Sauvax

Sauvax were crustacean sentients that generally reached the same height as Humans. A robust carapace made of chitinous material covered nearly all of their heads and torsos. While flexible, this natural armor provided substantial protection. Their faces were positioned atop this protective layer, with protruding eyes that enhanced their field of vision. Each Sauvax also possessed two small, delicate antennae that improved their spatial awareness.

The most distinctive feature of the Sauvax was their oversized pincers at the ends of their arms. These powerful digits could serve as effective slashing weapons in close combat and were capable of manipulating simple tools like a spear. However, they were unsuitable for holding smaller objects designed for Human-like fingers, such as blasters or datapads. Nevertheless, these large claws concealed three less prominent fingers, including an opposable thumb that allowed for finer manipulation.

On land, Sauvax moved using six long, jointed legs, achieving speeds comparable to those of Humans. They were equally adept in water, where the bristles on their undersides and their rudder-like twin tails enabled them to swim as fast as other species with underwater civilizations. They were naturally superior swimmers compared to non-amphibious species. While stronger and more durable than typical Humans, Sauvax were less agile, a fact readily apparent in their physical appearance. The Human inhabitants of Leritor often perceived the Sauvax as menacing solely based on their outward appearance.

The Sauvax consumed cultivated algae and slime, supplementing their diet with cooked game and various types of fish, including sea brackens, sea urchins, anemonae, and other crustaceans.

Compared to many other civilizations in the galaxy, the Sauvax possessed a relatively undeveloped society. While they commonly used handcrafted weapons like spears, they were capable of utilizing technological devices without the cultural barriers that hampered more primitive species.

Sauvax tribes, known as kuuvan in their language, established their settlements, also called kuuvan, along the coasts of the planet's oceans, favoring locations such as tidal pools, cliffs, and shorelines. These kuuvan consisted of rudimentary dwellings constructed from stone and reinforced with sand and salvaged materials.

In at least one case, the kuuvan leader, or tevelor, was entitled to reside in the largest dwelling. Typically, the kuuvan also included communal structures such as racks for drying fish, an open gathering space with a stone platform for public speaking, a well-sealed dome for food storage, and tidal pools for cultivating seaweed and crustaceans. The entire kuuvan was situated only a few meters from the high-tide line.

The Sauvax used handmade tools, often carried in woven algae bags. The most essential of these tools was the gruush, a versatile spear with a spiked end and a curved hook, primarily used for fishing in the shallow coastal waters. The Sauvax cultivated their own algae and slime crops for sustenance, also employing the gruush in this process. They were known to use their technology to cook game and fish before consumption.

Sauvax culture was intricate, and its details were often unfamiliar to outsiders. Other species typically viewed the Sauvax as an aggressive and impetuous people, albeit one without imperialistic ambitions. While Sauvax could indeed display ferocity, this usually occurred only when they perceived a threat to their way of life. The Sauvax possessed a different sense of etiquette than Humans, and members of the species were less sociable.

In Sauvax culture, diplomatic negotiations did not commence with a simple private meeting between the involved parties, especially if one party was at a disadvantage. The defendants were expected to prove their worth before their claims could be considered credible. This could involve offering a gift, possibly accompanied by a formal explanation of its purpose. In such cases, a valuable present, a technologically advanced item, and a clear demonstration of its use could enhance the prospects of the party. However, a non-Sauvax defendant could easily violate a cultural taboo and inadvertently offend the Sauvax.

Another approach to diplomacy was the sharing of food; consuming the other party's food signified trust. Non-Sauvax often found Sauvax cuisine unpalatable, but while dining, Sauvax were more inclined to tease the alien rather than 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 excelling in academic pursuits. Although Sauvax rarely pursued professional careers requiring advanced technology, such as slicing or piloting, they accepted high-tech weaponry and could become formidable soldiers.

The Sauvax had their own language, also known as Sauvax. Some individuals, who had occasional contact with the Human farmers, acquired some proficiency in Galactic Basic Standard. Because the Sauvax mouth could produce most of the sounds in Basic, a Sauvax could learn and speak Basic without difficulty.

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

The Sauvax evolved on Leritor, a planet situated within the Yucrales sector of the Mid Rim, and developed their unique way of life and culture independently.

At some point in Leritor's past, a Sith starship crash-landed in the Bleaks, a mountain range on the planet's main continent. The survivors attempted to use their dark side Force powers to dominate the planet and its inhabitants, but the Sith failed to thrive on Leritor and eventually disappeared. Sauvax legend incorporated this event as an ancient catastrophe in which a city fell from the sky and "divine emissaries" attempted to subjugate their species. Unbeknownst to the Sauvax, the wrecked ship remained partially buried in the Bleaks, containing a Sith artifact: the Bracers of Najus, which could amplify the power of a darksider.

Decades later, Humans from the Core Worlds identified Leritor as a potential colony where they could peacefully coexist as farmers in the fertile inland plains. Their survey team encountered the Sauvax and negotiated a formal Settlement Pact with representatives of the major kuuvan. This agreement stipulated that the Humans and their machinery could not venture within 100 kilometers of the coastline. Conversely, the Sauvax were free to visit the Human-inhabited areas for trade and cultural exchange. The Human settlers agreed to grant this extensive territory to the Sauvax in exchange for a peace treaty.

