The Tocoyans were a sentient species indigenous to the desert world of Tocoya, in the Ktilac Regions of the Inner Rim. Each member of the species had a hairless, domed head, a humanoid torso, two arms, and wrinkled skin. The head sported two enormous, pointed ears, two small eyes, and a curved snout. This muzzle ended in a gaping mouth with four white teeth.

As one of the three member species of the Ktilac Regions, the Tocoyans shared a common culture with their galactic neighbors—the Ktilacs and the Murachaun. Each of these species controlled sixty-three systems within their region of the galaxy. The Tocoyans also shared their comrades' beliefs in the sanctity of the Ktilac Regions; any Tocoyan found abroad was thus understood to be a religious apostate, unable to ever return. Nevertheless, members of the species did make their way in the greater galaxy. For example, Neb Dulo visited the court of the Hutt crime lord Jabba Desilijic Tiure sometime during the Galactic Civil War.

Biology and appearance[]

Tocoyans were humanoid from at least the waist up, with a torso, two arms, a neck, and a head.^[2] They were sentient, with a hairless cranium that was roughly dome-shaped, narrowing to a spiky protrusion at the apex and toward the front. From the back, the head displayed three prominent sections. The right- and leftmost portions were convex and rounded, while the middle portion was recessed; this central portion was roughly triangle-shaped, beginning at a point toward the top of the skull and widening until it met the neck.^[1]

The front of the neck was an agglomeration of skin folds and flaps, with a wattle-like mass of wrinkles hanging down from the center. Above this, a beak-like snout dominated the Tocoyan face. This muzzle was shaped like a half-cylinder, with the top rounded and the bottom flat. At both sides of the maw, strips of flesh flanked the snout, extending down as fingerlike projections that curved forward and down. The mouth itself was small and circular, with two prominent, flat, white teeth visible from both the upper and lower mandibles. The inside of the mouth was a reddish pink. A pair of small, pink^[1] or white eyes flanked the snout.^[2] These were half-circles with flat tops and rounded bottoms, ringed by eyelashes. The forehead, which began between these orbs, displayed a prominent recession where the two halves of the skull came together. Two large, triangular ears swept back from the top of the head to about the midpoint of the neck.^[1]

Tocoyans had wrinkled skin, which displayed diverse markings. For example, one individual had blue-gray skin with pink patches in areas where the flesh was recessed, such as the upper neck, the upper snout, and the back of the head.^[1] A different specimen, on the other hand, had a uniformly pale skin tone.^[2] Nevertheless, both of these Tocoyans sported pink skin on the insides of their ears.^[1][2]

Society and culture[]

The Tocoyans shared a common culture with the Ktilacs and the Murachauns, the two other sentient species of the Ktilac Regions in the Inner Rim. The three species saw themselves as symbionts, each reliant upon and giving aid to the others. The Tocoyans, like their Ktilac and Murachaun comrades, considered the Ktilac Regions to be holy space—and those members of the culture who wandered from its bounds to be heretics, no longer welcome in the area.^[4] At least one Tocoyan had a strong natural inclination to guard and protect others.^[5]

The Tocoyans ruled over sixty-three star systems within the Ktilac Regions, the same number held by each of their Ktilac and Murachaun partners. These three domains were united as a confederation, its borders closed to non-members. However, the affiliated species maintained three worlds that admitted offworld visitors under certain circumstances: Daedalon, Tun Wala, and Vob.^[4]

History[]

The Tocoyans originated on the desert planet Tocoya.^[3] The species came into contact with their galactic neighbors, the Ktilacs and the Murachaun, and the three species established a common government, eventually spreading to occupy sixty-three star systems apiece. Over time, a common culture evolved among the three groups.^[4]

Visitors from the greater galaxy first breached Tocoyan space sometime between 25,000 and 5000 BBY. It became part of the Inner Rim, located on or near the Perlemian Trade Route as part of the Slice. The Tocoyans' coexistence with their Ktilac and Murachaun neighbors persisted through several eras of galactic history. The region remained unaligned or contested during the New Sith Wars of 1004 to 1000 BBY. Nearly 1,000 years later, the area remained within Galactic Republic space during the Clone Wars. The Tocoyans were still in league with the other species of the Ktilac Regions through the reigns of the Galactic Empire, the New Republic, and the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances. By 137 ABY, the region had fallen within territory that was considered part of Darth Krayt's Galactic Empire.^[4]

Tocoyans in the galaxy[]

According to Tocoyan religious belief, any member of the species who left the borders of the Ktilac Regions was an apostate, forever banished from the area to live among other species.^[4] Nevertheless, Tocoyans did spread to worlds beyond their home region. One of these was Neb Dulo, a Tocoyan who left Tocoya and joined^[6] the court of Jabba the Hutt at the crime lord's palace on Tatooine at some point during the Galactic Civil War.^[7] Dulo followed a religion known as Davrilat, which revered harmonics.^[6] Another Tocoyan was living on Hurd's Moon in 4 ABY. When the Tocoyan and a gang of other street toughs encountered the Human replica droid Guri, they tried to force her to pay a toll to pass them. However, the droid made short work of them.^[2]

Behind the scenes[]

The Tocoyan species was created by the Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) creature shop during the production of Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi for possible inclusion in the Jabba's Palace sequences of the 1983 film. ILM's design reached the maquette stage, but the alien was never translated into a costume for use by one of the film's extras.^[1]

The species, based on ILM's abandoned alien design, first appeared in Shadows of the Empire: Evolution 1, the first issue in the Shadows of the Empire: Evolution comic series. It was written by Steve Perry, illustrated by Ron Randall,^[2] and published on February 11, 1998.^[8] The reference book The Essential Atlas, published in 2009 and authored by Jason Fry and Daniel Wallace, officially named the species.^[4]

Appearances[]

• Shadows of the Empire: Evolution 1 (First appearance)

Sources[]

• Star Wars: Chronicles (Maquette only)
• Star Wars: Behind the Magic
•  Star Wars Customizable Card Game — Special Edition Limited (Card: Neb Dulo) (backup link)
• The Essential Atlas (First identified as Tocoyan)
• Back from the Drawing Board: Recycled Star Wars Aliens on StarWars.com (article) (content now obsolete; backup link)

Notes and references[]