Jenet/Legends

The Jenet were a rodent-like sentient species, best known for their exceptional memories and their nature as scavengers. Originating on the planet Garban in the Tau Sakar system, they soon colonized the other six habitable planets that orbited Tau Sakar. There, they continued to build their Community Heaps, filled with scavenged and discarded items.

Jenet were often regarded by other species as ugly and quarrelsome. They had pink skin, red eyes, and sparse white fur which grew more thickly on their heads. They had prominent whiskers which twitched as they spoke. As scavengers, they could digest almost any form of organic matter. Jenet were had keen eyesight, hearing, and smell, and were excellent runners, climbers, and swimmers. They were also very flexible, able to squeeze through openings as narrow as twelve centimeters by disjointing their long limbs and separating their cranial plates. All of these advantages helped the primitive Jenet to evade predators.

Perhaps the most notable Jenet trait was their extraordinarily accurate and detailed memories. Jenet never forgot even the most trivial piece of information. Though this held many obvious advantages, it also meant they never forgot even the smallest insult, and therefore could hold grudges for a long time. Since they could easily recall any bit of information about another person, Jenet freely insulted each other. Exchanges of insults were a common social interaction among Jenet, since an insulted Jenet could usually recall some insulting fact about the first Jenet. When dealing with non-Jenet, however, this Jenet trait often came across as completely tactless. Jenet took pride in being worthy of an insult, for it proved they had gained enough notoriety to be worth insulting.

When Jenet were introduced to each other, a complete record of their accomplishments was given as part of their name. With this information, Jenet could tell where another Jenet was placed in their complex social hierarchy. Accomplishments which increased status required two other Jenet as witnesses. To avoid fraud, Jenet were never allowed to introduce themselves. Pairs of Jenet could work together for years without knowing each others name, simply because a third Jenet acquainted with them both was unavailable. Of course, this did not entirely prevent Jenet from dishonesty, as they frequently exaggerated the accomplishments of their friends.

Primitive Jenet once lived in underground warrens to avoid predators, but were eventually forced to the surface due to overcrowding. Their fast population growth was a consequence of short gestation periods (90 days), rapid maturation (a Jenet could walk at two months of age, and was mature at one year), and their tendency toward multiple births (four to six Jenet in a litter.) Due to their high rate of reproduction, isolated groups suffered from ill effects of inbreeding. Jenet warrens traded youngsters to keep new genes flowing.



Even after becoming a civilized culture, Jenet were scavengers by nature. They never discarded anything: whatever they acquired was kept in their homes or in large piles in their community's warrens. These Community Heaps, filled with broken tools, leftover food, empty containers, and the like, were common property, Jenet enjoyed rummaging through them to find something useful.

The Jenet were ruled by a Premier and a Council of 127. It is unclear how they were selected, though all Jenet knew who they were based on the accomplishments listed in their names. The Council oversaw a huge bureaucracy whose members ran the Community Heaps, and remembered as much information as possible about other Jenet.

Thanks to overwhelming numbers and technology, the Jenet soon exterminated their homeworld's native predators. Once Garban was overpopulated, they colonized the rest of the system. After they developed hyperdrive (whether on their own or by scavenging it from another species' refuse) they spread out into the Galaxy. Jenet away from Tau Sakar system used their memories to work as bureaucrats, administrators, astrogators and spies. One such Jenet spy, known only as "Jen", was a servant of Bwahl the Hutt.

During the Galactic Civil War, the Galactic Empire took the Tau Sakar system and its people under their "protection", to shield them from "marauding Rebels". In reality, the Jenets were enslaved by the Empire to mine the planets of their system. The Empire found the Jenets to be useful slaves on other planets as well, and tried to increase their usefulness by selectively breeding them to increase their pacifist tendencies and decrease their intellects. Jenet slaves were often forced to work in dangerous conditions.

Appearances

 * Spare Parts
 * Droid Trouble
 * Zorba the Hutt's Revenge
 * Ylesia
 * Or Die Trying
 * The Unifying Force
 * The Unseen Queen
 * Tempest