Srrors'tok

"Kneel &hellip; now"

- Ahnjai Rahmma Srrors'tok was the name of a sentient species of fur-covered, fanged, anthropomorphic felinoids native to the planet Jankok. They had a mostly non-technological society of hunters, characterized by their stern concept of honor and their life-debts. A Srrors'tok could be indentured to any being, which led to some Srrors'toks leaving their homeworld to travel with an alien who had saved their lives. Such was the case with Tyionsis Cex and Ahnjai Rahmma, two Srrors'toks serving the Galactic Empire during the Galactic Civil War.

Biology and appearance
Srrors'toks were sentient felinoids, although they had some anthropomorphic features. They were commonly 1.4 to 1.7 Imperial standard meters tall in adulthood, but they were usually burlier than a Human of comparable height. A Srrors'tok walked as fast as a Human. Having evolved from predatorial creatures, a Srrors'tok had a tail and natural fangs that could be used in combat to bite an opponent.

Srrors'toks easily endured high or medium temperatures, but were uncomfortable when naked in cold climates because they were covered with short natural fur that could not keep them warm. This pelage was commonly golden, yellow, or gray with shades of brown. They also had whiskers growing out of their cheeks. Certain Srrors'toks presented longer hair around their necks in the form of a mane, which did not share the color of the body fur.

Sometimes a Srrors'tok developed the skill of ventriloquism, being able to generate grunts from different positions in a nearby area. This could be used to confuse prey, making them believe that they were surrounded by several Srrors'toks.

Society and culture
"As &hellip; you &hellip; (growl) &hellip; wish, Lord."

- Ahnjai Rahmma to Antinnis Tremayne

The Srrors'toks lived in small groups that were linked by blood relations. The Srrors'toks in those tribes bonded with each other through certain activities, such as hunting with each other. For the most part, the Srrors'tok culture had not adapted to advanced technology by the time of the Galactic Civil War, although some individuals used blasters. Knowing that they were susceptible to cold weather, Srrors'toks commonly wore warm clothes when visiting inclement areas. Otherwise, Srrors'toks chose to avoid clothes and wore only bags for their tools of trade.

The language of this species, known as Hras'kkk'rarr, used the sounds that they could produce naturally and easily &mdash;namely growls, grunts, and clicks&mdash;combined in an intricate and elaborate way. To fully communicate concepts, Hras'kkk'rarr also used non-verbal communication, including body pose and gestures.

Honor concept
An unsparing concept of honor was the basis of the Srrors'tok society. A member of this species could never betray either any of his or her friends or any other Srrors'tok. A Srrors'tok could neither abandon any of these people to their fate. Some Srrors'toks were unable to even conceive the abstract idea of doing so.

An important part of this honor-bonded social structure was the Srrors'tok tradition of life-debts, which was in many senses similar to the Wookiee convention. If a Srrors'tok's life was saved by another person, the Srrors'tok was obligated to pledge their life to serve the savior, sometimes as a bodyguard. The life-debt only ended when either of the parties died. If the Srrors'tok was unable to fulfill the life-debt&mdash;either by choice or, more commonly, by impossibility&mdash;then the Srrors'tok was considered dishonored and was supposed to commit suicide as a punishment for the failure. Srrors'toks sometimes contracted a life-debt with a dishonorable person, an event that most Srrors'toks loathed; but, even in these cases, the Srrors'toks felt compelled to do their best to protect that individual.

Sometimes, a Srrors'tok contracted two simultaneous life-debts, and in some cases the beneficiaries happened to be enemies of each other. In this case, the Srrors'tok could decide to either consider the older life-debt to be canceled or to consider both life-debts to be canceled. However, Srrors'toks believed that contracting a second life-debt on purpose was a great shame, speculating that, should this be allowed, their society would became a labyrinth of interwoven life-debts leading to the end of their culture as they knew it.

History
The Srrors'toks evolved on the planet Jankok, located in the Bozhnee sector of the Outer Rim Territories. By the time of the Galactic Empire, Jankok had already been discovered by the galactic community. However, as the rainforest world had little resources of interest, it was only rarely visited. Extraplanetary arrivals commonly included scouts and some merchants who occasionally attempted to make deals with the native Srrors'toks. Due to this lack of interest, Jankok had no spaceport whatsoever.

Communication with aliens was not easy for the Srrors'toks, as their mouths had not evolved to pronounce Galactic Basic Standard with ease. The Srrors'toks only attempted to say complex words in Basic if they knew the listener was already familiar with Basic spoken with the Srrors'tok dialect.

Srrors'toks in the galaxy
Very few Srrors'toks ever left Jankok&mdash;partially because they had little chance to do so due to the light traffic to their native planet. Nonetheless, Srrors'tok itinerant traders were not unheard of, and a number of Srrors'tok families settled on planets other than Jankok, such as Sellasas.

Certain Srrors'toks traveled through the galaxy as a consequence of having a life-debt with a highly mobile individual. The Srrors'tok Ahnjai Rahmma contracted a life-debt with High Inquisitor Antinnis Tremayne and became Tremayne's bodyguard, buffoon, and occasional assassin.

A Srrors'tok with a life-debt might travel either in the company of that Srrors'tok savior or alone if the Srrors'tok could better serve the savior's interests by not being in the individual's presence. The Srrors'tok Tyionsis Cex, born into a family of traders on Sellasas, lost his relatives during a raid of the Rebel Alliance mostly directed against the local Imperial presence. Cex's life was then saved by Imperial commander Amara Jedselk and, due to his resulting life-debt to Jedselk, Cex eventually became an almost-independent bounty hunter, accepting works for the Empire and seeing Jedselk only infrequently.

Behind the scenes
The Srrors'toks first appeared in the 1993 roleplaying game book Galaxy Guide 9: Fragments from the Rim, by Simon Smith and Eric S. Trautmann, in which the species was exemplified by the character of Ahnjai Rahmma. The first illustration of a Srrors'tok was drawn by Mike Vilardi. The following year a new Srrors'tok, Tyionsis Cex, was mentioned in Galaxy Guide 10: Bounty Hunters. The species was further developed in another roleplaying game book, Alien Encounters (1998).