the Rafa system crumbled, revealing alien cities. Calrissian and Vuffi Raa escaped into hyperspace with a full hold of the last Rafa life-crystals to leave the Rafa system; this valuable cargo netted Calrissian nearly 250,000 credits.

Upon returning to Nar Shaddaa, Calrissian acquired a used-starship lot from a Duros, only to find the business costly and challenging. As he contemplated selling it off, the Empire arrived in the system. Calrissian donated his inventory to his fellow outlaws, and Vuffi Raa piloted the Millennium Falcon in the ensuing Battle of Nar Shaddaa. The attack was thwarted, but less than ten percent of his stock remained space-worthy. Calrissian sold ninety percent ownership in what was left of his lot to Roa at a loss.

Seeking to recoup his losses, Calrissian identified an opportunity in the regional sabacc championships scheduled to take place at Cloud City's Yarith Bespin casino. To secure the ten thousand credit buy-in, Calrissian and Vuffi Raa returned to the Centrality, attempting to transport legitimate cargo. However, tariffs, fees, and licensing expenses exceeded his earnings, leaving him penniless.

Consequently, when an opportunity to play sabacc in the Oseon system during the Flamewind presented itself, Calrissian accepted, accompanied by Vuffi Raa. Shortly after arriving at Oseon 6845, Calrissian was attacked and forced to defend himself, shooting his assailant with his stingbeam. Lob Doluff, the Administrator Senior of the Oseon System, informed Calrissian that possessing a deadly weapon was punishable by death via exposure. However, due to his admiration for Calrissian, the administrator arranged for him to participate in a drug bust targeting the wealthy industrialist Bohhuah Mutdah, who was using lesai. Disguised as Mutdah's dealer, Calrissian and Vuffi Raa transported two agents, Bassi Vobah and Waywa Fybot, through the maddening radiation of the Flamewind to Oseon 5792.

Mutdah was revealed to be Rokur Gepta in disguise, who promptly murdered Fybot—who was corrupt and had himself killed Vobah—and intended to kill Calrissian after subjecting him to a machine that forced him to relive his most painful memories. However, Renatasian starfighters, seeking to eliminate Vuffi Raa, intervened and rescued Calrissian. Amidst the chaos of his escape, Calrissian seized Mutdah's drug payment—twenty million credits. He deposited small sums in banks on various worlds, including fifty thousand credits into the Bank of Aargau, intended for the Bespin sabacc tournament entry fee. However, his attempt to deposit the bulk of the funds on the Centrality's primary financial planet, Dela III, disrupted a pirate attack led by the "pirate queen" Drea Renthal. Despite Calrissian's charm, Renthal confiscated the remaining money.

Shortly thereafter, Calrissian and Vuffi Raa encountered Lehesu, a youthful member of the space-faring, hyperjump-capable Oswaft species. Lehesu's curiosity had led it from its home in the ThonBoka Nebula (or StarCave) to a desolate region of the Centrality. After initial communication difficulties, Lehesu conveyed to the crew of the Millennium Falcon its need for sustenance. Calrissian emptied the ship's recyclers into space, which Lehesu eagerly consumed. Months later, the Empire and the Centrality blockaded the entrance to the sack-shaped ThonBoka with five hundred capital ships modified to contaminate the "interstellar plankton" drifting into the nebula, aiming to starve the entire Oswaft race into extinction. Lehesu utilized a transceiver provided by Vuffi Raa to contact the Millennium Falcon and plead for assistance.

Calrissian breached the blockade, feigning to be a trader offering his wares to the very ships forming the blockade. Despite an inspection of the Falcon, the true purpose of the blockade remained unknown to anyone below the rank of Admiral, preventing suspicion that the ship's actual cargo was ordinary waste from its trash and toilet recyclers. After maneuvering to the front of the blockade, Lando made a dash for the mouth of the ThonBoka. Vuffi Raa had rigged a device containing metal flakes on the aft hull of the Falcon to make the ship appear to disintegrate when hit by blasts from the blockade ships. Inside the ThonBoka, they contacted Lehesu and the Oswaft Elders, initiating planning while other Oswaft negotiated with the picket fleet. However, the Empire, intent on complete extermination, killed the negotiators. In the process, one of them "shouted" at the unshielded cruiser Courteous, destroying it with its maser voice-stream. The fleet, seeking retribution, raised their shields and entered the ThonBoka, but were recalled by Gepta, who sought to destroy Calrissian.

