Omwati/Legends

"Qwi, you were always so brilliant&mdash;but in other ways you managed to be incredibly dense."

- Bevel Lemelisk

The Omwati were lithe near-Humans with blue skin and a bird-like appearance. They were native to the planet Omwat and were known for their intellect and natural talent for science, engineering, and music. Omwati children had incredibly pliant minds that, with the proper training, could retain data and be educated beyond the threshold of most other sentient species.

A number of Omwati joined the Galactic Republic, but contact between their planet and the galactic community was lost at a later point. It was eventually restored when the planet was rediscovered by Republic officer Wilhuff Tarkin, who, while later serving the Galactic Empire, killed thousands of Omwati in a scheme to transform the survivors into great developers of weapons technology. After Tarkin's death and the fall of the Empire, the Omwati developed their own hyperdrive and, with some initial misunderstanding due to their natural naivete, joined the New Republic. Some Omwati were particularly motivated by Tarkin's destructive actions on their homeworld.

Throughout their history, several Omwati exhibited Force-sensitivity, and different Omwati took up various traditions of using the Force, including becoming Jedi and shamans. After joining the New Republic, they even developed their own Force tradition, which was taught on Omwat.

Biology and appearance
"I will not be number two to some feather-brained&mdash;"

- Iella Wessiri, about Qwi Xux

The Omwati were a near-Human species of lithe, fragile anthropoids. In both sexes, the Omwati's lack of sturdiness was readily apparent, and females were even more willowy than males. Adult Omwati grew to a height between 1.6 and 2.1 meters, with females feasibly falling below this range to be as short as 1.49 meters. Omwati skin was blue, commonly a lighter shade that darkened during occasional outbursts of emotion, such as blushing or feeling anger.

The heads of the Omwati were covered by feathery threads similar to down, a matter that also composed the species' eyebrows. This sparkling, gossamer-like substance could be any color from red-blond to pearl white, and was commonly iridescent. Some individuals dyed these threads to reach shades beyond that spectrum, partly because it could be pale enough to appear almost transparent.

Omwati tended to have delicate facial features that were accented gracefully by their blue skin. The face of an Omwati was usually small, elfin, and bird-like, which gave them an exotic attractiveness without sacrificing their Human-like aspect. Mature individuals could maintain a youthful appearance, their age betrayed only by their eyes. Omwati had proportionally large eyes that gave them excellent vision. Their most common eye colors were blue&mdash;which could be of many distinct shades &mdash;and indigo. Omwati were also characterized by their high, flute-like voices that sometimes sounded musical, like birdsong.

The Omwati brain was highly developed. Omwati were able to achieve great intellectual feats in the sciences and arts. However, young Omwati had to be coached and encouraged to become creatively brilliant, or they would never reach their potential. In addition, too much pressure could easily collapse a promising young Omwati's mind. The species began their adolescence at thirteen years of age, were biologically mature at eighteen, and started feeling the ill effects of old age at forty-one, which only increased at sixty-six. They had a lifespan of eighty-five years.

Society and culture
"Don't know her well enough to form an opinion, but her playthings have made quite an impression."

- Corran Horn, on Qwi Xux

Naturally intelligent and perceptive, the Omwati had great skill at solving abstract problems, and they felt proud of their customary review of past lessons while planning for the future. Children were particularly adept at memorizing and processing information; young Omwati commonly had a great potential as engineers if provided with the correct training. Those Omwati who did not feel like following this path still had advanced skills in computer operation and advanced machine maintenance and repair. The graceful Omwati placed great stock in the concept of friendship, second only to their concept of the family. Their home planet, Omwat, was covered by honeycomb settlements, the city-like constructions that the species utilized.

Omwati had an elegant language, Omwatese, which had unusual tonal inflections. It was written using a fluid script of jigsaw-like letters. Most Omwati learned to speak and read Basic as a second language. Keyboards with letters were not to their liking, as members of the species preferred music to words as a computer data input method. Certain Omwati had two-part names, such as Helix Lur, Xel Tanni, and Qwi Xux. Others went by only one name, such as Girral, Orthan, and Zallir.

History
"My home planet was Omwat, in the Outer Rim. Moff Tarkin took ten young Omwati children from various cities. He placed us in intense forced-education camps, trying to mold us into great designers and problem solvers."

- Qwi Xux

The Omwati evolved on the planet Omwat and developed their own civilization, erroneously believing themselves to be the only intelligent species in the galaxy. During the early stages of the species' cultural development, Omwat unified under a single, planet-wide government. This political arrangement allowed the species to avoid the civil wars that plagued species native to other worlds.

At some point in the remote past, starships from the Galactic Republic visited Omwat and abducted a number of Omwati. These individuals were eventually transplanted to Coruscant, where they lived in a ghetto. Later, the Republic lost all information about Omwat, and the planet's denizens likewise forgot about the Republic.

On their homeworld, the Omwati began building honeycomb-like cities through the planet's surface and devoted their time to advancing the sciences, arts, and technologies. Eventually, the Omwati became a technological society; although they still lagged far behind the standards of the galaxy at large, they avoided overwhelming the natural resources of Omwat.

Tarkin and the Omwati
During the last years of the Old Republic, Omwat was rediscovered and visited by a promising Republic military officer by the name of Wilhuff Tarkin. The Omwati, after some initial surprise, welcomed the alien visitor. Tarkin soon understood that the blue-skinned natives were related to the Omwati living on other planets, but he kept that information from them; as Tarkin was familiar with the mental brilliance and successes of Omwati children, he thought he could profit from the discovery by controlling some promising, creative young minds and using them for his own benefit.

