Cloud-deer

Cloud-deer were a type of deer found on the planet Rei'izu that had white-flecked purple-gray fur and branching horns. Hundreds of cloud-deer lived on the grounds of a shrine in the pilgrims' ward of the city Yojou on Rei'izu. While a group including the Rei'izu native Ekiya, the bounty hunter Chie, and the former Sith known as the Ronin traveled through Yojou, many cloud-deer watched them and crossed their path. Later, when the Ronin and Chie encountered a group of citizens trying to shoo away a flock of cloud-deer that were intruding on a grocer's, they slowed with the intention of assisting the citizens, though ultimately did not do so.

Biology and appearance

Cloud-deer were a type of deer with long legs and necks, variegated purple-gray fur with white flecks, ears, and wet black eyes. The deer had horns that branched in filigree patterns over their heads.^[1]

Behavior

Cloud-deer lived in flocks. They would stare at individuals passing near them and could twitch their ears when curious.^[1] The deer were persistent,^[2] and at one point, a flock of rogue cloud-deer attempted to intrude on a grocer's.^[1]

History

Cloud-deer were found on the planet Rei'izu, with hundreds of them living on the grounds of a shrine in the northern stretch of the city Yojou's pilgrims' ward that was one of the oldest and largest on the planet. At the end of the Sith rebellion against the Jedi clans, a Sith witch caused Rei'izu to vanish, leaving empty space where it had been. The planet's people became barely present remnants known as shades, but the cloud-deer and other creatures living on Rei'izu were unaffected.^[1]

Twenty years after the Sith rebellion, the Rei'izu native Ekiya returned to the planet as part of a group that was searching for the witch. While traveling through Yojou toward the pilgrims' ward, the group saw a cloud-deer standing in the ward and staring at them from across the Moga River. The group stared back, and Ekiya mentally noted the deer's horn patters were beautiful. Another cloud-deer trotted up behind the first, twitching its ears with curiosity, and Ekiya recalled the deer that lived at the shrine. As the party continued passing farther through the ward toward Shinsui Temple, more and more cloud-deer crossed their path. Eventually, only a frosted park separated them from the chasm around the temple, and pairs of cloud-deer watched the group advance from between barren fruit trees.^[1]

As a result of the group's actions, Rei'izu was returned and its people were restored. Later, while two members of the party—the bounty hunter Chie and the former Sith known as the Ronin—traveled down a street in the pilgims' ward, they encountered a small flock of rogue cloud-deer attempting to intrude on a grocer's and a group of citizens trying to shoo them away. The Ronin and Chie slowed to offer assistance, but the Ronin's astromech droid^[1] R5-D56^[3] urged them to continue on. The two ultimately did not help shoo away the cloud-deer, as Ekiya arrived in a speeder to drive them the rest of the way to their destination.^[1]

Behind the scenes

Cloud-deer appeared in the 2021 non-canon novel Ronin: A Visions Novel, by Emma Mieko Candon.^[1] The deer were modeled after the sacred wild deer living in Nara Park in Nara, Japan.^[2][4]

Appearances

• Ronin: A Visions Novel (and audiobook) (First appearance)

Notes and references