Anzellan

Babu Frik, the wizened little droidsmith who hot-wired C-3PO's forbidden programming aboard a Kijimi safehouse in The Rise of Skywalker, is an Anzellan, and he put the whole species on the map. Anzellans are a diminutive people no taller than an infant of most humanoid species, and by the time of the New Republic and the war against the First Order they had quietly become the galaxy's finest hands-on technicians, prized wherever a stubborn machine refused to cooperate.

The build is hard to mistake. An Anzellan stands a few handspans tall, with leathery skin in shades of pale tan to brown, tufts of fur on the crown and the backside, four-fingered hands that look comically oversized for the body, and three-toed feet. The real advantage sits behind the eyes: floating corneal micro-lenses let an Anzellan resolve microscopic detail, effectively a built-in jeweler's loupe, so they can pick apart circuitry and wiring at a scale that leaves larger species reaching for magnifiers. Their blood runs purple.

Their homeworld is Anzella, a secluded tropical planet of thousands of small volcanic islands tucked into the Anzell system. Most of those islands hold modest villages scaled to Anzellan proportions, with only the largest built out to host the occasional off-world visitor of normal size. The world was charted sometime before the High Republic era, sitting along the stretch of the Mid Rim spacers call the Slice, which kept the Anzellans close to the galaxy's busy trade and tech routes.

Reputation followed quickly. Anzellans are reckoned among the best droidsmiths alive, their powerful vision and tiny frames letting them get right inside a piece of hardware in a way few others can. They are also famously fiery for their size, with little patience for anyone who treats them as cute curiosities rather than serious professionals, though they are otherwise a sociable lot. Plenty leave Anzella to work the galaxy as engineers, inventors, and mechanics, hiring out their expertise wherever it pays.

Babu Frik is the standout, eighty-five years old during the events of The Rise of Skywalker and working as a black-market droidsmith for the Spice Runners of Kijimi, Poe Dameron's old crew. He was the only one willing and able to crack open Threepio's locked translation matrix to read the Sith dagger's inscription, a procedure that cost the protocol droid his memory. He is not the only famous example, either: on Nevarro, the trio of Minch, Keeto, and Bai (with Minch handling clients thanks to the best grasp of Basic) couldn't fully revive the bounty hunter droid IG-11 after Din Djarin brought in his remains, since the needed memory circuit was out of production, so they rebuilt him instead into IG-12, a small mech a piloting Anzellan or a child like Grogu could climb inside and drive.

As a player species in SWURPG, Anzellans lean hard into their canon as the galaxy's premier gearheads. They carry Mechanics and Use Computer as trained skills out of the gate, and the +2 INT modifier reflects the sharp, detail-obsessed minds behind that droidsmith reputation, with the Mechanics Expertise trait sealing it. The micro-lens eyes and tiny frame come through in traits like Easy to Ignore and Compact Mobility, letting you slip notice and squeeze into spaces larger characters can't reach. The flip side is fragility: the -4 STR modifier, Fragile Frame, and Squishy Physiology mean an Anzellan is no front-line brawler, so play to the toolkit and the wits rather than the muscle.

Anzellans are extremely small humanoids, averaging around 20 centimeters in height, making them one of the tiniest sentient Species in Star Wars. They possess large, reflective eyes adapted for low-light conditions, giving them exceptional detail perception while working with fine machinery. Their nimble three-fingered hands allow delicate manipulation of components, and their compact, sturdy bodies are well suited for squeezing into starship conduits and tight engineering compartments. Their skin ranges from tan to deep brown, often accompanied by tufts of wiry hair.

Anzellans typically wear tool harnesses, goggles, scrap-built accessories, or belts loaded with miniature instruments. Their faces are highly expressive—quick blinks, subtle grimaces, and rapid gestures reveal their thoughts instantly. Their chirpy, fast-paced voices are notable across the Star Wars franchise, and their body language plays a key role in communication with non-Anzellans.

Anzellans are curious, upbeat, and intensely focused when working on mechanical puzzles. They approach machines with reverence, treating maintenance as a partnership between engineer and device. Humor, fast banter, and cooperative tinkering define their social interactions, and many Anzellans consider problem-solving to be a communal experience. Their culture discourages wastefulness or careless engineering, viewing such behavior as disrespectful to both machine and maker.

While friendly and eager to help, Anzellans can become overstimulated in chaotic or noisy environments, prompting them to retreat into familiar mechanical tasks for comfort. Offworld, they frequently serve as starship technicians, droid experts, or slicers whose combination of creativity and precision can turn the tide of missions. As adventurers, they contribute innovation, adaptability, and keen insight—proving that even the smallest heroes play vital roles in the galaxy.