#ekwesh

[historyfiles]

Ekwesh: some scholars see the Ekwesh as possible elements from Ahhiyawa, or even mainland Mycenaean Achaea, while Homer and Odysseus mention an Achaean attack upon the Nile delta.

[incorrectstarwarslegendsquotes]

Kell Tainer: dude i'm so hungry right now Kell Tainer: i could Kell Tainer: eat a Kell Tainer: Runt: Go on.

[from-a-legends-pov]

Star Wars Legends: Poll of the Week - Favorite Wraith Backstory, part 2

In the Star Wars Legends novel X-Wing: Wraith Squadron, Wedge Antilles and Wes Janson put together a new kind of group for the New Republic Navy – a combination commando unit and starfighter squadron. To conserve resources, Wedge and Wes recruited the initial members of the squadron largely from pilots who had promising skills, but had been identified as misfits or at risk of washing out of the New Republic navy.

Wedge, Wes, and ten other pilots with a variety of skills and backstories made up the original roster of Wraith Squadron (initially known as Gray Squadron).

Of these five original Wraiths to join Wedge and Wes, whose backstory was your favorite? (We covered the other half of the original Wraith Squadron roster in last week’s poll.)

Eurrsk “Grinder” Thri’ag, a Bothan slicer who had a talent for angering his squadmates in various ways, and later turned out to have an extreme love of playing pranks but little sense of the right audience or timing.

Hohass “Runt” Ekwesh, a Thakwaash pilot who, like most of his species, had multiple personalities and regularly switched among them. He had difficulty with flight training while in his “pilot mind” personality as it was focused on finding and shooting enemies rather than on following orders, and upon first joining the Wraiths had a tendency to switch wildly among his various minds.

Tyria Sarkin, a Toprawan pilot with mild Force-sensitivity who was recruited to the squad for her previous experience in the Antarian Rangers, an elite anti-Imperial guerrilla force from her planet; she had nearly washed out due to an abusive training officer who had tampered with her flight scores and blackmailed her about it, destroying much of her self-confidence.

Ton Phanan, a doctor who was seriously injured in the Battle of Endor when the medship he was on was attacked, and chose to become a pilot so he could prevent others from being shot by Imperials instead of merely dealing with the after effects; because of his allergy to bacta, he had to rely on cybernetic implants to deal with his injuries.

Garik “Face” Loran, a former holovid actor who was famous in his youth for his good looks (thus the nickname) and his starring roles in a series of thinly-veiled Imperial propaganda holos that had been wildly successful. He later learned the truth about the Empire from an extremist anti-Imperial group who had kidnapped him, sustained severe injuries to his face, and eventually defected to the Alliance and attempted to atone for his previous work for the Empire.

Hungry for more Legends content? Follow @from-a-legends-pov and check out our upcoming Star Wars Legends fanfiction event, From a Legends Point of View, HERE. Signups open April 28 — please encourage your favorite Star Wars writers to participate!

[jkcorellia]

🚨RED ALERT🚨 THE ESSENTIAL LEGENDS COVER FOR SOLO COMMAND HAS SHALLA AND RUNT ON IT

finally a good, official image of Shalla Nelprin

[its-a-full-galaxy]

"Why do you do this?" || Runt & Echo-17 || Drabble

"C'mon, kid! Give it a break! It's done!" the mechanic called up as Wraith 13 continued to scrub the nearly polished surface of her X-wing.

"Unless you've got something else for me to clean, Cubber," she called back down, "I'm not moving."

Cubber threw his hands up in frustration as the turquoise exo continued cleaning her X-Wing, the padded head of her long mop swiping back and forth once again along its fuselage. "Somebody get her down from there! She's gonna wipe the paint clean off!"

Behind him, another pilot approached, his long, brown face looking up at his fellow Wraith. His ear twitched and he narrowed his eyes, thinking about his approach.

"We will help," Runt said, causing Cubber to turn and look at him.

"Great," Cubber said, waving Runt forward, "do what you gotta do. I'd give her the Nara to clean off but it's out for the moment. But if she keeps this up, I'll put her to work cleaning the carriers while she’s at it!"

Runt nodded. "We will get her," he said and strode forward. "Echo?"

