#kaleeshweek2023

[rat-pagi]

Kaleesh Week Day 3 - Demigod

An animated short, based off of the last couple lines of If All Goes Well, which I now know of, thanks to @inonibird's Qymaen jai Sheelal playlist (if you haven't taken a listen yet, I highly recommend it, it's been a huge inspiration to me in all my Qymaen musings)

More specifically the last couple of lines--

You see, thing that gets me about about the Kaleesh concept of demigod is that it's both a blessing, to elevate another of your kin to godhood, while they still walk among you-- it demonstrates love, admiration, hope that they may bring about a better future-- and yet a the same time, it seems a curse. I mean, damn, how hard must it be to not only have the entirety of your populace looking to you to lead, but to also be expected not to really screw up because demigods don't do that (not to say there isn't a conception of gods/demigods making mistakes in most Kaleesh cultures, but it's still a Bad Thing that Doesn't Happen Often).

In the EU canon, there's a line that has stayed with me-- Qymaen never really agreed to become Grievous, not until his wives and children were led before him. I think that line's expected reading is that, when he saw them, he was moved to realize how much Kalee (and he) had to lose by refusing San Hill's deal. However-- I wonder if, along with that, there was also his demigod-hood among the Kaleesh to consider. What would it do to them to see their champion beaten, his body broken-- and by a shuttle crash, no less? At least discarding the remains of his Kaleesh body, the ideal of Qymaen jai Sheelal, the dreamer, the demigod was preserved. Even if it destroyed the man himself.

But that was the price that Qymaen was willing to pay.

[tuberculosis-bot-9000]

Last year, our small fandom celebrated our favorite tiny corner of the Star Wars universe.

Now, we do it all again!

I AM HAPPY TO ANNOUNCE:

KALEESH WEEK 2023!

LET'S GET READY TO RRRRUMBLE!

Details and rules under the cut!

Welcome back to Kaleesh Week! I am so excited to have another one of these! Without further ado:

What is Kaleesh Week?

Kaleesh Week is a week dedicated to the small but thriving subset of the Star Wars fandom that loves General Grievous and his people, the Kaleesh. Similar to much more well-known fandom celebrations such as Smaugust, Mermay, or Whumptober, Kaleesh Week can pertain to any medium of choice.

What are the rules?

The rules are simple, but should be followed to ensure the happiness of all participants and make my job as archivist easier!

Any type of creation is allowed, whether art, fanfiction, gifs, videos, or anything else. As long as it's Kaleesh-related, there's no problem

Remember to properly tag all triggers

Remember to tag your entries with #kaleesh week, #kaleeshweek, #kaleesh week 2023, or #kaleeshweek2023, it will help me keep track of them all so I can reblog them

Also, please tag me in your posts so that I can be sure to see and reblog them! If I missed one, don't hesitate to tell me

It isn't strictly necessary to follow along every day, this is meant to be fun! Post whenever you like, whether that's all seven days or just one. You can also post anytime after the week if you'd like

Alternate prompts can be used to mix and match in any way you'd like with the standard prompts, so go crazy

And last but not least, have fun!

What are the prompts, and what's the deal with alternate prompts?

The two lists of prompts are there to give any participants more freedom with whatever they'd like to create. Alternate prompts are a set of prompts that anybody can use in place of the current prompt. You don't need to choose either the regular prompts OR the alternate prompts, instead, you can decide each day if you'd like to use one of the prompts or one of the alternate prompts. If you aren't feeling one prompt, you can swap it out with any of the alternate prompts, as out of order as you'd like.

Prompts:

Khan

Empire

Demigod

Pups

Wives

Injury

Ascension

Alternate Prompts:

Izvoshra

Droids

Oben

The Force

Republic

Jedi

Sith

I'd like to join the General Grievous Discord server! Where do I sign up?

If you'd like to come hang out with us at the Kaleeaboos server, simply PM me! We have all sorts of fun stuff going on, and a pretty chill vibe. I'm one of the mods there along with some other big names in the Grievous fandom. Come hang with us!

And finally, good luck, and have fun!

