Kerestian The Kerestians were a species of humanoids , best known for their mastery of a unique weapon called the darkstick . They were descended from mammalian carnivores on the planet Kerest . Biology and appearance . Kerestians were easily recognized by their height ( 1 . 8 to 2 . 5 meters tall ) and a row of breather tubes that ran along their cheekbones . The breather tubes were once used for long - range , high - frequency communication , but that ability was lost over time . Two thin strips of hair grew in a strange double widow ' s peak from the ridges , and the strips continued down the Kerestian ' s back . Their nose was defined by a single , vertical slit above their mouth . Their small ears were little more than holes located at the base of the skull , and were surrounded by folds of skin . History and culture . At one point , the Kerestians had developed a sophisticated civilization , complete with fusion technology and sublight space travel . However , disaster struck when their variable sun went into an inactive cycle . The sun ' s power was greatly reduced , and the amount of light and heat reaching Kerest was greatly diminished . Temperatures plunged , and the glaciers advanced to cover all of Kerest save a thin band around the equator . They were also forced to abandon two colonized moons in the system : Karoliston and Pharnas . Their civilization descended into barbarism . The surviving Kerestians became aggressive , determined hunters , even killing one another without remorse if necessary to survive . Kerestians hunted each other so frequently that a female could never be certain if an approaching male was looking for a mate or for prey . Over the centuries , the Kerestian species approached extinction . The ' Great Darkness ' . Perhaps because of the reduction of their sun ' s power , Kerestians developed a mythology that upon death , the soul of an individual was doomed for all eternity to wallow in the Great Darkness . Kerestians were unafraid of such a fate , instead embracing it and attaching it to the ritualistic significance behind their darksticks . Kerestians in the galaxy . Eventually , explorers working for the House of Tagge discovered the Kerestians . They offered a handful of Kerestian warriors passage off their dying world in return for service as assassins . Word of the Kerestians eventually leaked out to the rest of the galaxy . Some Kerestians joined the ranks of the Mandalorians . During the Imperial era , many Kerestians became servants of Imperial nobles . Others became mercenaries or bounty hunters working for a variety of criminal and legitimate groups . Some , angered by the Empire ' s exploitation of their people , even joined the Rebel Alliance . One Kerestian who resisted the Empire was Nariss Siv Loqesh . An effective bounty hunter , Darth Vader offered him the bounty on Han Solo but he refused . In response to this snub , the Empire placed a 25 , 000 credit bounty for his capture . This forced Loqesh to disappear for a year and a half , until he resurfaced under the alias of " Andov Syn " . He continued in the same vein of work , including a notorious incident on Adim where he eliminated the 6 mercenaries hired to guard the miners . A contrasting approach was taken by bounty hunter Galasett . He preferred hunting down those that broke Imperial laws , often receiving fines for the excessive damage he inflicted on his victims . Another infamous Kerestian was Limna Yith , a one - time member of the criminal organization Black Sun . Working on Yen - 2 , she eventually sabotaged Black Sun ' s operation there and was forced to flee the planet . Later this same period , the Kerestian Pormfil worked in the fringe as an engineer onboard the " Wild Karrde " , the flagship of information broker Talon Karrde . Not all Kerestians of the Imperial era were from Kerest . Before their civilization collapsed , several sublight colony ships were launched . These starships traveled slowly , taking millennia to reach nearby star systems . A few were recovered in deep space . The Kerestians on board , when taken out of cryogenic suspension , proved to be a highly civilized and disciplined people , quite different from their savage cousins .