Where Wookiees fear to tread... (discussion and index) 8/1 Challenge time! due 8/15

Okay I have some questions about writing Chewbacca and other Wookiees so I thought I'd start this thread to discuss.

First off, are there any good Chewie/Wookiee stories out there? Please share links. I may create an index if I get enough response.

Next some questions.

While researching Kashyyyk I found out about the many layers of "Wookiee World" and the fact that in the EU the Wookiees do not venture to the lowest levels because of the dangers there (hence the title of this thread) and yet in the films we clearly see Wookiees on land, and an ocean/sea on Kashyyyk. When writing Kashyyyk how do you make sense of this difference? Any advice? Any websites or books you recommend to learn more about Wookiees and Kashyyyk?


In ANH we first see Chewbacca, he's hanging out with some "scoundrel" of a ship captain with a price on his head. He appears very loyal to Han but we also see evidence that he could be very violent if provoked (or beaten in a game ) and we see evidence of fear as in the garbage compactor when he realizes they're not alone. We also see he's a bit sarcastic making an apparrently not very nice remark to Han about Obi-Wan aboard the Death Star. Later on, his loyalty and protectiveness spred out to include Leia and Luke, and even C3PO. We also see kindness and a sense of humor. We get a far more limited glimpse of him in ROTS where he is a warrior (but where was this bravery in the garbage compactor? seems out of character there). So how do YOU write Chewbacca? How does he speak (when translated)? Does he miss his home or is he more of an adventurer who enjoys life among the stars? What is his opinion on the whole "Force" issue?

sg

 

THE WILD AND WOOKIEE INDEX

HOW TO GET LISTED

This is for stories that have a Wookiee either as the main character or as a prominent secondary character. If your story qualifies and you would like it added please send the following information to me via PM.

Title: [ link=url of story]Title of story[/link ] (please leave in spaces before and after "link" for me)
Author:
Characters:
Era: (Before the Saga, The Saga, Beyond the Saga)
Genre: (Romance, Angst, Humor, Action etc)
Summary:

While not required, if your story is listed a link back to this thread is greatly appreciated. To make it easy for you here is the code, just copy paste and remove the spaces before and after "link" to make it work.

LISTED AT:
[ link=http://boards.theforce.net/Fan_Fiction_Resource/b10304/20771925/?1]The Wild and Wookiee Index[link ]


THE INDEX

A-D

Title: The Circle Starts to Close (Vignette)
Author: Shaindl
Timeframe: ANH missing scene
Characters: Obi-Wan and Chewbacca
Genre: Drama Viggie
Summary: A Jedi goes into a bar and...

Title: Destiny's Beginning
Author(s): Shaindl
Timeframe: Hours post-ROTJ
Characters: Luke, Chewbacca, others mentioned
Genre: Missing scene
Summary: Chewbacca shares some of his past with Luke

E-H

*none at this time*

I-L

*none at this time*

M-P

*none at this time*

Q-T

Title: The Sith Insurrection
Author: JDH3
Characters: Shorbecca (OC), Waroo, Lowbacca, many, many more.
Era: Beyond the Saga
Genre: General
Summary: Set post-NJO, the Skywalker/Solo clan confronts a new Sith menance...and their own darkest fears.

Title: A Soldier?s Last Act
Author: JDH3
Characters: Anakin, Tahiri, Shorbecca (OC), Maath Goran (OC).
Era: Beyond the Saga
Genre: Angst
Summary: The title says it all, really.

U-Z

Title: Walking the Path
Author: Shaindl
Timeframe: OT
Characters: Luke and Chewbacca
Genre: Drama vig
Summary: Missing scene from ESB

 

I don't know a whole lot about Wookiees and have never written any fics with them, but Shaindl has written three great vigs with Chewbacca that you might want to check out:

The Circle Starts To Close
Destiny's Beginning
Walking The Path

Hope that helps.

