Velok the Younger
When I Was A Young Warthog
Name: Tyuksleen
Designation: Non-sentient
Homeworld: None, per se. The Tyuksleen is an alchemically altered Dagobah sleen.
Language: None. The Tyuksleen isn’t especially bright.
Average Lifespan: 15 years.
Estimated Population: Several dozen. The Tyuksleen breeds true. Between newly born and newly altered Tyuksleen, the population keeps up with attrition.
Average height of adults: 1.2m at the shoulder
Average length of adults: 3.5m
Skin color: Greenish-gray
Hair color: N/A
Distinctions:
- Consumes Light Side energy
- Tough, mildly lightsabre-resistant hide
- Has largely useless heel spurs
Breathes: Type I
Strengths:
- Consumes Light Side energy. The original Dagobah sleen has a very obscure property whereby it passively nullifies very small amounts of Light Side energy. This property is not unique within the Dagobah ecosystem: the Dagobah nudj has a similar (and similarly minimal) effect on Dark Side energy. For more context, see this entry. This minimal quality of the Dagobah sleen has been exaggerated in the Tyuksleen. Rather than neutralizing tiny amounts of Light Side energy, the Tyuksleen consumes and cancels out significant portions of such energy. In the presence of an awake, alert, adult Tyuksleen, Jedi and other Lightsiders find it somewhat more difficult to use the Force. For a true Master, this would be little more than a distraction, but a good distraction is worth its weight in aurodium. Get a group of Tyuksleen together, and the impediment would become more severe, though not absolute. Tyuksleen can also gain their energy by consuming Force artifacts, preferably Light Side. A group of Tyuksleen, over the course of weeks or months, could de-Light-Side-ify a Light-oriented Force nexus, making its alignment undifferentiated. It is important to note that Tyuksleen have a fairly accurate sense of where food (Force nexus, Jedi, Light Side artifact) can be found. They can get a general sense of direction from up to 20km, and a progressively more accurate 'scent' with proximity. On average, they have an accurate and reasonably precise directional sense within about 200m. Their senses can be partially or wholly baffled by techniques or items which conceal a Jedi's Force signature.
- Tough hide. Part of the Tyuksleen’s genetic code was taken from the lightsabre-resistant tikulini. As a result, the Tyuksleen’s hide is mildly lightsabre resistant, comparable to armorweave. Either alive or properly tanned, it can resist glancing blows but not thrusts or full-force chops. As a lightsabre-resistant material, it’s fairly poor. Tyuksleen hide stands up to shrapnel and stray blasterfire. It’s more durable than your average sleen, but nobody’s going to be making heavy armor out of this stuff anytime soon. An approximate armor rating for raw or cured hide might be around 4-6.
Weaknesses:
- Slow. The Tyuksleen was produced by creative amateurs, and they couldn’t do much about the base sleen’s lethargy. The Tyuksleen runs at a glacial 15 kilometres per hour, if provoked. Simply outrunning a pack of rampaging Tyuksleen is a viable option in most circumstances. Tyuksleen, while curious and irritable, are also lazy.
- Indigestion. The Tyuksleen is part omnivore and part forcivore. It can go for quite a while on Light Side energy alone...which has consequences for its bowels. Tyuksleen are frequently distracted by digestive issues, and have a distinctive, highly recognizable aroma comparable to rotten mint. If you’re downwind, you’ll smell them long before you see them.
- Difficult to wrangle into groups. The Tyuksleen is solitary by nature. The more Tyuksleen you have in one place, the more irritable and difficult to manage they’ll be. They respond to Darksiders, but commanding more than a few Tyuksleen reliably for any length of time takes a Master, a dedicated beastmaster, or someone who knows the creatures in detail. There will be no rampaging hordes of Tyuksleen.
- Back-heel spurs. The large, upcurved spurs serve no real purpose, and can cut the Tyuksleen’s underbelly in close combat.
- Cold-blooded. In cold environments, Tyuksleen are more-than-usually lethargic and pretty much useless. Prolonged cold will make them hibernate and eventually kill them.
- Swamp dwellers. Tyuksleen can manage well enough in temperate climates, starships, etc. In deserts, they dry out and get fussy. Eventually, such temperatures will kill them.
Races: None
Diet: Omnivore/Forcivore. The Tyuksleen needs both components in its diet. Go without food or nommable Light Side energy (either ambient or obtained through eating Jedi or Force artifacts) for more than a couple of weeks, and the Tyuksleen’s health will deteriorate hard.
Communication: Hisses, grunts, roars
Culture: Not applicable.
Technology level: Not applicable.
General behavior: Sleen, including Tyuksleen, are usually solitary creatures. They tend to congregate near disturbances or vergences in the Force. Tyuksleen are very interested in any such disturbance, whether Light or Dark, and will plot their way inexorably forward to investigate. They are curious creatures. Upon finding a Force disturbance, and identifying it as a Light Side in orientation, they will engage with it. If the vergence is a location, they will attempt to sleep, rest, or mark territory, while soaking in ambient energies. If the disturbance is a Jedi, they will attempt to eat that Jedi. If the disturbance is a Force artifact of some kind, they will chew it, slobber on it, etc. If the artifact is organic, they will generally be able to digest it. If not, they’ll either spit it out eventually or pass it with feces. Tyuksleen aren’t too bright. They’ve been known to attempt to swallow Jedi Force-imbued blades.
History:
Velok the Younger stumbled on the Dagobah sleen’s unique property within his father’s journals. In an effort to regain his lost abilities and improve his alchemical skills, Velok attempted to substitute research for power and expertise. With the occasional tutelage of Sasha Santhe and the knowledge he gained from various alchemical sources, he set out to improve the sleen. His efforts bore inconsistent fruit, but his persistence ultimately payed off.
While traveling with and learning from Santhe, Velok procured and bred sleen. He also evaluated the Lugubraa, a durable and speedy Unknown Regions species, and procured genetic samples in extensive, bloody quantity. However, his attempts to include Lugubraa traits in the Tyuksleen largely met with failure. He succeeded in using the leathery, rubbery Lugubraa hide to toughen the skin of the sleen, but that was about it. This is where the sleen’s extreme omnivorousness came from: Lugubraa have remarkably few inhibitions about food.
While excavating and exploring Warren @Valik’s tomb and alchemy lab on Tash-Taral, Velok was exposed to a variety of alchemical knowledge and techniques, as well as samples. He would later use the knowledge he acquired to bolster the Tyuksleen project.
While undertaking a strange contract on Jiroch-Reslia, Velok employed his well-bred sleen to nom stray bits of Light Side energy and purify an awakening nexus.
While hunting tikulini with his Sith associates, Velok and [member="Darth Ignus"] hit on the idea of trapping and breeding the lightsabre-proof tunnel worms. Tikulini were killed and trapped by use of prisoners as bait, as well as a number of creative tactics. Velok succeeded in instilling a portion of tikulini hide’s strength into the skin of the sleen.
While meeting with his Sith confederates, Velok introduced them to a large, curious, well-bred sleen, which participated in the meeting (if only as a persistent distraction). This was one of the first true Tyuksleen. Not long thereafter, the Tyuksleen began to play a role in Velok’s larger plans, and he lent a few of them to trusted associates as necessary.
Notable Player-Characters: None
Intent: I found an incredibly obscure bit of canon, and decided to amp it up for fun. The intent of the Tyuksleen is to scare and challenge Jedi a little bit, but not to present an insurmountable advantage.
