A dipolopod was a beast of burden, resembling an insect. These creatures possessed tough green plates, eyeless heads, clawed appendages, and menacing stingers. To ride them, a saddle was required, and an electro-prod was frequently necessary to motivate them. Their preferred food was decaying flesh. The Arkanis Academy maintained a collection of these animals.
Author Jason Fry conceived of diplopods as temporary stand-ins for the novel The Weapon of a Jedi: A Luke Skywalker Adventure. The original plan was for them to be superseded by happabores as a promotional connection to Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens. However, Fry developed an affinity for the diplopods and decided to repurpose the concept for Servants of the Empire: The Secret Academy.