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Topic: What was the original Vux insult? (Read 5432 times)
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Art
Guest
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Umm, dude, VUX is their own name for *themselves*. They *use* it for themselves, and it seems to be part of a basic naming convention in their species. Compare how all the proper names of VUX captains are also combinations of three letters -- ZEX, ZIP, PUZ, VIP, NRF, DAK and so on. They probably use a special alphabet reserved for proper names, which we transliterate into capital letters (not that unlikely or uncommon -- there are similar cases with real-life human languages).
"Xenoform" is a stilted and unlikely term to use for "alien" or "extraterrestrial". It's pretty obvious it was just a quip that Rand came up with on the spur of the moment, as a stupid, immature little joke that he had no idea the VUX could overhear. It certainly wasn't part of propaganda *against* the VUX; when humans first met them, the VUX had not yet become part of the Hierarchy, and they were trying to negotiate with them to join the Alliance.
The humans apparently kicked themselves many, many times over the Insult incident, since it caused the VUX to break off contact with the Alliance and left them vulnerable to being conquered by the Hierarchy later on (they were the last race the Hierarchy defeated). It's a grave mistake to think that demonizing and mocking people different from you is ever a good strategy to win wars and conflicts, a lesson SC2 teaches through numerous examples.
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Krulle
Enlightened
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Gender: 
Posts: 1115
*Hurghi*! Krulle is *spitting* again!
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As far as I remember, the story of the first meeting between Humans and Vux was made by Captain Rand. When the transmission first went into screen (beforehand, only text-transmissions passed, to inform the request of contact to the unknown ship by Vux-ship named ...), and Captain Rand saw for the first time a Vux, he turned and said to his bridge crew something like "VUX must stand for Very Ugly Xenomorph", thinking the communication transmission is still OFF. Alas, the Vux-commander heard what was being exchanged on the Bridge of the human vessel.
When the incident got known, the Vux-press heated against a joining of the Alliance until the Kzer-Za conquered them.
That's as far as I remember it, in Itallics is what I filled in with my imagination.
Got no time now to look for some quotes. But I do remember, that the Starbase commander warns you to use their proper name, and to not use the Name in capital letters, to show any Vux, that we do not continue to make the Joke. Alongside humans using VUX is considered to repeat the insult, Vux not. So, be warned to spell the name correctly. Do not use capital letters!
Anyway, good night, girls and boys!
Martin
Oh, and by the way: happy new year!
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Art
Guest
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*SPOILERS*
Err... what are you talking about, in regards to the capital letters? That's not in the game, and furthermore you never get a chance to type in parsed conversation in the game at all. (Which would be a nightmare -- ever played Starship Titanic?) The game gives you dialogue choices, and you only ever get to call them VUX, never "Vux".
You seem to have made up a lot of these details in your own head. The commander never mentions any protocol regarding the VUX. In fact, he openly says that he doesn't hold out much hope for the VUX or any other Hierarchy race joining the Alliance at this point, given that the Hierarchy is clearly the winning side.
The Star Control I manual, from when the First War was still going on, *does* mention that the VUX's attitudes may not be set in stone, but never mentions any possible means of correcting the Insult, or any protocol in which "VUX" is okay among VUX but "Vux" must be used by humans. If you think about it, the VUX aren't even going to be communicating in a Roman alphabet anyway, so VUX can *only* be a human usage, not a VUX usage.
In any case if you remember what actually transpires in Star Control 2, the Captain works his ass off to try to fix diplomatic relations after the Insult and fails, and you learn that the Insult wasn't a particularly big deal among VUX in the first place; it was only an excuse to cover up their own anti-human bigotry.
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