Created from scratch for Star Wars Outlaws, the Ashiga Clan is described as a crime syndicate with “a long tradition” and “a strong hierarchy.”

Star Wars Outlaws will task players with dealing with several different criminal syndicates at the same time, and while many of these – like the Hutts, the Pykes, and Crimson Dawn – will be familiar to fans of the property, the game will also be introducing things of its own creation into the Star Wars canon as well. There is, for instance, the Ashiga Clan, one of the criminal factions in the game, and in an article published by Game Informer, members of the game’s development team at Massive Entertainment have revealed more details on the newly created Syndicate.

Players will find the Ashiga Clan based on the planet of Kijimi, which was first introduced in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, and according to associate narrative director John Björling, during the events of the game, the faction will be seeing some internal disagreements about its future.

“They have a long tradition and certain events in the recent history put them at a fork in the road where there are different ways they could go forward, and they’re not necessarily in agreement with what the best path forward is,” says Björling.

Described as a “hive” of the Melitto species (first introduced in The Force Awakens), as per Björling, the Ashiga Clan has “a long tradition” and “a strong hierarchy”, and its “ant-like” members tend to put the needs of the hive above their own personal needs. At the top of the faction’s hierarchy is their leader, Ashiga.

“You have these insectoid, humanoid, kind of very ant-like species and it’s taking that principle of, ‘What would a crime syndicate that is essentially operating like an anthill – what is that like?’” he says. “It’s a syndicate with a long tradition, they have a strong hierarchy, and there’s a lot about putting the hive before yourself. I think those aspects make it stand out as a unique kind of crime syndicate.”

Recent weeks have brought plenty of new details on Star Wars Outlaws, with Massive Entertainment detailing its space exploration and traversal, Reputation system, dynamic open world activities, and more. Earlier this month, Ubisoft also released a new story trailer for the open world title.

Star Wars Outlaws launches for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC on August 30.