Yuuzhan Vong

"For all the evil the enemy do, they aren't dark, exactly—the enemy are entirely outside the Multiverse."

The Yuuzhan Vong—"Children of Yun-Yuuzhan" (Second Human Empire: Forsaken Children or Siw'inik Vili'chini), also called the Chosen Race, and sometimes incorrectly abbreviated to Vong, which implied that one was disowned by their family and their gods. The Yuuzhan Vong and their Chazrach slaves were among the few alien species known to originate outside the multiverse (the only known others being the Silentium, the Wioni and the Abominor). A typical Yuuzhan Vong resembled a Human in form, though they were taller and heavier than the average Human and had less hair on their heads. The Yuuzhan Vong were religious zealots, who viewed mechanical technology as blasphemy. Their technological innovations were genetically engineered and purely organic. Additionally, the Yuuzhan Vong deeply respected pain to the point of masochism, and strove to improve their physical capabilities through organ grafting. Such grafting was a status symbol within Yuuzhan Vong society.

Perhaps most notably, the Yuuzhan Vong were unable to be sensed through the Force. This confounded the Jedi who first encountered the Yuuzhan Vong. However, they were susceptible to some Force based attacks.

Although the Yuuzhan Vong from the Viau Universe joined forces with the Coalition of Independent States during the First Multiverse War and one of the few races that had limited access to travel between universes due to their religious belief. They remained neutral after signing a non-aggression pact with the New Galactic Republic and the Alliance of Nations in the 17th century New Era, until the Third Multiverse War broke out and fought against the TransRace Empire.

Biology and Appearance[]

The Yuuzhan Vong were a humanoid species—initially leading some to believe that they were a Human offshoot race—but there were differences between Humans and Yuuzhan Vong. For example, Yuuzhan Vong typically lacked kidneys. The Yuuzhan Vong were also much taller and had heavier builds than the average Human, though this could be a result of selective breeding. Yuuzhan Vong also had a longer life span than the average Human, generally around three times that of a Human's. Genetically, they shared many elements that made them similar to Humans, which was considered unusual as they were an extragalactic species, but one notable difference was one element of their genetic structure that was present in all their biotechnology.

Yuuzhan Vong had sloping, almost ridge-like foreheads. Several Yuuzhan Vong had been seen with pointed ears, while just as many had been seen without them. These could have been ritual mutilations, or a genetic variation; there is no conclusive evidence as to what the species' norm was. Yuuzhan Vong also had short, stub-like noses, making their faces appear skull-like. The Yuuzhan Vong usually had black hair, though in lesser amounts on both the head and body than Humans, but often wore it much longer than them (in many cases, they were also completely bald). Small blue sacks could be found under the eyes of the Yuuzhan Vong, and they were often considered a mark of beauty. These eyesacks expanded and contracted to reflect a Yuuzhan Vong's mood, as the species did not use the facial expressions preferred by Humans. Through the blue sacks under their eyes, they were capable of telling if an individual was in delight or were suffering from rage. The most common skin tone among the Yuuzhan Vong was gray, with the second most common being yellow. Another major characteristic was their jet black blood.

The Yuuzhan Vong nervous system was very conductive, as if it was made specifically for feeling pain. This nervous system was noted as containing aspects that were not found in Humans and likewise, there were elements within a Human nervous system that were not found in a Yuuzhan Vong. It was also noted that their tissue was very different from a Human's, which made the use of the Yuuzhan Vong Qah cells difficult on them as the Human brain eventually rejected the cells.

History[]

Ancient Past[]

Little was known about their early history in the Viau Universe, but the Yuuzhan Vong, but they were originally refugees from their native galaxy in the Viau Universe. Their original homeworld, Yuuzhan'tar was a tropical planet that had a large asteroid belt around it. It was destroyed thousands of standard years before they invaded the galaxy. In Yuuzhan Vong, Yuuzhan'tar meant "Crèche of the gods", and the living planet was a template for the Yuuzhan Vong deities. Yuuzhan'tar may have been the basis for Yun-Yuuzhan, the creator god of the Yuuzhan Vong. Apparently, the Yuuzhan Vong once lived as symbiotes with their homeworld and once had a strong connection with the Force. Their technology was also largely organic-based. At some point in their history, the Yuuzhan Vong were caught in the midst of a devastating galactic conflict between two droid civilizations in their galaxy, believed to be the Silentium and the Abominor which solidified their hatred of mechanical technology and xenophobia towards other sentient lifeforms.

