ANZATI

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The Anzati (singular: Anzat) were a dangerous and mysterious Force-sensitive near-Human species with two tentacle-like proboscises that curled out and extended from their cheeks, with which the Anzati were able to feed upon the brains of their prey. With the tentacles retracted into seams along each side of their nose, Anzati were indistinguishable from any other humanoid species in the galaxy.

They were an extremely long-lived species, also possessing regenerative capabilities beyond those of the average humanoid. The Anzati were also telepathic, growing more adept at the talent as they aged, allowing them to dominate someone's mind to give them a chance to feed.

According to the Jedi Master Zao, the soup that Anzati drank was the future, and thus, the Force. Because of this, Anzati who drank the soup of another Force-sensitive would strengthen his connection to the Force.

**Personality:** The drive to hunt for "soup" seemed to be the central factor of Anzati life; one could almost have considered them an addicted people. Once they began the hunt, they thought of nothing else but to satisfy this hunger, a hunger that grew stronger and more powerful with each passing year. Anzati were reported to view all other peoples as livestock to be harvested to fulfill their needs, although some were known to try and stave off the craving for as long as possible between feedings. Anzati were known to be creatures of a single-minded purpose, they spent their long lives surviving from one meal to the next in the process, depriving living beings of their own lives.

Either way, because the hunger grew as they aged, and they lived for such a long time, they ended up becoming more and more isolated in their need. The older the Anzati, the more unstable and obsessive they became, often to the point of insanity. They would lose focus on the world around them and in many cases would make a crucial mistake, leading to their ultimate destruction.

Some Anzati believed that feeding on live vessels gave them eternal youth and energy. This belief can be traced to the Silent Voices, luminescent bands of gases that glowed in the Anzat atmosphere at night. Ancient Anzati believed that these were the life essences of their ancestors. Although such a possibility was not scientifically viable, it illustrated the level of importance that "soup" played in Anzati culture, morals, and belief structures.

Anzati reproduced infrequently, and usually lived for many centuries. Parents did not typically give their children names, instead allowing them to seek names that best blended in with their chosen prey. Youthful Anzati reached puberty at approximately one hundred standard years of age, and, when that time came, they left Anzat to hunt for "soup" and continue their so-called eternal existence.

Though it was easy to picture the Anzati as heartless predators, that was no truer of them than it was of any species that ate another species to live. With their long lives, Anzati had plenty of time to develop and pursue all manner of interests; many were devoted patrons of the arts. A few had even produced works of art of their own: books, music, paintings, sculpture, films, and holos. Few had created more than one example in any given medium, however. For a being so long-lived as an Anzat, perfection at a craft was pointless; reaching the pinnacle of an art was no real accomplishment if its only other practitioners died off a thousand years ago.

**Physical Description:** The Anzati were human in appearance, with bulbous noses, flared nostrils, and grayish-hued skin. Their height ranged from 1.5 to 1.7 meters. Scientists and xenobiologists had little opportunity to study the Anzati, but sketchy medical reports found on the species indicated that they had no natural biorhythm; that is to say, no pulse, and as a result, no body heat. Therefore, it was a total mystery as to how their circulatory system functioned.

The youngest Anzati were ancient. The ages of the eldest could be measured in eons. They roamed the galaxy when the Galactic Republic was just a dream of the Core Worlds. The Anzati could live for centuries, sustained by the life essence they drew from others. An Anzat who did not feed at least once every few days merely grew hungry. Lack of sufficient meals had no more of a supernatural aging effect on an Anzat than it did on a Human.

Because the Anzati preyed upon those whose life force was strong, they must be stronger. While Anzati tended to possess exceptional might and often startling reflexes, at best, they could reflect that of a pinnacle human's athletic ability; at worst, they merely had the attributes of an ordinary human. However, physical strength was only a small part of the equation. To sense the presence of a strong life essence in others, they had highly developed sensory organs unknown in other sentient species. To physically drain this life essence's connection from living beings, they had to be physically adapted to do so. For the Anzati, these things were interconnected.

