Voxyn

The sentient Yuuzhan Vong species were responsible for the creation of the voxyn. They achieved this through genetic crossbreeding between a fero xyn, a fearsome hunting creature from the Yuuzhan Vong's homeworld of Yuuzhan'tar, and a vornskr, a hound indigenous to the planet Myrkr. All voxyn, with the exception of the voxyn queen, shared identical physical characteristics, as they were all clones derived from the queen. The queen herself was the initial voxyn created by the Yuuzhan Vong. Voxyn cells were prone to rapid deterioration unless exposed to a specific nutrient found on Myrkr. Consequently, voxyn located elsewhere in the galaxy typically survived for no more than a few months after being released. While voxyn could lay eggs, these eggs were infertile. As such, the creatures lacked the ability to reproduce naturally, relying instead on Yuuzhan Vong cloning to maintain their population. As a voxyn's cells began to degrade, its scales would lose their color and flake off. The creature's movements would then become sluggish as its energy waned, and its eyes would grow cloudy.

Mature voxyn stood approximately one meter tall, reaching about the height of an average Human's waist. Their length exceeded four meters, and their appearance was reptilian. Their flattened heads featured a pair of oval yellow eyes and a broad snout, measuring over six inches in length and filled with fangs. Their slender bodies were covered in black or green scales and supported by eight clawed legs. Voxyn possessed exceptional eyesight in low-light conditions, capable of seeing twice as far as normal and distinguishing colors in dimly lit environments. Their torsos contained a gut, stomach, and a rib cage that provided protection for their internal organs. The voxyn body emitted heat, enabling tracking via the infrared spectrum. The paws of their legs were round, and their toe pads harbored hundreds of deadly retroviruses, carried within the green slime coating their claws.

A series of sensory bristles extended along the creature's spine, and they also possessed a whip-like tail tipped with a white barb. The tail was poisonous, a trait inherited from the vornskr. This poison induced swelling and reddening of the flesh for a period of one to six days in most creatures. The tail's barb could also deliver a neural shock. The sensory bristles along the spine were coated with a potent neurotoxin. According to the shapers responsible for designing the voxyn, the effects of this neurotoxin varied across species. Some affected individuals experienced convulsions followed by a perpetual sleep, while others gradually weakened over several hours before succumbing to respiratory or swallowing failure. Still others drowned in their own saliva.

Voxyn also possessed long, jade-colored, forked tongues and could project a stream of brown, acid-like saliva from their mouths via an efflux tube. This saliva was capable of causing fatal burns to a humanoid if it made contact with vital areas such as the face. Some voxyn exhibited drooling of this saliva even when not engaged in combat. They were also capable of emitting a sonic blast from their snouts, generating a compression wave that could temporarily impair hearing, induce nausea, and rupture eardrums. Voxyn blood was purple in color and, upon exposure to air, transformed into a neurotoxin with a smoky, ammonia-like odor. This neurotoxin had a detrimental effect on humanoid lungs, requiring over a day for complete recovery. Furthermore, voxyn were swift and agile on their feet, capable of leaping to considerable heights, and possessed the ability to swim in water. They could also remain submerged for extended periods of time, although the concussive force of a concussion grenade could stun them underwater, forcing them to surface.

Voxyn were specifically engineered to hunt Jedi, individuals sensitive to the Force. Consequently, they possessed the ability to sense Force-sensitives, including Jedi, through the Force—an ability shared with vornskrs. Unlike other Yuuzhan Vong–created organisms, voxyn could sense the Force, while Yuuzhan Vong and their creations were entirely devoid of the Force and unable to interact with it. Even when Force-sensitives attempted to diminish their presence in the Force, voxyn could still detect them, preventing Jedi from concealing themselves.

Jedi could sometimes perceive voxyn through the Force, registering them as a hungry or feral presence. Through the Force, voxyn could occasionally sense the emotions of Force-sensitives, and, on occasion, Force-sensitives could perceive aspects of voxyn beyond their hunger. However, voxyn could conceal their presence from Force-sensitives if they chose, preventing detection. Force-sensitives skilled with animals could sometimes influence voxyn via the Force, imparting ideas such as attacking their Yuuzhan Vong handlers, although this was a challenging feat.