 

I know you're not big into Beyond the Saga stuff, but we did see a lot of Kashyyyk (and Wookiee culture) in the Young Jedi Knights series, most notably "Darkest Knight." I, too, was confused to see water and beach in ROTS, when I was under the impression that the entire planet was covered by trees that put giant sequoias to shame. However, I suppose any inhabitable planet has to have some sort of land mass or some body of water; and as with a great deal of jungle terrain, the trees probably start a couple hundred feet away from shore. Depending on how shade-tolerant wroshyr trees are (says the forestry major ), my guess would be that they grow far shorter in open areas, growing to gigantic size and canopy as the forest deepens. This gives a home to a hellish lot of nasty critters in the depths of the forest, including feral animals and carnivorous plants. In one of my older fanfics, I wrote a pod race on Kashyyyk that dealt with all sorts of hazards and death traps on the forest floor.

 

Thanks Indra

Yeah, I'm thinking of doing something near the forest floor but then I read that they never go down there because of the dangers. One book I saw said the Wookiees don't go below the forth level so I was trying to figure out what version I should go with. I think you have a good point about the forest futher off shore being deeper and more dangerous.

sg

 

Playing Knights of the Old Republic helped me gain a lot of really good knowledge of the different levels of Kashyyyk. Mostly because I had to play through the main ones- The villages in the upper levels, and then down in the Shadowlands, where the wookiees prove themselves to be true warriors. They will sometimes send "madclaws" down there, wookiees who have gone, in their eyes, mad. One wookiee who fits this description is Zaalbar, who attacked his brother Chuundar with his claws. This is seen to be the highest of dishonor, and he was cast out from Rwookrroo (or how ever it's spelled). His father, Freyyr, was also eventually seen to be mad, and he lived in the Shadowlands for more than a decade.

The history behind Kashyyyk's forests, as detailed in the game, is also really fascinating. An ancient artifact of the dark side resides in the shadowlands, and it warped all the life around it, and I can't recall the exact details (I haven't played that part of the game in a couple of months), but it led to the accellerated growth of all the species of plants and animals living there.

Beasts to watch out for include katarns and kinrath spiders, not to mention one very large "ritual beast," but that was killed 4,000 years prior to TPM.

And very determined humans can live there, the Jedi Jolee Bindo lived there for twenty years on his own.

 

Yeah, I'm sure I could learn more from some of these games, my problem is that I've found out the hard way that if I spend too much time playing those games either via xbox or on computer that my hands get really REALLY bad from it. I have had carpal tunnel in the past from my net activities and at this point I can't play most computer or xbox games for very long at all. My hands just cramp up from the controller fairly quickly compared to most people.

And unfortunately, Im sure to get to the places in some of these games I want to get to to see what it's like, I'd have to spend quite a bit of time playing.

Thanks for the info though. Very helpful.

sg

 

Oooh, I feel your pain. I'm a computer science major and I have tendonitis- in both wrists. Eek! But if I'm diligent, I can get in some good gaming time on the PC. I can't really do xBox either, though... played a bit at the opening of ROTS, and my hands were almost dead by the end of three rounds. Mouse and keyboard are much more friendly, 'specially since I picked up the ergonomic keyboard. Saved my life, it has.

And next time I play, I'll be sure to write down more detailed info- I'm writing a KOTOR fic at the moment, so I'll have to get the details eventually. Kashyyyk will be my first post-Dantooine planet, though, so I'll make sure I pay close attention.

 

Oh, that would be most appreciated. Thank you.

sg

 

According to the Star Wars Databank, the shores depicted in ROTS were on the freshwater lagoons of the Wawaatt Archipelego, home to the coastal city of Kachirho. I guess when you've got a big jungle planet, there's going to be a body of water somewheres.

