The Near Human species of Starwars always reminded me of the ousters from the Hyperion Cantos books, tons of ‘humans’ all related but definitely have diverged from a mix of physical and cultural adaptations and artificial mutation of their phenotypes.
Yes but that is only the case for some near-human species, like Mirialans and Chiss, which are evolutionary offshoots of humans (just like how Neimoidians are offshoots of Duros). Some “near-humans” aren’t biologically related to humans at all, like Zabraks, Twi Leks, Theelin and Koorivar. It’s heavily implied that the former two species in particular were created by the Rakatans. They’re not related to humans in any way biologically, at least not moreso than any less-human looking alien like a Wookie or Geonosian or Trandoshan.
I love how Star Wars chose this angle, realising that if we didn’t find aliens in the universe, we’d make some. In their environment, they found aliens anyway, but the future isn’t really an either/or scenario so much as a “both”
The foundation's similar. The only none humans are robots which were made by humans the Solarians, Gaians and the population on alpha centati. All 3 organic races were cut off from the rest of human society for eons with no contact or mixing and preformed extensive genetic modifications in solarians case, got used as test subjects for humainty 2.0 in the gaia case and the people on alpa centari lived on a water world and were trying to make themselves amphibious so they could better use the oceans
One of my players in my Edge of the Empire campaign is playing a Chiss, and we've got a running gag where people describe her as a "red-eyed Pantoran".
If i recall, in either KOTOR or SWTOR, the Rakatans claim to have engineered the various species as slaves. If that is so, then "human" would merely be the genetic program that all these species are based off of. Like mods for a video game depending on the setting.
They didn't engineer all of them, and many were simply enslaved. The qwa were around well before the Rakata (it's who gave the Rakata their technology originally).
But keep in mind that humans too were implied to be a created species by the Rakatans. So these species were not based on humans, but rather humans, Twi Leks and Zabraks were independently based off of the Rakatan genetic program
@@SarastistheSerpent One could argue the point against humans having been engineered by the Rakatans, as Legends material has humanity and the Taung both having had Coruscant as their original home world. Humanity simply won out on the eventual divergent sentients "We want it all and don't want to share!" type war. Plus with how many species did arise in more reasonable ways from sleeper colony ships, lost or otherwise (Zeltron to Chiss and everything in between.) there are plenty of Non humans. But due to the era in which Star Wars originated, it's been much like a case of Looking at so much other sci-fi from before the 2000's as CGI got better and cheaper. "Oh, we need aliens... Throw these guys into some makeup and Prosthetic add-ons!"
In the "Princess Leia" comic book series, book #4 presents how Alderaanians, a human-species-faction, interbreeded with Espirion natives; Espirions being a human sub-species having red skin with varying black stripe markings (at least on their heads) giving the Espirions an almost tiger-like appearance. The hybrid species identifying as Alder-Espirion. This hybrid would, unfortunately, be viewed in disgust by an Alderaanian named Jora Astane who viewed the interbreeding practice as diluting the Alderaanian bloodline which had (now) become an orphaned bloodline after the destruction of the planet. Dora's prejudice would nearly cost the lives of a large population of Alderaanian orphans who had rallied to Princess Leia's mission to gather together the remaining Alderaanians in order to find a new world to live on, as well as protect them from the wrath of the Empire who had placed much of the blame for the destruction of the (first) Death Star (hypocritically enough) on the Alderaanian orphans due to Princess Leia's involvement with the Rebel Alliance.
One of the things I loved about Star Wars to begin with was that it wasn't afraid to show aliens that weren't just budget-friendly humans with bumpy foreheads or pointy ears. That said, I can't help but ADORE the Chiss!
That's something I always thought about. In our reality, imagine if aliens really visited us and abducted humans. But, instead of probing their Uranus, they left them in other planets. That would be wield! BTW, that reminds me of an episode from Star Trek Voyager!
The Rakatan's certainly had a hand in this well. They've done plenty of experiments on different races, using base templates to bio-engineer offshoots of said species. Some of these near-human subspecies may have been products of this. Though many are just natural evolutionary products of humans expanding across the Galaxy so it's not all just interference of "Alien Bio-masters" or anything 😅
Well, that's because they are the same SPECIES. Both are Canis familiaris regardless of their looks. A breed is not a separate species. Just a result of domestication and selective breeding for specific traits.
Please make a video on how the Jedi made and spent money. They had to have a huge budget and what did they all spend it on. Before, during, and after the clone wars.
