Exogorth/Legends

"This is no cave."

- Han Solo

The space slug was a large species of toothed gastropod. They were silicon-based lifeforms that survived in the vacuum of space by making their homes in the caverns and craters of asteroids. They fed on the minerals of asteroids, various stellar energy fields, and mynocks (another silicon-based lifeform). The average adult space slug grew to about 10 meters in length, but some slugs were known to continuously grow to sizes that rivaled capital ships in sheer bulk, with some weighing over a million kilograms.

Space slugs reproduced asexually by fission. Once an adult space slug reached a certain size a chemical trigger would cause them to split apart into two identical space slugs. Whether through a genetic trait or by retaining the memory of their "parent", the two new slugs would immediately become self-reliant. Space slugs would travel through the asteroid fields they inhabited by pushing off the surface of one asteroid and floating through space to land on another. Through highly evolved sense of spatial awareness the space slug is capable of calculating the speed, trajectory, and distance of perilous moving bodies around them. This sense of spatial acuity also aided them in hunting food.



On occasion the naturally occurring chemical trigger that caused the slugs to divide never occurred and the slug would continue to grow without apparent limit. These oddities were known to reach sizes of nearly 1000 meters long. These colossal space slugs were known to take sizable bites out of capital ships that passed too close to the slug's current dwelling, and even swallow smaller vessels whole. They have been known to bite through a star destroyer's hull. At these sizes the mynocks they ate would often become internal parasites rather than nourishment. They lived inside the cave-like esophagus of the slug that ate them.

In one recorded occurrence a space slug living in the asteroid field around the planet Hoth grew to a size of about 900 meters in length. It was found and officially recorded by Gamgalon the Krish who made a living by capturing these massive specimens. It is most likely this was the same space slug that Han Solo unwittingly hid the Millennium Falcon in when running from the Empire after the Battle of Hoth. Since space slugs insulate themselves deep inside asteroids and their own heat-generating waste Princess Leia, Han Solo, and Chewbacca were able to survive inside the space slug with only breath masks to provide oxygen. Solo had heard stories for years of the titan space slugs, and had been warned of their dangers, but he dismissed them as mere "ghost-stories." His run-in with that particular slug, however, changed his opinion.

Certain facilities that resided in space would often keep a space slug living close by to help keep the pesky mynock population down. To keep these specially used slugs from reproducing and growing to uncontrollable sizes, katrium was introduced into the space slug's system on a regular basis.



Appearances

 * Star Wars: Episode I Racer
 * Ringers
 * Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back