The Star Wars franchise mostly focuses on the lives of its human protagonists. There are a few robots and an alien or two, but most of the stars of the wars are traditional human beings. The alien characters are typically side characters or background details. However, even the most minor alien race has a fair amount of backstory squirreled away somewhere. Take the Kaminoans, who provided the Republic with their clone army.

As the title would suggest, each of the three Star Wars trilogies is built around a galactic conflict. The prequel trilogy covers the Clone Wars, based on a throwaway line in the original 1977 film. Though the war turns out to be an intricate scheme by an aging evil wizard, someone has to think of all the wartime logistics.

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What are the Kaminoans?

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Kaminoans are large slender amphibious aliens. Their design was inspired by the aliens from Stephen Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Their flesh is a sickly gray, and their eyes are sunken and black. They can see ultraviolet light. The interiors of their offices appear white, but they are actually decorated in colors outside the range of human visibility. Their neck and limbs are extremely long and spindly, giving a strange grace to their movement. Their bodies are frail, but their intellectual capabilities are considerable. Their personalities tend to be dull and practical. Kaminoans are natural isolationists, only concerning themselves with events beyond their atmosphere if a profit can be made. Many Kaminoans felt that their home planet gave them everything they needed, but it also carefully guided their evolution.

What is Kamino like?

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The planet Kamino exists outside the known galaxy. Its existence was deliberately kept secret as the planet was deleted from the galactic records. Kamino is an aquatic planet. Its atmosphere is breathable, but 100% of its surface is covered by water. This wasn't always the case, but the world flooded at some point, forcing the locals to build their structures on stilts. Kaminoans traveled the surface with the help of the most well-known native creature. The Aiwha, also known as air whales, are enormous winged cetacean mammals that look more like dragons than whales. Kaminoans saved all the land-based species of Kamino by building domed cities to reside in. Those structures would accommodate all the species' needs for generations. They rarely left their home, typically because people were willing to come to them.

What did the Kaminoans do?

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The main thing Star Wars fans know about the Kaminoans is that they perfected the cloning process. Dexter Jettster introduces them as "cloners" in the second prequel. Around 33 BBY, Jedi Master Sifo-Dyas sensed oncoming darkness in the Force. He decided to commission an army to protect the galaxy. He approached Kamino and entreated the scientists to give him millions of clones. They selected the bounty hunter Jango Fett as their subject and set to work. Unfortunately, Sith operatives ordered the assassination of Sifo-Dyas and the insertion of a behavior modification chip. This chip would eventually be used by the Jedi to execute Order 66 and kill countless innocent Jedi, allies, and civilians.

Kaminoans were not responsible for Order 66. The scientists in the cloning facilities willingly inserted the chip but were misinformed about its purpose. The cloners thought they were adding a countermeasure to deal with rogue Jedi. The idea of a trained warrior with a laser sword and psychic powers would be terrifying to anyone. An anti-Jedi contingency would make sense. However, the Kaminoans are not blameless. The first time anyone found out about the true nature of Order 66 was when a clone called Tup suddenly killed a Jedi General. Kaminoan doctor Nala Se worked tirelessly to hide the existence of the modification chip. She was still convinced that it was created to combat rogue Jedi, but her actions helped to hide the Sith's machinations. Nala Se was rewarded, but she was an unusual case.

What happened to Kamino?

Kamino was an obvious target as soon as the clone army was done. It survived an attack by the Confederacy during the Clone Wars. However, after the Empire took over the galaxy, they carpet-bombed Kamino to ensure no one could ever use the cloning facilities again. Most Kaminoans were killed by the system they helped to create. Some Kaminoans survived and went on to join the Rebellion. Even there, their complete lack of concern for medical ethics drove a wedge between Kaminoans and their new allies.

Kaminoans were emotionless scientific geniuses who put their minds to the wrong task. They paid the ultimate price for providing the side of evil with their greatest weapon. Theirs is a tale of selfishness, willful blindness, and the obvious fate of those who ally themselves with monsters. Maybe there's a lesson for all arms manufacturers in their story. If they'd just turned their brilliant minds towards something other than lab-grown murderers, they'd probably be fine.

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