Mineti

The Minetii (//, singular "Mineti") were a sentient species native to Wemod in the Unknown Regions.

Biology and appearance
Mostly humanoid, the Minetii were distinguished most noticeably from other sentients by a pair of pronounced horns, which grew from their foreheads upwards. Their horns could break if given sufficient lateral pressure, but were designed for impaling and could impact nearly any organic material and puncture, let alone not break. If broken, horns would regrow slowly. Minetii females had longer horns than males, which allowed them to keep potential mates at bay before they evolved sentience.

The Minetii also had sharpened mandibular and maxillary lateral incisors, though the points of these teeth did not extend as far as their canines. Despite walking on two legs, the Minetii evolved from four-legged creatures, and retained atypical strength (for humanoids) in their arms, though not quite as much as in their legs. The bones of their hands were also tough, leading some theorists to speculate that archaic Minetii ancestors actually had hooves rather than pads or paws.

Minetii females carried their younglings for eleven months before giving birth to live young; anywhere between one and three young in a litter was considered normal. A Mineti's first horns, which were brittle, began to grow around the age of sixth months and usually broke off around four or five years of age; adult horns would grow thereafter. Minetii reached physical maturity at fifteen.

Society and culture
Minetii society was matriarchal from its onset, though in the centuries before the reign of the Tetrarchy of Mezlagob laws were passed to (theoretically) equalize the status of the sexes. Despite this, female Minetii tended to hold most high government offices, with males relegated to service, labor, and combat roles (although even in the military, female Minetii officers were usually promoted to the senior ranks).

Minetii families were also female-dominated, with the mothers arranging marriages, advising children on their careers, and often also working. The actual rearing of children, however, was usually a more collaborative endeavor.

History
The Minetii evolved in predatory packs, using their horns to gore prey. The Mineti who made the kill had the first right to feed from the carcass, followed by the lead females of the pack, followed by everyone else. The gradual development of sentience did nothing to allay this female-dominated approach to society, which persisted until the last centuries before the Battle of Yavin.

Over time, the Minetii developed an industrialized society. Wemod provided ample ore resources, which the Minetii mined and refined to produce mechanical cities and a variety of weapons and vehicles. However, they had not developed blaster technology or spacecraft by 413 BBY, when the Tetrarchy of Mezlagob invaded Wemod and conquered the Minetii, turning Wemod into a vassal world.

Chafing under the reign of the Tetrachs, the Minetii largely existed around the poverty line, though some who collaborated with the Tetrarchy rose to fantastic wealth. Wemod itself became an important manufacturer of weapons and machinery for the Tetrarchy, supplying many infantry weapons and armor plating for ground vessels, including the dreaded shock tanks which had helped to crush resistance on Wemod itself.

When the Golden Empire went to war with the Tetrarchy, Wemod was its first major victory, liberated after the bloody Battle of Wemod. The Minetii themselves collectively rose up against the Tetrarchy forces on the surface of their homeworld, leaving the Empire little to do by the time it finally shattered the Tetrarchy's naval forces and invaded. The Minetii tried the members of their species who had collaborated with the Tetrarchs with crimes against sentients, executed them, and pledged themselves to the Empire's cause, making Wemod the first of the eighty-three worlds in the Tetrarchy to become a Royal member world.

Many Minetii volunteered for service in the Royal Army, putting some of the weapons they manufactured to use against their oppressors. After the war, an influx of technology helped Wemod develop to the technological standard of the rest of the Empire, and many Minetii continued to serve in the Royal government and military.

In the galaxy
The most famous Mineti was the poet Osibom of Wemod, who composed "The Fall of Keltrayu", an homage to Keltrayu, the Royal general and apprentice of Rin Sakaros. Osibom became the first Poet Laureate of the Golden Empire and a hero on his homeworld.

The Minetii also produced at least one Centurion of the Order of Keltrayu, the ace pilot Tamlok.