Croke civil war

Factions of the Croke species began a civil war against one another some 300 years before the Galactic Civil War. During these hostilities, some Croke groups unleashed Lugubraa mercenaries on their enemies, hoping the ravenous marauders would decimate their targets' planets. The technique backfired, as the Lugubraa, whom the Croke called the Leech Legion, proved even more successful than had been intended, turning on their masters' worlds in the Croke Reach as well. The Croke, regardless of their side in the civil war, found themselves fighting the Lugubraa to secure their very survival. These hostilities continued long past the Battle of Yavin.

The Croke turned to the cloners of Kamino for help against the Lugubraa menace. They commissioned genetically modified Lugubraa soldiers to turn on their mainline brethren, and the Kaminoans sold them a strain of Lugubraa known as the blind berserkers. Nevertheless, these too proved more destructive than anticipated. Among the Croke planets affected by the Lugubraa was Explume Minor, where the Shell Conjurer Firtha ordered the cloaking and evacuation of Croke nestlings.