Gados

"We'll be back soon. I just want to check out the Gados's manufacturing infrastructure."

- C-3PO, impersonating Leia Organa Solo to Winter

The Gados were a species of sentient humanoids with slender, fur-covered bodies. They had elongated necks and lanky limbs, and their heads featured only two large eyes and a pair of protruding incisors. Gados internal organs ran like ribbons throughout their bodies. This arrangement meant that any injury a Gados sustained was potentially critical, with the loss of an appendage almost certainly fatal. The species was incredibly nimble; they were known throughout the galaxy for their gymnastic skills, an ability made famous by the Leaping Tee group of acrobats who toured with the Alsakan Circo-Menagerie.

The Gados were indigenous to the planet Abregado-rae in the Abregado system of the Core Worlds. They developed a simple society independent of their homeworld's other native sentients, the Moochers, and the galactic community largely left them to their own devices for millennia. However, their world's relative obscurity and its location at the head of the Rimma Trade Route made it an ideal staging area for pirates, smugglers, and other scoundrels. Gados were known as highly amenable, overlooking major eccentricities and breaches of protocol, tolerance that encouraged immigrants from the galactic fringe to come to Abregado-rae, and the ever-amiable Gados welcomed them and learned the secrets of galactic technology. Over time, the Gados abandoned most aspects of their native culture, including the Gados language. As their culture became congruent with the galactic standard, they assimilated into the amalgamated culture of the alien inhabitants of Abregado-rae.

After the rise of the New Republic, a multi-species oligarchy known as the Tundei regime took control of Abregado-rae's government and instigated strict new laws that challenged the longstanding frontier nature of the world. Although the Tundei tried to shift the planet's economy from criminal endeavors to manufacturing, conditions on the world worsened, and the Gados suffered. Especially heinous were new punishments for crimes, such as amputations and executions&mdash;which, to the Gados, were essentially the same thing. Nevertheless, some Gados supported the Tundei, working as spies.

Biology and appearance
Gados were tall, slender sentients whose thin frames were covered in shaggy fur. Despite their generally humanoid anatomy, a Gados's arms stretched to a greater length than his or her legs. Even longer was the attenuated neck, which stood the typical Gados head and shoulders over an average-sized Human. Upon this perched a small, round head that curved forward. The Gados face was simple, featuring only two bulbous eyes&mdash;which could be black or red in color&mdash;and a pair of white buck teeth extending from behind a cleft lip. A Gados's skin turned yellow with age, but this was hidden under a coat of white or light brown fur.

Although Gados were not particularly strong or tough, they were incredibly nimble and lithesome. The Gados skeleton contained only small pieces of bone, which were held together by muscle and ligaments. The arrangement permitted their muscles to expend great bursts of energy, which allowed them to leap about acrobatically and to great heights. Such gymnastics did not easily tire the Gados; the same individual could leap and jump, flip, and tumble for long stretches, looking to others almost like dancers. Even elderly Gados enjoyed this ability to bounce and somersault with ease.

Like the Gados body, the species' vital organs were thin and elongated. Rather than being concentrated in a particular area, each organ ran like a ribbon from the Gados's head to his or her feet. This arrangement left Gados vulnerable to injury, as every portion of the body housed some sensitive tissue. Accordingly, amputations and severed limbs were essentially critical blows in most cases.

Society and culture
"This is all very interesting, I'm sure. Some of us would like to play cards, though."

- Unidentified Gados gambler

Gados were amiable, tolerant beings with the ability to ignore habits, quirks, and character faults that other beings might find annoying or offensive. They were friendly to a fault, greeting strangers openly and warmly. This combination of welcoming nature and tolerant attitude led them to turn a blind eye to criminal activity. Despite their friendliness, their ability to bounce and leap allowed a threatened Gados to roll about quickly and confuse an attacker.

Gados were also known for their high level of cultural adaptability. Although a distinct Gados society existed on their homeworld in the past, with its own art, cuisine, and technology, millennia of contact with other species had erased most traces of it. For example, at some point, the Gados spoke their own language, also known as Gados, but over thousands of years, most Gados had turned to Basic as their primary tongue. Over time, Gados dressed like other species, used galactic-standard technology, and adopted affectations such as the smoking of hookah pipes like other species. After this embrace of galactic culture had taken root, many Gados became aware of the loss of their indigenous way of life and were saddened by it.

Like all citizens of Abregado-rae, Gados were divided into clans. They lived in cities of canals, serviced by watercraft known as Gados Floatboats. In these environments, Gados cohabited with cosmopolitan populations of many different species and, beginning after the fall of the Galactic Empire, were ruled by a multi-species group known as the Tundei. Despite the diversity of the city, Gados were charged with maintaining the planet's lone spaceport.

History
"Well, well. Has civilization finally come to Abregado?" "Stranger things have happened."

- Lando Calrissian and Han Solo upon visiting Abregado-rae after the rise of the Tundei regime

The Gados evolved on Abregado-rae, a world of rolling hills and little biodiversity that also served as home to the Moocher species. Beings from another planet first visited the world between 15,000 and 10,000 BBY, but the species was left alone for thousands of years, during which they developed a distinct culture, society, and technology.

