Wookiees

Wookiees are an anthropoid species native to the planet Kashyyyk. Tall, strong, and covered by soft, thick fur, Wookiees are known as ferocious opponents and loyal friends. The average member of this species grows to over two meters (6½ft.) in height and has a much longer life expectancy than a human. On Kashyyyk, Wookiees live in cities situated high within giant trees. Though they appear to be primitive in nature, they are quite comfortable with high technology, combining natural features with modern conveniences. The Wookiee language is made up of a series of grunts and growls. They can understand other languages, but their limited vocal ability makes it impossible for them to speak anything other than their own language. Chewbacca, Han Solo's copilot and partner, is a Wookiee.

  The galaxy at large knows Wookiees as lethal combatants with ferocious tempers. From the very beginnings of the Empire, the Wookiees, their world, and their colonies were placed under martial law and enslaved to labor for the Imperial effort. Free Wookiees were extremely rare, and few were ever encountered along the galactic spaceways. It wasn't until after the Battle of Endor that the Alliance was able to finally set the Wookiees free. As tree dwellers, Wookiees have wickedly curved claws that pop from hidden fingertip sheaths with the flex of a muscle. With the aid of these claws and their strong limbs, Wookiees can travel through the upper reaches of the great wroshyr trees of their homeworld, clinging to vines and branches with agile ease. While feared as opponents, Wookiees employ no obvious fighting style. They seem to simply charge forward, arms swinging, shattering whatever they hit with their huge, powerful fists. Wookiees never use their claws in combat, however, as this is considered a serious breach of the Wookiee code of honor.

" Wookiee honor family"

  Wookiees form special bonds of friendship that join one Wookiee with a group of other Wookiees, or even with members of other species. This honor family comprises a Wookiee's true friends and boon companions. Members of honor families pledge to lay down their lives for each other, and they extend this protection to the honor families of each individual member. Chewbacca the Wookiee considers his companions Han Solo, Princess Leia, Luke Skywalker, and the droids R2-D2 and C-3PO to be part of his honor family.

 "Wookiee life debt"

  The most sacred Wookiee custom is the life debt. Wookiees pledge life debts to those who save their lives, forming a bond that can never be broken. A life debt is not a form of slavery, but is a sacred act of honor to repay that which is without measure. When a Wookiee enters into a life debt, he often decides to travel with his savior in order to carry out what he considers to be sacred obligations. Chewbacca has pledged a life debt to Han Solo for acts that Solo performed when the pair first met.

 "Wookiee Society"

  Wookiee life begins at the nursery level. Expectant Wookiee mothers take residence in the highest reaches of the wroshyr trees -- traditionally, the safest place for Wookiees -- and remain there until they have recovered enough from childbirth to return to work. Their children remain in the nursery rings to learn about Wookiee history and culture, garner an appreciation of the wroshyr forests, and most importantly, learn how to interact in Wookiee society. At the end of the work day, Wookiee parents retrieve their children and take them home, to foster a sense of family identity.

  Once a Wookiee child reaches a certain age -- usually 20 standard years -- formal education is over and the child begins living with his or her parents full time. Within a few short years, the child is given responsibilities in the home, usually related to cooking, cleaning, and other housekeeping tasks. This period generally lasts until a new child arrives to take over the duties. Although this time is meant to reinforce a young Wookiee's understanding of the importance of living in accord with nature, Wookiee youths invariably cannot wait for a new child to arrive so that they can join their parents in the workplace.

  Higher learning on Kashyyyk is strictly voluntary -- a Wookiee student seeks a teacher undertaking a project in which the Wookiee has an interest, effectively apprenticing himself. When he no longer has an interest, he is free to leave, though a Wookiee who has reached his hundredth year without selecting a vocation finds himself assigned one by the Wookiee elders to fill any needed position in Wookiee society. Most Wookiees don't wait this long; these positions tend to be the jobs that no one wants, either because they are too unpleasant or too dangerous.

  At some point during this period, the Wookiee youth is expected to prove his or her bravery in some fashion -- the most common being the gathering of silk fibers from the center of a syren plant. Few Wookiees undertake this endeavor alone because, even with their famous strength, a single Wookiee is no match for a syren plant's entrapping petals. Usually Wookiees undergoing this test of courage do so in numbers; it takes at least two Wookiees to hold the syren petals back, allowing another Wookiee to harvest the fibers. A few unusually courageous or clever Wookiees have managed the feat alone, but even then must still contend with the dangers offered by traversing those levels of the forest alone. But to some, the risk is worth the reward -- especially considering how attractive Wookiees find courage.

  Wookiee courtship is an informal affair, with a great many superstitions and colloquial practices. Most involve Wookiees seeking out the object of their affections, searching for some sign of mutual interest, then contacting the family of their intended for a marriage arrangement. Not coincidentally, this is a further incentive for a Wookiee to select a career; a Wookiee family rarely gives its permission for a betrothal unless both husband and wife are gainfully employed. More to the point, Wookiees without a regular source of income are socially and economically discouraged from bearing children.

In old age Wookiees are cared for sometimes even revered Wookiees can live to be over four centuries old and in that time can develope the kind of wisdom that Wookiee society and the rest of the galaxy finds admirable.

