Disclaimer: This is just a thought experiment:
I notice that some species are definitely rare in the galaxy and others are common place. Depending on the location and a few other dimensions certain species are gonna be pretty rare. Chiss comes to mind as a rare species, as are Wookiees in GCW era. What are the rarest species that seem to be used all the time as though they are populous?
Mon Calamari and to a lesser degree Quarren. Both share a homeworld and don't seem to have any other colonies. Yet they're featured quite often in Star Wars media. Then there are the previously mentioned wookiees that should be hela rare.
If I remember correctly, there arent alot of non-human races that have any colonies. Most are one planet and as such should be exceedingly rare.
Wookiees, Chiss, Klatooinians (outside of Hutt-controlled areas), Falleen (maybe), Mustafarians, Drall and Selonians (outside of the Corellian Sector), Hutts (at least PC-style wanderers), Ganks, Dressellians, Caamasi, Eloms and Elomin (maybe), Cereans, Gigorans (maybe), and Iktotchi would all be relatively rare species. The Gand as well, if you play according to the nucanon, though not Legends.
Even accepting Legends materials, it's difficult to pin down how common or uncommon various species are. Like a lot of science-fiction and fantasy settings, Humans are the most common species because expecting readers or viewers to sympathize with, say, a bug man, is a tough sell. And because alien/creature make-up is expensive. [1]
We accept the rarity of Chiss because the authors of various Star Wars publications say they're rare. However, maps of the Chiss Ascendancy make it seem fairly large, so, even if it's isolationist, wouldn't it make sense that the number of Chiss in the Empire would be more than just Thrawn?
In my mind, the most common species are the ones that were most active in the pre-Republic era: Humans, Duros, Twi'lek, Niktos, Herglic, et. all.
Bothans, Wookiees, Sakiyans, Hutts, and the Mon Cala/Quarren all have colonial territories so it would make sense that they're largely active and commonplace in the galaxy.
[1] If you want to see a fantasy setting flip this trope on its head, check out Earthdawn. Humans are the third most common species, behind dwarfs and orks.
Used where?
In the movies? The media tie-ins? As player characters in this game? As NPCs?
This will probably be common sense, but when I am concerned about rarity (I rarely am) these are the main things I keep in mind:
1. Location of homeworld relative to the center of the galaxy, and thus empire. (eg: outer rim and beyond are more rare)
2. Is the race naturally space-fairing. Did they venture into space on their own? (eg: Duros, Bothan = yes, Twi'lek, Wookiee = no.)
3. Cultural/environmental factors that modify the above (eg: isolationist, heavily enslaved and exported, culture of exploration, etc)
I generally assume that the various cantina scenes in the various movies represent a decent cross section of the galactic populace and leave it at that.
On 6/25/2018 at 5:56 PM, ThreeAM said:This will probably be common sense, but when I am concerned about rarity (I rarely am) these are the main things I keep in mind:
1. Location of homeworld relative to the center of the galaxy, and thus empire. (eg: outer rim and beyond are more rare)
2. Is the race naturally space-fairing. Did they venture into space on their own? (eg: Duros, Bothan = yes, Twi'lek, Wookiee = no.)
3. Cultural/environmental factors that modify the above (eg: isolationist, heavily enslaved and exported, culture of exploration, etc)
What makes you think the Wookiees didn't venture into space on their own? They were just as technologically advanced as any other species.
15 hours ago, Tramp Graphics said:What makes you think the Wookiees didn't venture into space on their own? They were just as technologically advanced as any other species.
I incorrectly assumed their introduction to space was through their Trandoshan neighbors. A quick brush up on the old wookieepedia indicates you are correct. I retract my statement of them being non-space-faring.
On 6/25/2018 at 3:53 PM, Concise Locket said:We accept the rarity of Chiss because the authors of various Star Wars publications say they're rare. However, maps of the Chiss Ascendancy make it seem fairly large, so, even if it's isolationist, wouldn't it make sense that the number of Chiss in the Empire would be more than just Thrawn?
The Chiss Ascendancy is about as open as North Korea. I live near Disney and see tourists from all over the world, but I don't think I've ever seen one from North Korea.
Who in the setting would or could really judge relative rarity? There's too many worlds. Who here can name all the countries on Earth off their head? I sure couldn't. Then we have our different racial demographics but imagine if there's a world where there version of Neanderthals didn't die out. It just seems like a piece of information that wouldn't be common knowledge most would concern themselves knowing.
