Polis Massan

• Appeared in:
  
  I
  II
  III
  IV
  V
  VI
  CW

• Homeworld:
  Polis Massa

• Size:
  1.4 meters

• 

From the Movies

Strangely silent aliens with slight builds and featureless faces, the Polis Massans inhabit the asteroid colony of Polis Massa. They maintain a number of sealed outposts on the barren rock surface, toiling away at their interests with little involvement with the surrounding galaxy.

The seclusion of Polis Massa made it an ideal refuge for Jedi Masters Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda when they were fleeing the emergent Empire. Within the Polis Massan sanctuary, they took shelter and rushed an ailing Padmé Amidala to a medical center. Despite the best efforts of skilled Polis Massan medics and their droids, Amidala died, but not before giving birth to twin children, Luke and Leia.

From the Expanded Universe

The Polis Massans aren't actually from Polis Massa -- but they obsessively cling to the shattered asteroid remains of the world that may have been home to their ancestors. In the ancient past, the Eellayin homeworld was transformed into rubble by an unknown cataclysm, and the Eellayin people vanished. Five hundred years ago, an expedition to uncover the remains of the Eellayin was undertaken by the faceless diminutive aliens. They became so associated with the archeological effort that they became known as Polis Massans, a name they adopted with no objections.

Little is known of the Polis Massans, save that they too hail from the Subterrel sector, the same area of space that contains their adopted asteroid home. They are skilled xenobiologists, fascinated by other alien species yet not confrontational despite such passions. They prefer instead to study from afar, examining the trappings of alien cultures if not the aliens themselves. Given how little open contact they have had with other cultures, they have amassed an impressive xenobiological database. Uncovering their true connection to the Ellayin remains of paramount concern to the Polis Massans.

Polis Massans have made contact with the secretive Kaminoans, exchanging some of their data for cloning technology. The Polis Massans have adapted this cloning equipment for their own purposes, though their cloning processes remain less sophisticated than the work of the Kaminoans. The Polis Massans employ it in hopes of reconstructing any biological matter they discover in their archeological digs.

Behind the Scenes

The Polis Massan design stems from an abandoned sketch done by Doug Chiang during the development of the Kaminoans in Episode II. These sketches of a somewhat more inelegant alien (compared to the sleek Kaminoans) were refined through concept models by Michael Patrick Murnane for Episode III. The finished design was implemented as a computer-generated creature by ILM. The skin texture was likened to a cetacean, most notably a dolphin, perhaps shedding some light on the evolutionary roots of this enigmatic species.