Zap'anai are thin and muscular humanoids. Their skin is made up of tens of thousands of tiny black scales, giving them a reptilian look. Their heads are mostly humanoid in shape, though their skin is covered in plate-like scales, larger than those covering most of the rest of their bodies, instead of smooth skin like a human's face. A majority of zap'anai are born with yellow hued eyes, though having different colored eyes is not entirely uncommon.

The zap'anai have the ability to enter a state of torpor, a type of short hibernation, and usually use this instead of sleep because they can rest and regain their strength in a shorter amount of time. However, it can take a considerable amount of time to wake from this state, ranging from thirty seconds to several minutes.

Because of their method of rest, zap'anai are rarely loners. It is simply a fact of life in their society that a zap'ana should always have a companion to watch over him as he rests, and they therefore almost always live in pairs. Zap'anai are usually easily trusting of others of their kind; few would dare betray their own, as it is never known when he must rely on a stranger as a sekan, or "night watcher".

As far as their history has been traced so far, the zap'anai originated on the strange planet of Gekel. The majority of their species stuck to the swamps in the lower hemisphere, but several tribes did wander into and eventually prosper in the volcanic north. Many people claim that the zap'anai, even those born abroad, give off the faint scent of sulfur from their homelands, though there is no technical reason for this to be true.

Though the zap'anai are still technologically young, having only come into advanced space travel within the last century, they have quickly adapted and even surpassed most of the other species in the universe. They are very quick learners and very mechanically minded.

Also of note is that the zap'anai's black skin allows them to blend into shadows much easier than other species, and their physiology allows them an inate agility and quickness that has contributed to the stereotype that they are a race of assassins. While having no greater propensity to enter such a line of work than any other species, those who do choose such a path tend to excel at it.