These genetically engineered creatures exhibited remarkable durability and resilience, owing in part to their rapid healing capabilities. Voxyn could withstand being pinned beneath a metal bulkhead, even with a severely crushed torso. They could also endure the blast from thermal detonators and remain functional despite losing limbs or substantial portions of flesh. A Jedi's lightsaber, typically capable of cutting through most materials, encountered difficulty in severing a voxyn's foot, although it could still prove fatal. The creatures' scales could occasionally deflect blaster bolts. When exposed to decompression, voxyn could create scale cocoons, enabling them to survive for a limited time in vacuum by entering a state of deep hibernation. However, prolonged exposure to vacuum would result in freezing to death, with cell rupture throughout their bodies.

While classified as non-sentient, voxyn possessed considerable intelligence and inherent cunning. They demonstrated the capacity to activate the control stud of a lift tube for transportation and could sometimes sense impending traps, prompting caution. During their training, voxyn were instructed to avoid both triggered traps and hazardous elements such as fire, enhancing their effectiveness as hunters. However, they occasionally required guidance from their Yuuzhan Vong counterparts in unfamiliar environments, such as residential interiors. Voxyn exhibiting confusion in such situations were deemed useless by the Yuuzhan Vong. Voxyn learned from their mistakes, provided they survived their initial error, thereby improving their predatory skills. However, unlike the voxyn queen, her clones lacked the ingenuity to exploit their surroundings for personal advantage. Regarding temperament, Human Senator Viqi Shesh of the New Republic characterized voxyn as inherently vicious, deriving pleasure from inflicting harm.

Voxyn lacked a fixed habitat, as their Yuuzhan Vong creators on the Baanu Rass worldship instilled versatility in them, training them to hunt in virtually every conceivable habitat within the galaxy—the target of the Yuuzhan Vong invasion. Consequently, voxyn could thrive and hunt effectively on a wide array of worlds, including Kuat, Chiron, and Corellia. They were also comfortable hunting in proximity to mechanical objects, despite the Yuuzhan Vong's general aversion to technology, as voxyn were conditioned from birth to hunt Jedi anywhere. These carnivorous creatures consumed ysalamir, humanoids, and even solitary Yuuzhan Vong. Food consumed by voxyn was eventually returned to the environment as droppings. Feral voxyn aboard the Baanu Rass established lairs in caves near the most abundant food source, which was the city inhabited by slaves on the worldship.

Similar to the fero xyn, voxyn could be controlled by Yuuzhan Vong warriors and would obey their keepers' commands. All voxyn, excluding the voxyn queen, were trained to stalk Jedi. The queen herself was trained to prioritize self-preservation, ensuring the survival of the voxyn species. Typically, they hunted in packs of four when tracking Jedi or Force-sensitives for the Yuuzhan Vong. Warriors maintained sufficient control over voxyn to command them to remain stationary while the Yuuzhan Vong tortured other individuals using the creatures' various dangerous abilities, such as their saliva. Specialized Yuuzhan Vong, known as voxyn handlers, typically accompanied voxyn packs, and the beasts would tolerate the leashes that the handlers sometimes used, though they would still snap at the handlers if they came too close. If a voxyn was near its prey, it would sometimes break free from the handlers to attack its target.

When searching for the trail of a Jedi or other Force-sensitive, voxyn typically swept their heads from side to side and sometimes howled upon initially sensing a Jedi or other Force-user. While hunting for Jedi, voxyn would occasionally circle non–Force-sensitives to investigate them and would cock their heads at loud noises. Voxyn also licked the air with their tongues while on the hunt and would keep their eyes fixed on the floor while their tails waved about if they had located a Force-sensitive and were following it. The creatures were persistent in their hunting, and Jedi found them difficult to deter from their tails. Additionally, voxyn continued to hunt their prey even after sustaining heavy injuries, such as the loss of limbs. Hunting Force-sensitives filled voxyn with energy, and the listless voxyn who were nearing the end of their life-spans would shake off their lethargy when they sensed prey. When entering combat with a Force-sensitive or other enemy, voxyn liked to open with a sonic screech over any other attack. Occasionally, voxyn used their acid to melt holes in which to hide.

In the event of the Yuuzhan Vong losing a voxyn, the creature could survive independently, becoming feral. Even feral voxyn would attack and harass Force-sensitives, even without being ordered to do so. Although they were able to create a cocoon to survive the depressurization of vacuum, voxyn sometimes panicked when they suddenly lost the ability to breathe air.

