Dryax

Dryaxes were a type of huge, humanoid-shaped predator found in the jungles of the planet Wayland. They had glowing red eyes and lupine features. Around 18 BBY, the clones Omega and Crosshair encountered a dryax on Wayland while fleeing from Tantiss Base. The creature roared at them, but then fought a pack of lurca hounds sent from the mountain, allowing the clones to escape.
When Clone Force 99 later traveled to Wayland to rescue Omega from Tantiss Base, the former Imperial Admiral Edmon Rampart, who was aiding the clones, rested against a sleeping dryax in the jungle not realizing it was a creature. The dryax awoke and then chased Clone Force 99 into the jungle before attacking a group of TK stormtroopers who were searching for the clones.
==Biology and appearance==
Dryaxes were a type of huge, humanoid-shaped, reptilian-headed predator with lupine features that dwelled in the jungles of the planet Wayland. They possessed four long limbs each ending in a paw with five long, razor-sharp claws. They moved on all fours, although they could rear up on their hind limbs, standing 3.2 meters tall and measuring 4.4 meters in length.
The creatures had smooth gray skin with thick, greenish-brown feathers covering their backs and the top of their reptilian head. These feathers provided camouflage for the dryaxes in the jungle. A dryax's face consisted of two glowing red eyes, a broad snout, and a maw of serrated teeth with a lower jaw that protruded in front of the upper. The creature vocalized through grumbles, growls, and roars. Even a single dryax was a formidable foe due to their claws and massive stature. Their claws were even capable of damaging Katarn-class commando armor.
==History==
===Escape enabler===
Around 18 BBY, dryaxes roamed the wilds beyond the perimeter of Tantiss Base, a secret Imperial facility in Mount Tantiss led by Doctor Royce Hemlock on Wayland. The Imperials trained a pack of lurca hounds to keep dryaxes and other predators at bay, although not beyond the perimeter, where even the toughest hounds struggled to survive. Such was the threat of the dryax-inhabited jungles that Hemlock considered anyone beyond the perimeter as good as dead. 
After the fugitive clones Crosshair and Omega escaped from the mountain, they encountered a dryax as they fled through the jungle to reach the area designated sector four. The creature approached the pair after Omega stumbled and fell, clambering over a nearby fallen tree while growling. The dryax then reared up on its hind legs and roared at the pair, prompting Crosshair to level his DC-15A blaster carbine at it, but as the dryax dropped to all fours, it was distracted by the sound of approaching lurca hounds that had been dispatched from Tantiss Base to hunt the escaped clones.
Turning to face the oncoming pack, the dryax stood as the first hound leapt at it, swatting it and the next leaping attacker to the floor with one of its paws. Three more hounds then leapt onto the dryax and held onto its back and head, causing the creature to tumble to the ground. Crosshair and Omega then fled as the lurca hounds were knocked from the tumbling dryax, which tossed the last hound away with a paw and then continued to fight the pack.
===Wrong place to rest===
 
Not long after she escaped, Omega was re-captured and returned to Tantiss Base, causing her brothers in Clone Force 99 to launch a rescue mission that included recruiting the former Imperial Admiral Edmon Rampart. Crosshair, Rampart, and the clones Wrecker and Hunter managed to reach Wayland, crashing in the jungle after being intercepted by Imperial forces from Tantiss Base, and so began to make their way toward the base on foot.
While moving through Wayland's jungles to reach the base, they reached a cliff face and stopped to discuss how they might overcome the obstacle. As the clones spoke, Rampart sat down to rest against what he thought was part of the scenery but was in fact a sleeping dryax. Rampart realized the dryax was beginning to move as it awoke, and he slowly backed away from it toward the clones as it turned to them and stood before advancing and growling at them. Rampart ordered the clones to shoot the creature, but Hunter refused, as they did not want to give away their location to Imperials searching the area for them.
===Another Imperial distraction===
Rampart then fled alone as the dryax reared up on its hind legs and roared at the clones before charging at them, forcing them to scatter into the trees. Pursuing Hunter, who rolled out of its way, it swiped at the clone with its claws. Crosshair then drove the butt of his sniper rifle into the dryax's head, distracting it so Hunter could get away. Wrecker leapt at the creature as it reared up to attack Crosshair, but the dryax threw Wrecker off its back and onto the ground, where it slashed his chest as he stood and threw him back into a nearby tree. The other two clones then helped Wrecker up and began to flee, with the dryax becoming impeded by a pair of trees as it tried to give chase.
A group of TK stormtroopers from Tantiss Base then spotted the trio of clones and opened fire; however, Clone Force 99 raced past the stormtroopers while returning fire as they fled. The stormtroopers remained focused on the clones until hearing the dryax's roar behind them, turning as the creature charged into them and attacked. The troopers opened fire on the beast as it began swiping at them, allowing Clone Force 99 to escape. Wrecker was injured in the attack, later stating that attacking the dryax had seemed like a good idea at the time.
==Behind the scenes==
Dryaxes were first indirectly mentioned in "Confined," the first episode of Star Wars: The Bad Batch's third season, which premiered on February 21, 2024. A dryax then first appeared in "Shadows of Tantiss," the third episode of the season that aired on the same date. The name was provided in the episode's subtitles. Concept art of the dryax was created for the episode by Clinton Felker, with the original description being "a massive bear/panther-like monster."
==Appearances==
* 
* 
*
* 
==Sources==
*
*
*
==Notes and references==
Category:Creatures of unspecified biology
Category:Creatures of Wayland
Category:Predatory creatures
Category:Species of undefined sentience