The exo paused, straightening as Runt Ekwesh approached, her chest heaving slightly. "Yeah?" she called, slightly out of breath.

"May we talk to you?" he asked, looking up at her.

Echo shrugged and waved him up. "Sure, come on up," she called, stepping over her canopy and onto the other wing.

Runt hesitated. "Uh, that is not what we meant," he called back up.

Echo paused, looked at the tail end of the X-Wing and then down at Runt. "Well, you're gonna have to come up because I'm not ready to come down yet. And unless I have orders, I'm going to clean."

Runt considered her for a moment and gave a nod. Beside the X-Wing was a mobile stair platform, probably what she used to get up there or to hold her things while she scrubbed. He climbed up and rested his arms on the railing of the short staircase, watching the exo as she worked. He frowned deeply.

"Why do you do this to yourself?" he asked, recognition and dislike glinting in his eyes.

"Do what?" Echo asked, running her mop over the outer canopy.

"Punish yourself."

Echo stopped, the audio fins on the side of her head tilting back slightly. "I'm not punishing myself," she said quietly. "It's not a punishment."

"Then what is it?" Runt pressed. "Why do you put yourself through this? Working harder than you should, hiding away from your friends when we know you would rather be with us than away from us."

Echo closed her eyes still catching her breath. How could she explain? How could she explain the pain and the fear she was feeling? The fear she was forcing out through her work while feeding it at the same time?

"It's not a punishment," Echo repeated, turning slightly toward Runt without facing him. "It's... a diversion."

Runt cocked his head and Echo could swear he was part horse or maybe a borzo-chocolate lab mix. "A diversion?"

"Yeah," she answered, turning toward him now, "a diversion. A diversion for me from the things I'm afraid of."

Runt blinked at her, his large, equine eyes fixed on her in confusion. "And what are you afraid of?" he asked, his voice lowering slightly.

Echo paused, her mouth plates pressed together as she pulled the mop in close to lean on it. Here was the million glimmer question - the one thing she didn't want to admit to but was tearing her up inside each day.

She opened her mouth but the words got caught in her throat. She tried again but she couldn't get it out. She tried to gather the words but they kept getting stuck in her mouth.

Well, she could just spit it out and rip the serrated thorn out while she could, maybe bleed out emotionally a bit before patching herself up. Or she could fight with how to word it so it wouldn't make such a big impact and just get back to scrubbing. One option made her quail and the other option made her choke.

Echo took a deep breath and leaned back, gripping her mop in what would've been a white-knuckle grip if she were human. "I'm afraid of being abandoned, okay?" she said at last. "I've been abandoned before, and I just..."

She looked away, closing her optics as she gripped her mop.

Runt lifted his head, a look of deep concern on his face. "You... were abandoned?" he asked carefully.

Echo swallowed and nodded. "Yeah... Yeah I was abandoned." She shifted uncomfortably, lowering her gaze as she spoke. "I... made a bad mistake with my first pack, the people who were first teaching me to be a Hunter. I had it out with them and I left thinking I could still be friends with the rest them even if I wasn't friends with the leader. Maybe I miscommunicated. Maybe I misunderstood. But the moment I wasn't part of them, I was shunned. Abandoned. I was six months old, Runt. I was a guardian without any idea what the hell she was doing, and I got abandoned by the only family I knew at six months old."

Runt was quiet for a long time. Finally he spoke. "I... am sorry," he said quietly.

Echo sighed and shrugged. "It is what it is," she said softly.

Runt was quiet for a moment before he lifted his head to speak again. "Do you think... we would abandon you?"

Echo looked up, alarm, regret, and earnest apology filling her plated features. "No! No, I just..." She put a hand to her face and sighed softly. "It's not you, Runt. It's not you or Piggy or the other Wraiths. It's not even my other pack, my Wolf Pack who tried to help me afterwards. It's me. I know it's me. I know it's me who's in the wrong for thinking this. But I can't stop! I can't make it stop! Even when I know things are going to be or should be okay, it keeps coming back. Like... Like being stuck on the wrong defaults for your X-wing. Or having to re-calibrate an R2 unit after every trip. It doesn't stop. It's just burned into me like bad defaults in an Astromech."

