Ubese/Legends

To most inhabitants of the galaxy, members of the enigmatic Ubese, or Ubesian, species were generally known as mysterious wanderers and nomadic savages. Their xenophobic nature made them ideally suited for professions such as mercenaries or bounty hunters. Normally, they were a very aggressive people, though loyal to one another. The Ubese homeworld was little known to the rest of the galaxy, as they tended to be very secretive, associating only within their own circles.

Biology and appearance
The Ubese were near-Humans who appeared graceful but frail. They tended to have fair skin and dark hair, with eye colors of brilliant green or blue. They could not grow any facial hair. Their facial structure was narrow, with high cheekbones and eyes that appeared much too large for their faces when compared to baseline Humans. Males and females of the species both stood roughly by the same height – around 1.4 meters and 1.9 meters – with males being slightly heavier of build than females. Their vocal chords could not produce speech above a rasping whisper sound, so they used a highly refined form of sign language called Ubeninal when communicating with other Ubese.

After centuries of having scratched a tenuous existence breathing the parched and oxygen-poor air on their planet, the “true” Ubese from Uba IV had to use specially tuned breath masks or filters to process Type I atmospheres.

Few beings, however, knew what an Ubese looked like – they rarely, if ever, appeared to non-Ubese unless concealed by masks, battle armors, or environmental suits. Those who have interacted face to face with an Ubese have not recognized them as such, because there are no records in any databases that describe their appearances.

Society and culture
Little was known about Ubese culture. Away from their homeworld, wayward Ubese seemed to care little for other societies' laws, customs and mores. They were mysterious wanderers, nomadic warriors who hid their inner secrets and agendas just as they hid their faces behind helmets and breath masks. Although most Ubese understood Basic, they rarely deigned to speak it, preferring to express themselves in their own language.

They seemed to be loyal to one another, despite nurturing a profound hatred toward most other members of the galactic community. They generally made their livings as mercenaries, bounty hunters, slavers, or assassins – professions where they got to vent their hatred without fear of retribution. The Ubese bounty hunter, Boushh, became one of the most famous Ubese in galactic history, though his posthumous fame was not won for his own deeds. Instead, it was because Leia Organa posed as Boushh to infiltrate the palace of Jabba the Hutt.

Particularly vengeful “true Ubese” were known to hunt down yrak pootzck as part of a millennia-old bloodfeud. In the years of the Galactic Empire, a true Ubese warlord, Savax, led a small fleet of capital ships to bombard Ubertica, the homeworld of the yrak pootzck. Above all else, however, Ubese were united in their hatred toward the Jedi. They blamed the “protectors of the galaxy” for what happened to their culture and homeworld. Many Ubese could be found at the forefront of death squads during the Great Jedi Purge.

At some point prior to the end of the Galactic Civil War, some Ubese colonists fell victim to a lethal virus known as the Intestinal Revenge of Bars Barka. In his Galactic Phrase Book and Travel Guide, Ebenn Q3 Baobab tells of this illness, which caused fatal weight loss in those exposed to it. Having served as a Neimoidian doctor at one point in his career, Baobab believed that the epidemic had originated with the Neimoidian species. Only speculation exists as to whether this was a deliberate, trade-related attack or an accidental outbreak.

History
"Such a tragedy when the Republic bombed their world into a radioactive ball, and the Jedi did nothing to prevent it."

- Exchange Boss Visquis

Millennia ago, the inhabitants of the Uba system – blissfully ignorant of the Old Republic – were quietly developing their own culture and technology. They led a peaceful existence, cultivating their lush homeworld and creating a highly sophisticated clan-based society. When Old Republic scouts came in contact with them, they awakened an interest in advanced technology that was soon to grow into an obsession. Before long, the Ubese began to trade anything they could get their hands on for alien technology, hoarding everything from repulsorlifts and starships to blasters and droids.

