Garth'zel tilts his head slightly as he tries to think how to explain. "Sith alchemy. The former word is part of the name. It's more about using the Dark Side to twist and warp living beings--mostly animals--into what the individual practitioner wants to create. Sometimes it's people being changed in such a way, sometimes animals. Like the tuk'ata. Their original species were herbivores which were apparently peaceful. They were changed into carnivores who are... bad-tempered. At best. Their main use were as guard animals. Often enough guarding the tombs of dead Sith on Korriban. I had to defend myself from a number of wild ones while there."

"Personally, I'd rather have a nexu instead of a tuk'ata and they aren't exactly sweet-tempered either. At least they don't have the Dark Side to make their temperament worse." Not that he wants a nexu either. But at least one's likely to be better behaved with training.