Noghri

Noghri

Species: Noghri
Home Planet: Honoghr

Noghri
Noghri (pronounced /'no.gɹi/) were a primitive humanoid species. They had steely gray or blue skin, and were extremely skilled assassins due to their abilities in stealth and hand-to-hand combat. Despite their small size, they were efficient killing machines, with claws, fangs, and a sense of smell so acute, they could smell one's bloodline (as exemplified by Khabarakh's identification of Leia Organa Solo as Darth Vader's daughter and heir). They were much like the Wookiee species culturally, in that they respected honor above all else. Noghri society was clan-based, revolving around the dukha, or community building, at the center of each village.

Biology & Appearance:
In form, this species appeared as steel-gray-skinned bipeds who were heavily muscled as well as sinewy and possessed great agility which was only enhanced by their faster-than-normal reflexes.[3] Their bodies lacked any hair on their surface. While not tall, their small size belied their ruthless nature and effective skills. Ultimately, the Noghri were predators with teeth filled jaws, large quick moving eyes and excellent sense of smell. Their sense of smell, in fact, was so attuned that they were capable of telling a person's bloodline by scent alone. A Noghri's body was also a compact killing machine that was designed to hunt and destroy its prey.

The Gengh-Noghri were a subspecies of Noghri that developed separately from those of Honoghr.

Society & Culture:
While small in size, Noghri were notable for being fearsome warriors. They were extremely dedicated fierce fighters, and they never showed any moment where they demonstrated humor; even at their most relaxed state. Furthermore, they had a tendency to prefer the use of more primitive weaponry-such as knives-as well as unarmed combat. Their greatest strength, however, was their secrecy, as they were only ever off-world when called upon for a mission. In such times, an agent often accompanied the Noghri in order to provide them with adequate logistics and transportation in order to complete their mission in complete secrecy. Once deployed, a Noghri was single-minded in the completion of their task, which completely consumed them until their mission objective was accomplished.

As mentioned above, Noghri were notorious assassins. They also made outstanding bodyguards. In battle, they were exceptional in hand-to-hand combat. Their speech was very guttural and scratchy in nature, comparable to Dosh, the Trandoshan language. The smuggler Talon Karrde came up with the idea of hiring out individual Noghri as bodyguards.

They possessed a clan-based society that was made up of close-knit family groupings that had many different forms of customs and rituals. While they had all the social customs and rituals of a pre-space flight society, the Noghri been provided many forms of advanced technology and machinery due to their initial servitude to the Empire. Their clans were centered around Dukhas and were led by a Dynast. A clans dukha, or meeting place at the center of a village, where the Maitrakh usually resided. Dukha were considered somewhat sacred, belonging also to the ancestors of the clan. Individual Noghri were able to determine one of their kind's clan by their clan-scent. When referencing an individual, it was by family and lineage. Leia Organa Solo was known by her scent to belong to the same family as Darth Vader. She was then referred to as, "Lady Vader", or, in the Noghri tongue, Mal'ary'ush. Each clan had a Maitrakh, or matriarch, the storyteller, leader, and lore keeper of the clan.

Noghri were also very loyal, as shown in examples where the Death Commandos and similar groups often willingly went to their deaths to fight against those they considered enemies. A conflict of loyalty was a major event in a Noghri's life.

Trained in a wide variety of weapons, they generally carried little more than a few daggers; believing that their surroundings would provide them as needed. Their greatest pride were their fighting sickles, which were a mark of honor as well as excellent weapons that were well balanced for hand-to-hand combat. Noghri were renowned for the skill with which they threw them in battle.

History:
Early History:
The Noghri were natives of the planet Honoghr. Long before the Clone Wars brought devastation to their world, the Noghri were enslaved by the Rakata of the Infinite Empire. A number of Noghri slaves were later taken to the Unknown Regions where they were placed on the planet Tulpaa. While the empire itself eventually faded into history, the ex-slaves soon began worshiping the memory of the Rakatans, viewing their ancient structures as evidence of the gods' time on Honoghr. During this early age, it was known that there was a long history of blood rivalry between the various clans though by later years, they learnt to co-exist with one another.

