Kintan crusher

"Karagga the Beneficent places the highest priority on workplace safety!"

- Herald of Karagga, upon a group of interlopers attacking the Kintan crusher, Foreman Crusher

The Kintan crushers, also known as Kintan enforcers and a host of other names, were a species of powerfully built creatures from the planet Kintan in Hutt Space. They were related to the semi-sentient Kintan striders, a species they surpassed in intelligence. Indeed, the Kintan crushers' obedience and ability to follow complex orders made them a favorite source for enforcers for members of the Hutt Cartel, and the species had been subject to centuries of domestication by the Hutts by the time of the Cold War. Crushers were built to pound and bash: while their legs were short and stocky, their upper body and arms were immense and helped propel their meaty fists in combat. They became savage opponents in battle, slapping, stomping, and bashing foes and even causing minor groundquakes. Crushers varied in size from slightly taller than an adult Human to the truly gargantuan proportions. While the Hutts often employed beast masters to manage crushers in captivity, the species were capable of surviving in the wild by foraging. Crushers roamed the grounds of the palaces of both Fa'athra and Karagga the Hutt on the planet Nal Hutta. Among these, Foreman Crusher was the most immense and formidable, guarding the entrance to Karagga's palace until being defeated by a group of invaders. Kintan crushers also lived beyond the borders of Hutt Space during the Cold War and its aftermath, with one specimen roaming the Tomb area of the planet Belsavis, and another the Clabburn Tundra of the planet Hoth.

Biology and appearance
A species related to the semi-sentient Kintan striders, Kintan crushers were more intelligent than their cousins. They were powerfully built creatures who stood on two stocky legs that emerged from prominent buttocks and terminated in two-toed feet. Kintan crushers sported heavily muscled arms, and the four clawed digits of their hands closed into immense fists. Members of the species had a hunched posture with the head jutting from the domed midsection at a right angle to the torso. Kintan crushers had no appreciable neck. Their facial features were minimal: two small eyes and a large, horizontal slit for a mouth. Two sharp teeth jutted upward from the center of the lower jaw. A thick tongue lolled within the maw, ranging in color from pale yellow to pale blue. Crushers vocalized with a low, basso roar.

Kintan crusher hides came in a variety of colors, including brown and light blue. Some representatives of the species sported dark stripes that ran vertically along the back and the arms, while others had uniformly pigmented skin. The eyes featured a uniform pigmentation; various crushers sported eyes of brown, yellow, and blue.

Members of the species varied drastically in size. A smaller Kintan crusher stood slightly taller than an adult Human, while larger specimens could grow so large that the same Human only came up to the crusher's knee. Also varying with overall size were rows of spikes that grew along the spine, the upper arms, and the lower legs. In immense crushers, these protruded prominently from the flesh, while in smaller members of hte species, the spikes were only barely visible. Crushers often lumbered about on their hind limbs, but, when hurried, they used all fours, alternating their weight between their hands and feet as they ran forward. The largest specimens were capable of causing minor groundquakes with their movements.

Society and culture
Although they were more intelligent than the semi-sentient Kintan striders, Kintan crushers were nevertheless ferocious and animalistic creatures. In their natural state, they lived in the wilds of the planet Kintan, where they foraged for food and ate items from the ground. However, by the time of the Cold War, most crushers worked for various representatives of the Hutt Cartel. Their relatively high intelligence enabled them to follow fairly involved commands, but it also made them smart enough to expect some sort of remuneration for doing their masters' bidding. Rumors abounded as to how the Hutts and their minions paid their crusher forces, with guesses ranging from the ridiculous to the shocking. Crushers in the employ of the Hutts were sometimes accompanied by handlers; such crushers wore straps around the neck, upper arms, shoulders, wrist, and waist; their handlers could attack chains or ropes to these straps to subdue the crusher if need be. The species was also known as "Kintan enforcers," and several other appellations referred to at least certain segments of the population. Some of these names included Kintan beast slaves, Kintan behemoths, Kintan maulers, Kintan rock throwers, and Kintan warhounds.

Crushers were fierce opponents in battle. Their primary attack was to pound an enemy with their fists, but other tactics included slapping and stomping the foe, and either stomping or stomping the ground and force an opponent to fly backward. Kintan crushers also used their powerful upper body strength to lift large rocks and throw them overhead at an enemy. Another maneuver was to strike an enemy with the belly and feet to knock the foe backward. Crushers of adequate size were capable of creating minor groundquakes to damage nearby foes. They defended themselves by protecting vital areas with their meaty upper limbs. At least some crushers had the tendency to fly into a battle frenzy after they had sustained enough injury; in such a state, the crusher moved faster and hit harder.

