The X'Ting were an insectoid species, native to the planet Ord Cestus. The X'Ting were also called Cestians, although the term also came to embody anyone of any species native to the world. They were governed by the Hive Council. The X'Ting were all part of a single colony, but had many hives around the world.
Biology and appearance[]
The X'Ting were six limbed insectoids. They walked on two lower feet and had four arms. Each digit had a nail at the tip. Although they had hard chitinous exoskeletons, their faces were malleable and wrinkled with age. Their flesh ranged from gold to blue to red. Lower castes had red fur on the upper chest. The tufts of hair would turn gray with age. The lower castes also tended to speak Basic less eloquently. X'Ting also had three stomachs, and quarter-meter-long stingers concealed in their abdomens. The stingers were typically used in honor duels.
Around every three years they changed gender along with biochemical transitions in their bodies that included imbalances in their chemical makeup and physical changes to their organs, which could confuse beings unfamiliar with the X'Ting. The transition was uncomfortable and took months to complete. The X'Ting Trillot's eye coloration turned from rust-red to emerald during the transition, and her thoraxes turned red and expanded as her eggs developed. She used viptiel, an expensive extraterrestrial plant, to accelerate the transition, and used supplementary medicine to counter side effects of taking viptiel, such as mood swings. After the changes to her body had been completed, Trillot expressed her gender as female and was referred by others with pronouns such as "she" and gendered terms such as "mistress" and "sister." X'Ting were only fertile in the months at the beginning and end of their three year cycle, and male X'Ting secreted pheromones that were even more unpleasant to other species than females. Females would produce multiple offspring in one brood.[1]
Society and culture[]
Brood siblings usually maintained somewhat close relationships. Individuals from different broods, but the same broodmother would only have loose relationships at best. At least some had continuous emotional relationships with their mates. Hives usually had no problems working with each other since they were actually all part of the same colony. The Colony was ruled by a Hive Council. Some positions were hereditary. Some appointments were for life. Members of the council could be challenged to an honor duel. The duels would typically be to the death; however, one could concede defeat as well. Most of their habitats were underground in large tunnels, both natural and constructed. Their main diet consisted of fungi, which they could make taste like many different things. They also used fungi for other purposes, such as healing. The fungus was given to the X'Ting by mature Dashta eels.
X'Ting had expressive faces and used non-verbal hand gestures to accentuate their verbal communication, much the same as humans and other non-insectoid races. They were fond of an art style called "chewed duracrete."
History[]
After defeating the Spider People in a great war, the X'ting eventually came to rule Ord Cestus, and the Galactic Republic bought land from them to build a prison colony. The prison colony, using skills of the inmates, created a successful droid development company, Cestus Cybernetics. Eventually, Cestus Cybernetics became the main economic factor on the planet. Its power over both the immigrants and the X'ting increased over time, especially after the X'Ting were decimated by the Great Plague. By 21 BBY, 300 years after joining the Galactic Republic, their population had declined by 90%, leaving only around 50,000 of them remaining. Their Hive Council eventually started unofficially taking orders from the Cestus Cybernetics' five ruling families, one of which was was represented by the X'Ting Caiza Quill.
After a deal with the Republic went sour, they began selling their JK-13 security droids to the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Asajj Ventress and Count Dooku demanded their loyalty, and as a demonstration, Ventress vaporized an X'Ting with the Force. After Jangotat—an ARC clone "brother" of Jango Fett—sacrificed himself to kill the Five Families during the Mission to Ord Cestus, the regent G'Mai Duris (female) declared her planet to the Republic.
Appearances[]
- The Cestus Deception
- The Hive (First appearance)