Despite their recent addition to the Order, Gungan Jedi have already proven to be a proud and honorable addition to our Order. The Gungans are a strongly cultured race, and bring with them a rich history of art, combat training, and development.
—Jedi Knight Horen Hote, writing about Gungans in the Jedi Order.
Gungans were a race of amphibian from the terrestrial world of Naboo in the Mid Rim region of the galaxy. An isolationist species for most of galactic history, the Gungans only began to become involved in the affairs of the galaxy after the invasion of Naboo in Year 3. In dealing with the Galactic Republic, the Gungan government worked together with the greater governance of the Chommell sector to gain representation in the Senate. Highly developed in terms of technology, the Gungans were amiable with the Jedi, believing that the Order had the best interest of the galaxy in mind.
Biology and appearance[]
A race of sentients, Gungans were a species that belonged to the anura order of amphibians. Gungans were bipedal beings with a bilateral symmetry, having a front and a back end, as well as an upside and downside. Their body comprised a head, neck, torso, and four limbs. The upper limbs, called arms, ended in hands which had four fingers each; the lower ones, called legs, ended in feet with three digits. Gungan fingers had multiple points of articulation, and one of them was an opposable thumb that allowed for fine manipulation. Gungans were cold-blooded animals, meaning their body temperature was dependent on the environment, using the energy from the sun to energize them. Gungans were omnivorous, subsisting on both animal tissue and plant-based foods. Gungans had two sexes: male and female, with the latter being distinguished by their overall smaller stature and smaller eye stalks. Despite overall physiological uniformity, Gungans varied greatly in appearance, and no two Gungans looked exactly alike. One of the diversity factors was height. Gungans averaged 1.9 meters in height, although males were usually taller and heavier than females. Gungan heads were perched atop a long neck that protruded from top of the torso. Auditory organs in the form of tympanic membranes were protected beneath fin-like haillu that hung down the back of the head. Many Gungans tied their haillu back with a leather band when attending ceremonies or during battle. The haillu aided in swimming, as well as expressing emotions like aggression, friendship, and fear. Gungan eyes were yellow in color and were covered with a nictitating membrane. Located atop stubby eye-stalks which could be partially retracted, the Gungan eyes were capable of seeing even in the darkness of the underwater environments of Naboo. Expressive faces and long bills with flaring nostrils were signatures of Gungan physiology. Gungans had nostrils that sealed when they entered the water. They also boasted very strong compound lungs, allowing them to both hold their breath for extended periods of time, breathe underwater, and withstand the pressure of deep water, along with well-padded kneecaps and powerful calves and legs for increased swimming speed. The long Gungan face had a tough yet flexible bill for burrowing and rooting out food. They also had long muscular tongues with which they scooped mollusks and lesser amphibians from the Naboo swamps. Their teeth were large and blunt capable of cracking through shellfish.
Gungans were sexually-reproduced animals, requiring the mating of an opposite sex couple to produce offspring. As amphibians, Gungan females spawned a strand of 1,000 eggs, which hatched into tadpoles. A day after hatching, a single tadpole would cannibalize their clutch-mates and began to develop quickly into the bipedal adolescent form that they would keep for the rest of their life. Gungan bones were extremely flexible and strong, making them agile and swift swimmers, and remarkable jumpers on land. According to the High Strictures the legal transition from childhood to adulthood was only attained after sixteen standard years of life. Gungans had an average lifespan of 58 standard years. Those who were keenly attuned to the Force could live up to 150. At any rate, individuals past the age of 65 were considered to have reached an age worthy of veneration. Natural signs of ageing in Gungans included dulling of skin color, the loss of teeth, and the growth of fleshy tendrils at the tip of their bill. Old Gungans would experience a decline in many cognitive processes, frequently losing track of time, misidentifying people or places and, in extreme cases, momentarily forgetting about their own identity or state.
The Gungan race was divided into two distinct races: the Otolla and Ankura. While the races were visually distinct, they both exhibited many of the same basic physical traits. The Otolla had strong, wide haillu, while the Ankura had short, feeble ones. The former had vibrant orange or red skin, while the latter had a swampy green or violet gradiation. And while the Otolla were slim and agile, the Ankura were slower, heftier, and had hooded eyestalks.