Following the war, the Yuuzhan Vong went on a crusade to cleanse their galaxy of all forms of mechanical technology. They conquered much of their home galaxy and either exterminated or enslaved conquered species. Among those species they conquered were the reptilian Chazrach, which became slave soldiers for the Yuuzhan Vong. With much of the galaxy fallen under their dominion, the various Domains (what the Yuuzhan Vong called clans or families) fractured and the turned against one another, resulting in the devastating Cremlevian War. During the conflict, much of the Yuuzhan Vong's galaxy was destroyed, including their homeworld, Yuuzhan'tar. The exact details of the destruction of the planet were lost to the passage of time. However, Yuuzhan'tar did produce a seed which eventually became Zonama Sekot, later colonized by the Langhesi and Ferroans.

War against the Multiverse[]

The Yuuzhan Vong were taken by surprise in both the Filo and Viau versions of their native universes in the year 3 ABG/0 BBY (1414 NE) with multiverse dimensional rifts formed across the galaxies caused by the Empire of the Combine Race in their invasion, catching them by surprise.

The Human-Vortigaunt Federation previously had officers reported sightings of them and with no sign of activity, those from the Golmar Universe who were familiar of them in fiction prior to the Combine invasion warned the Filo Galactic Republic and the Jedi to be very cautious should the Vong make their move.

Culture and Society[]

Yuuzhan Vong culture was centered on sacrifice and their gods, although warriors in particular were centered on the philosophy of pain. They ended to glorify pain, not as a motive for action but rather as a state of living. This was because they believed that, just like their gods had sacrificed their bodies to create the galaxy, the Yuuzhan Vong themselves were to sacrifice parts of their body for a greater purpose. As such, they believed that by remaking their own bodies, they were becoming closer to their deities. While this was the case, they never maimed their bodies in a manner that would permanently hinder their ability to function. This resulted in individual Yuuzhan Vong having mottling or scarring, and sweeping tattoos. The more elite individuals were even known to graft organs from other creatures into their bodies. Devotional practices to the gods called for bloodletting at prayer times. Shamed Ones were forbidden from attending religious ceremonies.

As a Yuuzhan Vong grew more successful in their life, they began the process of sacrificing body parts and replacing them with organs from another creature, thus enhancing their abilities. This was done so during the Escalatier Ceremony, where an engineered organism related to an Implanter began to make cuts and incisions, and place the implants. At times, the implant was accepted into the body and the Yuuzhan Vong was promoted to a higher rank. However, there were occasions where the implant failed to be accepted into the body. This resulted either in death or the individual becoming a derided Shamed One. Such failures were believed to have been the work of the Yuuzhan Vong gods, though there were times that such a happenstance was due to the failure of the Shaper in charge of the Escalation ceremony.

Family was noted as being a strong element within their society. A member of the Yuuzhan Vong was typically associated with a family group, known typically as a Domain. Some Domains were more powerful than others. In addition to this family structure, the Yuuzhan Vong also employed a caste based system which included respective castes for warriors, shapers, priests, intendants and workers. Love affairs between two different castes was considered forbidden. In fact, domain loyalties ran deep, and went far beyond simple likes or dislikes. There were a series of ritual statements that a Yuuzhan Vong was required to utter as part of protocol from a member of lower ranks to a member of a higher rank. While this was the case, members of one caste were not obligated to salute a superior from another caste, which was the case with intendants to higher ranking members of the warrior caste.

Yuuzhan Vong children were raised in caste-specific crèches by designated caretakers, and likely did not know their biological parents until they were older. Their crèche parents named them. Deformed children were killed at birth, but, if the deformity was mild enough, as was the case with one Ona Shai, the child was spared. A useful survival trait for these children in order to live through such a harsh and competitive environment was paranoia. Twin births were uncommon events; only a handful of cases were known to the New Republic, in which each was thought to be a portent of a great event. In each case, one twin killed the other as a prelude to a great destiny. Funeral processions were typically carried out in a way that did not preserve the dead, and Yuuzhan Vong mortuaries often consisted of Yuuzhan Vong mourners who met with assigned priests. During such conditions, priests were involved in removing various body parts of the dead in order to dedicate them to the various gods.

