Topic: The Mustafarian

[Cimter]

INFO: The Mustafarians were the native sentient species of the volcanic planet Mustafar. They were divided into two subspecies: the taller, thinner northern subspecies, and a smaller, stockier, and hardier southern subspecies.


RACE: Mustafarian
HEIGHT: 2.29 Meters Tall (Northern), 1.5 Meters Tall (Southern)
SKIN: Brown
DISTINCTION: Extremophiles
LANGUAGE: Mustafarian

HOMEWORLD:
Mustafar was a small planet located in the Mustafar system of the Outer Rim Territories, coreward of Rutan, between the Hydian Way and the Ninth Quadrant.



The tiny world of Mustafar was a fiery volcanic world where lava was mined like a precious natural resource. It was also the last capital of the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Around this time, it would become historically important as the site of the clash between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader, an event that shaped galactic history.

Mustafar was a very young and volatile world, torn apart by opposing gravitational forces of the gas giants Jestefad and Lefrani, with the former being the closer of the two. Astride thick-skinned lava fleas, the natives leapt across the lava fields to mine the planet's deadly natural resources. Mustafarians oversaw the smelting facilities constructed by the Separatists on Mustafar.

Please see below for info on the History of the planet.

BIOLOGY AND APPEARANCE:
The two subspecies of Mustafarians had different physiologies as well as different roles in their society. The northern Mustafarians were significantly taller than their cousins and physically weaker. Because of their frail physiology, those who served as sentries commonly had their limbs enhanced with cybernetic prosthetics.

The southern Mustafarians were stronger and shorter in stature than their northern cousins. They handled the "heavy lifting" jobs of the their planet's lava mining, and could withstand higher temperatures than northerners. Since they spent more time near the lava, they wore breath masks and thick armor to compensate.

There were similarities between the two subspecies, though. Both were hard-shelled arthropods with long snouts and insectoid eyes. Their exoskeletons lay in plates over leathery skin, serving as protection from the heat they experienced on Mustafar. Unlike most species of the galaxy, they had very little water in their bodies.

CULTURE AND HISTORY:
The Mustafarians were an egocentric people who wanted nothing more than to squeeze any resource they could off their volcanic planet. They were generally unconcerned about the affairs of outsiders, and were not commonly seen off-world. If they were, it was usually for trade or business reasons.

They fashioned armor from lava fleas to protect themselves from the hotter lava flows on the surface which separated Mustafarian townships such as Fralideja. Even without lava flea armor, Mustafarian skin was tough enough to resist standard blaster bolts, so they used weapons which fired bolts of kinetic force instead. They were not a naturally aggressive species, but used the weaponry as protection. Northern Mustafarians also domesticated lava fleas to serve as mounts, and had a manhood ritual that required youth to jump a lavafall on a lava flea without protective clothing.

Mustafarians spoke a buzzing, insectoid language and had a highly symbolic culture. Their architecture was based on the shape of the kahel cave fungus, and they lived and worked in saucer-shaped buildings near mine entrances. These buildings extended several levels below the ground, often utilizing empty mines that no longer produced ore. The cooler hollows of dormant volcanoes also served as dwellings.

Southern Mustafarian miners rode harvesting platforms skimming over the active lava flows, extracting metals with large, pole-mounted cauldrons. Mustafarians also worked in industrial complexes which took advantage of their planet's abundant mineral resources and geothermal energy.

Notable Mustafarians included Chief Armstrong, Foreman Chivos, Urup Fal'co, and Chief Ulon Glost. At least one Mustafarian became a bounty hunter; Jabba employed this hunter in an attempt to kill Tyber Zann, but the hunter failed and was killed by Urai Fen.

The Mustafarians evolved from extremophilic arthropods whose natural habitat was the slightly cooler hollows and caves inside Mustafar's dormant volcanoes.

When the Techno Union arrived on Mustafar about three hundred years before the Clone Wars, the Mustafarians signed a trade treaty with the off-worlders. Technology gained through trade allowed the Mustafarians to survive even the harshest conditions on their homeworld and increased their living conditions. In return, the Mustafarians helped build and manage operations on Mustafar to extract minerals for the Techno Union.

Because of this, they obtained membership in the Confederacy of Independent Systems, and the movement used their planet as one of its main headquarters. During the Clone Wars, the Separatist Council enlisted the Mustafarians to build a climate-controlled fortress which was to be used as a protective retreat in the event that the Republic prevailed. After Darth Vader's massacre of the Separatist Council and Techno Union leaders in 19 BBY, the Mustafarians were happy to have gained control of the fortress and were left to manage their own affairs.

However, it is believed that the fortress was decimated by orbital bombardment by the Galactic Empire when the renegade Geonosian Separatist Gizor Dellso retreated there, refusing to surrender to the Empire. The Mustafarians were loyal to the Empire as of 0-6 ABY.

APPEARANCES:
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (First appearance)
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith video game
Star Wars Galaxies – Trials of Obi-Wan
Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption

SOURCES:
Star Wars: Complete Locations
Revenge of the Sith: The Visual Dictionary
Star Wars: The Complete Visual Dictionary
The Art of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
Underworld Appendix: Swoops, Spice, and Wretched Rogues
The New Essential Guide to Alien Species
Star Wars Miniatures: Bounty Hunters
"Aliens of Episode III" - Star Wars Insider 90
Mustafar in the Databank
Mustafar lava flea in the Databank
Mustafarian in the Databank

I would like to thank Wookieepedia for this info.

