Needan

Needan
Astrographical information
Region	Wild Space
System	Needan system
Suns	1
Grid square	I-20
Physical information
Class	Terrestrial
Climate	Cold
Terrain	Jungle
Surface water	Oceans
Points of interest	Dome-like habitats
Fauna	Canine pack animals
Societal information
Native species	Geelan

"I know for a fact that the Great Geel never leaves the Geelan homeworld."

―Personal addendum by Platt Okeefe

Needan was a Wild Space planet. A jungle world featuring massive oceans and numerous species of plants and animals, it was the homeworld of the sentient Geelan. Just as the Geelan civilization on Needan had entered the information age, a passing comet struck the planet, causing the climate to become permanently cold.

The Geelan survived the ensuing mass extinction of Needan's species by sheltering themselves inside dome-like habitats they constructed. Eventually, an Arcona-crewed medical starship picked up the Geelan distress signals, leading to a contact between the two species and a mass emigration of the Geelan from their doomed homeworld.

Description

Needan was an extremely remote Wild Space planet located in the dying Needan system. A beautiful terrestrial world orbiting a single life-giving star, two thirds of Needan's surface were covered by immense oceans that teemed with living organisms. Land on Needan featured jungles, which were also inhabited by countless plant and animal species. At some point, a species of canine pack animals lived on Needan, eventually evolving into the sentient Geelan.

History

A doomed homeworld

Needan was the homeworld of the Geelan species.

Not long after developing sentience, the Geelan followed their inherent pack instinct and formed cities on their homeworld. Disaster struck as the Geelan civilization was entering the information age. A passing comet impacted Needan, sending the planet into a wider orbit, on a trajectory rapidly carrying it away from its sun. The resulting permanently cold and winter-like climate led to the extinction of the majority of Needan's species, although the Geelan survived by building and retreating to dome-like habitats.

However, when the Geelan realized that the fuel supply on which they relied was rapidly dwindling, the species' scientists began sending out distress signals into outer space. The signals were intercepted by a medical starship crewed by members of the Arcona species, who tracked and followed the communication, leading them to Needan.

Needan's legacy

As a result of the following offworlder visit, the Geelan learned of and adapted galactic technology. The fact that their homeworld was dying led many Geelan to emigrate and explore the wider galaxy, as well as imbuing members of the species with a strong instinct for hoarding various possessions.

During the Galactic Civil War, the Geelan who held the title of Great Geel—the leader of the entire Geelan species—occasionally visited Zirtran's Anchor, a space station located near the Outer Rim Territories' Phosphura Belt Nebula. However, in a personal addendum to a document describing the space station, the smuggler Platt Okeefe claimed incorrectly that she was certain the Great Geel never left the Geelan homeworld.

Inhabitants

Needan was the homeworld of the Geelan, a species of sentient, bipedal canines. The Geelan were avid traders, and the entire species was ruled by a single leader known as the Great Geel.

Behind the scenes

Needan was first indirectly mentioned in "Zirtran's Anchor," a roleplaying game article written by Anthony P. Russo and published in the February 1995 fifth issue of West End Games' Star Wars Adventure Journal. Brian Smithson later identified the Geelan homeworld as Needan in the "Alien Encounters" feature of the May 1997 Star Wars Adventure Journal 13. The 2009 reference book The Essential Atlas placed the Needan system, and therefore the planet Needan, in grid square I-20.

Sources

• "Zirtran's Anchor" — Star Wars Adventure Journal 5 (First mentioned) (Indirect mention only)
• "Alien Encounters" — Star Wars Adventure Journal 13 (First identified as Needan)
• Alien Encounters
• The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia, Vol. I ("Geelan")
• The Essential Atlas
• Star Wars: The Essential Atlas Online Companion on StarWars.com (article) (backup link)