The Humans then utilized massive tracked vehicles known as combine-reapers to cultivate the prairies, avoiding the coastal regions. In subsequent years, Sauvax envoys interacted with roaming combine-reapers. The Settlement Pact was honored, and no violence erupted between the two peoples.

Centuries after the Sith's earlier presence on Leritor, the planet was secretly visited by a Sith adept and scholar named Profex Rynalla. Having discovered the location of the lost Bracers of Najus, she traveled to Leritor aboard a bulk freighter, accompanied by two PTR-3 Vedette snubfighters and two dozen Klatooinian soldiers. She located the partially buried Sith starship in the Bleaks, near a cliff face, and established a camp there using prefabricated structures. Realizing that she needed more labor to excavate the wreck and search its interior, she decided to enslave the local population.

Rynalla's forces attacked a nearby combine-reaper, the Nellist, using laser weapons from her ships. After disabling the harvester, the Nellist was breached from within. Rynalla's forces abducted the healthier farmers to use them as miners, and killed the older and weaker settlers using the traditional gruush weapon of the Sauvax. Although the Sauvax lacked 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 blasters. The Klatooinians fired from their ships, devastating the huts, and then captured the most physically fit individuals. Because 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 hid in a shelter, fearing the return of the raiders.

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 pile near the camp's perimeter and dumping the dirt into a nearby stream. The Sauvax captives, being amphibious, were selected to work in the deepest, submerged corridors of the ship. Five armed Klatooinians maintained constant surveillance over these fifty workers.

The laborers were housed in caves at the base of a cliff, preventing them from easily tunneling to escape. At the same time, they remained under the constant illumination of Rynalla's watchtowers. Every two days, the miners, who were unaware of the specific object of their search, were removed from the ship so that the Klatooinians could search for any signs of escape while Rynalla searched for the Bracers.

Rynalla and the Klatooinians believed they were well concealed, so they were more concerned about escaping prisoners than about incoming intruders. Consequently, Rynalla established a second camp near the edge of the Bleaks, guarded by two soldiers. Three Humans and two Sauvax did attempt to escape, but they were apprehended, tortured, and executed. Rynalla's ongoing activities, including the river pollution and increasing noise, were detected by a Sauvax hunter, a Sauvax farmer, and a Sauvax child, but none of them understood the cause.

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

A group of Sauvax warriors from the wronged kuuvan, led by their tevelor, surrounded the first combine-reaper they encountered, the Gevion, and demanded an explanation. While the Sauvax did not attack, they prevented the Gevion from harvesting. The captain of the Gevion, in turn, had to avoid harming the Sauvax with the reaper to prevent sparking a war—which was Rynalla's secret objective. The Gevion captain was too afraid of the threatening army to send an envoy to negotiate.

The Gevion transmitted a distress signal that was answered by some offworlders passing through the system. The newcomers initially offered to mediate, then to investigate the situation. Ultimately, they uncovered Rynalla's plot and thwarted her plans, although not before she managed to retrieve the Bracers of Najus. This brought an end to the attacks and restored peace to the planet.

However, another kuuvan in the southern part of the continent remained skeptical, believing that the Human settlers had secretly orchestrated the entire conflict in an attempt to harm the species. This kuuvan sought to use their grievance to pressure one of the offworld factions into a new commercial agreement and to gain access to technology that could make them economically or militarily stronger than the other kuuvan.

Sauvax were almost exclusively found on their native planet, Leritor. They were generally considered inhabitants of a remote region, despite being located in the Mid Rim. Nonetheless, some Sauvax individuals felt a strong desire to explore beyond their ancestral lands. A few Sauvax learned to pilot starships and wield blaster weapons. However, there were no reports of Sauvax armies operating outside Leritor. Similarly, there were no accounts 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 Show, held at Molpol's Traveling Circus. The Sauvax was exhibiting her pet, a livestock animal raised for its meat; however, from the audience, the Human smuggler Han Solo mused that the Sauvax might taste better than the creature she was showing.

The Sauvax made their debut in the roleplaying adventure Standoff on Leritor, authored by Peter Schweighofer and illustrated by Mikael Noguchi. The article appeared in Star Wars Gamer #10, the magazine's final issue, in 2002. The Sauvax were subsequently included in the role-playing supplement Ultimate Alien Anthology in 2003, featuring a new illustration of a Sauvax by Raven Mimura. Their name was mentioned in the non-canonical comic book Tag & Bink: Revenge of the Clone Menace in 2006.

Ultimate Alien Anthology suggests that Rynalla was defeated during the events of the adventure "Standoff in Leritor," and this article adopts the same assumption. Nevertheless, players of that scenario can take several different paths to reach that conclusion. For example, they may choose to visit a kuuvan, becoming the first offworlders to do so with permission, and they may decide to recruit a Sauvax and/or a Human settler to accompany them. The adventure prevents Rynalla from escaping with the Bracers, although it raises the possibility that she may have allies or rivals who later follow her trail to Leritor.

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