The greatest change in Noghri civilization came in the year 19 BBY during the final stages of the Clone Wars where their people entered the galactic spotlight. During a space battle fought been the Confederacy of Independent Systems and Galactic Republic, Honoghr became ravaged by the Separatist toxin Trihexalophine1138. The contaminant had come from a downed Lucrehulk-class Core Ship destroyed in the spaceborne Battle of Honoghr, and decimated a vast majority of the planet's flora. At the time, Jedi Master Rii'ke En came to the planet along with a clone trooper in order to find and retrieve the Scientific Instrument Package which was to be used as proof of the Separatists usage of biological weapons. However, the SIP was located by the Noghri who swarmed and killed the pair of intruders. They later participated in the Battle of Honoghr where they attacked not only the Republic forces led by Jedi Aayla Secura but also those of Quinlan Vos who came to retrieve the SIP for Count Dooku.

Soon after the conclusion of the Clone Wars, Darth Vader discovered the planet, and was dramatically impressed with the warrior skill of the Noghri when they slew his stormtrooper escort. In order to gain their servitude and their loyalty, Vader offered the Noghri environmental aid from the newly formed Galactic Empire. At the time, the Noghri were only a peaceful agrarian based culture and thus felt that they had no choice but to agree to Darth Vader's offer. However, at the same time, Vader ordered his own staff to continue poisoning the planetary environment in order to ensure the slavery of the Noghri who were honor bound to serve the Sith Lord. Thus, under the guise of "helping" the planet recover from the ecological disaster, he received the homage of the Noghri, as a result of which most of the young males of the planet became Death Commandos—the personal assassins of Emperor Palpatine.

The Emperor felt that possessing an army of near unstoppable assassins and hunters that were completely devoted to him as well as killed by his simple whim was a powerful asset. His first action was to remove the Noghri homeworld of Honoghr from galactic charts as well as erase any record of their existence. Following this event, he embarked on a planned subjugation of the race in order to make them completely at his mercy. At the same time, the Noghri were used to dispose of many rivals, politicians and dissidents that opposed Palpatine.

The Noghri stayed in the lesser-known sides of the Empire that required Assassins, bodyguards, and generally shady occupations. At some unknown point in the past, Darth Vader dispatched a number of Noghri to the planet Yalara. The world possessed an advanced cloaking device created by Jedi Master Broden Kel Verdox that was used to shield the planet and indigenous people from the rest of the galaxy. In an effort to claim the device, Darth Vader had sent the Noghri to exterminate the native population. After accomplishing their task, the feared warriors remained behind on that world where they awaited their next order which was a testament to their loyalty and faith in their patron.

As a reward for Thrawn's assistance in planning the Battle of Derra IV and in his campaign against Prince Xizor and Black Sun, Vader gave him control of the Noghri. After inheriting control of the feared assassins, Thrawn used their service by sending teams of them on strike missions that required not only ruthlessness but skilled and stealth. During the Galactic Civil War, Tyber Zann of the Zann Consortium decided to inspire dread in his enemies. To accomplish this goal, he decided to strike at Honoghr in order to defeat the feared warriors of the Noghri as Zann believed that the defeat of the Empire's death commandos would add to his reputation. This led to the Skirmish on Honoghr where Urai Fenn and Consortium forces secured a victory over the Noghri. The Noghri remained in service to the Galactic Empire after the death of Palpatine. Lord Cronal captured some and created mutated branches of Noghri assassins, to guard Dromund Kaas.

