Moappa

"And if a few of us should burn away&hellip;more will take their place."

- The Moappa

The Moappa were one of the intelligent deep-sea species living in the oceans of Mon Calamari. Telepathic, they formed a group consciousness. There were millions of these little glowing creatures in the worldwide ocean of Mon Calamari, and each one was nearly mindless by itself. Although they looked harmless at first sight, when they felt threatened they relied on each other's strength and combined into large groups, forming a gigantic super genius to defend themselves. If one Moappa died, he would be replaced by more.

Jedi Master Kit Fisto fought with a group of Moappa during the first months of the Clone Wars, when they aided the Quarren Isolation League during the Battle of Mon Calamari. Angry at the arrogance of the Mon Calamari in claiming the world as their own, the Moappa aided the Quarren even after Fisto captured the Quarren leadership. After learning of their true nature, Fisto advised the Calamari to find a diplomatic, as opposed to military, solution, and peace was eventually made between the Moappa and the co-inhabitants of their world. Over a century later, under the reign of Darth Krayt's Galactic Empire, the Moappa's home planet was purged of all life. The Galactic Alliance Remnant spearheaded an evacuation of the Moappa and the other species.

Biology and appearance
Moappa were a primitive invertebrate ocean-dwelling species. Individual Moappa had a conical head with several small tentacles lining the base, and one large tentacle or tail extruding from its center. They were a light pink color, glowed, and had a delicate appearance.

An individual Moappa was a mindless organism. However, when a few dozen were brought together, their intelligence increased to genius-level. A colony of Moappa could combine into a single unit; sometimes in a humanoid form, others as a series of long connected chains of Moappa, with each Moappa locking its tentacles around the head of the next. These combined forms could split into pieces and re-combine, and if Moappa within them were destroyed, others could swim in to fill the gap.

Moappa communicated with each other through telepathy; they could also project their thoughts into the minds of other non-Moappa, but were unable to read minds. However, they had a very quick reaction time.

Society and culture
The Moappa were a collective consciousness. On their own, they were unintelligent, but when brought together the species developed a sophisticated intellect. Moappa thought as one organism in groups, but if these were pulled apart, the unified mind shattered back into individual ones. Single Moappa experienced feelings of loneliness.

Though they inhabited the oceans of Mon Calamari with other sentient species, including the Mon Calamari, the Moappa believed Mon Calamari saw themselves as the sole rulers of the world. The Moappa's own belief that the world belonged as much to them as to anyone put them at odds with their fellow inhabitants of the planet. The diplomacy that opened up between the Mon Calamari and Moappa eventually smoothed this relation over.

History
"Because the Mon Cal think that this is just their world&hellip;but it belongs to ALL of us!"

- Moappa

The Moappa were longtime inhabitants of Mon Calamari; they had been around since before the Mon Calamari species even evolved.

Due to the Moappa's perception of the Mon Calamari claiming an unrightful dominion over all the planet, they joined with the Quarren Separatists during the Clone Wars to bring war to the planet. After the Galactic Republic destroyed the Quarren command center, the Moappa continued to lead the Quarren in organized attacks on the Mon Calamari. Jedi Master Kit Fisto, sensing a presence in the ocean, set out to find the new Quarren leader.

After interrogating a group of Quarren and learning that they received their orders telepathically, Fisto spoke with the Mon Calamari, who did not know who could do such a thing. In short time, Fisto stumbled upon a colony of the Moappa. When he prodded one, it proceeded to engulf his arm, at which point several other Moappa swarmed him. The others nearby coalesced into a roughly humanoid form and spoke with Fisto. A brief fight ensued, during which Fisto learned of the Moappa's motives and abilities. When he realized they were weaker separately than combined, he used the Force to pull them apart, giving him time to escape.

The Mon Calamari, once they learned of the nature of the Moappa, were concerned that they would not be able to defeat such a species. Fisto, however, advised them to choose a route of diplomacy and strike a deal with the other native species of their world. When the Clone Wars ended, diplomatic relations opened up between the Mon Calamari and Moappa, and the two species entered a peaceful coexistence.

In 137 ABY, the Galactic Empire under Emperor Darth Krayt began a purge of the Mon Calamari as punishment for the species' resistance to the Empire. The Moappa remained largely neutral, but later that year Krayt's successor Darth Wyyrlok ordered the purge of all life on the planet. The Galactic Alliance Remnant began an evacuation of the world and made contact with the Moappa, who understood the danger they were in. One YZ 3000 tanker was assigned to the evacuation of their species, which the Moappa found sufficient to hold enough of them to preserve the group mind. Along with the rest of the world's species, the Moappa were removed to a safe world located by the Jedi.

Moappa in the galaxy
"We just&hellip;hear them in our minds."

- Quarren Separatist

A deep-sea species, millions of Moappa inhabited the oceans of Mon Calamari. The Mon Calamari saw them as a harmless primitive species, and until the Clone Wars were unaware of their true nature. In 137 ABY, they were relocated from Mon Calamari to a safe planet following the purge of their homeworld's native life.

For a time during the Clone Wars, the Moappa became one of the leaders of the Separatist-aligned Quarren. They communicated their orders to the Quarren telepathically, and the Quarren neither knew who their leader was or where it could be found. About a month after the Battle of Mon Calamari, a Moappa sample was stored in a storage container on Count Dooku's Trenchant space station.

Behind the scenes
The Moappa were created in the Clone Wars Adventures comic Fierce Currents, by Haden Blackman. They were the seventh intelligent species inhabiting Dac to be described in canon.

Appearances

 * Star Wars Legacy 47: The Fate of Dac
 * Star Wars Legacy 47: The Fate of Dac
 * Star Wars Legacy 47: The Fate of Dac

Notes and references
Moappa