Killik

"Killiks are dangerous friends, but no one's enemy."

- Jacen Solo

Killiks were a sentient insectoid species native to Alderaan. They built large mound-like structures on the plains of both Alderaan and Alsakan.

Long before most other species came to these worlds, the Killiks vanished. Their disappearance from Alderaan was depicted in Ob Khaddor's moss painting Killik Twilight.

Physiology
The Killiks were social insects and came in several different types&mdash;membrosia givers, warriors, attendants, and the deadly assassin bugs. Though the species as a whole was not Force-sensitive, certain types of Killik could be bred to use the Force in small ways.

All Killiks started as small larvae. After that, their size could vary, though a hive was usually one size. Their glossy exoskeletons were so strong that they could withstand millennia of erosion as found by later colonists on their former homeworld of Alderaan. Most Killiks tended to have four arms which each terminated into a tri-fingered claw and two strong legs that may have allowed them to leap for great distances.

Society
The Killiks had a communal society, with each and every Killik being in mental contact with another. Due to their hive mind, every Killik nest acted as if they were one individual. Each hive appeared to have palindromic name. The Killiks were also peaceful in nature. One aspect of the Killik which other species sometimes found frightening was that extended contact with them resulted in an individual becoming a "Joiner"&mdash;someone who was influenced and was subject to the control of the Killik Will by pheromones that actually "change the make up of the brain".

History
"The Killiks left no other artifacts: no tools, no machines, no vehicles, no possessions."

- Hari Seldona

The Killiks were an ancient species who were present long before the formation of the Galactic Republic. The Killiks originated on the planet Alderaan where they built the Castle Lands of Oroboro circa 35,000 BBY. At some point, the Killiks colonized nearby Alsakan. They also claimed to have created Centerpoint Station, which they called Qolaraloq, as well as witnessed the creation of the Maw. What happened next is shrouded in the mists of time, but a theory posited by Luke Skywalker suggests that in 30,000 BBY, the Killiks were driven away from Alderaan and Alsakan into the Unknown Regions by the Celestials after they had consumed Alderaan's resources and prepared to move on to another already populated world. According to a Shistavanen legend, sometime during this period a Killik Sith Lord lived in exile on the planet Sarafur after being driven off of Alsakan.

There, the Killiks would remain sequestered for millennia. However, in 27 ABY, a starship called the Tachyon Flier&mdash;carrying three Force-sensitive Humans including Raynar Thul&mdash;crashed on Yoggoy, one of their colonies. Raynar Thul dragged Lomi Plo and Welk, the two remaining survivors and Dark Jedi, from the burning wreck, though they were all badly burned and mutilated. The Killiks there rescued them and began to heal the survivors.

Eventually, all three were absorbed into the Killik hive mind. Raynar Thul took on the persona UnuThul while Lomi and Welk became the leaders of the Dark Nest or Gorog, a secretive Killik hive. Since Raynar had been absorbed into the Killik hive mind, his values became their values, especially the value on individual life. When Raynar emerged, he was in control of the Yoggoy nest, and began changing it to better help the Killiks. In time, the Yoggoy hive spread about local space, to provide for itself and share the "gift" of Raynar among the Kind.

The process was not an easy one. While Killiks were peaceful, like most hive based species, they had no value on individual life. At least one rival nest attacked the Yoggoy hive, but the hive survived, either defeating or absorbing the attacking nest. Then, the cyclical food shortages, which had never faced the Killiks before, required them to begin trading with other planets and races. However, they also began absorbing more non-Killiks into their hive mind. By 35 ABY, when the Killiks were rediscovered by the Galactic Alliance, they were still barely surviving. At the same time, the Colony had expanded to 375 nests, though it is unknown how much of the total population of Killiks this represents. However, the existence of the Dark Nest was unknown to most Killiks. In 35 ABY, under the manipulation of the Dark Nest, the Killiks began expanding into the borders of the Chiss Ascendancy, starting a dispute which the Galactic Alliance was forced to mediate. Under the terms of the Qoribu Truce, the Killiks of the Colony agreed to settle Woteba and 13 other planets in the Utegetu Nebula rather than continuing expansion into Chiss space. Woteba was settled by the artistic Saras hive.

Unfortunately for the Killiks, Woteba and all of the other planets in the nebula had an ancient environmental defense system. Whenever the planet was hit by the nova that formed the Utegetu Nebula, all animal life was wiped out, but plant life was restored within two years by the defense system. At first, Woteba seemed a paradise for Killik colonization, but the planet attacked them anytime they interfered with the ecosystem, destroying both structures and living beings with a corrosive substance known as Fizz, nano-machines which broke down the intrusive objects or beings on the molecular level. As a result, the Killiks believed the Jedi had purposefully sent them to the planet to fall victim to the Fizz, but this was not true, merely a lie of the Dark Nest.

In 36 ABY, the Killiks abandoned the Nebula for fourteen nest ships built in the Tusken's Eye, alongside the nest ship of the Dark Nest. This fleet captured the Galactic Alliance Victory-class Star Destroyer Admiral Ackbar in preparation for their invasion of the Chiss Ascendancy, thus starting the Swarm War.

Attempts to prevent war were ruined when Jedi Knight Jacen Solo attacked a ship of the Chiss Expansionary Defense Force in an attempt to lure them into a pre-emptive strike against the Killik. Many of the Killik allies were insectoid races including Fefzes, Flakaxes, Geonosians, Yam'rii, Snutibs, S'krrrs, Verpines, and Vratixes due to the fact that they became Joiners more quickly.

During the war, the forces of the Galactic Alliance were led by Supreme Commander Gilad Pellaeon, and the New Jedi Order by Grand Master Luke Skywalker. The Alliance eventually won, despite that a Killik coup of Thyferra resulted in the loss of bacta.

Known Killik hives

 * Aebea
 * Alaala
 * Gorog (Dark Nest)
 * Horoh
 * Iesei
 * Jooj
 * Kolosolok
 * Lizil
 * Mollom
 * Mueum
 * Oroboro (The ancient Lost Nest on Alderaan)
 * Qeeq
 * Rekker
 * Saras
 * Sotatos
 * Taat
 * Togot
 * Unu
 * Wuluw
 * Yoggoy (capital)

Behind the scenes
In The Joiner King, C-3PO cites the Killiks as being a coleoptera and hymenoptera hybrid. Also, the notion of "joiners" has caused some fans to point out parallels between joining and the notion of assimilation as practiced by the Borg from the Star Trek universe, and in some cases, even accusing the Killiks of being a direct Borg rip-off. However, it is also likely that the Killiks and the Borg simply share sources of inspiration in what is known about insect colonies.

Appearances

 * Star Wars Galaxies
 * Tatooine Ghost
 * The Unifying Force
 * Dark Nest I: The Joiner King
 * Dark Nest II: The Unseen Queen
 * Dark Nest III: The Swarm War
 * Betrayal
 * Tempest
 * Exile