Topic: The Gastrulan

[Cimter]

INFO: Gastrulans were sapient gastropods native to the planet Gastrula in the Outer Rim Territories. Standing just taller than Sullustans—who averaged a height of 1.5 meters—Gastrulans sported 2 arms and spotted, bulbous heads. They had 2 pairs of  eyestalks on either side of their heads, located just above the neck. During the Galactic Civil War, the Gastrulans became the sole clients of Captain Bungo Bung's Great Bantha Breakfast Biscuit Run, an endeavor to earn credits for the Sullustan by selling Bantha Breakfast Biscuits, a popular snack food, to those unable to obtain them. Two weeks after the Run was established, the Gastrulans were threatened by the ravenous Giant Amorphous Bantha Breakfast Biscuit, a mutated version of the snack that evolved when the preservatives in the biscuits came into contact with Gastrula's atmosphere.


RACE: Gastrulan
HEIGHT: 1.5 Meters Tall
SKIN: Light Faun (SHELL: Various colors of brown)
DISTINCTION: Gastropods
LANGUAGE: Gastrulese

HOMEWORLD:
Gastrula was a planet in the Rayter sector of the Outer Rim Territories. The homeworld of the Gastrulan species, it was the terminus of the short-lived Great Bantha Breakfast Biscuit Run during the Galactic Civil War. Captain Bungo Bung had established the trade route in an effort to make credits by selling the popular snack Bantha Breakfast Biscuits to the locals. However, when combined with certain elements in the environment of Gastrula, preservatives in the biscuits caused the snacks to mutate into the Giant Amorphous Bantha Breakfast Biscuit. The resulting lifeform was a ravenous creature that set out to consume the entire planet.

Description
Gastrula was a planet located in the Rayter sector of the Outer Rim Territories, and was the homeworld of the Gastrulan species. At least two moons orbited the world, and it had an atmosphere that could support carbon-based lifeforms such as Sullustans. The environment also reacted with the preservatives used in Bantha Breakfast Biscuits—a popular snack marketed by the restaurant chain Biscuit Baron—which resulted in the mutation of the foodstuff into the Giant Amorphous Bantha Breakfast Biscuit, a ravenous amoeboid creature resembling a bantha.

History
During the Galactic Civil War, Gastrula became the terminus of the Great Bantha Breakfast Biscuit Run, a trade route established by the Sullustan Bungo Bung and his droid co-pilot 42-RST. Captain Bung made several runs to the world, shipping the popular snack food known as Bantha Breakfast Biscuits aboard his starship, the Chubby Gundark, after realizing that there were many worlds that had no access to the snack. Importing them from the planet of Sullust, Bung made several hundred thousand credits over a two week period. However, unknown to both the crew of the Gundark or the Gastrulans, certain preservatives used in creating Bantha Breakfast Biscuits reacted negatively with Gastrula's atmosphere. The interaction of the two elements caused the Bantha Breakfast Biscuits to mutate into the Giant Amorphous Bantha Breakfast Biscuit. This amoeboid lifeform was a ravenous creature that sought to devour anything in its path. At least one of these creatures evolved on Gastrula, and began eating everything it could find.

Gastrula was home to the Gastrulans. They were a race gastropods with spotted, bulbous heads that had eyestalks protruding from either side.

BIOLOGY AND APPEARANCE:
Gastrulans were sentient gastropods that stood slightly taller than a Sullustan of average height—around 1.5 meters—and possessed 2 arms attached to their torsos that ended in paddle like hands with opposable thumbs. Their heads were bulbous, with a thin mouth that stretched across their faces and slightly down their necks. Gastrulans had dark spots across the back and front of their heads, as well as down the backs of their necks. While they had no visible nose or ears, they did have 2 pairs of eyestalks that protruded from the sides of their head, near to where it joined their necks.



They  could retract into their shells, closing it up completely with the shell door being on their tail, they could also move like this by rocking their shell to start it to roll, they called this rocking and rolling, this was always accompanied by loud blaring music.

They had one major weakness -  salt, which made them die and shrivel up (it could be any amount of salt, if they touched it they were dead and there bodies started to melt).

CULTURE AND HISTORY:
The Gastrulans hailed from the planet Gastrula, located within the Outer Rim Territories. Gastrulans had knowledge of both clothes and weapons, as the two Gastrulans encountered by Bungo Bung, a Sullustan freighter captain, during the Galactic Civil War wore clothing and wielded long armed pikes. Other beings in the galaxy were aware of the existence of the Gastrulans, and also the location their homeworld. For their part, the Gastrulans knew of the outside galaxy, especially being aware of the popular foodstuff called Bantha Breakfast Biscuits.

During the Galactic Civil War, the planet Gastrula was visited by the Sullustan Captain Bungo Bung and his droid co-pilot, 42-RST. They had come up with a scheme to make money by selling Bantha Breakfast Biscuits, produced by the galaxy-spanning restaurant chain Biscuit Baron, to those worlds that had no access to them. Upon landing in their ship, the Chubby Gundark, 42-RST struck a deal with the native Gastrulans to sell them their cargo of a single box of the biscuits. Over a two-week period, Bung and 42-RST cleared several hundred thousand credits working the route between the planets of Sullust and Gastrula, which they named the "Great Bantha Breakfast Biscuit Run."

However, unknown to both the crew of the Gundark or the Gastrulans was the fact that the preservatives used in creating Bantha Breakfast Biscuits reacted negatively with certain environmental conditions, such as stale air and the atmosphere present on Gastrula. These conditions caused the Bantha Breakfast Biscuits to mutate into the Giant Amorphous Bantha Breakfast Biscuit, a ravenous amoeboid creature that set out to devour anything in its path. At least one of these creatures evolved on Gastrula, where it began eating everything it could find.

APPEARANCES:
"Bungo n' Rusti Get Carry-Out" - Star Wars Adventure Journal 11

SOURCES:
The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia (Under Gastrula)

I would like to thank Wookieepedia for this info.