The Ssither were a species of sapient snakes indigenous to Jatee. They were relocated to Butler's Cove when their homeworld was destroyed by its sun going supernova.
Ssither were slender, hairless beings with a muscular humanoid body and a serpentine torso that tapered into a long, thin tail. They could rise up on their tails to reach a height of up to 2.5 meters for a mature male. They had golden, orb-like eyes with no irises.
Although they were capable of verbal communication, they could also communicate telepathically. They could selectively broadcast or receive thoughts and emotions from one another and non-telepaths. As Dr. Hegerty and a group of Rebels left Butler's Cove after delivering the Ssither on their new colony, they could feel the mental link with the Ssither diminish and disappear.
A Ssither
The Ssither were native to the planet Jatee in the Demophon system, where they lived in caverns and tunnels that generations had carved. It has been suggested that they once lived on the surface and were forced underground after some catastrophic environmental disaster. They did not construct any cities and were content to roam in small family groups without any territorial conflicts.
The Ssither were discovered by an Imperial Species Identification Bureau field agent, Soron Hegerty, during the Galactic Civil War. Hegerty, disillusioned by the attitude of the Empire, deserted her post, stole the vessel used to transport rutgar-4 from the mines into orbit, and started to lead a group of Ssither in raids against the Imperial mining facility. In reality, some Imperials had already discovered the existence of the Ssither before Hegerty's arrival, and some had been put to work in Jatee's mines before an explosion that resulted in the deaths of a number of humans convinced the authorities to fully automate the operation. The information on the existence of the Ssither was never relayed to Demophon.
Before the Demophon star went supernova, late in the Galactic Civil War, Dr. Hegerty and a group of Rebel agents rescued a number of the Ssither from their doomed homeworld. There was not enough room in the stolen Imperial ship, The Hard Shell, for all the Ssither, so they were forced to select the youngest and strongest to ensure the species' survival. The Rebels deposited the Ssither on the uninhabited world of Butler's Cove.
- Alien Encounters