Star Wars: Exceptional Jedi Info: Veledosians

 
Biological classification
Designation: Sentient
Classification: Near-Human
 
Physical characteristics
Average height: 1.7 meters (1.8 with fully straight posture)
Skin color: ranges from pale (Rikiosians) to fair (most Veledosians) to dark (mainly Amarosians)
Hair color: blonde, brown, black, red, everything between them and all shades of them
Eye color: different shades of brown, blue, green, grey, all with small stripes of a lighter shade; darker shade is rare and usually occurs with those with light eye color
Average lifespan: The drawn line of untimely death is 400 years, but many live even over 500 years. Some have lived over 600 years and some Jedi, Sith, others associated with the Dark side and heirs of Veledosian Phoenix (AKA Shi-Shas) are known to have lived even over 700 years by different means. You can also check out this for a common thought of the Veledosians themselves about their long lifespan.
 
Sociocultural characteristics
Home world: Veledos (see this for info)
Language: Veledosian (primary, both spoken and all versions of written), Galactic Basic Standard (taught to everyone)
 
Overall information
Veledosians are classified as Near-Human, but an untrained eye cannot see the difference between a Veledosian and a Human unless they get to see the faint lines in the eyes of a Veledosian. Normally the Veledosians do, however, have a slightly bent posture, though one can teach themselves away from it to a straighter or more bent posture. The most notable, although unvisible, difference between them and humans, aside from their inherent Force sensitivity, is their ability to use one or even two of seven different elements, depending on their heritage. These elements are Water (Liarn, used by the Lianoros tribe), Fire (Shi, used by the Neos tribe), Flora and Fauna (Heil, used by the Haleos tribe), Earth (Kaam, used by the Amaros tribe), Electricity (Krak, used by the Umukuos tribe), Wind (Phea, used by Phandeos tribe) and Ice (Naarn, used by Rikios tribe). These abilities, granted by the respective Ancients of the tribes according to Veledosian legends, are bound to the Force. This means that should a Veledosian be unable to access the Force either due to a birth defect rendering them non-Force sensitive or because they have been cut off of it, they cannot use their elemental powers. The only exception to one-or-two-elements rule are the heirs of the Ancient Phoenix, Neos; they, after being properly trained, have the ability to use every one of the seven elements to some degree.
 
The ability to speak and understand spoken Veledosian language properly is exclusively part of the genetics of the Veledosians and their connection to the Force and, through it, to other Veledosians. While certain static words and phrases can be learned and used by non-Veledosian people, they cannot learn the randomish language itself. Even if they mimic a native Veledosian, they cannot get the message through even with a connection to the Force and the one they are talking to. This is due to the fact that the meaning of those words is subconsciously transferred through the Force to those who hear the words. A Jedi deeply connected to the Force can learn to pick up the emotions and overall flow of the language in the Force, but even they cannot translate meanings. The written Veledosian language is either a different language, usually Basic, written in Veledosian alphabet or spoken Veledosian written to something that is imbued to the Force either before or while writing to sustain the meaning of the written words. Due to the Basic form of written Veledosian (Basic with Veledosian alphabet) being more mainstream nowadays, most written Veledosian can be understood by anyone who can translate the alphabet into either Aurebesh alphabet or High Galactic alphabet. Should one come across writing in the Veledosian form (spoken Veledosian written with any alphabet system), they would need a native Veledosian to translate it for them.
 
Society
Veledosians are divided to seven different tribes, depending on their heritage and their birth element. Mostly these tribes stay in their own settlements instead of blending together, but Veledosians are known to have formed colonies and cities on- and off-Veledos, blending people of different tribes and even species together. This separation is partly due to the fact that Veledosians are close to their family and birth tribe and partly because different tribes prefer different areas and ways of life: for example, Phandeosians are nomads in the mountains while Rikiosians and Lianorosians have made their homes in the Grand Glacier of Veledos and by waterfronts, respectively.

Despite of the great importance of family, those who break either Veledosian laws set by the Ancients (according to lore) together the Tribe Seers or the laws of other worlds are disdained and often get banished from their tribe and even home world, depending on the severity of their crime. Honor-families are as important as or even more important that birth families, and while the Veledosians honor their life debts well, they do not usually go as far with them as Wookiees, for example.

While one cannot become a true Veledosian by any other means than birth, honorary Veledosians have been chosen throughout the millennia of Veledosians' time. Usually the title of an honorary Veledosian, Echeama'Charden or Tribeswanderer in Basic (literally translated as Wanderer within Ancients' sky), is bestowed upon researchers and diplomats who have devoted themselves to their culture and have proven to be both capable of living with them and to have learned their ways the best they can, but many non-Veledosian Jedi training VeledosJedi, especially Shi-Shas, have also been given this title. Usually Tribeswanderers associate themselves with all tribes with either one or two tribes claiming them as their child. No tribe can also do this, which makes the honorary Veledosian in question a child of them all; this is especially common with the Masters of Shi-Shas, who have to interact with all seven tribes instead of just one or two.
 
The highest power on decision belongs to the Tribe Seers, who go through a rigorous training that lasts for a bit over a century at the shortest before getting their position, and sometimes, depending on the size of the planetary settlement, a committee consisting of commoners who know what the people want. There are not many restrictions in naming the Veledosian people when they are born, but once a Veledosian becomes a Tribe Seer, they give up their birth name and take a name bestowed to them by the Ancients. Female tribe Seers have an apostrophe in their names while male Tribe Seers have a hyphen in their names.

