Pyn'gani

Pyn'gani were a Near-Human race or else Human civilization from Polus. To protect them from the extreme cold, their cities were protected by heat generators. The Pyn'gani played a major role in creating carbon freezing, and mining produced a large proportion of income for Polus. The Pyn'gani were also excellent at creating carbonite weaponry to disable vehicles.

Behind the scenes
It is unclear if the Pyn'gani were merely baseline Humans who lived on Polus or a near-Human race differentiated there. No external differences were apparent, and no internal differences have been specified (but are plausible). The Human populations of most planets are given in the game's guides as "Humans" whereas the population of Polus is given as "Pyn'gani," which may indicate they were not baseline Humans; however, they MAY be baseline, since the Human population of Naboo is listed as "Naboo" rather than "Humans."

The Pyn'gani are also one of the species the Zann Consortium could enslave in the expansion of Empire At War - Empire at War: Forces of Corruption. This would make them the only "human" species that could be enslaved (if, indeed they are even human). Unlike most types of slaves, who fire various types of blasters (with the exception of the Geonosians, who fire sonic energy), the Pyn'gani fire an unusual type of carbonite weapon that inflicts very little damage, but will stun the target for several seconds. No other unit in the game fires such a weapon.

It may also be noted that in the original game, the Pyn'gani were an indigenous species that would attack any faction (having the unique faction color of white, rather than orange - which was usually used as a representation of the hostile natives types, such as rancors or tusken raiders). In the expansion, however, the map of Polus was changed, and the Pyn'gani were no longer present (though some of their structures were still present in the top left corner of the map on an island with a shield generator). This left the Pyn'gani slave units as the only Pyn'gani that could be seen in-game in the expansion.

Due to their clothing and facial features shown in Empire At War, the Pyn'gani bear a striking resemblance of the Jedi Master Echuu Shen-Jon.

It is likely that the cut-content Killer Penguin model from Empire At War was originally intended to be used for the Pyn'gani. Why this was not the case remains uncertain.

Appearances

 * Darth Bane: Rule of Two
 * Star Wars: Empire at War
 * Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption

Pyn'gani