Jawa

Native to Tatooine, the diminutive Jawas are often dismissed as scavengers and thieves. However, this description minimizes the resilience of the species, which has managed to thrive in the harsh desert environment.

Rodent-like in their features, Jawa are rarely seen without the brown robes and facial coverings that protect them from Tatooine’s twin suns. They live in nomadic clans each ruled by a female shaman, and there is surprisingly little rivalry between the clans, as each limits scavenging to its traditional territory. Necessities not found or built by the clan are purchased from offworlders’ settlements, where Jawas’ skills as tinkerers whose work endures the desert heat are reluctantly valued.

Annually, all the clans gather in the basin of the Dune Sea to exchange goods and share ideas. This is also a common time for clans to exchange sons and daughters of age. This practice increases genetic diversity within each clan and solidifies the unspoken alliance among the Jawas as a whole.