Melodie (Jedi Renaissance)

"The numerous ways the Force manifests itself through life continue to overwhelm. Like the Codru-Ji the Melodie undergo a physical transformation when transitioning to an adult. However, while the Codru-Ji change from canine to primate, the Melodie appear to morph from primate to an amphibious tailed-Human."

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

Melodies were a humanoid species of water-dwellers from the moon of in the  region of the galaxy. Occupying a world of high mountains and deep underwater crevasses, the Melodie lived in a dangerous environment with many predators and threats to their continued existence. Crafting a relationship with the Jedi Order following the world's discovery in the wake of the battle of Yavin, the government pledged support for the Confederacy of Independent Systems after the Clone Wars and along with other political and social reforms began participating in the Acquisition Division of the Order's Jedi recruitment program.

Biology and appearance
An amphibious species who laid eggs which later hatched onshore, the Melodie were born resembling Humans with little difference noticeable. These young Melodies would live around the underground freshwater lakes deep within the caverns and inlets of the moon's equatorial mountain ranges until they reached the age of 20, when they were to complete the change into an adult Melodie in an event called the Changing Ceremony. Prior to this, young Melodies who had not yet changed would care for the infant Melodies; this involved gathering trico which was then made into a paste to feed the infant Melodies until they were old enough to eat the silver-backed fish that lived in the pools within the mountain. Young Melodies lived a dangerous life since they were often preyed upon by numerous predators, including the bird-like avrils, the rodent-like raiths, the serpentine reels, and the spidery purellas.

During the Changing Ceremony, these Melodies would be taken down to a shallow cove to begin their transformation from land-dweller to water-breather. This shallow cove was the only safe place the Ceremony could take place. It was covered in a blue-green algae which created oxygen through photosynthesis for the Changelings to breathe. This process could take weeks, making the Melodies vulnerable to attacks from Yavin 8's predators. Thus, they were guarded by their fellow Melodies who had not changed. During the ceremony, a Changeling's legs would fuse together into a single, finned tail, and they would also grow gills for breathing underwater. When this change had completed, making them Elders, the Melodie would retreat to deep underground lakes within the mountains where they would live out the rest of their adult lives. Elders were able to surface for limited amounts of time, which they use to communicate with their young. However, this did not apply to the oldest Melodies, who were not able to surface at all.

Because of their limited mobility, those who traveled the galaxy after their discovery used an environsuit with robotic legs to help propel them. Channeling water constantly over their gills and skin, the older a Melodie got, the more important it was for them to wear a helmet when out of water.

Power and abilities
Producing few Force-sensitives, those who did possess the ability were highly-regarded in the Melodie community and were prized for their skills in manipulating currents and flows of water. Drawing on their connection to the moon's water, a Forceful Melodie could fall in tune with all things in the water and were therefore good at detecting approaching threats or finding weak points in a cities' defenses.

History and culture
The Melodies originated on the arid, tundra moon of Yavin 8, one of the gas giant Yavin's three habitable moons with the others being Yavin 4 and Yavin 13. They were an amphibious species that lived in the rivers and lakes of the moon's purple mountains. Certain Jedi xenobiologists in later years suspected that the Melodies as well as the native predators on their homeworld may have been products of Sith alchemy ongoing at the time of the Melodies' first detection.

In 3,962 BrS, during the Sith Lord 's reign over the Massassi of Yavin 4, he imprisoned their children in a spherical dark side device known as the Golden Globe, for the purpose of both controlling the Massassi and to drain the life energies of its trapped captives. The desperate Massassi parents came to Yavin 8 to seek help and met the children of the Melodies. The children took them to their Elders, but they could offer no help since they were unable to leave the waters. Thus, the Massassi engraved messages in the rocks and caves of Yavin 8 hoping that somebody would read them some day and come to their aid. However, these messages were written in the Massassi tongue, which made it difficult for non-speakers to understand the text. Worse, the Massassi were wiped out in 3,961 BrS during the Jedi/Republic assault on the jungle moon. This piece of history would only be preserved in the form of legends by storytellers known as "Keeper of Legends". Millennia later, sometime in Year 35, the Rodian discovered the species during a trip in the Yavin system and quickly alerted the Jedi Order, as they had amassed a strong fleet in the system as they fought the spirit of Exar Kun on Yavin 4.

Melodie Jedi
Appearing on the galactic scene at a time when the Jedi Order was growing increasingly powerful and diverse, the people of Yavin 8 and the Jedi were quick to establish an agreement on exchange of Forceful children. The first Melodie Jedi to enter the Order's ranks was the Weapon Master Syrena Lyric who served with distinction at the academy on the Iron Islands of Tython to educated future generations on fighting underwater. Her apprentice was fellow Melodie Jedi Ty Sannah who was a keen medic and skilled thinker.

Like all species which served in the Order, Melodie 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 recognition of the Melodies' place in the Order alongside the likenesses of hundred of other species. The kneeling Master, representing no particular Jedi, with her arms bent in front of her and her tail positioned in front of her body and draped over the small pedestal was meant to symbolize all of the future Melodie Jedi with the Order. In the Sword of the Jedi tower, the lightsabers of all Jedi were placed in memory of fallen warriors and scholars alike. As the Melodie were a recent addition to the Order's ranks at the time of the Tower's construction, only a few lightsabers found their way there over the first few decades.