Lady Vader:
About five years after the death of the Emperor, Grand Admiral Thrawn ordered the Noghri to kidnap the pregnant Leia Organa Solo. Realizing that neither she nor her children would be truly safe as long as the Noghri served the Empire, she went to Honoghr in order to convince the Noghri to leave the Empire's service. She was able to use the fact that she was the daughter of Darth Vader to convince the Noghri that the Empire had been lying to them and kept them in virtual slavery for many years. As a result, the Noghri turned against the Empire. Grand Admiral Thrawn died when his Noghri bodyguard Rukh turned on him and stabbed him.

Later, in 14 ABY, Jedi Knight Jaden Korr was dispatched on a mission to the planet Yalara in order to uncover reports from an ancient holocron that spoke of a cloaking device on the world. Once there, Korr came under attack by the Imperial Remnant who were assisting the Disciples of Ragnos in addition to the Noghri warriors that were left behind on the world. These Noghri continued to serve Darth Vader faithfully and fought against both the Imperials and Korr though the latter of the two was ultimately successful in destroying the cloaking device. Any surviving Noghri were later transported back to their homeworld of Honoghr.

After the death of Thrawn, Leia Organa Solo became the new master of the Noghri and thus commanded the loyalty of the best assassins as well as warriors in the galaxy. Through her, the Noghri came into the service of the New Republic and its agents. The New Republic helped resettle the Noghri to other planets, including Wayland, to give Honoghr time to heal. Many allies, relatives and even friends later receive the aid of the Noghri due to their honor bound duty to Lady Vader.

Over the years, Leia faced mounting pressure from the New Republic Ruling Council to end the use of her Noghri bodyguard detail. This came after an unfortunate "incident" with the Barabel ambassador. Many felt suspicious of Chief of State Leia for using such a feared weapon that had previously been wielded by Emperor Palpatine. However, she maintained the use of them but only as a backup unit in case of an unexpected disaster. During a mission to the planet Nam Chorios, she was accompanied by the Noghri Ezrakh, Gshkaath and two others. All four were killed by Dzym who used the Death Seed plague to murder them.[7] Leia and her entire family became very highly respected figures in Noghri society. Leia was later assigned two Noghri bodyguards, Cakhmaim and Meewalh, who helped protect her during the Caamas Document Crisis.

Divisions:


Death Commandos:


Bodyguards:


Notable Noghri Clans:


Notable Noghri:


Attribute Dice: 16D
DEXTERITY 2D+1/5D+2
KNOWLEDGE 1D+1/3D+2
MECHANICAL 1D/3D+2
PERCEPTION 2D+2/4D+2
STRENGTH 2D+2/5D+2
TECHNICAL 1D/3D+2

Special Skills:

• Brawling: martial arts Time to use: one round. This specialized form of brawling combat employs techniques that the Noghri are taught at an early age. Because of the deceptively fast nature of this combat, Noghri receive +2D to their skill when engaged in brawling with someone who doesn't have brawling: martial arts, Also, when fighting someone without this skill, they also receive a +1D+2 bonus to the damage they do in combat.
  

Special Abilities:

• Claws: Noghri have powerful claws (add +1D to damage in brawling combat) and sharp teeth (add +2D to damage in brawling combat).
  

• Stealth: Noghri have such a natural ability to be stealthy that they receive a +2D when using their hide or sneak skills.
  

• Enhanced Senses: Because the Noghri have a combination of highly-specialized senses, they receive a +2D when using their search skill.
  

• Ignorance: Noghri are almost completely ignorant of galactic affairs. Noghri may not place any beginning skill dice in any Knowledge skills except for intimidation, survival or willpower.
  

Story Factors:

• Enslavement: Noghri are indebted to Lord Darth Vader and the Empire; all Noghri are obligated to serve the Empire as assassins. Any Noghri who refuse to share in their role are executed. After discovering Luke, Leia and the Solo children are descendants of Vader, the Noghri have extended total loyalty to them as well.
  

• Strict Culture: The Noghri have a very strict tribal culture. Noghri who don't heed the commands of their dynasts (tribal leaders) are severely punished or executed.
  

Move: 11/18
Size: 1.3 meters tall
Source: