Muza

"To the north lies a deep-cut canyon. At the end of it you will find ruins: all that is left of dark Kabus-Dabeh. They are the remannts of an ancient and evil people. You must go there. One of our bravest protectors has placed a skuhm-hid bag of metal coins somewhere in the ruin. You must find this bag and return it here. If you persevere, you will prove your worth. If you do not, we will not regard you as an honorable negotiator."

- Chief Muza clansman

The Muza were sentient species native to the planet Muzara, in the Expansion Region. The Muza were large, strong beings with massive overbites and scoop-like teeth. Their forearms were highly muscular. They descended from ruminants and established themselves as the dominant lifeform on their homeworld by exterminating all large predators on Muzara. The species' religious beliefs revered certain areas as sacred and shunned others as unholy. The ruins of Kabus-Dabeh, for instance, were regarded as the evil former home of an ancient and evil people. As nomadic clansmen, the Muza had no sense of individual property or territory.

In 4,000 BBY, Humans from the Brentaal League colonized Muzara, establishing farms and angering the Muza, who had no concept of private land ownership. As the dispute between the two species reached the cusp of outright war, a Human Jedi named Keval Raffaan arrived on Muzara and offered to negotiate a peace between the rival factions. The Muza agreed to allow him to attempt to do so&mdash;provided he prove his mettle by retrieving a skuhm-hid bag from the ruins of Kabus-Dabeh. The Jedi did so, and the Muza honored the truce he negotiated between them and the settlers. Other Jedi helped the Muza overcome a predatory creature snatching up members of their species and a group of Dark Jedi seeking to overrun Muzara with a Sith artifact hidden in the Kabus-Dabeh ruins.

Biology and appearance
The Muza were hulking creatures, much larger and more muscular than a typical Human. The typical Muza had a massive overbite, with the upper jaw and teeth extending over the lower mandible. The species' eyes were minuscule and could be retracted. The forearms were bulky and strong.

Society and culture
"Members of your kind have chosen you as adjudicator in this conflict. You must meet our standards before we accept your judgment."

- Chief Muza clansman

The Muza were divided into wandering bands divided into tribes and clans. These groups wandered the savannas of their homeworld, dragging supplies&mdash;such as tents&mdash;behind them on sledges. Each group was headed by a chief clansman. Other Muza served their tribe as shamans and scouts. Members of the species spoke their own language, although they could also learn to speak Basic.

In 4,000 BBY, the Muza had access to stone-age technology. Muza could be bellicose if their interests were threatened, however, and they came to dominate their homeworld through brute force of population and their systematic elimination of predatory species. The species used tests of integrity, skill, and strength of mind to test others. Muza created items of skuhm leather, such as bags. They collected coins from other cultures.

The species strongly upheld their cultural beliefs, which included reverence for certain individuals regarded as bravest protectors. The Muza had no concept of personal property or land ownership. Instead, their relationship to landforms centered on the concept of certain areas being sacred and others being infernal. For example, the Muza regarded the ruins of Kabus-Dabeh as evil, the last trace of an ancient and evil people &mdash;and the site of a minor dark side nexus.

History
"Son, get the blaster rifles. Looks like we've got first contact with the locals."

- Tallov Kersk, meeting the Muza for the first time

The Muza evolved on Muzara, an arid planet of mesas, savannas, and lakes; the species ancient forebears were ruminant grazers. By virtue of their sheer numbers, the Muza came to dominate their world's ecosystem.

Although the world had been discovered by outsiders by 5,000 BBY, it was not until 4,000 BBY that outsiders tried to establish a presence on the world. These offworlders, Human settlers from the Brentaal League, had been sent to establish an agricultural colony on the the world. The offworlders settled atop a mesa and began cultivating the land with gigantic machines known as harvester crawlers. Meanwhile, the world became part of the Northern Dependencies in the Expansion Region. Nearby Muza tribes approached the outsiders but were met with hostility; a Human farmer named Tallov Kersk met the Muza with blaster rifles. The Muza, due to their ingrained cultural belief that land could not be owned, failed to recognize the Humans' claim to their farms. Although the Brentaal League settlers tried to negotiate with the indigenous species, their efforts proved fruitless. By 4,000 BBY, the aggressive Muza outnumbered the settlers 55,000 to 7,800. The settlers thus brought their grievances to the attention of the Jedi Knights to try to avert what seemed to be an inevitable war. The Jedi dispatched a young Human member of their order named Keval Raffaan to mediate the dispute.