According to the insights of some officers. The Galactic Empire, the Combine and the Yuuzhan Vong had some elements that were common to one another. These included the need for strict discipline and the obedience to one's superior officer. However, at the time of the First War, it was believed that their ultimate goals were completely different, with the Yuuzhan Vong desiring to change the way of life of the inhabitants of the Skyriver galaxy. One of their goals was the destruction and removal of all forms of manufactured technology. This great belief in discipline and obedience in one's superiors meant that subordinates never contradicted their leaders; they were capable of subverting or altering the will of their commanders, but did not point out errors in that will. They were ultimately highly skilled warriors who never retreated in the face of defeat, as they feared this would insult their gods. While this was largely the case, it was known that certain Yuuzhan Vong were capable of cowardly actions. For actions like this, they became Shamed Ones.

Yuuzhan Vong beliefs highly influenced their actions and personality. According to their religion, life was suffering, and death was the ultimate release from that suffering. As such, the Yuuzhan Vong felt that nothing could be learned unless it was purchased in pain, and were resigned to and willingly went to their deaths. Some amongst their race, such as Domain Shai, went as far as to inflict pain on themselves to the point that they enjoyed it. Such groups felt that the infliction of pain was a means of earning the favor of their deities. Furthermore, it was believed that the greatest glory was death in battle. This fixation on death varied depending on the circumstances, as dying in the cold void between galaxies was considered a disgraceful death. Consequently, this meant that most Yuuzhan Vong fought to the death and thus also meant that other empires had very few opportunities of exploring their organic warships. In addition, the priests claimed that they did not ask of others what they themselves did not accomplish, meaning that they equally sacrificed their own numbers as well as "infidels". This was an act of service to their deities, who were believed to have sacrificed their body parts in order to create all of existence.

The species also greatly believed in honor, with that subject ranking quite high in the beliefs of certain members of the race. Even under interrogations, the word of a Yuuzhan Vong was high, and, if they promised respite to their victims for revealing information, they typically kept their word. In one case, a Yuuzhan Vong commander agreed to a personal duel over the fate of a planet and, if defeated, he agreed that his forces would spare that world. While the Yuuzhan Vong himself was sincere, his subordinates worked with the Warmaster to subvert that honorable combat. Furthermore, the denial of the right to honorable combat was seen as a disrespectful act, worthy of scorn from the warrior caste. In fact, warriors would even consider a single worthy opponent of fighting a single Yuuzhan Vong warrior at a time worthy of respect in regard to their bravery as well as their fighting skills. There also existed a similar concept to the Wookiee Life debt, which was known as Us-hrok and another of a warrior race, the Klingons who greatly value their honor of combat. This was a display that showed eternal gratitude and loyalty to another for something they had done, and meant that the Yuuzhan Vong in question would fight to the death on that person's behalf. In regards to food, the Yuuzhan Vong held no great joy of eating and thus felt indifferent about gastronomic tastes. The only exception of this was if the enjoyment came from an event such as the slaying of a great beast during a ritual.

The species possessed a saying: "Let the enemy fight", which was one of the aspects of their racial psychology. They often expected combat and arranged ambushes for their enemies, after which they baited targets into their traps. Their interdiction forces often remained outside their designated routes in order to jump onto a target, thus trapping them as a type of ambush. Another saying included "A fleet that fights two battles loses twice." Ultimately, the Yuuzhan Vong's earlier relations with other races was based on domination of the lesser species, as they felt most other races were unworthy. Those that managed to impress the Yuuzhan Vong and were considered worthy were often provided a clean death while the others were relegated to slavery.

The Yuuzhan Vong had a fanatical hatred of machines, believing them to be abominations and an affront to their gods. According to their beliefs at the time of the Invasion, they believed that combustion, the creation of fire through a machine, was the first abomination. This was because the Yuuzhan Vong believed deeply in life, but also felt that all life ended as in the wild; one type of lifeform was eaten by another, who in turn was devoured by another predator until it died, which replenished the ecosystem. This meant that death was prevalent constantly, but allowed new life to grow while machines did not die, meaning that they were capable of replacing organic life—which was something the Yuuzhan Vong would never allow. Due to their belief in organic technology, it was believed they showed respect to the Combine because their technology is organic despite being enemies, including the Undine. It is unknown of their view on the Combine Nanites as organic nanites had extended their lifespans, which they took noticed and believed be the blessing of their gods to fight in the crusades.

