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Dathomir
The planet Dathomir is a low gravity planet in the Quelli
sector of the midrim territory. Dathomir has four moons, and its surface is
mostly water except for three continents. The terrain of Dathomir is diverse,
including rocky mountains, wide deserts, purple savannas, and forests with
eighty-meter trees and vines bearing hwotha berries. There are no cities, just a
collection of semi-permanent villages ruled by nine clans.
The indigenous flora and fauna are among the most dangerous in the galaxy.
Flying carnivorous reptiles, rodents the size of pigs, long Whuffa worms, and
burra fish are just a few of the dangerous creatures to be found on the planet.
The closest Dathomir has to a native intelligent species is the blue desert
people, carnivorous reptiles with pale blue scales, tiny forelegs, red eyes and
black teeth. The most terrifying species, however, is the Rancor, a creature
that is part crustacean, part arachnid and grows up to 10 meters tall.
Humans first came to Dathomir centuries ago when a group of illegal weapons
manufacturers were exiled to the planet by the Old Republic. Several generations
later, the rogue Jedi Allya was also exiled to Dathomir. Allya found several
force sensitive in the female population of the planet, and taught them control
of the force. These students, called witches by the rest of the population,
learned how to tame rancors to use as riding beasts and became the rulers of the
planet.
The witches formed eight clans, including the Singing Mountain Clan, the
Frenzied River Clan and the Misty Falls Clan. A ninth clan was formed, the Night sisters, who learned to master the
dark side of the force. The Night sisters
leader is Gethzerion, a witch of incredible power. Within the clans, males are
considered property and not allowed to act in important decisions.
Recently, Dathomir returned to the attention of the rest of the galaxy when the
Emperor created an imperial prison on the planet. Above the planet the imperials
constructed orbital shipyards. When the Emperor learned of the witches and
Gethzerions power with the dark side, he ordered the ship yards to be
destroyed. From orbit, he blasted any ships on the surface to prevent anybody
from leaving the planet. Currently, Dathomir is under Hapan protection and is
left alone for the most part.
Rancor
Rancors are huge, voracious, long-armed predators which roam the forests of the remote and little-known planet Dathomir. They are also found on dozens of other worlds. The leathery brown hide is thick enough to allow a rancor to shrug off hits from hand-held blasters. Their maws are full of sharp, triangular teeth which are primarily used for gripping and rending prey; a rancor does very little chewing, preferring to swallow food in large chunks. The specimen owned by Jabba the Hutt was a juvenile in poor health, standing at only five meters tall. Wild rancors grow to greater dimensions.
On Dathomir local Force-sensitive witches use rancors as tame mounts. Although Jabba's rancor is clearly non-sapient, at least some of the rancors of Dathomir seem to approach intelligence. These rancors are social creatures, hunting in family-based packs.
It is not clear whether this is the natural state of the rancors, or whether they are have been altered by Force-based sorcery. The notion that rancors may be artificial or modified life-forms finds support in the fact that Emperor Palpatine kept an army of vicious sub-intelligent rancors at his Citadel on the Deep-Core resort world of Byss. These rancors were referred to as "chrysalis beasts" and seemed to be among the menagerie of monsters deliberately created in experiments with the Dark Side of the Force carried out by Palpatine and his adepts. It seems possible that rancors might be one of the standard monstrosities available for creation via the ancient arts of the Sith. Indeed the Sith were infamous for the creation of abominations of nature.