"Like a bad mind in one of my people," Runt murmured, a hint of a low growl in his voice.

Echo looked at him, this time it was her turn to cock her head. "A what?" she asked, a little thrown off. "What's a... bad mind?"

Runt shifted his shoulders, straightening slightly. "We have many minds, my people and I. Many minds for many tasks, the things we need to do to survive and thrive. Some minds are very good! But... some minds are very bad. We have seen some with good minds but we have also seem others with very bad minds. Minds that punish them for mistakes, that run away when they should fight. This fear, this insistence that you will be abandoned is a bad mind."

Echo considered Runt for a moment, her grip on the mop handle loosening somewhat. It made sense for someone like Runt to see it as a "mind". It made sense how he separated it too. Echo looked over absently and rested her eyes on the Astromech socket behind the cockpit.

"A bad mind..." she murmured and looked back at the Thakwaash pilot. "Alright, if I have a bad mind, how do I fix it?" she asked. "Because right now, I don't know if it's a bad mind anymore than a bad default. I mean, I'm more machine than organic at this point and I'm pretty sure you can't override burned-in defaults."

Runt hummed, frowning as he stroked his chin in thought. "No, but you forget that you are not a droid! Droids have defaults, things even a factory reset cannot destroy, personalities set in their circuits. They can be reset at will! But you cannot. You struggle with overcoming bad programing, your bad mind, but you still try, still fight to become better!"

Runt grinned, his blocky teeth pale against his brown fur. "We have seen you be better! You used to run and hide for a long time when this would happen. You have not been doing that so much. You have been working instead! Letting your friends and fellow Wraiths find you when we need you."

Echo paused and tilted her head at Runt. "And... you needed me? while I was up here?"

Runt shook his head. "No," he said and looked at her fixedly. "You needed me. Just as you needed Piggy when your pilot and hunter mind were not listening, we believe you needed us to help you with your bad mind, your fear mind. And we will! We will help you... Ah, if you will let us."

He lowered his head at the last few words, making it less of a statement and more of a deference to her boundaries.

Echo smiled lightly, a feat of facial control managed by few exos outside the legendary Cayde-6.

"I'd like that," she said, letting the mop lean a bit as she loosened her grip. "I'd like that a lot."

Runt lifted his head, beaming with a horse-ish grin. "Well, come on then!" he said, waving her toward the small staircase. "The sooner we get started, the sooner we can fix it!" He turned and trotted down the stairs, the spring in his step getting a laugh out of Echo.

"Alright, alright, hang on," the exo said and called down to the mechanic below. "Year that Cubber? You got your wish! I'm coming down."

A whoop of relief and delight sounded from across the hanger.

"Finally!" the mechanic hollered and made his way to the X-wing as Echo and Runt departed.

[matara-okina]

I will never not love people's initial gut reaction to seein Hohass Ekwesh for the first time, priceless, I wish I could see my wife's first reaction to it again

[rainintheevening]

I just belly laughed doubled over in my chair for five minutes straight, to the utter bemusement of my fam, and now I hurt.

in contrast to star trek, the more i learn about the star wars universe, the more i wish i hadn’t. every new tidbit of information feels like the franchise spiraling further out of my reach, it’s like world-unbuilding 

[helleniclanguageboy]

Names of the Greeks

Let’s do a deep dive into the different ethnonyms for the Greek people. As a matter of methodology, we will be focusing primarily on Greeks from Greece rather than highlighting individual identities: e.g. Cypriots, Cappadocians, etc. Furthermore, one asterisk equals the term for the language and two for country.

Homeric and Mycenaean

Two main names used: Achaeans and Danaans which are echoed in the Bronze Age accounts of Greeks, but these are not used to represent the whole of Greek people in the modern day. Both terms have possible parallels in two groups of sea peoples recorded by the Egyptians: Danyan and Ekwesh. Achaean also is also potentially paralleled in Hittite sources. 

