A salmaca creature lived in a cave on the world Batuu. Around 379 BBY, the salmaca began raiding homes in Peka, a nearby village. The raids continued for several weeks, during one raid, the salmaca killed the villager Tuntis, who had tried to fight back. When Jedi Padawan Rooper Nitani arrived in Peka during her Jedi Trials, she learned of the village's problem with the salmaca and agreed to help. She traveled to the salmaca's cave, where she defended it from a group of villagers. After, she convinced the villagers to leave out junk for the salmaca, resolving the problem.
A salmaca creature lived on the world Batuu, and around 379 BBY it settled in a cave near Peka village. It began preying on a nearby colony of gant spiders—a type of poisonous arachnid—and raiding homes in Peka at night for valuables and junk to line its nest. The salmaca continued the raids for several weeks, and on one occasion, it killed a villager, Tuntis, who had tried to fight back, by tearing his arm off with its beak and leaving him to bleed to death in his ruined home.
When Jedi Master Silandra Sho visited Peka, she spoke with the villager Pieto, who told her about the salmaca. After Sho examined the tracks of the salmaca, she left her shield in a tree for the salmaca to take and then returned to the Batuu Jedi temple. That night, the salmaca raided Peka again, taking both the shield and Dee-Twelve, a droid belonging to the family of Jerlyn, a resident of Peka.
The next day, Sho's Padawan, Rooper Nitani, arrived in Peka while searching for the shield as part of her Jedi Trials. She met Jerlyn, who told her about the nightly salmaca raids and her Master's visit the previous day. Nitani agreed to recover Dee-Twelve and accompanied a group of four villagers to the salmaca's cave. Among the villagers was the Weequay Kaxx, a friend of Tuntis who hoped to take revenge on the salmaca.
Nitani convinced the villagers to wait outside, and entered the cave with P3-7A, a church droid that was accompanying her during her trials. Inside, she found the salmaca sleeping in its nest, and a makeshift larder with the corpses of several gant spiders. Nitani realized that that salmaca may have been protecting Peka from the spiders, which could have posed a threat to Peka if they were allowed to breed.
After spotting Dee-Twelve under the salmaca's paw, Nitani used the Force to send peaceful and calming thoughts into the salmaca's mind, causing it to sigh contentedly and roll over, allowing Nitani to free the droid. She then saw the shield, but before she could take it, the villagers, who had entered the cave, shot at the salmaca with blasters, searing its scales. Calling on the Force again, Nitani used the shield to deflect the blaster shots, protecting the salmaca. The salmaca then screeched and charged at Kaxx, but Nitani used the shield to hit its beak, disorienting it. She then ordered the villagers to leave. After they fled, the salmaca turned to look at Nitani, who sensed its anger and sent calming thoughts at it. The salmaca determined that Nitani was not a threat, and returned to sleep.
After returning to Peka, Nitani told the villagers about the gant spider colony that the salmaca was feeding off and how it was protecting them by keeping the spider's population in check. The villagers agreed to leave junk outside each night for the salmaca to take so that it would no longer need to raid homes. She then returned to the Batuu Jedi temple, and told Sho about how she had resolved the village's problem with the salmaca.
The salmaca had leathery gray scales, talons on its large paws, and a row of sharp, bony spines protruding from its back. Its head was conical with a hooked beak and pink tongue, and it had a fetid smell. Nitani compared its size to at least three times the size of a dewback, a type of reptile with an average height of two meters.
The salmaca was mostly peaceful, and would not attack people unless it was provoked. It was angered after being attacked by the villagers, but Nitani was able to calm it.
The salmaca appeared in the short story "Shield of the Jedi," written by George Mann and published in the 2023 young-adult anthology The High Republic: Tales of Light and Life as a part of the Star Wars: The High Republic multimedia project.
- Star Wars: The High Republic Character Encyclopedia