Society and culture[]
Developing a spoken language called Gunganese, the Gungans began a long oral and written tradition early on in their history. Following the colonization of the planet by Humans, the Gungans adopted words and phrases from Galactic Standard Basic and eventually forgot the original form of the language. To decipher older texts, the Gungans were forced to used the Gung Slabs as a lexicon of letters and words. The later Gungan language was largely a pidgin dialect that most users fluent in Basic could understand. Utilizing their own unique phraseology, Gungans established a rather successful history of scholarly excellence, albeit unknown to the galaxy at large. Among their achievements include the epic poem Das Depu Epu Sea, or Deep Dark Water. This ode to the great waters of Naboo was a source of great pride to these noble beings. Naming conventions followed a standard form among the Gungan races. Otolla Gungans had a hyphenated first name followed by the family name. Ankura Gungans had a standard first name-last name convention seen across the galaxy.
The Gungans believed in a polytheistic religion with a large pantheon of gods, each with specific powers and responsibilities. The Gungans worshiped benevolent gods, such as the rain goddess Dobbis and the god of spring water Gobba. These gods were led by Oma-Oma, the creator of all life and the chief of Naboo's deities. Residing in the holy city of Ossorus, these gods acted in benevolent ways to aid the lives of the Gungans. Other gods, however, were conniving and malicious, such as Mekamok. Of all the Gungan pantheon, he was the only one who could escape control by Oma-Oma, leader of the gods. Associated with evil, destruction and discord, Mekamok was thought to be responsible for any mortal event or state of decadence that occurred on Naboo, and he held sway over lesser guds, including Balmtop, a god of disease and putrefaction. Despite his inherently evil nature, Mekamok resided in the mythical city of Ossorus like any other divinity, though his peers would shy him away at all costs. Nododo was an ancient trickster deity; despite his divine nature he would spend his time playing dirty tricks on mortals or even other gods. Along with Kobble the god of feasts and the god of games Wamka Pol, Nododo was one of the less serious Gungan deities. Mere mortals attaining deification were not unheard of: the divine lord of war Balam was originally the first Gungan warrior to whom the gods awarded the gift of immortality after his death. It was also said that, as a god, Balam created the hidden city of Otoh-D'in, a paradise hidden in the middle of the marshes, which hosts the souls of the bravest Gungan warriors. Legend added that if Ossorus was ever assaulted by the evil forces of Mekamok, Balam would lead the dead warriors of Otoh-D'in to defend the home of the gods. The Gungans thought that the ancient statues left by the vanished race of the Elders were icons representing the gods; sacred places in the Lianorm swamp or the Marian caves were originally built by the Elders and contained colossal stone heads that were reinterpreted in the light of the Gungan's beliefs. The Gungans also thought that the gods were behind the social institution of life debt and demanded that all such debts be repaid. The Gungans faith believed that the Force was the divine power of Oma-Oma, and those with a proclivity to manipulate its energy were priests and heralds of his divine message. A fanatical religious group of Gungans operating just south of the Gallo Mountains were known as Muskegs. These fanatics practiced ritual sacrifice and often instigated tribal clashes.
Having fought many clan wars early on in their history, the Gungans were militaristic, with their armies made up of male volunteers. Using a combination of military technology and beasts of burden, the the Grand Army formed at the peak of the War of the Gungan tribes when Boss Gallo united the Gungans to defeat the warlord Boss Rogoe. A united army throughout the 3000s BrS, the Grand Army continued to exist to defend their cities against the bursas, large and dangerous animals. When the Grand Army drove the bursas to extinction, the army disbanded yet drills continued as the militia patrolled the halls of their cities as security forces. Periodically, the army regrouped to defend the borders of Gungan territory from colonists and to assist in maintaining the secrecy of their aquatic cities. Gungans organized yearly the Festival of Warriors, in which Militiagungs gathered to celebrate the Gungan's militaristic culture. Festivities were held in a massive arena under the waters of Lake Umberbool. Gungans dressed in simple leather tunics and absorbent fabrics that shed water quickly. Males and females dressed similarly, usually wearing a simple tunic and vest with slacks that allowed them to travel swiftly. Even nobles and politicians dressed simply, wearing earth-tones and flowing robes.
