Eeytch

"You cannot escape your destiny! You will meet our challenge, or many will die."

- Eeytch

Eeytch was a Menahuun shaman living in the secret community of Hua'Bal near the city of Bartyn's Landing in Lamaredd. During his time, the alien inhabitants of the Landing believed the Menahuun to be extinct, but the Menahuun were preparing their reappearance. Eeytch, one of the leaders of the community, helped organizing a challenge through which the Menahuun champions, including Eeytch himself would fight the champions of the Landing to defende what they considered to be their right.

Biography
"I have much to tell you, my saviors. [giggle]"

- Eeytch

C. 529 BBY, the sentient species Menahuun was thriving in their resource-rich homeworld Lamaredd. The planet was settled by Hugo Bartyn, a Human agent of Outer Rim Oreworks who built the ORO Mining Station LM0228 in the Krakana's Maw mountain range and the alien-populated city Bartyn's Landing in a nearby bay. Speciesist Bartyn and his cohorts also hunted the primitive Menahuun until what they believed to have been their extinction. Really, the Menahuun had secretly gathered and migrated towards the northwestern area, far away from the civilization &mdash; which they called "The Slayer's Land", as they considered Hugo Bartyn to be "The Slayer".

C. 194 BBY, the local flora in their new home began to die because it was too near a waste dump of the mine. The Menahuun incorrectly assumed this to be a new attack from The Slayer, and decided to go back to their ancestors' land. Following their custom, they would challenge The Slayer's "tribe" to a duel of champions, trying to avoid an open war. During their comeback, they found a secret entrance to the mine. The Menahuun began inhabiting the mine, calling it "Hua'Bal", for one century and a half, sharing it with the mining droids, while they were learning about the Human's customs, skills and power.

C. 29 BBY, Eeytch was a shaman and a community leader of Hua'Bal. At some point, Eeytch had obtained an ORO insignia from an outsider; this was considered an achievement among his people that allowed Eeytch to become one of the Menahuun champions &mdash;specifically the grand champion&mdash; to duel with the aliens in the challenge. Although the Menahuun leaders wanted to wait for the challenge before starting any raid, several young Menahuun scouts had secretly performed attacks against the Human community. A group of aliens, officially agents of ORO, investigated these activities and eventually found Hua'Bal.

Eeytch had used his shamanic powers to predict the arrival of these individuals, so he gathered the community in the arena where the duel would take place. He then performed a ritual and waited for the aliens to arrive. He welcomed them and offered to talk, explained the situation: The aliens should win the duel, or the Menahuun would start a war against the Landing. As the aliens were agents of ORO, they held ORO badges and as such Eeytch considered them worthy of the title of champion.

Eeytch guided the newcomers to the arena and then he joined the other Menahuun champions in the duel. Eeytch himself had predicted that he still had many years to live, so he was not worried about the possibility of his death; neither he tried to kill the strangers, preferring only to test them.

The Menahuun were defeated and Eeytch, laughing, offered to negotiate the peace. After some diplomatic talks, the Menahuun accepted to live harmoniously along with the aliens, starting a new era in Lamaredd.

Personality and traits
"Strangers! I had a feeling you would come. We will be friends?"

- Eeytch

Eeytch was short even for a Menahuun &mdash;a species that rarely exceeded 120 centimeters of height. His skin was wrinkled as happened with old people. He commonly wore handmade clothes and a leather pouch to carry several magical totems, a Saber crystal he used as a talisman and herbs.

Eeytch was a Force adept, having a number of skills related to the power of the Force, including several offensive capabilities such as telekinesis. His weapon of choice was a spear, and he used the Force to improve its capabilities. He could also use the Force to understand other languages but, when he tried to use this skill to speak Galactic Basic Standard, he presented a strong accent.

Most Menahuun were unfamiliar with advanced technology, but Eeytch and the other shamans did know about the effects of fire in a reactor core control room.

Behind the scenes
Eeytch first appeared in the role-playing adventure Reckonings, written by Cory J. Herndon and published in the magazine Star Wars Gamer #7 (2001). Eeytch's name was listed as one of the "example names" for the Menahuun species in Ultimate Alien Anthology (2003).

Alternate ending
The article assumes that the player characters of Reckonings achieve the best possible ending but, should they be defeated in the duel, then Eeytch would heal them and take them to the dungeons of Hua'Bal. If the player characters refuse to fight in the challenge, Eeytch would warn them, but otherwise let them leave.