Tusken Raiders
|
|
Tuskenraider.jpg
Tusken Raiders (or Sand People) are fictional creatures in the Star Wars saga. They live on the planet of Tatooine. They killed Anakin Skywalker's mother Shmi Skywalker in Attack of the Clones and attacked Anakin's son Luke Skywalker in Star Wars: A New Hope.
Tusken Raiders are an ancient race that were highly technologically advanced, living on the planet of Tatooine, and were a major power in the known universe. However, the creators of the Star Forge, the Rakata conquered the Tuskens, and mined their planet exhaustively. Tatooine became a desert world due to strip mining of precious metals to build star fleets. Once the "Creators" lost power, the Tuskens forsook most technologies, and "poisoned" their natural resources to prevent other species from conquering their planet. Regardless, they were conquered many times over the following millennia, though the conquerors frequently left the planet after a short period of time, due to the atomic instability of the metals in the planet.
In Star Wars video game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic it is implied that Tusken Raiders were the original humans. This would explain why humans seem to be spread out across the Star Wars universe, as they were the most commonly used slave race of the Rakata. While so, some sources claim this is not official canon. Other sources such as starwars.com claim the Tusken Raiders are descendants of the Ghorfas, a society that built caves within the cliffs of Tatooine. Their civilization collapsed when offworld settlers disrupted their water supply, leading to their current nomadic existence.
The primary weapon of the Tusken Raider is a durable metal spear called a Gaderffi, known as a "Gaffi stick" to non-Raiders.
Expanded Universe
According to Expanded Universe sources, Tusken Raiders are named after Fort Tusken, an early Republic mining settlement in which all of the settlers were overwhelmed and captured or killed by Tusken Raiders.
In the New Jedi Order series, it was revealed that Jedi Knight Tahiri Veila was raised by the Tusken Raiders after they captured her in a raid. During battle the Tusken Raders are known to "spit" blood from nasal ducts and chanelled it into a metal tube below their eye socket.