13 hours ago, 2P51 said:It just seems like a piece of information that wouldn't be common knowledge most would concern themselves knowing.
In-game, we would just ask someone with a high Intellect and many ranks of Knowledge (Xenology) along with Knowledge (Core Worlds) or Knowledge (Outer Rim). For those of us in the real world, just ask your GM.
On 6/26/2018 at 3:38 PM, warchild1x said:I generally assume that the various cantina scenes in the various movies represent a decent cross section of the galactic populace and leave it at that.
I think that is a good approach and it's what I generally use as my guide. I think this topic came out of the feeling I have for my groups' games and how I have banned Zeltrons at this point, because I am tired of them being in every game and they don't represent a large portion of the population as far as I can tell. I would rather have something like the mix in the cantina scene from Ep 4 or the Mos Eisley exterior shots.
Another confusing factor is all the different approaches to these species by different source material because I feel like I have read quite a few times that Wookiees are rare and the Chiss are even more so. A GM I played with recently had the party make a check to even identify what a Chiss was when we saw one, which I thought was kind of novel and ok with me. I like to see the Galaxy as not being an Information Society so I like the idea of radius of awareness and all that.
To some degree I want this to inform availability of Player Character choices, or at least consideration by the player of how rare their species is.
3 hours ago, Archlyte said:A GM I played with recently had the party make a check to even identify what a Chiss was when we saw one, which I thought was kind of novel and ok with me. I like to see the Galaxy as not being an Information Society so I like the idea of radius of awareness and all that.
I approve of this. The chiss in one of the campaigns i play in constantly gets mistaken for a mirialan. So much so that he was once poisoned by a doctor who assumed as much and misdiagnosed him.
4 hours ago, Archlyte said:Another confusing factor is all the different approaches to these species by different source material because I feel like I have read quite a few times that Wookiees are rare and the Chiss are even more so. A GM I played with recently had the party make a check to even identify what a Chiss was when we saw one, which I thought was kind of novel and ok with me. I like to see the Galaxy as not being an Information Society so I like the idea of radius of awareness and all that.
To some degree I want this to inform availability of Player Character choices, or at least consideration by the player of how rare their species is.
Wookiees are only "rare" during the Reign of the Empire, and only because most of them are enslaved. As such, it is "free" wookiees which are rare during this time. Before the rise of the Empire, and after its fall, they are far more numerous.
33 minutes ago, Tramp Graphics said:Wookiees are only "rare" during the Reign of the Empire, and only because most of them are enslaved. As such, it is "free" wookiees which are rare during this time. Before the rise of the Empire, and after its fall, they are far more numerous.
I mean, their world is represented by a senator. That implies a certain galactic presence on their part.
1 hour ago, Stan Fresh said:I mean, their world is represented by a senator. That implies a certain galactic presence on their part.
It sure does.
2 hours ago, Stan Fresh said:I mean, their world is represented by a senator. That implies a certain galactic presence on their part.
I'll counter that Binks was a senator too, but Gungans have (thankfully) been very slow to spread from Naboo.
5 hours ago, HappyDaze said:I'll counter that Binks was a senator too, but Gungans have (thankfully) been very slow to spread from Naboo.
That situation was a big deal in the movies, though. We have no such indication with the Wookiees. They're shown off-world throughout the OT and the prequels.
On 6/26/2018 at 11:38 PM, warchild1x said:I generally assume that the various cantina scenes in the various movies represent a decent cross section of the galactic populace and leave it at that.
If it ain't in a cantina scene, you aint' playing that species!!
On 7/4/2018 at 6:06 PM, ExpandingUniverse said:If it ain't in a cantina scene, you aint' playing that species!!
So... no droids? ?
On 7/5/2018 at 6:41 PM, Cifer said:So... no droids? ?
Yes and no.... yes, for the fact that in our first Edge game the droid became THE most important PC,, respray and 'he's' the new engineer droid to infiltrate the bad guys base... resprayed again and he's our Tech-Mech instead... all droids look the same to me
and No because they're never allowed in anywhere
The wookiee Tyvokka was a Jedi Master, and sat on the High Council. His last padawan was Plo Koon.
(For some reason, I thought that he was also a Grand Master/Master of the Jedi Order, but I can't find anything to support that from a quick search through Wookieepedia. Apparently that was just my head canon.)