Shards are silicone-based life forms. They are 30-40 centimeters in length, up to 10 centimeters in diameters, and appear as irregularly faceted and roughly cylindrical crystals. The silicate structure of the Shard makes up for the molecular "circitry" or their brains. Faint energy pulses can be seen glimmering inside their body. Each Shard also has a unique electromagnetic "signiture" that others of its race can recognize.

The Shards developed on the planet Orax, a world known for its beautiful rock and mineral formations, and natural hot springs. They form from an interaction between the ion-charged atmosphere of the planet and the natural crystals and mineral-rich water, "growing" energy-sensitive crystalline lattices in lusters along the rocks near the numerous hot springs. When a Shard has reached its full size and "adult" energy signiture, the accretion of crystal begins to produce a new Shard. A large colony contains hundreds or even thousands of individual Shards.

Some of these Shard clusters can grow to enormous size, towering like giant trees formed from multicolored crystal. Shards are immobile all of their lives, and some of the oldest Shard clusters have existed for several millennia. Over time, natural erosion causes some Shard to dissolve back into the environment they came from, but otherwise Shards live for thousands of standard years.

Early settlers were slow in recognizing the Shards' sentience. When they did, they devised translators that converted the Shard energy pulses into speech and back again, allowing the Shards to communicate directly with the humans. When the Shards expressed a great curiosity about other worlds, engineers developed a droid-control interface that took advantage of the Shards' abilities. Several Shards were voluntarily disconnected from their "growth-rocks" and placed inside droid bodies, giving the crystals mobility and sensory input for the first time.

Dozens of Shards fanned out to explore the galaxy in the latter days of the Old Republic, returning occasionally to their homeworld to share their experiences with the other Shards. When the New Order inherited the reins of power, the Shard "ambassadors" were cut off from their homeworld. Many were killed, while others went into hiding masquerading as ordinary droids. Aggressive mining of Orax's mineral resources began with sources of labor that the Shards could not interfere with - slaves. The crystal entities watched helplessly as their world was looted and Shard colonies were destroyed. Some expatriate Shards made attempts to return to their world, but the Empire kept all droids away from Orax, foiling the attempts.

Some Shards have decided to ally themselves with the Rebellion as a means of freeing their homeworld from the domination of the Empire. With their ability to naturally affect computers and their droid guises allowing them to go many places undetected, the Shards became valuable spies and covert agents of the Rebellion. Few Rebels even know of the existence of the Shards or their abilities.