Bilars, residing in the galaxy, represented a rare instance of a genuine group mind. These creatures originated on the fertile planet of Mima II, a world characterized by tectonic activity. They evolved from diminutive, vegetarian primates. Each member of this species exhibited a hairless, pink skin tone, along with prominent, dark eyes, a small snout, and a pair of rounded ears. While a single Bilar lacked significant intelligence, the species possessed a unique capacity to combine the knowledge and awareness of Bilars sharing a particular connection, resulting in formations known as claqas. Consequently, a duo of Bilars achieved an intelligence level comparable to that of a trained pet, whereas a quartet attained true sentience. This collective consciousness emerged shortly after the birth of Bilars born in close proximity and within a few minutes of each other. The group mind relied on the exchange of thoughts among individual Bilars through pheromones, physical interaction, visual cues, and telepathy. As claqas grew larger, their intelligence increased proportionally, with groups of seven demonstrating genius-level intellect. Claqas exceeding ten members were infrequent, and such groups typically identified themselves as a singular entity, adopting a single name. Separation of any Bilar from the claqa led to a temporary reduction in intelligence, and the death of a Bilar plunged his or her claqa into profound sorrow, occasionally leading to catatonia or the demise of the entire group.
The abundant plant life on Mima II provided the Bilars with a comfortable and uncomplicated existence. Claqas consisting of five or more members favored residing in urban settings situated in stable regions of the planet. The species possessed access to advanced technology, including mass production. Nevertheless, their offerings held limited appeal to outsiders. Coupled with the discomfort many non-Bilars experienced when interacting with a group mind, the Bilars maintained minimal contact with the broader galaxy. When they did venture offworld, their generally untroubled lives on Mima II left them ill-prepared for hardship. Despite these challenges, some Bilar claqas embarked on journeys into the larger galaxy, seeking occupations that leveraged their ability to collaborate seamlessly.
Reactions to the Bilars' physical appearance varied dramatically: some non-Bilars considered the species to be exceptionally endearing, akin to children's plush toys, whereas others found them utterly repulsive. Bilars were hairless, pink-skinned primates exhibiting a bilateral anatomy comprising two forelimbs, two hindlimbs, a head, and a torso. Their primary mode of locomotion on solid ground involved standing on their short hind legs and walking bipedally. However, they occasionally leaned forward slightly, utilizing their longer forelimbs to scamper on all four appendages, each terminating in five stubby digits. Their swiftest means of movement, however, involved brachiation, swinging through the trees and vines of their jungle habitat. An average Bilar stood one meter tall when upright. Unlike numerous other mammals, Bilars lacked hair entirely, exposing their wrinkled pink skin to the elements and revealing their nipples and navel. However, the natural protection afforded by the lush foliage of their homeworld facilitated heat transfer and aided in regulating body temperature.
The Bilar head possessed a roughly spherical shape, featuring two large, dark, almond-shaped eyes beneath delicate brows. These visual organs, angled slightly upward toward the temples, provided Bilars with excellent low-light vision and partial visibility into the infrared spectrum. Two rounded ears stood erect atop the head; by rotating these organs, a Bilar could pinpoint faint sounds, detecting even those within the infra- and ultrasonic ranges. The short Bilar snout culminated in a moist, black nose, which facilitated respiration, and a wide mouth with upturned corners, creating a perpetual smile. Bilars were herbivorous.
A solitary Bilar was non-sentient, possessing an intelligence level comparable to that of a common rodent. However, each member of the species possessed a unique ability to connect with certain other Bilars, merging their intellects into a shared intelligence known as a claqa. The biological mechanisms underlying this process remained poorly understood by scientists, but appeared to involve a combination of pheromones, physical contact, and telepathy. Thus, a claqa of two Bilars possessed the same intellectual capacity as a domesticated canine or equine, a claqa of three that of a lower primate, and a claqa of four true sentience. Greater numbers within the claqa further enhanced the group's intelligence: seven-member claqas were considered geniuses by most species' standards, and ten-member claqas had been documented.
