Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Invid's Guide to the Star Wars Universe: Alien Species (#47)

(Note: I excluded an entry, "Ingoian," on the basis of it being a cultural group.)

461. Iktotchi. Iktotchi are beings with huge horns, so big that they're rather silly. (Their large size at the base of the horn is what I'm referring to-I'm pretty sure that the horns are about as thick as their wrists, and bulls have horns that are maybe half that thick. Bulls are much larger animals than the Iktotchi.) Their most defining trait in terms of their psychological profile is that it's common for them to have precognition, which makes other races dislike and mistreat them for being creepy. They're well-represented in the ranks of the Jedi, at least during the days of the Old Republic. Their precognition caused them to withdraw from the Old Republic just in time to avoid contact with the Empire, and they existed in total isolation during the Empire's reign, with the Emperor content to ignore them.

Apparently, they have fat fingers that limit their dexterity. ...All of them? Even the skinny ones? Don't you think that's an odd place to store your fat, and wouldn't it be a disadvantage when it came to natural selection? Huh.

Rating: 2/5. Fat fingers, guys? Really?

462. Ilosians. Apparently the Ilosians had spread to hundreds of worlds before the Hutts descended on them and enslaved most of them; they were treated better than other Hutt "client" species because they were good with technology. They later became victims of the Yuuzhan Vong, suffering "great losses." Whether any remain is unstated.

Poor saps.

Rating: 2/5, pity point rules apply.

463. Ilwizzt. Ilwizzt can have "mahogany" skin, and speak through trunks with a buzzing accent. Apparently, at least one Ilwizzt lived on a planet conquered by the Ssi-ruuk late in the reign of the Empire. (The Empire not only tolerated this, but claimed the Rebel Alliance had been responsible, and were courting the Ssi-ruuk in hopes of technological exchange. When I get to talking about the Ssi-ruuk, you'll see why this is a bad thing, especially since the Ssi-ruuk are among the many precursors in the Expanded Universe fiction to the Yuuzhan Vong.)

Rating: 2/5, because we only see one but that one's existence creates some flavor and texture rather than do nothing.

464. Imbats. Imbats are known for "size and cruelty," but "not their intelligence." You guys... In this case, they get a little more specific and add "tall as trees," but... what kind of trees? Young trees, old trees, bristlecone pines, giant redwoods...? The big trees from Endor?

Never mind. They apparently have huge legs and grasping toes.

Rating: 2/5. I think this is the most 2/5 ratings I've handed out in a single article (it's kind of the least common rating, I'm pretty sure), and it's in a row. Will the Star Wars galaxy maintain this trend?

465. Immolanoids. Apparently, they combust. This caused them to be used in an advertisement for a cool beverage/ice-based snack of some kind, as such events would leave those near the event overheated.

That's kind of sick (although it's one of those cases where I wonder if they're actually a species or not).

Rating: 2/5. Gasp! The streak continues!

466. Imyni. Apparently, they were recruited in historical times by someone who had been doublecrossed by somebody else to lure the doublecrossers into a trap on their primitive world; the trap turned into an all-out melee between way too many parties shortly thereafter.

Rating: 2/5. The story is a bit interesting (only a bit, though) but I don't feel like recounting it in more detail.

467. Imzig. They're described as having "large eyebrows, unlike humans." ...Never seen anybody with a beetlebrow, then?

What makes it worse is that I look at the picture and I see a Star Trek rubber forehead alien.

Rating: 1/5. No thanks. Hey, the streak got broken.

468. Inchichtok. In a much too long and convoluted (and worse, rather boring) story about hyperspace route exploration, the Inchichtok are involved in the journey in this most satisfying fashion:

This journey ended abruptly, however, when they discovered the Inchichtok, who proceeded to kill them.

Thank you, Inchichtok.

Rating: 2/5. Hm... The streak just skipped a spot?

469. Indexers. They apparently have crystalline eyes and lack bones. They also have at least five trunks through which they speak and which have fine tendrils of some sort at the end.

Rating: 3/5. Yay for getting out of the doldrums with interesting descriptions!

470. Inleshat. Hey, more members of the ol' Iskalonian School. Apparently, they're the dominant members of the School, can hear sound underwater over vast distances, and are at least a little amphibious by virtue of being able to come out of water enough to know that they have poor vision in such circumstances.

Rating: 3/5. They sound like they're also a smidgen obnoxious, but I'm willing to forgive them that.

-Signing off.

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