Well largely the Jedi is a government organization, or maybe contracted to the government, so they probably get it out of public funds. In the past like during lord Hoth’s day they may have gotten it from the territory they owned and controlled as Jedi lords. Even before that like great hyper space war places the order was 1. Decentralized and 2. They had like patrons and stuff and were more like itinerant warrior monks. Also many Jedi masters have been supreme chancellor So they answer is probably they get tax dollars from the government to fund their judicial stuff, plus whatever kinds of investments they may have, which are likely sizable given their ability to purchase large fleets of custom vehicles and other stuff. But the Jedi order has been adjacent to or a part of the republic’s government about as long as the republic has been.
@@Valiguss The Jedi Order being Republic adjacent or integrated is a *relatively* (All things considered) 'new' thing. The order once it grew enough beyond Tython and Ossis, as their centers, did align with the republic often enough with core order. However they weren't an integrated part of the Republic until after the first purge. I don't believe there's a defined time when the hard connection was made, but it happened at latest during (Or just before) the final war that ended with the Russan Reformations and treaties. Even then it took centuries to form a much more cohesive order out of the outlying enclaves. Though even then not all of the enclaves (The Divergent and distance ones in particular) 'came into the fold', as it were. And simply became organization not recognized as Jedi, but accepted as 'safe' by the mainline order. Or direct secondary order offshoots like the Corellian order in Legends.
Indeed, like why did anybody believe that Sifo-Dyas could just pay the Kaminoans, Kuat Drive Yards, BlasTech and others for Grand Army of the Republic? Jedi Masters must get one heck of an expense account!
@@13thGrudge yes. The structure changed after the clone wars. The Jedi eventually started over. Also, in legends, the Jedi order became a large institution again.
The Zeltron is the best one, not because they look better, but because their entire world is pretty much nonstop entertainment, with games and parties constantly appearing, making it such a fun world that visitors tend never to leave by choice. Who wouldn't want to live on a world covered in mostly just pretty people who biologically favor everyone nearby being happy, and whose entire culture revolves around literally fun and games?
I like how if you dive deep enough into the lore Star Wars starts to become like All Tomorrows. "You see all these aliens? Yeah, they're actually humans."
No mention of the possibility of Miraluka/Human hybrids lacking both eyes and force sight, being truly blind? The main warning given by *outdated spoiler* in *outdated spoiler* against romancing *outdated spoiler*
I have never been clear about how psychic powers work in SW. Are species traits like psychometry, empathy and telepathy some kind of low-level Force sensitivity or do they work in a completely different fashion? Some cases are explicit, such as the Miraluka seeing through the Force. It's stated outright that they're using the Force to "see". The Zeltrons seem to be able to perceive Force sensitives with their empathy, but it's not clear that their empathy is itself a Force ability. The Force doesn't seem to fill all evolutionary niches. For example, the Umbarans evolved UV sight rather than Force sight like the Miraluka, despite both having to adapt to planets with little visible light. The Lorridians didn't evolve either psychic or Force based telepathy to cope with their enforced silence. Then there are the Chiss. You would expect their harsh environment to produce more Force sensitives than the rest, but they don't. What are all the sources of ESP and what drives such abilities to appear in differing sub-species?
There's a few different ESP-lite abilities present in certain, select species in SW that aren't Force based (the example I tend to default to is a individual from the old Black Fleet Crisis books who had psychic powers to a limited extent that weren't Force based), but they are extremely rare. As to how they work or pop up? I dunno. Probably biological based, somehow, or maybe modified into them by some precursor race or some such. Either way, they tend to be extremely limited and weak next to the Force. I will also note that evolutionary pressure alone isn't a guarantee of giving widespread Force sensitivity, because the Force isn't a purely biological phenomena, and that the Zeltrons, as far as I'm aware, work purely biologically, no space magic required. Same goes for Xizor's species, and so on.
@@papapalps2415 - It wasn't always so. The Celestials, the Kwa, the Rakata, and other precursor species seem to have had near-universal Force ability among their populations. It's actually a notable part of the transition into relatively "modern" times that Force-sensitive species dwindled, and the ability to sense and use the Force became more of an individual trait in later times. But there is a certain utility to biological abilities that aren't as dependent on being both Force-sensitive and requiring extensive training to use.
I never quite understood any biological uses with the head tentacles with humanoid species like Twileks other than cosmetic. Seems like just a load of weight that can be obstructive for survival, especially when I am probably in a melee or a blaster fight.
