Honoghr

Seven planets orbit the Honoghr sun, from tiny Logru with its oceans of boiling lava, to distant Kuthul, the frozen giant. Of these seven worlds, it was the fourth planet that was blessed with life. Honoghr was the paradise in this tur- hulellt system, though its hold on life was tenuous- at best. It was not a world of abundance, like Alderaan, but it was the best this system had to offer. That changed drastically after the violence- of the galaxy intruded on the world.

The Planet Honoghr
The Noghri, the species of savage hunters turned into killing machines by the Empire, hail from the distant and nearly unknown world of Honoghr Little of the world is fit for habitation. The area that can still support life is called the are also a number of smaller villages spread throughout the Clean Land.
From high orbit, visitors can see the results of the cataclysm that devastated the Noghri homeworld. The surface of the world is almost uniformly brown with a few deep blue lakes and small oceans. There are no greens or yellows, no signs of plant life. From above, Honoghr looks clean. only on closer examination does any evidence- of life appear in the middle of the brown landscape. A small, irregularly-shaped patch of pale green sits lonely on the world of dusty browns. This is the Clean Land- Honoghr's only hope for life.
What happened to the world? Long ago Honoghr was caught between two combating warships. When the battle was over. the planet was left for dead, an innocent bystander hit by the stray shots of high-tech war.
Life on Honoghr has always been hard, but it became impossible after the battle in the sky. T o the Noghri, it was like a war between gods. The warships shot bolts of lightning across the sky all through the night and into the next day. The distant mountains flashed with their fury. The Noghri were more frightened by the silence than by the light, for there was no thunder to accompany the great flashes. When the light- lightning finally stopped, the Noghri thought the gods had gone and taken their war with them. Then the ground shake started.
Whole cities vanished in the earthquakes which shook the world. Forests and fields burned, as did villages and cities which survived- the quakes. This was followed by terrible sickness, and more people died. Then the strange-smelling rain began to fall.
In more civilized terms, one of the great war- ships crashed into the planet, triggering massive- earthquakes and releasing toxic chemicals into the air. starships carried such potent toxins, like the ships of the Old Republic.
A twist of fate left only one portion of the planet habitable, and that was the ancient truce ground that the clans had long used as a neutral site. All the surviving clans migrated to the truce ground in search of a way to live in the dying world. It was here, in the Clean Land, that Lord Vader found the Noghri.
The Noghri feared him as a god, hut they were also angry with the Gods for what they ha(l clone. Some of the Noghri attacked, killing many of Vader's attendants despite their blasters and armor. only three of the twenty Noghri fell before Lord Vader stopped the battle. He offered peace and the aid of the Emperor Vader provided food, medicine and tools at first. And Vader, who the Noghri believed was the only being in the galaxy that cared for them, became their master.
Once the Noghri clans were many, full of discord and death. The history carved into the walls of each dukha show the terrible destruction- of life created by the conflicts of old. Clan battled clan, and war was a way of life. This changed after the destruction on Honoghr. Now the clans are one, serving the Empire.
Outside the Clean Land, the only plant that continued to grow on the world was the kholm grass, and the few animals that have managed to survive are those that can eat it. To this day, the Noghri depend on supplies brought from other worlds by their Imperial masters, or they will perish as a species.
The Noghri leaders, called the dynasts, have been Imperial vassals since Lord Darth Vader arrived. For many years they faithfully served Vader and his Emperor, gladly giving their sons and daughters over as commandos in exchange for the help their planet needed.
The current Imperial lord of the Noghri is Grand Admiral Thrawn. The day Lord Vader presented him to the dynasts has been etched in Noghri memory, for it was a sad day. The Lord Vader, who had saved the Noghri from total destruction, explained that his duties against the Emperor's enemies would require his full would be their lord and chancellor. Sadness spread, for the Lord Vader had been the only one other than the Emperor who cared for the well-being of the Noghri. He had given them hope and purpose. It took time for the Grand Admiral to give them such things as well.

