Gungans
 | |
| Gungan | |
| Homeworld | Naboo |
| Language | Old Gungan, later Gungan Basic[1] |
| Average Height | 1.89 meters[1] |
| Skin color | Brown, Green[1] |
| Distinctions | Extendable tongues, long ears, eye stalks, three toes, and aquatic species[1] |
| Average lifespan | Child: 1-12[2] Young Adult: 13-15[2] Adult: 16-35[2] Middle Age: 36-54[2] Old: 55-64[2] Venerable: 65+[2] |
| Known Members | List of known Gungans |
Biology and Appearance
There are two distinct races of Gungans: the Ankura and the Otolla. The average Otolla Gungan has a tall, muscular body with long arms and short legs, and can exist on either land on in the water. Their heads are crowned with a pair of large frills that can be extended when frightened. Their eyes sit atop short, thick stalks.
The Ankura Gungan grows incredibly large, to the point where their immense weight begins to compact their skeletons, and their eyes are hooded with heavy brows instead of sitting atop short stalks. Ankura Gungans also have green skin, where the Otolla Gungans have reddish skin. All Gungans are hatched from eggs, and both parents share in the rearing of their offspring.
Starting life as tadpoles, Gungans developed into tall beings with extremely flexible cartilaginous skeletons. Strong leg muscles allowed for powerful and quick frog-kick style swimming through water as well as a remarkable jumping ability while on land. Fin-like ears (called haillu) also aided them in swimming, as well as expressing emotions like aggression, friendship, and fear. They had partially retractable eyestalks with nictitating membranes when underwater.
Expressive faces and long bills with flaring nostrils were signatures of Gungan physiology. Lengthy muscular tongues and large blunt teeth allowed them to eat lesser amphibians, while a layer of tough skin on the head allowed for burrowing. A Gungan's arms ended in four digits, and their feet had three stubby toes. Females were smaller with sleeker faces and tended to tie their ears back. As male Gungans aged some developed prominent whiskers, resembling catfish whiskers[1].
Gungans had nostrils that sealed when they entered the water. They also boasted very strong lungs, allowing them to both hold their breath for extended periods of time and to withstand the pressure of deep water, along with well-padded kneecaps and powerful calves and legs for increased swimming speed. However, because they were so well-adapted to their watery environment, their skin dried easily in hot and arid climates[1].
The Gungans appeared to be related to the Glurrgs, whom they used as a worker caste in their society[1].
Society and Culture
During much of their existence on Naboo, the Gungans have taken great pains to avoid contact with their human neighbors, and have even built huge, underwater cities to escape contact. However, fringe elements of both species realized that they couldn't survive without the other, and specialized trading relationships were set up. While these relationships were not officially recognized by either government, they were vital to the survival of each species. The Gungans, like the Wookiee race, have a distinct concept of the life debt. Any Gungan who is saved by another being must submit to the life debt or be punished by their gods.
Despite their amphibious appearance, Gungans are quite technologically advanced. Their immense bubble cities are found in the depths of Naboo's seas, and are made up of groupings of round force fields. The fields are permeable only to slow-moving objects, and can be penetrated by a Gungan walking through them. However, the forcefields hold back the incredible pressures of the water that surrounds them. The Gungans also have an advanced shield technology which they apply to small, hand-held shields as well as huge hemispheres that can protect an entire army. Like the bubble fields, these shields are only permeable by slow-moving objects, and they absorb energy like a sponge.
Long ago, explorers on Naboo discovered the Gung Slabs, a set of ancient stones engraved with Olys Corellisi on one side and Old Gungan on the reverse. These relics, coupled with the work of philologist Burro Flats of the Baobab Archives, helped the galaxy to better understand the culture and language of the Gungan people[1].
The later Gungan language was largely a pidgin dialect that most users fluent in Basic could understand. Gunganese, as it was commonly referred to, combined slightly-altered Basic words with the occasional Old Gungan term, i.e. "Seeks doopeewees isa berry good" is translated as "Six landspeeders are very good."[1].
