History Literature / LesXipehuz

* TropeMakers: For StarfishAliens. According to some commentators, it is the TropeMaker for ScienceFiction in general, although there are some older, less typical examples.

-->From this anguish the mystics created a bleak cult, a cult of death preached by pale prophets, the cult of Shadows stronger than the Stars, Shadows that came to engulf and devour the Holy Light, the resplendent fire.

-->Everywhere on the edges of the wilderness, one encountered the emaciated silhouettes of initiates, silent men who periodically wandered amongst the tribes, relating their awful dreams, the Twilight of the imminent great Night and the Death of the Sun.

* TropeMaker: For StarfishAliens. According to some commentators, it is the TropeMaker for ScienceFiction in general, although there are some older, less typical examples.
* WeHaveReserves: Even after discovering the Xipéhuz weakness and successfully defeating some of them, the human tribes ultimately have to resort to this method once it's discovered how quickly the Xipéhuz have been able to multiply: they don't have the time or resources to whittle them down with hit-and-run tactics, and must prepare for an all out assault, casualties be damned.

* SiliconeBasedLife: The Xipéhuz are likely this, though whether they came from space, another dimension, or even evolved independently on Earth is never explained.

The narrative consists of two parts. First is a descriptive third-person description of encounters between nomadic tribes and the Xipéhuz, resulting in many deaths from the Xipéhuz [[DeathRay mysterious weapons and powers]]. This is followed by meetings of the clans and tribes, ritual sacrifices, and the assembly of an army to combat the Xipéhuz.

The second part is the memoir of a wise war chief who observes the Xipéhuz from afar, then carefully approaches them to find out their habits and vulnerabilities. Despite nearly being killed on several occasions, he discovers how individual Xipéhuz can be killed, and how to overwhelm them. He then describes a war of attrition where many thousands of warriors encircle the Xipéhuz and reduce their numbers, which have grown into the thousands, sacrificing many men to kill a greater number of the Xipéhuz. Finally the forest inhabited by the Xipéhuz is razed.

* CosmicHorrorStory: It's not sure what the Xipéhuz are, but they seem indestructible at first and threaten to wipe out mankind

* TropeMaker: For StarfishAliens. According to some commentators, it is the TropeMaker for ScienceFiction in general, although there are some older, less typical examples.

One of the oldest examples of ScienceFiction, "Les Xipéhuz" is a short story by J.H. Rosny. It tells the story of some tribes of people in paleolithic times who face an unknown enemy which isn't human.

-->Everywhere on the edges of the wilderness, one encountered the emaciated silhouettes of initiates, silent men who periodically wandered amongst the tribes, relating their awful dreams, the Twilight of the imminent great Night and the Death of the Sun

One of the oldest examples of ScienceFiction, Les Xipéhuz is a short story by J.H. Rosny. It tells the story of some tribes of people in paleolithic times who faca an unknown enemy which isn't human.

* RockBeatsLaser: The Xipéhuz have some kind of heat ray[[spoiler:, but in the end, they are wiped out by stone age humans.]]

* StonePunk: The story is about paleolithic humans fighting what might be aliens.

* Polyamory: Bakhoûn has four wives, but it isn't treated as anything special by his people.

* BiblePunk: According to the introduction, the story is set a thousand years "before that great gathering of humanity which gave rise to the civilizations of Nineveh, Babylon, and Ecbatan".

* GuiltFreeExterminationWar: What the humans do to the Xipéhuz to make sure that the Xipéhuz don't do it to them. Only Bakhoûn wishes there were a peaceful solution, but he doesn't find one.

* LivingPolyhedron: The Xipéhuz are cone- or cylinder-shaped

-->Stranger still were the flat slabs that rose behind them, streaked with multicolored ellipses in patterns like birch bark. Here and there among these were other nearly cylindrical Shapes, one thin and tall, another low and squat, all brazen-hued and speckled with green, and all having the same characteristic point of light as the striped Shapes

* DeathRay: What the Xipéhuz use to kill animals.

* BizarreAlienReproduction: Every solstice and equinox, the Xipéhuz gather in groups of three, merge into some kind of ellipsoid and stay this way over night. The next day, they part and leave giant smoky forms which become denser and form into cones much bigger than the adult Xipéhuz before shrinking into their adult forms.

* ExperiencedProtagonist: Bakhoûn already has children and grandchildren at the start of the story and is a very good archer and some kind of proto-scientist.

* BizarreAlienReproduction: Every solstice and equinox, the Xipéhuz

* BiblePunk: According to the introduction, the story is set thousand years before Babylon.

* TropeMaker: For StarfishAliens