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Stone Mite
Among the many dark legacies of the Clone Wars that continue to plague the galaxy are the repulsive creatures known as stone mites.

Stone mites originated as a bio-engineered weapon that was unleashed on a number of worlds in the Outer Rim Territories and the Expansion Region. Reports from the Clone Wars indicate that they are the creation of Arkanian scientists. The Arkanian central government fiercely denied any involvement or knowledge of where these creatures came from, starting with an investigation led by the Imperial Senate early in Palpatine's reign. Their denial persists into the New Jedi Order era, and Arkanian scientists even joined the effort to discover a means of eradicating stone mites after one of their prime colonies was destroyed by the vicious animals shortly before the Yuuzhan Vong invasion. It is interesting to note that Arkanians have proven to be the only scientists to so far make any progress in devising narrowly targeted methods to destroy the creatures, something which some New Republic analysts believe indicates that they actually were involved in creating the mites.

Stone mites are the ultimate scavengers. They are capable of extracting the minerals they live off from virtually any substance, or even from the bloodstream of living beings. Each mite is a fast-breeding hermaphrodite literally born with a clutch of eggs in its abdomen. A single mite can multiply into 500 within five standard days. They are immune to most toxins, and more than one world has been rendered uninhabitable by the massive swarms of stone mites that creep across their surface. Even if extreme measures are taken to exterminate stone mites (such as orbital bombardment or surface detonations of primitive nuclear devices), enough stone mites usually survive underground to reestablish the infestation. So far, not even the Arkanians can reclaim a world from stone mites once they start multiplying in earnest.

Systems containing planets infested with stone mites are usually evacuated of all inhabitants, so feared is the risk of spreading these creatures to the rest of the galaxy. Worlds so abandoned became locations for both Alliance bases and secret Imperial installations during the Rebellion era. Squib and other scavengers have also been known to search stone mite-ravaged worlds for undamaged equipment. Although the Squib reclamation teams are usually canny enough to avoid exporting stone mites to other worlds, many other scavengers are either unaware of or indifferent to the problem.

During the final death throes of the Empire, stone mites were also purposefully unleashed on worlds by terrorists unwilling to accept that the New Order had been crushed. Fortunately, most such potential infestations were stopped before they got out of control.

Stone mites are always encountered in swarms numbering from 10 to 100 (1d10 x 10). They travel by crawling along surfaces or by leaping short distances. In natural surroundings, their presence can be detected by strange pitting in stone faces, and, when they have been active on a world for some time, large boulders may crumble to the touch, as the creatures have hollowed them out. Their presence can be detected in high-tech environments by pitting and outright holes in metallic and plastic surfaces.

Stone mites survive by digesting minerals. They focus their initial attacks on non-living objects made out of processed metals, such as droids, blasters, and starships. They are particularly fond of the alloys used in wiring and transparisteel, making them extremely dangerous when they infest a starship. Once they have consumed processed metals, they proceed to devour stones and earth, draining virtually all mineral content from them. Next, the mites move on to living beings. They also attack living beings that attempt to prevent them from feeding. A swarm of 2 to 10 stone mites attacks each being that disturbs their feeding.

To make matters worse, the waste products that stone mites excrete poison the soil from which they extract nutrients, making it extremely costly and difficult to render the soil capable of supporting life again.