Yam'rii

The mantis-faced alien hunched at the bar in the Mos Eisley cantina, the one the crew nicknamed "Praying Mantis" during filming of A New Hope, was a Yam'rii named Kitik Keed'kak. That brief shot in 1977 was the species' first appearance, though it went unnamed on screen for decades; the wider galaxy knows the Yam'rii by a different name entirely, the Huk, and it is a name spoken with fear across Wild Space.

Yam'rii are insectoid, built on the lines of an enormous praying mantis. A triangular head sits atop a long, swiveling neck, dominated by large forward-facing eyes that give them sharp depth perception and an unblinking, predatory stare. Their upper limbs are the giveaway: long, bent, and held together at an angle like a mantis folding its forelegs, ending in claws made for seizing and tearing. They are carnivores, strong, and patient stealth hunters. Galactic folklore paints them as devourers who crave meat and eggs, including the eggs of other sentient species, a reputation that has followed them off their homeworld and into every spaceport they touch.

They come from Huk, a desolate planet in the Huk system out in Wild Space, far from the well-traveled lanes of the Core. Despite that bleak origin, the Yam'rii are a technologically advanced people, and they put that advantage to ugly use. From Huk they pushed outward, overrunning neighboring worlds, stripping them of resources, and enslaving their populations. The species' name became shorthand for organized, methodical conquest rather than wild raiding.

That expansion is what ties the Yam'rii to one of the most consequential grudges in galactic history. When the Huk turned their slaving campaigns on nearby Kalee, capturing hundreds of millions of Kaleesh and selling them off, a Kaleesh warlord named Qymaen jai Sheelal, better known as Grievous, led the counterattack and drove the Yam'rii back off their own worlds. The Yam'rii then appealed to the Galactic Republic, and the Jedi came, siding with the insectoids against the Kaleesh. The Republic ended the Huk War by sanctioning Kalee into economic ruin. Grievous watched his people starve under those penalties, and the hatred that boiled out of that betrayal is the same hatred that later made him the Separatists' cyborg general. (Most of this history is drawn from Legends; the Yam'rii and Huk were brought into current canon through the Fantasy Flight Rise of the Separatists sourcebook in 2019.)

For all that fearsome history, not every Yam'rii is a slaver. Some leave Huk to work as bounty hunters, enforcers, or hired muscle, trading on the same patience and lethality that make their species so feared, and trading too against the assumption that any Yam'rii is one hungry step from violence. Kitik Keed'kak's quiet evening at Chalmun's cantina is a reminder that individuals wander far from the reputation their homeworld earned, though they rarely escape it.

In SWURPG, a Yam'rii is a frontline predator. Their +2 Strength and +2 Constitution make them durable, hard-hitting brawlers, and three traits stack on top of that: Natural Weapons give their clawed limbs a 1d4 slashing attack, Long Reach extends their threat to 10 feet (rare for a Medium creature), and a Chitinous Carapace grants a flat +1 to Armor Class from the hardened exoskeleton. Terrifying Presence leans into the fear they inspire, trading away Persuasion for Advantage on Intimidation. The −2 Charisma and the Limited Tech Adaptation trait (Disadvantage on Use Computer and Mechanics) frame them as social and technical outsiders, so a Yam'rii party member is best built as the muscle who closes distance fast and ends fights up close rather than the face or the slicer.

Yam’rii are tall, insectoid beings that resemble giant praying mantises. Standing between 1.9 and 2.3 meters on average, they possess long, segmented bodies protected by a hardened chitinous carapace. Their triangular heads sit atop elongated necks, with large forward-facing compound eyes that grant excellent depth perception and a distinctly predatory stare. Their upper limbs are long, multi-jointed, and end in sharp, clawed appendages designed for seizing prey and delivering powerful slashing strikes.

Their overall build is lean but deceptively strong, with spindly-looking limbs packed with coiled power. The carapace ranges in color from green to brown, sometimes mottled or patterned to blend with the forests of Huk. Their lower limbs are digitigrade, giving them a slightly hunched, stalking posture when they move at speed. Although they are roughly comparable to humanoids in mass—averaging around 75 kilograms—their proportions and movements are deeply alien, making many other species instinctively wary in their presence.

To outsiders, Yam’rii seem ruthless, predatory, and disturbingly comfortable with violence. Their cultural history of conquest, enslavement, and resource plunder has cemented the stereotype of the Yam’rii as brutal meat- and egg-eaters who see other species as either useful tools or future prey. This is not entirely unfair—on Huk, strength and domination are core values, and weakness is often punished swiftly and harshly.

However, Yam’rii do not see themselves as mindless monsters. They value discipline, hierarchy, and clear chains of authority. Strength, in their view, can take many forms: raw physical power, strategic brilliance, economic leverage, or political manipulation. A Yam’rii diplomat who outmaneuvers a rival without drawing a weapon is respected just as much as a warrior who tears through enemies on the battlefield. Their society rewards those who think three steps ahead and view every encounter as part of a larger game of predation and survival.

Socially, Yam’rii interaction is shaped by body language, claw positioning, head tilts, and subtle carapace clicks that other species often misread as threatening—even when the Yam’rii is attempting to be polite. Many speak Basic with a harsh, chittering, almost ghostly tone that can make even friendly conversation feel ominous. Those who choose to work within galactic law—merchants, bounty hunters, negotiators—often do so out of practicality rather than remorse, seeing cooperation as another kind of hunt where the prize is influence, credits, or information.