Danaans - Δαναοί

𓂧𓄿𓇋𓋔𓇋𓅱 (d3iniw) - Medinet Habu

Ἀχαιοί (Ἀχαιϝοί)

𓇋𓀁𓏘𓄿𓍯𓄿𓆷𓄿 (iḳ3w3š3) - Merneptah, Kanak

** 𒄴𒄭𒅀𒉿(Aḫḫiyawa) or 𒄴𒄭𒅀 (Aḫḫiya)

Hellenes

The ancient Greeks would largely refer to themselves as Ἕλλην. Later, under Christianity, this would become synonymous with pagan, so it declined in usage throughout the Roman and Byzantine periods but didn’t disappear. During the revolution from the Ottomans, leaders called for the revival of the term, wanting to emphasize the relationship to Ancient Greeks.

Ἕλλην - Ancient Greek

Έλληνας - Modern Greek

Ελ̣ηνικέ - Tsakonian

Έλλενος - Pontic 

*Ελλενικά - Pontic 

Ελινικάνο - Romani

Greeks 

The term Greek is largely an exonym that stemmed from Latin. The first Greek tribe that the Romans came into contact with was the Γραικοί (Graeci). This would spread into most languages to describe the Greeks. The only modern endonyms coming from this term is from the Southern Italian Greeks. There was an Italian loan present in Smyrniot, but it was one of a few. Kaliarda similarly featured an Italian loan for Greeks. Aromanian features the term as an exonym, but it is spoken in Greece so will be listed. (Sarakatsani does have Γρικιά listed as the word for Greece, but the textbook does not elaborate the usage)

Griko - Salento

Grèko/Grecanico - Calabrian

Γκρέκος - Kaliarda 

Γραικός - Smyrniot

Γκρέκου - Aromanian

Grek - Tsalka Urum

*Grecheski - Tsalka Urum

**Gretsia - Tsalka Urum

Roman

Coming under the Roman empire and gaining citizenship, the Greeks adopted the term Ῥωμαῖος. This maintained the most common ethonym until Greek independence. When Byzantine territory fell, the Turks and Arabs adopted the term Rum for the territory and the Greek Orthodox christians (e.g. Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch (Arabic - بطريركية الروم الأرثوذكس في أنطاكية) or The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate (Turkish - Rum Ortodoks Ekümenik Patrikhanesi). The term survives until the modern day in Eastern Greek populations (Anatolian, Ukrainian, Caucasian, etc). These often distinguish Greeks from Greece from these Eastern Greeks. One derivative, Urum, denotes Turkophone Greeks in Ukraine and the Caucasus. 

Ρουμαίος - Sarakatsani

Ρωμανιώτης/רומניוטי - Romaniote Jewish

*Ρωμανιώτικα/רומניוטיקה - Romaniote Jewish

Ρωμιός - Constantinopolitan

Ρουμιός - Lycian

رومیکا - Cappadocian (Rumi)*

Ρωμνός - Axenitic

*Ρωμάικα  - Axenitic

Ρωμνιός -  Aravaniot

Ρωμός - Pharasiot

Ρωμαίος - Pontic

*Ρωμαίικα - Pontic

Румеюс/Ромеюс - Mariupolitan

*Румэку/Румеку - Mariupolitan

Romeyos - Romeyka

**Romeyka - Romeyka

Ρούμ/��ὐρούμ - Karmanlidika

*Ρούμδζε/Οὐρούμδζε  - Karmanlidika

**Ρουμιστάν - Karmanlidika 

Urum - Cypriot Turkish

Урум/Ουρούμ/Urum - Crimean Urum

Urum - Tsalka Urum 

Ουρούμιν - Pomak

Ionian

Similarly to Greek, the term Ionian stems from the Persians first coming into contact with the Ionians or Ἰάϝωνες (𐎹𐎢𐎴 /yauna/). Thus, most Eastern languages will use a derivative of this despite many coming into direct contact with Alexander the Great and later diadochi: Persian/Arabic - یونان (Yunan), Pali - 𑀬𑁄𑀦 (Yona), Sanskrit - यवन (Yavana), and Chinese 大宛 (Dayuan, Great Ionians). While this does not refer to Greeks as a whole, the word Ionian was first attested in the Bronze Age with the Egyptian ‘Great Ionia’ or 𓇌𓅱𓈖𓏭𓉻𓂝𓏛 (ywnj3’) and the Mycenaean word 𐀂𐀊𐀺𐀚(i-ja-wo-ne). As for modern endonyms,  there are two interesting examples: Karamanlidika and Judeo-Greek which use both Roman and Ionian. For Karamanlidika, Γιουνάν refers to Greece rather than its native Greeks (Ρουμιστάν was listed for Greece, but Γιουνανιστάν is the more standard term). Cappadocian Greek and Smyrniot, in term, adopted the Turkish term for Greece (though Smyrniot also had other loans for the word). Judeo-Greek, however, has taken Yevanic to refer to the register to liken it to Ladino and Yiddish. It takes the Hebrew יון (Yevan) meaning Ionian and re-Hellenizing the term to have the -ιτικά ending. 

