Opal

Master Qui-Gon, more to say, have you? It is requested that this article, or a section of this article, be expanded. See the request on the listing or on this article's talkpage. Once the improvements have been completed, you may remove this notice and the page's listing. The following needs expanding on: lots of context needed for the existing opalescence mentions + many more such mentions need to be documented as well; "Opal Vulptilla" needs to be documented; BTS documentation of IRL opal needed

An opal was a type of gemstone.

Description

An opal was a type of gemstone.^[3] It could be pale and translucent,^[4] and it had a shimmering quality that was referred to as opalescence.^[5] Other materials that exhibited opalescence included chitin,^[7] eletrotex,^[8] Heart of Fire,^[9] iridiite,^[10] krayt dragon pearls,^[11] meltmassif,^[5] pyronium,^[12] and sand pearls.^[13] At times, sentient beings also ascribed opalescence to various lifeforms.^[14][15] Such similarities were sometimes seen in the eyes,^{[6][16][17][18][19]} skin,^[20] and hair of other sentient beings.^[21]

Flame opal^[22] and Jorallan opal^[2] were two highly sought-after types of opal,^[2][22] with the latter being found on^[2] the Mid Rim^[23] planet Joralla.^[24] The gemstone also shared its name with the opal crystal, one of the several types of Force-imbued tasar crystals that could be found on the Inner Rim planet Tasariq,^[25] as well as the organization known as the Opal Foundation, which maintained headquarters on^[26] the Colonies^[27] planet^[28] Koru Neimoidia^[26] around 3643 BBY^[29] and which was in reality a front for the activities of an influential crime lord.^[26]

Opals could be organically synthesized by members of the sentient Oswaft species.^[3] The gemstones were sometimes used in jewelry.^[1][6]

History

Opals were mined on^[1] the Core Worlds^[27] planet Alderaan prior to its destruction^[1] by the Galactic Empire's Death Star battle station in 0 BBY.^[30]

Behind the scenes

In the Star Wars franchise, opals were first mentioned in the 1983 novel Lando Calrissian and the Starcave of ThonBoka, the final volume in the Star Wars: The Lando Calrissian Adventures trilogy, which was written by L. Neil Smith.^[3] They then made their first full appearance on a screen in Dave Wolverton's 1994 novel The Courtship of Princess Leia.^[1]

Opals share their name with "Pool of the Opal Mirror," which was another name for Kearlan Nolas, a pool situated in the city Kearleonis on the waterworld Arrakan that appeared in the second part of Phil Sidebotham's roleplaying adventure "Flight of the Jedi," which was published in the Spring 2000 twentieth issue of the Valkyrie magazine for use with West End Games' Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game.^[31] The adventure is considered noncanonical with respect to the Star Wars Legends continuity.^[32]

Appearances

Non-canon appearances

• "Flight of the Jedi" — Valkyrie 19–20 (Unlicensed) (Mentioned only)

Sources

• Pirates & Privateers
• "Tasariq: The Crystal Planet" — Star Wars Adventure Journal 15 (In opal crystal's name)
• The Far Orbit Project
• Ultimate Alien Anthology (Indirect mention only)
• The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia (Mentioned in multiple entries, but without own entry)
• Suns of Fortune (Indirect mention only)
• Lords of Nal Hutta (Indirect mention only)

Notes and references

External links

• Opal on Wikipedia