Outcasts (Taris)

"We are the Outcasts, banished and reviled by those who dwell above!''" "''Here in the filth and darkness we claw out a wretched existence, scavenging and begging just to survive long enough to see another wretched day."

- Two Outcasts, attempting to squeeze five credits out of Revan.

The Outcasts were citizens of Taris that had been banished to the Undercity of the planet. They and their descendants were forced to live in dirt and filth, while having to beg for and steal food and clothes. The Outcasts lived in constant fear of the rakghouls&mdash;mutants which could spread their infection to anyone.

History
When new, smaller trade routes moved from Taris, rendering the planet unnecessary and without the support of the Republic, the planet began to fall into ruin and despair. The great city of Taris covered more than half the planet's surface, so the kelp harvest and the creatures of the sea were the only native food source.

Abandoned by the Republic, the Tarisian industrialists began to use certain power sources that would not have been legal under the jurisdiction of the Republic, which produced toxic waste as a byproduct. The pollution poisoned and killed most of the oceanic fauna and flora, leaving the planet with no reliable food source and beginning a famine. The Tarisian elite hoarded the remaining food and wealth for themselves, while the poor were left to starve and die.

The Tarisian poor rebelled, and began the Tarisian Civil War. Millions died and large sections of Taris were destroyed or abandoned. The location of the only known self-sufficient part of Taris, known to the Tarisian poor as the "Promised Land," was lost. The rebellion was eventually crushed, and the thousands of remaining disarmed rebels were imprisoned. However, the jails were not large enough to hold them all, so instead they were banished to the Undercity, unable to return to the surface under penalty of death.

All hope was lost to the defeated rebels, save from one; the Promised Land. It was the hope that one day they might find the Promised Land that motivated the Outcast to carry on. In the meantime, Gendar's ancestor led the Outcasts to build the Outcast village in which they might survive.

The prisons in the Upper City were rendered unnecessary, and any criminals in the Upper and Middle City were banished to the Undercity. Here, walking the original surface of the planet that never saw the sun due to the shadows of Taris' massive skyscrapers, they endured a lifetime of horror marked by starvation, rakghoul attacks, and rakghoul infections. Even their descendants were forced to live in damnation. As the generations passed, fewer and fewer Outcasts believed in the tales of the Promised Land, thinking them to be fairy tales meant to prevent the Outcasts from going mad from despair.

In the year 4,056 BBY, non-Humans were also banished and forced to live in the slums of the Lower City. Thus the law enforcement of the corrupt government enforced strict socioeconomic divisions upon the people of Taris for ninety years, from 4,056 BBY until 3,966 BBY. During this time Rukil's grandfather searched for clues about the Promised Land, but was killed by rakghouls in the Sewers. Rukil's father did the same and found more clues about its location, but he met the same fate.

When the Republic eventually dissolved the corrupt Tarisian government in 3,966 BBY, the Outcast's banishment was ended. However, Mandalorian attacks on Taris obstructed further efforts to emancipate the Outcasts. In 3,964 BBY, the Republic reluctantly abandoned the planet to the Mandalorians, and the Outcasts were once again forced to live in damnation. Even when the Mandalorians eventually withdrew from the planet in 3,960 BBY, the Outcast's lives did not improve.

During the Jedi Civil War the Republic returned to the planet to finish the job they had begun during the Mandalorian Wars. In the Upper City, Republic scientists developed the Rakghoul Serum, a cure for the horrifying disease that plagued the Outcasts. The Republic was about to tighten the socioeconomic divisions once more when the Sith invaded.

During the Sith occupation, all followers of Rukil had abandoned him save from one, his apprentice called Malya. Rukil, who was too old to search for clues for the Promised Land, sent Malya to look for more. She indeed did find more clues, but she was killed by rakghouls in the Undercity surface before she could return to Rukil.

The Sith tightly controlled the use of the rakghoul serum, giving doses only to themselves and to their Undercity patrols. In 3,956 BBY, when the Endar Spire escape pods crashed into the Undercity, the increased patrols searching for the escape pod meant that the Sith forces consumed the serum at a much higher rate. By the time Revan entered the Undercity, the Sith had practically run out of the serum altogether, though some of the Sith troopers killed by rakghouls would occasionally have a sample of serum on their corpses.

When Revan arrived at the Undercity, he was able to save the Outcasts from the rakghouls by giving a rakghoul serum vial (found on the remains of a Sith Trooper) to an Upper City doctor, Zelka Forn. Forn was able to reproduce it the serum, and used it cure the Outcasts of the disease and Esala the village healer was given hundreds of vials from Zelka Forn. Revan also met Rukil and helped him discover the Promised Land. Revan found journals belonging to Rukil's grandfather, father and apprentice Malya in and around the city sewers. He then gave the tomes to Rukil, who in turn gave then to Gendar, who used them to discover the location of the Promised Land and led the Outcasts from their village.

It is unknown if the Outcasts survived the bombardment of Taris.

Behind the scenes
In an alternate, non-canon plotline, Revan gives the serum to one of Davik Kang's men for a large sum of money. In another non-canon plotline, Revan gave the three Promised Land journals to Igear, who destroyed them so that the Outcasts could never find the Promised Land.

In Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, all the Outcasts within the village are human, with the exception of those bitten by the rakghouls, however, the infected people were then quarantined away from the other members of the village.

Appearances

 * Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic: Vector
 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic