Gossam

The Gossams were a race of green-skinned, diminutive saurians native to the planet Castell. Gossams were known for their unusual hair settings, used to accentuate the difference between the sexes. Females often wore their hair in a rising, upswept tailing to indicate their sexuality. The knobby skin of the Gossam people was intricately patterned, and their elongated necks were often supported by metal rings that further stretched the neck. Like most reptiles, the Gossams reproduced by laying eggs, which the females regarded as a kind of status symbol. The females threw elaborate parties to allow their fellow Gossams to view their eggs, extolling the virtues of the offspring inside without actually having laid eyes on them.

At some point early in the civilization of the Gossam, a planet-wide economic depression struck the Gossam. Individuals killed each other for food, jobs, and passage off-planet. The Commerce Guild was quick to notice that land and facilities on Castell were vastly undervalued, and traveled to Castell to purchase everything that they could. The Gossam people were essentially indentured to the Commerce Guild, in return for economic assistance in the form of purchases and leases. The planet was eventually repurchased by Shu Mai, but she kept the Gossam people in heavy debt to her government and the Commerce Guild she came to control. Many Gossams fled this oppression and established a community on Felucia, where they could control and spent their credits in any way they pleased. In the wake of the Clone Wars, the Gossams were among the hardest-hit of the non-human species in the galaxy, as Emperor Palpatine singled them out for persecution under the New Order.