TOR Lore: Rattataki
The Rattataki are pretty easy to recognize with their pale skin and bald heads that pretty much scream “I’m one of the bad guys!” They are relatively unknown in the greater galaxy, and there is little information on them as a species. The most well-known member of the Star Wars universe that was believed to be Rattataki, Asajj Ventress, has recently been confirmed to not be a Rattataki at all (despite the fact that she looks exactly like a Rattataki and was found on the Rattataki home world). Today I will share what little we do know about Rattataki so that we may all learn a little more about this mysterious species.
- Thought I was a Rattataki? Nope! George Lucas.
The Rattataki hail from the planet Rattatak, a world in the Outer Rim that has not been discovered by the Galactic Republic. Rattatak is a dry, arid, mountainous planet covered in red rock, with most of the settlements appearing to be hewn out of the rock itself. The remarkably harsh conditions on the planet nearly drove its population to extinction, and because of these conditions, the Rattataki have developed a rather violent society over the years. Their violent tendencies have been weaved into every aspect of their society. The planetary judicial system centered on gladiator games; those convicted, or even merely believed to be guilty, were summarily thrown into the gladiator pits for the remainder of their lives.
The Rattataki themselves are believed to be descendants of a lost Republic expedition that crash landed on Rattatak. Many of the planet’s inhabitants come from the Outer Regions, though occasionally off-world bounty hunters find themselves stranded on the planet and are assimilated into the society. Throughout Rattataki existence they have been discovering new ways to kill each other, and the other species on the planet. Most of the fighting is over the planet’s scarce resources, but it has become so ingrained into their culture that they can easily be considered a warrior species.
The Rattataki were introduced to the galaxy by Darth Vich, a Sith Lord and Dark Council member. He discovered the unknown world of Rattatak and took note of the warrior skills of its inhabitants, deciding to use the Rattataki as his own personal army. Vich took hundreds of Rattataki from the world and forged them into his own loyal fighting force, some of which were trained in the Sith arts once they were discovered to be Force Sensitive. As Vich’s ambitions grew he decided that he should be the one ruling the Sith, not the Emperor. He rebelled against his master and was summarily defeated and killed, his Rattataki warriors killed or enslaved upon his defeat. There are even rumors that some Rattataki serving under Vich betrayed him, and were rewarded with further Sith training by the Dark Council.
Unfortunately there is not much else to say about the Rattataki. I love that they have been included as a playable race in TOR, and I hope that it will allow us to learn more about them. Until then, they will just have to remain the pale skinned, bald headed, evil looking warriors that live to plague the Republic.
Joshrooms is the Lore columnist and news guy for swtor-life.com. You can follow him on twitter @MagicJoshrooms where he shares SWTOR and other gaming news and you can write to him directly at Magicjoshrooms(at)yahoo.com. If you have any ideas, questions, thoughts,stories, or just want to talk some Star Wars Lore feel free to contact him.
2 Responses to “TOR Lore: Rattataki”
Trying to develop a fanon on Rattataki culture.
Any input or ideas would be much appreciated.
Great idea!
One thing that I feel would be an interesting aspect to focus on is how the Rattataki became a warrior culture due to the resource scarcity on their home planet. This brings up some interesting concepts for how to proceed with their culture.
For example, it would be interesting to see how their desire to fight over resources plays out during war with other species. I could see them planning strategies around the idea of spending as few resources as possible while attempting to gain as much as possible from their enemies. Now this is nothing new for any species but it could be taken to the extreme with Rattataki. On one hand they could become masters of fighting with few resources at their disposal, but at the same time it could be easy to lure them into traps by using resources as bait.
They are also known for sporting some facial tattoos and markings. Having these markings be significant in some way is a great step to defining their culture. Seeing as they are a warrior race it would make sense to associate these markings with battle in some way, perhaps referencing a great combat achievement of some kind.
Gladiatorial combat was a major even for the Rattataki. We know that they pit criminals and prisoners in gladiatorial combat as punishment/entertainment, but what if it also was a method for determining their leaders? In a warrior culture the strongest should rule, and challenging current leaders in a fight to the death in front of their entire clan seems like a great way of determining who should lead them.
One thing that i would try and stay away from would be modeling the Rattataki too much on other warrior races, particularly the Mandalorians. Some crossover is unavoidable, but making sure that they do not become a clone of the Mandalorians is super important.
Hope these ideas helped, feel free to e-mail me if you would like to talk more 🙂