Noghri: Rukh

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With seven years between myself and the Revenge of the Sith, I feel like I am finally starting to heal.  I am ready to love Star Wars again.  So long as I avoid any reference to Anakin Skywalker, the Clone Wars, or Jar-Jar, I have been enjoying revisiting some of my old Star Wars comics and even watched the "Holy Trilogy" again about a month ago.

One thing I've recently recalled is how disappointing I have found most Noghri designs (especially my own!).  Not only do I find the Noghri designs lacking, but there is a surprising lack of respect for Rukh, the most bad-ass of the species.  So my goals here are two-fold: redesign the Noghri based on my own aesthetic, and finally give Rukh some fanart love.

Considering the amazing Noghri sense of smell, I thought that the primary feature on their face should be their sinuses.  I wanted the head crest to tie into the nostrils, as if they had an extra sensory function.  I also wanted the design to be inhumanly compact and stout.  Finally, for Rukh, I wanted his uniform to look a bit like it was pieced together from random bits of imperial armour and uniforms (not so much like a barbarian like I've seen in other versions).  I also gave him a BFG and traditional looking knife (all the better to stab Thrawn with).

Actually, to be honest, I did enjoy the way that Vatine drew the Noghri in the Heir to the Empire comics, but it didn't really gel with the descriptions of them from the books.

I'm also including my initial sketch where I tried to figure out the Noghri anatomy a bit -