Aing-Tii/Legends

"The Aing-Tii have a different view of the Force. Not in terms of Jedi or Dark Jedi&mdash;of black and white, as it were&mdash;but in a way I like to think of as a full-color rainbow."

- Jorj Car'das

The Aing-Tii were a secretive species of alien monks who resided near the Kathol Rift. Hailing from an unknown homeworld within the Rift, many of the species were Force-sensitive; these were the only Aing-Tii ever to leave their planet, traveling around the Rift in large, organic starships and using advanced weaponry to destroy those who opposed them. The Aing-Tii were very reclusive and often used violence to dissuade people from probing too far into their business, though a report based on a crashed Aing-Tii ship provided the galaxy with some details on their culture. Their belief system held that all events were not necessarily predetermined, but rather "guided." Unlike the Jedi or Sith, the Aing-Tii believed that the Force had neither a light nor a dark side, but was full of many colors, not unlike a rainbow.

The Aing-Tii monks only ever left their territories to attack slavers; they believed slavery to be a great evil, and were relentless in their persecution of those who thrived on it. The Jedi Order learned of the Aing-Tii at some point, and several years before the Battle of Yavin, the Jedi Master Yoda sent a smuggler named Jorj Car'das to the monks so that he could be healed. Car'das spent many years with the Aing-Tii, and his reports on them eventually found their way into the archives of the New Jedi Order. Jacen Solo spent several years learning from the Aing-Tii after the Yuuzhan Vong War; his and Car'das's reports were compiled by Tionne Solusar and printed sometime after 130 ABY, though Solo kept much of what he had learned from the monks secret.

Biology and appearance
The Aing-Tii were a toothless mammalian species, standing around two meters tall on average. They were bipeds, standing erect on two clawed feet, with two spindly arms&mdash;each with two large digits. Their bodies were covered entirely in jointed protective coverings of bony plates, which extended up past their necks and onto their heads, acting and appearing as a sort of protective helmet. The Aing-Tii had small heads jutting out perpendicular to their chest, with two large eyes and a series of long, thin tongues that extended around half a meter from their mouths. Each Aing-Tii had a long, prehensile tail, which they used as a form of self-defense. The Aing-Tii each had a set of tattoos covering their entire bodies, though each pattern was unique to a specific Aing-Tii. The Aing-Tii did not communicate through speech and were incapable of producing sound. Instead, they communicated through tasting, smelling and touching each other with their long tongues.

Society and culture
"The Aing-Tii have an understanding of the Force; but it's a different understanding from that of the Jedi. Or perhaps it's merely a different aspect of the Force they relate to. I'm not really sure which."

- Jorj Car'das

The Aing-Tii were native to an unidentified planet located somewhere in the Kathol Rift, a dangerous area of space, though by the time of the Galactic Empire they had developed space travel and many lived in their semi-organic starships. The majority of Aing-Tii never left their homeworld, and had never encountered members of other sentient species. Those that did&mdash;commonly called Aing-Tii warrior monks&mdash;were highly xenophobic and reclusive, and often attacked any who tried to learn more about them. Although most aspects of Aing-Tii culture were not known to the wider galaxy, it was documented that all Aing-Tii seen offworld were Force-sensitive. They believed that their Force talents were gifts from their deities, "Those Who Dwell Beyond the Veil," though they generally preferred not to use the Force when avoidable. They saw the Force as sacred, something that was not to be meddled with. The monks spent their entire lives performing various errands for their gods, traveling through the dangerous Kathol Rift&mdash;which they also viewed as a holy place&mdash;performing pilgrimages in the hope that they would receive "an answer" from them.

The monks did make occasional use of the Force, mostly to fuel their cavernous ships. The Aing-Tii had a different view of the Force to other Force-users, believing that even one who was not Force-sensitive could manipulate it to do their bidding. Although they avoided using these "gifts," the monks could instantaneously move an object&mdash;ranging in size from small objects to 300-meter-long ships&mdash;from one location to another, an ability not mastered by even the most powerful of Jedi or Sith. They were also able to teach this power to non-Force-sensitives. The Aing-Tii also believed that, while life was not predetermined, everything was somehow guided by the Force. Unlike the Jedi or Sith, the warrior monks did not believe in the light or dark sides of the Force; instead they believed that there were many different aspects to the Force.