Γιουνανλής - Smyrniot 

**Γιουνανιστάν/Γιονανιστάν - Cappadocian Greek

Γιουνάν/Γιουνανλή - Karamanlidika

*Γιουνάνδζα - Karamanlidika

**Γιουνανιστάν - Karamanlidika

*Γεβανιτικά/יווניטיקה - Judeo-Greek

Others

Ραγιάς (slave) - Potamiot Cappadocian 

Σ̈κλα (foreigner) - Arvanitika

*Σ̈κλιερίσ̈τικα/Σ̈κλιερίσ̈τε̱ - Arvanitika

Καλαμαράς (squid, coming from mainland Greek scholars using squid bones as pens) - Cypriot Greek

*Καλαμαρίστικα - Cypriot Greek

**Καλαμαρκά - Cypriot Greek

Kalamara - Cypriot Turkish

Χαουτίκ - Cypriot Arabic

[2uuno]

I found a system in Star Wars!!!!

Hohass Ekwesh, an anthropomorphic horse-like character, who has many “minds,” as he says

Oh, that's incredible! I've never heard of that character!

[checkoutmybookshelf]

What is a Wraith, Anyway?

Ok, so I am primarily a Jedi girl when it comes to Star Wars, but snark-ass Corellian pilots also occupy a very soft spot in my heart. Han Solo is now and forever the GOAT Corellian smuggler and pilot, but Wedge Antillies--particularly as he is expanded in the EU books--is absolutely in the top 5 favorite pilots. I'm not overly fond of Rogue Squadron, if we're being honest, but I adore the antics and missions of Wraith Squadron. So let's talk Aaron Allston's Wraith Squadron.

*Spoilers below, so beware!*

Wedge Antillies.

Wes Janson.

Myn Donos (and Shiner).

Kell Tainer.

Garik "Face" Loran.

Falynn Sandskimmer.

Jesmin Ackbar.

Voort "Piggy" saBinring.

Hohass "Runt" Ekwesh.

Ton Phanan.

Eurrsk Thri'ag.

Tyria Sarkin.

This is Wraith Squadron, Wedge's pet project that pulled together competent officers who might have been bad at office politics or made a few too many mistakes or whose careers were otherwise dead and would jump at another chance to fly. Wedge's plan was to create an experienced, multi-talented squadron to take on the jobs for which the venn diagram of piloting, ground skills, and espianage is a circle. And while he did do that, he also somehow managed to take a bunch of hard case and traumatized pilots and transform them into a family.

The progression of the transformation though, is beautifully paced. We spend the early sections of the novel learning about each individual pilot's personal (or not so personal, given Tainer's near-paralyzing fear of Janson that tends to read as aggression) issues or motivations and getting some tentative interpersonal bonding. Interestingly, Face and Jesmin aren't hard cases or screwups. Face is tying to atone for having been the Empire's golden boy child actor in their propaganda films--although I wouldn't ever have recovered from having to sit in Ysanne Isard's LAP while she told me I was a good imperial citizen. Jesmin, however, is simply trying not to be a waste of her training because as Admiral Ackbar's neice, no commander has ever been willing to put her in actual danger.

Jesmin is, unfortunately, the first casualty of the squadron, and during the mission where she is lost, Myn Donos's R2 unit, Shiner, is unfortunately blown to peices. Myn has some seriously unresolved trauma (and arguably PTSD and survivor's guilt) from being the sole survivor of his former squadron, and Shiner's loss absolutely breaks him.