As for the levels, the only ones I've seen depicted in fiction or games are the canopy where the Wookiees dwell and the Shadowlands where dangers creatures dwell. I'm actually not sure that the Shadowlands are on the surface. I remember Bastila mentionting in KotOR that no one has seen the true "ground" of Kashyyyk, implying (to me, at least) that even the Shadowlands is the surface of kilometers and kilometers of mosses, brush, and other flora. I remember in one novel that Lumpawarrump, Chewbacca's son, went down into the Shadowlands to hunt a katarn and prove his adulthood. It ended up being a very hairy situation (no pun intended ) and Chewie had to go down and rescue his son.

Good luck on your fic.

 

Uh, if would help you, I have Star Wars Galaxy and one of the places you can go is the place on Kashyyyk that was shown in the movie. It's known as the de facto captial, at least in the eyes of the Imps. It's spelled Kachirio, if I recall correctly. Hehe, even though I play a Wookiee on the game I find it hard to spell the names they come up with

Next time I'm on Kashyyyk in the game I'll take note of the details and things for you, if you want. And there is a site for critters in SWG and it has some pictures of Kashyyyk animals, both near the lagoon, which is was that city is by, and on the Ryatt trail or the hunting grounds. The Ryatt trail, if I'm not bad mistaken was in the Han Solo trilogy or in the Black Feet Crisis, or maybe both.

The site is found here. It has an advanced search feature that allows you to pick the planet and if you want pictures or not. Though as the Kashyyyk expandsion is still considered new, it came out in May, some that says there are pictures don't show them as they are waiting for verifaction.

Also for game purposes, varactyls are on Kashyyyk, though not navtive to that planet so they'll come up if you search the planet.

If you need a describtion of a critter not pictured on the site I can take notes of what it looks like, if you want.

 

Thanks Aerex and J_M_Bulldog

Yes, that would be excellent J_M. I'm going to PM you in a sec about that...

sg

 

FYI, and index has been added to this (see second post)

 

I dunno if whatvever. But in Neither Fallen nor Reddemed by Arcalian. It spends a lot of time on Kashyyk, and the Wookies 3 of them at least are very importent. Espcecialy the dark side one.

 

Thanks Ob-wan-shawa. I'll take a look for that later when I have a chance. You don't happen to have a link handy?

Added to the index:

Title: The Sith Insurrection
Author: JDH3
Characters: Shorbecca (OC), Waroo, Lowbacca, many, many more.
Era: Beyond the Saga
Genre: General
Summary: Set post-NJO, the Skywalker/Solo clan confronts a new Sith menance...and their own darkest fears.

Title: A Soldier?s Last Act
Author: JDH3
Characters: Anakin, Tahiri, Shorbecca (OC), Maath Goran (OC).
Era: Beyond the Saga
Genre: Angst
Summary: The title says it all, really.

 

First, this link:
Neither Fallen Nor Redeemed by Arcalian

And so long as I'm in this thread . . .

FF Before
THE WOOKIEE WARS TRILOGY - EPISODE I: JUNGLE WORLD (chapter 14 added) by emimar

FF Saga
A Taller Perspective - Chewie's interpretation of the events of ANH - action/adventure/comedy/etc by Jedi_Linewalker
Boys Night Out (Han, Lando, Chewie. Pre-ANH. Humor, action, craziness. CH. 3 - bar brawls & more) by PresidentKang
The Coalition of the Desperate (Han Solo, Chewie, OC's) by Mjsullivan
Changing sides: Chewie's story (BACON CHALLENGE) by Laura_Anu
Chaos in Carbonite (Luke, Leia, Chewie, others - Han is mentioned) - Post ESB, Pre RotJ by Liesl
Chewie Haiku by Anakin Starkiller
The Hutt and the Wookiee (A fable of the GFFA) by Jedi_Monk
I'd Just as Soon Kiss a Wookiee: The Other Side of the Story by Lord_John
Mission to Chavez H/L Luke, Chewie, DV author note 4/4 by kimmi
Night of the Stars: A Post-ESB story with Vader/Luke/Leia/Han/Chewbacca and Lando by Watcher_of_Dreams
Of Wookiees and Princesses (Humor - Han, Luke, Leia, Chewie, R2, C-3PO) by Obi-WansApprentice
Then Came The Wookiee (Han, Lando, Chewie, Fett) UPDATED Pt. 7 - Nov 5th by Tiny
Yet another half finished story! A Wookiee's Honour by emimar

