Taurill
Species: Taurill
Home Planet: Taurill
Taurill
Taurill were small, multi-limbed, furry creatures. They scurried about in a way that reminded many sentient beings of vermin. During most of their history, the galactic community considered the Taurill to be a non-sentient or semi-sentient species. However, the Taurill had a hive mind controlled by the Taurill Overmind that gave them full sentience, although an individual Taurill was really only another set of photoreceptors and manipulative organs for the Overmind. When one Taurill noticed something of interest for the Overmind, nearby Taurill ran to analyze that same object from different perspectives, feeding the Overmind with information.
At some point before 12 ABY, Durga Besadii Tai, a Hutt crime lord, came across the Taurill and made a deal with the Overmind. As a result, Durga began to travel in the company of a swarm of his supposed pet Taurill, and he sometimes used them as spies or saboteurs. At one point, he even used the Taurill to build a superweapon, the Darksaber, but his scheme was a disaster and ended in the death of the Hutt and all of the Taurill involved in the project.
Biology & Appearance:
The body of a Taurill was covered in gray-brown fur, except for the tail, the head, and the limbs. The head was shaped like a Human skull, except for its two constantly-blinking, big, curious eyes distanced from the head by ommatophora. A Taurill had six jagged, pointed limbs. Four of those appendages were arms, characterized by their malleability and their sturdiness. The other two were commonly used as legs, but in certain situations they could be adjusted to be used as a third set of arms, as was readily apparent when the Taurill's movements were seen. Each of the four arms ended in a three-fingered manipulator, while each leg had a pointed, non-fingered end. In addition, a Taurill also had a segmented, arrow-headed tail.
Taurill were small creatures that stopped growing once they reached a length of 1.20 meters. They were flexible enough to squeeze their bodies if needed to explore through very narrow openings. While the Taurill were simian and indeed retained several physical traits of apes, at the same time they also resembled lice.
Society & Culture:
While there were thousands of individual Taurill, all of them were controlled by a single collective consciousness, known as the Taurill Overmind, or simply Overmind, to the extent that a Taurill "individual" was only a set of sensory and manipulative organs for a single organism that made up the whole species. This could also be expressed in a simplified form by saying that Taurill were "eusocial."
The hive mind was interested in gathering information, using the individual Taurill to do so. The Taurill were thus known to look intently in all available directions, as if they were paranoid, to feed information to the Overmind; to outsiders, each individual seemed to be trying to gather information for its own interests. The Taurill would swarm over, crawl over, and touch anything or anyone in their range, unless they were met with some resistance. While in this mode, Taurill would move constantly in a vermin-like way, Taurill were also known to race around. At least some individual Taurill had names, as was the case of Bortis.
Individual Taurill did not have independent thoughts, recognizable emotions, or abstract motivations, leading to the species being classified as semi-sentient. However, considering the hive mind, the Taurill fulfilled the requirements of sentience. Users of the Force scanning the Taurill for intelligence only felt weak, blurred impressions from the collective mind. As discovered by scientist Mammon Hoole, a Taurill had to be near a collective of other Taurill to receive instructions from the Overmind. Should a Taurill be far enough from the group—a rare circumstance under normal conditions—its body would stop moving, as the brain would have stopped to send it any orders. Although the body would remain biologically alive, it would eventually die of hunger or dehydration and would take no independent measure to feed itself. When Taurill did eat, their diet included shag ferns.
History:
While the native planet of the Taurill was unknown, the species was already known—and labeled non-sentient—in the later years of the Old Republic. In 22 BBY, the individual Taurill Bortis showed a systematic skill to play the sport known as greenputt which, along with the discovery of capable neek players, led to the creation of the Non-Sentient Professional Greenputt Tour.
At some point, a xenobiologist working as a scout discovered the hive mind of this species while researching in the Outer Rim Territories. This individual sold this information to Durga Besadii Tai, a young Hutt crime lord. Planning to obtain a profit from the Taurill, Durga killed the scout to protect the secret, and then approached the Taurill to make a deal. The Hutt offered power and wealth, but the Overmind declined, as it had no need for fortune. The Overmind instead asked Durga to scatter individual Taurill throughout the galaxy, allowing the Overmind to grow. Durga readily accepted and was assigned thousands of Taurill. The Hutt trained the creatures to behave as his pets and to run whenever he clapped his hands. The creatures proved themselves excellent pets.
Taurill in the Galaxy:
In the times of the Old Republic, the existence of Taurill was known to the general public, as exemplified by Bortis. At that point, the Taurill were believed to be non-sentient. Only after Durga discovered the hive mind and made a deal with the Taurill did they have a chance to expand throughout the galaxy as was the Overmind's wish. From that point onward, the Taurill were mostly seen as Durga's personal pets.
The collective mind of the Taurill was an important advantage when trying to create a unified Taurill workforce: the foreman only had to train one Taurill, and all of available Taurill would take advantage of that training. Although the Taurill would then work tirelessly, moved by an untiring Overmind, they were easily distracted, which could lead to spoiled work. Other limitations included the inability to develop advanced technology themselves, and their strange appearance that could confound the foreman.
Attribute Dice:
Dexterity: 2D/5D
Perception: 1D/2D+2
Knowledge:
Individual - 1D/3D
Overmind - 6D
Strength: 2D/4D+1
Mechanical: 1D/3D
Technical: 1D/2D+2
Advantages: Strength, Agility, combined thoughts, numbers, fast learners
Disadvantages: easily distracted, ignorant of many things at first, prone to mistakes
Move: 10/12
Size: 1.3 and 1.7 meters tall
Weight: 115-165 lbs.
Age: up to 30 years
Source: Wookieepedia (For the Taurill Description)