The Gungans were technologically advanced, having developed a way to craft equipment engineered with organic matter. Hand-crafting their weapons and technology, the Gungans had mastered the mining of the planet's plasma core. Using the plasma to create hyper-static shield technology, they not only were able to craft powerful weapons, but to create underwater cities using hyper-static shields to hold back the water. Exporting this tech after their civilization entered galactic society, the Gungans gained massive trade deals with galactic manufacturing firms. The Gungans relied on the semi-sentient mollusk Kresch for storage of much of their knowledge on matters as varied as Gungan civilization and the fauna of Ohma-D'un. The Kresch was consulted by Gungans as an encyclopedia of sorts.
History[]
Evolving from the bipedal Glurrgs separately from the Zilkin species, the Gungans developed sentience during the 7,000s BrS. Surviving an ice age on Naboo by hunting the woolly veermoks that roamed Naboo's plains, the Gungans lived in mighty war tribes. These tribes fended off the threat of bursas that often attacked their settlements. Driving the bursas to extinction after the formation of a Grand Army, the Gungans survived the ice age and settled in the damp swamplands that bordered the deep lakes that formed in the old gorges of the world. In the swamps, the Gungans began to develop mining operations to harvest the plasma from the planet's core. Over the course of several centuries, the Gungans developed shield technology using plasma stretched between hyper-static conductor arms. This eventually was put to use to create massive cities beneath the lakes of the Naboo, fleeing the surface when the world was invaded by an extraterrestrial race known as the Serp from the Sanbra sector. While the Serp eventually abandoned Naboo, the Gungans were forever changed by their interaction with the invaders, deifying them and worshiping at their abandoned cities.
During the 3,000s BrS, the tribes of Gungans warred relentlessly against one another, driving nearly all of the Ankura Gungans to extinction. Known as the War of the Gungan tribes, this war came to a head between the Ankura settlement Otoh Sancture and the warlord Boss Rogoe. Defending Otoh Sancture was Boss Gallo, a wealthy and powerful Ankura Gungan who refused to enter the war as a means of preserving his race's history. Ahead of the Sacred Feast of 3,024 BrS, Bass Gallo sought to procure food for the feast and was away from Otoh Sancture when it was attacked by bursas dispatched by Boss Rogoe and destroyed. Finding his subjects massacred, Gallo met with Captain Marsune at a small base north of the ruins and set about rebuilding Otoh Sancture several kilometers from the original settlement. Rebuilding his settlement in an area abundant in nova crystals, ore, food, and trees, which could be used as a source of carbon, as all four of these were necessary resources. After rebuilding Otoh Sancture and raising a small militia, he eliminated the bursas that had decimated the village and set out to bring Rogoe to justice. Visiting the city of Otoh Jahai first, Boss Gallo spoke with Boss Tenko and convinced him to join their Grand Army upon the return of the Sacred Staff, stolen by Otoh Langua. Meeting Boss Hantic of Otoh Langua, Gallo was told him the staff was not within the city but that he would join his cause with the promise of a thousand nova crystals. Locating the staff and a wealth of crystals, Gallo gained the support of Bosses Hantic and Tenko before leading his troops to Otoh Urs. Boss Copek joined the fight after Gallo eradicated the bursa clan threatening the city and Boss Hoxie of Otoh Raban joined after Gallo rescued him from captors. Taking the combined Grand Army to Boss Rogoe's city of Spearhead, Gallo raised spearhead and killed Rogoe. On the ruins of Spearhead, Gallo erected Otoh Gunga, a sanctuary for both Ankura and Otolla people.
