Quarren/Legends

"I saw my people living in the shadows, letting riches and glory go to the pompous Mon Cals. I watched as my people&mdash;we&mdash;built their cities and labored for their dreams."

- Seggor Tels

Quarren or Qarren were one of the sentient species from the planet Dac, also known as Mon Calamari. They shared Dac with another sentient aquatic species, the Mon Calamari.

Appearance and physiology
Quarren were aquatic humanoids with squid-like heads, four tentacles on their faces, and leathery skin. The species were also able to change the color of their skin during mating rituals. The average Quarren lifespan was 79 standard years. Having evolved in the depths of Mon Calamari, they could descend to depths of 300 meters without any breathing or pressure apparatus. However, when descending to 50 meters or deeper, they had to spend as much time decompressing as they spent under 50 meters of water to allow their bodies to readjust to the lower surface pressure.

Culture and history
In comparison to their Mon Calamari neighbors, the Quarren were isolationist. They preferred the depths of their ocean homeworld to the shallow seas and the planet's few islands. They rarely invited guests to their domain. The Quarren also spoke their native language more frequently than Basic, in contrast to the Mon Calamari who spoke Basic more often.



The Quarren evolved in the depths of Dac's oceans. They shared the planet with the Mon Calamari, the Whaladons, the Moappa, and the Knowledge Bank. When they were first discovered by the Mon Calamari (who evolved in the shallow parts of the ocean and on Dac's few islands ), there was conflict between the two species. Circa 4,500 BBY, the Quarren attacked the Mon Cals. However, the Mon Calamari, though less aggressive by nature, had much better technology, and won the war. In order to prevent future wars, the Mon Calamari took hundreds of young Quarren prisoners, taught them the ways of Mon Calamari civilization, then let them free. After the re-educated Quarrens gained control over Quarren civilization, peace between the two peoples continued for centuries (though it was sometimes a tense relationship).

The planet was discovered circa 4,000 BBY. In 532 BBY, many Quarren and Mon Calamari were taken as laborers to Lamaredd. Later, Dac joined the Galactic Republic and eventually gained representation in the Senate. During the last decades of the Old Republic, the government of Dac, and its representation in the Galactic Senate, was shared between the Mon Calamari and the Quarren.

Just before the Clone Wars, the corrupt Quarren Senator Tikkes allowed Thalassian slavers to operate in Calamari Sector, and defected to the Confederacy of Independent Systems as leader of the Quarren Isolation League after being forced out of office. A civil war on Dac ensued, with the Republic loyalist Mon Calamari Knights joining Republic forces against the Quarren Isolation League and Separatist Mon Calamari led by Merai. After the Republic victory at the Battle of Mon Calamari, new accords between the Quarren and Mon Calamari were signed, with pro-Republic Senators Tundra Dowmeia (a Quarren) and Meena Tills (a Mon Calamari) jointly representing Dac in the Senate. Despite this, Free Dac Volunteers Engineering Corps, an organization of predominantly Quarren exiles on Separatist worlds continued to support the Confederacy of Independent Systems by manufacturing most of its warships. As a result of these, Quarrens were among the species deported and banned from entering Coruscant by Tannon Praji, under pressure from the Human-supremacist Commission for the Preservation of the Republic.



With the dawn of the Galactic Empire, Imperial forces invaded Dac. This was fueled by the humanocentric Imperials seeing the people of Dac &mdash; the Mon Cals in particular &mdash; as slaves whose industries and resources could be used to power the Imperial war machine and that both of Dac's senators signed the Petition of 2000. Some sources indicated that Quarren agents, motivated by their hatred and jealousy of the Mon Calamari sabotaged the planetary shields before the Imperial attack. Seggor Tels, a Quarren leader, later admitted to being one of these saboteurs.

Both the Quarren and the Mon Calamari were enslaved by the Empire. The Mon Cals led a passive resistance movement, but they were unsuccessful. Emperor Palpatine ordered three Mon Calamari cities to be destroyed in reprisal. However, many Quarren joined the Mon Cals in driving the Imperials off Dac. Seggor Tels was one of the Quarren leaders who rallied the Quarren to resist the Empire. After the liberation of Dac, many Quarren wanted nothing to do with the Rebel Alliance, or later, its successor government the New Republic. As a result, many Quarren left Dac to for other worlds and to avoid the Imperial reprisal that was sure to come.



After the reborn Emperor Palpatine's assault on Dac in 10 ABY, the Quarren threatened to leave in a mass exodus though it is unknown how many actually did. Eventually, many Quarren could be found scattered among the many worlds of the galaxy. The Quarren population that continued to thrive on Dac were still loyal to their people, but personal and cultural relationships began to blossom between the Quarren and the Mon Calamari. The most famous such relationship was the romantic relationship between the male Quarren Nrin Vakil and the Mon Calamari female Ibtisam, both of whom were members of the elite Rogue Squadron.

During the Yuuzhan Vong War, a Quarren Pwoe represented Dac alongside the Mon Calamari Gron Marrab. After the loss of Coruscant to the Yuuzhan Vong, Pwoe tried and failed to usurp the New Republic Presidency and eventually joined the Ylesian Republic on Ylesia. His Mon Cal counterpart, however, remained loyal and represented his homeworld in the Senate of the Galactic Alliance.

By 130 ABY, Quarren were present in the galaxy with many being mercenaries. At least one became a member of the New Sith Order.

Notable Quarren



 * Tikkes
 * Tundra Dowmeia
 * Tessek
 * Akul Witig
 * Nrin Vakil
 * Pwoe
 * Wirriz
 * Visquis
 * Saquesh
 * Loppak Slusk

Behind the scenes
In Star Trek: Voyager, there is also a species called the Quarren.

Although George Lucas gave the name Mon Calamari to Admiral Ackbar's people, it would seem more appropriate for the Quarren, since they resemble squids.