Outcast
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- "We are the Outcasts, banished and reviled by those who dwell above!"
"Here in the filth and darkness we claw out a wretched existence, scavenging and begging just to survive long enough to see another wretched day." - ―Two Outcasts, attempting to squeeze five credits out of Revan.[src]
The Outcasts were citizens of Taris that had been banished to the Undercity of the planet. They and their descendants were forced to live in dirt and filth, while having to beg, steal, and scrap for food and clothes. The Outcasts lived in constant fear of the rakghouls, hideous mutants which could spread their infection to anyone.
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[edit] Taris's Dark Age
When new, smaller trade routes moved from Taris, rendering the planet unnecessary and without the support of the Republic, the planet began to fall into ruin and despair. The great city of Taris covered more than half the planet's surface; the kelp harvest and the creatures of the sea were their only food source.
It was at this time that a self-sufficient colony beneath the undercity was discovered, which was the only part of Taris not urbanized and also it was inhabited by Droids.
Abandoned by the Republic, the Tarisian industrialists began to use the power source of their wish, which was some form of toxic waste. The pollution poisoned and killed most of the oceanic fauna and flora, and so the planet was swept with famine. The Tarisian elite hoarded the remaining food and wealth for themselves—far more than they needed—while the poor were left to starve and die.
The Tarisian poor, disgusted at what the rich had done, rebelled, beginning the Tarisian civil war. Millions of innocents died and large sections of Taris were destroyed or abandoned. It was during this time that the self suffent colony was lost to the Tarisians. The rebellion was crushed in the end and the thousands of remaining disarmed rebels were imprisoned. But the jails could not hold them all, so they were instead banished to the Undercity, unable to return to the surface under penalty of death.
All hope was lost to the defeated rebels, save from one, the self sufficient colony in which would bring them salvation in which they dubbed the Promised Land. Gendar's ancestor led the Outcasts to built the Outcast village in which they might survive.
The prisons in the Upper City were rendered unnecessary and any criminals in the Upper and Middle City were banished to the Undercity, also unable to return under pain of death. Here, walking the original surface of the planet that never saw the sun due to the shadows of Taris' massive skyscrapers, they endured a lifetime of horror marked by starvation, rakghoul attacks, and rakghoul infections, and even their descendants were forced to live in damnation.
As the generations passed fewer and fewer Outcasts believed in the tales of the Promised Land, thinking them to be fairy tales meant to prevent the Outcasts from going mad from despair.
In the year 4,156 BBY, non-Humans were also banished and forced to live in the slums of the Lower City. Thus the law enforcement of the corrupt government enforced strict socioeconomic divisions upon the people of Taris for 190 years, from 4,156 BBY until 3,966 BBY.
During this time Rukil's grandfather searched for clues about the Promised Land, but was killed by Rakghouls in the Sewers. Rukil's father did the same and found more clues about its location, but he met the same fate.
Although this rule was rescinded in 3,966 BBY, along with the Republic's dissolution of the Taris government, the Mandalorian attacks on Taris obstructed further efforts. In 3,964 BBY, the Republic reluctantly abandoned the planet to the Mandalorians, and so the Outcasts continued to live in damnation. Even the Mandalorians' withdrawal from the planet in 3,960 BBY after their defeat, the Outcast's lives did not improve.
During the Jedi Civil War the Republic returned the planet to finish the job they had begun during the Mandalorian Wars. In the Upper City the Republic scientists developed a the Rakghoul Serum, a cure for the horrifying Rakghoul disease that plagued the Outcasts. The Republic was about to tighten the socio-economic divisions once more when the Sith invaded.
During the Sith occupation all followers of Rukil had abandoned him save from one, his apprentice called Malya. Rukil, to old to search for clues for the Promised Land, sent Malya to look for more. She indeed did find more clues, but she was killed by Rakghouls in the Undercity surface before she could return to Rukil.
The Sith were using the Rakghoul Serum for themselves, giving doses to their Undercity patrols. In 3,956 BBY, when the Endar Spire Escape Pods crashed into the Undercity, the patrols used the serum much more often. By the time Revan entered the Undercity the Sith had practically run out of serum altogether, though some of the Sith Troopers killed by Rakghouls still had a sample of serum on their corpses.
When Revan arrived at the Undercity, he met Rukil and helped him discover the Promised Land. Revan found journals belonging to Rukil's grandfather, father and apprentice Malya in and around the City sewers. He then gave the tomes to Rukil, who used them to discover the location of the Promised Land and led the Outcasts from their village. It is unknown if the Outcasts survived the bombardment of Taris; however it is possible that they survived because of the shelter provided by the buildings around them. Revan was also able to save the Outcasts from the rakghouls by giving a rakghoul serum vial (which he found on the remains of a Sith Trooper) to an Upper City doctor, Zelka Forn. Forn was able to reproduce it the serum, and used it cure the Outcasts of the disease.
[edit] Known Outcasts
[edit] Behind the scenes
In an alternate, non-canon plotline, Revan gives the serum to one of Davik Kang's men for a large sum of money. In another non-canon plotline, Revan gave the three Promised Land journals to Igear, who destroyed them so that the Outcasts could never find salvation.
In Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, all the Outcasts within the village are human.
[edit] Appearances
- Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic: Vector (Mentioned only)
- Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (First appearance)