For a reason that the shapers who created the voxyn could not understand, voxyn hated ysalamir, creatures that were able to repel the Force. Voxyn lost their natural intelligence when ysalamiri were near and would try to eat the creatures; during experiments in which voxyn's legs were bound to the ground with blorash jelly and a ysalamir was placed out of reach in front of them, voxyn would sometimes tear off their own legs to get at the other creature. When certain voxyn could not reach the ysalamir to eat it, they would eventually resort to killing it. Some Yuuzhan Vong warriors gave ysalamiri to voxyn as treats.

Even though voxyn were sterile and could not reproduce, some feral voxyn still created nests and guarded them in a territorial style, bringing in corpses to the nests to feed the young that they would never have. Voxyn would not leave their nests unless they felt threatened and defended the nests from both other voxyn and beings not from their species, though nesting voxyn were more inclined to stay in their nest than attack a passerby unless otherwise provoked. In some instances, voxyn would starve themselves to death rather than leave the nest to hunt. While guarding a nest, agitated voxyn would ruffle their neck scales and scratch the ground. Those voxyn without nests became excited if they found fresh corpses while hunting that could potentially nourish their young, and they would drag them back to a voxyn nesting area.

In the year 25 ABY, the sentient Yuuzhan Vong, who were gifted in the use and creation of biotechnology, invaded the galaxy of the New Republic. In what came to be known as the Yuuzhan Vong War, the invading species came into conflict with the Force-using Jedi Knights and, seeing them as worthy adversaries and thus a problem, began working on a project designed to destroy them, of which Master Shaper Yal Phaath was placed in charge. Shortly after the Yuuzhan Vong captured the Jedi–controlled moon of Yavin 4, the Yuuzhan Vong shapers became aware of the vornskrs of the planet Myrkr, who were able to detect the Force.

The project was subsequently moved to Myrkr, and a decaying worldship, the Baanu Rass, orbiting the planet was used as the base of operations. After traitorous New Republic Senator Viqi Shesh provided the Yuuzhan Vong shapers with multiple vornskrs, Phaath and his shapers began to attempt to shape the vornskr into something that could hunt Jedi for them. The initial experiments with just vornskr genetic material proved only partially successful, as the resulting beast was not ferocious enough. However, after the genes of the fero xyn were added, as the fero xyn was the closest genetically to the vornskr, the perfect beast was created after a few failed attempts: the voxyn queen. However, because she was unable to reproduce and the shapers could not replicate their success with the queen, Phaath and his shapers were forced to clone the beast to be able to supply pack upon pack of voxyn. In cloning the voxyn queen, voxyn-growing vines submerged in a hydroponic pool were used to create immature voxyn.

After creation, voxyn were taught to hunt Jedi on special training courses on the Baanu Rass that prepared the creatures for the galaxy at large. Numerous different training facilities, each shaped to look like a different location in which voxyn could hunt Jedi, conditioned the creatures, and the Yuuzhan Vong used captured Force-sensitives to help train the new beasts. In addition to training the voxyn how to hunt almost anywhere, the Yuuzhan Vong added hazards and traps to the courses to teach the beasts how to avoid them. Some of these traps just triggered alarms, but a few killed or injured the voxyn who triggered them. Besides serving as the site where new voxyn were trained to hunt, the Baanu Rass was also the location of the shaper grashal structure, which was the home of the voxyn queen, who had to remain near Myrkr so that it could have access to the nutrients that kept it alive. Much of the Yuuzhan Vong's future plans relied on the success of the voxyn cloning program.

By 27 ABY, voxyn had been introduced to the galaxy and were deployed on a multitude of worlds, ranging from Corellia to Kuat. Typically used in conjunction with a group of Yuuzhan Vong warriors, voxyn searched for the presence of Jedi and other Force-sensitives on planets, moons, and refugee starships, such as the Nebula Chaser, after the Yuuzhan Vong–allied Peace Brigade organization became aware that the Jedi commonly used those vessels to transport themselves. Voxyn were quite successful in hunting and killing Force-sensitives, and many Jedi fell to the beasts, including the Chironian Lusa and the Human Eelysa. There was even a failed attempt to smuggle voxyn onto the New Republic's capital of Coruscant so that those hunters might be able to slay the Jedi leaders located there. Because the voxyn could not reproduce on their own, a small contingent of Yuuzhan Vong warriors attempted to get voxyn to mate with vornskr on Myrkr.

