Xel'Naga
The Xel'Naga are an elder alien race that features in Starcraft.
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History
The Xel'Naga were an ancient extraterrestrial species that were the first known intelligent life forms born that emerged from the Void itself. Their emergence in the cosmos saw them as being incredibly long lived yet not immortal beings who would take on a physical form to enter the universe as they seeded it with life. Thus, they embarked on a grand purpose at the start of the universes creation where they became shepherds of what they deemed to be the Infinite Cycle. This saw them cultivating life to bring about the emergence of two races of beings with one being purity of essence whilst the other would be the purity of form. The union of these two races would see them ascend and become into a god-like form and thus perpetuate their life cycle as their form of reproduction. The Infinite Cycle had been repeated many times across the eons and universes by the ancient Xel'Naga. However, this eventually provoked discontent from some of their number who came to resent being uplifted into their god-like forms. This dissident faction saw this reproduction method as being horrid as it relied on the conflict of others for the benefit of their race. They came to be led by a powerful Xel'Naga known as Amon where they sought to undo the Infinite Cycle and purge the universe of their creation whereupon they believed they could herald a new perfect universe that was free from the strife of the cycle. In the current universe, the Xel'Naga came to the Milky Way Galaxy from beyond where they were held as the ultimate stage of evolution who were involved in the creation and tending of lesser races. Through the use of Khaydarian Crystals, they came to carefully and indirectly steer the delicate evolutionary processes of budding races for countless years whereby detailed genetic history of these species were kept by them. During this time, their experiments produced many intriguing results including some unique mutations but such species always fell short of their expectations. At some point, they decided to slumber and await for life to produce the purity of essence and form that would awaken them with them assembling the Keystone to serve as a guide for these prospective candidates. Thus, they sequestered themselves on their home of Ulnar located in the Altarian Rift as they slumbered within the Chamber of Ascension. Amon and his followers used this as an opportunity to conduct their own machinations as they departed Ulnar in order to begin their experiments to create the two desired purities among races in the galaxy. Millennia ago, they came to the Xel'Naga engineered world of Aiur where they conducted their evolutionary experiments on a species native to the planet. On this world, they discovered a psionic hunter race that displayed amazing strength, speed and resilience. These Xel'Naga took this to be a sign of purity of form with the species also possessing a unique psionic link. They were deemed a successful achievement of their purity of form experiments who were named the Protoss whose name meant the Firstborn. These Xel'Naga came to care for the Protoss and eventually revealed themselves to their creations when they were deemed ready with the site where they first set foot on the planet being marked by a Temple that had been constructed over a nexus of cosmic energy. At first, the Protoss were united as they became fascinated by their creators who were deemed their 'gods' and learnt much from them. However, in time, splits came in their civilization as tribes began to form who struggled on decisions to make as a people over themselves and their creators. The Xel'Naga had attempted to unite them as a single faction but the splintering of the tribes caused them to further distance themselves from one another. Such was the extremity of this severance that it caused their psionic link to begin to disappear with the Xel'Naga coming to believe that they had pushed their creations too far with them departing Aiur as they had become disappointed in their perceived failure. A faction of Protoss were taken by Amon who became his trusted disciples known as the Tal'darim whilst those that were left behind on Aiur turned on one another leading to a turbulent period in their races history known as the Aeon of Strife that lasted for hundreds of years.
After rejecting them, Amon and his forces decided to continue their experiments but this time in bringing about the emergence of creatures that were purity of essence. Their travels led them deep in the centre of the galaxy where they came upon the planet of Zerus that was home to primitive creatures known as the Zerg. They witnessed these creatures being able to consume other organisms and absorb their essence whereupon they rapidly evolved themselves to become stronger as a result. While having no ability to affect their physical surroundings, the Zerg had just the traits the Xel'Naga were looking for: genetic versatility and psionic sensitivity. They nurtured these creatures, allowing them to affect their surroundings in almost parasitic ways. Eventually, they began infesting the creatures of the planet, turning them into monstrosities. The Zerg spread rapidly across the planet, infesting or slaying every living lifeform on the surface. In addition to this, they would absorb the creature into their gene pool, allowing the Zerg to replicate and then duplicate them, fuelling their rapid growth. The Xel'Naga realized their mistake with the Protoss, and, instead of revealing themselves, created something to speak for them and contain their collected instincts and sentience. The Overmind was created in the Xel'Naga's fashion to watch over the swarm. The Xel'Naga wanted to centralize the intelligence in the Overmind as opposed to the entire species, like they did with the Protoss. Meanwhile, the formation of the unifying Khala among the Protoss drew the attention of the rest of the Xel'Naga on Ulnar who awoke from their slumber. This led to them departing their world in search for their rogue kin leading to them arriving on Zerus. Upon arriving, a war broke out between the two factions with Amon unleashing the Zerg Swarm who consumed a fraction of his enemies. The Overmind plotted to destroy its creators and spread across the galaxy thus launching a surprise attack against the Xel'Naga in orbit where they wiped out most of the race's Worldships. Amon's body was destroyed during this time and the Xel'Naga returned to Ulnar though the renegade member of their kind had instigated his plans in corrupting the Infinite Cycle by setting off events to bring about the emergence of the Hybrids which would become corrupted versions of the Xel'Naga. This plan saw the Zerg under the direction of the Overmind fell under Amon's mandate to seek out the Protoss with them departing Zerus en masse as they searched the stars for their quarry.
Overview
To the Protoss, they were referred to as as the Ihan-rii and were worshipped as gods by their kind.
As creatures of the Void, the destruction of their physical forms simply led to their essence returning to their extra-dimensional realm where they worked to reconstitute themselves.
Technologically, the Xel'Naga had an understanding of science that far outstripped other races. Their knowledge led to them determining that energy, essence and information were all one and the same with it being mutable allowing them to convert material between these states with ease.
It was claimed by the Zerg that the Xel'Naga had used the Argus Stone to create entire races.
They were known to had created massive interstellar spacecraft known as Worldships capable of landing on planets and orbiting them.
Members
- Amon :
- Ouros : the last of the surviving Xel'Naga that opposed Amon who was imprisoned in the Void but managed to use of a projection of Tassadar to summon aid whereupon he merged his essence with Sarah Kerrigan to transform her into a Xel'Naga.
Notes
- The Xel'Naga were created by Blizzard Entertainment and featured in the setting of the StarCraft universe.
Appearances
- Starcraft:
- StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void:
External Links
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