Despite elements of their society which were seen as being barbaric, the Yuuzhan Vong truly revered life and all its forms. Among the few infidel races of the 'Promised Land', they tended to favor the Ho'Din, whose natural senses meant that they did not like the presence of advanced technology. Some primitive races who did not make use of technology were also known to have willingly allied with the Yuuzhan Vong, such as some of the inhabitants of Wayland. These "Wish-To-Bes" believed that the Yuuzhan Vong were like them in that they respected life, while the majority believed that this was not true, as the "Cut-Up-People" simply wished to harm as well as twist things to suit their needs. According to their religion, they had to prove themselves worthy creations of their deities, and if they did not do so then they would be destroyed—after which they would be replaced by a more worthy species. Their beliefs stated that this had happened three times in their religion, with a new species created, eventually leading to the gods creating the Yuuzhan Vong.

In the post-War period, the Yuuzhan Vong became a deeply spiritual as well as introspective people. Many felt that they would be abandon their war efforts after surviving the First War and isolate themselves from the known galaxies in their native universe, though a few heroic members of this race believed that they needed to evolve in order to survive. Thus, they felt that the journey to better relations was one that was worth the effort. By the events of the Third Multiverse War, they still retained their different form of honor, with both custom and ritual still being an important aspect of their culture.

Deities[]

"All living creatures serve the Yuuzhan Vong. And we serve the gods."

―Warmaster Tsavong Lah

The Yuuzhan Vong religion, called the True Way, was very important to the Yuuzhan Vong. They were devout and had many gods and, prior to their defeat, believed it was their duty to appease their gods' desires through conquest and genocide.

Yun-Yuuzhan[]

Yun-Yuuzhan, the creator, was the most powerful deity of the Yuuzhan Vong religion. He sacrificed most of his body parts to create the lesser deities and the Yuuzhan Vong galaxy. Only the Supreme Overlord had direct contact with him.

Yun-Harla[]

Yun-Harla was the Trickster, the Cloaked Goddess and Goddess of deception and aggression. Yun Harla represented the political caste. Having learned this information, the Alliance military had their top pilot, Jaina Solo, codenamed "Trickster" and "Goddess" in an act of psychological warfare against the Yuuzhan Vong invaders, who would believe they were fighting the living form of one of their most powerful deities.

Yun-Yammka[]

Yun-Yammka was the Slayer, and the god of war. His image was a of a multi-tentacled being, and was the inspiration for the form of the yammosk. He was primarily worshipped by the warrior caste. He was in actuality created by the Priest caste when the Yuuzhan Vong turned to war.

Yun-Ne'Shel[]

Yun-Ne'Shel was the Modeler. She oversaw natural life cycles and was worshiped by the shaper caste.

Yun-Txiin and Yun-Q'aah (The Lover Gods)[]

Yun-Txiin and Yun-Q'aah were the Lover Gods and twins. Having a relationship outside one's caste was forbidden in Yuuzhan Vong society, and disobeying automatically led to sacrifice to the Lover Gods.

Yun-Shuno[]

Yun-Shuno was the Pardoner. She had a thousand eyes and watched over and spoke for the Shamed Ones, who were shunned by every other Yuuzhan Vong deity. She was the only deity the Shamed Ones were allowed to worship

Technology[]

It was due to their beliefs, the Yuuzhan Vong were opposed to non-organic technology, ranging from simple machines to droids, which they believed were a polluting influence. As such, all examples of their technology consisted of living biots: creatures that were born and bred for their tasks. They preferred the use of such creatures over lifeless machines which lacked any form of spirit. All Yuuzhan Vong technology, whether it be starships, weapons, or simple everyday objects, was entirely biological which clearly parallels the common use of the Kilominitic, the Ngultor, and the Undine. They despise droids, robotics, machines, electronics, and anything manufactured. This biotechnology was coaxed into growth by the Shapers and seemed to be more resilient when compared to conventional technology.

