Slide Paramita

Slide Paramita, a Ciasi male, was a professional Podracer pilot who operated around 32 BBY. Haughty and persnickety, he disapproved of pilots who used large, overpowering machines. Instead, he relied on only a small Pizer-Errol Stinger 627 S and his own cunning to win races. Though his craft was delicate, it responded well on turns and proved to be a great asset to him on the galaxy's twistier courses. He became the crowd favorite on the Ando Prime Centrum, a fairly large course on the snowy world of Ando Prime, which was known for its narrow, serpentine corridors and tight turns.

Biography
"Chuba pitdroid!"

- Slide Paramita

The Ciasi male Slide Paramita was renowned throughout the Podracing circuits for his fast reflexes and his faster temper on the racetrack while active in his career around the year 32 BBY, during the final decades of the Galactic Republic. Something of a haughty Podracer elitist, he preferred craft built for speed and agility like his own customized yellow Pizer-Errol Stinger 627 S, a Podracer that ranked high in maneuverability. This allowed the Ciasi to make the tight turns on various courses throughout the galaxy. However, the Stinger was also known for its frailty and a rather low top speed. To combat the top-speed issue, Paramita's racecraft was equipped with a fast-acting cooling system that afforded him the ability to boost often and take opponents by surprise. Nevertheless, if he ever caught himself falling behind other racers, his concentration generally snapped, and he turned aggressive, taking his anger out on the other pilots with his own Podracer.

A natural expert on ice racing, Paramita became known for his performance on the courses of the ice world Ando Prime. One such course was known as the Ando Prime Centrum, a large track that weaved in and out of a water purification plant and then went through one of Ando Prime's bustling cities. Due to the non-linear nature of the track, pilots often needed to create their own path through the city. Paramita managed to master the track enough to become a crowd-pleaser for the course, as his nimble craft was perfect for moving through the tight tunnels, serpentine corridors, and long straights that were appropriate for his boost thrusters. Paramita gained further success on Ando Prime by becoming a favored pilot on a drag course, where he challenged other pilots to one-on-one matches.

Personality and traits
"It's Slide Paramita, in his modified Pizor-Errol Stinger. Very sharp."

- Fode Annodue, a Troig race announcer, commenting on Paramita's Podracer

Slide Paramita was known for a dislike of large Podracers and his short temper. He didn't believe in using large craft for racing, and far preferred smaller craft built for speed and maneuverability, like his own Pizor-Errol racer. His temper, however, occasionally sparked an aggressiveness in him that put his fragile vehicle at risk. Generally, the temper peaked whenever he found himself falling behind the competition with his modified craft, in which case he began to use the Pizor-Errol as a deadly high-speed weapon. Still, the Ciasi pilot was most at home on Ando Prime, where his skills at ice racing were top tier. Physically, Paramita was a fairly thin individual who had brownish-gray skin and small black eyes. He was also somewhat athletic, as he could perform back-flips fairly well, and he stretched often to loosen himself up.

Equipment
Slide Paramita flew a modified yellow Pizor-Errol Stinger Podracer as his primary racing vehicle. Despite a high-end accelerator, the craft actually suffered from a poor top-speed. However, many of the vehicle's shortcomings could be overlooked thanks to an impressive handling system, which offered the craft an excellent turn response and allowed it to glide around corners with ease. For Paramita, the vehicle helped him excel in the narrow turns and tight bends that presented themselves on Ando Prime. In addition, the Podracer's cooling system allowed him to boost often, letting him outrun his competitors and claim last-second victories.

When racing, Paramita employed a racing uniform that matched the color of his Stinger. The outfit was recognizable for the "wings" on the shoulders and thighs.

Behind the scenes
Slide Paramita first appeared in concept art and early scripts for the 1999 film Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace as a Podracer pilot from the planet Tund. Ultimately, he was cut from the script, although Tund remained as the homeworld of another Podracer pilot, Ben Quadinaros. Paramita, like several other scrapped Podracers, received his first actual appearance in the 1999 Nintendo 64 video game Star Wars: Episode I Racer, where he was voiced by Tom Kane, who also provided the voice for another racer, Elan Mak, in the game.

The name of Paramita's species, Ciasi, first appeared in a 2006 Star Wars: Blogs fan article titled "Alien species concepts that became part of the SW universe," written by Tim Veekhoven as part of his Source Blog series. The blog detailed several Podracer pilots who did not make into the final script for The Phantom Menace. The blog entry was not considered canon, but with the release of The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia in 2008, the Ciasi were mentioned again under Paramita's entry, thus canonizing his species from the blog article.

"Pāramitā" is a word meaning "perfection" or "completeness" in Sanskrit. In Buddhism, the pāramitās are the perfection of certain virtues by an individual as a means of purifying karma on the way to enlightenment.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Episode I Racer