-- updated the link to DJ Maul's blog --

Well, I finally got something chosen for the Databank! If you read through What's the Story, Round Seven, you'll notice a new character named Cebann Veekan. Although the character's story was provided by DJ Maul, they chose the name Hamadryas from my own entry for the character. Wooohooo!

So, for those of you who were dying to know, here are the endnotes and backstory of the Hamadryas.

It all started when the What's the Story section of Hyperspace announced that they were looking for information on the Baboon Man character from the Star Wars Holiday Special. Like I usually do, I took that monicker as the basis for the character name, race, and home planet. Grabbing the B volume of the World Book Encyclopedia (yes, I still have a hardcopy of the World Book... granted, it's from 1974, but I still use it!), I looked up baboon. Turns out that the baboon most people think of when they think of baboons is known as the Hamadryas baboon. These baboons are from the order Primata, family Cercopithecidae, genus Papio, and specie hamadryas. Armed with this information, I set off to write the character's story.

I chose Papio as the homeworld of the character's race. It was simple and easy to say. I chose Primata as the character's first name, and Hamadryas as the character's race. I had absolutely no clue how to pronounce Cercopithecidae, let alone want to spell it more than once, so I left that one be!

The story I submitted is below. However, there is a bit of backstory for the Hamadryas race that didn't go into the WTS entry I submitted.

The name is pronounced ah-MAHD-ree-ahs, with a silent 'H' and the emphasis on the second syllable. (This is different than the Earthbound pronunciation, which stresses the third syllable.) Thus, when speaking of a single individual, you would say "An Hamadryas..."

As a people, the Hamadryas were known to be gregarious and very family-oriented, although they generally preferred their own company, and very few individuals actually left Papio to visit other planets. Individual families were made up a single male who had several mates, and every female was treated with the same level of respect by the male. There was no "alpha female" or "bond-mate" in the Hamadryas culture. All females were equal in the eyes of their male. In a male-dominated society, however, male offspring were considered a good omen, and those females that produced male children were rewarded with special gifts.

The male Hamadryas was distinguished by his glossy skin, which could range in color from dark green to black. A patch of thick hair was found atop the head, but the rest of the body was generally hairless. The hair of the male was colored in various shades of red, depending on the individual. Most males had a deep, crimson color to their hair. In contract, the females were almost always fully covered by a layer of short, gray down that kept them warm.

A group of families who lived in the same general vicinity made up an Hamadryas clan. The clan structure was important for the survival of the species, as Papio was an arid world that provided very little in the way of sustenance. Thus, the families in a clan worked together to tend their meager farms and hunt for food. Leadership of a clan was turned over to the eldest living male, who was advised by the other elders. This council of elders was made up of both male and female individuals, in order to ensure fairness in any decision-making process.

The planetary government was one of committee. All of the clan leaders met twice a year in a grand convocation of clans, in which each male clan leader had an equal vote.

As noted, the planet Papio was a dry, arid planet of rocky deserts and a few sparkling oases. Like a certain other desert planet we're all familiar with, Papio orbited a pair of stars. In keeping with the baboon-naming tradition, I used the names of two other species to name these stars - Cynceph and Anubi, which together formed the center of the of the Anucyn System. This star system was located within the hazy veil of the Cyncephalus Nebula, which was relatively sparse by galactic comparison. The Cyncephalus Nebula did not contain a dense, swirling collection of interstellar gases that were pretty to look at, but wreaked havoc with starship instrumentation. Instead, the Cyncephalus Nebula was more like a mist. It barely registered in the telescopes of neighboring sectors, despite the fact that it contained nearly 150 new stars and their systems. Thus, travel in and out of the Nebula would have been quite simple, if there had been anywhere worthwhile to travel to inside. This set of circumstances led to the fact that the planet Papio wasn't on even the more modern starcharts, until a smuggler happened upon it while trying to avoid some Imperial entanglements.

That's what I have for this race. Hope you liked it!

Oh yeah... here's what I submitted the first time:

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Primata Opia, a Hamadryas male from the desert planet Papio, was noted among his people as the rare individual who was not afraid to leave the safety of his home. Most Hamadryas were content to remain in the villages, toiling under the twin stars of Cynceph and Anubi. Primata, however, dreamed of traveling to the stars that hung over his head at night. He longed to see what was beyond the hazy veil of the Cyncephalus Nebula that kept the planet Papio absent from most star maps. Quite simply, Primata was bored.

When a smuggling ship landed on Papio to avoid an Imperial Star Destroyer on a routine patrol, Primata saw the ship as a gift from the gods. Stowing away, he nearly froze to death when the ship returned to space, but felt a welcoming warmth when the ship finally landed again. After making sure the crew was gone, Primata fled the ship and emerged into the blazing twin suns of Tatooine.

As he wandered into Mos Eisley, his feelings were a jumbled mix of dismay, anger, frustration, and fear. Why had the gods done this to him? Why had they given him a ship, only to dump him on another desert planet? What would become of him in this strange environment?

Primata managed to find work as a kitchen drudge, cleaning glasses and wiping tables at the Mos Eisley Cantina. He tolerated the work, building up a small pile of credits, but dreaming of seeing the stars. In his off-hours, he was often seen sitting at the bar, listening to stories of the spacers and hoping to land another job.

His chance for escape came just after the Battle of Endor, when a survey ship made a brief stopover on Tatooine. Primata convinced the crew that he could be of use, and they allowed him onboard. After years of toiling in the desert, Primata dedicated himself to learning all there was about piloting a starship. He saved enough credits to buy himself a small scout vessel, and eventually joined the New Republic Scout Service.

Primata was never bored afterward...