The monks were also able to use myriad other Force powers, one of which was known as flow-walking. Skilled practitioners of the technique could, by surrendering their emotions to the Force and centering themselves in its flow, transcend time itself. The Aing-Tii could therefore use flow-walking to observe events in the past or future, so long as the monk knew the location at which the event had, or eventually would, occur. By allowing their senses of detachment to fade, and allowing their emotional selves to return, however, practitioners could impose themselves upon the passage of time and begin to influence and change events. Change was only possible to an extent; the Force itself was unable to be substantially altered, and would ensure that events continued as they were pre-destined to do so. With its manipulation of the fabric of time, flow-walking was a complex, esoteric ability, and it remained a little-known secret of the Aing-Tii.

The Aing-Tii held a deep hatred for slavery, and often attacked slavers who roamed the Kathol Outback. Due to the sheer power of their technology, the Aing-Tii traveled in groups of three to five ships, ramming vessels laden with slaves and destroying any slaver ships that were free of slaves at the time. Few actually realized this, thinking the monks' attacks were simply random, though those who had dealings with the Aing-Tii learned quickly of this hatred. Although they were quick to respond to pleas from residents of the Kathol Outback, the Aing-Tii kept to themselves and discouraged any attempts by others to pry into their business. They did allow a small amount of information about themselves to surface, though only to scare off any who would seek to learn more.

Technology
"Their star drive is considerable different from ours. As you may have noticed from the battle. Instead of using the usual hyperspace travel, their ships are able to make an instantaneous jump to whatever point they wish."

- Jorj Car'das

The Aing-Tii developed a form of semi-organic technology early in their history, using it to build massive, 100-man ships. These vessels, named Sanhedrim ships, were over 300 meters long, and were used by the warriors among the Aing-Tii to go on pilgrimages in the Kathol Rift, to attack slavers and to respond to any distress call sent out by the people of the Kathol Outback. Each Sanhedrim was unique, with numerous symbols painted on the hull of each ship, and dozens of conical exhaust ports and thruster pods jutting out at random places on the ship's hull. Each Sanhedrim was roughly ovoid in shape and covered in thick hull plates, not unlike those of an Aing-Tii. Sanhedrims had weaponry which, in comparison to that used by the Galactic Republic and Galactic Empire, was extremely advanced and deadly. Over sixty gunners on each ship used energy web generators and null-burst projectors to destroy enemy ships with ease, though the Aing-Tii often rammed other vessels instead. The monks also had non-deadly weapons, which they used to dissuade those who had taken an interest in them; the mysterious weapons would alter the victim's perception of time, allowing the Aing-Tii to escape to their territory. The ships usually traveled in groups of three or four, though it was not uncommon for a ship to wander by itself. The Sanhedrims were also able to evade being picked up by other ships' sensors.

The Aing-Tii were reported to have a sort of symbiotic connection with the ships they served on, though the extent of this bond is unknown. The Aing-Tii developed a method of moving from one destination to another, which was barely comprehensible to anyone but the monks. They used the Force in conjunction with their unique technology to instantaneously move their ship from one place to the next. It was this technology, combined with their natural ability as navigators, that allowed them to travel through the dangerous Kathol Rift unhindered.

The only other known piece of Aing-Tii technology was named the Vor'cha stun stick; they appeared to be wooden sticks wrapped in some kind of wire, which could deliver a powerful energy charge, rendering a victim unconscious. The Vor'cha were able to penetrate armor and electrocute a victim regardless of what they were wearing.

History
The galaxy knew very little of the Aing-Tii's early history, and for centuries their existence was only known to a select few who had seen them in the flesh. Their reclusive nature meant they rarely interacted with the other inhabitants of the Rift, and the only times they did were either to banish slavers or to answer pleas for help. Their powers piqued much curiosity among spacers, who made several attempts to learn more about the monks. An unidentified group managed to sneak a micro-espionage droid onto an Aing-Tii ship during the time of the Republic, which provided the galaxy with their first images of Aing-Tii. This attempt was eventually halted by the monks, though around the same period an Aing-Tii vessel crashed on a remote world, providing the denizens of the Kathol Sector with much information on the species and their technology. Nevertheless, information on the monks was always scarce.

The Jedi Order had learned of the Aing-Tii by the time of the Great Jedi Purge, though the Aing-Tii themselves were indifferent towards Jedi. Some time before the Battle of Yavin, the Jedi Master Yoda sent Jorj Car'das, a former smuggler whose health was deteriorating, to the monks so that he could be healed. The Aing-Tii agreed to heal Car'das, though only on the condition that he spend his life learning of their ways. Although Car'das was not Force-sensitive, he learned of their abilities and studied under them for decades. They eventually allowed him to leave and live out his life on Exocron.

