Mirialan (Jedi Renaissance)

"Mirialans have had a prominent place in our Order since the beginning. Having served alongside the Zabrak and the Twi'lek from our first days on Tython, the olive-skinned beings from Mirial have contributed deep spirituality, athleticism, and devotion to form for thousands of generations."

- Jedi Knight Horen Hote, writing about Mirialans in the Jedi Order.

Mirialans were a race of Humans from the desert world of Mirial in the of the galaxy. Joining the the Galactic Republic during the Manderon Period, the Mirialans had long been allied with the Jedi Order since scouts from Ossus reached out to the planetary government and established ties. Never a galactic power, Mirial was represented in the Galactic Senate since joining in the 5,000s BrS.

Biology and appearance
A race of Humanity, Mirialans were a sentient species that belonged to the simians, a subgroup of the primate order of mammals. Mirialans 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. Mirialan 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 had only a light covering of body hair, most of which was concentrated on the head and, in the case of adult males, face. Mirialans were warm-blooded animals, meaning they maintained a constant body temperature independent of the environment using the energy from their food. Mirialans were omnivorous, subsisting on plant and animal-based foods. Mirialans had two sexes: male and female, with the latter being distinguished by their pronounced breasts, overall smaller stature and lesser quantity of body hair. Members of the Mirialan race could interbreed naturally with many other near-Human races. Despite overall physiological uniformity, Mirialans varied greatly in appearance, and no two Mirialans looked exactly alike. One of the diversity factors was height. Mirialans averaged 1.8 meters in height, although males were usually taller and heavier than females. Mirialan hair was grown, cut, and styled for aesthetic or ritualistic reasons&mdash; females generally wore their hair straight while men kept theirs close cropped or shaved. The facial hair grown by adult males was similarly cut close or shaven off completely. Their hair color ranged from brown to black, changing to gray or white as years passed. In addition to those varied hair colors, their eyes came in shades of blue, green, orange, red, yellow or brown. Gradiation of skin tone was also seen among Mirialans, ranging from greens to a olive color as an adaption to their homeworld's sun.

Mirialans 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 Mirialan 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 Temple of Life where professional healers 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, Mirialans babies were usually fed with milk from their mother's breasts. The period during which a young Mirialan developed from a child into an adult was known as adolescence. According to the Tenants of Mirial, the legal transition from childhood to adulthood was only attained after eighteen standard years of life. Mirialans had an average lifespan of 68 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 aging in Mirialans included the whitening or fall of the hair, the loss of teeth, appearance of deep lines, wrinkles and dark blemishes on the skin. Old Mirialans 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.

Mirialan Jedi
Like all species which served in the Order, Mirialans were represented in the Grand Temple on Ossus. Within the main entrance of the Temple, known as the Hall of Meditating Masters, a larger-than-life bronzium statue was erected in dedication to all Mirialans who had and who would serve. In the Sword of the Jedi tower, the lightsabers of all Jedi were placed in memory of fallen warriors and scholars alike. The Edifice of Heroes memorialized past Mirialans while standing ready to adorn its halls with paintings, monuments, or holodepictions of all future Mirialans.

Mirialan Sith
Mirialans were a species of near-Humans native to the planet Mirial. Their appearance varied from yellow-green skin to paler skin very similar to many Humans.

Mirialans were very flexible and agile, making them fast and formidable foes.

Society and culture
The Mirialan people were religious and practiced a primitive understanding of the Force. They believed each individual's actions contributed to their destiny. A Mirialan would place a unique, often geometrically repeated tattoo on their face and hands to signify that they had completed a certain test or task, or achieved sufficient aptitude for a certain skill. The number of tattoos would thus often act as a good indicator of how mature and/or skilled a Mirialan was.

History
At some point before the Invasion of Naboo, Mirial fought in a war against a nearby planet. The notorious pirate Arwen Cohl helped lead the Mirialans to victory.

Mirialans in the galaxy
Hylo Visz was a Mirialan smuggler during the days of the Old Republic who led a coalition of smugglers to break a Mandalorian blockade and deliver raw goods to Coruscant.

Arwen Cohl was active as a Mirialan freedom fighter decades before the Clone Wars. Luminara Unduli and her Padawan learner Barriss Offee were Mirialan Jedi who fought in the Clone Wars. Teela Kaarz was a political prisoner who worked as a minor architect on the first Death Star.