[accursedkaleeshi]

Kaleesh Week Day 2: Empire

Former right hand to kaleeshi General Grievous, Bentilais San Sk’ar likewise became a weapon for the Empire when Thrawn bombarded his settlement from orbit.

A skirmish ends in the killing of his nephew whom was determined to remind Sk’ar what he had forsaken as a Kaleesh [story here!]

[echoruby18]

Kaleesh week day 3 (Demigods) I love them so much. I tried to go with some kind of medieval drawing feel. If I had more time and less school I would have definitely spent more time on this one

@tuberculosis-bot-9000

[pastel-kaleesh]

Day 1: Khan. My kaleesh OC Rokia Rossh is a khan and the princess of her tribe from my Grievous backstory. She's the sister of PePe and Moorii Rossh. She's also the princess of the kaleeshi water tribe of the southwest. She and the rest of her tribe live on an archipelago with houses on stilts and a Hotspot for shoni swordfish. She also has a crush on Anzu.

[tuberculosis-bot-9000]

This is really really cool! I love the worldbuilding you’re doing, especially the color symbolism.

Definitely reminds me of the game The Forest!

Kaleesh week

Day 3

Demigods

@tuberculosis-bot-9000

Well I love classic demigods duo, but Kalee planet with rich religion and culture, so welcome to come fanons about it!

Introduce Jeevit auz Bahan (for au with @komorebi-art-blog), Siamese twins with one name and living as one person, Saint from born.

Siamese twins in Kaleesh folklore can be interesting. They have cult of bones and death, of course without life and meat it won't be full, but bones more important... for our fanons their ancestors gods can be made from founding fossilized bones, and all gods drawn as a skeletons. But bones can be more than from one animal, or just in strange location according to each other, and in order not to disturb the dead, Kaleesh do not try hard to figure it out. So strange skeleton with more bones, or bones not in right place is just wow! And Siamese twins is perfect proof that this is possible!

And in period of later Huk war more such anomalies. Kaleesh thinks that it's just signs from goods, that they are all doing right, they can be defeated, even spirits helping them. Most of this children die fast, but it's totally fine! Spirits should come into the world for a short time, this is still the world of the living, they only came to look and bless them.

But real reasons more brutal. We with Komo thinking a lot WHAT exactly started hunger on Kalee... and what if in last years, when Huks just wanted to survive in front of counterattack, they use chemical weapon? Something like Agent Orange in Vietnam... it explains why later Kaleesh even needed to move on Oben, Kalee is poisoned a lot... and this make not only hunger, but diseases and many ill children.

And Jeevit auz Bahan sisters from this category. Them kinda lucky by having not so brutal splice and only skin anomaly (it very sensitive and specially for ultraviolet in dark places, so they literally can't abandon their home, cause Iminec and wind are painfull), but they still alive and from born live inside the temple to give anyone hope. They are artistic and can act like real gods, it's their duty, they can't imagine another life. And they love it. Hard, yes, really hard, but all on Kalee living hard, so they need too and make everyone else life better. Even when they just read sermons or something.

And some details, more about clothes. Kaleesh religion says that everyone has to cover max of the body, even hands. But in Eyes Of the Revolution we see a priest with uncovered hands and in veeeery plus size clothes. Maybe only religious ministers have to uncover themselves? This detail of the dress code radically distinguishes them from everyone else, their flesh can see the world even before death and decay (only in death Kaleesh is undressed so that the body quickly rots and becomes bones). So twins have minimum clothes for everyone to see that they are really one body but two skeletons.

Their mask was not so long head of Animal that was living spirit in that temple before them. Beast with parasitic head. Ofc only this Animal can be protector of Bahan, so them kill old mutant turning him asleep.

And why is their clothes black. We think White color on Kalee means death and maybe even mourning (indian moment, and some Grievous). Color of the bones. But black is means life. Kaleesh not afraid of night and dark so black can be positive. Black is color of old blood and in night their jungle nature comes alive. So Bahan as ALIVE spirit uses it as symbol of resurrection. Resurrection of Kalee in this hard ages.

