L'Xing (language)

The L'Xing language was spoken by the L'Xing species of the Outer Rim Territories world Praven Prime, situated in Gu-vandi-held space. At some point by 3951 BBY, an HK-50 series assassin droid posing as a translator intentionally mistranslated an L'Xing phrase, which sparked a long civil war between the L'Xing and the Gu-vandi Collective.

Description

L'Xing was a language spoken by members of the sentient L'Xing species, who lived on the world Praven Prime,^[1] a part of the Outer Rim Territories^[2] situated in space controlled by the Gu-vandi species. According to the HK-series assassin droid HK-47, the L'Xing had a "torpid" disposition that led them to favor words over actions.^[1]

The concept of friendship could be expressed in the L'Xing language, as could an implication that a specific individual's brood mate had been impregnated by their own host. Furthermore, in spoken L'Xing the former idea could be switched to the latter via a simple syntax transfer respective to the language's equivalent of "friendship."^[1]

History

At some point between 3955 BBY and 3951 BBY,^[3] an HK-50 series assassin droid^[1]—a unit of an assassin droid model that had originally been designed by the Sith Lord Darth Revan and that was later mass-produced by the rogue G0-T0 infrastructure planning system known as G0-T0^[4]—masquerading as a translator droid intentionally mistranslated the L'Xing word for "friendship." The translated comment caused a civil war between the L'Xing and the Gu-vandi Collective.^[1]

In 3951 BBY,^[3] while the civil war was still ongoing, HK-47,^[1] who could communicate in more than six thousand forms of communication and had originally served as the basis for the HK-50 model,^[4] informed the Jedi Knight known as the Jedi Exile about the role the L'Xing language played in the breakout of the conflict.^[1]

Behind the scenes

The L'Xing language was introduced in the 2004 Obsidian Entertainment video game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords. In the game, the language can be mentioned in an optional conversation the player character, the Jedi Exile, can have with the character HK-47. The Jedi Exile can state that they can imagine the consequences of the mistranslated L'Xing phrase, or they can profess a relative lack of knowledge of alien cultural studies and ask for HK-47 to elaborate.^[1]

Alternatively, if the companion characters Mical, Atton Rand, or Brianna are present, Mical relays his understanding of the impact of the mistranslation while Rand and Brianna express their disbelief at the phrase having been spoken out loud and spoken directly to the individual targeted by the comment, respectively. This article assumes one hundred percent game completion and that the conversation took place as described.^[1]

Appearances

• Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords (First mentioned)

Notes and references