Despite their species' belligerent manner, Aqualish Jedi Knights tend towards silent reflection and pacifism.
—Jedi Knight Horen Hote, writing about Aqualish in the Jedi Order.
Aqualish were a race of amphibians from the swamp world of Ando in the Mid Rim of the galaxy. Notable for their arachnid-like facial construction and pinniped-like bodies, Aqualish were also reputed to be very aggressive and socially belligerent. Joining the the Galactic Republic during the Kymoodon Period, the Aqualish had a long-standing relationship with both the Jedi Order and the Sith Empire.
Biology and appearance[]
A race of amphibians, Aqualish were a sentient species that shared a common ancestor with the Harch species. Aqualish 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 fins not suitable for fine manipulation. Finally, they had one head perched atop a torso, with a face of sensory organs. Two bulbous black eyes were situated above their two massive tusks that curled down over their mouths, which were small and contained a short tongue and olfactory pads. Their tusks were also helpful for digging down into the swampy loam; they were very sensitive and were effected by both heat and cold due to the dense layer of nerves in the enamel coating. Unlike most amphibian species they had dense body hair, excluding their bald cranium. Aqualish were cold-blooded animals, meaning they maintained a body temperature dependent on the environment for energy. While their eyes allowed for keen vision under the dark waters of Ando, Aqualish were prone to chronic pain on planets with brighter stars. This caused those abroad on other worlds to remain indoors during the daylight hours and emerge once the sun went down. Aqualish were molluscivorous, subsisting on shellfish and small fish. Aqualish had two sexes: male and female, with the latter being distinguished by their overall smaller stature and lack of facial hair. Members of the Aqualish species could not interbreed naturally with any other species. Despite overall physiological uniformity, Aqualish varied greatly in appearance, and no two looked exactly alike. One of the diversity factors was height. Aqualish averaged 1.8 meters in height, although males were usually taller and heavier than females. Aqualish were sexually-reproduced animals, requiring the mating of an opposite sex couple to produce offspring. Spawning a clutch of eggs deep in the swamps, the Aqualish produced three eggs at a time. Taking several months to hatch, Aqualish infants emerged as tadpoles four feet long. Growing arms and legs in their eighth year, Aqualish children first developed tusks after they lost their thin, infant teeth used for shredding fish. The period during which a young Aqualish developed from a child into an adult was known as adolescence. According to the Code of War, the legal transition from childhood to adulthood was only attained after seventeen standard years of life, when all Aqualish were required to fight their way out of the ceremonial tent past a mob of their peers. Aqualish had an average lifespan of 70 standard years. Those who were keenly attuned to the Force could live up to 200. At any rate, individuals past the age of 80 were considered to have reached an age worthy of veneration. Natural signs of aging in Aqualish included the whitening or fall of the hair, the dulling of their teeth, appearance of deep lines, wrinkles and dark blemishes on the skin. Old Aqualish 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.
The Aqualish species had three prominent races: the baseline and most common Aquala, the Quara, and the Ualaq. The Aquala had evolved from an aquatic species, and were adapted to live above water; though they preferred to live close to the ocean within floating cities or on small islands. The Quara were the largest of two minority races, making up ten percent of the Aqualish population. The Quara were nearly identical from the Aquala, except for the fact they had evolved five-fingered hands with an opposable thumb on each. Because of this advancement, the Quara were capable of manipulating tools and quickly became the most productive and successful members of society in their wetland dwellings. Further, their evolution had improved their digestive systems and allowed to consume waterfowl, land creatures, and plant life. The Ualaq had both the hands of the Quara and a trait lost by the other two races: they retained the second set of eyes that the other races had lost through evolution. These four eyes allowed for better low-light vision, which assisted them as they largely resided within the caves and dark rain forests of Ando. Both minority races lacked the thick layer of blubber that protected the Aquala from the bitter cold of the deep oceans. Ualaq and Quara, because of their dexterity, were most likely to be seen off of Ando and assimilated into the rest of the galaxy. Gradiation of skin varied between Aqualish races: Aquala had dark blue to dark green to keep them hidden under water; the Ualaq and Quara were gray or black to assist in camouflaging them in the marshes.
