Arkanian Offshoot

Dagan Gera, the High Republic Jedi who discovered the hidden world of Tanalorr beyond the Koboh Abyss and fell to the dark side over losing it, was an Arkanian Offshoot, a sub-species engineered by Arkania's geneticists rather than born of natural descent. Offshoots are the deliberate product of Arkanian science: humanoids bred from spliced and modified bloodlines to serve specific functions for their pureblood creators, then spread across the galaxy as the labor they were made to be slipped its leash.

An Offshoot looks close to human at a glance, with stark white or pale grey skin, silver-grey hair, and pale blue eyes, which is exactly what sets them apart from purebloods up close. Where a true Arkanian has four clawed digits, the mining-bred Offshoots were given five-fingered hands and rounder, human-like eyes, the visible signature of the human blood mixed into them. Dagan Gera carried the typical pale colouring along with dark, vein-like lines branching across his face, though those markings appear tied to his long bacta stasis and dark-side corruption rather than to the species as a whole.

Their origin world is Arkania, a cold planet in the Colonies whose surface holds the diamond stores that made the Arkanians wealthy and infamous. Arkanian geneticists were notorious for treating their own kind as raw material, and the Offshoots came out of that practice directly: bred in great variety, each line shaped for a task, with one group made specifically to work the gem mines that purebloods would not. Most modern Offshoots no longer live on Arkania, having scattered into the lower rungs of galactic society to escape the conditions of their making.

To the purebloods, Offshoots were second-class beings at best and outright property at worst, and whether they counted as citizens at all was openly debated as the "Offshoot question." (In Legends, this contempt ran deep enough that Offshoots were considered slaves rather than people, and they remained vulnerable to even minor Arkanian illnesses that their engineered constitutions never fully shrugged off.) Being built for usefulness rather than welcomed as kin left a mark that follows the species wherever it goes: an Offshoot is often assumed to be someone's tool first and a person second.

Despite that, individual Offshoots have climbed far beyond the roles they were bred into. Dagan Gera became a Jedi Knight and a celebrated explorer of the High Republic, charting a path through the deadly nebula of the Koboh Abyss to reach Tanalorr; his story curdled only when the Jedi Council ordered the planet abandoned after a Nihil attack, and his attachment to it pulled him into darkness and a two-century sleep in a bacta tank. (In Legends, the Arkanian-Sephi hybrid Arca Jeth rose to become a respected Jedi Master who trained many students, another example of engineered stock far outgrowing its intended purpose.)

In SWURPG, an Arkanian Offshoot plays to its engineered build. The bonuses to Strength (+1) and Dexterity (+2) reflect a body designed for hard, precise work, while the penalty to Constitution (-2) carries through the canon frailty toward Arkanian sickness that the purebloods never bred out of them. Proficiency in Athletics and Mechanics matches the mining and technical labor the offshoots were created to perform, and Sturdy Frame plus Engineered Stamina lean into a frame built to endure. Low-Light Vision suits a people raised in mineshafts and on a dim, frozen world. Conditioned Compliance is the heaviest part of the kit to roleplay: it encodes the obedience bred into Offshoots as servitors, and a player can lean into that legacy or, like Dagan Gera, spend the campaign breaking it.

Arkanian Offshoots display significant variation due to their engineered origins. Many resemble Humans with subtle Arkanian traits such as pale complexions, white or silvery hair, or faintly luminous eyes adapted for low-light environments. Other Offshoot lines were designed for enhanced durability, featuring thicker musculature, reinforced skeletal structure, or environmental adaptations like increased cold resistance or heightened organ resilience. Most Offshoots retain the Arkanian four-fingered hand structure, though proportions and body mass differ dramatically between subspecies.

Offshoot attire is equally diverse. Some adopt practical, utility-based clothing suited for labor or exploration, while others reclaim traditional Arkanian designs as a cultural statement of equality. Regardless of variation, Offshoots tend to move with purpose and efficiency, shaped by the physical expectations built into their genetic templates.

Arkanian Offshoot culture reflects a blend of engineered pragmatism and self-developed identity. Many Offshoots value discipline, cooperation, and practical skill, having inherited generations of training and expectation from their Arkanian creators. Over time, however, Offshoot communities have cultivated their own traditions emphasizing autonomy, mutual respect, and the right to self-determination. This makes Offshoot settlements highly communal, encouraging shared responsibility and collective advancement.

Their relationship with mainstream Arkanians is complex—marked by historical inequity, yet also by ongoing efforts toward reconciliation and progress. Some Offshoots seek academic or scientific prestige equal to their progenitors, while others reject Arkanian societal norms altogether. As adventurers, Offshoots excel through adaptability, focus, and a driving desire to prove their worth based on personal merit, not inherited design. Many embrace roles that test their resilience and intellect, viewing challenges as opportunities to forge their own legacy in the galaxy.