Nyriaanan The Nyriaanans , also known as Nyriaanan natives were the near - Human inhabitants of the planet of Nyriaan Biology and appearance . The Nyriaanans were the bipedal sentient natives of the planet of Nyriaan , in the Expansion Region . Though biologically they were Humans , the Nyriaanans were classified as near - Human s and had some minor evolutionary adaptations that helped them to survive in the Nyriaanan environment , such as a stocky stature and eyes that could cope with the dim levels of light on Nyriaan ' s planetary surface . However , a variety of different body - forms could be found amongst the various different Nyriaanan clans . While most Nyriaanans had pale - colored skin , some Nyriaanans from the Malvina clan had dark skin . Society and culture . The Nyriaanans were divided up into hundreds of different clans , tribes and family groups , and while some clans were nomadic , others inhabited permanent settlements that were centered around groves of Meadlin ' s tree s , a large species of fungi that could grow up to sixty meters tall . The largest such settlement was the town Starveil , which was built on the site of the wrecked starship on which the Nyriaanan ' s ancestors had first arrived on the planet and was considered by the natives to be sacred . At any one time , the Nyriaan planetary authorities estimated that there were between 1 , 200 and 2 , 000 Nyriaan natives alive on the world , although in reality their true numbers were much higher . The natives spoke a colloquial dialect known as " Nyriaanan , " which was a hybrid mixture of the languages Galactic Basic Standard and High Galactic . However , the language bore enough similarities to its antecessors that the Nyriaanans could easily pick up Basic quickly when exposed to it . While they were by their nature a peaceful people , the Nyriaanans were distrustful of outsiders and viewed the various colonists and prospectors who settled on Nyriaan as competitors for the world ' s resources . They were easily angered by off - worlders who exploited Nyriaan for profit and they particularly despised the various mining conglomerates that established operations on Nyriaan to extract the valuable mineral madilon , because they feared that the mega - corporations would eventually destroy Nyriaan in pursuit of the ore . They disliked the environmental damage that was caused by the mining operations and had a particular hatred for the Mining Guild - run colony Tonnage , considering the settlement a blight on the landscape because of the contamination that was caused by the colony ' s madilon extraction efforts . On occasion , the Nyriaanans encountered the inbred descendants of the crew of the crashed Sith warship " Dying Sun " , who were hostile and attacked the Nyriaanans without mercy . The Nyriaanans were not a technologically - advanced people and they used technology based upon that of the Old Republic , such as ancient blasters , which they inherited from they ancestors when they crash - landed on Nyriaan . They believed that everything had a use and that by keeping old - style technology in service and well - maintained , they honored their forebears . Nevertheless , the Nyriaanans were an adaptive race and were willing to utilize more modern forms of equipment . History . In 4067 BBY , the Republic exploration vessel " Starveil " crashed on Nyriaan while performing a study of the Luire system . Fifty - two members of the ship ' s crew survived the crash , including the " Starveil " captain Bethanie Melan and they were forced to eke out a new life for themselves on the planet after a subsequent Republic rescue effort was unsuccessful at finding them . They became the first Nyriaanans and through their resourcefulness and their determination , they were able to survive in the alien environment . Over time , their population grew in size , both through childbirth and through additions from the survivors of other crashed starships , and the Nyriaanans remained in isolation for thousands of years . After the discovery of deposits of madilon — a naturally - occuring alloy that was used in the construction of starship hyperdrives — on Nyriaan in 85 BBY , the world was colonized by off - worlders and numerous madilon extraction operations were established by big mining corporations , including the Corporate Sector Authority and the Mining Guild . The corporations had scant regard for the well - being of the Nyriaanans , building on their land and using the natives as pawns in their plots to undermine their corporate competitors . The town Temperance was constructed just outside the native settlement Starveil to allow off - world merchants to sell their wares to the native market , and it became popular among the natives as a place to purchase modern weapons and spare parts . At some point anthropologists from the Galactic Republic ventured to Nyriaan to study the natives . Tensions between the natives and the off - worlders erupted in 47 BBY and following the liquidation of a native settlement by the Corporate Sector Authority , the Nyriaanan clans staged a coordinated uprising and destroyed several frontier towns . The Jedi Knight Amar Cros was dispatched to Nyriaan to resolve the conflict , and in 43 BBY a non - aggression pact between the Nyriaanans , the Republic and the mining corporations was signed , restoring Nyriaan to a state of uneasy peace . Cros was fascinated by the natives and he chose to remain on Nyriaan with them . In 36 BBY , CSA breached the peace agreement by prospecting on native land , causing hostilities to erupt between the Nyriaanans and the off - world colonists once more , but this time directed solely at the CSA . Amar Cros was at the forefront of the conflict , playing a pivotal role in the native insurgency , while rivals of the CSA , the Mining Guild and the Trade Federation quietly provided support to the Nyriaanans . In 30 BBY , the Galactic Senate , the governing body of the Republic , passed a decree known as the " Luire Accord " in an attempt to diffuse the tensions between the natives and the mining corporations . Under the terms of the agreement several environmental reservations in the unexplored regions of Nyriaan were set aside , in part to appease the natives , while a new planetary government , the Nyriaan Concord was installed in Locus , the planet ' s capital . The Concord included a separate body called the Native Delegation , which was made up entirely of native Nyriaanans , and Amar Cros served as the leader of the first group of natives to sit in the government . However , the views of the Native Delegation were largely ignored by the Concord , which was dominated by the off - world corporations . Cros soon left in disgust and , accompanied by a large group of Nyriaanans , withdrew to the planet ' s unexplored regions . During the Clone Wars , Nyriaan fell into the hands of the Confederacy of Independent Systems . Without the restrictions that had been placed on them by the Republic , the CSA and the Mining Guild both expanded their operations and began exploiting land owned by the Nyriaanans The natives resisted violently , and were assisted by the remnants of the Republic forces . Nyriaans captured by the Yuuzhan Vong in 26 ABY , as part of the Yuuzhan Vong . The Vong originally ignored the native clans , but when they began using captured natives for experiments , the natives initiated a guerrilla war , to try and drive the invaders out . Following the defeat of the Vong in 29 BBY , a number of Yuuzhan Vong refugees settled on Nyriaan and were eventually accepted as equals by the native clans . Following the formation of Darth Krayt ' s Galactic Empire in 130 ABY , several Jedi took refuge on Nyriaan and lived among the Nyriaanan clans .