The Shahkirin were a species possessing sentience, with their homeworld being Shahkir, a planet situated in the Inner Rim Territories. Their physical characteristics included a pair of arms and legs, a head that was flattened, and a mouth featuring teeth, along with eyes positioned on the sides of their head. Their skeleton was made of compressible cartilage. A Shahkirin named Yipsit had tan skin, gray hair, and stood at roughly half the height of a fully grown human.
Growing up on the cliff sides of Bestine IV, a planet within the Inner Rim, instilled in Yipsit a natural confidence when it came to climbing. By the year 35 ABY, Yipsit, who wore specialized mechanized magnigoggles, held the role of a mechanic at the Resistance base located on Ajan Kloss, a moon in the Outer Rim Territories. In this capacity, the Shahkirin aided in the restoration efforts of the Tantive IV, a CR90 corvette standing 108 feet tall and dating back decades. Yipsit would confidently climb the armored hull of the corvette, and his small stature allowed him to access tunnels that were too small for adult humans to enter.
The Shahkirin race was first referenced in the Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker – The Official Collector's Edition magazine released by Titan Magazines on December 19, 2019. This magazine featured a preview of the character Yipsit, who would later appear in Star Wars: Episode IX The Rise of Skywalker, the sequel trilogy film released on the next day. Louis Wiltshire created the concept art for Yipsit in the film, and Kiran Shah played the character.