Celegian

Last Updated: 09/11/2025

Name: Celegian

Humanoid: No

Classification: Gastro-Cephalopod/Alternative

Homeworld: Celegia

Coloration: Red, Pink, Tan, Orange, and Brown

Biology: Celegians were an almost jellyfish-like sentient species officially classified as invertebrates. When fully upright, they could grow upwards of 2.2 meters from the top of their bulb to the tip of their longest tentacle, though many never quite reached this length. The species was fleshy and hairless, having lumpy flesh that was covered in knots and protruding veins. Most Celegians had two primary colorations, one a light tan, orange, or pink, while the other was a darker red or brown, with bodily patterns varying widely. On the very top of the rounded portion of a Celegian’s body was a starfish-like growth which split the body into five or six distinct segments that blended together at the bottom. Additionally, near where their tentacles sprouted from their body, some members of the species had a series of large, upturned, horn-like protrusions.

On their underbelly appeared to be some sort of mouth-like opening, protected by a beak or beak-like tooth. Surrounding this tooth was a cluster of small, disheveled tendrils ranging broadly in shape, length, thickness, pointiness, and direction of protrusion. Bypassing this nest-like feature were anywhere from four to around ten longer prehensile tentacles that could grow to approximately twice as long as the species’ body bulbs, making up a majority of their “height.” While their smaller tentacles could be red or pink, these longer ones were often striped, ranging from yellow to brown to red to black in coloration. It is not entirely clear what function the opening on their underbelly served, as they seemingly lacked vocal chords, though it could have assisted in feeding and/or breathing.

The Celegians were a highly Force Sensitive species seemingly possessing a naturally elevated Midi-chlorian count. As such, they had both innate telekinetic and telepathic abilities, allowing them to hover off of the ground and propel themselves as a form of locomotion, as well as project their thoughts into the minds of others in place of any sort of verbal communication. The extent of either ability has never been established, and it remains unclear whether or not they could make objects aside from themselves float without specific training, nor what the range of their telepathy truly was. We do however know their telekinetic abilities specifically operated in a manner compared to a biological repulsorlift.

Celegians had a storied evolutionary history, beginning life as simple non-sentient aquatic invertebrates found in the deep seas of Celegia. At some point these beings moved onto land, where they eventually developed sentience as well as their telekinetic locomotion capabilities. During this transitional period, the proto-Celegians developed the ability to breathe in their homeworld’s “cyanogen” filled atmosphere, a yellowish gas known to be lethal to nearly every other lifeform that comes into contact with it. Unfortunately, no oxygen can be found on Celegia, leading to them being incapable of processing the commonplace element. This meant that specialized “Life Support Transport Chambers” needed to be created to allow them to travel essentially anywhere offworld, though these devices were incredibly heavy, fairly expensive, and could only sustain their inhabitants until their cyanogen supplies ran out.

Their transport chambers also helped to protect the Celegians from outside dangers as the species was considered relatively delicate. Their bodies were said to be soft and squishy, seemingly making it easy to damage their internal organs. The most prominent of these organs was their brain, which was incredibly complex and granted the Celegians a heightened level of intelligence compared to most other sentient species. This made the Celegians naturally wise and witty, but also generally pacifistic and solitary in nature. Celegians were a fairly long-lived species, usually upwards of 250 years, though any older than that were considered elderly and most likely on the brink of death.

Lore: The Celegians were an ancient species found on the planet of Celegia. Discovered in the earliest days of the Galactic Republic, they had developed sentience seemingly some time prior to the galactic government’s formation, though they were not formally made members of the Galactic Republic with Senate representation until at least 17,000 BBY. During much of this early history, the Celegians also fell within the jurisdiction of the “Grand Companies,” an aggressive capitalistic union who held a monopoly on a number of trade routes passing through the infamous section of the Expansion Region known as “The Slice.”  Due to the Republic’s inability to properly control this area, it became known early on as the “Exploitation Region,” though it would seem the Celegians remained relatively unaffected, and the Grand Companies eventually fell apart.

The Celegians would remain a part of the Republic until its end, continuing to remain within Imperial jurisdiction throughout the Galactic Empire’s official lifespan as well. Despite all of these events and ownership changes, the Celegians remained pretty much untouched, much to their liking. This is primarily due to the fact that Celegia is almost completely uninhabitable and worthless by most galactic standards. Its surface consisted almost exclusively of putrid raging oceans and desolate toxic wastelands, all cloaked in a soupy yellow fog. While perfect for the Celegians to “swim” around in, no offworlders had a reason to visit. There were no known valuable resources or exports, no tourism industry or natural wonders, and no real strategic value outside of its location along a couple of popular hyperlanes.

This suited the Celegians just fine, however, as they valued their sanctity on a species-wide level as well as solitude on a personal level. This didn’t mean they didn’t try their best to establish themselves among the galaxy, and their status within the Galactic Republic remained a constant. However, there were generally few reasons a Celegian would leave their homeworld, especially given how inconvenient interstellar travel could be for them. Given their high intelligence, they were sometimes recruited by various galactic factions to serve as strategists, scouts, or diplomats. These individuals could usually be easily identified by their massive chambers, though by the Imperial era it seems they may have circumvented the need for such bulky technology, with at least one able to occupy oxygen-filled areas with no visible technological assistance.

