Well, after making a small contribution to the databank entry of Silya Shessaun, I have finally succeeded in having one of my submissions selected and canonized in its entirety. The folks who run WTS of course edited my submission and altered some things, but I like the way it turned out in the end even better than I do my original submission. So without further ado, let me present to you Y'bith: Behind the Scenes.

First things first - when I first saw the mystery alien candidate, I noticed, as did many, the creature's obvious similarity to the Bith aliens of the films, and immediately started brainstorming on how there might be a connection. The name Y'bith just sorta popped into my head after some thought, and clearly is a modification of the name Bith. As far as pronunciation goes, I tend to pronounce the Y with a long E sound, so that the name of the alien sounds like "E-Bith".

I decided to run with the idea of making the Y'bith a mutant subspecies of their namesakes, and a search of the Wookiepedia led me to just the launch point I needed to craft this connection. The Nozho-Weogar war, a violent biological/chemical struggle that ultimately devastated Clak'dor VII, allowed me to attribute the bizarre mutations to the side-effects of indiscriminate use of WMDs on the populace of Nohzo.

Building on previously established EU material, I described how the Y'bith dwelled in hermetically-sealed cities on the toxic world, and later left to establish a city on Clak'dor IV (known to be a Bith colony world). I gave the translation of Y'bith as "Ghost Bith", imagining how the deformed species would be viewed by their normal cousins with guilt and apprehension. When ascribing racial traits to the Y'bith, I tried to give them both negative ones (poor eyesight, sensitive skin) and potentially positive ones (thicker bones and stronger hands and feet) to show that their condition is really a mixed bag, and that they are not completely crippled.

I also attributed aggressive, occasionally violent dispositions to the Y'bith (due to "hormonal imbalances") to further differentiate them from their pacifist cousins. I wanted to portray the city they founded on Clak'dor IV as an attempted revival of ruined Nohzo, and thus in my original submission named it Nohzo II (although I admit that I think the name New Nohzo works better). Lastly, I tried to tie in the New Jedi Order era with the Y'bith by including a reference to them assisting in the rebuilding efforts on Coruscant and Nar Shaddaa. Over all, I am pleased with what I wrote and that it was chosen, and I hope that you all have enjoyed my Behind the Scenes blog.

Here is my original, unedited entry as it was submitted to WTS:

Millions of years ago, sentience took root among the ancient forerunners of the Bith race on Clak'dor VII. They grasped the concepts of writing and language and built impressive cities in the mountains and jungles of their world. The capital city of Weogar and the domed city of Nozho stood for centuries as testament to the achievement of Bith culture, but relations between the cities soured and they developed a fierce rivalry. In 300 BBY, the tensions boiled over as a spat about a stardrive patent ignited a civil war. When the war finally ended, Clak'dor VII was ruined. A biological attack launched at Nozho had shattered the city, mutating its populace and the surrounding wildlife. Most Nozho citizens were killed outright, but many who survived developed irregularities that soon led to the creation of a subspecies of the Bith race. Many Y'bith, which roughly translates as "Ghost Bith", eventually left the hermetically-sealed cities that were built amid the ruins, attempting to establish a permanent population on Clak'dor IV. The Y'bith founded the city Nozho II on Clak'dor IV, and strove to live with their new racial traits - among them poor eyesight, stronger hands and feet, ductile mouth structure, sensitive skin, and thicker bones. The Y'bith have been tolerated, though not openly excepted, by mainstream Bith as imbalanced hormones make them prone to bouts of violence and they have actively sought an independent identity. The Bith offshoot has worked to gain acceptance as a member of the Galactic community, with Nozho II becoming a notable trade port by the end of the Galactic Civil War, famed for its cantinas and daring Ghhhk riders. The Y'bith have since spread to other worlds, forming a substantial minority presence on Coruscant and helping in the rebuilding of Nar Shaddaa after the Yuuzhan Vong war. They see the story of their people as a success story, and will continue forward until the whole Galaxy, including their Bith cousins, agrees with them.