Ultimately, however, it's the loss of one squadmate and the threat of losing a second one that really cements Wraith squadron as a unit. This begins with medic Ton Phanon (attempting to) hiding the extent of Myn's breakdown from Wedge and Wes. The rest of the squadron then works to cover his shifts and duties, trying to give him time to snap out of it on his own. Eventually though, Kell overhears Wes and Wedge privately plotting how to keep buying Myn time and preventing the breakdown from landing on any official reports or paperwork.

This neatly severs the Gordian knot of Kell's fear of Wes, and ultimately gives the squad the courage to stage an intervention for Myn.

Having saved the squadmate they could, the Wraiths go on to become a tightly knit family and scary effective squad of pilots with commando skills.

I love this book. The team dynamics and the journey to find those dynamics are beautifully plotted and written, and the book flies by.

[marmota-b]

This seems fairly accurate, except that I think in reality about half of them (including the characters not featured here) rotate in the child role. Tyria is probably the best at keeping everything calm, Face plays with the child and potentially makes more mess than them, Piggy helps them do their homework. Wes is 100% the wine aunt.

Re-reading Wraith Squadron again...

[incorrectstarwarslegendsquotes]

Wedge Antilles: Imagine if someone handed you a box full of all the items you have lost throughout your life.

Lara Notsil: It would be nice to have my sense of purpose back.

Face Loran: Oh wow, my childhood innocence! Thank you for finding this.

Myn Donos: My will to live! I haven't seen this in 15 years!

Piggy: I knew I lost that potential somewhere!

Runt: Mental stability, my old friend!

Wedge Antilles: Guys, could you lighten up a little?

[thepartyponies]

Wish I could add them all, sorry to the others ;_;

[mousedroid-hoojib]

Ishbul Ekwesh

While searching for the Tharnakan Story Stone, Ishbul Ekwesh uncovered many of his people's sacred places, long thought lost.

Recipe:

3D print of a character designed in MakeHuman and articulated to 18 POA in Tinkercad, featuring "Garden Rock - Dwayne 'The Gnome' Johnson" by ruddler, "Cantina Spaceman (standing) SWL Scale Free Cantina Collab" by McAnultyMiniatures and "KingdomHearts Mickey Mouse" by RyanTheMast

modelling clay

material

Tamiya "Light Brown", "Sky Grey", "Dark Grey", "Metallic Brown", "Flat White", "Semi Gloss Black", Citadel "Mephiston Red" paints

[marmota-b]

Come join the X-Wing side, we also have:

the former Imperial child star turned New Republic pilot and Intelligence operative who uses his acting chops to fool Imperials

someone who's basically just Force-sensitive enough for it to be a bother

a walking horse with split personalities

New Republic pilots masquerading as pirates

a whole bunch of pilots in sore need of therapy (they kind of therapise themselves)

prank wars and assorted shenanigans

a whole fake Millenium Falcon

Wedge Antilles trying not to become a general

double(?) agents questioning their loyalties

Ewok pilot shenanigans (Yub, yub, Commander)

come read the star wars x-wing books we have:

wedge antilles

his brother-in-law, the notorious imperial fighter ace

the ex-cop jedi

his beloved wife, the smuggler

her father, the notorious smuggler and nemesis of the ex-cop jedi's ex-jedi cop dad

very feral twi'leks (they deserve to have fun)

palpatine's girlfriend (not an exaggeration)

her private super star destroyer with a fake quarry (she uses it for psychological torture)

an imperial bioweapon designed to hit the new republic with a) a health crisis, b) an economic crisis, c) a drug war, d) a civil war, and e) a race war (again, not an exaggeration)

space alabama (with recreational dogfighting (the kind with spaceships, not actual dogs, in case you were worried))

a wolf guy

lots of general unhingedness

[captaingondolin]

--- Aron Allston, X-Wing: Wraith Squadron

This passage is making me FEEL THINGS. I can’t even articulate how much this hits me. I have been both sides of the argument. I too would love to turn my guns on my friends’ anxiety and self-loathing, to just destroy the things that make them miserable.

I also tend to dwell on my (real or perceived) mistakes for far too long. In the last few years I’ve tried to improve my self-talk, to cut down on outright insults, but the instinct is still there. “If I don’t punish myself, how will I ever improve?"

So... I don’t have a deep analysis. Just. This is so good.