[rat-pagi]

Kaleesh Week Day 1- Khan

All of the khans that exist in my weird little Kaleesh AU + one more who's actually khagan in canon. Emotionally, they are all theater kids, forced into geopolitics so you can guess how that turned out

- Ronderu lij Kummar: Technically a khan because almost everyone else who could claim the title is dead and her older brother (Ankar, I'm sure he'll show up at some point) doesn't want it. Understandably, not happy to be here. - Older Brother: I don't...exactly...have a name for him yet, but he's Qy's adopted older brother and the khagan in this weird little universe (until... he dies... RIP to you sir). Probably the only one of these characters who's unironically a decent person, no pesky murders hiding in his backstory. - Bentailis san Sk'ar: Token goth. He looks like this because he originally started as another character ('Mad Scientist', also unnamed-- are you sensing a trend?), and then slowly became Sk'ar. Don't worry though, he still turns into a nine-foot tall vampire-looking guy, through the power of self-experimentation and flexible scientific ethics. - Punk Rock: Khan of one of the clans in the Rim cities (yes, we're going for a cyberpunk-y kind of vibe here; yes, the history there is complicated because of the Yam'rii colonization; and yes, I did make his design after watching ATSV). Most important things to know about him is that he's a rad, sort of wry dude and him and Ronderu's brother have history. - Qymaen jai Sheelal: Yeah! He's not a khan in this world, I'm surprised too! But he's his adopted brother's most trusted commander (no way that could go wrong, right...haha), and had been nicknamed khann-ul when he was younger because he led an uprising to take vengeance on the forces that killed his parents when he was all of 14...so yeah, he's still more or less the same Qymaen.

[rat-pagi]

Kaleesh Week Day 2 - Empire

Two Kaleesh Imperial characters (one canon, the other technically canon, but emotionally an oc)

Bentilais san Sk'ar: Him, again! When the Empire invades his planet (it's not like they'd just leave it alone after all, even after the whole Grievs-Palpatine thing), he strikes a deal with the emperor to take the position of planetary governor. In exchange? He employs the bioengineering acumen of San Pharmaceuticals (no relation to the San Banking clan) to some of the Emperor's more...clandestine projects.

(Yes, he is partially responsible for all the 'Emperor's back' bullshit in Episode IX, I apologize on his behalf) You can't just work for the Emperor though, and eventually he gets mired deeper and deeper into other projects...black ops...military campaigns...all in the name of saving Kalee, though, right? So, that's where that nine-foot tall vampire-looking guy comes in-- It's Sk'ar, but he's messed around with his own biology for the sake of combat optimization (And since some of this is chemical, it does fuck with his brain as well).

It also doesn't strike him as a bad thing that he appears to outsiders as less Kaleesh in this form, since he's acting on the Emperor's behalf, and, well, the planet's name has already been dragged through the mud enough. Yet it is fairly isolating in an environment where he already has to hide much of himself and his culture to survive (not so fun fact, the caps on his toes are there because Kaleesh claws tend to leave marks on most types of flooring; in most inter-species spaces, it's an act of courtesy for an individual Kaleesh to wear them (like humans and deodorant)...in the Empire, not so much a choice). ...But all in the name of saving Kalee, right? This, of course, is an entirely different perspective than the other character in this picture, his younger brother.... (this little shit (affectionate) vv)

