Atoan

Biology

Atoans possessed an outward appearance that resembled baseline Humans, though their internal structure lacked a centralized heart; rather Atoans possessed thousands of smaller hearts evenly distributed throughout their bodies, from feet to fingertips.^[2] These hearts made the Atoans faster and stronger than humans, but also meant they could bleed to death more easily.^[2] Like Humans,^[3] Atoans had lungs, a cranial cavity, and a sternum.^[2]

History

Atoans were native to Atoa, a planet of the Atoan system, and by 19 BBY, they had expanded their civilization to other planets in the system, having a presence on a tar-pit planet ^[2][4] and a crystal planet^[2][5]. In that same year the Atoans started an insurgency against the newly founded Empire, which had little information regarding their civilization.^[1]

Atoan insurgency

In 19 BBY Garoche Tarkin defected from the Empire to Atoa in part due to a deep resentment of the atrocities he had to commit in the name of Palpatine, and aided in their insurgency along with Lady Saro, the High Priestess of Atoa. The pair became lovers, and Saro conceived his child. Captain Shale also joined in his defection, with the former seeking to kill Lord Vader, but failed. He later appeared with Saro and persuaded Vader to repent his sins. Vader ultimately killed them both in an attempted suicide by collapsing the cathedral they were in, in order to atone for his sins as Vader. However, he ultimately survived. After the death of the Atoans’ political leaders, the Atoan system was conquered by the Empire. Garoche's end at the hands of Darth Vader was kept secret; his death was instead blamed on the Atoan Insurgents, as part of a plan by the Emperor to deepen Wilhuff Tarkin's hatred of any form of insurgency and make him a better tool of the Empire.^[6]

Culture and technology

Atoan civilization was ruled by a theocracy, where head figures were known as High Priestesses. They believed in the Twenty-nine Atoan gods.^[2]

Despite being native from the same sector as Umbarans^[7], Atoans spoke their native language rather than Galactic Basic Standard. This language was considerd untranslatable, and even protocol droids could only understand the general meaning of a given Atoan phrase.^[1][4] The shaman Lady Saro learned to speak Basic after killing a stormtrooper and eating his tongue.^[2]

They were an advanced species, having at their disposal blasters, starfighters and floating cities located on a tar-pit planet.^[2][4]

Appearances

• Darth Vader and the Lost Command 1 (First appearance)
• Darth Vader and the Lost Command 2
• Darth Vader and the Lost Command 3
• Darth Vader and the Lost Command 4
• Darth Vader and the Lost Command 5

Notes and references