Xil
dead desert world of the xel'naga
Xil was a barren desert world whose biosphere had been wiped out overnight long after a visit by the xel'naga. Its ruins drew the Tal'darim, a Moebius Foundation expedition, and Raynor's Raiders, who fought through the executor Nyon for an artifact buried in a xel'naga temple.
Xil was a desert world whose surface held the relics of both the xel'naga and a long-dead indigenous species. Once home to a living biosphere, it became a lifeless waste after a sudden cataclysm, and millions of years later it remained a draw for those seeking xel'naga artifacts, including the Tal'darim and Raynor's Raiders.
A world the xel'naga abandoned#
Xil once possessed a living biosphere that gave rise to a sapient species. During this period the world was visited by the xel'naga. A disaster then struck the planet and wiped out its native ecology overnight. The xel'naga abandoned the world, but their relics remained on the surface, alongside those of the indigenous species that had perished in the cataclysm.
Millions of years after the disaster, Xil's ecology had still not recovered, leaving it a desert world. Even so, it was not without visitors. The Tal'darim, a faction of fanatical protoss who guarded xel'naga relics, maintained a presence among its ruins.
The contest for the temple artifact#
In 2504, during the Second Great War, a Moebius Foundation expedition attempted to retrieve an artifact from a xel'naga temple on Xil. The expedition was wiped out by the resident Tal'darim fanatics before it could complete its excavation.
Raynor's Raiders made their own attempt. They used the expedition's Drakken laser drill to burn through the temple's door, the drill doubling as a weapon against the Tal'darim's more powerful units. The Raiders prevailed and claimed the artifact. The Tal'darim executor Nyon, already enraged by the Raiders' earlier thefts of prized possessions on Monlyth, warned that the crime would echo through the stars. The threat unsettled Jim Raynor, who began to wonder whether the artifacts were worth the cost, a doubt set against the more mercenary attitude of Tychus Findlay.
Frequently asked questions
- What is Xil?
- Xil was a desert world whose surface held the relics of both the xel'naga and a long-dead indigenous species. Once home to a living biosphere, it became a lifeless waste after a sudden cataclysm.
- What happened to Xil's biosphere?
- Xil once possessed a living biosphere that gave rise to a sapient species, and during this period it was visited by the xel'naga. A disaster then struck the planet and wiped out its native ecology overnight, and millions of years later its ecology had still not recovered.
- What happened to the Moebius Foundation expedition on Xil?
- In 2504, during the Second Great War, a Moebius Foundation expedition attempted to retrieve an artifact from a xel'naga temple on Xil. The expedition was wiped out by the resident Tal'darim fanatics before it could complete its excavation.
- How did Raynor's Raiders obtain the artifact on Xil?
- Raynor's Raiders used the expedition's Drakken laser drill to burn through the temple's door, the drill doubling as a weapon against the Tal'darim's more powerful units. The Raiders prevailed and claimed the artifact despite the resistance of the Tal'darim executor Nyon.
- Why did the events on Xil trouble Jim Raynor?
- The Tal'darim executor Nyon, already enraged by the Raiders' earlier thefts on Monlyth, warned that the crime would echo through the stars. The threat unsettled Jim Raynor, who began to wonder whether the artifacts were worth the cost, a doubt set against the more mercenary attitude of Tychus Findlay.
Gallery
Images via StarCraft Wiki
Sources
- WikiXil — StarCraft Wiki entry
Spotted a factual error or a primary source we missed? Email a correction. Every flagged claim gets reviewed.
Related entries
Monlyth
Monlyth was a protoss shrine-moon held by the Tal'darim, a site of ancient xel'naga relics and a hidden piece of the Keystone. During the Second Great War it was laid waste as the Swarm and Raynor's Raiders fought over the relic it guarded.
Jim Raynor
James Eugene Raynor was a farm boy turned Confederate marine, marshal, and rebel who helped bring down the Terran Confederacy and later fought its successor, the Terran Dominion, becoming one of the few terrans to ally long-term with the protoss.
Moebius Foundation
The Moebius Foundation was a research group ostensibly devoted to archaeology and the study of xel'naga sites. Owned by Valerian Mengsk and led by Doctor Emil Narud, it secretly bred protoss-zerg hybrids and was ultimately enslaved by Amon.
Nyon
Nyon was an executor of the Tal'darim who guarded sacred xel'naga relics during the Second Great War. He suffered a long string of defeats to Raynor's Raiders as they stole the components of a xel'naga device, and he died aboard his mothership trying to stop them.
Raynor's Raiders: the rebel band of Jim Raynor
Raynor's Raiders were the terran rebel formation led by Jim Raynor, born from Raynor's Rangers after Arcturus Mengsk abandoned Sarah Kerrigan at New Gettysburg, waging a long insurgency against the Dominion from the battlecruiser Hyperion.
Second Great War
The Second Great War broke out in 2504 between the Zerg Swarm and the Terran Dominion, four years after the Brood War. It saw Sarah Kerrigan deinfested and then reborn in primal form, the death of Arcturus Mengsk, and the resurrection of the fallen xel'naga Amon.
Mentioned in3 entries
Nyon
Nyon was an executor of the Tal'darim who guarded sacred xel'naga relics during the Second Great War. He suffered a long string of defeats to Raynor's Raiders as they stole the components of a xel'naga device, and he died aboard his mothership trying to stop them.
Raynor's Raiders: the rebel band of Jim Raynor
Raynor's Raiders were the terran rebel formation led by Jim Raynor, born from Raynor's Rangers after Arcturus Mengsk abandoned Sarah Kerrigan at New Gettysburg, waging a long insurgency against the Dominion from the battlecruiser Hyperion.
Tal'darim: the fanatical protoss sect of Amon
The Tal'darim, known as the Forged or the Chosen, were a fanatical and warlike sect of protoss taken from Aiur by Amon before the Aeon of Strife, who served the fallen xel'naga for ages before Highlord Alarak turned them against him.
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