Wookieepedia:Featured article queue/Week 44, 2012/0

The Vodrans were a sentient species of egg-laying reptiles who evolved on the planet Vodran, in the Si'Klaata Cluster. The Vodrans were humanoid beings who stood no taller than a Human, but who exhibited several physiological differences from that species: monochromatic eyes; hard, leathery skin; underdeveloped facial muscles; and a ring of spikes around the face. While peaceful by nature, Vodrans made strong fighters. Most Vodrans considered the benefits of the collective before those of the individual, showing almost no individuality; the few freethinking Vodrans were considered pariahs and rogues by their fellows. One example, who lived during the Galactic Civil War, was the unbalanced Vodran Xenon Nnaksta, who became an officer in the Alliance to Restore the Republic.

Even before the establishment of the Galactic Republic, the Vodrans were slaves of the Hutts. The legendary Vodran warrior Kl'ieutu Mutela signed his whole species into servitude through the Treaty of Vontor, and the Hutts imposed their own culture upon the Vodrans and eradicated the reptilian species' independent civilization. The Vodrans believed that their partnership with the Hutts profited both sides, and as such the reptiles readily sacrificed their own lives in great numbers to preserve the ostentatious lifestyles led by their Hutt overlords, even though such wastrel-like activities were one aspect of Hutt culture that the Vodrans did not emulate.

The Hutts initally recruited the Vodrans&mdash;along with the neighboring Klatooinian and Nikto species&mdash;to fight the forces of the Human warlord Xim the Despot at the Third Battle of Vontor. After their success at Vontor, the three species were kept on retainer by the Hutts, commonly for use as enforcers or thugs. The Vodrans proved to be the most loyal slave species in the Hutts' retinue, and they never attempted any rebellion against their masters.