During the great war between the Alliance and the Empire, there were prizes far beyond weapons and ships; stolen mess supplies were, in their own way, important to the Alliance. An army, it was once said, travels on its stomach, and the Rebellion's troops were no exception. Living more often than not on stale rations scavenged from old depots, Rebel soldiers were delighted when a new kind of meat was added to the Imperial military menu. Sweet, juicy and nutritious, this new packed meat quickly became a favorite of troops on both sides of the war. Few Rebels could imagine that the source of this new delicacy was, in fact, the squat, ugly gornt, an omnivore native to the planet Hethar. Fewer still would really care.
When the Empire annexed Hethar, the local colonists offered a staple of their own diets to Imperial suppliers. This staple - gornt meat - could go for long periods without spoiling, tasted good and had high nutritional value. As this new food was cheaply and easily procured, the Imperial Navy quickly instituted a gornt breeding and processing program. A few enterprising Sullustans set up ranches and made deals; wild gornts were rounded up, fattened and bred to provide food for naval supplies. Several lucky Imperial suppliers got commissions and the Sullustan ranchers grew rich.
After years of forced breeding, the general quality of the stock has declined, breeding rates have slowed, and genetic codes have been contorted by endless tampering. Farmers are aware of the declining number and quality of their herds, but can do little about it.
In their wild state, gornts travel in packs of between 10 and 30 adults, with about half as many young "gorntlings." Herbivorous by nature, gornts may, in a pinch, eat almost anything. An extremely efficient digestive system breaks down even the toughest of foods - bone, gristle, tree bark, shell - into prime nutrients. Because of this, gornt meat is succulent and nutritious. Gornt bodies are thick and meaty, and even their bones can be easily broken down into vitamin supplements. They are simple creatures, with little apparent purpose beyond eating, sleeping and breeding. They would seem, therefore, to be the ideal food stock.
The average gornt's lifespan, under natural conditions, is six standard years. During this time, gornts mate three times. Their fertility rate is high, but their genetic balance is delicate. Stress, disease or medical tampering greatly reduces the chances of live birth. Gornt ayas (pups) are born alive, often in litters of two to four. These pups must be tended by their mothers for the first year of their lives until they can fend for themselves. This delicate reproductive balance has prevented the omnivorous gornt from stripping the forests bare - but now that the gornts are being harvested more quickly than they can breed, the species is dwindling.
The average gornt eats its weight in food per standard week. Because the Sullustan ranchers can feed their stock almost anything, food supplies have not been a great problem. With the changing diet, however, comes an altered breeding cycle - a cycle Imperial breeders and Sullustan ranchers have been unable to adjust. Various chemical and genetic treatments have only reduced gornt fertility rates. Several high-ranking supply officers have staked fortunes on the gornts' survival. Imperial geneticists, drawn to the challenge, have traveled to Hethar and other outlying gornt breeding planets, attempting to find a solution to the declining gornt reproductive rate. The scientist that could discover a breakthrough stands to make many friends and a healthy profit.
Some Rebel sympathetic farmers have purchased gornt breeding stock, attempting to raise their own herds. | 
