Nuknog/Legends

The Nuknog were a bipedal reptilian species with small brains and short tempers. They originated from the planet Sump. They spoke Nuknog.

Biology and appearance
The Nuknog were reptilian and humanoid in outward body structure. The Nuknog's bulbous head featured a ridge along the centerline of the skull. Individual Nuknog stood approximately 1.2 meters tall. Their legs were short and stocky, and their necks were long and stretched. They possessed small brains, but despite their diminished brain capacity, they were capable of delicate, complex technical tasks. They also had keen eyesight and acute hearing. A Nuknog could live to be 65 or older, provided they left the contaminated ecosystem of the homeworld; life expectancy was halved for those who chose to remain.

History
In approximately 1,000 BBY, the Nuknog leadership sold their homeworld to a mining consortium in exchange for a support plan including employment, housing, and food. The employment eventually provided by the corporations in the consortium consisted of low-level mining and factory production jobs deemed too dangerous for company personnel. The company also provided cheap prefabricated barracks and meals made up of leftovers from other employees. The Nuknog labored diligently according to their agreement for centuries. Substandard mining equipment and nonexistent health care led to the deaths of untold thousands of Nuknog, but they continued on, insensible to the exploitative nature of the consortium.

It was not until a pair of Jedi visited the planet that the native population was made aware of their own plight. The Jedi reported to the Galactic Senate, which responded by quickly drafting legislation ordering the consortium to begin a program of reparations to the Nuknog, paying centuries' worth of lost wages and benefits. The corporations, deprived of their cheap labor and under the watchful eye of safety and health inspectors, dissolved soon after. The Nuknog were left poverty stricken and starving.

With their homeworld devastated by centuries of over-mining and pollution, and with no continuing support from the mining corporations to feed or clothe them, the Nuknog were left in dire emergency. Public awareness of the situation on Sump prompted a massive relief effort from the Republic in the form of food and planetary rehabilitation. The Nuknog, however, had little interest in supporting themselves, demanding instead a perpetual supply of food and supplies to replace the support of the mining corporations. Nuknog leaders were suspicious of the Republic; some suspected them of being exploiters like the consortium, and others blamed them for wrongfully depriving them of their only livelihood. As time wore on, the sympathy of the Republic faded, relief efforts ceased, and the Nuknog's resentment only grew. By the time of the Clone Wars, the Nuknog were long forgotten by the Senate.

Society and culture
Nuknog suffered from an inability to take into account their long-term well-being. They focused on their short-term needs and desires and were, throughout their history, easily manipulated. Nuknog resented other races and harbored a deep grudge against the Republic, who they blamed for most of their problems. Even after the dissolution of the mining consortium that kept their entire species in a state of perpetual indentured servitude, many Nuknog bought their way off homeworld by simply selling themselves into slavery.

Nuknog were impatient and possessed a unique ability to rush through complex tasks, entering a kind of trance of concentration.

Few Nuknog possessed the will, the drive, or the money to leave Sump. Some become slaves; others took up a life of crime. The podracer pilot Ark "Bumpy" Roose was a Nuknog, as was the Coruscant-based private detective Slyther Bushforb.

Common Nuknog names included Buhar Lod, Noop Warko, Po Nulnik, Skoo Runkin, and Vek Bolko.

Behind the Scenes
In the Game Star Wars: Episode I Racer, Nuknogs were wrongly portrayed as short, stubby, fat purple aliens.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Episode I Racer
 * Episode I: The Phantom Menace ½
 * Podracing Tales
 * Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
 * Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
 * The Order of Outcasts
 * Coruscant Nights II: Street of Shadows
 * Rebel Force: Target
 * Rebel Force: Target