Bilar

Bilars were one of the few examples of a true group mind in the galaxy. This group mind developed shortly after birth between small groups of Bilars born nearby and within a few minutes of each other. The group mind depended on single Bilars sharing thoughts through pheromones, ultrasonic communication, physical and visual contact, and some unexplained level of telepathy. An individual Bilar was unintelligent, but a pair of Bilars was about as intelligent, collectively, as a trained domestic animal. A group, or claqa, of four, achieved true sentience. Larger claqas were progressively smarter, with seven-member claqas being true geniuses. Claqas with more than ten members were rare. Claqas generally referred to themselves as a single individual, and went by a single name. If a claqa’s Bilars were separated, the loss of its components resulted in a temporary loss of intelligence. The death of a Bilar would send a claqa into a deep depression, sometimes leading to catatonia or the death of the whole.

Bilar evolved from small vegetarian primates on the tectonically active, but highly fertile, planet of Mima II. Individually, they were pink, hairless creatures with large black eyes, short muzzles, and two rounded ears on top of their heads. They shifted between bipedal and quadrupedal stances.

Though Mima II was lush enough with plant life to provide Bilars with a comfortable existence, there was very little available there that was unavailable anywhere else. Since many non-Bilar found their group mind somewhat unnerving, Bilar had limited contact with the rest of the galaxy. When they did manage to venture off-world, their generally carefree existences on Mima II left them unused to deprivation. Bilar claqas often worked at jobs where they could take advantage of their group-mind, such as acrobatic troupes, musical groups, or slicers. One ten-unit claqa, which collectively went by the name Unni Yerudi, became an interplanetary con-artist, the owner of several nightclubs on Cloud City, and eventually the richest being in its home sector.