Tusken Raiders

Tusken Raiders (or Sand People) are fictional creatures in the Star Wars saga. They live on the planet of Tatooine. They killed Anakin Skywalker's mother Shmi Skywalker in Attack of the Clones and attacked Anakin's son Luke Skywalker in Star Wars: A New Hope.

Tusken Raiders are an ancient race, who at one point possessed advanced technology. They lived on the planet of Tatooine when the planet had oceans and lush jungles, and were a major power in the known universe. However, the creators of the Star Forge, the Rakata, conquered the Tuskens, and mined their planet exhaustively. After a virulent disease weakened the Rakata, the Sand People saw the opportunity to strike against them: they sabotaged the Rakata's fleet, but, in retaliation, the Rakata bombarded the planet and Tatooine became a desert world. Although the Tusken race survived, they were trapped on the planet. Once the "Creators" (the Rakata) lost power, the Tuskens abandoned most technologies, and poisoned their natural resources to prevent other species from having an interest in their planet and conquering it. However, the planet was conquered many times over the following millennia, though the conquerors frequently left it after a short period of time due to the atomic instability of the metals in the planet.

The Tuskens' precise bodily shape is unknown, since they cover themselves completely with clothes, and doing otherwise is taboo among them. Their language sounds to most like a series of incomprehensible roars, and few can understand it, even on Tatooine; one of the few who could understand it was assassin droid HK-47 who had the language pre-programed into his memory by Darth Revan, his master.

In Star Wars video game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, it is implied that Tusken Raiders were the original humans. This would explain why humans seem to be spread out across the Star Wars universe, as they were the most commonly used slave race of the Rakata. While so, some sources claim this is not official canon. Other sources, such as starwars.com, claim the Tusken Raiders are descendants of the Ghorfas, a society that built caves within the cliffs of Tatooine. Their civilization collapsed when off-world settlers disrupted their water supply, leading to their current nomadic existence. It is also discovered that, because only the richest and most ignorant of Tatooine's enviroment were taken captive by the Rakata, the Sand People think that outsiders coming to their planet are their long-lost ancestors, returning to destroy Tatooine's enviroment.

The primary weapon of the Tusken Raider is a durable metal spear called a Gaderffi, known as a "Gaffi stick" to non-Raiders.

Expanded Universe
According to Expanded Universe sources, Tusken Raiders are named after Fort Tusken, an early Old Republic mining settlement in which all of the settlers were overwhelmed and captured or killed by Tusken Raiders, then called Sand People.

In the Junior Jedi Knights and New Jedi Order series, it was revealed that Jedi Knight Tahiri Veila was raised by the Tusken Raiders after they captured her in a raid. During battle the Tusken Raders are known to "spit" blood from nasal ducts and chanelled it into a metal tube below their eye socket.