The Dukhas
Noghri culture is clan-oriented, made up of close-knit family groups that engage in many customs and rituals. It has all of the social customs of primitive pre-spaceflight cultures, though the Empire has provided spaceships and high-tech machinery to Noghri.
Every clan has a dynast, or clan leader, and a village it calls home. Each clan village has a dukha at its center, and all village life revolves around it. A dukha is a large cylindrical building with a flat cone-shaped roof. The circular wall is composed of massive vertical wooden pillars alternating with a lighter wood . .lust beneath the eaves, a metal band circles the entire building. The pillars of the elaborate structure are made of whole sections of tree trunk which have been stripped of bark and smoothed to a black marble finish. The lighter wood is covered with in- intricate carvings, as is the reinforcing metal ban(l, showing both function and art.
Each dukha is twenty meters across and four meters high, plus an additional four meters for room with a throne-like chair two-thirds of the way toward the back'the clan High Seat. There are no internal support pillars. Instead, great chains are strung from the top of each wall pillar to the edge of a large concave dish hanging over the center of the room. The weight of the dish keeps the pillars upright and as stable as any other support structure could . Hidden lights in the dish's rim glow upward, providing soft, diffused illumination.

The Empire's Deception
Of course, the Empire has used the situation to its own advantage, binding the Noghri into a debt of honor in order to make full use of their natural fighting skills. Princess Leia learned that the disaster took place forty-eight Noghri years ago, which the maitrakh of clan Kihm'bar told her was the same as forty-four Imperial years. The disaster did not take place during the Rebel- lion, as she had assumed, but during an earlier conflict, perhaps even during the Clone Wars.
By lies, the Empire has held the Noghri in bondage for too long. They have not been clean- the soil, but contaminating it to perpetuate the lie. The Empire actually infested the world with a hybrid strain of kholm grass which killed all other forms of plant life; the decon Droids slowly eliminated- patches of this dangerous kholm grass only enough to make it appear as though the enough to free the Noghri from their dependence upon the "generosity" of the Empire.
Princess Leia, going before the Grand Dukha as the daughter of Lord Vader, convinced the Noghri that the Empire had not been helping them. The Empire had been poisoning their world. She proved that the Empire could have repaired the damage to Honoghr in a few short years, not over the course of half a century.
"The Noghri are a free people," Leia told them, "I came only to try to restore that freedom to you." She also told them not to openly throw off the shackles of the Empire just yet, for to do so would bring swift retribution and death. She has prom- promised to return with more fresh, living seed so that they can restore their croplands. What happens next to Honoghr is up to the Noghri.

Nystao
In the city of Nystao sits the Common Room of Honoghr, in the Grand Duklla. Within rests the gleaming High Seat, from which the Grand Admiral- holds his convocates of dynasts. Each dynast comes to present himself before the Grand Admiral, affirming his loyalty to Thrawn and Empire. There is also an Imperial spaceport in the city, primitive by Core standards but a paradise Compared- pared to the rest of the backwater world.
The spaceport is maintained by Noghri who have been specially trained by the Empire. The starships, though they have little understanding of the skills they have been provided with The spaceport maintains a control tower and sensor station for monitoring near-space traffic and remains the most technologically-advanced area on the planet
As the capital of the Clean Land and the seat of Imperial power, Nystao houses the supply ware- houses The Empire periodically fills these ware- houses with food and water, and the dynast of Nystao distributes the supplies to the outer clan villages as needed Though all dynasts are considered equal, the dynast of Nystao remains slightly superior than the rest because of his more prominent- contact with Thrawn and the Empire.
Nystao is larger than the other clan villages, with more Noghri living within its confines It addition to the Grand Dukha, there are all of the other features of smaller villages on a larger scale Huge bakehouses prepare food for the families Large areas are set aside for the train- ing of the young and for the daily practices which the Noghri warriors engage in Family huts are everywhere, using the limited space of the Clean Land to best advantage
The city isn't open to visitation from outsiders- the Empire intentionally keeps the ravaged world isolated, and there are no modern trading center or luxury accommodations for visitors In fact, only Imperial officials are welcome- come on this world There are few places for non-Noghri to hide If one member of a clan knows something, it isn't long before the entire clan knows it Princess Leia's presence on Honoghr was almost revealed to Grand Admiral Thrawn only Leia's lineage, the Mal'ary'ush, or daughter and heir of Lord Darth Vader, protected her

Honoghr
Type Terrestrial (Toxic)
Temperature Temperate
Atmosphere Type I (Breathable)
Hydrosphere: Dry
Gravity Standard
Terrain Toxic plains, some clean land
Length of Day: 3 Standard Hours
Length of Year: 3 Local Days
Sapient Races Noghri
Starport Imperial Class (for Imperial ships only)
Population 10 million
Planet Function: Homeworld
Government Clan (Empire allied)
Tech Level: Stone, with space components
Major Exports None
Major Imports Food water, medicine, tech

