Xan

x xan
Difficulty	9
Attacks	Sting 1d4 scratching, targets legs

x xan
Difficulty	9
Attacks	Sting 1d4 scratching, targets legs
Base level	7
Base experience	120
Speed	18
Base AC	−4
Base MR	0
Alignment	0 (neutral)
Frequency (by normal means)	3 (Rare)
Genocidable	Yes
Weight	300
Nutritional value	300
Size	Tiny
Resistances	poison
Resistances conveyed	poison (47%)
A xan: can fly. has no hands. is an animal. is poisonous to eat. does not eat. (*) is normally generated hostile. can be seen through infravision.
Reference	monst.c#line943

A xan, x, is a type of monster that appears in NetHack. Xans are a type of mythical insect that are capable of flight and can be seen via infravision.

A xan has a unique sting attack that targets the hero's legs (or the steed's legs if riding) and wounds them for several turns if the attack hits, dependent on the hero's dexterity stat, and abuses strength and dexterity—worn iron shoes or low boots protect the hero's legs ²⁄₅ of the time, and any other worn boots will protect their legs ⁴⁄₅ of the time. The sting attack will always fail if the xan is cancelled, and deals ordinary physical damage against monsters with the exception of a steed that the hero is riding. Xans possess poison resistance.

A xan corpse is poisonous to eat, and eating its corpse or tin has a ⁷⁄₁₅ chance (46%) of granting poison resistance.

Generation

Randomly generated xans are always created hostile.

Hostile xans can be generated by the summon nasties monster spell.

The Wizard of Yendor may create a clone of himself in the guise of a xan via the Double Trouble monster spell.

Strategy

Though it lacks any MR score, the xan's low AC can make it difficult to hit for some characters and pets, but its low damage output prevents it from being too large of a threat. Its sting can still slow you down, however - having 100 aum of carrying capacity available can alleviate this.

History

The xan first appears in Hack 1.0.

In NetHack 3.6.2 and some earlier versions, including variants based on these versions, riding, flying, or levitation prevents a xan from wounding the hero's legs, despite xans possessing flight. This is fixed in NetHack 3.6.3 via commit 564dcd65.

Messages

<The xan> tries to reach your <right/left> leg!

A xan tried and failed to sting your legs while you were riding, flying or levitating; this message is still present in the code but is currently unused, since the attack routine now checks to see if the attacking monster is also flying.

Origin

The xan is a creature based on a tale from the Popol Vuh, a text recounting the mythology and history of the Kʼicheʼ people. Popol Vuh is translated as "Book of the Community" or "Book of Counsel", and literally means "Book that pertains to the mat": a woven mat was used as a royal throne in ancient Kʼicheʼ society and symbolised the unity of the community; the document is one of many that survived Spanish conquest. Among its many tales are the exploits of Hunahpu and Xbalanque, known as the Maya Hero Twins.

The Hero Twins were conceived when Xquic, one of the daughters of the Lords of the Mayan underworld Xibalba, spoke with Hun-Hunahpu's severed head: he spat upon the maiden's hand, causing them to be conceived in her womb. The twins come across the ballgame equipment of Hun-Hunahpu and his brother Vucub-Hunahpu, who had disturbed the Lords of Xibalba with the noise they made playing on the court; the Lords summoned the two men to play ball in their own court, using it as a pretext to subject the pair to many treacherous trials - the duo eventually failed and were executed. The Hero Twins began to play ball in the court and once again disturbed the Lords of Xibalba, who sent summons to the boys to come to Xibalba and play in their court.

The Hero Twins' grandmother, who had initially hidden the ballgame equipment for fear that the twins would suffer the same fate, relayed the message as indirectly as possible; despite her best efforts, the boys received the message and set off to Xibalba. Fortunately, the younger twins did not fall victim to the same tricks as their father and uncle, and sent ahead the mosquito (translated as "xan", as shown in the excerpt that provides the encyclopedia entry) to scout for them. The mosquito stung everyone in the dwelling of Xibalba to uncover the Lords and learn their names, allowing the twins to address and identify them by name when they arrived at Xibalba; from there, the twins would proceed to outwit the Lords and eventually bring about Xibalba's downfall.

Messages

<The xan> pricks your <right/left> <leg>!

A xan stung your legs and wounded them.

<The xan> pricks the exposed part of your <right/left> <leg>!

As above, while you are wearing iron shoes or low boots.

<The xan> pricks through your <right/left> boot!

As above, while wearing any other type of boots.

<The xan> scratches your <right/left> boot!

Your boots protected your legs from the sting attack.

<The xan> nuzzles against your <right/left> leg!

A xan tried to sting your legs, but failed due to being cancelled.

Variants

In variants that incorporate the Convict role, a xan is generated at level creation on the upper filler levels of the Convict quest.

Variants based on NetHack 3.4.3 and earlier versions may not account for the xan's inability to sting mounted or airborne targets, and may give the sting attack to additional monsters besides the xan.

dNetHack

In dNetHack, the xan no longer has flight.

Encyclopedia entry

They sent their friend the mosquito [xan] ahead of them to find out what lay ahead. "Since you are the one who sucks the blood of men walking along paths," they told the mosquito, "go and sting the men of Xibalba." The mosquito flew down the dark road to the Underworld. Entering the house of the Lords of Death, he stung the first person that he saw...
 
The mosquito stung this man as well, and when he yelled, the man next to him asked, "Gathered Blood, what's wrong?" So he flew along the row stinging all the seated men until he knew the names of all twelve.

[ Popul Vuh, as translated by Ralph Nelson ]