The Human Xenobiological Field Guide is a project of the Terran Xenobiological Survey Commission (TXSC), established in Year 3 Post-Reconstitution by joint resolution of the Terran Transitional Authority. The Commission's mandate is to produce and maintain a publicly accessible reference documenting the sapient species of the galactic federation, written by humans, for humans, in service of informed coexistence.
The TXSC operates under the Terran Transitional Authority's Bureau of Interspecies Affairs but maintains editorial independence. The federation's own species archive - comprehensive, mathematically structured, and organized according to classification conventions that predate human literacy by several hundred million years - is available to all federation members. The HXFG exists because that archive, while technically accessible, is not written for us. Its organizational logic is not human organizational logic. Its assumptions about what a reader needs to know are not human assumptions. The HXFG is, in essence, humanity's translation of the galaxy into terms we can use.
The federation recognizes 1,137 sapient species as of the most recent registry update, not counting Species #0 classifications (see Species #0: All-defectors for the classification protocol). The HXFG does not aim to document all of them. Priority is determined by:
HXFG entries are written by credited contributors - researchers, diplomats, and specialists who have direct experience with the species they document. The institutional voice of each entry is compiled from multiple contributors' work by the editorial board, but individual voices are preserved in designated sections (Contributor Notes, field observations, supplementary volumes). Contributors are credited by name and affiliation. See Contributing Authors for the full index.
The HXFG follows the editorial standards maintained by the TXSC Editorial Board. These standards govern format, voice, citation, and the handling of disputed claims. The full standards document is available at Editorial Standards.
Key principles:
The HXFG is written in English (Reconstituted Standard) - the lingua franca of the post-reconstitution Terran population. Translation into other Terran languages is ongoing. Non-human species names, terminology, and concepts are rendered in phonetic approximation where auditory representation is possible, and in functional description where it is not. All readers are assumed to have access to a Level 1 translator implant at minimum.
All published HXFG entries are classified PUBLIC unless otherwise noted. Level 1 Translator Sufficient. No restricted-access content appears in the public compilation. Restricted supplementary materials, where they exist, are available through institutional channels with appropriate clearance.