The threat of the voxyn drew the attention of the New Jedi Order. After the Jedi discovered that the Yuuzhan Vong relied on the voxyn queen to create more voxyn and that the queen's current location was near Myrkr, a strike team was made to deal with the voxyn. The strike team, led by Jedi Anakin Solo, managed to commandeer the Yuuzhan Vong frigate Exquisite Death and took it to the Baanu Rass worldship. After inserting itself aboard the worldship, the Jedi team was harried by both the pack of voxyn that accompanied Executor Nom Anor and his warriors as they tried to stop the team and the feral voxyn that dwelt on the Baanu Rass.

Despite taking heavy casualties—the engagement saw the death of Anakin Solo and the capture of his brother, Jacen—the Jedi team managed to slay the voxyn queen. In addition, Anor failed to prevent the destruction of organic tissue samples that had been taken from the voxyn queen, which would have allowed the Yuuzhan Vong to clone more voxyn. With the queen destroyed, no more voxyn could be created to hunt and kill Jedi, and the short life span of voxyn meant that the species' numbers began to dwindle.

Following the demise of the voxyn queen on Myrkr, Jaina Solo, a member of the strike team, commemorated the event by painting a pair of running voxyn on her X-wing starfighter. This occurred during her combat engagements on the planet Borleias. Her intention was to amplify the confusion of the Yuuzhan Vong forces opposing her by enhancing her image as the Trickster Goddess. Despite the declining numbers and weakening condition of the voxyn, the Yuuzhan Vong persisted in utilizing the remaining creatures to track down Force-sensitive individuals, recognizing their continued threat. After the Yuuzhan Vong seized Coruscant from the New Republic, Warmaster Tsavong Lah deployed a squad of warriors along with a surviving voxyn pack to eliminate a group of Jedi who had infiltrated the planet's defenses. However, Lord Nyax, a powerful practitioner of the dark side of the Force lurking in the lower levels of Coruscant, killed all the voxyn in the pack, along with many warriors.

As the voxyn population dwindled, the Yuuzhan Vong began to value them more highly, making efforts to protect them whenever feasible. By 28 ABY, only six voxyn were still alive, all under Lah's control. The warmaster accompanied these voxyn when he led several battlegroups to confront New Republic forces in the Deep Core Treskov system. However, the battle within the Treskov system was a carefully orchestrated trap devised by the New Republic's strategist Gial Ackbar. As the battle turned against Lah and his forces, he retreated with his voxyn and his Battle Group of Yun-Yuuzhan to the natural satellite of Ebaq 9. In a desperate attempt, the warmaster aimed to hunt down the Jedi within the New Republic's base located there, deploying his voxyn and troops on the satellite.

During combat within the base's tunnels, Jedi, specifically Jacen and Jaina Solo, killed three of the voxyn. The remaining voxyn were killed when the Fosh Vergere crashed a captured RZ-1 A-wing interceptor into the base's main shaft head. The resulting impact and subsequent explosion evacuated all the air from the tunnels, killing the last voxyn and nearly all the warriors present. Soon after, Jaina's lightsaber ended Lah's life. Consequently, the last of the voxyn were eliminated.

Voxyn were introduced in Star by Star, a book in The New Jedi Order series by Troy Denning, published in 2001. The voxyn were central to the plot and indirectly caused Anakin Solo's death, a key character in the series. Voxyn later appeared in other New Jedi Order books, including Enemy Lines II: Rebel Stand, by Aaron Allston, and Destiny's Way, by Walter Jon Williams. They also briefly appeared in the web enhancement Mission to Myrkr, by J.D. Wiker.

There are some continuity issues among the various sources that mention or feature voxyn. Destiny's Way claims that only six voxyn were not on Myrkr when the rest were destroyed. However, since voxyn other than those six were on Coruscant and killed by Nyax after Myrkr, this article assumes that Destiny's Way is incorrect. The New Jedi Order Sourcebook also incorrectly states that voxyn were half the length of the voxyn queen, who was 4.6 meters long. This would make voxyn only 2.3 meters long, while they were actually over four meters long, according to Star by Star. Furthermore, some sources, such as the 2007 novel Legacy of the Force: Inferno, suggest that voxyn were the result of breeding between the fero xyn and the vornskr. However, because Mission to Myrkr specifically states that voxyn were created through genetic manipulation, this article considers Inferno and similar sources to be incorrect. The portrayal of voxyn also varies across sources: the Japanese cover of Star by Star depicts them as more lizard-like, while sources like The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia portray them as more hound-like.