Alkhara/Legends

"On Tatooine, each second of life is viewed as both a curse and a blessing. Throughout every waking moment, one is engaged in some battle for existence. To achieve any hope for survival in such a harsh, brutal place, one needs to become just as harsh and brutal."

- Alkhara

Alkhara was a researcher from the Bureau of Ethnology and Socialization on Tatooine who lived in the sixth century BBY and became a notorious criminal. He was also the man who incited the centuries-long blood feud between the native Sand People and the Human settlers of the world. In his years with the Bureau, Alkhara learned the language and traditions of the Sand People, filing reports in which he mused on the nature of their life on Tatooine. After he turned to crime, Alkhara joined with the Sand People to destroy a police garrison, then turned on his allies in a massacre. He and his band of thieves fled the retaliation of the Sand People and authorities to a B'omarr monastery, where they were welcomed in.

Alkhara made the monastery his headquarters, using it to defend against the Sand People and rob the local moisture farmers. He and his band expanded and improved the structure, adding dungeons, a tower, and roads. The monks ignored them for the most part, though they were grateful for many of the additions. After living in the monastery for over three decades, Alkhara was driven offworld by the Hutt Jabba Desilijic Tiure, and eventually died. However, the war he had triggered with the Sand People long outlived him. Centuries afterward, bandit groups under his name continued their own crimes against the settlers and battles against the natives, while the monastery he had made his home fell into a number of new hands, amongst them Jabba's.

Biography
In 550 BBY, Alkhara arrived on the planet Tatooine. Working in a mining colony for the Bureau of Ethnology and Socialization, Alkhara became familiar with the native Sand People. In the course of his studies, Alkhara ventured into the Jundland Wastes and the ancient canyon the Sand People called Gafsa, learning the language and traditions of the natives. Alkhara came to conclude that having been born into a cruel world, the Sand People knew nothing but cruelty and lacked in benign emotions. He opined as such in one of his field reports filed with the Bureau.

In time, Alkhara turned to crime, becoming a bandit, and his crimes became legendary. Alkhara allied himself and his band of thieves with the Sand People to eliminate a small law enforcement garrison near Tatooine's capital. He then turned on the Sand People themselves, massacring the entire group that had aided him on the Great Mesra Plateau. Alkhara's actions triggered a feud between the Sand People and Human settlers. Fleeing military retribution from the law and the Sand People, the bandit and his followers escaped to a B'omarr monastery. There, they intended to lay siege to the citadel, but the gates were unlocked. The monks were unimpressed with the armed group, and, to Alkhara's surprise, one monk told the leader to make himself at home and stay as long as he liked. Unknown to Alkhara, other lawbreakers had used the monastery as a temporary refuge in the past&mdash;though none, until Alkhara, had occupied it for their own use&mdash;and the monks did not mind as the pirate and his band moved in.

With the monks few in number and absorbed in their own concerns, Alkhara was free to use the monastery as his headquarters. With the citadel serving as his stronghold against the Sand People, the bandit preyed on the moisture farmers of Tatooine. Alkhara improved his hideout, augmenting its corridors while his followers fixed the living quarters and added a set of dungeons and underground chambers, to the monks' approval. He cut a road from the citadel to the Western Dune Sea and Pit of Carkoon. Alkhara also added battlements to the building, and he constructed a nine-story tower to which he gave his name. Alkhara lived in the monastery for thirty-four years, until he was driven off Tatooine by the Hutt Jabba Desilijic Tiure.

Alkhara eventually died, but the feud he had started between the settlers and Sand People continued for centuries thereafter. In later years, his bandit group was reformed by Tatooinians who had been dislocated by the Sand People, fighting the natives while raiding villages and moisture farms for supplies. No outlanders ventured into Sand People territory for centuries, as well. The B'omarr monastery took on a number of new occupants in the ages after Alkhara's departure, all of them following the traditions of Alkhara's people by expanding and improving the structure in exchange; eventually, Jabba the Hutt would take it as his palace.

Personality and traits
Fierce and with a reputation for cruelty that endured for centuries, Alkhara achieved notoriety in his career as a bandit, and his crimes became things of legend. The man could break his alliances, turning on allies in a deadly fashion; however, he could also participate in mutually beneficial relationships, as with the B'omarr monks. While he was not adverse to fleeing danger, Alkhara was prepared for combat.

In his time with the Bureau of Ethnology and Socialization, Alkhara came to his own understanding of Tatooine and its inhabitants. He saw the harshness of life on the world to breed, by necessity, harshness in its inhabitants. The only way he felt one could understand the Sand People was to live their lives; he believed they had been shaped in such a way that cruelty and wickedness were their way of life, and he doubted any gentler emotions lived within them. When he turned to his life of pirating, Alkhara was callous towards the Sand People.

Behind the scenes
Alkhara was given a brief mention as a prior owner of Jabba the Hutt's palace in the 1995 novel Darksaber, by Kevin J. Anderson. Anderson would later expand on his backstory in his book The Illustrated Star Wars Universe, which gave Alkhara the crucial role he has in the Sand People/Human conflict. The comic arc Star Wars Republic: Outlander gave the character the only backstory he has in his time before becoming a criminal, and the only dialogue the character has ever had, as he has made no appearances in any works. The exact timeframe for Alkhara's life was left vague until Secrets of Tatooine.

Appearances

 * Star Wars Republic: Outlander
 * Darksaber
 * Star Wars: Galaxies

Notes and references
Alkhara