Keshiri

The Keshiri were a Near-Human sentient species native to the planet Kesh. Powerfully built, they had purple skin and black, red, or violet eyes. They were typically found to be very attractive by Human standards, although the two species were different enough biologically to be incapable of reproduction. The Keshiri had long traditions of crafting and the arts, with glassblowing being a particular specialty and pantomime a favorite art form. They were a very religious species, worshiping gods known as the Skyborn, whom they believed had formed all of the land on Kesh, from which the Keshiri were born. They acknowledged the Skyborn as the Protectors who kept another group, the Destructors, at bay. After a group of Jedi crash-landed on Kesh and fought a ruinous Great Battle against a band of Dark Jedi and Sith, the events took on the status of legend, remembered as the Great Cataclysm.

In 5000 BBY, a group of Sith crashed onto the continent of Keshtah in their starship, the Omen, after being knocked off-course during a hyperspace jump. The Keshiri there believed the newcomers to be the Skyborn and gave themselves over to lives of service to the Sith. The Keshiri religion and government of Keshtah were led by the Neshtovar, who believed in the importance of tradition and religion above science and technological progress. Nevertheless, one Keshiri, a female named Adari Vaal, realized the dangers the Sith presented and led a resistance movement. She was eventually forced to flee Keshtah for Alanciar, a larger continent with its own Keshiri population. There, she became revered as the Herald for warning the Alanciari to prepare for an inevitable invasion by the Sith. The people heeded her warnings and rebuilt their civilization along martial lines. When the invasion finally occurred millennia later, the Sith High Lord Varner Hilts duped the Alanciari into joining their Keshtah kin in service to the Sith. Nevertheless, he had a newfound respect for the Keshiri species and thought them potentially worthy to join the Sith Tribe.

The Keshiri eventually found that the Sith were not their gods, but they continued serving them for thousands of years. By 41 ABY, the Keshiri had come to be seen almost as equals to the Sith, and several were accepted into the Sith Tribe, with at least one serving on the Circle of Lords, the Tribe's ruling council. Around the time of the Second Galactic Civil War, members of the Keshiri species were able to travel off-world for the first time in the newly formed Sith armada. Several Keshiri served as leaders in the fleet, such as High Lord Sarasu Taalon. However, the Tribe's attempted invasion of the galaxy resulted in the elimination of numerous Sith, including many Keshiri, on the planet Coruscant by the Jedi.

Biology and Appearance
The Keshiri were a species of sentient Near-Humans from the remote Wild Space world of Kesh. Although some specimens were rather portly, Keshiri typically were powerfully built, with a humanoid body of two arms, two legs, a torso, and a head. Each hand sported five fingers capped by nails. Their skin was typically a shade of purple—whether pale, burgundy, or mauve—although it could fluctuate from darker to lighter hues and even into tones of blue as their emotions shifted.

The Keshiri face was characterized by two eyes, a central nose, and a mouth. The eyes were proportionally large and came in the colors red, violet, and black. Eyebrows grew above each eye, and the eyelids featured lashes. Their hair, waxy in some, ranged in color from brown through violet to silver and white. Regardless of its original color, the hair whitened with age and thinned or receded in some male members of the species. The mouth, lined by lips of a shade darker than the rest of the skin, contained a dark-purple tongue and rows of white dentition; some Keshiri exhibited noticeable gaps between teeth. Their throat was sometimes subject to buildups of fluid that required clearing. Separate populations of Keshiri exhibited slight phenotypic differences. For instance, the Keshiri of the continent Keshtah had lower foreheads, narrower faces, and smaller and more narrowly set eyes in comparison to the Keshiri of the Alanciar landmass.

The Keshiri had two sexes, male and female. Physical characteristics distinguished the two sexes, such as facial hair on men. Because they were extremely similar to Humans in their appearance, they were found by members of the Human species to be particularly attractive. As such, they often intermarried with the Human population on Kesh, despite the fact that the two species were fundamentally different enough on a biological level to preclude reproduction. Keshiri were still considered young at age fifteen, and their lifespan exceeded sixty years. Keshiri required sleep each night, a period during which they sometimes experienced vivid dreams. They had the capacity to use the Force; indeed, many Force-sensitive Keshiri hailed from the continent Alanciar.

Society and Culture
Before contact with outsiders from beyond Kesh, the Keshiri had a simple society, which included small settlements of circular homes with tall, conical, thatched roofs. These early Keshiri dressed in simple tunics, trousers, and fur-lined boots. They carried personal effects in pouches attached to belts.

Keshiri life was centered around their religion. They worshiped a group of gods called the Skyborn, also known as the Protectors, a sandy-blooded race who were believed to have lived in the stars. According to Keshiri legend, the Skyborn's enemies were the Otherside—beings of fire, rebellion, sickness, and death, about whom very little was known other than that they had "come from below." The Keshiri believed that the Skyborn, riding gigantic crystal uvak—membranous-winged reptilian creatures native to Kesh—fought with the Otherside among the stars in what the Keshiri religious leaders called the Great Battle. According to the legend, the battle lasted for eons, until the Otherside were finally defeated. The Skyborn, however, had been injured, and their blood fell into the oceans, forming the land that gave birth to the Keshiri. As such, it was commonly believed that the land of Kesh was a part of the Skyborn and that the Skyborn had the power to control such phenomena as groundquakes, volcanic eruptions, and storms.

