Duinuogwuin–Gotal conflict

"Assisted Jedi Master Tra's M'ins in mediation of Duinuogwuin-Gotal conflict 1\68 to 4\66 PE."

- Galactic Senate records on Jorus C'baoth

The Duinuogwuin-Gotal conflict was a short, yet devastating war that opposed the Duinuogwuins and Gotals, two otherwise friendly species, in the last decades of the Galactic Republic. It was settled before 27 BBY thanks to the intervention of Tra's M'ins and Jorus C'baoth, two Jedi diplomats mandated by the Republic.

History
The Duinuogwuin-Gotal conflict was a full-scale, two-year long war that took place at some point before 27 BBY. That conflict was between the Gotals, horned humanoids native to the moon Antar 4, and the Duinuogwuins, a species of winged, serpentine beings. The latter were normally reputed for being friendly and gregarious with strangers, and the Gotals were usually diplomatic and polite when interacting with members of other species.

It was speculated that the reason of this conflict between two otherwise peaceful species was related to the sensitivity of the Gotal hed cones. In fact, the Gotals used their nerve-filled horns to sense their environment, and also to interpret the emotions of each others. According to the old myths, their sensory horns could even detect evil. In truth, the Gotals still had a hard time when dealing with the emotions of other races, often mistaking mere affection for love, envy for murderous intent or mild anger for imminent violence. It was thought that such an infortunate quid pro quo may have started the Duinuogwuin-Gotal conflict.

Although brief, the conflict between Duinuogwuins and Gotals was devastating. Eventually, the Galactic Republic sent the Jedi Masters Jorus C'baoth and Tra's M'ins to mediate a peace. It was C'baoth, an experimented diplomat who had notably taken part in the demobilization of the planet Ando, who managed to arrange an end to the hostilities. Even following the resolution of the conflict, though, the difficulty that Gotals experienced in interpreting the emotions of others became the source of new frictions. Indeed, just prior to the start of the Clone Wars in 22 BBY, a group of Gotal extremists known as the Roshu Sune engaged in a bloody clash with the Jedi Order.

Behind the scenes
"One of the more subtle goofs in Heir is in the dating. [...] Personally, I put it down to the chaos of information loss during the Empire, and sloppy work on the part of post-Empire historians."

- Timothy Zahn

The Duinuogwuin-Gotal conflict was first mentioned in the 1997 novel Dark Force Rising, the second installment of Timothy Zahn's Thrawn Trilogy. In that book, the conflict was said to have taken place between 68 to 66 "Pre-Empire."

However, Zahn's original dating was based on when he believed the Clone Wars had occurred. By then, the definitive time line of the Clone Wars had not been settled yet, and Star Wars authors were told that the conflict had taken place thirty-five years before Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. With the release of the prequel trilogy between 1999 and 2005, it was revealed that the Clone Wars ended only nineteen years before Episode IV. Therefore, all the dates featured in the Thrawn Trilogy were rendered erroneous. In his more recent Outbound Flight novel, Zahn placed the death of Jorus C'baoth in 27 BBY. Since C'baoth helped resolve the conflit, it must have happened before that date.

The location of the war is currently unspecified, but it is known that the Gotals' homeworld was located in the Inner Rim region of the galaxy. The Duinuogwuins, however, have no known planet of origins, although they were known to have adapted to a great variety of worlds, including the Inner Rim planet of Cona.

Appearances

 * Dark Force Rising