The Anzati were natural predators, preferring to hunt sentient species of every shape, size and species. To this end, they possessed two long, prehensile proboscises similar in appearance to tentacles. They kept these proboscises coiled in their twin cheek pockets for feeding on unsuspecting victims; when their proboscises were retracted, they were practically indistinguishable from humans. They fed in a unique way that was described as grotesque.

Using a natural ability akin to hypnosis, which Jedi who had encountered them claimed was akin to Force manipulation, they bewitched their victims in a manner similar to a Jedi mind trick. Using this telepathy, the Anzat lured in their unsuspecting targets by mesmerizing them with their telepathic control. This control strengthened at close range and was even further augmented and honed with age and use.

Once a victim was within their power, the Anzati would uncoil their thin proboscises from their cheek pouches located on either side of its nose and usually inserted them into the subject's nostrils and into the cranium, where the brain was sucked out of the organism, though the Anzati fed by drawing soup out of wherever it resided in a victim, as it varied by species. In most humanoid species, it lay within the brain cavity. Almost of their own, the proboscises sought the victim's soup, and began draining it into the Anzat. The victim could struggle, though often the Anzat's attack was so sudden, so perfect, that it was too late. This action, however, required time and could not be rushed. This behavior led to the nickname of "snot vampires." They also had been known to grasp the victim's head to hold it in place close to them as they fed.

They called this meal "soup," "luck," or the "Sea of Memory." The actual substance they drained out of living beings—the gelid, mucous medium for the luck or life essence—they referred to as soup. In Anzati traditions, the term referred to the life essence, or spiritual power, of the victim. As well, the Anzati believed that this life essence governed a living being's personal presence. Thus, the more presence a victim had, the more potent the luck was likely to be. Particularly fortunate individuals were tasty meals for the Anzati. It was reputed that Anzati could keep their victims alive for several feedings, taking great pleasure in the fear and terror they felt throughout the ordeal.

Though life essence and luck were manifestations of the Force, the luck upon which Anzati fed was only peripherally related. Certainly, beings who were particularly gifted in the Force were appetizing to an Anzat, but this was usually because their close connections with the life energy of the universe presented the appearance of a great personal presence. Of course, experienced Jedi usually had both powerful personal life essence and a close connection with the universe's through the Force. The Anzat who made a meal of such a Jedi was a rare and terrible creature indeed.

The Anzati, of course, considered such discussions academic. "The Force" was a concept developed by younger species. It was a concept Anzati do not recognize as any more correct than any of a dozen theories before. They knew only that weak-willed beings were as unsatisfying as table scraps. To subsist on the average sentient, an Anzat would have to feed on a dozen beings every day; and since the meal rarely survived the feast, the Anzat would leave a trail of corpses. On a world without sentient beings, or in a place where soup is in short supply, an Anzat could easily starve to death. Most of the galaxy, however, was unfortunate in this regard: the Anzati were not liable to die off so easily, sentient beings were plentiful enough to feed a legion of them. Despite myths to the contrary, victims of the Anzati did not become Anzati themselves.

**Home World:** Discovered during the Great Manifest Period of the Galactic Republic, the world was avoided as its inhabitants fed off the life-forces of other sentient species. Early Anzati culture developed around the belief that the omnipresent aurora that flicked across the sky was the combined life forces of their ancestors. Eventually, the idea of the Silent Voices or "soup" evolved, as Force-sensitives would perceive a type of speechless voice when exposed to the aurora. As early as their alignment with the Sith Empire of Darth Revan during the Jedi Civil War, the Anzati built large floating spaceports to accommodate trade with off-worlds. Discouraging non-Anzati from leaving the platforms, the spaceports were a breeding ground for crime and delinquency as smugglers and other lowlifes made their way through the system. The Anzati, on the other hand, made their lives in the tall rocky spires that protruded from the mist shrouded surface. Living in small stone enclosures, many Anzati left the world after their early martial training was complete, making a living in the galaxy as murderers and assassins.