Tarkin kept the planet a secret except from all but a few close collaborators. To gain the Omwati's trust, Tarkin gave them information about history, culture, and technology in the Republic for them to study, and he promised to return with more ships. Any reference to Omwati on other planets was carefully censored by Tarkin's agents.

Later, the Republic was replaced by the Galactic Empire. Emperor Palpatine rewarded Tarkin with the dominion of the Outer Rim Territories, an area that included Omwat. Tarkin decided it was time to make use of the Omwati, and, ten years after his first contact, he returned to Omwat. Tarkin ordered a training center built in Omwat's orbit. Then, he threatened the Omwati with a bombardment of the planetary surface, thus destroying all the planet's cities, unless the Omwati performed intelligence tests on their children and surrendered their several hundred brightest youth to Tarkin. The Omwati agreed, but at the same time they secretly began a space program to reach Tarkin's satellite through their own means. Omwat's gravitational pull, however, proved a significant problem to these Omwati engineers.

Ten of these Omwati children, coming from different cities, were trained for two years in the orbiting sphere by some of the best scientists and engineers Tarkin could assemble, including Nasdra Magrody and Ohran Keldor. The youths knew that their knowledge would be thoroughly tested and, should any of them fail a test, his or her native city would be destroyed and the failed student executed. Such was the fate of nine of the children, including Pillik. Only the young Qwi Xux passed all the tests presented to her. As a reward, Tarkin sent Xux to his secret research center, the Maw Installation, where she would work with famed engineer Bevel Lemelisk developing weaponry for the Empire. The galactic government covered up Xux's involvement by listing all of the abducted Omwati children, including Xux, as deceased.

Omwat after Tarkin
Tarkin and many of his closer collaborators were killed during the Battle of Yavin. As the orbital training center at Omwat was mostly a secret, it was abandoned. The Omwati managed to reach it at some point between 0 ABY and 4 ABY. The Empire had recorded the death of all but ten of Tarkin's abducted children. However, the Omwati refused to believe the reports and decided to search for the missing younglings. They also adopted whatever technology they could from Tarkin's space station, which allowed them to research ships that could reach distant stars.

In 14 ABY, the Omwati built their first hyperdrive and entered the galaxy at large. They first spread terror in nearby settlements and ports, as their reasons and motivations for expansion were not understood. Finally, Omwati scouts were contacted by New Republic diplomats, who were eager to listen to their story. The New Republic used this chance to document the atrocities performed by the Empire on yet another planet. The Omwati were then welcomed by their "cousins" on Coruscant and other planets.

Soon afterward, using the information provided by Tarkin about the Force, the Omwati began to develop their own tradition of using the mystical energy field. This collective was formed and had several members as of 25 ABY.

Omwati in the galaxy
"What's a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?"

- Han Solo, to Qwi Xux

As a number of Omwati left their planet in some remote time of the Old Republic, Omwati were a common sight on several planets of the galaxy during the time before the Empire. There were Omwati on Coruscant in 18 BBY, as exemplified in traffic coordinator Kodo Finn and his wife, Aleema Finn. The Omwati Jedi Tannis operated on the planet of Teya IV around 4000 BBY.

After 14 ABY, many Omwati traveled through the galaxy, looking for the missing children who had been kidnapped by Tarkin. Most of these Omwati were peaceful.

Omwati had the potential to be Force-sensitive, and some Omwati followed Force traditions that sometimes led them off their homeworld. During the days of the Old Republic, several members of the species joined the Jedi Order, including Tannis and Bleth Fahr. During the reign of the Empire, an Omwati shaman was on the planet Naboo. Under the New Republic's rule, the Omwati developed their own Force tradition, taught on the planet Omwat. This did not stop some Omwati, such as Tiu Zax, from joining Jedi Master Luke Skywalker's subsequent Jedi Order to become Jedi Knights.

Behind the scenes
"And, in an unusual spinoff, I was thinking of the Diana Ross glittery-feathery alien when I designed my lovely female alien scientist Qwi Xux."

- Kevin J. Anderson

The Omwati first appeared in the 1994 novel Jedi Search, written by Kevin J. Anderson, primarily represented by the scientist character Qwi Xux. Anderson's original visual model for the appearance of Qwi Xux was Mermeia, as portrayed by Diahann Carroll in The Star Wars Holiday Special. When referring to this in an interview, Anderson likened Mermeia with celebrity singer Diana Ross. The first graphical depiction of an Omwati was drawn by Michael Butkus for The Essential Guide to Characters.

The Star Wars roleplaying guides Alien Anthology and Ultimate Alien Anthology allow players to take on the role of Omwati characters. The sourcebooks both describe the Omwati in similar terms, including game statistics: Omwati characters receive a bonus to their intellectual knowledge and perception but suffer a slight penalty to their physical strength. Although Alien Anthology does not give them any further benefits, Ultimate Alien Anthology provides the Omwati with an additional benefit to their skills to fix machines and use computers.

Appearances

 * Evasive Action: Prey
 * Death Star
 * Star Wars: Rebellion
 * Jedi Search
 * I, Jedi
 * Dark Apprentice
 * Champions of the Force
 * Children of the Jedi
 * Darksaber
 * X-Wing: Starfighters of Adumar
 * The New Jedi Order: Dark Tide I: Onslaught
 * The New Jedi Order: Dark Tide II: Ruin
 * Edge of Victory II: Rebirth
 * Dark Journey
 * Legacy of the Force: Betrayal
 * Fury
 * Dark Journey
 * Legacy of the Force: Betrayal
 * Fury