Within the halls of Otoh Gunga beneath Lake Paonga, the Gungan High Council was formed, meeting regularly in the High Tower Boardroom to discuss the political atmosphere of the Gungan cities. The Gungans and the Human inhabitants of Naboo did not get along, as the Gungans believed the Naboo to be pompous cowards while the Naboo believed the Gungans to be barbarians. This attitude lasted until Queen Amidala united the Gungans and Naboo to fight the Trade Federation in a massive battle. Following the battle, the Gungans gained representation in the Galactic Senate through an Associate Planetary Representative that assisted the Chommell sector's Senator. Paving the way for the colonization of Ohma-D'un and Rori, the Gungan culture spread out across the Naboo system, selling their hyperstatic bubble technology to conservation groups. When the Clone Wars erupted, the colony on Ohma-D'un was nearly wiped out by the release of swamp gas on the moon, but was rehabilitated after the end of the conflict.
Gungan Jedi[]
In the wake of the invasion of Naboo, the Order became aware of the Gungans and were able to identify two existing members as originating on Naboo. Having arrived on Coruscant after a slaving barge was captured by the Republic, Kin-Ya Dosun was raised in the Jedi arts and eventually took on Kin-Ya Dosun, the son of one of the other slaves. Having grown up without any knowledge of their homeworld, the Order was anxious to continue to study the Gungans and update their files in the Archives on Coruscant. Beginning to take on Gungan initiates, the Order found that many Gungans were drawn to the teachings of the Guardian school of Jedi training. Martial beings, many Gungan Jedi were fierce duelists and hand-to-hand combatants. Several Gungans also found great success as Consulars, finding their calling among the Order's scientists, researchers, and scholars metallurgists. Like all species which served in the Order, Gungans were represented in the Grand Temple on Ossus. Within the main entrance of the Temple, known as the Hall of Meditating Masters, a larger-than-life bronzium statue was erected in dedication to all Gungans who would serve. In the Sword of the Jedi tower, the lightsabers of all Jedi were placed in memory of fallen warriors and scholars alike. The Edifice of Heroes stood ready to adorn its halls with paintings, monuments, or holodepictions of all future Gungan Jedi.
| Kin-Ya Dosun | 31 BrS | Year 51 | Guardian | Peacekeeper | Avery Trakinor | Kosa-Yin Hadu | |
| Abducted from her family by Zygerian slavers, Kin-Ya Dosun was rescued from captivity by Old Mankoo's Planetary Security Forces and detected as Force-sensitive by medics. Taken to the Coruscant Jedi Temple for training, the docents at the Temple had trouble identifying Dosun's species and marked her homeworld as unknown. Raised by the Order, Dosun was selected for further training by Master Avery Trakinor in the ways of the Jedi Guardian. Attaining the rank of Knight, Dosun served aboard the Beneficia as an aide to Trakinor, the ship's combat specialist. During their travels, the ship came across a slaving ship and sent a team to capture it. Bringing the slaves aboard, the medics aboard the Beneficia identified two as Forceful: young Jar-Tan Mozh and Kosa-Yin Hadu. Taking Hadu as her student, Dosun found the young boy to be hard to control but an excellent duelist and proficient in Force skills. In Year 2, Dosun and Hadu were on a mission when they came across the Believers cult in the Cularin system. Investigating the cultists and following them back to Genarius where they located a base in the floating city of Tolea Biqua. The Gungans quickly learned that the cultists were aware of their Jedi tail and led the two into a trap. Imprisoned within the Believers' base, Dosun was separated from Hadu, who quickly gave into his anger and hatred and agreed to work with the Believers. Refusing to give into the dark side, Dosun remained imprisoned, suffering endless torture by her captors and even Hadu himself. Jedi Master Seenlu Kir was dispatched to investigate their disappearance when Hadu emerged as a threat in the Cularin system. Remaining imprisoned, Dosun did not notice the phenomenon known as the Blink, wherein the Cularin system was pushed eight years into the future in a single second. Entering into a galaxy at war, the Cularin system quickly adjusted to the time change as Republic forces marshaled in the system. Dosun would gain her freedom when Republic troops routed the Believers from their stronghold. Returning to Coruscant, Dosun was rehabilitated and took up her lightsaber as a General in the Grand Army. When the war ended, Dosun traveled to Tython where she set up a residence in the marshlands of Akar Kesh. | |||||||
