SWAP MEET: THE JAWA’S TALE by Kevin J. Anderson

Okay! Yes, I’m a little more than obsessed with Jawas, always have been, always will be a fan of the little guys in brown robes. You can read a very short story by me about a Jawa named FixItGood, here. However, I wanted more background for my character in an upcoming RPG, in which I will be playing FixItGood. So, I went looking for stories with Jawas in them. “Swap Meet: The Jawa’s Tale” is by far the best that I have found, the only one in which a Jawa is the main character.

Het Nkik is a different type of Jawa. He has big thoughts that only bring ridicule and distrust. He believes that the Jawas could be strong, but his people do not fight when attached, they run. They run because they believe that small equals weak and the weak should flee. Het Nkik believes that his people are smart and courageous, and are capable of anything they put their minds too. Just look what they can do with broken droids.

Het Nkik’s story is one that intersects with Obi-Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker in “New Hope.” His Sandcrawler roles up on Obi-Wan, C3PO, and R2-D2, adhering to the proper Jawa death ritual of burning the dead bodies to return them to the sand from which they were borrowed. Het Nkik learns from Obi-Wan that Stormtroopers were responsible for the destruction. Unlike the crew of his crawler, Het Nkik exchanges his share of the salvage for a speeder to take him to Mos Eisley.

In Mos Eisley, Het Nkik takes his revenge by attempting to gun down a Stormtrooper patrol. Even if he dies, it is his hope that he will become a martyr for Tatooine to rally behind to expel the Imperial Empire, but specially to show his people what they are capable of accomplishing.

Part of the Legacy Star Wars RPG are rules for being a descendent or relative of a named character, one that appeared earlier in the Star Wars timeline. I could not find a Legacy for Jawas, so I created one based on Het Nkik.

Het Nkik Legacy: You are a distant relative of Het Nkik, the freethinking Jawa who attacked a Stormtrooper patrol in Mos Eisley to revenge the death of his brothers and the destruction of a Sandcrawler. Your family is known to have some strange thoughts. Jawas do not fight and believe that they are small and weak. However, every once and a while a family member is not content to simply run, but will pick up a blaster and fight.

Prerequisite: Jawa

Legacy Destiny: If you have the Legacy Destiny, you can spend a Destiny Point as a free action to automatically treat your next Ranged Attack check as though you rolled a 20 on the check.

Possible Legacy Heirlooms: DL – 44 Blaster, Tusken Battle Talisman

Anderson, Kevin J. “Swap Meet: The Jawa’s Tale.” Star Wars: Tales From The Mos Eisley Cantina. New York: Bantam, 1995. p. 218-239