The Aan, sometimes called Aanians, were the higher of two near-Human races on the planet of Aantooine, the other being the Tooin race. Many tens of thousands of years before the Battle of Yavin, the Aan engaged in a series of wars and battles with the Tooins, claiming control of various planets across the galaxy. At some time afterward, they and the Tooins were effectively rendered extinct.
Biology[]
Physically, they were nearly identical to the Tooins, except for a brightly colored frill that ran down their backs. Red was a highly esteemed color for Aanian frills, and those with deep red frills became priests. The frills also grew as one aged and produced several striations of different colors as they endured stressful situations. The more striations, the more experience one had with life, and would have been viewed with even greater potential or strength.
In this sense, stress was encouraged, and as a result, Aan tended to be more moody and sometimes violent. In certain instances, an Aan too stressed out would have their frill begin to crack, and would have to be repaired. Those individuals would not be allowed to continue living nearly as harshly, but rather to prepare their children and grandchildren for Aanian society. The separation of a child's first striations was an important event in their early lives and was usually celebrated.
In order to identify one's self and status as an Aan, it had to be revealed by removing the top garment, or by unzipping specially designed clothing with a flap in the back.
History[]
The Aan and the Tooins both descended from a master species, unknown to experts, that split genetically into frilled and non-frilled varieties.
Their frills gave them great opportunities in a world with two distinctly unique races, and the Tooins, due to this lack of extremity, were cast down in Aantooinian society. Aan politicians were elected, and the economy took a favor to the frilled race. Tooins were restrained eating the same delicacies, purchasing the same items, or working in the same places. Eventually the government became downright totalitarian due to this extreme bias and discrimination, resulting in the Aan Empire.
The Tooins sought their last hope, their own gods, but they were still the gods of the Aan and not their own. Tooins renamed the five moons above the planet to indicate the love of their newly reformed deities in their lunar images. This infuriated thousands of Aan, beginning a series of terror runs that killed those loyal to the Tooin bastardization of their religion. Priests of both races would often fight each other to the deaths. Aanian troops became stationed at major zones where violence was prone to break out, with the command to kill on site forcing many to stay inside and either scavenge for food in the alleys or starve to death.
The Tooins, upset over the destruction of their free world, officially declared the formation of an army to defend themselves and become self-sufficient in new colonies. Aan officials seized these new cities, destroying what they could find, and leaving the Tooins for dead. The army, ordered by Tooin commander Brysio Rayan, stormed the capital of Antoo. The Aan fought back and secured the capital but by then, the Tooins had begun to take the war to the next level: space. Fortunately, the Aan were able to hold the Tooins to the planet before the leap to galactic warfare.
Both the Aan and the Tooins fought over disputed territories in the Galaxy, each naming a planet or system they controlled. The Aan secured planets from Alderaan to Endoraan, most in the Core Worlds, while the Tooins did the opposite and moved out towards what later became the Outer Rim Territories.
As attention waned from Aantooine, a new species of beings began to populate their homeworld. Known as the Skeen, these demonic creatures could fly through the air, attacking towns and villages from the skies. Aanian troops were urgently requested to return to Aantooine to defend their cities. Simultaneously, Tooin forces wanting to reclaim their lands also returned to the planet and joined forces with the Aan for the first time since before the events that led to their war with each other. However, even the combined forces of the Aan and the Tooin could not hold off the gargantuan amounts of Skeen that had collected on the planet, and all forces were wiped out. Those that remained on the colony worlds would later be subsumed by new waves of aliens, particularly Humans. Over time, Humans would also colonize Aantooine, yet were unaware of the impending threat of Skeen still inhabiting the planet.
The Aan and their brethren, the Tooins, would be forgotten until the arrival of the Spalgar on Aantooine.
Culture and religion[]
Aanian religion, like the Tooins', was polytheistic. Deities which controlled certain parts of the universe were praised and various things were named for them in their honor, particularly conquered worlds. Man, Lain, Palan, Ta, and Yan were all gods of both the Aan and the Tooins. When the two races separated and began to fight each other, the Tooin claimed certain deities for themselves and prayed for the destruction of their enemies through them. Naming their new home planets for their gods was their way of respecting them.