Sand People

Well, according to Great-Uncle Cliegg, they walk like men but are mindless animals. I always thought they were some kind of alien species. If they were human, how would they make that crazy sound? (I'd recreate the sound here, but I have no idea how I'd spell it....)

I think they're manifestations of man's guilt and fear.

Snappy dressers, too.

They're a good guess at what Iraqi terrorists will look and act like in the future.

I see Werbal picking up his monitor and shaking it (really he does it once and I just loop it multiple times).

Judging from your quote, werbal, they sound like relations of George Bush!
So, definitely not human then!!

I am so funny.

I'm going to move to England and hunt you for sport, Gusset.

No offence Helix, but i don't think you'll survive past your first road crossing.

I'm small.. but I'm wiry.

Survive the game, Gusset.
And always check the barrel!

Besides, my aura of pure hate and spite will deflect any of your tiny incoming British automobiles.

Anyway, i'll get Britain's answer to wasteland dwelling subhuman savages on you. Fett? You live in Bristol, right?

Well, if you play the game Knights of the Old Republic there are a group of quests involving a tribe of Sand People.

There isn't a whole lot of insight into what species they are specifically, but they are most definitely tribal with a chieftain, seer type dudes and the whole shebang.

Don't they have chavs in every city?

You'd act strange and make weird noises too if you got sand in your vagina.

Bob, i don't think being able to quote from that film reflects well on anyone.

And yes Fett, chavs are everywhere but i was just trying to find some regional humour our poor american cousins would understand. i don't think they know what a 'brummie' is.
Bristol can be quite nice, in places, but it is a port and it is on the edge of the lawless wastelands known as 'Westcountry' and 'Wales' - it's practically Mos Eisley.

True... it is Mos Eisley-ish. And there are tons of Womprats around that I'd like to bullseye in my T-16.

Would you peaople SPEAK ENGLI..... Oh wait.

I checked the Star Wars Encyclopedia. It doesn't say. It calls them a dangerous and nomadic species.

This is from memory as I'm not quite sure where I read this (years ago), but I believe that they are a seriously xenophobic species, that want to be left alone, and therefore found an "uninhabitable" planet (Tatooine) to set up shop on. They had to wear all the robes and head wraps and goggles and breathing masks because they weren't acclamated to that type of climate. Over time Tatooine became inhabited by other sentient species (I think Jawas are natives).

I would say that the Tusken Raiders (Sand People) are not human, because humans don't need those masks and goggles to survive in the desert.

From the Databank (EU section)

So dangerous are the Tusken Raiders that few xenobiologists are brave enough to venture close to them. What little information that exists on the nomadic brutes is often contradictory and incomplete. Indeed, there are those in official government positions that question the relative sentience of the Tusken Raider altogether. Alien-rights activists, however, believe that such claims are being made to justify the indiscriminate slaughter of the Sand People and the acquisition of their land.
The current leading theory is that the Sand People are the descendents of the Ghorfas, a society that built caves within the cliffs of Tatooine. Their civilization collapsed when offworld settlers disrupted their water supply, leading to their current nomadic existence.

Tatooine colonists had already established a number of communities on the desert world before running into the Sand People. One such outpost was Fort Tusken, northwest of Mos Eisley. The settlers inadvertently constructed their fort on land sacred to the nomads. The resulting Sand People attack was brutal. The name Tusken Raider, along with their fearsome reputation and the Sand People-outlander tension were indelible outcomes of that bloody day.

Tuskens live a strictly ritualized life. Among their sacred tenets is a rich oral history told by a venerated raider known as the storyteller. The storyteller must recount the detailed Tusken tradition verbatim at each telling -- it is considered blasphemy to botch a single word. Such a crime results in instant death and the appointment of a new historian. Tuskens travel in family groups of 20 to 30 individuals and their banthas. Tusken life is harsh and deadly -- as is the desert environment that bore them. Tusken youths are taught the dangers of desert survival at a young age. They must pass through an arduous rite of passage before being accepted as adults. Such trials could include hunting and slaying a krayt dragon or raiding an outlander camp.


The strangest aspect of the Tusken Raider is the mysterious relationship with the bantha. The bantha and its rider are intrinsically linked, as if on a telepathic level. A tribe member who has lost his bantha is considered incomplete and an outcast. Similarly, when a raider dies, his mount becomes frenzied and suicidal. Such crazed banthas are set loose in the desert.

Tuskens are strongly divided among gender lines. The females tend to the camps while the males hunt and fight. As children, Tusken youngsters -- called Uli-ah, wear unisex garments that conceal their entire bodies, making it impossible to visually determine the gender of a child. Once each year, all newly recognized adults are paired for life in a ceremony that involves the mixing of the blood of husband and wife, and their respective bantha mounts. Sheltered in a privacy of tent, the Tusken couple then slowly unwrap their bindings to see their true forms. Only their mate is allowed to know a Tusken's true appearance; an accidental glimpse of an unwrapped Tusken warrants a blood duel.

I remember reading somewhere (I think possibly the original A New Hope novelization) that the Tusken Raiders and the Jawas are distantly related species that deviated from a common ancestor.

Now I'm a total nerd and everything, but... jesus.