By 3,000 BBY, Abregado-rae had become the most Coreward stop on the Rimma Trade Route, but the planet and its inhabitants were largely ignored by the galactic community. Smugglers, pirates, and other scoundrels, on the other hand, took advantage of the Gados' tolerant natures and began using the planet as an alternate starting point for runs along the Rimma, thus avoiding the stricter law enforcement of the Tapani sector. With the long-term presence of offworlders on Abregado-rae, the Gados adopted galactic-standard technology and built a spaceport. Over time, the Gados abandoned most aspects of their indigenous culture, and a tentative multi-species government was established on the world. Even their spaceport lost its native name, coming to be known as simply Abregado-rae spaceport. Abregado-rae became known galaxy-wide as a shadowport particularly known as a conduit for spice smuggling. Meanwhile, Gados colonists founded settlements on other planets in the star system. By 1,004 BBY, the world had joined the Galactic Republic, and the species' home system was the site of a battle in 21 BBY during the Clone Wars.

After the collapse of the Galactic Empire in 4 ABY, the Gados homeworld was claimed as part of Zero Command under the rule of Admiral Blitzer Harrsk. However, by 6 ABY, the world was free of Harrsk, and had joined the New Republic by 7 ABY. The world at this time had some forty million inhabitants, sixty percent of whom were Gados.

Abregado-rae had by this point come under the rule of the Tundei, a group that overthrew the previous, mostly hands-off government in a coup. The Tundei outlawed piracy and smuggling and hired police to patrol the streets and arrest lawbreakers. The new rulers tried to replace the criminal activities that had once sustained the economy with industry and manufacturing. They also ordered the spaceport refurbished as a gesture to the commerce they hoped to generate. Despite these changes, the Tundei limited the freedom enjoyed by the Gados in years prior. Crime was prosecuted by the Tundei Tribunal, headed by a Herglic named Shelov, with punishments consisting of torture, amputation, or execution, all of which amounted to the same thing to Gados due to their unique vital organs. Some Gados actively opposed the Tundei; a group of Gados colonists from other planets in the system offered a bounty on the head of Shelov, for instance. Still, some Gados supported the Tundei; an older Gados named Trarr, for example, manufactured transparisteel but secretly spied for the government. In 9 ABY, when a group of spacers agreed to send a shipment of surplus war rations to a group of peaceful dissidents in the hills outside the city, Trarr reported them to the authorities.

Ultimately, the Tundei regime failed to attract the new investment they sought. Nevertheless, the world remained important to the New Republic for its manufacturing. The New Republic liaisons Han Solo and Lando Calrissian visited the world in 9 ABY under the cover story that they were investigating this manufacturing, although their true mission was to make contact with Fynn Torve, a representative of the smuggler Talon Karrde. The pair found Torve in a casino, playing sabacc at a table with a Gados and other beings. Solo joined the game, but his stalling irritated the Gados gambler.

Following the Thrawn campaign of 9 ABY, the New Republic pressured the Tundei to change their laws, but the regime refused. Years later, the Yuuzhan Vong invasion of the galaxy flooded Abregado-rae with refugees. The Tundei saw their grip on the world slipping, and the planet seemed on the brink of another government overthrow. The Yuuzhan Vong eventually captured the world. By 137 ABY, Abregado-rae fell within territory claimed by the Sith Lord Darth Krayt as part of his Galactic Empire.

Gados in the galaxy
Although Gados were spread between the various habitable planets of the Abregado system, few members of the species traveled to other parts of the galaxy. One major exception was the Leaping Tee family, a group of itinerate Gados performers who traveled the galaxy putting on acrobatics and tumbling shows as part of the Alsakan Circo-Menagerie. At their height, the Leaping Tee family was extremely popular, and for many citizens of the galactic community, they were the face of the Gados species.

Behind the scenes
The Gados are mentioned in Timothy Zahn's novel Heir to the Empire (1991), but the book provides no description of their appearance or culture. The novel uses both the terms Gado and Gados, leaving it unclear what the singular form of the species' name truly is. In the comic book adaptation of a scene from Heir to the Empire (1996) where Han Solo plays sabacc with a group of gamblers on Abregado-rae, a furred alien is depicted as one of the players, as drawn by Olivier Vatine and Fred Blanchard. The species' description in the book The Essential Guide to Planets and Moons (1998), by author Daniel Wallace, is based on Vatine and Blanchard's alien.

The book Coruscant and the Core Worlds (2003) for Wizards of the Coast's Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game expands on the species' history and biology. It also provides statistics for Gados characters. The game represents the species as highly agile, yet not very tough or perceptive. Average members of the species know some sort of profession, have the ability to leap long distances, and are able to tumble like a gymnast.

Appearances

 * The Force Unleashed novel
 * Star Wars: Rebellion
 * Heir to the Empire
 * Heir to the Empire 4