Maz Kanata is more than a thousand years old, a diminutive being with vast experience at surviving in the underworld. From her castle on Takodana, Maz has seen galactic powers rise and fall and felt the Force ebb and flow, seeking an elusive balance between darkness and light. She has given many a young smuggler a start by offering credits, equipment or connections, and helped many an old friend rediscover a lost path.

The ancient edifice known as Maz’s castle sits on the shore of a lake on Takodana, a site rumored to have been a battleground for the Jedi and Sith. The castle is simultaneously aged and state of the art, with sensor grids and advanced communications gear sprouting from worn stone battlements. Inside Maz’s castle, pirates, smugglers, spies and all manner of scoundrels mix and mingle, searching for loans, information, equipment, repairs -- or kicking back to enjoy music, food and drink or games of chance. All must obey their host’s prohibitions against politics or war. The First Order raided Takodana shortly before the Battle of Starkiller Base, leaving the castle in ruins and its proprietress indignant.

A lush green world in the galaxy’s Western Reaches, Takodana has long served as the base of operations for the diminutive pirate queen Maz Kanata, whose ancient castle is a haven for smugglers, brigands, scouts and spies from numerous worlds. Takodana has been largely spared war over the centuries, remaining neutral as galaxy-ruling regimes come and go around it.

An ancient protocol droid of unknown manufacture, ME-8D9 has been a fixture at Maz’s castle on Takodana for many years. Pirates and smugglers often ask Emmie to serve as a translator for their shady negotiations. The droid has been reprogrammed numerous times, and her original purpose is unclear. She’s known to have served as an assassin, and some whisper that she began her long mechanical life with the Jedi Order.

A feared bounty hunter, Bazine Netal grew up on Chaaktil, where she learned a range of deadly martial arts at Delphi Kloda’s combat school. Netal’s baffleweave dress jams sensors, while her black cowl hides burn damage inflicted by a flamethrower in her youth. Netal is a deadly opponent whose typical arsenal includes a snub-nosed blaster, poisoned dagger, throwing knives and concealed thermal detonators. She was at Maz’s castle in the company of Grummgar when Han Solo, Finn and Rey arrived, and slipped away to report their location to the First Order.

A hulking Dowutin, Grummgar was at Maz Kanata’s castle when Han Solo, Finn and Rey visited. Sitting beside the bounty hunter and First Order spy Bazine Netal, Grummgar was given a wide berth by the castle’s other guests. He makes his credits as a mercenary and big-game hunter, with his kills including the molsume, a predator native to Ithor.