Anx (Jedi Renaissance)

Anx were a race of sentient reptiles from the terrestrial world of in the  of the galaxy. Evolving from grazing ornithopods, the Anx formed society in the wake of the Infinite Empire's collapse. Discovered by scouts from the Galactic Republic in the aftermath of the Great Hyperspace War, the Anx joined the Republic and quickly assimilated with galactic society and culture. As the Jedi Order established outposts on nearby Dantooine, the Anx began to send their Forceful children to the Jedi. Anx Space continued to thrive despite being located outside of the civilized galaxy, with most of the surrounding systems remaining untamed and unexplored until after the Clone Wars.

Biology and appearance
Anx were a sentient species that belonged to the ornithischia order of reptile. Anx evolved from massive grazing beasts which foraged on all four legs and ran on their hind legs. Once achieving sentience, Anx were bipedal beings with a bilateral symmetry, having a front and a back end, as well as an upside and downside. Their body comprised a head, neck, torso, four limbs, and a large tail. The upper limbs, called arms, ended in hands which had five fingers each; the lower ones, called legs, ended in feet with three digits, two in the front and two in the back. Anx fingers had multiple points of articulation, and one of them was an opposable thumb that allowed for fine manipulation. Because of Gravlex Med's higher-than-average gravity, the Anx appeared stooped to other species. Atop their hunched torso, Anx possessed a forward extending neck which supported a head with a large crest. The crest acted as a sinus cavity and had scales which changed in reflection of their moods. Because of the size of their sinuses, Anx had a low rumbling voice which allowed them to communicate across distances of several kilometers. Their faces consisted of two close-set eyes above a mouth filled with grinding teeth, as the Anx were herbivores. Their height and long necks aided in reaching the bountiful branches of Gravlex Med's chiliox trees. Possessing three stomachs, Anx chewed their cud as part of their digestion. To compensate for poor eyesight, Anx had an acute sense of smell. Like most other reptilian species Anx had no body hair, as they were cold-blooded animals. This meant that their body temperature was dependent of the environment, causing Anx to sun-bathe in order to remain active and not sluggish. To compensate for their forward leaning head, the Anx had a large, muscular tail which dragged behind them as they walked and maintained their balance. Anx had two sexes: male and female, with the latter being distinguished by their dull skin coloring. Despite overall physiological uniformity, Anx varied greatly in appearance, and no two individuals looked exactly alike. One of the diversity factors was skin and scale coloring, which ranged from spotted, shaded, or striped patterns. In addition to those varied skin colors, their eyes came in shades of blue, brown, orange, and green.

Anx were sexually-reproduced animals, requiring the mating of an opposite sex couple to produce offspring. While developing as a clutch of 2-3 eggs inside their mother, the eggs gave her a distinctive "baby bump". Being reptiles, the Anx females laid the eggs after five months, one at a time. This was then followed by an incubation period of two months wherein the eggs ere kept warm and safe until they hatched. During their first months of existence, Anx hatchlings were dependent on the parents for nourishment from the high treetops and remained so until they began to grow in their adolescent stage. According to the government of Anx Space, the legal transition from childhood to adulthood was only attained after sixteen standard years of life when the Anx could finally reach the treetops on their own. Anx had an average lifespan of 75 standard years. Those who were keenly attuned to the Force could live up to 200. At any rate, individuals past the age of 110 were considered to have reached an age worthy of veneration. Natural signs of aging in Anx included the dulling of the color of skin and scales, the wearing of teeth, weak knees, and the hollowing of the eyes.