A group of Muza had set up camp near the Brentaal League settler's population center. When Raffaan approached them and expressed his desire to negotiate a settlement between the Muza and the settlers, the clan chiefs decided that he would first have to prove himself worthy by passing a test of integrity, skill, and willpower. The chief clansman explained that the Human Jedi would have to infiltrate the ruins of Kabus-Dabeh, a location reputed by the Muza to be the last trace of an ancient and evil people. There, they explained, Raffaan would have to find a leather skuhm-skin bag containing ancient coins, which had been placed there by a Muza bravest protector. Should he retrieve the bag and return to the Muza settlement, the elders would recognize his right to mediate the dispute with the Humans. The Jedi accepted the challenge.

Revaan eventually recovered the bag of coins from a subterranean chamber accessible via a deep well. When he presented the bag to the Muza clansmen, they accepted his authority to mediate their dispute. The Jedi then successfully negotiated a truce between the Muza and the settlers.

After recognizing the Humans' rights to their farmland, one tribe of Muza was forced to set up camp two kilometers from the dreaded Kabus-Dabeh ruins. Over several nights, Muza began disappearing, seemingly stolen away by some predator from the unholy place. Muza scouts tried to locate their missing confreres, but all they could establish was that the attacker was striking from the ruins. The Muza thus called in a group of Jedi to find the source of the attacks and put a stop to it.

The Jedi investigated Kabus-Dabeh and found the attacker: a pitiful creature known as Togarn. They defeated him and thus put an end to his predations on the Muza tribe.

Some time later, Muza shamans discovered that an evil force seemed to be emanating from Kabus-Dabeh. They determined that if the evil were left unchecked, it would overrun not only Muzara but the entire Muzara system. They approached the Human settlers to enlist their aid to combat the evil force, but the farmers could not understand the shamans and simply ignored them. A shuttle landed near the ruins, and its three passengers questioned the Muza and the Humans about Kabus-Dabeh. They then set off into the ancient site. At this point, a group of Jedi was dispatched to follow the newcomers and determine their intentions for the site.

The Jedi stopped the strangers&mdash;actually Dark Jedi who were investigating Sith teachings and trying to find a Sith artifact in Kabus-Dabeh. In so doing, the Jedi spared the Muza, the Human settlers, and the Muzara system from being overwhelmed by the evil the Dark Jedi had intended to unleash.

As part of the explored galaxy, Muzara was caught up in the litany of galactic conflicts that raged over the millennia. From 1,004 BBY to 1,000 BBY, for instance, it fell within territory controlled by the Galactic Republic as it fought the Sith in the New Sith Wars. The Muzara homeworld remained in Republic space during the Clone Wars in 20 and 19 BBY. After the defeat of Emperor Palpatine, the Muzara fell within territory retained by the Galactic Empire from 7 to 8 ABY. By 137 ABY, the world fell within Darth Krayt's Galactic Empire.

Behind the scenes
The Muza feature in "Ruins of Kabus-Dabeh," a solitaire adventure written by Peter Schweighofer for Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game, published by West End Games as part of Tales of the Jedi Companion in 1996. The adventure allows for the player, portraying Keval Raffaan, to fail, in which case the negotiations between the Muza and the Brentaal League settlers fail and war ensues. The book provides two further adventure seeds that involve the Muza; the history above assumes that the unnamed Jedi characters achieve the stated goals, defeating the creature Togarn and stopping the Dark Jedi from unleashing evil from the Sith artifact located in the ruins.