Information taken from The Essential Guide to the Star Wars Universe

Secrets of Kashyyyk"

 "History"

 The Old Republic

  Despite having inhabited Kashyyyk for millennia, Wookiees developed the ability to leave their homeworld only a few thousand years before the Battle of Yavin. Even then, they acquired the necessary boost in technology from their spatial neighbors, the Trandoshans, who came to the forested planet in hopes of establishing colonies. They were driven off by the fierce Wookiee natives, leaving behind a single ship, which the inquisitive Wookiees easily disassembled, analyzed, and replicated. Soon, the first Wookiee explorers set off into the black depths of space.

  The Wookiee spacefarers were quickly discovered by the Corellians, who had recently established trade relations with the Trandoshans, but were not given to allying with the reptilian species against their neighbors. The Corellians opened trade negotiations with the Wookiees and, in typical fashion, immediately began exploiting them. This state of affairs would have continued for some time had it not been for the intervention of the Alderaanian Diplomatic Corps, who petitioned the Republic for a senate seat to be created for a representative of Kashyyyk. Thus, Kashyyyk became a Republic world.

  Once in the Senate, the Wookiees promptly dissolved the unfair treaty the Corellians had made with them and made new treaties with other worlds and species -- and a more equitable new treaty with Corellia. They purchased hyperdrive technology from the Duros, established Wookiee cultural studies programs in Alderaan's finest universities, and traded with the Verpines for state-of-the-art manufacturing processes. In the Senate, politicians spoke admirably of "the wisdom of the Wookiees," which were perceived as a species more in touch with the Force, due to their integration of nature and technology. Kashyyyk had become a distinguished member of the galactic community.

The Rise of the Empire

  Throughout the centuries before the foundation of the Galactic Empire, Kashyyyk grew and prospered. An initial influx of offworld tourists created a booming sightseeing industry. The Wookiees quickly realized the toll such visits would take on Kashyyyk's ecosystem -- not to mention their culture -- and created laws aimed at curtailing such activities.

  Unfortunately, the restrictive laws were not popular with their neighbors, the Trandoshans. The Trandoshans had arranged to profit handsomely from the tourist trade. When the Wookiee laws caused the tourist industry to dry up, the Trandoshans -- already nursing a hatred for the Wookiees over the failed colonization efforts -- commenced a series of raids on Kashyyyk, plundering natural resources. In the Senate, they claimed the Wookiee laws governing offworld visitors applied only to civilized areas of Kashyyyk. The enraged Wookiees determined that regardless of what the law said, they would not stand still while aliens destroyed their homeworld.

  While the debate dragged on in the Senate, the Trandoshans continued to visit Kashyyyk. Nearly every time they encountered violent opposition from the Wookiees. Terrible battles took place on the surface and in the skies above Kashyyyk -- and, as the Wookiees became more proactive, in the skies above Dosha, as well. Finally, the Senate ruled that Wookiees were the rightful caretakers of their world and that their rules on visitors applied to settled and unsettled areas equally. The Trandoshans broke off their raids, but the hatred remained.

  It was this hatred that led to the enslavement of the Wookiees, centuries later, when Emperor Palpatine came to power and began seeking inexpensive alternatives to more traditional workforces. Seizing the opportunity to take their revenge on their old enemies, the Trandoshans reached an agreement with the Emperor. They would deliver regular shiploads of Wookiee slaves in exchange for various concessions, including economic sanctions against Kashyyyk -- sanctions that favored Dosha. The Emperor consented, and the Wookiees suddenly discovered that it was illegal for them to own starships based on Trandoshan designs, which included nearly every ship the Wookiees owned. Wookiee supporters in the Senate protested -- and protested even louder when Imperial troops arrested the Wookiee senator for treason -- but by that time, the Senate was powerless to stop the Emperor from doing more or less as he pleased.

Wookiee slavery had began!

The Rebellion Era

 Now fully under the heel of the Empire, the Wookiees of Kashyyyk were raided regularly for slaves to work in the Emperor’s factories. Strong and tough but with mechanical expertise, Wookiees made extremely useful slaves and were less expensive than droids that could be designed and programmed to do the same work.

  Trandoshan slave ships (among many, many others) visited Kashyyyk daily. The Wookiees had little choice but to fight, caught between the slave raiders and the even more horrible creatures in the wroshyr forest depths. Being proud and strong, they hardly stopped to consider any other strategy. Every raiding party was met with violent resistance. Sometimes scores of enraged Wookiees would overwhelm a group of slavers, tear them limb from limb, and toss them into the forest depths. More often, though, the superior weapons of the slavers -- guaranteed by the Emperor’s technology embargo against the Wookiees -- meant that they captured more Wookiees than they lost slavers. With the high price Wookiees fetched, the risk was worth it.

  Though Kashyyyk was under the Empire's rule, the Wookiees were allowed to carry on with their lives more or less as they had before. Imperial patrol ships orbited the green world, but their job was mostly to prevent the Wookiees from receiving aid from the Rebels. The Imperials kept no ground troops, knowing full well that even stormtrooper armor could not withstand the fury of a city full of enraged Wookiees. When they did land ships, they did so quickly, efficiently, and with considerable force of arms.

  Many Wookiee freedom fighters distinguished themselves as heroes during these dark times.  But Kashyyyk itself would not be free from the Empire's control until the Emporer's death many years later. [Information taken from Star Wars Gamer magazine; issue 4; pgs 52-63]             

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