Utilizing their own unique phraseology, Gungans established a rather successful history of scholarly excellence, albeit unknown to the galaxy at large. Among their achievements include the epic poem Das Depu Epu Sea, or Deep Dark Water. This ode to Da Beauty Al'Round was a source of great pride to these noble beings[1].
Gungan alpha-males often exhibited a series of oral clicks when aggravated or angered. The Gungan military was made up of mostly male volunteers[1].
Gungans were basically a generous and peaceful people until the Trade Federation invaded. They loved to have visitors and warmly welcomed them; however, they would remain suspicious until the visitors had earned their respect[1].
Gungans were not tolerant of anyone who threatened their peaceful culture. They had very strict laws, and would go to the extremes to punish anyone who had committed a minor crime. Vandals, for example, could be given a sentence of exile, caning, or even stoning[1].
If a Gungan was cast out of society, it was very difficult for them to return. If they did manage to return, they would often be subjected to heavy discrimination. This could make life very difficult for them and could go on for months or years, until their past offenses disappeared from memory[1].
Gungans were also known to produce Force-sensitive children, at least one was considered as a candidate for the Jedi Order[1].
The Gungans worshiped a pantheon of deities, many of which were forces of nature. The chief deity and creator of all life was called Oma-Oma[1].
Like the Wookiees and Srrors'tok, the Gungans believed in the concept of the life debt. Under Gungan tradition, if the life of a Gungan was saved by another, that Gungan's life belonged to their savior[1].
According to Gungan tradition, the gods lived in a beautiful underwater city called Ossorus, protected by enchanted sando aqua monsters and giant Gungan warriors on their kaadu mounts.
Monuments and ruins, scattered throughout the planet, were built by the Elders. The largest of these ruins, located on the northern edge of the Lianorm Swamp, was identified as the Sacred Place. The Gungans viewed these ruins as sacred, and their builders as "guds"[1].
A number of extremist Gungan religious groups existed[1].
History
The Gungans were believed to be indigenous to Naboo, but this is uncertain. Biologists believe the Gungans, wherever their original home, evolved originally as land-dwellers[1].
On Naboo, evidence of Gungan habitation extended for ages, as there are records of battles of survival with the woolly veermoks during an ice age. However, the primary reason they developed warfare technology was the threat of the bursas that often attacked their settlements. The Gungans assembled a "Grand Army" to meet this threat, eventually driving the bursas into extinction. Their technology was peculiar in that everything, from tools to structures is not constructed, but "grown", each device being therefore organically unique[1].
Ancient starfarers told tales of great Gungan migrations across the plains of Naboo prior to their shift to more aquatic environments. The reason most commonly accepted for their flight to the water revolves around an alien civilization of reptilian humanoids remembered as the "Elders", who colonized Naboo around 7,032 BBY. They engaged in warfare with the Gungans, forcing them to retreat underwater, giving rise to modern Gungan civilization. Undoubtedly, the presence of healthful underwater plants and tasty gumfish did much to solidify their change in lifestyle[1].
The Ankura and Otolla branches of Gungans united, forming a symbiotic relationship. They dominated Naboo for millennia afterwards, though largely keeping to the swamps and waterways; the mountains and grasslands were considered 'desert-like'[1].
About 3,032 BBY, Gungans were separated in tribes that fought against each other (War of the Gungan Tribes), until united under Boss Gallo. Gungans from various cities migrated to a new large city, Otoh Gunga, which was the major and capital city of Naboo (as far as Gungans were concerned)[1].
C. 529 BBY, a number of needy Gungan locals were approached by recruiters sent by Hugo Bartyn. Bartyn wanted amphibian fishermen to settle a new city in Lamaredd and tempted these poverty-stricken individuals with promises of untouched seas in a new frontier. Once they arrived, however, they became slave laborers[1].
Gungans in Lamaredd achieved certain renown as the co-engineers, along with the Quarren, of the popular gondola skimmersub[1].
