Twi'lek (Jedi Renaissance)

Twi'lek were a humanoid species which evolved on the tidal-locked world Ryloth in the galaxy's Outer Rim. An omnivorous species that evolved along a similar path as Humans, Twi'leks tended to eat cultivated molds, fungi, and rycrit meat grown and prepared in their cave dwellings located along the day/night borderlands of their homeworld. Originally a white-skinned race due to their underground dwellings, the Twi'lek evolved several sub-species that entailed a variety of colors. The greatest distinction between the Twi'lek and the Human races was a pair of shapely prehensile tentacles that grew from the base of their skulls. The tentacles, called "lekku" or "tchun-tchin", were advanced organs used for communication and cognitive functions. Twi'leks possessed a fairly standard humanoid vocal structure and were capable of learning most alien languages; however, they usually preferred their native language of Ryl, which incorporated subtle movement of the lekku. While the Twi'lek did not enter galactic society over fifteen millennia after the founding of the Republic, many Forceful Twi'leks were taken to the Deep Core world of Tython where they became a founding species of the Jedi Order. Later, the Twi'leks would be the subject of experiments by the Infinite Empire before regaining their independence and joining the Republic after a democratic vote.

Biology and appearance
Twi'leks were a sentient species that belonged to the simians, a subgroup of the primate order of mammals. Twi'leks were bipedal beings with a bilateral symmetry, having a front and a back end, as well as an upside and downside. Their body comprised a head, neck, torso, and four limbs. The upper limbs, called arms, ended in hands which had five fingers each; the lower ones, called legs, ended in feet with also five digits. Twi'lek fingers had multiple points of articulation, and one of them was an opposable thumb that allowed for fine manipulation. Finally, they had one head perched atop a torso. Unlike other mammalian species they rarely exhibited body hair, occasionally demonstrating slight facial hair in males. Twi'leks were warm-blooded animals, meaning they maintained a constant body temperature independent of the environment using the energy from their food. Twi'leks were omnivorous, subsisting on cultivated fungi and the meat of animals. Twi'leks had two sexes: male and female, with the latter being distinguished by their pronounced breasts, overall smaller stature and auditory cones. These cones were located on the side of the head and allowed females to hear sound at a wider range of frequencies then their male counterparts, who sported ears similar in structure to Human and near-Human species. The most striking difference between Humans and Twi'leks was the brain-tails, or lekku, that protruded down the back of the skull and contained part of a Twi'lek's brain. Most Twi'lek's possessed a pair of lekku that served many purposes in their daily lives and culture, storing fat and being used as erogenous zones. The Twi'lek's native language of Ryl was spoken using a combination of words and subtle movements of the lekku. Newborn Twi'leks had no lekku, growing out during childhood and extending to their full-length as a young adult.

Members of the Twi'lek race could interbreed naturally with many other near-Human races, including baseline Humans. Despite overall physiological uniformity, Twi'leks varied greatly in appearance, and no two Twi'leks looked exactly alike. One of the diversity factors was height; Twi'leks averaged 1.85 meters in height, although males were usually taller and heavier than females. Gradiation of skin tone was the most striking difference in Twi'lek appearances, as four distinct races evolved that were largely defined by their skin-tone alone. The original Twi'leks of Ryloth were starkly white-skinned, with hues of grey and ash rounding out the skin-tones of the subterranean species. In different regions, different races evolved different hues of skin, such as the green-skinned Biara race, the blue Rutians, and the rare Lethans with their red hues. Twi'lek were sexually-reproduced animals, requiring the mating of an opposite sex couple to produce offspring. While developing in their mother's womb, the child gave her a distinctive "baby bump" accompanied by a significant weight gain. Being mammals, the Twi'lek females gave birth to live young, either one or several at a time. The delivery itself normally took place after nine months of pregnancy when a woman would take up residence within a local medcenter where professional doctors would attend her every need. It was a painful process that could take as much as ten hours; in some circumstances, women could die during childbirth. During their first months of existence, Twi'lek babies were usually fed with milk from their mother's breasts. The period during which a young Twi'lek developed from a child into an adult was known as adolescence. According to the traditions of Ryloth, the legal transition from childhood to adulthood was only attained after fifteen standard years of life. Twi'leks had an average lifespan of 75 standard years. Those who were keenly attuned to the Force could live up to 200. At any rate, individuals past the age of 85 were considered to have reached an age worthy of veneration. Natural signs of ageing in Twi'leks included the loss of teeth, appearance of deep lines, wrinkles and dark blemishes on the skin. Old Twi'leks would experience a decline in many cognitive processes, frequently losing track of time, misidentifying people or places and, in extreme cases, momentarily forgetting about their own identity or state.

