Melitto

Melitto were a species of insectile humanoids native to the planet Li-Toran. They had no eyes or mouth, but were capable of sensing their environment using super-sensitive cilia. Melitto had chitin plates on their heads and forearms, and required the use of cybernetic breathing tubes when operating in alien atmospheres.

Biology and appearance

The Melittos' faces were covered in chitinous plates.

With a body comprising a head, a torso, two legs, two arms, and five-fingered hands, the Melitto were humanoids.^[3] Nevertheless, the segmented plates of chitin visible on their heads and hairy forearms betrayed their insectile nature. The Melitto face was covered in four plates, the largest being at the top, but did not feature visible eyes or mouth.^[1] Melittos were blind and relied heavily on other senses. On Kijimi, the Ashiga Clan's architecture was embedded with metal on the ground to feel where they were going.^[4] They are also able to detect lies thanks to their receptors.^[5]

However, they did have auditory organs,^[2] and the small bristles lining their body^[6] were specialized, feathery cilia that could sense vibrations and detect electrical fields. Additionally, those cilia gave the Melitto a keen sense of smell. Their extraordinary scent-memories helped them navigate just as well as if they had eyes and gave them extensive identification and tracking skills.^[2]

When operating in atmospheres different from their own, the Melitto wore breathing tubes and carried dispensers filled with sugary nutrient fluid.^[2]

The species had at least two sexes: male and female.^[2] One known individual, a male named Sarco Plank, stood 1.82 meters tall.^[7] The Melitto language consisted of humming sounds produced by their facial plates. To communicate with other species, they wore vocoders that translated their hums into an understandable voice.^[6]

Society and culture

"So ND, this uh, Hive thing. How does it work?"
"It's the foundation of Melitto culture. Everyone obeys the Queen and puts the clan's needs over their own."

―Kay Vess and ND-5^[5]

Melitto were eusocial beings who lived in hives ruled by queens and their adolescent female servants—called myrmitrices—who in turn controlled their own stables of male workers—or myrmites—who gathered food, built the physical hive structure, and battled other hives as soldier-myrmites. Whenever a hive's population increased too much for it to operate at full efficiency, it became necessary to found a new hive. The myrmitrices then started fighting each other with the help of their warrior followers. When a victor emerged, she gained the right to be queen of a new hive. The myrmites who had the misfortune of surviving their myrmitrix's defeat were cast away from their hive, becoming ronin. Most ronin left their homeworld to become expert hunters and thieves. Some, however, were rumored to found their own queenless communities in the subterranean caves of their planet,^[8] such as the Hive Ronin.^[9] Some some of these hives turned to organized crime as a means to ensure the survival of the same, such as the Ashiga Clan.^[5]

History

The Melitto evolved on Li-Toran, a dismal and storm-buffeted planet situated in the Inner Rim region of the galaxy.^[2]

Melitto in the galaxy

In addition to their homeworld, the Melitto also developed a presence on several neighboring planets. However, due to the nature of their society, the Melitto rarely ventured in the wider galaxy, and those who did were mostly ronin. Thanks to their scent-memories, the Melitto made excellent doctors, capable of detecting chemical components that were markers for diseases.^[2] The Ashiga Clan was a criminal syndicate^[10] built around a hierarchical Melitto hive.^[11] The Clan had been active since the days of the High Republic Era and survived into the Imperial Era. During the Galactic Civil War, the Ashiga Clan was led by Queen Ashiga. The queen's daughter, Krisk Ashiga, did not agree with the way her mother ruled, mainly due to her agreement with the Galactic Empire, which led her to plot to dethrone her and become the new queen.^[10]

One known Melitto ronin was Sarco Plank, who worked as a bounty hunter, jungle guide, and tomb raider on Devaron during the Galactic Civil War. There, Plank notably dueled the trainee Jedi Luke Skywalker among the ruins of the Temple of Eedit.^[1] The encounter left Plank with a near-fatal lightsaber wound. More than three decades later, the ronin had found his way to Niima Outpost on Jakku, where he operated as a scavenger and bounty hunter.^[7]