Laatl

The Laatls (//, singular "Laatl") were a sentient amphibious species native to Laikeer in the.

Biology and appearance
Laatls had smooth, rubbery skin which was slippery to the touch when they had been in water recently. Though mostly, their feet had only two long toes, with webbing between. They had three fingers and a thumb, and all four digits had sticky suction cups on their tips. Their fingers were also webbed, though not as completely as their feet. They had glossy black eyes, and though their heads lacked ears, they did have ear holes. Their skin had spiny barbs, with each Laatl having a slightly different pattern of them, although barbs on the arms, head, and thighs were very common. The barbs were mildly venomous to most humanoid species.

Among the most distinguishing features of the species to other sentients was gills. Laatls could breathe perfectly underwater, their gills filtering the oxygen out of the water. On land, their breathing was more difficult; their lungs were rudimentary, able to sustain short-term terrestrial ventures but not a permanent surface existence. However, passing water through their gills at the same time as breathing open air removed this impediment, and Laatls planning long-term surface ventures created a number of breathing aides.

Laatl senses were evolved for an underwater existence, and as such were unusual for surface-dwelling creatures. Since their homeworld was constantly overcast and there was little ambient light in Laikeer's oceans, the Laatls saw in the infrared spectrum, rather than in color. Their hearing was also designed to work underwater, and many Laatls on the surface found that they heard sounds through open air with too much precision, and many sounds seemed much louder to them than to anyone else. Consequently, some surface-going Laatls elected to plug their ear holes or wear other sound-dampening apparati when outside the water.

Laatls mated for life, and females laid eggs in clutches of up to a dozen. Young Laatls emerged from their eggs as limbless spawn, which would mature to their adult form in roughly six standard years. Only after the transition were they introduced to society, and they continued to grow into their new bodies until they were approximately twelve standard years old. Spawn Laatls did not always survive to maturity, falling prey to everything from powerful or cold ocean currents to birth defects to smaller predators, although most Laatl nurseries were well-guarded and located inside cities whenever possible.

Society and culture
Laatl cities existed all over Laikeer, usually in the first kilometer or two below the surface. Originally made from coral and other organic growths, they expanded as needed in all directions; the largest were enormous beehives of activity which even natives could spend an entire lifetime trying to learn and still not know completely. Some of the oldest and most politically powerful Laatl families had entire sections of their cities to themselves.

Though dominantly carnivores, Laatls also ate fungi. Their diet was dominated by fish and other, insentient amphibians, and most cities were built around fish migration patterns, or had enormous underwater breeding zones. Both fungi and animals from the surface and fish from deeper in the oceans were considered delicacies, and a specialized business developed trying to harvest supplies of the most succulent fish from the dangerous deepest depths of the ocean.

Despite their predatory nature, Laatls rarely engaged in warfare with one another; the oceans of Laikeer were vast enough that cities could expand almost indefintiely without encroaching on the territory of others. When wars did erupt, they were usually for control of the best fishing areas or places around volcanic vents, which provided a slightly warmer locale as well as different cooking opportunities for fish. Within their cities, on the other hand, crime was a persistent issue, and Laatl law enforcement bodies were numerous and well-armed in every city. Poaching of protected species came to be a problem in areas which had been over-farmed.

Laatls generally avoided the surface of their homeworld, unless they were harvesting exotic food or interacting with offworlders. When such trips were inevitable, however, they wrapped their necks with the native quorbl weed, an underwater plant with the ability to retain a disproportionate amount of water. With the damp weed covering their gills, they were able to breathe the surface air much more easily, and the weed itself would usually take days to dry out. Quorbl weed grew only in certain types of silt, and such deposits were highly prized by the Laatls.

History
Biologists studying Laatl evolutionary history were divided on whether the Laatls had simply been evolving toward a surface-based existence with fully functioning lungs when their homeworld underwent its cataclysmic shift to being rain-soaked and water-dominated, or whether they had actually made the leap and then evolved back to a stronger reliance on gills. Either way, the Laatl society that interacted with the galaxy beyond was the product of millennia of existence in the water, with only rare trips to land.

Laatl cities develop tethered to continental shelves or ocean floors to prevent them from drifting around the oceans; the largest grew around thermal vents and the points where migratory patterns converged. As their cities grew, the Laatls experimented with different means of keeping their cities tethered, using varieties of high-strength seaweed. They also discovered the use of the quorbl weed some thousands of years before the Battle of Yavin and began cautious ventures to the surface. Attempts to build sustained communities on the surface, both build on land and floating on the waves, were universal failures.

In 106 ABY, delegates from the Golden Empire arrived on Laikeer and, after a long process of trying to arrange a mutally breathable atmosphere, met with representatives of the Laatl cities. Intrigued by the prospects of importing different foods and high technology, as well as enriching themselves by exporting their own foodstuffs offworld, the Laatls agreed to join the Empire. Each city remained independent of its neighbors, though all were unified under the governance of a Royal Consul. After the post of Tribune was created in 127 ABY, each city's leadership oversaw the voting process for the world's Tribune.

After joining the Empire, the Laatls imported a good deal of technology, using durasteel to firmly anchor their cities. The cities themselves lost their solely organic nature, becoming a mixture of technology and natural resources. Visitors to Laikeer were rare and immigrants almost unheard of, though the Laatls did allow a number of Zwushtu to move into the deeper oceans of their homeworld. After Pughe was incorporated into the Empire, the Laatls also started a cautious exchange program with the native Albierus.

In the galaxy
Most Laatls remained on their homeworld, uncomfortable breathing the air of most other worlds even with assistance. However, some enterprising Laatls established colonies on other worlds with sufficiently large oceans. A very few took to living outside the water for extended periods, using either quorbl weed or mechanical devices to aid their breathing; the most famous of these was the Centurion and Royal Guard Kelto Nembask.