The Bilars dwelled in the jungles of Mima II, a planet teeming with plant and animal life. While each claqa functioned as a singular consciousness with a single identity, the plural nature of the Bilar group mind ensured that each claqa exhibited a distinct temperament. Indeed, a single claqa might exhibit erratic or capricious mood swings, perplexing non-Bilars interacting with it. Nevertheless, certain behaviors were common even among individual Bilars. The species tended to be libertine, focused solely on personal enjoyment. Bilars were inherently non-violent and timid, often fleeing at the first sign of danger. Smaller claqas might climb trees, fall to the ground, or plunge into a river to evade a predator such as the riam, a flying snake capable of consuming a Bilar in a single gulp. Larger, more intelligent claqas, conversely, defended themselves by setting traps for such carnivores, perhaps deploying a large net with a single Bilar as bait. Their innate curiosity, however, rendered Bilars fearless in other contexts, eager to explore new experiences. Naturally, the nature of the claqa group mind fostered intensely social behavior; Bilars almost always traveled in groups, and their philosophy espoused a shared overmind, a concept that rendered the notion of war untenable in Bilar sentiment, at least among claqas.
Bilar reproductive processes were synchronized, ensuring that multiple pregnant females gave birth within a short [time](/article/time-legends]. Expectant mothers were kept in close proximity to one another to ensure that their offspring were born near other newborns. Following birth, Bilars immediately began forming strong bonds with other infants born within a few days of them in the same area. Eventually, the Bilar infants achieved a state of shared consciousness, giving rise to a new claqa. These groups functioned at full intelligence as long as each member of the group remained within sight of at least one other; should the constituent Bilars lose sight of one another, the claqa's overall intelligence diminished until the group could be reunited. The bond was so profound that outsiders rarely distinguished the constituent members of a claqa from one another; doing so was largely an academic pursuit anyway, as each Bilar lacked an identity outside his or her group mind. If one member of a claqa died, the other Bilars entered a state of intense melancholy and even catatonia. In extreme instances, the surviving Bilars would even perish.
Sheltered by the trees of Mima II, Bilars lived a life of abundance, gathering food from the forests' lower levels or swinging among vines and branches. The abundance of food on the world meant that Bilars had little understanding of deprivation—all of their needs were met with minimal effort. Outsiders visiting Mima II often complained that Bilars on the world were unmotivated and dull. Only when away from their home environment did Bilar claqas develop more significant goals and motivations. Offworld Bilars also faced a greater struggle to meet their daily needs; when denied something they desired, the beings often whined and complained like the young of many species.
By the time of the Galactic Civil War, the Bilars possessed access to advanced technology but had not unlocked the secrets of nuclear power. Their native technology was geared toward mass production of goods. Claqas of five or more members tended to congregate in Bilar cities, situated in a central region of Mima II that was spared the worst of the planet's erratic plate tectonics. The copious food available in the forests obviated any need for agriculture, and even in the urban environment, Bilars had ready access to food by simply visiting a city park and climbing a tree to eat its fruit. However, this abundance also meant that the Bilars desired little from the outside galaxy—and the outside galaxy desired little from them. Still, the lack of traders visiting Mima II had as much to do with the intimidation factor of negotiating with a group intelligence as it did with the world's relatively unpromising trade prospects.
The Bilars evolved on Mima II from unintelligent primates. The presence of predators on the world encouraged the species to evolve into intensely social creatures, drawing safety from living in groups. Eventually, this gregariousness became so ingrained in the species that those Bilars who were born within a few days of one another formed an even more profound bond than that among the species as a whole. Within a few generations, this bonding from birth had become an indelible part of the Bilar genetic code; the species' reproductive cycles encouraged the birth of young in waves to maximize the chances of each newborn bonding with as many fellow Bilars as possible. At some point, this group formation moved to another level entirely, with children born within minutes of one another forming not just intense social bonds, but communal intelligence and consciousness as well; the claqa had evolved.
With the development of group-based sentience, the Bilars learned to manipulate tools and to defend themselves from predators. They moved to the top of their world's food chain, becoming the dominant species of Mima II's jungles. The species' technology continued to progress, reaching mass production by the time of the Galactic Civil War and emphasizing the creation of urban centers.