Society and culture
Twi'lek society was divided into clans, with each clan having its own city. Each city had its own government, which was led by a five-member head-clan. These five Twi'leks would lead the society in all matters until one member of the head-clan died. At that point, the remaining members of the head-clan would be cast out into the barren landscape on the day-side of the planet, presumably to die, thus allowing the next generation to take over. If the next generation was not yet ready to claim their inherited positions, then a set of regents would be selected to rule until the proper time.

Rather than having separate personal and clan names, a Twi'lek would have a single name that combined these two elements. The personal portion of the name would be selected with the clan name in mind, often involving an intentional alteration of the words or a shift in the letters to change the meaning of the name as a whole. This change was meant to symbolize a way of unity. A Twi'lek's name would also be split into multiple parts if they were exiled as a criminal, as this was considered very dishonoring.

Twi'lek Jedi
When a Tho Yor hidden in the deserts of Ryloth called out through the Force to the Twi'lek Force-sensitives across the systems, hundreds ventured into the wastes to find it. Entering into the mysterious ship called Dzhñānaṁ-dzhālah, the Twi'lek people were diverse in background and skill; philosophers, warriors, nobility, and serfs, gathered together to exist for a lifetime and a moment within the mysterious depths of the ship until it transported them to the primordial world of Tython and deposited them in the Silent Desert, where all sound died. Using the Force to guide them to a series of subterranean caverns that was protected from the deafening effects of the desert, the Twi'lek and the other races that had been collected within the Tho Yor gathered together to establish a new home on Tython. Finding survival easiest when they harnessed the Force, the colonists aboard Dzhñānaṁ-dzhālah quickly made contact with the colonists from the other eight Tho Yor and established the Je'daii Order. Over the next ten millennia, the Order grew and thrived, with Forceful Twi'lek serving as Masters and Rangers while those of their children that could not touch the Force were made to migrate and settle the surrounding worlds within the system. When war came to Tython, the Twi'lek that remained allied with the Je'daii assisted in establish a new Order, known as the Jedi, and fled the world they had known as home. Aboard great colony ships, the Twi'lek members of the new Jedi Order traveled the stars for generations; some in suspended animation, others maintaining vigil for a habitable world. The ships eventually found purchase on Ossus, and the Order began to rebuild and flourish on their new homeworld. Among the core of the Order's membership, Twi'lek Jedi could be found to fill every role a Jedi could, ranging from Warrior Masters to gardeners; pilot aces, librarians, and Shadows.

Continuing to serve the Order through the Clone Wars, Twi'lek Jedi returned with the Order to Ossus after three centuries of displacement. Like all species that served in the Order, Twi'lek were represented in the Hall of Meditating Masters. Located within the city of Knossa, a larger-than-life bronzium statue was erected near the front of the corridor in dedication to all Twi'lek who had and who would serve the Order and the Force. In the Sword of the Jedi tower, the lightsabers of all Jedi were placed in memory of fallen warriors and scholars alike, with an entire wing dedicated the weapons of past Twi'lek Jedi. The Edifice of Heroes memorialized the Twi'lek of the past, present, and future with paintings, monuments, or holodepictions of their likenesses.

Members
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