Doing some writing for my campaign. Came up with a slightly morbid conundrum; what happens when a Twi'lek's head tail gets chopped off? Can they survive it? I know they are connected to the brain but is cutting them off or shooting them as lethal as a headshot?
Twi'lek Lekku
It would be a "minor" brain injury, but it wouldn't be fatal. They are used in communication with other twileks, having one removed could make the victim seem crippled or handicapped to other twilek even though other races may not notice the difference.
That is interesting. This could work for something awful I have planned
In the beginner module sequel "Long Arm of the Hutt"...
The Players meet a NPC Twi'lek who's Lekku has been amputated and cauterized maliciously by a Bounty Hunter. But he does not seem to suffer any significant ill effects such as brain damage
Our game has seen Twi'Lek's with prosthetic lekku, replacing one that was cut off in a fight. One of our characters lekku have been pretty badly abused. I think they had a spear pierce it once, got it smashed in something, etc.
We have a twi'lek in our game, and we even had an occasion where an NPC twi'lek got a lekku sliced off by an Inquisitor's lightsaber.
The answer we used (supported by a vague recollection of what is probably now Legends) is that twi'leks judge attractiveness partially on how long one's lekku are, in addition to storing some low-level coordination and brain function in them. Not something that is devastating to their ability to get around in society, but the loss of a little bit of processing power, likely a good chunk of their self-image, and the just awkwardness of having your head suddenly off balance, means losing a lekku, while not fatal or debilitating, is exceptionally uncomfortable.
The NPC twi'lek in question did, in fact, get a prosthetic lekku. The crew even paid for it for her.
Yep, Getting a lekku cut off is about as debilitating as getting any other limb dismembered.
There was an old video game way back when about an orange Twi'lek mercenary, Rianna Saren, who got a Lekku amputated by slavers as a child and had it replaced with cybernetics. Google her!
That was on the DS! I didn't get very far in the game, but it was an interesting setup.