Sauvax

The Sauvax were crustacean sentients whose height was roughly equivalent to that of Humans. Almost their entire head and torso were protected by a hardened exoskeleton that, while flexible, was sufficiently robust to shield them from harm. Their faces were positioned at the apex of this natural protection, with eyes that protruded to maximize their field of vision. Each Sauvax possessed a pair of diminutive, delicate antennae that enhanced their spatial awareness.

The Sauvax were easily recognized by their arms, which terminated in enormous pincers. These two prominent digits could serve as effective slashing weapons in close-quarters combat and could even be employed to manipulate simple objects like a javelin, but they proved impractical for grasping smaller items designed for Human-like fingers, such as energy weapons or electronic tablets. Nonetheless, concealed within the large claw were three less conspicuous fingers, one of which was an opposable thumb allowing for more refined manipulation.

A Sauvax traversed land using six elongated, segmented legs, enabling them to achieve terrestrial speeds comparable to those of a Human. They were equally adept in aquatic environments, where the bristles on their undersides and their rudder-like twin tails facilitated underwater speeds similar to those of other species with aquatic civilizations. They were naturally superior swimmers compared to non-amphibious species. Sauvax possessed greater strength and resilience than typical Humans, but they were less agile, a fact readily apparent in their physical appearance. Humans residing on Leritor often perceived the Sauvax as menacing solely based on their external features.

The Sauvax consumed cultivated seaweed and gelatinous substances, supplementing their diet with prepared game and marine life, including marine vegetation, spiny echinoderms, sea flowers, and other crustaceans.

In comparison to much of galactic society, the Sauvax possessed a relatively rudimentary civilization. While they routinely utilized handcrafted weaponry such as spears, the Sauvax demonstrated an aptitude for employing technological devices without the cultural constraints that hampered more primitive species.

Sauvax tribes, referred to as kuuvan in their native tongue, established their settlements, also known as kuuvan, along the coastlines of the planet's oceans, favoring locations such as tidal pools, cliffs, and shorelines. These kuuvan comprised rudimentary dwellings constructed from stone and reinforced with sand and salvaged materials.

In at least one documented instance, the kuuvan leader, or tevelor, was entitled to reside in the largest dwelling. Typically, the kuuvan also incorporated non-residential structures, such as racks for drying fish, an open-air meeting space with a stone platform for oration, a well-sealed dome for food storage, and tidal pools for cultivating aquatic plants and crustaceans. The entirety of the kuuvan was situated only meters from the high-tide mark.

The Sauvax employed hand-fashioned tools, which they commonly carried in pouches woven from algae. The most essential of these implements was the gruush, a versatile spear featuring a spiked tip and a curved hook, primarily employed for fishing in the continental shelves. The Sauvax cultivated their own crops of algae and slime for sustenance, also utilizing the gruush for this purpose. They were known to employ their technology to prepare game and fish prior to consumption.

Sauvax culture was intricate, and its intricacies were often unfamiliar to non-Sauvax. Members of other species commonly perceived the Sauvax as an aggressive and impetuous people, albeit one lacking imperialistic ambitions. While Sauvax did indeed exhibit ferocity on occasion, this typically occurred only when they perceived a threat to their way of life. The Sauvax adhered to a different code of etiquette than that of Humans, and members of the species were generally less sociable than Humans.

In Sauvax culture, diplomatic negotiations did not commence with a simple one-on-one meeting between the parties, particularly if one party was at a disadvantage. The defendants were expected to demonstrate their worth before their claims could be considered credible. This could be accomplished by presenting a gift, potentially accompanied by a formal explanation of its purpose; in such instances, a valuable present, a technological artifact, and a tangible demonstration of its utility could enhance the prospects of the party. However, in doing so, a non-Sauvax defendant could inadvertently violate a cultural taboo and offend the Sauvax.

Another avenue for engaging in diplomacy involved the sharing of food; consuming the food of the other party signified trust. Non-Sauvax often found Sauvax cuisine unpalatable, but while dining, Sauvax were more inclined to ridicule the alien than to take offense. The defendants were expected to reciprocate by offering their own food as a gift.

