Xantha

The Xantha are an insectoid hive species that has never known a fixed capital. Their colonies propagate outward the way a hive expands from a queen-comb — fast, coordinated, and without the deliberation that slows other civilizations down. They did not evacuate a dying world so much as outgrow one, the way a hive outgrows a nest, and simply kept expanding into the space around it.

In Rounds, Xantha players win through volume, not raw power. A slightly faster fleet and sharply reduced upkeep let them field more hulls than any other race can sustain on the same economy — but each of those hulls hits softer, and the hive’s own production runs a little behind everyone else’s. The Xantha strategic style rewards players who think in propagation rather than position: the galaxy is not terrain to hold, it is territory to swarm through in numbers that make individual ship quality irrelevant.

Xantha ships are sleek, chitin-plated, and green-on-black — grown and hardened rather than built, with segmented hull sections and antenna-like sensor clusters that give even their warships an organic, insectoid silhouette. At speed, a Xantha fleet moves like a single organism rather than a formation of ships.

Gameplay Bonuses

Ship Aesthetic

Xantha warships are minimal and sharp — segmented chitin-plated hull sections in deep green over black structural undertones. No exposed weapon arrays: all weaponry is recessed into hull slots and deploys on combat approach, folding out the way an insect’s hidden appendages unfold. Propulsion systems run along the entire dorsal and ventral spine rather than at discrete points, producing a distinctive green bioluminescent glow across the ship’s full length during acceleration. Their hive-colony carriers — the oldest Xantha vessels — are enormous, grown across generations, dense clusters of comb-like hull segments in layered green and black. The warships look sleek and singular. The colony carriers look like a hive that decided to fly.

Race Selection Copy

Tagline: The swarm does not stop to ask permission.

Pitch: Strike before they know you’re coming. Be gone before they know you were there.