Unaligned during the New Sith Wars, the world remained isolated through the century long Golden Age of the Old Republic. During his training with the Jedi Order, Jedi Tholme traveled to the world to study under the Anzati Master Akku Seii. Following his training with Seii, Tholme departed the world to track down one of the Anzati's former students, the assassin Katichak. Decades later, when the Confederacy of Independent Systems created a schism in the Galactic Senate and the Clone Wars erupted, Confederacy leaders opened a contract with the Anzati assassins. Jedi Master Tholme returned to the world to learn what Count Dooku and Sora Bulq were up to, while Jedi Aayla Secura searched for her own answers. Seeking out Seii, Tholme found his old master meditating in a stone courtyard. After refusing to give up information on his contact, Seii set his students against the Jedi, though they were all soundly defeated. Letting the students go, Tholme received some information when Seii revealed that all of the students were his and that no other teachers were currently available. As this broke tradition, Tholme guessed that the Separatists were working with the Anzati masters off-world thus leaving none left on Anzat. Returning to his ship, the Jedi met with Secura who had gleaned some other useful data. While in disguise as a spacer at Maggot's Cantina, Secura had located the ship piloted by Bulq and was able to steal his ship logs before being attacked by a Morgukai Nikto warrior. Killing the assassin, Secura hid as she listened in on a meeting between the fallen Weequay Jedi and the Anzati warrior master Rath Kelkko. Secura and Tholme decided that the latter would continue the investigation alone, following the stolen logs to follow Bulq to Saleucami.

Following the rise of the Galactic Empire and amidst the Galactic Civil War, Anzat was absorbed into the Greater Maldrood, a mini-Empire formed by Admiral Treuten Teradoc following the death of Emperor Palpatine during the Battle of Endor. While the empire thrived for a time, it eventually collapsed following the New Republic's push towards the Rim. As Admiral Teradoc and other warlords were killed in the Deep Core, Anzat asserted independence and isolated itself. Sometime during this period of war, the exiled Jedi Masters Tholme and T'ra Saa, who had made Anzat their home since the Great Jedi Purge of 19 BBY, saw the end of their fellowship. Tholme succumbed to death, while Saa metamorphosed into the tree-like state of her kind, eventually rejoining the New Jedi Order some time between the Yuuzhan Vong War and the Second Galactic Civil War. Likely invaded, or at least completely cut off from the rest of the galaxy during the Yuuzhan Vong War, the Anzati were still seen about the galaxy in the era of Darth Krayt's Empire, of which Anzat was a member state.

**ANZATI SPECIES TRAITS**

• • +2 Strength, -4 Charisma.

• • Medium: Anzati have no special modifiers due to their size.

• • Speed 10 meters.

• • Anzati Tracking: When using the Track feat, an Anzat may use Psionic Perception Skill, rather than the Survival Skill, to locate and follow quarry. The Anzat gains a bonus on his check equal to his character level.

• • Hypnosis: An Anzat uses a crude form of telepathy to hypnotize prey. If a sentient being within 2 meters is flat-footed or unaware of the Anzat’s presence (such as when they are denied their Dexterity bonus to Defense Class against the Anzat.) The Anzat can attempt to hypnotize the target as a full-round action. The target is stunned on a failed Will Save (TN = Anzat’s character level + Anzat’s Intelligence modifier.) The subject stunned until the Anzats they can roll a successful Will Save.

• • Proboscises: A successful unarmed melee attack against a grappled, stunned, or helpless creature allows the Anzat to insert his proboscises into a creatures’ brain (usually through the creatures sinus cavity) and drain its “soup”. (The Anzat can furl and unfurl the proboscises as a free action.) A successful attack stuns the victim until the Anzat withdraws the proboscises or the Anzat dies. The victim is allowed a Fortitude Save each round to negate the stun effect of the Anzats proboscises (TN = the Anzat’s Intelligence mod + character Level + damage dealt by feeding). Each round of feeding deals 1 point of temporary Constitution to the target creature. The target creature dies when reduced to 0 Constitution. Once an Anzati has started feeding he is compelled to continue consume all he can and will only stop at the risk of serious injury or death.

• • Bonus Feat: Wild Talent.

• • Automatic Languages: Anzat, and Basic.

• • Level Adjustment +1.