Vanev san Esha: Born the youngest of the five San siblings, Esha was more or less destined to be the odd one out. Whereas the others had each taken on roles in their family, by child number five, there wasn't really much space left. If that wasn't enough to set him apart, he was also born Force Sensitive-- hardly a bad thing, but it did mean that he was born with an entirely different set of talents and senses than most in his clan had seen in generations. Or knew what to do with. Couple that the status, free time, and burgeoning resentment that goes along with being the fifth heir to Aschal-Kalee's ruling family, and his connection to the Force started to bring out his worst instincts. 'Started' though, is not 'did so unashamedly' and for a long time, the sense of restraint and general secretiveness that had been trained into him as a San, as well as the influence of his eldest brother-- Veshitar, heir to the San family khanship, and all-around decent guy-- kept him from...shall we say, doing his worst. Then an off-world diplomatic meeting goes terribly wrong, both Vesh and his father are killed, and the entire San family is left scrambling for a new heir. Esha is mourning, enraged, and most of all, believes it his right as his brother's protégé to become the next khan. The rest of the family chooses his brother, Bentilais, anyways. He almost raises a coup in response to this (mostly imagined) slight (an action that, given his raw power would have undoubtedly dealt a great blow to the San clan), but something makes him hesitate and he fucks off to the cliffside where they buried his brother's body instead. There he gains a new, even more troubling path, along with a new teacher-- Xivkha Lar Rainik (shoutout to all my SWTOR fans!). Rainik is a thousand-year-old Sith lord, distantly related to the current San clan, and also very, very dead. He needs a young, reasonably healthy host to get out of the San family crypt, and Esha needs a teacher (yeah, once I start bringing up Kylo quotes, you know this is headed in a bad direction) in the Sith arts, so the arrangement works well for them both. It does not, however, work out well for Sk'ar and the rest of the San family. You see, Esha wants power, recognition-- all the things that he was denied in the San family-- and Rainik...well, Rainik has his own agenda. This brings them to the throne of the Sith-iest Sith of the age, Emperor Palpatine, where Esha decides to swear fealty to the Emperor. Vanev san Esha he is no longer, but Sixth Brother. And unlike his brother, what he is doing is most certainly not to save Kalee.

(Also, probably more relevantly than all that, he's that guy with the cool-looking crow mask who fights Ahsoka in Tales of the Jedi)

[rat-pagi]

Kaleesh Week Day 5 - Wives

Downtime between battles leaves Vekka jai Kandakis (that is, Qy's adoptive grandmother) and her lovers with some time to spend together.

Well, without people shooting at them, anyways. (Vekks is the one in the middle, the one at her left is...maybe Rallia? And idk the name of the one sitting below her, but I'll call her Mechanist for now)

Vekka jai Kandakis! I think I've spoken on Qy's grandmother once before, but she's a a bit different in the weird little AU I've got going on for Kalee. For one, she's fighting the Yam'rii, not the Bitthævrians (though the Bitthævrians are on the Yam'rii's side, and inter-planetary politics, etc. etc.), and she's more or less, the victor, driving them off of Kalee for...well, at least a little while (eventually, they get trickier, then come back at about the time Qy is born). So how does that happen? And who the heck is Kandakis anyways? She was born the heir to the jai clan, back before the jai clan was a big deal (that actually could probably be attributed to her more than anyone else), and most of the Kaleesh alliances were formed. Kalee was under attack and the Yam'rii were, by all accounts, winning. When she's in her late teens, her father is killed in a largely unwinnable battle and she takes on leadership of the clan. Haunted by his death, which she had been there to see, the already intense young khan starts a relentless, terrifyingly well-planned campaign against the Yam'rii and does what no one one had managed yet-- to win. And then win again. With each success, narrow as they often were, other clans started to turn to the jai for leadership in the chaos and atrocity of this invasion, forming the first kolkpravis. With the diplomatic bonds, however, came the need for generals, and with generals came, for the first time in Kandakis' life, comrades. Some of whom, like the two women in the image above, she loved.

As more and more of Kalee came together (excepting some isolationists, such as Aschal-Kalee, home of the San clan), the khan--now khagan--'s victories continued, and they managed to push the insectoid colonists from their base on the equator of the planet, and into their last and largest stronghold Ti'rrinoa in one of the small islands between the southern Tarili islands and Grendaju to the south. This, at last, earned the khagan the name she is best known by-- Kandakis, or, "favored one", as the intervention of the dead was said to have played no small role in her ability to re-take almost all of Kalee, and moreover with no losses among her spouses and closest generals. Yet this was soon to change. The kolkpravis mounts its first assault on Ti'rrinoa, yet this time, the Yam'rii had prepared, and, sending a desperate message to their homeworld, secured a small star destroyer from the Republic which fires upon the Kaleesh forces. The loss of life is immense, and includes, not just one but all of Kandakis' spouses. She has known grief-- known it many times before, but not in this magnitude. When she looks up at the sky and sees not the stars, but the ship that stole her lovers' lives, she vows, quietly, below her breath. to burn the entire stronghold to the ground. The plan, in some ways, is simple. She surrenders herself to the Yam'rii, knowing well that they will bring her before their leaders on their homeworld for execution-- from a shuttle that departs from the destroyer above. If she looses her bonds-- and she does-- she can fight her way to the bridge and, should the gods grant her this one last favor, send the entire ship crashing into the stronghold below. It's an act of sacrifice, yet in some ways also a rejection of her own life-- for Kandakis does not know how to start again, after the loss of those who she had loved for so many years. And yet-- the gods grant her one more favor than she wanted, asked for-- she survives. Rising from the wreckage, she rejects the role of khagan, the aftermath of the war, even her name, for Kandakis seems but a cruel joke after all she has endured. Instead, she takes the name Kull-- the Kaleesh term for the dead that wander, unable to reach their kin in the stars--and returns to the steppes she had once grown up on, hoping to find some solace in their stark beauty. Instead, she meets a young Kaleesh, angry at the world, and far, far too eager to be a part of the ashes of her life.