Society and culture
Gravlex Med's native Anx people cultivated a rich cultural and social history after developing sentience. Beginning as tribal groups of thirty Anx called valox, each valox formed a qinoxin, or tribal home, within a massive mound of earth and chewed plant matter. These large structures served as a permanent home for the valox for generations, and as the population grew as many as ten sub-tribes, or envalox were formed and were sent out to form a new neighboring qinoxin as part as a satellite of the core qinoxin. As more and more envalox formed their own qinoxin in the same region, the Anx were forced to begin cultivating their own food source as they began to overtax the supply of chiliox trees. Evolving into an agrarian society, the Anx began establishing massive plantations of chiliox trees around their qinoxin, with dirt roads spanning the kilometers between other qinoxin of the same valox. Each of the central qinoxin of the many valox that covered the planet eventually became home to a governing body known as Siminiate, a council of ten Anx that represented the interests of the envalox and sat alongside the Anxan Haat, or chieftain. Under the guidance of the Siminiate each valox became an independent nation, and as the industrial revolution allowed global trade to flourish, an age of great development occurred on Gravlex Med. After millennia of social and technological development, the Anx eventually formed a grand council known as the Penna Siminiate that acted as a world government led by the Anxan Haat from all the world's independent nations. Working together, the Anx were able to develop massive cannons from which they launched spacecraft into space for short-distance interstellar travel. With this technology, the Anx swiftly settled the two other habitable planets in their star system before setting out into neighboring systems of the Raioballo sector. Governance of Anx Space fell to the Ulinn Siminiate, which was made up of each planet's Penna Siminiate. After joining the Galactic Republic, the Anx assimilated quickly with galactic society, sending representatives of Anx Space to major worlds within the Republic to begin forming a presence amid the Republic's population centers.

The Anx all spoke a common language among themselves, though regional dialects existed across Anx Space. Because of the structure of their sinuses in their crest, Anx spoke Basic in a very low frequency, causing discomfort for some. Education throughout Anx Space was standardized and government run, allowing all Anx access to elementary and advanced education if they so chose. On their homeworld, Anx commoners seldom covered themselves in fabrics, wearing fabric vests or satchels if the need to carry items arose. When out in the greater galaxy, Anx commoners wore sleeved coverings similar to other humanoids as a means of modesty, while the diplomats and nobles often draped themselves in long flowing robes in bright earth tones. The economy of Anx Space was socialist in nature, encouraging hard work and productiveness, as well as a rich culture of art and music. Naming conventions of the Anx consisted of a first and last name, both consisting of strong consonant sounds and long vowels.

History
By the 23,000 BrSs, Anx Space was a flourishing society of peaceful worlds governed from Gravlex Med by the Ulinn Siminiate, which was made up of each planet's Penna Siminiate. Consisting of planets across six star systems, the Anx had no trouble until an expedition to Shusugaunt led to tragedy. Exploring the oceanic world, the Anx explorers encountered the world's native population amid a violent civil war. Before the Anx divers could return to their ship, the Shusugaunt killed them and took the ships. Forcing captive pilots to launch the ships back into space using new self-propelled engines, the Shusugaunt made their way back to Gravlex Med where they unleashed a wave of death and blood on the unprepared capital world of the sector-wide kingdom. Wiping out much of the population and briefly conquering the world using guerrilla tactics, the Shusugaunt were eventually wiped out as their bodies became sluggish in the high-gravity atmosphere of Gravlex Med. With the Shusugaunt invaders wiped out to the last warrior, the Anx avoided the Shusugaunt homeworld for centuries until peaceful negotiations could be arranged between the Ulinn Siminiate and their planetary leaders. In the wake of the invasion, the Anx leadership became far more cautious when dealing with outsiders and alien races.

Anx Jedi
The first Anx joined the Jedi Order soon after their discovery by the Republic in the wake of the Great Hyperspace War. Because Anx Space bordered on Dantooine's space, several Forceful Anx found their way to the clandestine academy there. The Anx were strong and imposing, giving them a clear advantage in combat in terms of sheer strength, but also presented a larger target for opponents. Many Anx served the Order as Guardians, using their physical skill to excel as Peacekeepers, Security Force members, and lightsaber virtuosos. Others became Consulars, contemplative and thoughtful, focusing on their Force skills and excelling in the arts of research, diplomacy, and education. Like all species which served in the Order, Anx were represented in the Grand Temple on Ossus. Within the main entrance of the Temple, known as the Hall of Meditating Masters, a larger-than-life bronzium statue was erected in dedication to all Anx who had and who would serve. The kneeling likeness of Battlemaster Skarch Vaunk served as a reminder to all that size did not necessary limit agility, speed, and precision. In the Sword of the Jedi tower, the lightsabers of all Jedi were placed in memory of fallen warriors and scholars alike. The Edifice of Heroes memorialized past Anx while standing ready to adorn its halls with paintings, monuments, or holodepictions of all future members of their species.