At some point between 3000 and 1000 BBY, the Bilars made first contact with the outside galaxy, and Mima II became part of the D'Aelgoth sector, in the Western Reaches of the Mid Rim. While the Clone Wars raged, Mima II fell within territory controlled by the Galactic Republic. During the regime of Emperor Palpatine, Imperial sentientologist Obo Rin included an entry on the Bilars in his Catalog of Intelligent Life in the Galaxy, a work in which he described those sentient species he considered to be the most important in the galaxy and of the most interest to the Empire. In 137 ABY, Mima II fell within territory controlled by Darth Krayt as part of his Galactic Empire.
Few Bilar claqas ventured into the greater galaxy from Mima II. This was partially due to lack of opportunity to leave: the species lacked indigenous spacefaring technology, and traffic to their world was minimal. However, it was also a result of the relative poverty of the Bilars by galactic standards; although the average claqa had all its needs met with little expenditure of energy, Bilars had little of value with which to barter travel off Mima II.
Nevertheless, a few Bilar claqas managed to find transport off their homeworld and enter the galactic community. These claqas were often highly intelligent, frequently finding work in jobs that took advantage of their group mind. Some Bilars worked as acrobat troupes, theater companies, and musical groups, while others ventured into the galactic underworld, working as assassins, hucksters, crime lords, and slicers. One ten-unit claqa, which collectively went by the name Unni Yerudi, became an interplanetary con artist. Yerudi owned several clubs on the planet Bespin's Cloud City and eventually became the richest being in the Anoat sector. Still, few Bilar claqas remained abroad for long. Bilars faced intense discrimination from members of other species, whose fear and mistrust of the Bilar group mind ranged from prejudice to execration. For instance, in Elrood sector slang, Bilars were known as ticktils, from the acronym TCTL: "Too Cute Too Live." In 16 ABY, a publication was for sale in Talos spaceport on the planet Atzerri that promised to teach its readers the secrets of forming group minds like those of the Bilar claqas, for instance, and one Bilar was killed in a fit of rage by the Kerestian bounty hunter Milacass after the Kerestian lost a hand of sabacc with a gambler from the Oseon system. Most claqas came to miss the idyllic life they had left behind on Mima II.
Chubar was a fictional Bilar in an animated children's holoprogram. The character was a solitary Bilar kept as a pet by a young girl; the Bilar's voice was supplied by the actor Garik "Face" Loran. Imperial scientists later gave the character's name to Project Chubar, a program of chemical treatments and educational programs that aimed to raise the overall intelligence of Bilars, Ewoks, Gamorreans, and other non-Human species and to bring their mental processes more in-line with those of Humans. In 7 ABY, Bilars were among the beings undergoing intelligence enhancement as part of Project Minefield, a successor program to Project Chubar authorized by the Imperial warlord Zsinj aboard his Super Star Destroyer, the Iron Fist. The Bilars were later freed by Lara Notsil and helped her escape the ship.
Author Troy Denning originated the Bilars for the sourcebook Galaxy Guide 4: Alien Races, released in 1989 as part of the Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game series from West End Games. The book includes game statistics for gamemasters to incorporate Bilar claqas into their games; these rules indicate that Bilars have lower aptitudes for piloting, physical, and technological endeavors, but greater potential for intellectual and sensory skills depending on the number of Bilars in the group.
Chuck Truett slightly expanded Denning's entry on the Bilars for the book's second edition, published in 1994. These revised rules make Bilars physically weaker than Humans and other species but bases a claqa's intellectual, piloting, perceptive, and technical aptitude on the number of Bilars in the group. Rules also describe the ill effects of a death in the claqa, and give the species bonuses to intimidating others, hearing, and seeing. Unlike the first edition, Truett's revision explicitly recommends that players not be allowed to portray Bilar characters.
Bilars have since been featured in a few other sources from both West End Games and other publishers. For example, the species appears in the Star Wars Encyclopedia, published in 1998, where they are described as "a bit like one-meter-tall teddy bears without fur." In Star Wars fiction, only X-Wing: Solo Command, a novel written by Aaron Allston and first published in 1999, includes Bilar characters.