Society and culture[]
Government[]
A war-like species, the Aqualish were combative throughout their history among themselves and with offworlders. Unable to unite among themselves for millennia, and divided by a planet-wide civil war, the three Aqualish races struggled together against a ship that landed on their planet. Explorers from Corellia, the Human and Duros aboard that ship were slaughtered by the Aqualish who united around the technology and agreed to study it peaceably. Ruled by a military regime, the Aqualish led a war of conquest across their own star system before spreading out across the sector decimating planets and driving other species to extinction. When the Republic learned of the conflict and its grave impact on other sentients in the region, the Republic Navy was dispatched to reason with the Aqualish in end the conflict. Republic and Jedi forces converged on the sector, decimating Aqualish ground troops marauding across multiple fronts. Spread too thin, the Aqualish were brought to heel and forced to retreat back to Ando and prepare to surrender. While Jedi diplomats and arbiters helped to draw up suitable documents of surrender, the Republic demanded the Aqualish remove all offensive weaponry from their hyperdrive-equipped vessels and that the Andoan government abide by Republic sanctions and laws before earning full representation in the Galactic Senate. Acquiescing to the demands, the Lord Commander of Ando signed the documents and became subject to Republic law.
Over the millennia, the Aqualish people prospered under Republic control, forming a new government called the Spiverelda. For generations, the military regime of the Spiverelda held the colonies of Ando under an authoritarian rule, using military force to keep rebels in line. A member of the Republic, the Spiverelda complied largely with the rules that governed member-states, refraining from engaging in genocide or crimes against civilization. The Spiverelda regime began to falter in 67 BrS when fifteen member worlds declared their independence and their intent to form their own state under the banner of the Andoan Free Colonies. Angered by this move, the Spiverelda initiated a military conflict known as the Andoan Wars in 22 BrS. Believing that the Republic was too bogged down in bureaucratic squabbling to intervene, the Spiverelda unleashed a wave of violence against the Free Colonies, allowing the bloodshed to go unchecked. For years the attacks on the colonies persisted until the Free Colonies were defeated at Raquish in 4 BrS; stirred out of complacency by the violence exhibited there, the Senate launched a sizable fleet of Judicial Forces to enforce a demilitarization of the entire Lambda sector. Rallying behind the Free Colonies, the Republic's actions caused the Spiverelda to radicalize and declare for secession. As Jedi moved in to serve on the Ando Demilitarization Observation Group, the Spiverelda government cut all ties with the Jedi and refused to send Force-sensitives to Coruscant for training. Senator Po Nudo renounced membership in the Galactic Senate and returned to Ando with his retinue of advisers and aides. Declaring their independence, the Spiverelda aligned themselves politically with Senator Dooku's burgeoning Separatist Alliance forming in the Outer Rim. When the Confederacy of Independent Systems was formed in 3 GrS, Nudo was one of the first to join, bringing with him the Spiverelda government. For the next ten years, the government would fight alongside the Confederacy until the end of the Clone Wars brought about a truce with the Republic. Permitted to remain as a member of the Confederacy, the Spiverelda government was dissolved under new Confederate law and ordered to reorganize their government and liquidate much of their military holdings.
Technology and economy[]
Technologically primitive before the arrival of the Galactic Republic, the Aqualish had devoted much of their creativity to the proliferation of weapons and armor. Initially unifying their civilization around a Republic starship Aqualish scientists had cannibalized, the disparate tribes coalesced into a roving band of conquerings within their sector of space. While primitive and hopshod, their ships were vacuum-tight and capable of overwhelming the industrial age planets in the region. When the Republic ended the conquests with the assistance of the Jedi Order, the negotiators demanded an armistice that sent their offensive weaponry hurtling into their home system's star. As the Republic began introducing space-age technology slowly into Aqualish society, the Spiverelda government was initially hesitant to interact with the greatest of the technological marvels but eventually accepted that progress would benefit all across society.
Having cultivated an economy based on pisciculture, the Aqualish constantly warred over declining harvests or fishkills which were always blamed on neighboring tribes and city-states. After Republic intervention and the introduction of new tech, fish farms became standardized and hygienic, producing enough to product to feed Ando's growing population. The economies of the Andoan colonies were specialized using formulaic calculations taught to the Aqualish by Republic systems planners.