FF Beyond
Anakin Solo vs. Lowbacca Challenge (It's the "I'd rather Kiss A Wookiee!" type Funny) by Courtney_Solo
Breathing My Last Breath- A Chewbacca/Anakin vingette by Jek_Windu
Crossover, chapter 2. J/TK J/Z A/T new post 7-13-04, CHEWIE!!!! by Wes_Janson
Failure to Comply May Result in Wookie Arm Ripping. [Short Assassin Tale with the Solos and an OC] by Calandria
Life Debt (short story - Chewbacca, Han, Anakin) Conclusion 1/10 by SkalenFehl
Never Forgotten (Chewie songfic) by Exploded-Girl
Rabid Wookiee! Han and Chewie, humour. Updated! 10/6 by Stormtrooper_Shrink
Separate Lives - AU COPL, Han, Chewie, Leia, Luke, etc. - angst- COMPLETED!/Replies! by GreatOne
She Kissed My Wookiee--post-ROTJ humor vignette by DarthIshtar
Surprise!!! H/L Luke, Chewie... etc. Completed on 2/22/04 - replies to comments 6/2 by GreatOne
A Wookiee Alone (Challenge Response) update 1/15 by princess_meg

FF Classic
Chewbacca, Jedi Knight (An Adventure Where Anything Goes) --HUMOR by ryke
A Day in the

 

Ooooh.. thank you very very much, that'll keep me busy for a while.

sg

 

but where was this bravery in the garbage compactor? seems out of character there

I don't think it's out of character. I just think it might be something he was afraid of. You know, like an elephant. Big and strong, yet in the fables the elephant is deathly afraid of the tiny mouse.

As for the whole Kashyyk thing , I think that night I saw ROTS all my brothers were going to kick my behind when I yelled, "Where did that water come from? There's no water on Kashyyk. I believe that was a Lucas faux pas. (social blunder)

The first description I ever read on the planet was with Thrawn's trilogy when Leia goes to hide because she's pregnant.

I think, and I might be wrong, that the lower levels, which you had to climb down to, was where the wookie boy did his right to adulthood.

With that said, I'm going to be reading these entries tonight. I don't think I've ever read any of them.

 

Wow, this is pirking my interest and i think i see a plot bunny jumping in. Going to have any challenges?

 

Mmm... we could. Give me time to think on it. If anyone has any ideas, PM me.

edit: You know what? Just had a nice idea for a challenge. Since the title of this thread is "Where Wookiees fear to tread..." our first challenge will be related. You are challenged to write about a Wookiee who is afraid of something. Could be cowardly, could be fear of losing a loved one, or fear of dishonor, just as long as you are showing what a mighty Wookiee might fear. Cut off date is August 15, which gives you 2 weeks. Please posts links to your story here when it's done. Challenge threads have been created in each story forum: Before the Saga thread, The Saga thread, Beyond the Saga thread

Edit #2 or should I start a challenge thread in the story forums? Sorry, I've not done this before. I'm not sure what's correct.

sg

 

Challenge thread would be very helpful.

 

Awsome! This is perfect for the plot bunny i have!

 

Okay, thank you for the answer Jade. I'll get those threads up a little later tonight and post the links here.

sg

edit: all set. I've added the links to the above post. Have fun everybody.

 

Lola64

re: the water on Kashyyyk, well... I know this is Star Wars but if you think about it, all of these big trees HAVE to have water to survive. So at least some water on the planet does make sense.

sg

 

I have a plot bunny for where wookies faer to tread, but I don't know if I could write it good. Hmmm.
Is there a thing how long it has to be?