Notable pieces of technology included the feared Yammosks, which were called war coordinators due to the fact that they served as a biotic Battle Analysis Computer and had the capacity to coordinate Yuuzhan Vong forces to a frightening degree. Through their Villips, they had managed to create a communication system that rivalled the galactic HoloNet. Different breeds of such organisms were also capable of producing living light holograms which the Yuuzhan Vong had mastered for centuries. It was known that their collision avoidance systems were as good as those of the inhabitants of the galaxy. Furthermore, their equivalent of an antenna consisted of spiral fibers embedded in a yorik coral hull to regions which were sensitive to receiving communications. In addition, they made use of nutrient feeds for various biots which served in a similar capacity as power lines did for their technological equivalents. Similar to navigation computers, the Yuuzhan Vong vessels possessed navibrains that were required to plot hyperspace jumps. Their vessels were also required to rearm themselves after combat with the process noted as being marginally better than those of the technological species depending on the Tier level.

Yuuzhan Vong personal weaponry included living serpentine weapons called amphistaffs that were able to alter their form allowing their user to use them as a spear or a whip. Furthermore, they wore Vonduun Skerr Kyrric armor which was capable of protecting them from weapon fire as well as lightsaber strikes or Sangheili energy swords. Their larger coral shaped craft made use of Yaret-Kor plasma weapons that ate through the hull of enemy ships while shielding was provided by the gravity manipulating dovin basals that generated singularities that were used to protect the craft from enemy weapon fire and were also capable of stripping the shields of enemy vessels. These organisms were grown independently and later grafted onto other organisms in an imperfect symbiosis In addition, they generated powerful gravitic fields that could also create interdiction fields that left living occupants unconscious after being pulled from hyperspace. Larger, more insidious weapons included biological plagues capable of destroying entire worlds. Some plagues were unleashed that left planetary systems barren and incapable of growing food.

The primary construction method through which the Yuuzhan Vong created their living vessel was through the use of yorik coral. This coral-type substance formed the hull and internal anatomy of their vessels. While several other races had mastered bioengineering, the Yuuzhan Vong were one of the few that had developed a mass production means of creating such organisms. They were capable of growing coralskippers in less than a month's time, which matched the production rate of the Incom Corporation X-wing but had the benefit of not producing any waste material from normal industrial techniques. The outer skin of such craft, despite being alive, did not feel anything in the vacuum of space as the nerves were not exposed to the cold of the void. They were created to lack any nerve endings at such locations. Though the outer hull did not possess any nerve endings, the inner hull did and any breach led to alarms being raised, thus alerting the Yuuzhan Vong of intruders. Something not commonly known was that the nerves near the dovin basals were compromised due to the creatures' gravitic nature. As the dovin basals were independently grown, they were nursed separately and later grafted onto their host vessels. However, the symbiosis was not perfect and the gravitic distortion created by the dovin basals desensitized the nerve clusters that were adjacent to it. Amongst warships or any other vessels, the Yuuzhan Vong compensated this problem by implanting special nerve biots around the dovin basal in order to create a complete tactile net that would not be confused by the gravitic anomaly. However, certain low priority ships were not afforded this amenity and thus created blind spots for a breaching action. Inside these ships, much of the systems had technological equivalents such as a central biotic computer like the targeting brain. However, it was sensor systems that were the most different as instead of any externally mounted observatory sensors, the Yuuzhan Vong employed a means of sensing the gravitational distortions of distant objects as a means of scanning.

A key interface element within Yuuzhan Vong biots that linked them to their organic vessels and technology were cognition hoods. These organic helmets simply slid on top of an individuals head and were connected by an organic cord linked to the ship itself. Through this contact, a pilot was capable of making a direct interface with the ship and communicating with it. This was the case either with organic pilots, droids and AI units which were capable of processing the data being sent to the hood. Onboard larger carrier ships, a central cognition hood was used by the ships commander to deliver commands to the vessel. However, should this hood be severed, then secondary cognition hoods located on smaller craft such as coralskippers were capable of sending commands from the fighter to the carrier vessel thus allowing some level of control. By wearing the hood, a pilot was capable of experiencing the memories of the ship they were linked to thus allowing them to be a part of the ship in question. Yuuzhan Vong ships communicated in the Yuuzhan Vong language which left a language barrier between foreign pilots and the vessel. However, it was possible to impart images and thoughts through the hood to the ship, thus allowing it to be controlled. A much more larger and powerful version of these biots was the cognition throne.

Some of their more famous technologies were the amphistaff, the yorik-et, the dovin basal, the gnullith, the grashal, the ooglith cloaker, the ooglith masquer, the villip, and the yammosk.