Culture[]
Having built their society around warfare and conquest, even in the midst of a golden age of peace Aqualish seemed angry and brutish to the civilized galaxy. Males and females alike were ingrained with a worldview that valued toughness and aggression over softness and diplomacy. Despite this, Aqualish culture was not without love or kindness. The blood of the battlefield was considered the greatest bonds in Aqualish society, with a friendship made in battle being considered weightier than that of family. While marriages did exist on several Aqualish worlds, monogamy was the exception not the rule.
Racism was a commonly accepted social characteristic on Ando and throughout much of the colonies. The Aquala race hated the Quara for their species' poor reputation across the Republic; the Quara resented the Aquala for elitism and egoism. Despite efforts by some scholars and political activists to create unity among the Aqualish people as a whole, most Aqualish believed the inferiority of their genetic relatives was absolute truth.
Astrography[]
The Aqualish were native to the oceanic world Ando in the Lambda sector of the Mid Rim of the galaxy. 95% of the planet was covered in deep oceans, while the little bit of land that protruded from the sea was marshy, swampland. Building their permanent settlements on stilts over the mist covered swamps, the Aqualish supplemented their lack of land with sailing ships and barges which served as mobile homes. Vast fish farms covered the surface of great swaths of the sea, while mollusks were sustained within the decaying swamps of the islands.
After the Aqualish began to colonize other worlds, the Spiverelda government oversaw the management of the different planetary governments across the region. While turbulent and violent, the government sustained a largely continuous reign from its conception until a century before Clone Wars when the Andoan Free Colonies formed to counter the oppressive regime.
Secundus Ando was the homeworld of a distant relative of the Aqualish that had taken a distinctly more arachnid bent in their evolutionary track. A world of rainforests and deserts, the Harch species played an important role in the Spiverelda.
The world Arbular was a world of oceans and plains, wherein the Aqualish established a large industrial economy where they manufactured weapons and building material for use across their territories. Horos was a largely inhospitable world hose only inhabitants lived within enclosed cities raised over the rocky surface on towering pylons and worked within the mines deep beneath the surface. Raquish was the hub of Aqualish achievement and culture, with a diverse population and ecosystems across its globe. Sparkling seaside cities gave way to forested mountains where the lumber trade thrived. Some continents were heavily industrialized, while others were relatively pristine in their natural grandeur.
Aqualish Jedi[]
| Kle, Bleth | 28 BrS | 59 GrS | Consular | Researcher | Masters | Padawans | |
| Born on the world of Arbular, a world within the Andoan Free Colonies, Bleth Kle was recognized as a potential candidate for Jedi training and transferred to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant for education in the Jedi arts. Receiving a traditional education, Kle was taken as a Padawan and encouraged to pursue the scholarly life of a Researcher. Working in the labs of the Jedi Temple, Kle became intrigued by the study of blood and how midi-chlorians manifested themselves differently from species to species. A burgeoning hematologist, Kle was reluctant to involve himself in the Order's efforts during the Separatist Crisis and the Clone Wars that erupted out of them. Ordered to take up arms in the war's eighth year, Kle donned his green-bladed lightsaber and went into battle at the head of an army of clone troopers as a general. General Kle was injured during the fighting, losing one of his eyes and having it replaced with a cybernetic optic lens. When the war ended abruptly, Kle was relieved to relinquish his command and return to more academic pursuits. When the Temple of Science, Anil Kesh, reopened on Tython in the wake of internal reorganization within the Order, Kle signed on as part of the staff there. Elevated to the rank of Master, Kle served as a hematologist at the Temple for years, teaching young Journeyers hematological theories as well as helping to develop the academy's alchemical curriculum. | |||||||
| Greeg, Kuar | 3,945 BrS | Death | Guardian | Peacekeeper | N/A | N/A | |
