Dovin basal

Dovin basals were strange creatures used by the Yuuzhan Vong.

Overview
Spherical creatures of varying size, dovin basals were able to generate powerful gravitational fields that were used mainly as propulsion devices and shields. They were capable of creating micro-black holes that could absorb laser shots at spacecraft, as well as almost anything else, from proton torpedoes and concussion missiles to whole ships and even small planetary bodies. They could also be used to interdict hyperspace travel. Groups of dovin basals were capable of generating Inhibition fields which served as a type of force field to trap enemies in certain areas.

Dovin basals could also dramatically drain deflector shields from nearby enemy craft. However an effective countering to the shield draining came with traditional New Republic ingenuity. By expanding the sphere of the inertial compensator to thirteen meters, it would protect the shields like it would protect against any other stress on the craft. However, if enough dovin basals locked their gravity beams onto the shields, the inertial compensator would expend too much energy, tearing the craft to shreds. Furthermore, they could be used as weapons against planets: a powerful dovin basal dropped on the surface of a planet could target a moon to slow it's orbit and cause it to crash on the planet, decimating both, in a tactic known as Yo'gand's Core.

Dovin Basals were grown in the company of yammosks. A yammosk would bond with the dovin basals to which it was assigned as it would its children; a well-kept yammosk produced faster dovin basals. The dovin basals used to propel ships were telepathically linked to the yammosk, which would propel the craft to keep its children from harm.

Related species
Master Shaper Nen Yim created a special breed of dovin basals which she installed on a captured Zonama Sekotan ship. This species were a prototype for a new type of dovin basal which were capable of collapsing gravity disturbances like those generated by an Interdictor.

Singularity mines were a small type of dovin basal used as mines that created a small quantum singularity to consume objects around it.

History
Dovin basals were first used as a devastating weapon on the planet Ygziir in the Yuuzhan Vong home galaxy, by the ancient Warmaster Yo'gand during the Cremlevian War. They were later used to power the exodus of the Yuuzhan Vong Worldships from their home galaxy to their Promised Land.

During the Yuuzhan Vong invasion, the alien invaders used the tactic against Sernpidal through its moon Dobido, and Kalarba through the orbiting Hosk Station and its living moon Indobok. The dovin basals proved to be a potent weapon of the dovin basals as they were used to strip the shields of enemy ships until the New Republic developed means to compensate for this advantage.

The planet Tynna was an ideal location for dovin basal growth, and its crystal blue waters were degraded to a sickly pale yellow by the Yuuzhan Vong while the native Tynnan stood by in fear. This allowed the Yuuzhan Vong Empire to grow dovin basals of suitable size for the conquest of Coruscant and to take out the planetary shield.

After the end of the Yuuzhan Vong War, it can be assumed all surviving dovin basals were transplanted on Zonama Sekot and melded with the planet. The planet also incorporated the dovin basals into its own ships.

Behind the scenes
In the game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, the character Canderous Ordo tells a tale of his Mandalorian platoon hunting Outer Rim Pirates, only to accidentally discover an asteroid about three meters in diameter that seems of a different origin. The "asteroid" then assaults the Mandalorian Platoon through fire, and escapes through hyperspace. It is possible, although uncertain, that this sighting was one of the earliest of the Yuuzhan Vong's recon missions to the galaxy. However, the game never elaborates further.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
 * Vector Prime
 * Star Wars: Chewbacca
 * Dark Tide II: Ruin
 * Edge of Victory I: Conquest
 * Edge of Victory II: Rebirth
 * Emissary of the Void
 * Star by Star
 * Dark Journey
 * Enemy Lines II: Rebel Stand
 * Traitor
 * Destiny's Way
 * Ylesia
 * The Final Prophecy
 * The Unifying Force