Another important point of Keshiri religion was the Destructors, a mysterious group who were said to return to the galaxy every few eons to destroy all civilization, returning all beings to their primitive origins. The Destructors' enemies, the Skyborn, were said to be destined to defend Kesh from the Destructors. According to Keshiri legend, the Skyborn had already defended Kesh from the Destructors in the distant past, a conflict that resulted in a Great Calamity that altered the very geography of the world. Research conducted in the time leading up to 41 ABY seemed to indicate that a catastrophe much like that which the Destructors were believed to cause had indeed occurred on Kesh at least once previously. Another Keshiri divinity was the Bright Tuash, a creature with avian characteristics. In addition to their religious nature, the Keshiri were a scientific people; they had determined that their world was round well before the first outsiders arrived from beyond its atmosphere. They ventilated their structures with passages through the roof, creating de facto crawlspaces through which a Keshiri could move about.

Keshiri kissed when sexually attracted to one another. They mated for life, and practiced marriage, although extramarital affairs were not unknown. They raised their children until adulthood. They found Humans strange for their wide variety of skin tones, but they did not find the species unattractive.

Keshiri in the Galaxy
The Keshiri were technologically inferior to much of the galaxy, and thus never left Kesh of their own accord. Also, as Kesh was a remote planet, the species remained undiscovered by the outside galaxy until the arrival of the Sith in 5000 BBY. Because the Sith's starship was damaged in the crash, however, the Keshiri remained stranded on Kesh until Ship, a Sith Meditation Sphere, arrived in 41 ABY and began to help the Sith form an armada. Members of the Keshiri species were finally able to travel offworld aboard starships in the armada, and a few Keshiri Sith, such as Baad Walusari and Ahri Raas, later traveled into the Maw aboard the warship Eternal Crusader as a part of the Sith strike team sent to track Ship and kill Skywalker. However, none of the Keshiri on the strike team survived the mission.

Soon thereafter, the Keshiri High Lord Sarasu Taalon led a fleet of ships to Dathomir, where Sith Lord Gaalan took a convoy to the planet surface to retrieve the sole survivor of the strike team from Dathomir. During the mission, Gaalan led the capture of several Nightsisters and also survived a duel with Luke Skywalker himself. Shortly after, Taalon convinced Skywalker to join the Sith in an attempt to defeat the mysterious Dark side being Abeloth, although the Sith actually intended to force Abeloth to serve them. During the ensuing mission, a Keshiri member of the fleet, Captain Leeha Faal, was killed while beyond shadows, and the Sith failed in their endeavor, as Skywalker killed one of Abeloth's bodies. Taalon then elected to stay on Abeloth's homeworld with the Skywalkers, Khai, and Khai's father, Gavar, to discover more about Abeloth. After discovering that Abeloth had not died, Taalon swam in the Pool of Knowledge, resulting into his slow transformation into a member of the Ones. The Sith then followed the Skywalkers, who tracked Abeloth to Pydyr. There, Vestara Khai called in reinforcements under the command of Keshiri Sith Master Jestat Vhool. However, Taalon was killed by Vestara Khai to prevent him from becoming another being like Abeloth.

Sith Saber Tola Annax led Operation Shieldfall's planetside division against the Jedi and served as second-in-command to Gavar Khai, first in the Sith armada, and then in Abeloth's fleet. Meanwhile, several Keshiri who remained loyal to the Tribe penetrated Coruscant; however, due to their distinctively colored features, they had to remain hidden. They thus were given the task of exploring the Jedi Temple, which had recently been deserted at the orders of Luke Skywalker. When Abeloth took control of the Sith forces on Coruscant, she employed the female Keshiri High Lord Korelei as a torturer on former Triumvir Wynn Dorvan. Abeloth later consumed Korelei; Abeloth in Korelei's form was killed by Vestara Khai and Ben Skywalker on Abeloth's planet. Meanwhile, the Sith forces that had infiltrated Coruscant, including such Keshiri as Jestat Vhool, were eliminated by the Jedi and Galactic Alliance forces.

RPG D6 Stats
Home Planet or Sytem: Kesh

Attribute Dice: 12D

DEXTERITY 2D/4D

KNOWLEDGE 2D/4D

MECHANICAL 2D/4D

PERCEPTION 2D/4D

STRENGTH 2D/4D

TECHNICAL 2D/4D

Story Factors:

Uncommon Species: The Keshiri are a relatively unknown species in the galaxy and have only recently begun to explore beyond their planet.

Move: 10/12

Size: 1.5-2.0 meters tall