Around 8 ABY, the Aing-Tii began searching for the Codex, a pyramidal construct made of ancient DarkStryder technology. They saw the Codex as sacred, and their culture dictated that an Aing-Tii could not physically touch the Codex, which could enhance one's ability to use the Force. They believed it was a remnant from "Those Who Dwell Beyond The Veil," and that it would allow them to contact the mysterious beings. Desperate to get their hands on it, the monks ambushed a well-known navigator named Makezh and wiped his mind free of memories. They subconsciously taught him to locate and retrieve the Codex, as he was not bound by their customs. The Aing-Tii had a limited knowledge of the Human psyche, so Makezh suffered from a state of mild insanity as a result of their brainwashing.

Makezh joined the crew of the New Republic vessel FarStar, and with the help of the Aing-Tii&mdash;who engaged an Imperial II-class Star Destroyer and a Corellian Corvette named the Lialic II&mdash; he managed to recover the Codex and traveled to Demonsgate to present it to them. He was pursued by Imperial stormtroopers and bounty hunters, though the Aing-Tii were able to use their Vor'cha to incapacitate the soldiers. The Aing-Tii eventually took the device for themselves; rather than repaying Makezh for all he had gone through to get the Codex for them, they took him, along with many of the unconscious Imperials, onto their ships to study. The crew of the FarStar, who had taken on Makezh as a crew member, attempted to negotiate his release with the monks, though the Aing-Tii refused to listen. The spacers then attempted to fight the monks, hoping to rescue Makezh and steal back the Codex. They destroyed the FarStar in retaliation at some point, though there were mixed reports on the ship's destruction; as the New Republic attempted to keep the mission of the FarStar secret, details on it were very scarce.

Around the same time, an elderly female Bith trader named Maddie Macatten put great effort into tracking down the Aing-Tii and discovering their homeworld. The monks had previously freed her from slavers, and she wished to find them and thank her rescuers face-to-face. Macatten actually discovered a large amount of accurate information on the monks, though she was extremely old and most considered her insane, so few had faith in the accuracy of anything she said. The Aing-Tii also made an enemy during this period. The government of Sapella held a grudge against the monks, after one of the Aing-Tii Sanhedrim collided with and destroyed one of their defense vessels. It was in actuality an accident, though the people of Sapella claimed that the Aing-Tii had attacked them on purpose.

Jorj Car'das, the smuggler whose life the Aing-Tii had saved, kept in contact with the monks and occasionally called in favors from them. In 19 ABY, the Aing-Tii attacked a fleet of slavers commanded by a Rodian named Rei'kas, which was assaulting Exocron. They destroyed the slavers at Car'das's request and transported his ally, Talon Karrde, to Bastion, on one of the monks' rare journeys away from the Kathol Outback. He later had the Aing-Tii use their ships to transport him when he completed various errands. The Aing-Tii ships would later be compared to those of the extra-galactic Yuuzhan Vong after their assault on Obroa-skai in 25 ABY.

After the end of the Yuuzhan Vong War in 29 ABY, the Jedi Knight Jacen Solo journeyed to the Kathol Rift to study with the Aing-Tii monks. He learned much from them and, although by the time of his departure the monks had come to view Solo as a flawed student, they did impart the knowledge of flow-walking, guiding and instructing the travelling Jedi Knight in the use of the intricate ability. When Solo returned to the New Jedi Order, he made a report based on his findings, which, along with an essay on the monks written by Talon Karrde, was published by Tionne Solusar in her guide to the Force. Solo, however, kept much of what he had learned from the monks secret from his fellow Jedi, and Karrde had learned little from Car'das, so as a result the Aing-Tii were still largely unknown to the wider galaxy.

Behind the scenes
The Aing-Tii were created for The DarkStryder Campaign, a West End Games Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game supplement released in 1995. In the supplement, gamemasters were encouraged to feature the Aing-Tii as either enemies or allies, and they played a recurring role in the The DarkStryder Campaign. Timothy Zahn, who was involved in the DarkStryder Campaign, reused them in his novel Vision of the Future in 1998, providing them with their first mainstream appearance. Since Vision of the Future, they have been mentioned in a number of sources, including James Luceno's Agents of Chaos I: Hero's Trial, Troy Denning's Dark Nest I: The Joiner King, the Legacy of the Force series, and Jedi vs. Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force.

Appearances

 * Galaxy's Edge
 * Waystation
 * Showdown
 * Vision of the Future
 * Agents of Chaos I: Hero's Trial
 * Dark Nest I: The Joiner King
 * Bloodlines
 * Tempest
 * Invincible