Drovian

"They're killers you hear? Murderers. Take it from me, Wormhead. You're an outsider. Keep your nose in your own business."

- Ism Oolos records an encounter with a Drovian in his journal

Drovians were a sentient species indigenous to the Outer Rim world Nim Drovis. Divided into two main tribes, they were members of the galactic community for many thousands of years. A civil war divided the two tribes for centuries, of such scale that virtually all Drovians were affected by it. This came to a head during the Death Seed crisis when the Gopso'o tribe almost gained control of the planet, while financed by the Loronar Corporation. The civil war was finally resolved by the New Jedi Order, and the Drovians remained part of the New Republic well into the Yuuzhan Vong War.

Most Drovians remained on their homeworld, but those found offworld were frequently involved in criminal endeavors, such as swoop gangs, gladiatorial contests, or working for underworld kingpins such as Jabba Desilijic Tiure. These occupations took advantage of their strength and size.

Biology and appearance
"Not a particle of difference between them, you understand, except that they have been at blood feud for, literally, centuries."

- Ism Oolos

The Drovian species was bipedal in form, with corpulent bottom-heavy physiques. They averaged twice the weight of a standard Human and were comparatively tall, averaging around two meters. Their stocky bodies were supported by two thick, trunk-like legs; a form of extremely strong tentacle. Each limb ended in three sharp, articulated pincers.

Drovians breathed through membrane-lined breathing tubes on their necks, often covered in mucus. Through these, most Drovians would suck fist-sized plugs of raw zwil. Zwil was a yellow cake flavoring agent from Algarine cuisine, smelling of cinnamon and vanilla, that had a mild narcotic effect on Drovians. Zwil was introduced by offworld traders and became so prevalent that virtually all Drovians were addicted to the substance. This led them to develop a more potent variation known as Drovian zwil, which had a narcotic effect on other species, too, such as the Shistavanens, and which soon became available on major worlds such as Coruscant.

Drovians had numerous sensory devices in their bodies, giving them exceptional aim and depth perception. Drovian skin pigmentation ranged from gray to orange. Tufts of dark hair grew from their heads, which was worn according to cultural affiliation&mdash;braided and long for Gopso'o tribesmen, compared with short-cut for the dominant Drovian tribesmen.

Society and culture
Drovian society had developed into a pastoral network of tribes by the time the Galactic Republic first made contact with them, with many tribes operating slugranches. The two major tribes were the Drovians&mdash;from whom the species name was derived&mdash;and the Gopso'o. Though only cultural differences separated the two tribes, war raged between them for hundreds of years. Though the exact origins of the war were lost over time, some believed it started as a dispute over the grammatical construction of the Drovian word for "truth": one side believed it was singular, and the other plural.

History
"I'm killin' those moldspawns because they killed my family, see? Because they disemboweled Garnu Hral Eschen, because they tore the flesh off the bones of the children of Ethras, because they&hellip;"

- Sergeant Knezex Hral Piksoar

The Drovian tribe was the first to make interstellar contact with the Republic, and as such it readily accepted Republic technology, forming a high-tech civilization and gaining dominance over their rival tribe. The establishment of the freeport Bagsho by Alderaanian colonists created ongoing opportunities to gain new technologies and to interact with the Republic for the Drovians, who subsequently adopted Galactic Basic Standard as their primary language, another sign of their embrace of the Republic, while the more primitive Gopso'o retained Drovian as their language.

Living on Nim Drovis, a hot, humid planet, prone to monsoons and flooding, the Drovians not directly involved in the wars, actively worked to exterminate the many forms of native mold. Carnivorous and mobile, these molds grew rampantly across the planet, their acid capable of eating through flesh. Both acid and flame-throwers were used to attack the plant-based pestilence, but, occasionally, Gopso'o used the molds to torture and kill captives. This burnt the bodies so badly that the corpses were unrecognizable.

Despite joining the New Republic, the tribal war continued. Such was the animosity that many Drovians believed the Gopso'o took pleasure in killing innocent family members of their enemies. During skirmishes, warriors often invoked the names of their murdered ancestors, shouted some of the Twenty-Five Personifications of Virtue, such as Truth and Beauty, or yelled some other choice oath such as "chunder". The civil war came to a head 10 months after the destruction of Admiral Daala's flagship over Yavin 4, when the Loronar Corporation organized planetary rebellions on a number of planets, including Nim Drovis.

Armed with new Loronar blaster rifles smuggled onto the planet, the Gopso'o launched a coordinated assault against the dominant Drovians. Bombing public buildings and using bilal and rush gas to raid the suburbs, the Gopso'o had numerous successes, including capturing a minor spaceport. Pinned down by the outbreak of the Death Seed plague and other conflicts in the Meridian sector, promised New Republic troops were unable to assist the beleaguered Drovians in Bagsho. Eventually, the Drovian government managed to drive the attackers back on their own.