Noghri

The Noghri are servants of the Empire. More to the point. they are servants of Grand Admiral Thrawn. They have served the Empire since e the species was discovered by Darth Vader, becoming the Emperor's private death commandos under the dark lord's tutelage. Now they kill and die for the ambitions of Grand Admiral Thrawn, though a few seeds of doubt have been spread among their ranks.
The Noghri are amazingly developed physical specimens, but they also evolved a high intellect. Noghri are perfect compact killing machines, small in size but large in ability and skill. Their abilities and physical appearance are night- nightmarish to many other species; their large eyes, protruding, teeth-filled jaws, gray skin, and thin, powerful muscles not only aid them in their natural role of hunters, but are also intimidating to other intelligent species.
The Noghri have a primitive, tribal culture dominated by customs and rituals. Though they make use of space vessels and modern technology , it is evident that they have only been introduced to such things recently in their history. They have a code of honor which has similar- ties to that of the Wookiees of Kashyyyk, and they take a personal pride in whatever work they set out to do. They are an honorable people, in their own way, who have pledged themselves to the Empire as payment of what they perceive to be a life debt.
Before pledging themselves into the service of the Empire, the Noghri experienced the terrible destruction of life in conflicts between the clans. Now they are one clan, in service to the Empire. Life on their world of Honoghr has always been a struggle. The land required hard labor to tame, and great amounts of sweat were needed to coax food from its poor soil. Then, the battle in the sky made things much worse. At the time, the Noghri knew nothing of starships and blasters. To them, it was a war between the gods, fought with flashes of brilliant lightning. When one of those ships was severely damaged, it crashed into the world. This set off massive earthquakes and released toxic chemicals into the air. When it was over, the Noghri who survived put aside their differences and gathered in what little land was still inhabitable. That was where Darth Vader found them.
Most non-Human primitives were ignored by the Empire, but the Noghri displayed natural fighting skills which could be exploited for the cause of the New Order. The Empire supplied food, medicine, tools and Droids to clean the land. They taught the Noghri Imperial ways, and gave them a mission that suited the hunters. The service they provide is a debt of honor to their saviors.
Noghri have great knowledge of the subtlety of combat. They do not seem to mind that they are stuck in a permanent debt relationship, which is closer to slavery than a debt to be repaid. They have always loved the stars, and the Empire allows them to travel among them as part of the service they must provide. Princess Leia, who the Noghri see as Lady Vader, heir to the Lord Darth Vader, has recently shown the Noghri that the Empire has been deceiving them all these years. Instead of cleaning the land as they promised, the Imperials have been maintaining the level of contamination nation in order to keep the Noghri in their debt. How this will effect the Noghri and their relationship with Grand Admiral Thrawn has yet to be revealed.

Noghri
Roleplaying Game Statistics
Attribute Dice: 16D
Attribute Minimum/Maximums:
DEXTERITY 2D+1/5D+2
KNOWLEDGE 1D+ 1 /3D+ 2
MECHANICAL 1D/3D+2
PERCEPTION 2D+2/4D+2
STRENGTH 2D+2/5D+2
TECHNICAL 1D/3D+2
Height: 1.3 meters
Move: 11/18
Quote: "Nyr'ush mir lakh svoril'lae. Mir'lae karah siv Mal'ary'ush vir'ae Vader'ush."
Special Skills:
Strength skills:
Brawling: martial arts. Time to use: one round. This specialized form of brawling combat employs techniques that the Noghri are taught at an early age. Because of the deceptively fast nature of this combat, Noghri receive +2D to their skill when engaged in brawling with someone who doesn't have brawlil7g. martial arts. Also, when fighting someone without this skill, they also receive a +lD+2 bonus to the damage they do in combat.
Special Abilities:
Claws. Noghri have powerful claws (add +1D to damage in brawling combat) and sharp teeth (add +2D to damage in brawling combat).
Stealth: Noghri have such a natural ability to be stealthy that they receive a +2D when using their hide or .sneak skills. Enhanced Senses. Because the Noghri have a combination of highly-specialized senses, they receive a +2D when using their search skill.
Ignorance. Noghri are almost completely ignorant of galactic affairs. Noghri may not place any beginning skill dice in any Knowledge skills except for intimidation .survival or willpower
Story Factors:
Enslavement. Noghri are indebted to Lord Darth Vader and the Empire; all Noghri are obligated to serve the Empire as assassins. Any Noghri who refuse to share in their role are executed.
Strict Culture: The Noghri have a very strict tribal culture. Noghri who don't heed the commands of their dynasts (tribal leaders) are severly punished or executed.

-From "Dark Force Rising: Sourcebook" by West End Games