Heshoo

The Heshoos (//, singular "Heshoo") were a sentient race native to Harth Gool in the Unknown Regions.

Biology and appearance
Short compared to most other sentients of the galaxy, Heshoos stood between three and three-and-a-half feet (.91 to 1.07 meters) tall. They had rounded bodies with short legs and long arms; the tips of their fingers could nearly touch the ground with their arms held directly down at their sides. Each hand had six fingers, each foot four long toes. Heshoos walked with a gait described as "waddling", due to their short legs.

The most distinctive feature of the Heshoos was their three eye stalks. One protruded directly from the top of their heads, the others from near the ear on each side. The eye stalks could rotate to point in any direction, allowing the Heshoos to take in many elements of their surroundings simultaneously. However, for safe and coordinated movement, at least two eye stalks needed to be pointing the direction of movement.

Heshoos could have green, blue, or purple hides. They had no hair on their bodies, but their hides were rubbery, able to insulate them from water, temperate cold, and many chemicals. All Heshoos had yellow irises.

Heshoos had a natural lifespan of roughly forty standard years, reaching physical maturity around twelve years. They gave birth to live young, almost always one at a time.

Society and culture
Heshoo families tended to be fairly large, despite their relatively short lifespans; all members of a family occupied the same dwelling until the fourth generation, and most Heshoos had four or more children.

Societally, the Heshoos existed in groups called collect-families, which were not biological relatives, but large groups of Heshoos who treated one another as "extended family". A collect-family could be as a small as three families together, or large enough to cover a continent and function as a country. Collect-families formed and expanded to share the resources or skills of smaller constituent groups, for the benefit of all.

Naturally peaceable, Heshoos fought very rarely amongst themselves. Some smaller collect-families did not even have law enforcement bodies. Cooperation for mutual benefit was the norm, and while wars did exist sporadically through Heshoo history, most armies were mustered for the war in question and then disbanded immediately after.

Heshoo technology, though primitive compared to spacefaring races, harnessed the winds and rains of Harth Gool for a variety of purposes. Water- and wind-powered mills ground grain, turned turbines for boat engines, and moved land-based craft at a rapid (if sometimes difficult-to-control) pace. Heshoo homes were usually made with mud or clay, but they were capable of quarrying stone for artistic purposes, or structures which demanded greater stability, such as bridges.

Heshoos could speak Orhyo, but among themselves they usually communicated in their native language, Heshuub, which was described as "warbling" by Tariun Sakaros.

History
Heshoo societies evolved over the millenia before the Battle of Yavin; Royal scientists from the Golden Empire placed the earliest evolution of the species in its modern form no earlier than 23000 BBY. It was further theorized that the presence of Pseudo-kavam on Harth Gool helped to expedite the evolution of both the Heshoos and various other non-sentient fauna.

By roughly 92 ABY, 603 Heshoo independent collect-families dotted the globe, ranging from major country-sized units to villages. Some had unique languages, though all had adopted Heshuub as a worldwide trade language, and many were discussing the idea of worldwide unification. Around that 92 ABY, however, Harth Gool was conquered by Red Eclipse and the entire Heshoo species enslaved.

The Heshoos suffered myriad abuses under the rule of Red Eclipse. Many were exported offworld, and those who remained were organized into work camps. Several thousand were forced to construct a palace for the Red Eclipse Sector Captain (and later overall leader) Zhin-Vel. Worse still, many Heshoos had their two side eye stalks amputated, leaving them with only a single eye, on the theory that "they only need to see what they're working on", and because it restricted their depth perception and made their escape less likely.

The Heshoos languished under Red Eclipse's tyranny for over two decades, until Rin Sakaros began to hunt the slavers down. Having liberated a group of Heshoo slaves from one of her member worlds, she became aware of the plight of Harth Gool and ordered her Armada to find the planet. When it did, the Prime Fleet attacked and started the Battle of Harth Gool. After Rin sent broadcasting drones to the surface of the planet conveying what was happening—in Heshuub—many Heshoos revolted, and the ensuing chaos so reduced the effectiveness of the Red Eclipse ground force that, when Tariun Sakaros attacked with five Massassi Cohorts, casualties on the Royal side were almost nonexistent.

Rin took great pains to help the Heshoos rebuild their society, importing technology and giving aid from the Royal Integration Corps, as well as dispatching several Centurions of the Order of Keltrayu to assist with construction efforts. The Heshoos opted to remain a unified people, and each collect-family elected a representative to a worldwide legislature. Even after they decided to join the Golden Empire, most Heshoos chose to remain on Harth Gool, preferring their homeworld to other planets, though a few joined the Exploration Corps, hoping to bring the benefits of the Empire to other worlds.

When the kavam on Harth Gool was discovered, Rin immediately nationalized it all, as it was one of the two crucial ingredients of bacta. However, she gave the Heshoos the right of first refusal to harvest it, as well as the right to approve any off-world company which conducted harvesting operations. This not only provided an influx of credits, but also (as Rin intended) helped the Heshoos feel the masters of their own fates, with other species working under their direction, instead of the opposite.