Afterwards, in amends for the lack of aid and the damage caused by the Death Seed plague, the New Republic took a greater interest in Nim Drovis. In addition to financing a weather station to control the incessant teeming rain—enabling the prolific molds to be controlled—the Jedi Knights of the New Jedi Order negotiated an historic peace accord between the Gopso'o and Drovian tribes that continued into the Yuuzhan Vong War. Nim Drovis stayed in the New Republic and continued to host the Sector Medical Facility, where the Yuuzhan Vong defector Elan, and her familiar, Vergere, were first interviewed. During this period, slug ranching also became big business on Nim Drovis, made possible by the controlled weather.

Drovians in the galaxy
"It seems that you're standing in the way of my destiny."

- Silus threatens Darth Maul

Since contact with the Galactic Republic, Drovians spread out into the galaxy, able to be found on a number of Outer Rim planets such as Tatooine, and Taris. The Drovians on Taris were part of the Black Vulkars, a notorious swoop gang in the Lower City. In 3,964 BBY, they managed to apprehend the rogue Padawan Zayne Carrick and his Snivvian partner, Marn Hierogryph, both marked with large bounties for the murder of a number of Jedi Padawans. However, the pair successfully escaped from the gang-members, tricking them into believing a stash of spice was nearby. Later, Wargo, one of those Drovian gang members, was conscripted into the Mandalorian forces on Jebble.

Through their long war against the Gopso'o, many Drovians developed into tough fighters. A fine example of this, was the Force-sensitive Silus. Fighting in a gladiatorial competition, he combined his natural fighting abilities with Force tricks, killing numerous competitors such as the Aleena Tabor. When his dark Force abilities threatened to alert the Jedi Order, the Sith Lord Darth Sidious dispatched his apprentice Darth Maul to deal with him. In order to test Maul, the Drovian was offered the opportunity to displace Darth Maul if he could kill him. However, he proved to be no match for the Sith's abilities.

Another well-known Drovian was Kurjj, who worked as a mercenary for Jabba the Hutt during the last years of the Old Republic. It was during this period that Boba Fett first offered his services to the crime lord. When Fett stood his ground against Jabba, Kurjj tried to kill Fett using a litch-knife. Warned by Kurjj's hot breath on his neck, the young bounty hunter disarmed him, dropping him to the ground. After his defeat, Jabba condemned Kurjj to death by his pit beasts. Jabba was known to employ a number of other Drovians as guards and servants, although none dared challenge Fett after Kurjj's death. Drovians also operated on Cato Neimoidia as bounty hunters.

Notable Drovian soldiers included Ethras, whose children had their flesh torn off by Gopso'o, and Garnu Hral Eschen, who was disemboweled during the wars with the Gopso'o. Their descendant, Sergeant Knezex Hral Piksoar, worked for the New Republic on Nim Drovis. Piksoar and his squad greeted Han Solo when he landed in Bagsho with wounded from the New Republic cruiser Corbantis.

Piksoar continued his family's fight against the Gopso'o, resisting their uprising in 13 ABY. When Solo ventured into the city to discover what has happening across the Sector, Piksoar and his squad, together with Ism Oolos, accompanied him. Encountering Gopso'o, and roving molds, they successfully escaped through the squalid slums known as the Thousand Stinking Ditches.

During the Yuuzhan Vong War, many Drovians were employed at the Sector Medical Facility based in Nim Drovis' capital city of Bagsho, both as security guards and as secretaries. There, they aided Major Showolter and Doctor Saychel in interrogating Elan.

Behind the scenes
The Drovian species was created by Barbara Hambly in her novel Planet of Twilight (March 1997). Further detail on the species was given in The Essential Guide to Alien Species and The Essential Guide to Planets and Moons. They later made appearances in Boba Fett: A New Threat (which mistakenly spelled Drovian as "Drovion"), the Star Wars Tales story Marked, and the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic comic series.

The Essential Guide to Planets and Moons lists both Drovian and Gopso'o as separate species on Nim Drovis, but all other sources present them as different tribes, rather than different species.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic: Commencement
 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 22: Knights of Suffering, Part 1
 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 23: Knights of Suffering, Part 2
 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 26: Vector, Part 2
 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 27: Vector, Part 3
 * Boba Fett: Hunted
 * Boba Fett: A New Threat
 * Star Wars: Dark Times: Blue Harvest, Part 1
 * Planet of Twilight
 * Agents of Chaos I: Hero's Trial
 * Agents of Chaos I: Hero's Trial