Gran

For other uses, see Gran.

I'm already going mad! Please don't send me away to be alone!Ree-Yees had a strong need for companionship

The Gran were sentient mammalian humanoids native to the planet Kinyen, though they had colonies across the galaxy, including settlements on the planets Hok and Malastare.

Biology and appearance

Gran could easily be identified by their three eyes and their goat-like snout.^[7] Female Gran also had three breasts.^[10] Gran were also able to sense one another's emotions and disposition by noting subtle changes in body heat and skin color. The Gran had excellent vision, able to resolve more colors than most species, and even able to see into the infrared. Gran had two stomachs, having evolved from herbivorous grazing animals who lived in herds on the mountains and highlands of Kinyen,^[8] surviving on the local silvergrass, for which Gran kept their taste.^[10] Gran chewed and digested their food quite slowly, savoring the flavor carefully.^[8] A single meal could take almost an entire day to finish, but a Gran would often not need to eat for several days afterwards.^[9]

A recessive genetic mutation sometimes caused some Gran to suffer from misshapen extremities, with hands and feet swelling to abnormal sizes. While not affecting the individual's ability to do finer work, the handicap nonetheless often resulted in social isolation. Gran scientists intently studied the trait to attempt to find a cure.^[11]

Society and culture

Gran GG12 — Gran communing with nature on Kinyen.

The beauty of their homeworld, and the need for primitive Gran to band together for defense against predatory animals, helped the Gran develop strong bonds of home and family in their society (once they became a civilized species, the Grans set aside fenced nature preserves for the carnivores which once threatened them). Grans also mated for life, forming such strong bonds that they generally died within days of a mate's death.^[8]

The Grans were also very protective of their families, and were some of the most devoted parents in the galaxy. This was because of their very powerful and sensitive sight, which could sense the emotions of their mates and their children. Gran society maintained its balance by setting up strict career quotas, and making sure young Gran were educated for a specific job that best served his or her talents.^[12] While other species who value freedom tend to criticize such a rigid social system, to the Gran it was both logical and essential.^[8] Gran religion revolved around the worship of the goddess Doellin.^[10]

Gran had a strong need for companionship—a Gran left alone for too long would go insane or die of loneliness. Generally, they needed other Gran for companionship, but some Gran were able to form sufficiently strong bonds with aliens. The most feared punishment among the Gran was exile. Lone, outcast Gran, often wearing black to avoid painful memories of the colorful cities of their homeworld, were generally given a wide berth by experienced spacers.^[8] Conversely, Gran within their society were peaceful and amiable, with a keen sense of their place in society, and unselfish instincts putting the greater good ahead of their individual wants.^[13]

The only known major conflicts between Gran took place very early in Kinyen's history, before 10,000 BBY. Even these wars resulted from matters of survival, rather than strong emotional conflicts between the Gran or rival nations.^[8]

Kinyen was under the socialist demarchic rule of the Tayan League. While socialization was the key feature of Gran livelihoods, and social relationships were encouraged even at workplaces unlike most corporate cultures, socialism on Kinyen required a certain purity, and so social pariahs—which included Gran suffering from a genetic condition which caused severe swelling—those deemed as social pariahs, and other undesirables were exiled, and outside influence was shunned away—the Gran of Kinyen even declared their kinsmen living under the Gran Protectorate, which ruled as a colonizer of other worlds such as Hok and Malastare, to be a separate species. Exiled Grans typically died within a few years due to rapidly decaying mental health; herd mentality was inherent to their species, and Gran could not survive without congregating with other Gran.^[14]

Doellinism was a religion whose principles were deeply ingrained in Gran culture. The Gran saw themselves as crops, grown by goddess Doellin to be harvested at death. Violence, gambling, alcohol consumption, usage of spice, and other addictive behavior and substances was strictly forbidden, and violations were met with penalties such as exile and death marks, supposingly for the common good; after all, Doellinism was primarily a celebration of life, community, and happiness. To maintain cultural purity, immigration and emigration was tightly controlled by Kinyen bureaucracy, even for Gran citizens.^[14]

History

The Gran on Kinyen had maintained a peaceful civilization for over ten millennia before the fall of the Galactic Republic. During an expansionist period circa 1000 BBY, colonies were established on Hok and Malastare. However, the emigrating colonists left a significant imbalance in Gran society on Kinyen.^[13]

Feeling they were destroying too many families, and diluting the Gran race, the government reacted with isolationist policies and prohibited unauthorized emigration from Kinyen and limited offworlders to special alien quarters in their cities.^[8] This protected the Gran society, but it also isolated the Gran on Hok and Malastare who had begun to form strong bonds to their new homes. The Gran colonies continued independently, keeping the strong social bonds of Gran society but with loosened social codes. The looser social codes allowed for more corruption in the upper levels of colonial Gran society.^[13]

One of the most infamous examples was the Gran Protectorate of Malastare, which subjugated the native Dug population, treating them as little more than slaves and even relocating them to the western continent of their own planet. The behavior of Malastare's Gran was unusual, as most Gran on Kinyen were peaceful, calm beings who abhorred violence, and preferred peaceful ways to adapt to difficult situations.^[8]

A number of Gran on Coruscant joined the Black Heth criminal gang and fought the Jedi Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi.^[15] The Gran of Malastare had a great deal of power within the Galactic Senate during the later years of the Galactic Republic, represented by the thought to be corrupt Aks Moe^[16] and his successor, the influential Loyalist Committee member Ask Aak. Aak later took Aks Moe's seat in the Galactic Senate.^[17] Other Gran Senators such as Kharrus^[18] and Philo^[19] also played important roles in the Galactic Senate during the Clone Wars. Hok also produced a well-known Gran in that era, the podracer Mawhonic.^[16]

During Emperor Palpatine's reign of terror over the galaxy, Gran became less influential. At one point, the Galactic Empire demanded access to all parts of Kinyen, and leveled one of Kinyen's cities when the Gran protested. This forced the Gran of Kinyen to collaborate with the Empire. Some Gran during the Imperial era secretly supported the Rebel Alliance, usually by peaceful means such as supplying food to the Rebels. Most Gran disapproved of violent revolt, however, and even Rebel sympathizers insisted that no military actions were acceptable on their homeworld.^[8]