X-Nauts (organization)

"You X-Jerks kidnapped me like common Koopas!"

- Princess Peach

The Secret Society of X-Nauts, also known simply as the X-Nauts, is an evil organization led by Sir Grodus in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. The majority of the operatives are also called X-Nauts, though there are other classes of soldiers and creatures in Grodus' employ. Their base of operations is the X-Naut Fortress, which is located on the Moon.

History
All that is known about the X-Nauts stems from their failed plan to conquer the world using a 1,000-year-old demon known as the Shadow Queen. Grodus somehow came in contact with a trio of sisters known collectively as the Shadow Sirens, who told him that the Shadow Queen could only be released from her prison if the seven Crystal Stars were collected, and a vessel provided for her disembodied soul to possess. The X-Nauts kidnapped Princess Peach to use as the vessel, and Mario was manipulated into gathering the Crystal Stars in an attempt to save her from her captors.

However, Grodus had been misled by the Shadow Sirens, and when he tried to command the resurrected Shadow Queen to do his bidding, she destroyed his body. Grodus' robotic head; his second-in-command, Lord Crump; and two regular X-Naut soldiers and two Elite X-Nauts were last seen in Poshley Heights, as TEC-XX managed to destroy their fortress earlier, and ended up changing their evil ways.

Major members

 * Sir Grodus - Supreme Leader
 * Lord Crump - Second in Command
 * Shadow Sirens
 * Beldam - leader of the pack.
 * Marilyn
 * Vivian - former operative/traitor, now ally of Mario.
 * Doopliss - Vivian's replacement.

Notable members

 * Thwomp (Quizmaster)
 * Johnson

Soldiers

 * X-Nauts
 * X-Naut PhDs
 * Elite X-Nauts
 * Yux
 * Z-Yux
 * X-Yux

Technology

 * Magnus von Grapple
 * Magnus von Grapple 2.0
 * Superbombomb
 * TEC-XX (aka TEC), former operative/traitor - The computer AI that runs the X-Naut Fortress.
 * Teleporter
 * X-Ship

Allies/Foes faced

 * Admiral Bobbery
 * Bowser
 * Cortez
 * Ember
 * Flavio
 * Francesca
 * Frankie
 * Goombella
 * Kammy Koopa
 * Koopa Troop
 * Koops
 * Madame Flurrie
 * Mario
 * Ms. Mowz
 * Pa-Patch
 * Toad Sailors
 * Vivian
 * Yoshi

Pronunciation
While one would expect the organization's name to be pronounced "ecks-naughts", there is a reasonable amount of evidence that "cross-naughts" is more correct. In addition to the French and German translations both containing a derivative of the word "cross", the X-Yux is confirmed via Tattle as being pronounced "cross-yux". The name "cross-naughts" would also reference the game Naughts and Crosses (i.e. tic-tac-toe).