Stenaxes

The Stenaxes were an alien race featured in the continuity of the Star Wars franchise. They are considered part of the Star Wars Expanded Universe and were first featured in flashback in issue #70 of the Star Wars comic book series by Marvel Comics in a story called "The Stenax Shuffle".

Description
The Stenaxes were quasi-humanoid, sentient alien creatures native to the planet Stenos in the Spajda sector of the Gordian Reach in the Outer Rim territories. They stood approximately 2.1 meters tall, had purple, scaly skin across hairless bodies and possessed scalloped wings that grew from their shoulder blades. The Stenaxes had pointed ears and a pair of upswept spines that grew from ridges in their brows. Other parts of their body possessed equally barbed protrusions including their backs, their forearms and their chins.

The Stenaxes were a primitive pre-industrial race whose primary means of communication consisted of a guttural hissing noise known as Stenax ("Stenax" is also the singular form of Stenaxes). They were natural warriors, proficient in aerial combat and usually attacked their enemies with rudimentary weapons such as spears. The Stenaxes worshipped a god known as Vol. They believed that Vol existed as an avatar, personified in an idol sculpted in his likeness.

History
Thousands of years ago, Stenos suffered great geological upheaval following a series of groundquakes and the statue of Vol was lost. The Stenaxes were spiritually crushed by the absence of their god and it became taboo for any Stenax to take to the skies until their god was recovered. They eventually abandoned their temples and took to living solely on the ground.

Settlements began developing across the arid landscape of Stenos, attracting colonists from all across the galaxy. The Stenaxes by and large left these visitors alone and only interfered in their affairs when something threatened the Stenaxes way of life. During the time of the Galactic Civil War, Stenos was used as a base of operations for the Alliance to Restore the Republic and was also the sight of an Imperial garrison commanded by Governor Quorl Matrin.

Shortly following the Battle of Yavin, Governor Matrin hired several fortune hunters named Rik Duel, Dani and Chihdo to recover the missing idol of Vol. Like most Imperial leaders, Matrin cared little for the culture of the Stenaxes and only wanted the idol for his own personal collection.

During their search for the idol, Rik met up with several members of the Rebel Alliance including his old rival, Han Solo. Rik lied and told Han and his allies that his group had joined up with the Alliance as well. He told them that a Rebel leader named Colonel Pejanes Kindar wanted them to find the idol, believing that by doing so, they would earn the appreciation of the Stenaxes who might decide to aid them in their ongoing struggle against the Empire. The two groups worked together and spent the next two days excavating the ruins surrounding an ancient Stenax temple. It was the young hero Luke Skywalker who eventually found the statue of Vol. At this point, Rik and the others betrayed them, taking the idol for themselves and reporting them to the Imperials. When the Stenaxes saw that their god had returned, the ban against flying was lifted and they attacked the Imperial Stormtroopers en masse, giving the Alliance heroes a clear and decisive victory. Governor Matrin eventually got his hands on the idol, but his ownership of the statue was extremely brief. A swarm of Stenaxes swooped down out of the sky and attacked him, presumably killing him in their quest to recover the idol for themselves.