Difference between revisions of "Jawa"

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==See Also==
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[[Category:Races and Species]]

Revision as of 11:22, 10 December 2013

Jawa.jpg
Jawa
HomeworldTatooine
LanguageJawaese [1]
Average Height1 meter [1]
Skin colorunknown
Hair colorunknown
DistinctionsAlways wearing cloaks, glowing eyes, rodent-like
Average lifespanUp to 80 standard years old [1]
Known MembersList of known Jawas


Biology and appearance

Native to the desert planet Tatooine, Jawas are intelligent, rodent-like scavengers, obsessed with collecting outmoded and abandoned hardware. About a meter tall, they wear rough-woven, homespun cloaks and hoods to shield them from the hostile rays of Tatooine's twin suns. Usually only bright, glowing eyes shine from beneath the dark confines of a Jawa hood; few have ever seen what hides within the shadowed garments. One thing is certain; to other races the smell of a Jawa is unpleasant and more than slightly offensive.

Through the study of corpses and skeletal remains, Baobab xenobiologists discovered that Jawas appeared to be gaunt, rodent-like creatures, with shrunken faces and yellow eyes. Conflicting research suggests that Jawas and Tusken Raiders, two native species of Tatooine originally evolved from the same extinct species, the Kumumgah, as both have common genetic markers, while other research suggests Jawas originated from humans. Due to their timid private nature, and a lack of interest, their exact origins are unknown.[1]

At all times Jawa faces remain obscured by a shroud of cloth to retain moisture, hide their identity and to dissipate their body heat. Polished orange gemstones are embedded within the fabric to protect the Jawas’ sensitive vision from the bright sunlight.[1]

For the Jawas, their odor contains incredible amounts of information such as other Jawa's identity, health, clan lineage, last meal, maturity, arousal and even their mood. Their odor is compounded by a mysterious solution Jawas dip their clothes in to retain moisture, and their view of bathing as being a waste of precious water, which attracts swarms of insects to gather in the recesses of their hoods. Jawas have evolved several important survival traits, such as exceptional night vision, and a strong immune system. A Jawa’s normal body temperature is 46º Celsius which results in a high metabolism and an efficient digestive system that draws all the needed nutrients from the Jawa staple diet of hubba gourd.[1]

Society and Culture

Jawas understand the common language of the Empire, but prefer their natural tongue, a jabbering of low, guttural croaks and hisses intelligible to most inhabitants of Tatooine - at least to those who must deal with them. Jawas also speak a strange, variable dialect of their language that is incomprehensible to non-Jawas; this greatly aids their ability to bargain with outsiders. Moisture farmers often learn the hard way that it is safer to deal with one Jawa than to negotiate with a Jawa committee. Jawas roam the desert world of Tatooine, collecting abandoned Droids, broken machinery, and any other scraps of advanced technology they find. They travel in enormous, treaded fortress-homes called Sandcrawlers, scouring the endless wastes in search of salvage. These migrant mechanics are basically high-tech junk dealers who gather things people throw away and sell them to others. They have even been known to take equipment off a moisture farmer's hands—especially if it's not guarded or securely locked in place. After a few weeks of rewiring and alterations, these wheeler-dealers may even attempt to sell the equipment back to the original owner—at a substantial profit, of course. (Most races would consider this treachery and stealing; Jawas consider it good business.) Jawas are inherently paranoid and fear everything, but apparently have but two natural enemies: Sandpeople and Krayt Dragons. Sandpeople are reluctant to attack anything as large as a sandcrawler, but constantly seek opportunities to raid Jawa scavenging parties that wander too far from the mobile fortresses. Krayt Dragons have no such qualms and have been known to attack the giant land vehicles on various occasions. Though timid, if pushed too far, Jawas will use their weapons: blasters of their own design, pieced together from parts of a wide variety of mechanical sources. Reports also exist of entire moisture farms being flattened by sandcrawlers. Whether these rare incidents are accidental occurrences or some form of retribution is unknown, but most Jawas would rather scurry away than fight. In the few cities that rise out of the Tatooine wastes, Jawas can be found excitedly fawning over the vast concentration of vehicles and Droids found there. Often their fear gives way to their obsessive tendencies in the presence of so much high-technology and the creatures must be forcibly and repeatedly frightened away. Many visitors complain of emerging from a cantina to find dozens of Jawas scurrying over their newly polished landspeeders, pawing and drooling disgustingly. Despite appearances however, Jawas are accomplished repairmen with an innate knack for analyzing machinery. They may not understand robotic theory or repulsorlift engines, but they can get a malfunctioning Droid to work or an unresponsive landspeeder to operate—at least long enough to sell it to a desperate moisture farmer. Jawas take no interest in local or far-ranging politics (and probably wouldn't be allowed to if they did) and have shown no inclination toward either the Galactic Alliance or the Empire in the Second Galactic Civil War. Their only interests lie in making deals and acquiring more of their precious technology.

The Jawa’s unofficial motto was not to look for uses in a salvaged item, but rather to imagine someone else who might find a use for it.[1]

Jawas lived in separate clan families, each with distinct, separate territories for living and scavenging. Each Sandcrawler was lead by a Clan-Chief, who was male. However the overall operation of the Jawa clan was overseen by a female Shaman. A female Jawa became a shaman by either possessing some kind of Force ability with which to perform magic, overcoming an illness accompanied by a hallucinatory vision or was chosen and trained as the successor to the current Shaman. The shamans were believed to possess the ability to foretell the future, and performed spells, hexes and blessings to protect the clan and ensure the well being of all clan members. This title gave them a great deal of respect throughout the clan, which was strange in the largely patriarchal Jawa society, and this allowed the shaman to assume a position where they were to be consulted upon, and asked often for their wisdom. With the important position within the society, the shaman did not travel in the sandcrawler and instead remained within the safety of the clan's fortress. Other than shamans, females were shown little respect in Jawa society.[1]

Once a year, just before the storm season on Tatooine, all the Jawa clans would gather in the great basin of the Dune Sea for the annual swap meet. Numerous sandcrawlers converged and the Jawas met to exchange their salvage. Other inter-clan business was also attended to such as the comparing of navigational data of the ever-changing desert and the arrangement of marriages to ensure cultural and genetic diversity.[1]

Adhering to their scavenger instincts, it was quite common for different family clans to trade their sons and daughters for marriage through an intense barter or trade agreement. A common Jawa term for this was the trading of 'marriage merchandise'.[1]

Jawas did not carry weapons due to their passive nature. However they did rely on ion blasters that shot beams of energy to disable droids, and restraining bolts for keeping them under control. Most Jawas also carried around various tools for repairing droids. They were also adept at creating custom droids, cobbled together from spare parts of other droids. These monster droids, as they were called, could be specially designed for the specific needs of a customer.[1]

Jawa clan names: B'ay, Jawajawa, Kkak, Meeknu, Nebit, Nkik, Weekkata [1]

References

See Also