Culture
The Veledosian culture is usually welcoming towards strangers as long as they are not criminals, ill-willed or do not offend others on purpose. While being close to family (honor family as well as real family) and birth tribe is very important in Veledosian culture, so is being attuned to the Force and one's birth element, as they both are needed for survival in the areas they inhabit. In addition to that, it is most unusual for a Veledosian who is not part of a Force tradition taking a side of the Force to leave the Gray area between the Dark and Light sides the Veledosians are in to either side of the Force. While it is not heavily stigmatized, it does bear a stigma of a wannabe Jedi or Sith, depending on the chosen side, and thus many who make the choice to pick a side are not open about their choice.
 
The seven Ancients are deities and guardians to the Veledosians. While very rarely seen in person, the Ancient of Fire, Neos the Phoenix, has his line of reincarnations, who all have the title Shi-Sha, Phoenix. These reincarnations are highly respected among Veledosians, not only because they are able to use all seven of the elements but also because they are physical guardians of the Veledosians, representing all Ancients through Neos thanks to his ability to be reborn. Aside from the Shi-Sha line, the Tribe Seers are the only ones who have a close connection to the Ancients and thus able to tell others the will of the Ancients when needed instead of the rare moments when an Ancient wishes someone else to know their will. The decisions of a Tribe Seer are not supposed to be defied, and they are defied so rarely that the whole concept of it is mostly a taboo, especially in colonies off-Veledos that are usually too small to warrant a committee and thus rely on their Seer alone for the decision-making. While they do not worship the Ancients to such extent as other cultures worship their own deities – which often have not been proven to exist, unlike the Veledosian Ancients – nor do they see their faith in them as a religion, the Ancients have a very strong effect on the Veledosian culture, most notably in the phrase "Chaarei heiero", which means "May the Ancients guard you" in Basic and which can be compared to the Jedi phrase "May the Force be with you". It is unknown if there is a true connection between them or not, as Veledosians are known to have come to life during the time of the Je'daii Order, when a similar phrase "May the Force go with you" was used, and the phrase dates back to times before the Jedi Order and their version of the Je'daii phrase.
 
High solidarity and respect towards the dead and living alike is a point of Veledosian culture to not be ignored. When a person at least known by them dies, Veledosians are not allowed to cry for their death before they have undergone the Veledosian sorrow ritual, Charamei Yado-Jea (Ancients, Guard My Memories in Basic), and formed a memory flower containing their thoughts and memories on the deceased person. This ritual is supposed to be undergone in the Veledosian's home settlement's sanctum before the funeral, but if the Veledosian is currently unable to go there (e.g. a Jedi on a mission), the ritual can be undergone somewhere else, but it must be carried out before the funeral (usually a cremation). In this ritual a Veledosian sheds tears that leave a black ink-like trace which one is forbidden from wiping or washing away; it has to be left alone and allowed to fade away on its own. The Veledosians believe that even if the Ancients condemn the deeds of a person, they often forgive them at their death, which is why the phrase "Everything is forgiven now" is always included at the end of the eulogy.

While the Veledosians do not share the human belief of Heaven and Hell, they do believe that there is a part of the Force, an ethereal plane where the Ancients have dwelt ever since joining the Force one by one, Echeros, and where they may or may not end up once they die and join the Force. Some orientations of this belief, however, talk about the fate of those whose deeds are never forgiven by the Ancients: these orientations say that their fate is to burn in the eternal Hellfire, which is most often depicted as the ultimate rage of Neos burning someone to ashes and obliterating them from both existence and any and every connection to the Ancients, thus preventing them from joining the Ancients, though some extremists have claimed that it also blocks the burned one from becoming one with the Force, bringing the obliteration to its ultimate form. Some have compared these beliefs to the aforementioned human beliefs, but Veledosians are adamant on that they are not similar by any means even though they have been translated in similar ways ("That's just for the sake of those who don't know our culture to understand our phrases otherwise."~an unknown Veledosian researcher) and used in similar contexts ("The context is the same, yes, but the meaning behind those words are far from each other."~the same unknown researcher). Whether Echeros and Heaven and Hellfire and Hell are actually similar, no living can ever tell.
 
A fact not known by most of the non-Veledosians is that every Veledosian carries a "full name" of their own. This full name is known by very few, and it is extremely rare for a Veledosian to know their full name completely or find it out on their own. This requires the most extreme amount of self-knowledge, which is not achieved by most Jedi either. It is normal for those aware of these "full names" to use just the "public" part of the full name – which includes the possible title (like Shi-Sha), the Veledosian's name and their birth tribe, given that it is known (Eche ni <the tribe>) - when needed; usually this part of the name is used when the addresser needs authority over the addressee. The full name in its entirety, however, is extremely long: it tells who this person is, what is this person like, what is their position, what they have gone through etc. Knowing anything past the obvious ones (such as visible personality traits like condescending and helpful) is intimate knowledge, and the most obscene thing one can do to a Veledosian is to state one's full name's intimate parts out in public without the approval of the holder of the name; even with that approval, speaking the full name is frowned upon especially when there is no visible reason for it. It is not uncommon for even the closest of lovers to not share their full names with each other by themselves, instead allowing each other to use what they know of the person.