Drabatan

Drabatans are amphibious humanoids with grey-green skin, small dark eyes, and a massive mouth. They stand slightly shorter than humans. They are excellent swimmers (though they strongly dislike salt water) and dine on a variety of insects, fish, and algae. To reproduce, Drabatans lay eggs that hatch tadpoles in silty pond soil. Over the course of a year, the tadpoles grow and assume bipedal features before emerging as child-sized Drabatans. They also develop large lungs and strong diaphragms, which enable them to achieve powerful vocals while singing or shouting.

Drabatans are a passionate species dedicated to the performing arts, especially song. Critics describe their music as hauntingly beautiful and insist that Drabatan music requires no translation for anyone to appreciate the ethereal, melancholy tones. Performance troupes throughout the galaxy, particularly Rodian Theater and Mon Cala Opera troupes, count Drabatans, who often play the heel, among their number. Drabatan voices are pitch-perfect, and many beings consider seeing a live performance of the Pipada Symphony Chamber Chorus to be life changing.

Song is firmly entrenched throughout everyday Drabatan life, in areas ranging from entertainment to education. Drabatan families have unique songs that detail their lineage and history, often performed at gatherings by the family’s best vocalist and rearranged for the occasion. School curriculums teach everything through song, and students use jingles as mnemonic devices to help with memorization.

Drabatan culture values free artistic expression and opposes censorship. It is said that the only thing a Drabatan likes more than a song is a cause; Drabatans can be found at protest marches across the galaxy, often leading chants. Their political views have aligned them ideologically with Alderaan and Chandrila, which has created tension under Imperial rule.

Swamps, bogs, and marshes cover Pipada, making it a warm and humid paradise for acclimated species like the Hutts, Shawda Ubbs, and native Drabatans. Most denizens of Pipada live in single-family homes built in trees, perched on stilts, or floating in ponds. The largest lakes host cities featuring massive towers with foundations plunging deep into the lakebed. Some of the towers support luxurious skyhooks. Anchored to downtown towers are endless strings of bobbing buoy-buildings housing a variety of shops. The area beneath the lake surface is just as busy as that above, and most buildings have entrances both above and below the water.

Satirists and artists love Drabatese for its clever ability to combine small words and syllables to form large, unwieldy words with multilayered ideas and very specific meanings. The language itself is difficult to write, as sonic volume determines much of the subtext and grammar. When necessary, Drabatans have a simpler, quieter language that utilizes their vocal pouches to emit croaks of varying pitch. Drabatans can also speak Basic and other languages com￾monly used in the performing arts.

Most Drabatans are musicians or actors, or in related fields. Many also pursue careers in politics or advertising, leaning on their gift for strong oration. Since the Empire’s crackdown on Pipada, though, many Drabatans have joined resistance groups, using their loud voices to croak battle orders instead of sing.

Pipada evaded conflict during the Clone Wars, but its final outcome had a lasting impact on Drabatan society. When the Galactic Empire came to power, the Drabatans protested. A young singer named Sa’Kalla, who was among the most vocal opponents of the New Order, wrote popular protest songs condemning Imperial tyranny. It wasn’t long before the Empire heard them—and responded.

The Empire blockaded Pipada and deployed garrisons of specialized swamptroopers to the surface. Protests turned into massacres, and the Empire captured Sa’Kalla. While she was in captivity, a movement organized in Sa’Kalla’s name spread across the planet. When the violence threatened to overwhelm Imperial forces, the Imperial Governor brought Sa’Kalla out to the Pipada Auditorium in front of half a million Drabatans. Smug in its belief that torture had broken her, the Empire ordered Sa’Kalla to convince her people to submit to Imperial rule. Instead, Sa’Kalla shouted for her people to resist, and was immediately killed on stage.

The entire stadium erupted, and enraged locals tore Imperial security to shreds. The Drabatans briefly reclaimed their homeworld, and many fled offworld. The Empire soon returned with reinforce￾ments and imposed martial law across Pipada. Drabatans still resist, in ways big and small, and those who fight shout a war cry as they charge into battle: “Sa’Kalla!”