Qiraash

The Qiraash were a sentient species of Near-Humans from the planet of the same name, with pale, pink skin. Their large craniums were bald except for hair growing from the back of the neck. Some Qiraash plaited this into elaborate top-knots. Leesub Sirln was a Qiraash with limited powers of precognition. High Inquisitor Antinnis Tremayne encountered Sirln and declared her a Force Adept. In order to avoid imprisonment or death at the hand of the Empire's Inquisitorius, Sirln went into hiding on Tatooine.

Biology and appearanceEdit

Leesub Sirln, in profile

The Qiraash were a sentient species of Near-Humans.^[1] They were humanoid—having two arms and two legs—but their pale, pink skin and large craniums set them apart from Humans. The Qiraash head was bald except for curly hair growing from the nape of the neck. Some Qiraash grew tufts of this hair long and wore it in elaborate coiffures. For example, the Qiraash female Leesub Sirln plaited it into a top-knot at the crown of her skull. From here, three smaller plaits ran toward the front of her skull; one each running along the sides of the head and down past the front of the ears, and the third running down the center of the forehead and ending just above the eyebrows.^[4] Qiraash facial features otherwise resembled those of Humans^[1] with high cheekbones.^[3]

The Qiraash were unable naturally to interbreed with members of the Human species; however, with a certain amount of genetic manipulation, such couplings could produce viable offspring.^[5] One Qiraash, Leesub Sirln, had limited precognition powers; these were interpreted by High Inquisitor Antinnis Tremayne as Force-sensitivity.^[6]

HistoryEdit

The Qiraash were known in the galaxy from at least 84 BBY, when Qiraash Doffen Gaitag oversaw construction of the space station known as the Wheel, which quickly became one of the most popular gambling dens in the galaxy. Gaitag eventually sold the Wheel to the J'feh crime lord Skijid Vrescot, and his granddaughter, Qimberly Gaitag-Delio, went on to become a celebrity attorney nicknamed "the Devourer".^[2] At one time, the Hutt Wallanooga^[5]—a slaver in the Outer Rim Territories^[7]—speculated that his slave Aurra Sing might have been a Qiraash/Human hybrid, despite the inability of the Qiraash genome to account for her longevity.^[5] Also during the Clone Wars, a Qiraash served as a bartender at a tavern on the Mid Rim planet Vaced.^[3]

A full-blooded Qiraash was the female Leesub Sirln, who was enslaved while only a youngling. During the administration of the Galactic Empire, Sirln encountered High Inquisitor Tremayne, who,^[6] suspecting the woman had precognition powers, declared her a Force Adept.^[4] The Inquisitorius was charged with hunting down Jedi and other Force-sensitives and either turning them to the dark side of the Force or eliminating them.^[8] Consequently, to avoid imprisonment or death, Sirln fled to the remote planet Tatooine, where she hid for many years in the town of Mos Eisley.^[6] She was present in Chalmun's Spaceport Cantina in 0 BBY when Obi-Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker chartered the services of Han Solo and Chewbacca for transit to Alderaan.^[9]

Behind the scenesEdit

Qiraash sketch — An early production sketch of Leesub Sirln

Only one Qiraash has appeared in Star Wars canon: Leesub Sirln. Originally identified only as "Weird Girl" in the production notes for Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope, she was filmed in London as an extra for the cantina scene. She can be glimpsed briefly in the film just behind Kenobi and Skywalker in Chalmun's Cantina.^[10] An early cut of the cantina sequence shows her more prominently, talking to Hrchek Kal Fas at the bar,^[11] and a production photo shows her standing in front of the Millennium Falcon, but these images were never part of the film.^[10]

Sirln's name and identification as a Qiraash did not occur until 1995 with the release of the of the first set of the Star Wars Customizable Card Game,^[10] in which she appears as a Light Side card.^[1] In addition to mentions in reference sources such as the Star Wars Encyclopedia and The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia, as well as some StarWars.com features, the Qiraash are also mentioned in Michael Reaves' Coruscant Nights II: Street of Shadows, published in 2008. In 2009, Sirln received an action figure as part of Star Wars: The Legacy Collection, and in 2011, a second Qiraash character was created by Ryder Windham for his young reader book The Clone Wars: Secret Missions 3: Duel at Shattered Rock.

Dining at Dex's, a Hyperspace-exclusive article released in 2009 mentioned Qiraadishes. The article's author, Gregory Walker, confirmed this was a play on the word "Qiraash".^[12] The in-universe connection between the vegetable and the species is not clear.