Rakghoul

**Rakghouls** are deformed alien mutants, created by the Sith Lord Karness Muur and his Talisman, Rakghouls were meant by their creator, to be his own personal army, as he could control them and allow them to use their skills, like the use of ships and weapons. However, without the control of the Muur Talisman, Rakghouls became mindless beasts that travel in packs of between four and eight and charge towards anything that looks or smells like food.

## History

### Origins

**Rakghouls** were a type of Sith-Spawned mutants, engineered by the Sith Lord Karness Muur. Desiring an army to rule over and seeking a way to cheat death as so many other Sith before and after him did, Muur forged a talisman that he poured his spirit and power into, one that eventually came to be known as the Muur Talisman. Muur's talisman could turn almost any sentient being near him into a mindless Rakghoul which he could control, but he found that there were exceptions: Force-Sensitives and certain alien species could resist the talisman's effects. Thus, Muur engineered the "Rakghoul plague", a virus-like disease that could be spread by a Rakghoul's bite or a scratch from its claws, and that subjected the victim to a slower transformation into a Rakghoul. Jealous and fearful of his power, Muur's Sith rivals killed him, and over time, the Muur Talisman came to reside in a abandoned Sith temple for thousands of years waiting for someone to claim it. By the days of the Galactic Civil War, Rakghouls were believed to be extinct.

### A New Era

However, with the Muur Talisman lay the ability to create new Rakghouls, and the galaxy would see the return of the Rakghoul when the talisman was uncovered by Darth Vader. Muur battled Vader, but was no match for the skills of the Sith Lord and his Storm Troopers, so he called upon the talisman's power to turn the Troopers into Rakghouls; Darth Vader managed to defeat the Rakghouls and stranded Muur on the desolate planet he had awakened on with only Rakghouls and the spirit of Karness Muur for company. Several years later, a New Republic taskforce was tasked with locating a supposed First Order weapon on the planet. When the squad encountered the Talisman, Muur emerged and stole the collective Midi-Chlorians of the individuals and channeled it into the strongest among them. Muur now in possession of a body saw fit to leave the moon, and before leaving caught sight of an approaching ship.

### A New Ally

As it lowered its stairs, a armored figure appeared before the awakened Muur, who identified himself as the new Lord of the Sith, Darth Krayt who had falsified the information regarding the weapon. Krayt then told Muur of the children of Darth Vader and how they could give him a more powerful body. Realizing that they had common enemies, Muur agreed to work alongside Krayt.

### Forging a New Army

Muur and Krayt planned to forge a army of Rakghoul to use against the New Republic and the First Order. During the First Order and Resistance conflict, they targeted a *Resurgent*-class Star Destroyer and arranged a covert attack on it. Muur used his talisman's power to corrupt all the First Order operatives on the ship into Rakghoul's dedicated to the New Sith Order. Then in order to erase the evidence, Darth Krayt destroyed the Star Destroyer and made it look like a Resistance attack. Muur then used his new Rakghoul in upcoming battles to infect opposing forces and grow their army.

## Characteristics

Hideous and possessing an appetite for flesh, Rakghouls were non-sentient, and were most commonly simple and animalistic in their behavior, with some even referring to the creatures as "mindless". These feral rakghouls,were slaves to their instincts and especially their hunger, often traveling in packs numbering between four and eight, and attacking anything that looked or smelled like potential food. Though they were not a creature that held to any form of heirarchy, certain rakghouls, known to some as "rakghoul fiends", exhibited a manner of influence over their "lower" rakghoul brethren. Hardy and vicious, these rakghouls were generally believed to somehow maintain bits of their former intelligence, and would direct other rakghouls to trap and ambush prey; it was even rumored that these rakghouls could use weapons.

Rakghouls only truly reached their full potential, however, when under the power of the Muur Talisman. When a being possessed the Muur Talisman, they were able to enslave the rakghouls to their will, and command them as an army with the potential for nearly infinite expansion. Under the talisman's effects, rakghouls became more demure, and were able to call upon the knowledge and skills they had possessed in their former lives. Unfortunately, though, their former personalities could not be restored, as all that remained in the rakghouls was an imprint of who they had once been.

## The Rakghoul Plague

Rakghouls were a product of the Sith alchemy performed by the ancient Sith Lord, Karness Muur. When he forged the talisman in which he would later invest his mind and will, Muur imbued the amulet with the power to almost instantaneously transform nearby sentients into rakghouls that he could command and control. But the talisman's powers did not work on all: Force-users and certain non-Human species were immune to the talisman's effects. To rectify this, Muur engineered the "rakghoul plague", a virus-like disease which could be spread from a rakghoul's bite or scratch. Individuals infected with this disease would later transform into rakghouls themselves; incubation periods varied, though the infection's manifestation was generally a rapid and painful experience, becoming a rakghoul within a timeframe of six to forty-eight hours. The bodywide mutation manifested as the body would become twisted, skin pigmentation would drain and the victim would attain a whitened corpse-like state. Victims would also bleed from pores in the skin, and from places such as the eyes.