Initially, their society benefited from the technology and productivity quickly rose in all aspects of business. Health conditions improved so much that an unprecedented population boom called for the colonization of other worlds in their system. However, Ubese society eventually started to buckle in the face of such rapid technological advancements. The ability to disseminate information more rapidly broke clan boundaries and gave ambitious Ubese the tools to politically dominate regional public opinion and create nations which began to view one another with suspicion.

Within a few decades, the influx of alien technology prompted the Ubese’s interest to start creating their own. As they developed their own weapons systems, their attitudes toward neighboring star systems began to shift from friendly to aggressive. Although first-contact specialists from other species attempted to dissuade the Ubese from this course, the near-Humans grew so proud of their new inventions that they ejected the alien diplomats from their star system with warnings to the rest of the galaxy to fear the might of the Ubese.

Local sector authorities were both alarmed and embarrassed by these events. The Ubese were building weapons that had been banned since the formation of the Old Republic and the sector authorities were the ones who would be blamed by the Senate for letting the situation in the Uba system deteriorate as it had. Following a debate driven by fear and misinformation, the sector council decided that a preemptive strike would prove sufficient to halt the Ubese war machine and that afterwards, the people of the Uba system would once again be open to listening to the advice of the Republic diplomats.

Unfortunately, the orbital strikes against the Ubese planets triggered the species’ large-scale and highly unstable tactical defense weapons. Uba I, Uba II and Uba V were rendered completely uninhabitable by radioactive firestorms. Uba III, where the species had originated, was actually completely shattered into space debris. Only on Uba IV were there survivors – pathetic beings who would be condemned to scratch out an existence from poisoned soil and parched sea beds among scorched ruins.

Sector authorities became so fearful for their future careers that they refused to offer aid to the surviving Ubese. They then ordered all information on the civilization to be deleted from all data bases and the system removed from all star charts. The incident was so effectively hushed up that word of it never reached Coruscant.

While a few thousand survivors were relocated to a far-off system, Ubertica, by officials who felt the treatment of the Uba system was making a bad mistake worse, the majority of the survivors devolved into savage nomads. These survivors on Uba IV came to call those Ubese who had been rescued yrak pootzck, a phrase that implies a cowardly nature and “impure” parentage. In reality, the yrak pootzck attempted to retrace their system of origin within a few years of being relocated to Ubertica, but the location of the Uba system was as big of a mystery to them as it was to the rest of the galaxy.

Millennia passed, while both Ubese populations propagated on their respective worlds. Eventually, the yrak pootzck found the Uba system and shared their starfaring technology with the resentment-filled “true” Ubese. Soon, they both began to wander the stars, separately and together, united only by their hatred for and distrust of other species and cultures in the galaxy.

Behind the scenes
Conflicting sources lead to a confusing chronology. The destruction of Uba III is placed by RPG sources and The New Essential Chronology c. 2,000 BBY, but Ubese mercenaries wearing environmental suits are already portrayed seeking revenge on the Jedi as early as 3,951 BBY in Knights of the Old Republic II.

Several Ubese bounty hunters appear in Yoda Stories, a 1997 video-game whose plot is out of continuity. One Ubese might try to intimidate Luke Skywalker in a cantina should Skywalker approach him. Jabba the Hutt uses several Ubese guards in his Tatooine palace.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords
 * Republic Commando: Hard Contact
 * Republic Commando: Triple Zero
 * Star Wars: Darth Maul—Death Sentence 1
 * Star Wars: Republic: Into the Unknown
 * Star Wars: Dark Times: Blue Harvest, Part 1
 * Evasive Action: Prey
 * The Last Jedi
 * Rebel Dawn
 * Star Wars: Rebellion 2: My Brother, My Enemy, Part 2
 * Junkheap Hero
 * Shadows of the Empire novel
 * Shadows of the Empire comic
 * A Free Quarren in the Palace: Tessek's Tale
 * The Mandalorian Armor
 * Slave Ship
 * Hard Merchandise
 * Sacrifice
 * Sacrifice