(Also, tagging @zyanova-- I know you mentioned you'd be interested in hearing more about Kandakis and I am late but it is here at last Hope you enjoy it!)

[echoruby18]

TW: Blood!

Here's my first submission for Kaleesh week! Day 1, Izvoshra (They are returning home from a battle, hense the wives and children). Of course I got a crap ton of homework so I had to rush every single drawing but I like this one. We got Qymaen in the front and everyone else is unnamed lmao, besides Sk'ar in the very back on the right.

I'm excited to participate this year because I somehow missed it last time lmao. Thanks @tuberculosis-bot-9000

[echoruby18]

Kaleesh Week Day 7! Qymaen if he hadn't gotten into that crash and joined the Sith...an interesting AU idea. Put Nimph in there again because it made sense. Also the only one I kept color on because of the light from the sabers

@tuberculosis-bot-9000

[rat-pagi]

Kaleesh Week Day 5 - Injury

Why would I want to get rid of you-- you're the one waving your swords around and jumping in front of big rocks!

Nothing quite so heavy today, just wanted to draw out this exchange between Qy and Ronderu back on Grendaju-- guess who leapt in front of an avalanche to save some people, and who immediately jumped in front of him, taking a giant rock to the shoulder?

[echoruby18]

Kaleesh Week day 6 Jedi. I absolutely love the idea of Qymaen and Ronderu being Jedi. I of course had to put my OC Nimph in there as she would have been a Jedi at the same time they were :) Totally not repping my own fanfic

@tuberculosis-bot-9000

[echoruby18]

Kaleesh week day 5 Wives!! I also love all of them with all of my heart. They're all named this time surprisingly even though I only ended up using one in the first fanfic :/ I'll write about all of them some day

@tuberculosis-bot-9000

[rat-pagi]

Kaleesh Week Day 4 - Pups

A very baby Qymaen jai Sheelal and his father. Who's plays an instrument in this one! It's called a varraen, and it sort of works on similar physics to a harp or guitar emphasis on sort of

(More musings under the cut vv)

So, these two. It's strangely important to me that, after his father's death, Qymaen recalls him best not as a warrior, crack-shot sniper, etc., but as a musician. That he keeps the memories of hearing his father's low voice, like winds sweeping across the steppes, singing lullabies as his fingers pluck the strings of the varraen. Of sitting around a smoldering fire with in a encampment where his father's strumming accompanies a tale about demigods from ages past.

Maybe it's something about the irony-- hands that have dealt the rough blows of injury, death from the end of a rifle, working the delicate motions to create music.

Or something about inheritance-- Qymaen could remember his father for the things that drew acclaim, that would eventually parallel his own ascension. Yet that's not what remains with him, no, because though his father may have thought those things important, they did not bring him so much happiness as sitting his son down to show him how to play the varraen.

Qymaen still plays it sometimes. If there's a moment of calm amid all the fighting. If he thinks no one's watching.

He's not so good as his father is, but he keeps playing and maybe that's all that matters.

[accursedkaleeshi]

Kaleesh Week Day 1: Izvoshra

Daakalidae, Heir of Sez-Muja, Son of Stallions, Buttress of Many

Read his BIO here