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- "But it is unnatural. […] the radank claw, as it grows, appears to be developing characteristics of a radank as it would appear farther up the leg, as if someone were slowly re-creating the entire creature through the absorption of your body. It is an odd pathology."
- ―Shaper Nen Yim's analysis of Warmaster Tsavong Lah's radank claw graft
Radanks were non-sentient predators in existence by the year 27 ABY, during the Yuuzhan Vong War, when the Yuuzhan Vong invaded the galaxy of the New Republic. Radanks possessed clawed limbs and a proboscis, and Yuuzhan Vong Warmaster Tsavong Lah even replaced one of his arms with a grafted radank leg in a show of devotion to his gods during the war. In 40 ABY, after the war was over, at least one radank hunted in the undercity of the planet Coruscant.
Biology and appearance
Beast-like, radanks featured a thin proboscis and both forward and hind limbs. The front legs of the radank[1] were red in coloration and were covered in scales and spines. Additionally, the beast's forelimbs had articulated digits that were segmented unnaturally compared to those of a Human or a Yuuzhan Vong,[2] with each digit topped with a claw[3] that could be sheathed in the finger;[1] the digits of the claw resembled a pincer in some ways.[4]
Behavior
Non-sentient by classification, radanks were carnivorous in diet and occasionally hunted sentient beings. When startled, some radanks reared back on their hind legs and exposed their claws. Radanks also used their proboscises to sniff new prey.[1]
Radanks in the galaxy
Warmaster Tsavong Lah used a clawed radank leg in place of his left arm.
- "Our need will be great today—give him the arm."
- ―Tsavong Lah sacrifices his arm to his gods before replacing it with a radank leg
In existence as of 27 ABY,[5][6] radanks were known to the sentient Yuuzhan Vong by the time of their invasion of the galaxy. By then, some Yuuzhan Vong considered radanks as pests.[5] In 27 ABY,[6] as his forces assaulted the New Republic–allied planet of Borleias, Yuuzhan Vong Warmaster Tsavong Lah cut off his left arm at the elbow and grafted a radank leg in its place. Lah sacrificed his arm to his gods to assure victory over his foes, and the left arm was chosen because Borleias was the left half of a pincer attack that Lah planned in order to capture the New Republic capital planet, Coruscant.[5]
However, Lah soon encountered problems with the grafting, as the radank leg began to aggressively take over the upper part of his left arm due to sabotage by members of the Yuuzhan Vong shaper caste.[5] When Lah discovered the sabotage with the help of the shaper Nen Yim,[2] the warmaster had the shapers he believed responsible put to death, and Yim aided the warmaster in preventing the radank claw from continuing to claim parts of his arm.[4]
In 40 ABY, following the Yuuzhan Vong's defeat in the war, at least one radank existed on Coruscant, which the Yuuzhan Vong had been partially terraformed during the invasion. The radank dwelt in the planet's underworld and at one point was about to kill a Falleen when the Dark Jedi Alema Rar used the Force to throw a young Human at the beast after he and his brother offended her. This prompted the older brother to rush to his sibling's aid, and a fight ensued between them and the beast.[1]
Behind the scenes
The radank species first appeared in the form of Warmaster Tsavong Lah's claw-grafted arm in Star by Star, a 2001 novel written by Troy Denning as a part of The New Jedi Order series. The claw later appeared in other books in the series, but the creature itself did not make an appearance until Legacy of the Force: Tempest, another novel by Denning that was published in 2006. The radank received its own entry in 2008's The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia. Although most creatures used by the Yuuzhan Vong were known to have come from the Yuuzhan Vong's home galaxy, no source confirmed this for the radank, and no source depicted Lah with the radank claw.
Appearances
- The New Jedi Order: Star by Star (First appearance) (as claw)
- The New Jedi Order: Dark Journey (as claw)
- The New Jedi Order: Enemy Lines I: Rebel Dream (as claw)
- The New Jedi Order: Enemy Lines II: Rebel Stand (as claw)
- The New Jedi Order: Destiny's Way (as claw)
- Legacy of the Force: Tempest
Sources
Notes and references
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Legacy of the Force: Tempest
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 The New Jedi Order: Enemy Lines I: Rebel Dream
- ↑ The New Jedi Order: Destiny's Way
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 The New Jedi Order: Enemy Lines II: Rebel Stand
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 The New Jedi Order: Star by Star
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 The Essential Reader's Companion