We just had a new player join the group, and he made a Pau'an Artisan. Side note: he was kinda torn between Cerean and Pau'an. He recognized that a Cerean would probably be a better fit mechanically, but he really liked the Pau'an description, and, "At some point I want to paint my character, and I'd really like to paint one of these guys. Is that a dumb reason?" "Dude! No! That is the best reason!"

So, aside from that, one of the things mentioned in the Pau'an description is that the Empire has taken complete control of their world, and most of the Pau'ans have fled. Obviously, the Imps get their sticky fingers into everything, but seizing such complete control over a remote backwater planet would require a pretty good reason. Unfortunately, the reasoning goes unmentioned in the book, nor can I find anything on Wookieepedia. I already have some ideas, but was curious if there's a Canon or Legends reason. Anyone know?

The simple reasoning is the empire is facist regime and would quite gleefully enslave these creatures to build a peace moon somewhere; in my particular campaign my GM had made it so the world Gand was under full occupation, turning it into a factory world with Gand literally wired into the cockpits of their ships! It truly demonstrated the rufflessness of the empire without building another death weapon. It was some harrowing stuff that stirred some dark emotions in the non-humanoid members of the group.

Kyber Crystals or some other material. What do they normally export?

That gigantic Kyber Crystal used for the Death Star was from Utapau.

In Legends, the Empire placed an artifact storehouse on the planet, but there's no current canon answer. Utapau was the site of one of the last and most decisive battles of the Clone Wars. The Empire would likely justify their control of it for that reason, blaming the natives for permitting Separatists to create a base on the planet. (The truth, of course, is that the Pau'ans were coerced by General Grievous and appealed to the Jedi for help as soon as they possibly could, but that might just make it worse for the Empire's reasoning.)

After that, maybe they want it for mining. Everyone else has pointed out the kyber crystal connection, but that far into the Outer Rim maybe Palpatine wanted to set up one of his observatories there. Or its remote location makes it ideal for a biochemical weapons lab.

17 hours ago, The Grand Falloon said:

We just had a new player join the group, and he made a Pau'an Artisan. Side note: he was kinda torn between Cerean and Pau'an. He recognized that a Cerean would probably be a better fit mechanically, but he really liked the Pau'an description, and, "At some point I want to paint my character, and I'd really like to paint one of these guys. Is that a dumb reason?" "Dude! No! That is the best reason!"

Responding to the intro rather than the question. I agree, this is a great reason. I had a player who chose Bothan because "they're this race that didn't even appear, and just have this one mention in Return of the Jedi. " When players forego a mechanical advantage to create or play a character that is flawed and interesting, I tend to reward them with more character focus in the game. When they just want the best stats so they can kill more enemies, I just give them more enemies. It may sound petty, but I've found that it works out that everyone gets what they want.

4 hours ago, CaptainRaspberry said:

In Legends, the Empire placed an artifact storehouse on the planet, but there's no current canon answer. Utapau was the site of one of the last and most decisive battles of the Clone Wars. The Empire would likely justify their control of it for that reason, blaming the natives for permitting Separatists to create a base on the planet. (The truth, of course, is that the Pau'ans were coerced by General Grievous and appealed to the Jedi for help as soon as they possibly could, but that might just make it worse for the Empire's reasoning.)

After that, maybe they want it for mining. Everyone else has pointed out the kyber crystal connection, but that far into the Outer Rim maybe Palpatine wanted to set up one of his observatories there. Or its remote location makes it ideal for a biochemical weapons lab.

If you pay attention, when Obi Wan is escaping Utapau after falling into the sinkhole, you can see the clones arresting the pau'ans. It apparently didn't take the Empire that long!

4 hours ago, Felswrath said:

If you pay attention, when Obi Wan is escaping Utapau after falling into the sinkhole, you can see the clones arresting the pau'ans. It apparently didn't take the Empire that long!

They did the same thing on Kashyyyk.

Sam Stewart said on the Order 66 Podcast covering Disciples of Harmony that this is something LucasFilm said they should include so it sounds like it's "canon" setting information that hasn't necessarily worked it's way out into the wild yet.

On 10.9.2017 at 8:48 PM, The Grand Falloon said:

We just had a new player join the group, and he made a Pau'an Artisan. Side note: he was kinda torn between Cerean and Pau'an. He recognized that a Cerean would probably be a better fit mechanically, but he really liked the Pau'an description, and, "At some point I want to paint my character, and I'd really like to paint one of these guys. Is that a dumb reason?" "Dude! No! That is the best reason!"

So, aside from that, one of the things mentioned in the Pau'an description is that the Empire has taken complete control of their world, and most of the Pau'ans have fled. Obviously, the Imps get their sticky fingers into everything, but seizing such complete control over a remote backwater planet would require a pretty good reason. Unfortunately, the reasoning goes unmentioned in the book, nor can I find anything on Wookieepedia. I already have some ideas, but was curious if there's a Canon or Legends reason. Anyone know?

Crystal Crisis on Utapau

http://www.starwars.com/video/star-wars-the-clone-wars-story-reel-a-death-on-utapau

http://www.starwars.com/video/star-wars-the-clone-wars-story-reel-in-search-of-the-crystal

http://www.starwars.com/video/star-wars-the-clone-wars-story-reel-crystal-crisis

http://www.starwars.com/video/star-wars-the-clone-wars-story-reel-the-big-bang

6 hours ago, SEApocalypse said:

Crystal Crisis on Utapau

http://www.starwars.com/video/star-wars-the-clone-wars-story-reel-a-death-on-utapau

http://www.starwars.com/video/star-wars-the-clone-wars-story-reel-in-search-of-the-crystal

http://www.starwars.com/video/star-wars-the-clone-wars-story-reel-crystal-crisis

http://www.starwars.com/video/star-wars-the-clone-wars-story-reel-the-big-bang

On 9/10/2017 at 6:00 PM, Yaccarus said:

That gigantic Kyber Crystal used for the Death Star was from Utapau.