Killiks

Once major players on the galactic stage, the Killiks are long gone by the time the first Humans reach the Killik spawnworld of Alderaan. From their new home in The Unknown Regions, the Killiks subsist for millennia until upsetting the political balance in the Swarm War of 36 ABY.

Killiks are a genetically diverse population of intelligent insects. Their society is composed of hives, also called nests. Members of each hive share the same physical characteristics and possess the ability to communicate with others through pheromones, electromagnetic transmissions, and long-distance telepathy.

Multiple nests united under a hive-mind link can be considered a single organism. Its members always refer to themselves in the third person, and each is aware of anything that has been experienced by any other member. The Hive Mind can be thought of as the individual, and the Killiks its eyes, ears, and hands.

Most Killiks are female. Males are needed for reproduction and little else, and they are birthed in great numbers only to help seed a new nest. A breeding female can lay a thousand eggs per month, hatching larvae that grow into work-ready nymphs in under a year.

Killiks have the ability to turn outsiders into fellow hive members or "Joiners," a quality that members of other Species find unnerving. This is accomplished through exposure to mind-altering pheromones, and the process is widely considered to be brainwashing, although the victims usually report rapturous fulfillment at the sensation that they finally belong.