In the X Wing legends books it mentions that the head tentacles are used for signaling and manipulation, in once scene Twilicks are seen “talking” with their tails while eating, in another scene one of them uses it to retrieve an ID chit from a shirt pocket
I feel like Twi'lek aren't near human but an independent species of their own because of what would be considered very extreme mutations for what would be a short evolutionary time period and how (at least in legends) the Lekku by some sources (thank you chaos that is legends, blessing and curse) held portions of the brain near the base. While generally not integral to a Twi'leks survival, damage of or removal of the lekku near the base could cause total amnesia. In a comic series that the name escapes me of, during the time of Aylaa Secura's very late period as a Padawan (She took late trials to become a knight, in part because of the incident to come.) under Quillin Vos (Whom at the time was a dedicated Sentinel, so taking on a padawan was rare as it is.) she took a blow across the full back of her head and lost all of her memories. Aaaand a brief romance between the pair before she did eventually regain her memories. That said, it varied a fair bit as to interpretations, but one thing that stayed the same outside of common slavery due in part to their near universal desirability, was the genuine deadly nature of Ryloth that has not been depicted and basically tossed out the window since the CW TV series. Twi'leks made homes in the rocky spires and to a degree, under ground, with limited excursions on the surface. As the Planet was tidally locked in such a way that it was habitable, but during certain points in weather shifts or orbital periods. Massive "Heat storms" would blow through the habitable equatorial band that could turn a person to ash and bone with no time to react once the "Storm" reaches them. Their primary food source was actually types of Fungi and edible molds that they could grow and farm with limited livestock type or surface hunted animals. These factors are the reason that Twi'leks so often ended up in the slave trade. Some individuals, and families saw it as a potentially better life than continuing to live on Ryloth for their offspring as they had Hyperdrive technology brought to them but had limited capability to get off world on their own terms due to a lack of ability to reach a planet in system that was safe to build in orbit around to build their own ships and the very limited space to potentially build planet side. Also the ability to cross breed with humans was only brought to full Canon with Nu Canon with Rebels. It's Implied in the Clone Wars for the clone deserter that ended up with a Twi'lek, but considering the age of the children (I know that Twi'lek mature physically at a much higher rate than most more directly humanoid species, or at least did in legends. Both with Species guides and Mission Vao as an example.) they could not have been the clone's given a MAX of 2 years elapsing, including pregnancy. So unless the children have the poor fate of accelerated overall aging passed down from the clone father... It's biologically impossible from everything set forth beforehand for humans and twi'lek to have children. Also a secondary note on Zeltron. They weren't just desirous of good feelings/vibes. They are EXTREMELY empathic, and gain emotional pleasure from giving and therefore receiving positive emotions. However it still works both ways. A zeltron that left Zeltros or the colonies and was surrounded by negative emotions for long enough would take on those negative traits. Making a lone zeltron in a crime organization both a very valuable asset, but also very dangerous all on their own due to a tendency for mood swings. To put it bluntly, if a Zeltron force sensitive that was powerful enough to become a potential Jedi or Sith, were to be picked up by a Sith or simply become a dark force user. Well, you could end up with a very very powerful and manipulative darksider that is very likely to be a sadist to the extreme. As the higher level an emotion is, the higher high is for a Zenltron. It's really just not a good time for anyone.
Many of these “near-humans” aren’t biologically related to humans at all, and are in fact unrelated independent species. Zabraks, Twi-Leks, Theelin and Koorivar for example were all not related to humans. Zabraks and Twi-Leks in particular were heavily implied to be genetically engineered species created by the Rakatans. They’re not offshoots of humans like Chiss were in legends.
@@SarastistheSerpent I was going to mention Zabrak but felt like I was going on a long enough as it was. But yeah a lot of the reason that so many Star Wars Aliens up until the last 15 years or so have been so human looking if they weren't background characters, was because of complexity of makeup or puppetry. And in the case Legends beyond that, many writers and/or comic writers and artists found it easier to make new species that appeared mostly human rather than going full on alien. A combination of relatability, ease of depiction and so on. A case of "Star Trek-itis" if you will. I mean consider the most truly alien species we've seen on screen that hasn't been CGI, the Mon Calamari. Would not be able to use any galactic standard weapon. But in EU, legends or Nu, for CG depictions, they're much more dexterous and the webbing on the hands more flexible and elastic. Still limited in traditionally humanoid-ish hand configuration, made weapons, but not nearly as limited as in actual costume.
This makes so much sense. Just imagine all the various species of humans that have existed on this planet for the last 500,000 to 1,000,000 years. Now blast them off into outer space in all directions and watch how different and various they get.
