Wookieepedia:Featured article queue/Week 11, 2014/1

The Stennes Shifters were a sentient, Near-Human species native to the planet of Stennaros. They were biological offshoots of the Stennes and resembled their kin in appearance, with ashen-gray skin riddled with dark veins and small knobs, a slight body, heavy-lidded eyes, and gaunt cheeks that gave them a skull-like visage. Yet the Shifters had several unique abilities that set them apart from their mainline cousins, all of which were rooted in an innate sensitivity to the Force. Foremost was their ability to pass unseen using a form of telepathy. A Stennes Shifter could use this talent to disappear into a crowd. Shifters also were able to feed on the Force expended by beings around them. Such abilities earned the Stennes Shifters the alternate name of Force-eaters.

Environmental pressures shunted the Stennes Shifters along a different developmental path from their baseline cousins; their extra capacities to hide and sap Force energy helped the Shifters as both hunters and prey in their homeworld's ecosystem. However, such abilities also made the Shifters seem frightening and suspicious to both the mainline Stennes and to outsiders. Thus, the Shifters constantly found themselves persecuted, hunted, and&mdash;when discovered&mdash;killed. As offworlders took to eradicating the Shifters&mdash;including the Jedi Order in one particularly bloody conflict circa 5,000 BBY&mdash;the planet became pocked with artillery craters in attacks that killed Stennes Shifters and standard Stennes alike. The Stennes turned on their Shifter kin, forcing them to flee their own homeworld or to use their natural powers to escape detection and assimilate into society. Over time, the Shifter population fell; by the days of the Galactic Empire, they were numbered at no more than several million, and the Shifters were regarded as little more than legend by many in the galaxy. Coupled with their indistinguishable appearance from mainline Stennes, such anonymity allowed some Shifters to blend into galactic society. Those who capitalized on their powers of misperception found work in fringe occupations, such as thieves, spies, or informants.