Kaleesh/Legends

Kaleesh were reptilian humanoids from the planet Kalee. They had reddish-brown scaly skin, four-clawed hands, and clawed toes. General Grievous, a cyborg Kaleesh, had a digitigrade stance, but this does not appear to have been representative of the Kaleesh as a whole and may derive from his reconstruction based on a Krath War Droid. Each Kaleesh hand featured two opposable thumbs. They also had protruding tusks that jutted from their upper jaw. They practiced polygamy.

Society and culture
The Kaleesh were a spiritual people, believing that those who performed great deeds in life became gods in death. Therefore, burial places were sacred to them. A large number of temples devoted to their ancestor gods, the holiest of which was called Shrupak.

Abesmi, a great monolith of stone in the Jenuwaa Sea, was the place the Kaleesh believed the gods ascended to the heavens. Pilgrims took the perilous voyage to Abesmi to beseech the gods.

As of the New Republic era, the late General Grievous, former Kaleesh warrior Qymaen jai Sheelal, had joined his species' pantheon of religious deities. Their society was divided into numerous tribes, including the Lig, and the Kaleesh were known to take multiple wives and have many children.

War was viewed as an essential and sacred practice, and the culture's large emphasis on honor was known to spur many acts of vengeance among the various tribes. However, when necessary, the tribes would put aside their differences and bond to fend off a common enemy.

Typical Kaleesh weaponry included a Czerka Outland rifle, a Lig sword, and a Shoni spear.

The Bitthævrian Threat
At least five decades before the Battle of Yavin, the Republic had had strained relations with Guiteica, homeworld of the Bitthævrians, due to its non-membership. After a few years of failed negotiations, a Republic-backed soldier attempted to stage a coup against Guiteica's leader in order to force the planet to join the Republic. The attempt failed, however, and caused a massive surge of violence and hostility toward all Republic stations within the surrounding Kadok Regions.

Kalee, near the edge of Bitthævrian space, though a mostly unnoticed planet considered backwater by the Republic, would have had nothing to fear from the m'Yalfor'ac Order, as the Bitthævrian military was known. However, Republic administration wished to keep the rebellion a secret, and rather than making noise by having their own forces terminate it, convinced the Kaleesh that they were indeed in danger. Quietly sending a group of military instructors to the planet, the Republic trained and armed multiple Kaleesh tribes (resulting in the introduction of the popular, projectile-firing Czerka Outland rifle on Kalee), who with the help of a small group of Knights sent by the Jedi Council, were able to end the perceived threat for the Republic.

Notably, the grandmother of Qymaen jai Sheelal participated in the Kaleesh assault.

The Huk War
The Huk War was a long conflict prior to the Clone Wars, beginning when the Yam'rii of the neighboring planet Huk, having overpopulated their own planet, began taking over and colonizing nearby worlds, eventually arriving at Kalee. The Kaleesh, led by Sheelal and Ronderu lij Kummar, rebelled against their invaders in a bloody series of battles that would leave multitudes dead on both sides.



After obliterating the Yam'rii presence on Kalee, Sheelal led his warriors back to the Yam'rii colony worlds, massacring civilians as well as soldiers. The Yam'rii petitioned in the Senate for Republic intervention, and received as much when a dispatch of Jedi arrived to end the war. The Senate imposed harsh sanctions on Kalee, plunging the world into an economic crisis. However, this crisis eventually came to an end when the Intergalactic Banking Clan helped the planet in economic repairs in exchange for the services of Grievous. Years afterwards, Grievous would be worshipped as a deity on Kalee.

Appearances



 * The Eyes of Revolution
 * Rogue's Gallery
 * Deep Forest
 * Heroes on Both Sides
 * Republic HoloNet News Core Edition 15:3:02
 * CIS Shadowfeed Dispatch 15:3:21 Edition
 * Star Wars: General Grievous
 * Star Wars Republic: The Dreadnaughts of Rendili
 * Star Wars Republic: Trackdown
 * Star Wars: Clone Wars
 * "Chapter 20"
 * "Chapter 21"
 * "Chapter 22"
 * "Chapter 23"
 * "Chapter 24"
 * "Chapter 25"
 * Star Wars: Obsession
 * Labyrinth of Evil
 * Evasive Action: Reversal of Fortune
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith comic
 * Star Wars Empire: "General" Skywalker