EPTThe Xel'naga Style Guide
Purpose of this Guide
No one should have to explain to anyone here what a Zerg looks like, spines, slime, etc... I could hold up a never-before-seen HOTS unit and instantly someone could tell me if it was a Terran, Zerg or Protoss. This is because these races have such clearly defined racial identity. Less clear is the Xel’naga racial identity. Still it would serve Starcraft well to have clearly defined Xel’naga racial identity and this artistic guide hopes to help that.
Starcraft 1 and BroodWar
The portrayal of Xel’naga in Starcraft 1 gives a good example for why it is important to have a cohesive and distinct racial identity for the Xel’naga. The Xel’naga identity frequently collided with the Protoss identity. This is unsurprising as both are advanced and ancient races (indeed with one constantly following in the former’s footprints). The best example of this overlap is found in the Xel’naga warpgate which, with its elaborate golden curves, appears for all intents and purposes as belonging to the Firstborn. The Xel’naga Temple is only moderately better. Although the base of the Xel’naga Temple looks similar to SC2’s depiction of the Xel’naga, the golden arch-like extensions hint that Protoss influence may have played a role in its creation. Even odder is the curious placement of “beetle” statues.
![[image loading]](http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100811033121/starcraft/images/7/76/XelNagaTemple_SC1_CineFuryXelNaga3.jpg)
Xel’naga Temple
![[image loading]](http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20080726212026/starcraft/images/b/b9/WarpGate_SC1_Game1.jpg)
Xel’naga Warpgate
Colors
The palette of a race plays a fundamental role in establishing racial identity. Zerg units are characterized by blood red, deadly purple, sickly orange and acid green on a background of mottled brown. Terran units feature stark red, yellow, white and blue against a steel base. And Protoss are traditionally majestic blue and green over gold and silver. So what are the Xel’naga colors? Looking at the Xel’naga Archives we can see that the ancient builders favor stone grey with an eerie green underglow. The Xel’naga Device features obsidian black inlaid with mysterious blue. This color scheme clearly conveys the duality of the Xel’naga. Grey and black speak to the ages these monuments have withstood while the green and blue betrays the power dwelling inside.
![[image loading]](http://media-curse.cursecdn.com/attachments/24/982/5b91b915bd740ef8993e4e5fefc0464b.jpg)
Xel'naga Library
![[image loading]](http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100728000647/starcraft/images/b/bf/XelnagaArtifact_SC2_CineFireFury1.jpg)
Xel'naga Device
Shapes
Next let us examine the way that Xel’naga constructed their monuments Like the ancient Mayans, Greeks and Egyptians they believed beauty and functionality both stemmed from mathematical geometry. Their structures emphasis straight lines and angles. The Xel’naga Temple is a perfect example of this with broad, sturdy buttress supporting a dark ziggurat. The image is at once alien and familiar. One wonders whether the similarity with our own ancestor’s creations is coincidence or evidence of connection. It is universal, elemental, timeless....perfect.
When the Wanderers do use curves it is in the form of simple circles. The Rip-Field Generator gives a good example of how Xel’naga employ curves. Notice that these basic curves are different from the elegant and extravagant curves of the Protoss. They are much more algebraic. Indeed the Xel’naga’s “universal code” is the same as our Golden Ratio or Fibonacci Sequence (Source: http://starcraft.wikia.com/wiki/Xel'naga)
![[image loading]](http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100830011738/starcraft/images/b/ba/XelnagaTempleXil_SC2_Game1.jpg)
Xel'naga Temple
![[image loading]](http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20101017182432/starcraft/images/7/78/RipFieldGenerator_SC2_Game1.jpg)
Xel’naga Rip-field Generator
Animation
Another way that the artists convey the character of Xel’naga is in animation. Here the artists of Wings of LIberty should really be commended for devising a unique theme to perfectly capture the nature of a Xel’naga building. The Xel’naga Watchtower is in its natural state a derelict ruin. However, in the presence of a sentient race these segments coalesce into their original form. Free floating and held together by energy bindings they are hum with latent power undiminished from thousands of years of disuse. The Xel’naga Shrine too, once activated by Zeratul, reveals its dark secrets.
![[image loading]](http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110326190858/starcraft/images/5/59/XelNagaTower_SC2_Rend1.JPG)
Xel’naga Watchtower
![[image loading]](http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20091030165454/starcraft/images/d/da/Zeratul_SC2_Game1.jpg)
Xel'naga Shrine
Character and Influences
If the Protoss display an almost Elvish character the Xel’naga way appears more Dwarven. The Protoss favor the thin and tall, flowing fabrics entwined with precious metals and cut polished jewels. The Xel’naga use metals of a much baser nature, their crystals are rawer, and their structures, wide and short, are built to last the test of time. They make heavy use of stone as a building material. Many of their most sacred sites are often found in the depths of the earth. Even the Worldship that Raynor boards to recover a piece of the Xel’naga device appears to be attached to a portion of the asteroid belt.
One can find many other sci-fi sources that may have inspired the Xel’naga...and vice versa. Among them is Halo universe’s Forerunners, the long forgotten race whose lasting legacy includes massive free floating metallic relics capable of galactic annihilation. Another great example is Warhammer 40K’s Necrons, a race of long slumbering machines whose imagery, black stone with arcs of green lightning, borrows heavily from egyptian mythos.
![[image loading]](http://halo4nation.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/world610.jpg)
Forerunner Shield World
![[image loading]](http://www.cytadela.pl/pictures/dudi1212/1764c.jpg)
Necrons
Suggestions
So what is my point in writing all this up? In the Heart of the Swarm Beta Editor we can catch a glimpse of the Xel'naga Healing Shrine. This is a new Xel'naga structure that heals any biological and mechanical structures that walk over it. We can see most of the Xel'naga style elements here but one key element is missing. Unlike the Watchtower, the Healing Shrine is not a decayed structure that animates when controlled. I feel this is a mistake for three reasons. Animation of a crumbled Healing Shrine would:
1) Better signify this as a Xel'naga building
2) Better unify the Xel'naga theme giving a sense of race identity
3) Clearly identify for gameplay when the Healing Shrine is activated and being used
2) Better unify the Xel'naga theme giving a sense of race identity
3) Clearly identify for gameplay when the Healing Shrine is activated and being used
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/zwKoYh.jpg)
Xel’naga Healing Shrine
The second concern I have would be to further differentiate Xel’naga and Dark Templar imagery. Both make heavy use of a dark palette on archaic metal accompanied by a grim green aura. Purple and silver should be kept firmly on the Dark Templar side. Obsidian black and other stonework should remain exclusively in the Xel’naga camp. Likewise, straight edges should be reserved for Xel’naga subjects and not used by followers of the Nerazim or the Khalai.