Upon Gepta's arrival, the fleet mobilized and entered the nebula. Fortunately, the delay allowed Calrissian to propose a battle plan. The Oswaft excreted heavy metals from their pores and then hyperjumped, leaving decoys placed between the enemy cruisers, resulting in significant friendly fire casualties within the fleet. Simultaneously, they "shouted" at the starfighters, obliterating them with their potent masers. After the fleet's forces had been reduced by eleven percent, the battle ended, and Gepta issued Calrissian an ultimatum: engage Gepta in personal combat, or he would launch an electromagnetic torpedo into the nebula, eradicating all life within.

Calrissian and Vuffi Raa, permitted to participate under Gepta's belief that he could reprogram the droid to betray his master, confronted the Sorcerer of Tund in the vacuum of space. After intricate maneuvering and several ploys, Calrissian landed a stray shot in Gepta's ankle as one of Vuffi Raa's detached tentacles engaged Gepta. The Sorcerer's form withered as he cried out, landing a stray shot that injured Vuffi Raa's torso. Calrissian searched the space suit and found an injured Croke where his shot had landed—Rokur Gepta had not been a humanoid, but a Croke from Crakull, a planet in the Unknown Regions which Lando had once visited. Calrissian squeezed the alien until the last Sorcerer of Tund was little more than a stain on his gloves.

At that moment, the Battle of ThonBoka resumed, but only briefly. Suddenly, a multitude of fifty-kilometer self-aware droids materialized, issuing a demand on all channels: "Cease fire immediately or be destroyed!". These were The One, The Other and The Rest, who had arrived for Vuffi Raa. Faced with thousands of colossal ships, the Imperial fleet retreated from their genocidal mission. Vuffi Raa's progenitors repaired the little droid and departed with him into the Unknown Regions, and Lando departed the ThonBoka with a hold filled with valuable Oswaft-synthesized gemstones.

Even though Vuffi and his Master separated, the droid would cross paths with Calrissian again on multiple occasions following their final shared adventure. When Kyle Katarn encountered Lando aboard Star of Empire in 1 BBY, Calrissian was accompanied by his former droid companion.

Vuffi Raa's programming instilled in him a strict aversion to violence, with even piloting a starship in combat causing stress to his circuits, as evidenced by his distress during the defense of Nar Shaddaa. Nevertheless, he eventually transcended these limitations, becoming one of the few droids capable of inflicting harm in defense of himself, his friends, or his master. He exhibited great loyalty to his owners, particularly Lando, with whom he cultivated a strong bond.

Vuffi Raa was the creation of L. Neil Smith for the novel Lando Calrissian and the Mindharp of Sharu, and he played a prominent role in its two sequels, Lando Calrissian and the Flamewind of Oseon and Lando Calrissian and the Starcave of ThonBoka.

While the images above are generally accepted as the most canonical representation of Vuffi Raa, an alternative depiction appeared on the cover of Lando Calrissian and the Mindharp of Sharu, the character's original source material.

The design of Vuffi Raa's "hands," which repeatedly branch from finger-sized appendages down to the microscopic level, was evidently inspired by the concept of the "bush robot." Hans Moravec initially conceived of "a robot that looks like a tree, with a big stem, repeatedly branching into thinner, shorter and more numerous twigs, finally ending up in jillions of near-microscopic cilia" in 1980, shortly before Smith began writing his books. The bush robot concept has continued to be explored, and in 1999 Moravec and Jesse Easudes presented a final report to NASA on "Fractal branching ultra-dexterous robots."

Despite the original Vuffi character not being incorporated into the post-Disney canon, the character of L3-37 was created as a replacement for Vuffi in the canon journal book Solo: A Star Wars Story: Tales from Vandor, where L3-37 briefly assumed the name Vuffi and experienced many of the same adventures with Lando.