Friday, March 14, 2014

Invid's Guide to the Star Wars Universe: Alien Species (#111)

The Massive Index (Posts #1-#100)
The Less Massive Index (Posts #101-#110)

1101. Telfreyans. The Telfreyans were mostly human-like aliens; they were probably green, although that could have been dramatic lighting.

They apparently went extinct because they openly rebelled against the Empire, and their homeworld was Base Delta Zeroed (bombarded from orbit until it was completely uninhabitable) in response.

Rating: 2/5. Poor dead probably green guys (pity point rules apply).

1102. Teltiors. Teltiors are known for their hands, which have three extremely dextrous fingers, giving them better skills in the fields of surgery and pickpocketing than most.

Male Teltiors tend to wear ponytails, while female Teltiors tend to shave their heads. Oh, noes, their tertiary sexual characteristics are confusing!!1! /sarcasm>

They also have vestigial tails.

Many Teltiors are associated with the Loag, a cult of assassins, or with the Cult of Those Who Redeem, a cult that pretty much worships the Jedi Order as an organization because they defeated the Loag. Yeah, whatever.

Rating: 3/5. Mostly because I like the "small number of fingers with high dexterity" concept.

1103. Temolak. The Temolak are renowned technology scavengers, like a number of other species, with similar nonviolent behavior patterns and nonconfrontational natures, filling a vital niche wherein they refurbish abandoned trash and sell cheap but solid goods to those who can't afford top of the line new products.

Unlike most such species, the Temolak are rather intimidating Wookiee-sized beings who look pretty cool. Their homeworld having been harsh, they also have redundant internal organs-two hearts, two livers, four lungs.... and three kidneys. I don't know, I just think that's a funny detail.

They were forced to leave their homeworld in search of resources after the liquid water on the planet's surface evaporated entirely about two thousand years before the movie era; this is presumably where they picked up their modern scavenging habits. Due to fighting between the crews (okay, apparently they only are cowardly in the face of others?), they created the Temolak Salvage Consortium, which rather than being a true business was mostly just a group that told them where they should work so they didn't scuffle. However, the Consortium had severely punishing laws imposed on it by the Empire, and most Temolak ended up abandoning it in favor of retreating to the Outer Rim, where the Empire had less presence.

Rating: 4/5. There's a little bit of possible inconsistency, but I like the bulk of it, especially that they're big timid scavengers rather than tiny timid scavengers.

1104. Tempestro. The Tempestro are basically pterosaur people, although how much they actually look like pterosaurs seems to depend heavily on the artist.

They once had an advanced, inwardly turned society that was deeply spiritual, peaceful, and relied on the fact that they're all Force sensitive, but then a big rock fell on them from space, so now they're all warlike and primitive kind of tribal people.

At some point, an Imperial scout named Krin Koda visited the planet and discovered that they were suffering from widespread disease, and used advanced technology to bring the disease under control. Out of gratitude, they called their planet Koda's World afterwards. That's kind of an odd but neat detail.

Also notable is that their planet seems to have a disproportionate amount of two-headed species on it (at least two).

Rating: 3/5. There are a few details here that I really like.

1105. Terrelian Jango Jumpers. They are known for having prodigious jumping skills and a name that really makes me cringe.

In all seriousness, the one extant character design is unsettling me, because she looks vaguely like she's a racist caricature of something.

Rating: 1/5.

1106. Tervigs. They oppressed the Bandies. Oh, no!

Rating: 1/5. Whatever, guys, whatever.

1107. Th'iruckai. The Th'iruckai (that's a tricky name to type) are a largely primitive reptilian species, with most of their technology at the Bronze Age level. However, they have highly sophisticated knowledge of poisons and medicines, such that in the RPG scenario they were created for, they were able to poison offworlders with a slow-acting poison with only one antidote in order to coerce them into providing them with advanced weaponry.

It turns out in the more-canonical version of the scenario that a thousand-year-long war fought between the Th'iruckai polities was based entirely on a misunderstanding.

Also, the article uses the terms "tribe," "clan," and "polity" interchangeably. I'm sorry, guys, those things aren't actually interchangeable.

Rating: 3/5. I find it a little improbable that there would be a poison available on a primitive world that the Star Wars galaxy's main society wouldn't have a way to cure, but the idea that a reptilian species is poisonous culturally rather than naturally kind of amuses me (even if it's still a reptile stereotype).

1108. Thakwaash. Thakwaash are vaguely horse-headed beings of considerable stature (nine feet on average); the only Thakwaash character, Hohass Ekwesh, is also known as "Runt" because he's "only" about six feet tall. They also are immensely strong-while roughly human-sized, Runt was able to kill a powerfully built, nearly three-hundred pound man with a "casual" backhand.

The Thakwaash are known for having "multiple minds" and for being able to comfortably and healthily switch between these minds at will. They can discover or create new minds as they age, and their minds are often specialized towards specific tasks. This can give them the ability to predict others by dedicating a mind to understanding a specific person.

Sometimes their minds turn out to be insane, but this usually isn't a problem because they can switch such minds off; the most worrying mental illness among them is apparently being unable to switch a "bad" mind off.

Incidentally, Runt ended up in a washout squadron of fighter pilots because his "pilot" mind was, while skilled in technical aspects, also a wild and near-mindless (heh) berserker who tended to get shot down in simulations in a matter of seconds. He turned into a valued member of the squadron after his wingman creatively encouraged him to use that mind less. (And by "creatively," I mean "with a death threat." They got along pretty well after that, actually.)

Rating: 4/5. This is mostly on the weight of Runt as a character. If we actually knew anything about the Thakwaash themselves other than what we learned through Runt, I'd happily give them a 5/5 (as long as it wasn't stupid).

1109. Theelin. Theelin are one of those races in the ambiguously described "near-human" cluster, among those that can interbreed with other species. This is important because all known Theelin are actually only part Theelin, and it apparently isn't known exactly what a pureblooded Theelin would look like.

Apparently, the Theelin began suffering from an improbably high rate of mutation that made it impossible for them to interbreed amongst themselves (WHAT), so they started hybridizing with others (WAIT REALLY?), but the high fatality rate that ensued from interbreeding meant they were dying off quickly (YOU DON'T SAY).

There apparently was a particular Hutt that especially liked collecting Theelin slaves.

Rating: 1/5. Meh, there are tons of problems with this concept and the biology of it. Being kinda pretty isn't getting you guys out of this.

1110. Themians. Near-humans from Themis who may not have been named Themians.

Rating: 1/5.

-Signing off.

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