Did the Xel'Naga ever interact with the Terrans?

Apart from the Fallen One, is any indication given in the games that the Xel'Naga have interacted with the Terrans? I would think that they would have been a prime target for the Xel'Naga to investigate while they were searching for sentient life. There's also the question of whether the Terrans could have arisen without some sort of external influence since this seems to be how things work in the game lore.

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2 Answers

Highly unlikely.

Though Starcraft 2 has retconned some of the original info we had re: the Xel'naga, the whole reason that Terrans are in the Koprulu sector at all is because there was a computer malfunction in Earth's original expedition.

(Fun fact: The 4 original ships were penal ships, and the Terrans, penal colonists)

Firstly, the Xel'Naga were not looking for sentient life, they were creating it, seeking first a Purity of Form (the Protoss) and then a Purity of Essence (the Zerg).

The Starcraft 1 manual cites the Protoss watching over the Koprulu Sector for a long period of time before the Terrans appeared, and long after the Xel'Naga had left to create the Zerg.

The abbreviated timeline looks something like this:

• Xel'Naga create the Protoss on Aiur

• Xel'Naga leave Aiur

• Xel'Naga arrive on Zerus

• Xel'Naga get killed off by the Overmind

• The Zerg start traveling back towards Aiur

• Terrans arrive in the Koprulu Sector

• The Zerg notice the Terrans, take note of their psionic potential, and make a beeline for Chau Sara.

• Start of Starcraft One.

You'll notice that Terrans arrive in the Koprulu sector after the Xel'Naga get killed off. Since the encounter with the Zerg and Terran are identified as "Humanity's first contact with an alien species", it is safe to say that Terrans have no record of the Xel'Naga, and it is improbable the Xel'Naga had anything to do with the Terran.

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No

Terrans, unlike the other species in or around the Koprulu Sector, which is around where most of the Xel'Naga's work seems to be. It is extremely unlikely that the Terrans have had any known encounter with the Xel'Naga.

From the original Starcraft manual:

Without warning a fleet of fifty alien warships descended from the skies over the outlying Confederate colony of Chau Sara. The massive ships opened fire upon the unsuspecting colony, continuing to decimate every inhabited settlement on the planet. This unprecedented attack caught the Confederate forces by surprise, sending the shocked Terran fleets into disarray. Although they had never encountered alien species of any kind, they rushed quickly to defend themselves against this new, mysterious enemy. The Confederacy launched a clumsy counter attack against the alien fleet as it made its way towards the second Terran planet of Mar Sara. The alien fleet, identifying itself as the Protoss, mysteriously withdrew its forces and spared the colony. Soon afterwards, a second, terrifying alien presence was discovered on the outskirts of Mar Sara. These new, insectlike invaders were very different from the Protoss that attacked the colony just a short time before.

(emphasis mine)

So they had not encountered the Xel'Naga prior to meeting the Protoss and Zerg, and as far as we know there are none left to make contact.

For extra credit, here is the manual:

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