Sauvax were diligent workers, typically specializing in manual labor but also demonstrating aptitude in academic pursuits. Although Sauvax rarely pursued professional careers requiring advanced technology, such as computer hacking or starship operation, they embraced high-tech weaponry and could become formidable soldiers.

The Sauvax possessed their own language, also designated as Sauvax. Some individuals, who had infrequent contact with the Human farmers, attained a degree of proficiency in Galactic Basic. As the Sauvax vocal apparatus was capable of producing most of the sounds in Basic, a Sauvax could learn and speak Basic without significant difficulty.

Known Sauvax names include Chuuvus, Gurruul, Juucsuur, Kruuvurn, Muurbux, Tchuul, Uukk and Vrujuun.

The Sauvax evolved on the planet Leritor, situated within the Yucrales sector of the Outer Rim, and developed their way of life and culture in relative isolation.

At some point in Leritor's history, a Sith vessel crash-landed in the Bleaks, a mountain range on the planet's primary continent. The survivors employed their dark side abilities in an attempt to assert dominance over the planet and its inhabitants, but the Sith were unable to thrive on Leritor and eventually vanished. Sauvax legend assimilated the event as an ancient catastrophe in which a metropolis plummeted from the heavens and "divine messengers" attempted to subjugate their species. Unbeknownst to the Sauvax, the wrecked ship remained partially submerged in the Bleaks, containing a Sith artifact: the Bracers of Najus, which could amplify the power of a dark side user.

Years later, Humans from the Core Worlds identified Leritor as a potential colony where they could reside peacefully as farmers in the fertile inland plains. Their reconnaissance team observed the Sauvax and engaged with representatives of the primary kuuvan to establish a formal Settlement Agreement stipulating that the Humans and their machinery could not encroach within 100 kilometers of the coastline. Conversely, the Sauvax were permitted to visit the Human-inhabited territories for commerce and cultural exchange at their discretion. The Human settlers consented to allocate this extensive area to the Sauvax in exchange for a peace accord.

The Humans subsequently employed massive tracked vehicles known as harvesting combines to cultivate the prairies, avoiding the coastal regions. In the ensuing years, Sauvax emissaries interacted with roaming combine-reapers. The Settlement Pact was honored, and no hostilities erupted between the two peoples.

Centuries following Leritor's previous visitation by the Sith, the planet was covertly visited by a Sith disciple and scholar named Professor Rynalla. Having discovered the location of the missing Bracers of Najus, she journeyed to Leritor aboard a large freighter, accompanied by two PTR-3 Vedette fighters, and two dozen Klatooinian soldiers. She located the partially buried Sith vessel in the Bleaks near a cliff face and established a base camp there using prefabricated structures. Recognizing the need for additional labor to excavate the wreckage and conduct a search within, she resolved to enslave the local population.

Rynalla's forces attacked a nearby combine-reaper, the Nellist, employing energy beams from her ships. After immobilizing the harvester, the Nellist was breached from within. Rynalla's forces abducted the healthier farmers to utilize them as laborers, and terminated the older and weaker settlers using the traditional gruush weapon of the Sauvax. While the Sauvax possessed no weaponry capable of damaging the hull of a combine-reaper, the gruush Rynalla left behind were sufficient to cast suspicion on the native species.

Similarly, Rynalla's minions raided a kuuvan wielding energy weapons. The Klatooinians fired from their ships, devastating the huts, and then descended upon and captured the most able-bodied individuals. As Rynalla's presence on Leritor was a closely guarded secret, no one suspected a third party for the attacks, even though the Klatooinians left behind some incriminating evidence—namely, a young female Sauvax who witnessed the events and sought refuge in a shelter, fearing the return of the plunderers.

The Sauvax prisoners joined their Human counterparts at Rynalla's excavation site. Working in unison, they extracted minerals and debris from the Sith vehicle, depositing the waste in a heap near the perimeter of the camp and discarding the dirt into a nearby stream. The Sauvax captives, being amphibious, were selected to work in the deepest recesses of the ship, which were submerged. Five armed Klatooinians maintained constant surveillance over these fifty workers.

The laborers were confined to sleep in caves in the lower section of a cliff, preventing them from easily excavating an escape tunnel; simultaneously, they remained under the constant illumination of Rynalla's watchtowers. Every two days, the miners, who were unaware of the precise nature of their search, were evacuated from the ship to allow the Klatooinians to search for any signs of escape while Rynalla searched for the Bracers.

