Peripleen

Last Updated: 12/4/2023

Name: Peripleen

Humanoid: Yes

Classification: Reptilian/Beast (Simian)

Homeworld: Unknown

Coloration: Orange, Purple, & Brown

Biology: The Peripleen were a strange case, as they were one of the few species to be classified as both a simian and a reptilian at the same time. They were somewhat shorter than the average human, having a stocky build, short legs, and elongated arms that hung down by their sides. They were very muscular with thick reptilian (possibly scaled) purple and brown skin. Their hands possessed four unnaturally long fingers, the two in the middle acting like index fingers while the two outside ones served as double opposable thumbs.

Extending from the back of their head, they have three to four tiers of what appear to be something akin to armor plating. These “plates” seamlessly protrude from the skin and may be fleshy and malleable or may be harder than the rest of the skin. These layers are jagged in shape and extend down to between the individual’s shoulder blades. The Peripleen’s face resembles that of a gorilla and is a much lighter pink or orange in coloration. They have a massive brow and squinted yellow eyes, flared noses with small, pointed, fleshy protrusions extending up and away from their nostrils, and a wide mouth full of jagged teeth. While they are a hairless species, there were small spines of flesh extended from their chin that resembled stubble.

Because of their thick skin, the Peripleen were much more resistant to physical harm than most species. They also had incredibly long lifespans while requiring minimum sustenance. The average Peripleen could live well over 150 galactic standard years, and long enough that they would often lose track of their ages entirely. The limit to how long a Peripleen could live before dying of natural causes has never been revealed. Like many species, they also had the capacity to speak Basic.

Lore: The only thing we know about the Peripleen is that they were spread out across the galaxy, were not considered a primitive species, and saw a lot of the galaxy change around them due to their incredibly long lifespans. Aside from those small inferred bits of information, pretty much everything is a complete (and most likely eternal) mystery.

Legends/Canon: As with many species from this era in Star Wars, they only appeared once in Star Wars Legends and have never been made Canon as they are often completely overlooked.

Unexplored: So often these one-off Legends species get little to no lore development, so that is where we come in. What can be explored here? For starters, their homeworld, society, populous, history, traditions, economy, relation to the rest of the galaxy, and political affiliations are fantastic places to start. For more personalized questions to answer, we have the following: How long is their actual lifespan? Are they a rare or near-extinct species since we almost never saw them appear? What kind of animal did they originally evolve from? Whose sides did they take during major galactic conflicts, if any? And what kind of perspective could an incredibly old Peripleen offer in regards to viewing the galaxy evolve right before their eyes? Answering these will add a lot of depth to an already fairly fascinating species.

Additional Notes: I absolutely love species with extended longevity, as they are very interesting and often polarizingly sage or broken characters due to everything they’ve witnessed. I’m also a big fan of the Peripleen’s design, and aside from like the semi-sentient Kowakian Monkey-Lizard (and it’s cousin species) there aren’t really many simian reptilians in the Star Wars universe. Out of all of the species that were introduced in Star Wars: Bounty Hunter, this one is by far my favorite and is the only one I really actively want to see Canonized.

Additional Images: