Murese

The Murese (Sith: Murûyanjat) were a Force-sensitive Human subspecies and ethnolinguistic group native to the Unknown Regions fortress world of Mure. Descendants of Human Force Hounds of the Infinite Empire, the Murese were the outcome of extensive Rakata experimentation into the genetic expression of Force sensitivity in individuals, experiments undertaken by the Rakata during their civil war in an effort to recover their Force sensitivity lost at the hands of a Force plague.

Warped and mutilated into a sickly mutant Human subspecies, the Murese persisted on their homeworld long after the Empire's fall, coexisting alongside both their former Rakata masters and a handful of Sith-Human refugees of the old Sith Empire who settled Mure following the post–Great Hyperspace War counterinvasion. Subsequent generations of Murese eventually expanded outward from Mure, colonizing the sparse systems along the Galactic Barrier and gradually evolving into a major trade power in the greater Unknown Regions.

As the direct descendants of Human Force Hound slaves of the Infinite Empire residing on Mure, the Murese displayed primarily Human biological and physical traits across the entirety of their history. However, the protracted experiments of their Rakata masters, undertaken by the Rakata Mure tribe during the Rakata civil war to restore their lost Force sensitivity, twisted and warped the Murese into a distinct Human subspecies. The end result of Rakata meddling with their Human Force Hounds' genome was a race characterized by its ashen skin coloration, pallid appearance, and predatory features, a sickly subspecies of Human that nonetheless managed to persist on Mure for millennia after the Infinite Empire's fall courtesy of its near-universal Force sensitivity.

The 4987 BBY arrival of Sith-Human hybrids on Mure, refugees from the old Sith Empire fleeing the post–Great Hyperspace War counterinvasion of 4999 BBY, introduced fresh genetic material to the Murese gene pool for the first time since the fall of the Infinite Empire. Due to these refugees' small numbers and high-percentage Tapani Human blood, subsequent interbreeding with the Murese did not result in the manifestation of the Sith species's most distinctive physical traits in the greater Murese population. However, later generations of Sith-blooded Murese occasionally exhibited mildly florid skin colorations, high cheekbones, and predispositions towards left-handedness. These traits persisted for millennia in certain Murese families through intentional genetic selection, as Sith-bloodedness came to be seen as a quality of nobility and good breeding in certain social circles.