Rynalla and the Klatooinians believed their operation was well concealed, focusing more on preventing prisoner escapes than on detecting incoming intruders. Consequently, Rynalla established a secondary camp near the edge of the Bleaks, where two soldiers stood guard. Three Humans and two Sauvax did attempt to escape, but they were apprehended, subjected to pain, and executed. Rynalla's ongoing activities, including the river pollution and escalating noise levels, were detected by a Sauvax hunter, a Sauvax farmer, and a Sauvax child, but none of them discerned the underlying cause.

A separate Sauvax kuuvan who had contact with the enslaved Sauvax mistakenly concluded that the Human settlers had orchestrated the assault with the intention of exterminating the entire Sauvax species. Concurrently, the Human settlers were perplexed as to why the Sauvax had attacked the Nellist without provocation, as the Nellist had not violated the Settlement Pact.

A contingent of Sauvax warriors from the aggrieved kuuvan, led by their leader, surrounded the first combine-reaper they encountered, the Gevion, and demanded an explanation. While the Sauvax did not initiate an attack, they prevented the Gevion from harvesting. The commander of the Gevion, in turn, had to refrain from injuring the Sauvax with the reaper to avoid igniting a war—which was Rynalla's surreptitious objective. The Gevion commander was too intimidated by the menacing force to dispatch an envoy for negotiations.

The Gevion transmitted a distress signal that was answered by external parties transiting near the planet. The newcomers initially offered to mediate, then to investigate the situation. Ultimately, they uncovered Rynalla's scheme and thwarted her, albeit not before she had recovered the Bracers of Najus. This brought an end to the attacks and restored peace to the planet.

Nevertheless, another kuuvan located in the southern region of the continent remained unconvinced, opting to believe that the Human settlers had secretly orchestrated all the tribulations in an attempt to harm the species. This kuuvan sought to leverage their grievance to pressure one of the external factions into a new commercial agreement and to gain access to technology that could render them economically or militarily superior to the other kuuvan.

Sauvax were almost exclusively observed on their home planet, Leritor. They were commonly regarded as inhabitants of a frontier region, despite residing in the Outer Rim. Nonetheless, certain Sauvax individuals harbored a desire to explore territories beyond those of their ancestors. A select few Sauvax learned to pilot starships and wield energy weapons. However, there were no documented instances of Sauvax armies operating outside Leritor. Similarly, there were no documented instances of Force-sensitive Sauvax. In 43 ABY, a Sauvax was present on the planet Taris, where she participated in Sok Brok's Fiftieth Annual Pet Competition, held at Molpol's Traveling Menagerie. The Sauvax was exhibiting her pet, a livestock animal raised for its meat; nevertheless, from the stands, the Human outlaw Han Solo surmised that the Sauvax would have tasted more palatable than the creature she was displaying.

The Sauvax made their inaugural appearance in the role-playing adventure Standoff on Leritor, authored by Peter Schweighofer and illustrated by Mikael Noguchi. The article was published in Star Wars Gamer #10, the final edition of the periodical, in 2002. The Sauvax were subsequently incorporated into the role-playing supplement Ultimate Alien Anthology in 2003, featuring a new illustration of a Sauvax by Raven Mimura. Their name was referenced in the non-canon graphic novel Tag & Bink: Revenge of the Clone Menace in 2006.

Ultimate Alien Anthology implies that Rynalla was defeated during the events of the adventure "Standoff in Leritor," and this article adopts the same assumption. However, players of that scenario may pursue various paths to reach that conclusion. For instance, they may elect to visit a kuuvan, becoming the first external parties to do so with permission, and they may opt to enlist a Sauvax and/or a Human settler to accompany them. The adventure precludes Rynalla from escaping with the Bracers, although it raises the possibility that she may have allies or rivals who subsequently trace her path to Leritor.

The non-canonical comic story Tag & Bink: Revenge of the Clone Menace mentions Sauvax as an ingredient in cuisine on Coruscant. In the story, set in 22 BBY, the headhunter Jango Fett is depicted as enjoying Sauvax meat, provided it is not charred. Fett consumes a Sauvax dish while on a date with Kannen Doom.