[Cimter]

Once a lush green world, Mustafar was home to many Jedi Enclaves built around 5,300 BBY. It was here that they cultivated their abilities as well as training their students. One such Jedi Master was Chu-Gon Dar, an individual whose mastery of physical Force was unmatched. He created a unique Force-sensitive object while on the planet known as the Chu-Gon Dar cube which was used to both channel and manipulate the physical Force to alter the physical properties of an item placed inside it. However, in 3,996 BBY, the resurgent Sith wished to exterminate the Jedi, and so a climactic battle took place on the planet. This battle was so intense that one of the nearby gas giants was pulled into its current location by the Force, starting the gravitational tug-of-war. The environmental hazards caused by this tug-of-war forced the Jedi to abandon their temples on the planet. This caused all knowledge of Chu-Gon's cube to be lost.

Mustafar was home to two variants of sentient Mustafarians—the northern Mustafarians, who were tall and thin, and the southern Mustafarians, who were short and squat. Centuries ago, a cataclysmic eruption destroyed all Mustafarian settlements except for Fralideja.

CLONE WARS:
At the time of the Clone Wars, the Techno Union had owned Mustafar since its (re)discovery c. 300 BBY, harvesting minerals and energy from the 800-degree-hot lava. It was comparatively cool compared to most other lava due to the unusual mineral allotropes that became molten at a lower temperature. Regardless, the lava could only safely be mined when a repulsor field was placed to repress any eruptions and deflect heat away from those harvesting it.

The main Separatist stronghold was located in a massive industrial complex located on a fiery cliff bracketed by two huge lava flows. Collection arms mined lava from the area, while durable industrial droids worked further afield. Within this facility lay a Separatist command center, one of the most secure bunkers in the galaxy.

During the early years of the war, Palpatine, in his guise as Darth Sidious, tasked the Duros bounty hunter Cad Bane with kidnapping Force-sensitive children and taking them to a secure facility on the planet, where he could turn them into a cadre of Force wielding spies. The plot was scuttled by Anakin Skywalker and his Padawan, Ahsoka Tano.

Toward the end of the Clone Wars, Palpatine would continue to have a vested interest in the planet, ordering General Grievous to move the Seperatist Council there near the end of the war, apparently for their own safety, but in reality to gather them together so that Anakin, newly anointed by the Sith Lord as Darth Vader, could kill them all and deactivate the droid armies, bringing about the end of the war. Shortly afterwards, the duel between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader would also take place on the lava planet. During the duel, the controls to the mining complex were destroyed and the repulsor fields dropped, allowing the violent lava eruptions to overwhelm the complex. Vader suffered grievous injuries including the loss of his remaining limbs and the searing of his lungs when he attempted to jump to higher ground from a platform on the lava river, only to be immobilized by Kenobi. He was later rescued by Emperor Palpatine, who brought him back to Coruscant where he was rebuilt into the feared cyborg executor of the Emperor at the Emperor Palpatine Surgical Reconstruction Center. It was also on this planet, immediately prior to the Kenobi/Vader battle, that Lord Vader, who unbeknownst to Padmé Amidala, was no longer the man she had married, Force-choked the pregnant Senator of Naboo into unconsciousness. This would eventually add to the causes of her death, along with the loss of will she suffered alongside her broken heart.

IMPERIAL ERA:
After the destruction of the Separatist Council and the Imperialization of the Techno Union, Mustafar was largely forgotten, until a Separatist stalwart, the fugitive Geonosian Gizor Dellso, holed up on Mustafar during the early days of the Galactic Empire and re-activated an independent battle droid factory, intending to rebuild the Confederacy's previous military strength.In 12 BBY, he constructed a small droid army and a flotilla of warships above the planet, and got the support of several fellow Geonosians. One year later, the situation had been required by the attention of the loyal 501st Legion of stormtroopers to storm the planet. At the battle's end, with the droid schematics destroyed and Dellso eliminated, the base was annihilated in a massive orbital strike from Imperial I-class Star Destroyers, which resulted in the fate of the Geonosian Industries, along with the fragmentation of the Separatist holdouts.

At some point, Mensix Corp established the Mensix Mining Facility, built to replace the previously destroyed complex.

GALACTIC CIVIL WAR:
Prior the time the Death Star plans were stolen, Twi'lek mercenary Rianna Saren and Zeeo were sent to gather Intel on current Imperial operations and sabotage the Mirkanite Mining Facility. The mission was successful as the duo narrowly escaped from Imperial soldiers and a squadron of TIE Fighters.

After the destruction of the first  Death Star, it was rumored that several would-be Jedi found their way to the legendary world of Mustafar, and were apparently guided on their path to Knighthood by the spectral form of Obi-Wan Kenobi. A disturbance caused by a gathering of dark side energy drew Kenobi's spirit to the planet. Other explorers at the time apparently encountered the ancient assassin droid HK-47 along with an ancient Hammerhead-class ship.

POST-ENDOR:
The Sith Lord X1 had relocated his Imperial Remnant base from Vjun to Mustafar. X2 found X1 on Mustafar and led New Republic troops in a short battle. X2 destroyed his brother's cloning lab, and the two brothers duelled, ending in the death of X1.