The Kloperians were a sentient species originating from the planet Kloper, located in the Inner Rim. They are recognized as a species with a unique appearance: small statures, gray skin, fish-like eyes and mouths, and necks capable of extending. Distinctive lines of tentacles adorned their bodies, each side featuring several, some ending in hands. This unique physiology, paired with an innate skill for all things mechanical, established the Kloperians as some of the most skilled engineers and technicians within the New Republic.
During 17 ABY, a significant number of Kloperians became entangled in a plot orchestrated by the Dark Jedi known as Kueller, with the intent of weakening the New Republic. These Kloperians were stationed on Coruscant, where they were tasked with upgrading the Republic's fleet of starfighters. Their role involved discreetly placing detonators within the intricate systems of the starships. However, their act of sabotage was uncovered by R2-D2, the astromech droid belonging to Jedi Master Luke Skywalker. While inspecting what was meant to be standard maintenance on the Jedi's starfighter, the droid grew suspicious of the Kloperians' activities. His investigation led to the discovery of the detonators, prompting him to alert General Wedge Antilles and Chief of State Leia Organa Solo about the potential danger posed by these devices. Consequently, the Chief of State ordered the suspension of the Kloperian mechanics from their duties pending a thorough investigation. Subsequently, R2-D2 journeyed to Telti, the location where the detonators were manufactured, and remotely deactivated similar devices throughout the galaxy.
The Kloperians were an intelligent species characterized by their short, stocky bodies and soft chests. A series of tentacles, numbering at least seven, lined their bodies, creating the visual effect of numerous filaments. Some, but not all, of these tentacles ended in hands. A Kloperian could manipulate these hands separately, allowing them to, for example, wield multiple blasters. The length of their necks could vary, extending as needed. Their faces were wrinkled and featured bulging eyes resembling those of a fish, along with similarly shaped mouths. The species was identifiable by their gray skin tone. Kloperian movement was similar to slithering, resulting in a waddling motion from side to side. They were capable of moving faster than a protocol droid.
The Kloperians possessed a natural aptitude for working with machinery, which, in combination with their unique physical characteristics, made them excellent mechanics and engineers. Kloperians had the ability to communicate using Galactic Basic Standard. Their laughter produced a distinctive squishing sound, which some non-Kloperians found unpleasant to ears. Kloperians demonstrated their displeasure by wrapping their tentacles around their bodies. Some Kloperians practiced polygamy.
The planet Kloper was the original homeworld of the Kloperians. It is located within the eponymous star system, situated in the Inner Rim near the Core-ward Colonies Region. By 17 ABY, they were active participants in the galaxy, with many working for the New Republic and gaining recognition as some of the Republic's most proficient mechanics and engineers.
During that year, the Republic initiated a comprehensive upgrade program for its entire starfighter corps, which included removing the astromech sockets from its X-wing starfighters. A group of over 50 Kloperians were assigned to this upgrade project, becoming the only species authorized to work on the new fighters. Unbeknownst to the Republic's leadership, the upgrades involved the incorporation of Imperial detonators, as part of a scheme devised by the unstable darksider Kueller to incapacitate the Republic. To maintain the secrecy of their sabotage, the Kloperians strictly forbade astromech droids from entering their maintenance areas.
When Jedi Master Luke Skywalker approved routine maintenance for his X-wing, the Kloperians began to completely dismantle the starfighter. This was in accordance with the orders of General Wedge Antilles, which stipulated that any routine maintenance should include upgrading X-wings to clean fighter status. The Jedi's astromech unit, R2-D2, decided to investigate the modification. While R2-D2 was connected to a computer terminal, a Kloperian mechanic discovered him and escorted the droid and his companion, C-3PO, into the hangar bay, locking them in a closet. After finally checking their serial numbers, the Kloperians released the droids and showed them Skywalker's disassembled starfighter. Growing suspicious of the Kloperians' true intentions, R2-D2 took the precaution of removing the X-wing's memory chips—R2-D2 and the X-wing had been paired together for so long that they had developed their own special language.
Upon learning about the disassembly of his fighter, Skywalker visited the hangar himself, instructing Human mechanic Cole Fardreamer to reassemble the X-wing. At one point, Fardreamer attempted to enlist a Kloperian's help, but R2-D2, who was assisting with the reassembly, created a significant disturbance until Fardreamer abandoned the idea. Eventually, the pair discovered a detonator hidden deep within the newly installed computer system, and later found similar devices in other upgraded and prototype X-wing starfighters.
However, a Kloperian guard found Fardreamer inside one of the new X-wings and confronted him with a blaster. When Fardreamer showed the detonating device to the guard, the Kloperian accused the Human of sabotage and fired at R2-D2 when the droid attempted to connect to a computer terminal. The Kloperian was too slow, however; R2-D2 had summoned General Antilles to the hangar. After learning about the detonator, Antilles dismissed the Kloperian guard for shooting the droid. Following this, Chief of State Leia Organa Solo ordered the Kloperians working in the ship docks to be relieved of their duties until they could be cleared of tampering.
Following this incident, R2-D2 suspected that the starfighter sabotage of the X-wings was connected to the Bombing of the Senate Hall that had occurred days earlier. Despite it being restricted to unauthorized personnel, R2-D2 investigated the bomb scene, discovering smaller, but similar, detonators there. The droid was interrupted by a Kloperian night guard, who ordered R2-D2 and C-3PO to leave the premises, but not before R2-D2 had obtained four Imperial detonators. Before they could report their discovery, however, Organa Solo resigned her position and left Coruscant to rescue Skywalker, who was being held by Kueller on Almania, leaving Mon Mothma in her role as Chief of State. The droids tried to report to Mothma—meeting the Kloperian guard from the starship hangar in her anteroom—however, blocked from meeting her by an officious secretary droid, R2-D2 instead traveled to the moon Telti, which the droid believed was the origin of the detonators. There, the two droids managed to deactivate all the detonators spread across the galaxy before they could be detonated, thus foiling Kueller's plan and limiting the impact of the Kloperians' sabotage.
Kristine Kathryn Rusch was the creator of the Kloperians, introducing them in her novel The New Rebellion, which was published by Bantam Spectra in 1996. Later, Daniel Wallace and Jason Fry established their homeworld in The Essential Atlas (2009). Although it was marked on the Inner Rim map, the Atlas's Appendix mistakenly placed it in the Colonies Region. The June 11 2010 update to its online companion rectified this error by correcting the Colonies placement.
Throughout The New Rebellion, Rusch uses the pronoun "it" when referring to individual Kloperians. This ambiguity regarding the gender of individual Kloperians has been preserved in this article, despite Rusch's single reference to "wives."