Abstalian Phoenix

The Abstalian Phoenix was a creature native to Abstalia, in the Unknown Regions. Rare and quasi-mythical among the natives Abstalians, it acquired prominence in Abstalian religion and society, and later became the symbol of the Golden Empire.

Biology and appearance
The Phoenix was a gigantic avian, with a wingspan over 15 meters and standing roughly 3 meters tall. Its body was covered with feathers; while those on its torso and the tops of its wings were blood red, the feathers on the bottoms of its wings came in all shades of fire colors, including red, orange, yellow, blue, and white. Though the feathers could not actually change colors in maturity, they seemed to ripple, giving the appearance of being actual flame to observing beings.

The Phoenix had a prominent tail and a crest on its head, and bright eyes which seemed to glow as if there was a furnace behind them. Like the Duinuogwuins, the Phoenix could generate superheated gases through its mouth, effectively breathing fire. It was also all but immune to heat itself; the creature lived inside volcanoes, and could even withstand the strike of a lightsaber blade without ill effect, though many blows on the same area could gradually destroy the molecules beneath. Though hollow, Phoenix bones were extremely strong, and a Phoenix could take a direct hit of a multi-ton boulder launched from a catapult with nothing more than momentary disorientation.

The Phoenix's natural lifespan was never recorded, but it was known to be able to live many centuries. The Phoenix reproduced through parthenogenesis; the mother Phoenix would carry an egg within itself throughout its life, which would remain intact after the mother's death. After a sufficient amount of time exposed to a heat source (usually centuries), the egg would hatch into a pure white Phoenix. The infant Phoenix would mature over decades, its feathers gradually acquiring other fire colors, but had immunity to heat from birth. The egg itself was also all but immune to harm, having a consistency harder than diamond. Due to this form of reproduction, when the egg could be nurtured to hatching only after the death of the mother, there was never more than one Abstalian Phoenix alive at a time.

The Phoenix could go months or even years without feeding, which led some scientists of the Golden Empire to theorize that they drew at least part of their nutrition from solar or thermal energy. However, the Phoenix also fed on meat, usually Abstalians or large herbivores or carnivores of its homeworld. Given that it was nearly immune to harm, the Phoenix was the apex predator of Abstalia.

Societal impact
Cave paintings and other early records demonstrated the existence of the Phoenix, and its predation on the Abstalians, by at least 5,000 BBY. Scientists were unable to find cave paintings before that time, and thus concluded that the Phoenix had been around as long as the Abstalians themselves, rather than emerging at that time.

Abstalians both revered and feared the Phoenix, respecting its power and majesty while living in terror of its attacks. While the Phoenix could be sated with even one or two beings as a meal, it could also just as easily wipe out an entire village if hungry or angry enough. By 2,200 BBY, it had become a law in every Abstalian tribe that any being who could kill the Abstalian Phoenix would rule the entire planet for the course of his life. Before 87 ABY, this had happened only twice.

In 87 ABY, Rin Sakaros arrived on Abstalia and accepted the challenge from the Abstalians to win their allegiance by conquering the existing Phoenix. After a grueling battle which featured the Sith witch scaling the Phoenix's volcano home, dodging boulders, battling it in midair, and losing her own lightsaber in a failed attempt to cut the beast, she finally sapped much of its strength with Force lightning and finished it by crushing its heart and lungs. She thus won the loyalty of the Abstalians and Abstalia became the first member world of the Golden Empire.

Awed and impressed by the Phoenix's power, and respecting its refusal to be defeated except by total destruction, Rin adopted it as the symbol of her entire Empire. She also took the Phoenix egg aboard her flagship, the Sith Star, in the hope of taming the next Phoenix from birth centuries later. She was given the title "Slayer of the Mighty Firebird" by her new subjects, but used it only rarely, as she considered her inability to tame the Phoenix a personal failure.

Rin theorized that the two previous conquerors of the Phoenix must have been strong Force-adepts as well, as she could conceive of no other way for the technologically primitive Abstalians to defeat such a creature.