| Wert Jopi | 1 BrS | Year 82 | Consular | Biologist | Macz Abermiaci | Zdenka Gestahl | |
| Undetected by the Jedi Order, Wert Jopi grew up without realizing his connection to the Force. When the Order opened its doors to older students, Jopi was working as a biologist in the city of Theed when he was notified of his eligibility to join the Jedi on Ossus. Arriving at the Acolyte Academy, Jopi began to seek understanding through the Force, allowing his instructors to open his mind to the greater power. Mindful of his already developed talents as a biologist, Jopi sought out the path of the Consular, and after years of training at the academy he was selected for one-on-one training with Macz Abermiaci. Abermiaci was a noted biologist and welcomed Jopi under his wing as they traveled between worlds relearning the biological world through the eyes of the Force. Journeying to Tython, Jopi underwent his Great Journey and received a knighthood after three years of visiting the Great Temples and testing his survival skills against the Tythonian wilds. A Jedi biologist, Jopi was assigned a place on the new praxeum ship, the Holy Mandate where he would serve as a scientist in its vast laboratories. | |||||||
| Jar-Tan Mozh | 10 BrS | Year 16 | Guardian | Armorer | Zimlon Kahn | Picla Arundel; Jorg Keepsala | |
| Sold into slavery, Jar-Tan Mozh was rescued from a life of hard labor by the Jedi Order and raised in the ways of the Force aboard the Beneficia. Learning the Jedi path aboard the praxeum ship, Mozh took easily to the path of the Jedi, and became a deeply spiritual individual. Taken for training by Picla Arundel, the Beneficia's chief ExplorCorps Jedi. Taking on many missions, Mozh found himself in the thick of conflicts across the territory the praxeum ship traveled and had been considered for knighthood for months when his successes during a space battle cemented his place as a Knight. Remaining on the Beneficia, Mozh was assigned as the ship's armorer and prepared all Jedi entering the field for their work. When the Clone Wars engulfed the galaxy, Mozh took up the rank of general and fought alongside clone troopers on the battlefield against the Confederacy. During a mission to Belderone, Mozh was assisting in the planet's evacuation when Confederate Supreme Commander Grievous attacked the convoy and destroyed it. Aboard one of the refugee ships, Mozh was vaporized in the assault. | |||||||
| Roo-Roo Page | Year 13 | Death | Consular | Biochemist | Jorg Keepsala | Boc Upari | |
| Born on Naboo in the city of Jan-gwa, Roo-Roo Page was identified as Force-sensitive by the Republic during the Clone Wars. Before Master Bolla Ropal could send a recruiter to bring Page back to the Temple on Coruscant, the Order's database was hacked by the bounty hunter Cad Bane. Bane, posing as a Jedi, attempted to abduct the infant but the Order anticipated the attack and dispatched a Knight to intercept Bane. Arresting Bane, the Jedi brought Page back to the Temple for training. Entering into the academy as the war wound down, Page was transferred to the new Grand Academy on Ossus where she learned the ways of the Force, the basics of the sciences and politics, and how to wield a lightsaber. Maturing into a bright young adolescent, Page was selected for further training by Jorg Keepsala, who introduced her to the ways of the Consular. Finding herself drawn to the sciences, Page found work in the ExplorCorps where she found her calling as a biochemist. On Tython, during her Great Journey, Page came to flourish in many of her endeavors, finding not just her skills with the sciences to be strong, but also her tremendous affinity for the Force. Knighted, Page took up a residency aboard the Cree-sh Prexith as a biochemist. | |||||||
| Name | Birth | Death | Class | Specialization | Masters | Padawans | |
Gungan Sith[]
| Sith title | Name | Birth | Death | Allegiance | Special titles | Master | Apprentices |
| N/A | Koda-Yin Hadu | 10 BrS | Year 15 | Believers | Enforcer | Kin-Ya Dosun; Garvin Delquist | N/A |