Came here for StarWars got reminded of my old job with that Norwegian cruise, I used to give those people tours of the Alaskan water ways and showing them whales, sadly never saw the kind that took Ezra though
The near human species reminds me of Humaniti from the Traveller RPG. Humaniti is the term in Traveller for all the different related species of humans.
Some are, some are not. Species like Mirialans and Chiss were offshoots of humanity (basically subspecies of humans), while Zabraks, TwiLeks, Theelin and Koorivar are not in any way related to humans, and the former 2 are heavily implied to have been artificially bioengineered species created by the Rakatans.
You forgot to mention Zabraks have slightly different attributes dependig on their homeworld. While on Dathomir male Zabraks are born with very dark Skin and horns without hair and female Zabraks have light gray, almost white skin with silver or gray hair and no horns, Zabraks from Iridonia (hope I spelled it correct) usally have human-range skin tones and both genders, male and female, have horns as well as hair.
☝Yep what you said. It's easy to forget that technically Ventress and the Night Sisters are the same species as Maul. Both are Zabraks. But I think unlike the Iridonian variant, the Dathomirian Zabraks DO have some ancestral hybrid genes with humans. Kinda like how most modern humans have hybrid genes with our extinct sibling-species the Neanderthals.
@@alexielshadowangel It is, if you look at Merrin, for example, she's basically a human with pale skin and hair. Since the Nightsisters, in rare cases, also adopt non-Zabraks and make them to one of their own, like Morgan Elsbeth, who's a human, I think it's quite likeley the missing horns of the females are a result of Zabrak genes mixing with human genes. Dathomiri females are the only hornless Zabrak, so there has to be some human influence. But just imagine Cal and Merrin have a kid (I hope that's the case in the third Jedi Game😍), if thaf kid is a boy he could have horns although his parents don't.
Don't forget the Progenitor Race to the Star Wars Humans, Humans in another Galaxy and time from the Deathworld know as Terra/Luna of the Sol System. I know, it's a Long time ago in a Galaxy Far away, but I think there are temperamental Time/Space Wormholes involved, that only the Asogian's of Planet Brodo Asogi aka the Green Planet know how to Navigate. 😄😄😄😁😆🤠😆😁😄😄😄
The was a BIG ship! So with all these human offshoots, is that the reason they are able to communicate so easily with each other? It seems that in all the shows, the only time a translator droid is needed is with truly alien species.
I'd say it's more just because the Galactic Republic was so prevalent for tens of thousands of years, and its official language was Basic, and as a result, the lingua franca of anyone involved with the Republic in any way would be Basic. It's like how the lingua franca of Earth is English due to the prevalence of the United States, and before that the British Empire, on the global stage.
This makes me wondered how much different the Pantorans are from the Chiss. After all, both species have blue skins. However, were they related to one another just through humans or were the Chiss diverged from the Pantorans and/or vice versa?
Star Trek’s Klingons, who are also a warrior race, don't have 2 HEARTS (they have one eight-chamber heart), but they have extra of several other organs (2 livers, 2 urinary tracks, 3 lungs, 23 pairs of ribs whereas humans have 12 pairs, multiple stomachs).
They didn’t develop another heart. Zabraks are not related to humans in canon or legends. This video is incorrect. In legends it is heavily implied that Zabraks and TwiLeks were species that were created by the Rakatans
There is a rare ability amongst us humans in real life where some people can see into the ultraviolet spectrum as they didn't develop a certain filter in their eyes. So new species diverging from base humans having this ability is not out of the question.
Clearly the human/near humans dominate the small section of the Star Wars Galaxy that we know about, but that is less than 1% of the known Star Wars galaxy. The Star Wars galaxy has between 1 billion and 3.2 billion habitable planets. Of these the Empire had 1.5 million planets and an additional “65 million colonies and puppet states under its direct control” (according to Wookiepedia) so we see only a tiny fraction of Star Wars Galaxy. (Likely the part of the galaxy where humans are).
For me to pick a favorite near human species it’s a bit complicated are we talking about ones that are definitely considered near human or one that we don’t have enough information to say either way or not if I had a big one that is definitely known to be a near human species and be the Twi’lek but if species are not 100% confirmed to be near human can be considered in this then they would be the Togruta
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Star Wars doesn't make the distinction between species that mutated and evolved from baseline humans, evolved to be similar to humans but otherwise unrelated (convergent evolution), or were altered to become similar to human, nor to just look like humans but are actually genetically unrelated in any way or are internally different. They are all "Near Human" as far as that galaxy is concerned.
