According to the philosophy of the Bilar species, the overmind was a metaphorical hive mind (or claqa) that encompassed all members of the Bilar species. This concept extended the close ties that bound individual constituents of claqa—groups of Bilars who shared a common intelligence and personality—to the species as a whole. Thus, the overmind concept prevented a Bilar claqa from engaging in violent behavior against another claqa.