| Sold into slavery, Kosa-Yin Hadu was rescued from a life of hard labor by the Jedi Order and raised in the ways of the Force aboard the Beneficia. Learning the Jedi path aboard the praxeum ship, Hadu was an aggressive and angry student, but learned to hide his rage well under a veneer of focus and strength. Selected for one on one training by the Gungan Jedi Kin-Ya Dosun, Hadu and his master were unaware of their shared homeworld or their species' history due to the Gungans remaining an unknown species amid the galactic population. Dispatched to the Cularin system on a mission, Hadu and his master tracked a group of cultists to their base on Genarius and were swiftly imprisoned by the dark siders after being detected. Seduced to the dark side by the Believers after countless nights of torture and terror, Hadu emerged as a cultist serving as an enforcer for Garvin Delquist. Tasking Hadu to destroy the kaluthin of Almas, the Gungan was joined by Gar Granga as they infiltrated the planet. Leading their task force from a temporary camp, the Believers raided kaluthin farms across the planet for three months, poisoning aquifers and causing a massive biological catastrophe. The scientists at a kaluthin research station on Almas started to investigate the areas of kaluthin extinction, and Hadu and Grangra feared that the station posed a risk to the Believers' operation, believing that the researchers might be able to identify the toxins that the Believers were using to poison the aquifers. In an attempt to mitigate the threat posed by the scientists, Hadu, Granga, and several other Believers traveled to the planet Cularin, where they plotted to stop a shipment of supplies from being transported to the research station, to prevent the scientists from performing their studies. The supplies were due to be taken to Almas by the Duros Welrin Maduk aboard the freighter Fool's Paradise, so the two Dark Jedi headed to the Fool's Paradise's landing bay in the city of Hedrett with some other Believers, planning to hijack the vessel. As a safeguard, Hadu and Granga parked a starship on a landing pad near the Fool's Paradise and then concealed their craft and an exit from the Fool's Paradise's landing bay using a Force illusion. The Dark Jedi duo then approached the Fool's Paradise while accompanied by a squad of battle droids and three other Believers, and the pair told Welrin Maduk that they had been sent by the port authority. Maduk protested and claimed that his ship had already been inspected, so Hadu and Granga ignited their lightsabers and prepared to attack the Duros. However, the Heroes of Cularin, a group of freelance agents who operated in the Cularin system, saw that Maduk was being threatened, and they came to his rescue. As the agents approached the Fool's Paradise, Hadu and Granga fled through the concealed hangar entrance, leaving the battle droids and the other Believers to face the agents alone. Hadu returned to the Believers' hilltop camp on Almas, where he received a holographic message from Garvin Delquist, who warned him and Granga that the Jedi had learned of the Believers' presence on Almas and urged the two Dark Jedi to accelerate the timetable of their work to poison the kaluthin. The Heroes of Cularin investigated the poisoning of the aquifers, and they launched an assault on the Believers' encampment. After being alerted of the attack, Hadu emerged from his tent and engaged the agents in combat along with some of his guards, while the other Believers powered up their landspeeders in preparation to evacuate the camp. The agents eventually defeated Hadu and his Believer subordinates, thwarting the Gungan's attempts to wipe out the kaluthin. The Jedi learned Hadu's identity, and Jedi Master Seenlu Kir began to research the mission on which Hadu and Kin-Ya Dosun had disappeared, in an attempt to discover how the two Gungans had been lost. However, her research was unsuccessful, for she did not learn anything new about the two Gungans. After the Blink sent Hadu eight years into the future, the Gungan served as a threat to Jedi operation on the planet as the system struggled to maintain calm during the new war-torn galaxy it found itself thrust into. During a routine operation on Almas, Hadu was confronted by Jedi Penta Singh and swiftly outmaneuvered. Singh, unwilling to risk taking the Gungan prisoner, ran him through on his lightsaber. Taking the Gungan's weapon, he presented it to the Almas Council as proof that the threat of Hadu had been ended. | |||||||