Givin

Last Updated: 2/5/2024

Name: Givin

Humanoid: Yes

Classification: Near-Human

Homeworld: Yag’Dhul

Coloration: White or Tan

Biology: While Givin bodies generally resembled that of an exposed skeleton, their bodies were actually simply possessed pale, white (or very rarely, fleshy pink) skin. Biologically, they were fairly similar to Humans, although their skin could be considered closer to an exoskeleton than actual flesh. Their eyes were black hidden away in deep eye sockets. They lacked any form of protruding nose, and their mouth was incredibly flexible, allowing them to make many strange and distinct facial expressions.

Due to the general nature of Yag’Dhul, the inner organs of a Givin were cushioned and sealed with an extra layer of protection. This, along with with the evolution of their skin and facial features, allowed Givin to survive out in the vacuum of space for far longer than any other creature, although they couldn’t remain in a vacuum indefinitely. Their skin also protected them from extreme temperature and climate changes. To maintain their incredibly dense bodies, they usually ate about three times as much as the average Human per day.

They stood approximately as tall as an average Human, if not a bit taller, and had about the same natural lifespan as well. Their feet had only three toes, while their hands could have four, five, or even six fingers, sometimes lacking or have double their middle digit. They often carried their arms naturally out in front of their bodies zombie-style, which made them appear incredibly peculiar to other species. Givin were capable of pronouncing Galactic Basic, despite the unusual shape of their mouths, but generally preferred their native tongue of “Givin” which was known for it’s incredible detail and complexity.

Society: Givin society was based completely around mathematics and their computational brains. They were all considered a very polite and well-mannered species, although their outward appearance often scared others away regardless. They had incredibly complex and brilliant minds, and spent most of their free time exercising their brains by problem solving. This made them expert mathematicians, scientists, and engineers. Givin created some of the most advanced spacefaring vessels throughout the Inner Rim. Unfortunately, they usually neglected to add any oxygen pressurization or airlock features, as well as navigational systems, to their designs, since they were not usually utilized by the species because of their pressure resistant bodies and computer-like brains. For this reason, any Givin-made ships had to be modified after leaving the Yag’Dhul shipyards.

Being from the Inner Rim, and creating and selling valuable goods, the Givin people were generally rich. When meeting a Givin, two things were usually common knowledge. When you first greet them, it is polite to say a mathematical equation that they must solve. The more complex the equation, the more they will respect your and their relationship with you. They also had a natural aversion to the exposed skin of other species, and so when greeting them, the less skin you had showing, the better. Givin who lives offworld did not care about this second formality as much, and it was often easy enough for them to overlook both. They usually got sad or depressed when people were afraid of them because of their natural looks, but tried to be polite and understand where they were coming from.

Their political structure and practices were incredibly bizarre. They functioned under a “mathematocracy,” or mathematical theocracy, where the better you were at math and calculations, the higher your social status. The greatest mathematicians were added to their political and senatorial group, known as the Ruling Body Calculus. To determine who governed the Givin people, they held an annual calculations contest among the Ruling Body Calculus, and the winner became planetary governor. They were generally good sports, and respected anyone who could beat them in mathematical skills. All of their political decisions were based off of “null-modal probability.”

During the Clone Wars, Givin were a part of the CIS, siding with the Separatists and developing many of their larger vessels and cruisers. They themselves did not fight, however, and tended to stick to engineering and politics. Some Givin slowly started to side with the Republic, but when the Galactic Empire took over, they destroyed the Givin shipyards above Yag’Dhul, prompting the Givin to then slowly start assisting the Rebel Alliance instead, eventually became a part of the New Republic.

Legends/Canon: Givin were one of the first alien species to be introduced in the franchise, appearing way back in “Star Wars” or Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. This makes their appearance itself both Legends AND Canon by proxy. Fortunately, the majority of the information listed above also transitioned into Canon intact, despite most of it originated from within the EU, with only slight details being changed in the long run.

The one major event that did not make to cut as far as the current official Canon was their involvement in the Yuuzhan Vong War. By the time the Yuuzhan Vong had invaded the known galaxy, the Givin had rebuilt their shipyards and developed even more technologically advanced vessels. When the Yuuzhan Vong arrived to take over their planet, the Givin were actually able to put up a substantial fight, and were one of the few species to completely repel the Vong, scaring them so much that they never again returned to Yag’Dhul throughout the remainder of their conquest.

Unexplored: While I wish more of their involvement in the Yuuzhan Vong War could be explored, we need to stick to Canon and Canon-adjacency for this segment. Even still, there’s so much to do with this bizarre species that we have more than enough concepts and questions to confront. The Givin have almost always been relegated to incredibly minor roles or background characters, but they have had such a large impact on the galaxy during both the Clone Wars and the Galactic Civil War. And while their personalities may force them to remain humble, polite, and even intentionally relegate themselves to working behind the scenes, there’s always ways to subvert this and do a lot with the setup provided above.

So a handful of questions we can pose that would help us even better establish the Givin include: When did this species first develop sentience, what could they have possibly evolved from, what sort of environments does Yag’Dhul sport to initiate such an evolution, and what reasoning, survival-related or otherwise, would be behind their heightened intelligence? Who first discovered the Givin, and did outsiders visit their homeworld, or did they independently deduce how to develop spaceships or even hyperspace-capable technology and introduce themselves? Where do they get their resources, and how much influence did they hold over the various shipyard, corporations, and spacecraft developers across the galaxy? Why would the Givin decide the seceding alongside the CIS was the correct choice? Did that decision cause division or strife among their people, and how did they approach allyships from then on out? Exploring these ideas as well as diving deeper into general worldbuilding traits should and will never be dissuaded!

Additional Notes: Givin lore is actually really fun and intriguing, and their unique design only adds to that fact. While they are supposed to resemble skeletons, many people can’t help but compare them to the masks from the Scream franchise, and rightfully so. Their species’ name has also been confused in the past, and for a while they were actually called the Yag’Dhul, although we now know that is only the name of their homeworld and nothing more With so many stories to tell, so many problems to solve, and so many hearts that need to be warmed up to these under-appreciated, “scary” (but not really) beings, I would say they a brimming with untapped potential as both a collective race, but more importantly, as individual characters in your future Star Wars stories!