| Born on Ando, Kuar Greeg was raised in poverty and drafted into the Andoan military to fight on behalf of the Spiverelda regime. While loyal to the Republic, the capital ship aboard which Greeg was stationed aboard deserted at the beginning of the conflict with Revan's Sith Empire, joining forces with the Empire and turning against the Republic. Detected to be Force-sensitive by Imperial medics, Greeg was sent to Korriban where he was ordered to survive the Sith Academy and join the Sith regime. As one of his first admission tests, Greeg and several other students were ordered to stand in one position without food, water, or sleep until relieved of their tasks by their overseer. When a Jedi Knight infiltrated the academy in an attempt to dismantle it, he was angered by the display of cruelty and intervened in the test. The Jedi, really the fabled Revan and former Sith Lord, convinced Greeg that the Sith were not worth following and recommended that he seek out the Jedi for safety and training. Agreeing, Greeg fled Korriban aboard a cargo hauler and made for Republic space. Making his way to Coruscant, Greeg found refuge at the Jedi Temple there and was accepted into the Order's academy. Training with the Jedi for a brief period, Greeg fled the Temple when rumors of a purge began to make their way to the ears of aspiring Jedi. Hiding in the underworld of Coruscant, Greeg made his way as a gambler, using the tricks he learned with the Jedi to be successful for many years. | |||||||
| Nend, Windo | 8 BrS | 14 GrS | Guardian | Vanguard | Elon, Kindra | N/A | |
| A native of Ando, Windo Nend was identified for Jedi training at birth and smuggled out of Spiverelda space by his parents who longed for him to have a better life. Training at the Coruscant Jedi Temple, Nend received a traditional upbringing in the Jedi ways, holding traditionalist views and trusting in the Jedi Code. Selected for training by Jedi Knight Kindra Elon at the start of the Separatist Crisis, the pair worked with Republic officials to prepare for war. Training in the ways of the Guardian, Nend was interested in serving as a Vanguard, working with the theoretical and transforming it into the practical. When the war intensified, Nend was pulled away from his studies, which had been deemed highly useful to the Republic war-effort, and assigned as a Commander to lead troops. After his master was killed in the fighting, Nend was dispatched to the war-weary world Jabiim, where civil war had ravaged its people. Along with other masterless Padawans, Nend was organized as part of a strike force, known colloquially as the Padawan Pack. The theory behind this was that a large group of Padawans would possess in their combined talents the same amount of resources as a smaller group of Jedi Knights and Masters. Nend was present in the Padawan Pack on the thirty-second day of the battle after it had been joined by Anakin Skywalker, a Jedi Knight whose master, Obi-Wan Kenobi, was presumed dead. At this point, the Pack included, in addition to Nend and Skywalker, the Padawans Tae Diath, Mak Lotor, Elora Sund, Kass Tod, Vaabesh, Aubrie Wyn, and Zule Xiss. Because of his talkative nature, Nend was affectionately nicknamed "Warble" by his peers. Jedi General Kora Leska, the senior Jedi on the planet at that time, had ordered the group to guard the resupply lines, as she was loath to send more young Jedi to their deaths. Forced to retreat by opposition forces, the Padawan Pack reached Cobalt Station on the thirty-seventh day of the battle. Jedi General Leska had been killed earlier that day as she completed operations against Separatist forces on the planet's Razor Coast. The day saw a break in the storms that had plagued Jabiim for thirty-seven days and the assault by Separatist and Jabiimi forces. At that point, the Padawans were faced with a decision: they could stay at Cobalt Station, holding off the advancing army, buying time for the Republic forces to evacuate, or they could flee to the mesa and hope to evacuate before the enemy forces arrived. Jedi Skywalker and Mak Lotor pointed out that their holding off of the Separatist units was the mission's last hope, and so all of the Padawans, including Nend, decided to stay at Cobalt Station. As they prepared for the coming battle, Nend strapped grenades to himself as additional weapons to his lightsaber. On the forty-first day of the battle, Nend found himself face-to-face with the Separatist army. As he fought, he uttered assurances to himself, based on the Jedi Code. After being blasted backward by enemy fire, Nend noticed a Hailfire droid bearing down on him. Before it rolled over the Aqualish, killing him, Nend managed to trigger one of the explosives on his chest, vaporizing himself and disabling the droid. | |||||||
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Aqualish Sith[]
| Darth Linoc | Niima, Docras | Birth | Death | Allegiance | Special titles | Master | Apprentices |