Around this time, a small group of Celegians had also discovered a world with a partial cyanogen-rich atmosphere, containing enough for them to comfortably survive outside their transport chambers. This oceanic moon, known as Tramanos, became home to a colony of Celegians, though the exact size of this population remains unclear. The species also seemed to have an amicable relationship with the Jedi Order, though a surprising few members of the species ever became Jedi, maybe by choice or possibly simply due to certain physical limitations. By approximately 25 ABY, the number of Celegians remaining on Celegia only registered at between 10,000,000 and 100,000,000, though only a few years later their system would be occupied by the Yuuzhan Vong during their intergalactic invasion, so that number may have decreased even substantially more.

Continuity: Here’s an interesting one continuity wise as I was the one who got to first confirm the Celegians’ existence in Star Wars Canon (and create their Canon Wookieepedia page), due to pointing one out in the background of 2016’s Han Solo #1 comic which the illustrator then confirmed on Twitter/X. As cool as this is, it currently leads to 2 things worth noting: Firstly, they have ONLY ever canonically appeared in one panel where they are no way the main focus, meaning we know literally nothing about the species within the current continuity. That being said, this does now open up a huge rift between the Canon and Legends iterations of the species.

Presumably, illustrator Mark Brooks just saw a picture of the species circulating around the internet, thought they looked cool, and penciled one into the aforementioned issue. Chances are, the image he saw did not show the Celegian’s travel chamber around them, and not looking any deeper into their pre-Canon lore (which he’s not obliged to do), he then placed one in a party that very clearly takes place within an oxygenated environment with no additional cyanogen tech. As you can tell, this contradicts their existence within the Expanded Universe (EU), which is definitely something to note going forward, and an idea we’ll address in the “Unexplored” section next. Regardless, I had to justify this discrepancy in the lore section as being a technological discovery as of the Imperial era, however, for all we know their backstory, evolution, and aversion to oxygen may never exist canonically. Still, literally all other information above comes from the EU, which you have probably discerned by now.

Unexplored: This section will address the species’ existence across both continuities, as the distinction is important enough to affect future endeavors into their lore. However, let’s begin with some ideas rooted in the EU that could still hopefully, possibly make it into Canon someday. So, when exactly did the species first develop sentience, and when in relation to that did they move from sea to land? What caused the species to evolve into the rather bizarre appearance that they possess? What do their internals look like, and what sorts of organs did they have or lack? How large and complex was their brain? What were the purposes of their various tentacles, tendrils, spikes, beaks, and openings? What was their baseline m-mount? What was the extent of their telekinetic and telepathic capabilities? And why were so few actually ever Jedi?

Who first discovered the Celegians? What were their first impressions of this unique species, and what did the species first think of offworlders? When were they first added to the fold of the Galactic Republic, and how influential were they on the Republic Senate? What other alliances did they possess over the millennia, and how did they approach the Grand Companies, or did they really ever interact with them at all? Was there any reason the Celegians valued solitude? Were they ever pulled into any major conflicts? And did outsiders ever attempt to establish a reason for visiting Celegia throughout the years? What did the species think of the fall of the Republic and rise of the Galactic Empire? Did the Empire ever attempt to subdue them due to their Force Sensitivity? And were the Celegians ever introduced to the New Republic or any subsequent major political faction?

Were the Celegians’ smarts and Force Sensitivity ever used for predictions/precognition? Why did some members of the species choose to leave despite the inconvenience? Did they generally care about wealth or currencies? Why did some colonize other worlds? Why was their population size so proportionately small? How did the species reproduce? What did they think of others viewing them as “brain-like,” “jellyfish-like,” or just plain weird or gross? What did they think of various concepts such as politics and wars? Did they develop any sort of structures or technology on their world, or was free-floating more than enough for them? Did they sleep? Who first designed their travel chambers, and does some outside manufacturer sell them to the Celegians? Did the species ever bond with other similar looking aliens such as the Revwiens, Parwans, or even something like the Ugors or Filar-Nitzan?

What happened to the species during or after the Yuuzhan Vong invasion? Is it possible they were pushed to the brink of extinction? Or was Celegia even too harsh for the likes of the Vong? Specifically in regards to Canon, what happened to the species post-Empire during the following wars, events, and eras? Were they ever affected by conflicts involving the First Order? And did their collective future have any brighter implications? What sorts of differences are there between the Legends and Canon iterations of this species? And barring the existence of the Yuuzhan Vong and the aforementioned lack of canonical travel chambers, are there any other discrepancies that can never be justified? In addition to this unusually lengthy segment, we can also consider other general worldbuilding traits that I failed to mention that were not addressed in one or either of the continuities.

Additional Notes: I genuinely did not expect this article to be as long as it is given just how far and few between Celegian appearances have been since their inception. I adore designs like this, and it’s a shame we didn’t see more in the EU and haven’t seen more in Canon. I’m so thankful to have been able to play a small part in the history of this species in the franchise, we almost missed out on them being canonically confirmed at all. I’m very excited to see more of them in the future, hopefully including some of their more interesting aspects like their distinct homeworld, Force capabilities, and iconic travel chambers. However, until then, I highly encourage you to include a Celegian in your next fan project, whether that be art, stories, campaigns, films, or beyond!

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