History
The Kintan crushers were named for the planet on which they evolved, Kintan, a world became bathed in intense radiation when its star, M'dweshuu, went nova in the world's ancient past. The radiation wiped out most life on the planet; that which survived mutated into monstrous nightmares. Among the surviving species were both the Kintan crushers and a cousin species, the Kintan striders. The planet was also home to the sentient Nikto, who established themselves as the dominant form of life there by nearly wiping out all other living creatures on the planet. Around 25,100 BBY, Kintan became a contested target in a war between the forces of the Human warlord Xim the Despot and the Hutts, who both wanted control of Kintan's region of space, the Si'Klaata Cluster.The Hutts convinced the Nikto to swear fealty to them, and the Hutts and their servants bested Xim and his forces at the Third Battle of Vontor. Once Xim was defeated, the Hutts added the planet Kintan to their empire, which eventually came to be known as Hutt Space. Several centuries before the Cold War, the Hutts learned to domesticate the Kintan crushers and use them in their criminal endeavors. The crushers' homeworld remained part of Hutt Space for millennia, falling into non-Hutt control only briefly, when all of Hutt Space became part of the New Sith Empire from 1,004 to 1,000 BBY, during the New Sith Wars. The planet was once again part of Hutt Space by 52 BBY, and it remained so circa 25 ABY, when the sentient population of its immediate region was 10 to 100 million per star system. Kintan's status as a Hutt Space world lasted as late as 137 ABY.

Kintan crushers in the galaxy
"My lord Karagga is concerned at his guests' failure to observe safety protocols."

- Herald of Karagga upon a group of interlopers reaching Karagga's stable of Kintan crushers and their handlers

With more in Hutt employ than wild on their home planet by the Cold War, Kintan crushers were found throughout Hutt Space. The Hutts found them to be among their most loyal and reliable enforcers, and they often used them as muscle to fight their enemies. For instance, Sludge Kintan was a crusher who roamed the grounds outside Voontara Fa'athra's Fa'athra's palace in the Eastern Grime region of the planet Nal Hutta. An individual allied with the Sith Empire killed Sludge Kintan. By the time of the restoration of hostilities between the Galactic Republic and the Sith Empire, Karagga the Hutt, leader of the Hutt Cartel, had several Kintan crushers on hand to protect the grounds of his palace on Hutta. A group of associates known as the Monster Legion controlled and trained Karagga's crusher army; they consisted of Human and Weequay wranglers and their Human beast master superiors. The legion and their crushers roamed a yard near the runoff of the palace moat. The largest and fiercest crusher on Karagga's palace grounds was the immense Foreman Crusher, who guarded the entrance to Karagga's droid factory just beyond the moat area. A group of Twi'lek infiltrators handled the massive beast and kept him chained down unless needed. When a large group of hostile invaders penetrated the grounds of Karagga's palace, they overcame the Kintan crusher forces guarding the moat, prompting Karagga's handlers to release Foreman Crusher. The interlopers slew the beast in the ensuing battle, permitting them access to the depths of Karagga's greater palace.

Other crushers lived well beyond the bounds of Hutt Space. One example was a member of the species known as the Released Kintan Ancient. At the end of the Cold War, the crusher inhabited the Caves of the Primeval Wardens in an area of the planet Belsavis known as the Tomb. Before the end of the war, an offworlder encountered the Kintan Ancient and killed the crusher. During the same period, the enormous Kintan crusher known as Gargath patrolled a snowy region known as Gargath's Watch, part of the Clabburn Tundra on the planet Hoth. A group of offworlders confronted Gargath before the war's end, defeated the crusher and battle, and killed the beast.

Behind the scenes
"Foreman Crusher goes into a frenzy!"

- Battle narration during the fight with Foreman Crusher

Kintan crushers appear as enemy characters in Star Wars: The Old Republic, a massively multiplayer online role-playing game released by BioWare in December 2011. The species is named in an entry for the game's built-in encyclopedia, the Codex, after the player defeats the Released Kintan Ancient on Belsavis. Several enemy characters in the game use the same general appearance and animations as the Released Kintan Ancient, although none explicitly names a species. Instead, most of these enemy characters use the label "Kintan" as if it were a species name rather than a planetary designation. These include Sludge Kintan on the planet Hutta, and the Kintan behemoths, Kintan maulers, Kintan rock throwers, and Kintan warhounds found in the area of Karagga's palace in the multi-player operation "Hutt Hospitality." Finally, two of the characters are not identified by species at all: Foreman Crusher in the same operation&mdash;referred to in game statistics as "the Slavedriver" &mdash;and Gargath, a world boss on Hoth&mdash;called a "Snow Giant" in game text. Both of these latter two characters grant a Codex entry upon being defeated, but neither explicitly names the species. The only difference among all of these characters is in overall size and the length of their spikes, so this article treats them as members of the same species, as detailed in the "Kintan Crusher" Codex entry granted upon defeat of the Released Kintan Ancient. Completing the full storyline of The Old Republic only necessitates getting past&mdash;but not necessarily defeating&mdash;Karagga the Hutt's Kintan forces, except for Foreman Crusher, who must be killed. The operation is available to both the Sith Empire and Republic factions in the game, with little impact on the plot depending on the player characters' allegience. The other Kintan crushers in The Old Republic are completely optional encounters, but this article assumes all were defeated as part of complete game completion.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: The Old Republic