Xi'Dec/Legends

"…when the great sentientologist Randamar Perl contacted the Xi'Dec, he thought he had discovered a world teeming with a multitude of intelligent species."

- Obo Rin, in Catalog of Intelligent Life in the Galaxy

The Xi'Dec were a highly variable insectoid species from the planet Stic. As a direct result of the variable conditions of their homeworld, the Xi'Dec evolved into a variety of specialized forms. Though these appeared to many outsiders to be different species, each Xi'Dec form was actually a different sex of a single species. Xi'Dec social organization was based on extended family units, with the most influential and prosperous families being those containing the largest variety of sexes. The Xi'Dec preoccupation with their family's diversity and prosperity affected their interactions with the rest of the galaxy, either by ignoring off-world politics unless it affected their families, or by proposing marriage to non-Xi'Dec, which they mistook for members of rare Xi'Dec sexes.

Biology and appearance


The Xi'Dec homeworld of Stic was a world of constant climatic, biological, and geological change. The Xi'Dec responded to this pressure by evolving a wide variety of different sexes, none of which had the same physical form. Over 180 different sexes of Xi'Dec were known, each form so different from the next that they could easily have been mistaken for completely different species. Each sex was adapted to particular environmental conditions or to a different role in society.

The most common and least specialized form of Xi'Dec, the Xi'Alpha or Stictex, had eight limbs (any of which could be used as hands) and twelve eyes on short prehensile stalks. Their mouths were flanked with two articulated mandibles, with six four-centimeter long slits above their mouths serving as olfactory openings. The back of their cylindrical bodies was covered with a shiny carapace, with two lacy wings protruding from slots in the carapace. Xi'Alpha made up about six percent of the Xi'Dec population.

More specialized Xi'Dec forms included several "warrior" sexes with natural spears and sabers formed from their forelimbs, "constructors" with many three-meter long limbs, and small fast flying "messengers." Other sexes included a roughly humanoid form with six arms, two compound eyes, two feathery antennae, and a hypnotic voice (typified by K'lial Khzrry); and a more insectoid form with an armored carapace, five flexible eyestalks, and six dexterous clawed limbs which could be used as legs or arms (typified by Diskio Khzrry.)

Xi'Dec could reproduce by laying eggs, bearing live young, budding young from an adult's body, or growing their young in pods among other options, depending on the sex of the parent or parents. As a result, their gene pool was complex, and the species as a whole could adapt to changing conditions quickly.

Society and culture
Xi'Dec society was based on family units, containing at least two adult Xi'Dec of different genders. Each family unit lived on its own, taking care of its own young. Families went to great lengths to attract rare types of Xi'Dec to add diversity to their family. Rare Xi'Dec sexes could command considerable compensation when joining a family.

Political leadership among the Xi'Dec usually went to the largest and most diverse families, which were also generally the wealthiest and most technologically advanced. Otherwise, the political structure of Xi'Dec civilization was as changeable as the appearance of their species.

Individual Xi'Dec were primarily concerned with the welfare of their families, caring little for external politics. Because of the specialized nature of Xi'Dec sexes, Xi'Dec tended to have one-dimensional personalities. Otherwise, there was no such thing as a typical Xi'Dec temperament, since their personalities were as variable as their physical forms.

History


Xi'Dec history was marked by the evolution of new sexes to fill new niches in society. For example, during the K'rom wars, warrior Xi'Dec evolved with natural weapons. After a series of storms wreaked havoc throughout Stic, constructor Xi'Dec appeared to reconstruct the cities. As the Xi'Dec civilization advanced and information transfer became more important, small, fast-flying Xi'Dec evolved as messengers.

When the Xi'Dec were first contacted by Old Republic scouts and the renowned sentientologist Randamar Perl, they had recently developed atomic fission and primitive computers. By the time of the Galactic Empire, they continued to lag behind the rest of the galaxy, partly because the wide variety of Xi'Dec forms made mass production impossible.

During the Galactic Civil War, most Xi'Dec remained neutral, concerned only with how events might affect their family units. Diskio and K'lial Khzrry were two Xi'Dec who took sides in the war. After the rest of the Khzrry family unit were killed when the Empire destroyed the resort liner Savage Pleasure in order to assassinate Senator Mael Sidras, the pair joined the Rebellion. They became agents of Alliance Intelligence, operating primarily in the Grohl sector, specializing in extracting captive Rebels. K'lial acted as a con artist using its hypnotic voice, while Diskio used its natural dexterity to become an expert burglar.

Xi'Dec in the galaxy
Xi'Dec were uncommon away from Stic. The few traveling Xi'Dec, thanks to the variability of their species, were rarely recognized as such. They sometimes traveled off-world in family groups of ten to twenty individuals, though it was unclear if they were simply acting as tourists or looking for new sexes to add to their family. While working for the Rebel Alliance, Diskio and K'lial Khzrry posed as family recruiters seeking new members for their family unit. In one case, while rescuing a Rebel agent named Basal Moor from TransGalMeg Industries headquarters on Pako Ramoon, they claimed that they were proposing marriage to the Human Rebel.

Despite the lower technological standards of Stic, Xi'Dec experts in planetary and biological sciences were able to find work throughout the galaxy. Many Xi'Dec who lived away from Stic were scientists who had secured appointments at a variety of galactic universities. The export of skilled mental labor was a mainstay of the economy of Stic.

Additional income for the Xi'Dec economy came from tourists coming to Stic to observe the diversity of Xi'Dec sexes. Tourism continued even during the early Galactic Civil War, when Stic's climatic cycle made it unbearably hot by Human standards. Tourism led to a certain amount of confusion, however, due to the Xi'Dec preoccupation with increasing the diversity of their family unit. It was not unusual for off-world visitors to receive hundreds of marriage proposals within hours of landing.

The Verpine corporation Roche re-targeted the marketing of the J9 worker drones toward the Xi'Dec, along with other insectoid sentients such as the Flakax and the Sic-Six, after the droids failed to catch on with the mammalian sentients of the galaxy. The Xi'Dec were one of the few species who responded positively to Roche's marketing, with a slight uptick in sales (though the greatest sales increase came from the Yam'rii.) Industrial Automaton's LOM-series protocol droids, which had insectoid heads designed to seem familiar to insectoid sentients, were also marketed toward the Xi'Dec.

Behind the scenes
The Xi'Dec species was first described in Troy Denning's book Galaxy Guide 4: Alien Races, a supplement for Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game. Galaxy Guide 4 second edition, revised by Chuck Truett, suggests that gamemasters use Xi'Dec characters whenever an alien non-player character with unusual abilities or appearance is needed for the game, but it is not desirable to work out the background for an entirely new species.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Rebellion