By: Jason Dietzel
The Findmans were a Force-sensitive group of Gand bounty hunter who created a religious tradition around the profession, though they did not acknowledge the Force as the source of their abilities. Instead, they worshiped the mists that enshrouded the planet Gand, prophesizing omens and signs in order to find their prey. Through their mystical rituals and ceremonies, known as janwuine-jika, the Findsman would decipher these omens or signs from the divine mists to aid them in locating their target, whether it be a person, place, thing, or even an event.
Some of these janwuine-jika rituals involved bathing in chemicals or augmentation through genetic manipulation.
Implementing the Gand biology, primarily their exoskeleton, the Findsman developed a form of marital arts that would take advantage of their physical characteristics in hand-to-hand combat. These techniques were known to penetrate bone, armor and exterior carapaces, ie: shells.
Those not familiar with the group, or the larger Gand society, often viewed the Findsman as a bizarre sect obsessed with hunting, but for Gands themselves, the title brought prestige and honor in their culture; to them, the group represented the “path to truth.”
Because the training of a Findsman required deep devotion and study, they became favored by many throughout the galaxy as bodyguards, bounty hunters, investigators, assassins and security advisors/managers. However, if a Findsman were to stray from the path set forth by the order or abandon the tradition altogether, the Gand would be considered a rogue and killed on site.
It is unclear how ancient the Findsman tradition truly is, as the Gand species was first discovered by the greater galaxy during the Kanz Disorders, prior to 3,951 BBY. By the time of the Jedi Civil War, the Findsman tradition had already developed into a full tradition, with varying subsects with their own unique practices meshed with core principles.
Likewise, by that time, the Findsman had already made quite the reputation for themselves. In fact, about one hundred Findsman were hired by G0-T0 to help find the Jedi Exile, Meetra Surik on the moon Nar Shaddaa during the events of the Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords video game. Counter to their reputation, however, their combined skills could not acquire their target.
The Findsman tradition started to dissolve come the time of the Galactic Civil War against the Galactic Empire. One of the few remaining Findsman was the bounty hunter Zuckuss, known for being one of many hired by Darth Vader to find the Millennium Falcon. Another amongst the dwindling numbers of Findsman was Ooryl Qrygg, a New Republic starfighter pilot with the famed Rogue Squadron.
Gand’s location at the edge of known space may have contributed to the decline of the Findsman, especially as their planet was overlooked during the Galactic Civil War, Yuuzhan Vong War, and the Second Galactic Civil War. In the end, it seems, their tradition slipped into obscurity, as the galaxy waged multitudes of war elsewhere.
Though not explicitly identified as such, the first appearance of the Findsman was in the movie Episode V: The Empire Strikes back. Just as the character, that would eventually be named Zuckuss, was used as the template for the Gand species, so too was the bounty hunter used as the template for the Findsman. Likewise, in the Knights of the
Old Republic II video game the Gand that appeared on Nar Shaddaa were not explicitly identified as Findsman.
They were first identified as Findsman in the Star Wars: The Card Game and further mentioned in the novel The New Jedi Order: Dark Tide I: Onslaught.
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