Neimoidian Neimoidians were a humanoid species native to the planet of Neimoidia , while also settling wealthy purse - world s like Cato Neimoidia . They had smooth nose less faces , mottled green - gray skin , and large red - orange eyes . In the waning years of the Galactic Republic , they ran the Trade Federation , a vast consortium of business interests . As such , they ended up joining the Confederacy of Independent Systems and helped start the Clone Wars . Biology and appearance . The Neimoidians were a sentient species . They were humanoid in form , having two arms , two legs , a torso and a single head . They had smooth , mottled green - gray skin and large , red - orange eye s with a pupil that split it horizontally . Adult individuals were known to be tall , ranging from 1 . 9 to 2 . 11 meter s . Neimoidians had long , bony hands with five pointed fingers , one of which was an opposable thumb . Overall , they looked very similar to the Duros , a species of thin , tall humanoids with slit mouths , large eyes and no nose . Although many Neimoidians were lean , obese individuals were not unheard of . Raised in hives before taking their adult form , Neimoidians spent the first seven years of life as " grubs , " maggot - like larvae that were forced to compete with each other over a limited food supply . Only those that hoarded the most food survived . Society and Culture . Throughout the galaxy , the Neimoidians were known for their business skills and their greed . They wore elaborate , flaunting clothes that included hats , cloaks and drapes . They had no qualms about enslaving other sentients . Neimoidian office drones were given a restricted diet to ensure that they never fully emerged from their grub stage , and , to enforce competitiveness , Neimoidian work overseers assigned identical work to two teams of worker drones , with the incentive that the successful team eats the other . High - ranking Neimoidians often owned mechno - chair s , a type of self - propelled chair that moved on a set of four articulated legs . History . The Neimoidians hailed from Neimoidia , a planet centrally located in the Colonies region of the galaxy . They colonized several nearby worlds , which were referred to as " purse - world s . " One of those colony planets was the fog - covered Cato Neimoidia . In ancient times , they occupied the planet of Narq and enslaved its natives , the Narquois . In the last decades of the Galactic Republic , the Neimoidians were at the helm of the Trade Federation , a wealthy and influential commerce guild . Toward the end of Finis Valorum ' s mandate as Supreme Chancellor of the Republic , the Federation ' s viceroy , a Neimoidian named Nute Gunray , allied himself with a mysterious figure known as Darth Sidious . The resulting crisis led to the election of Senator Palpatine — who was in fact Sidious ' public persona — as the new chancellor . Ten years later , the Neimoidians of the Trade Federation had joined the Confederacy of Independent Systems , an alliance of solar systems that wanted to secede from the Republic . However , following the Confederacy ' s defeat in the devastating Clone Wars , many Neimoidians became resentful of the Republic ' s successor , the Galactic Empire . In particular , one colony of refugees was discovered by the Chiss Mitth ' raw ' nuruodo shortly after the war , and the group attempted to persuade the Chiss to bring the Chiss Ascendancy against the Empire and restore the Republic ; this plea , however , was rejected . Neimoidians in the galaxy . Because of the way they were educated , Neimoidians made ruthlessly effective merchant s . The other side of the coin was that many other species despised them for their selfishness .