Barabel

Barabel
File:Barabel main.png
Barabel
Homeworld	Barab I
Language	Barabel
Average Height	1.9 - 2.2 meters
Skin color	Red, black, gray
Hair color	None
Distinctions	Scales, tail
Average lifespan	80 years
Known Members	List of known Barabels

The Barabel are a cold-blooded reptilian species from Barab I. Barabel are a vicious reptilian species with a hunting culture. On average, they stand over 2 metres tall and weigh 130 kilograms. Jagged, overlapping, keratin scales cover their bodies.

Overview

Barabel are known for their ruthlessness and hunting abilities. Famously mean-spirited. This normally manifests itself in direct physical confrontation, but Barabel have no qualms with property destruction, traps, indirect fire, or even crueler tactics. Outsiders sometimes confuse Barabel viciousness with stupidity. Though technologically primitive, Barabel are socially and economically adaptable. A Barabel trader will attempt to harm business rivals with rough negotiations in the conference room as zealously as she would rake with her claws in a fistfight.

Barabel live in cave complexes that honeycomb the planet's mantle. Their homes are not complex, or even all that comfortable to non-Barabel. They live in rock homes decorated with skins, bones, shells, and various artifacts from a lifetime of hunts. They organize themselves by clans, and several clans form communities that occupy entire cave complexes. Leadership is generally determined by combat, but clan elders can mitigate a leader's influence, both formally and informally.

The largest communities have as many as 10,000 people, but most number in the hundreds. Individuals rarely travel farther than a hundred kilometers from their home in their lives. However, nearly every community has or knows of a Barabel who has left the planet to work as a mercenary or bounty hunter.

History

According to Barabel legend, a small group of Jedi, came to Barab I during a civil war. The Jedi helped settle the civil war that had plagued Barabel society for thousands of years. Consequently, the Barabels held Jedi in high esteem and would accept a Jedi's judgment in any dispute.

After this contact with the Jedi, the Barabels had little contact with offworlders for centuries. Soon after the rise of the Galactic Empire, Planetary Safaris began organizing hunting trips to Barab I, with the quarry being the Barabels themselves. After a few Barabels were killed, the Barabel organized groups of hunters into armies which overwhelmed the safari ships. When an Imperial investigation revealed that the Barabels were sentient, the safaris were ended. An alliance was formed with the Galactic Empire and had the spaceport city ofAlater-ka built. Some Barabels began to go offworld, working as mercenaries and bounty hunters.

Biology

The Barabels were a bipedal race of reptilians who were covered in very tough dark colored scales. A blaster set on stun would not damage them at all or slow them down, as it would merely bounce off their scales. Barabels were able to shed their tails if necessary, an ability that proved the undoing of many a startled foe. They also possessed heavy retractable claws along with needle sharp teeth. Also, Barabels were known to have two stomachs.

For breeding, Barabels devised a system in which the nest eggs of two females are fertilized by two males. Subsequently, the four individuals protect the nest. Males not knowing which one was their young, the hatchlings take the name of their mother.

Society

Barabel society is ruled by clan life. Although they have no formal government, the most powerful and prestigious clans often decide important matters for the entire planet. Gaining prestige for one’s self, and by extension their clan, is usually an important factor in every Barabel’s life.

Prestige can be gained in any number of ways, but usually centers around combat in some form. A Barabel’s skill in battle or the hunt is the most common method of gaining prestige, but effective leadership or somehow bettering the Barabel people are also counted. When a Barabel reaches the age of three, it must perform the 3rd Year Rite. The 3rd Year Rite is a ceremony where the young Barabel must craft his or her own spear and kill a Durgolosk. Completion of this rite gains lots of respect for the individual and prestige for the clan.

Often the most prestigious Barabels are those who have left the planet. The clans attempt to keep track of every Barabel that leaves Barab I in order to see how they affect their clan’s prestige.

Barabels lose prestige by acting cowardly and otherwise showing weakness to others. Dishonesty and manipulative behavior, while not necessarily a detriment to prestige, can drop prestige if the Barabel chronically abuses it.

If a clan is completely wiped out, it is a common Barabel custom to never mention the clan by name again. This is done either out of respect or for fear of putting a curse on their own clan, depending on how and why the clan was destroyed. Only historians and storytellers can ignore this taboo without fear.

Only one clan of recent times is known to have been wiped out. The Kuraak were wiped out by Hutt-controlled slavers. Despite overwhelming numbers and the technological superiority of the slavers, the Kuraak fought to the very last member and dealt heavy casualties to the slavers. In the end, the slavers were only able to make off with one young Barabel. The Kuraak are remembered in stories and revered by other Barabel as a great clan.