THE EVALUATION OF AIUR:
Tassadar's brave sacrifice had destroyed the Overmind, but countless rampaging zerg remained on Aiur and would surely overrun the surviving protoss. Zeratul offered sanctuary on Shakuras, the adopted home of the dark templar. Although the decision was difficult, Executor Artanis and the surviving members of the shattered Conclave agreed that their first duty was to save as many lives as possible.
Jim Raynor's forces and the protoss cut a path through the zerg to reach an ancient xel'naga warp gate, the relic of an earlier age. Using the gate, Zeratul opened a connection to a second gate on Shakuras. During the battle, Raynor and some of the protoss were cut off, but Artanis and Zeratul led many other protoss through the gate to safety on Shakuras.
To their horror, they found that the zerg were following them through the gate. The evacuees joined forces with their dark brethren and fought the invasion. Meanwhile, Raynor's forces and a handful of protoss chose to remain on Aiur and shut down its warp gate, ensuring that no further zerg reinforcements could reach Shakuras. With no means of escape, this brave band seemed doomed.
UNLIKELY ALLIES:
Sorrowfully the dark templar led their visitors to meet Raszagal, the ancient matriarch who ruled Shakuras. The protoss' first priority was to battle the spreading zerg infestation of Shakuras. Raszagal declared that a xel'naga temple on Shakuras could cleanse the planet, but its activation required two crystals--the Khalis and the Uraj--that had been lost long ago.
Kerrigan arrived unexpectedly and told the wary protoss that with the Overmind slain, she was no longer the merciless killer she had been. However, the surviving cerebrates had merged to create a new Overmind that would soon control the Swarm and transform Kerrigan back into the Overmind's pawn.
Kerrigan offered to help retrieve the Khalis and Uraj, and Raszagal accepted, overriding the objections of Artanis and Zeratul. The protoss heroes and Kerrigan departed for the planet Braxis, where they secured the Uraj. In the process they encountered an unfamiliar terran force identifying itself as the United Earth Directorate (UED). Ordered to surrender, the protoss refused and eluded capture.
Their next destination was Char, where the protoss located the Khalis, dangerously near the developing Overmind. Pitting themselves against the zerg and the young Overmind, Kerrigan and the protoss retrieved Khalis and returned to Shakuras.
TRAGEDY ON SHAKURAS:
There they found that some of the Aiur evacuees had turned against their dark templar allies. Already in the midst of a crisis, Raszagal was in no mood to negotiate and ordered the dark templar to vanquish the dissenters. Zeratul found the command troubling, but he and his allies obeyed. As the traitors' resistance crumbled, the dark templar demanded that the rebel leader surrender. He refused, claiming that the other protoss were doomed and Raszagal was hiding a loathsome secret.
Before the traitor could explain his accusation, Kerrigan and her zerg minions slew him. Zeratul angrily ordered Kerrigan to leave Shakuras. She left willingly, telling him that their alliance had already achieved her goal. The cerebrates had refused to follow her leadership, and now with the dark templar's assistance, they were all but destroyed.
The zerg would overwhelm Shakuras unless the protoss unleashed the xel'naga temple's power. Thus, the desperate protoss carried out their plan despite knowing that they were further aiding Kerrigan by doing so. Artanis and Zeratul carried the crystals to the temple's summit, channeled the temple's vast energies, and obliterated all zerg on Shakuras.
DISCOVERY OF THE PSI DISRUPTER:
For some time the UED had kept a close watch over the terran colonies in the Koprulu sector. With the discovery of the protoss and zerg, the Directorate's ruling council decided it was time to reestablish control over their distant cousins.
The UED dispatched an expeditionary fleet led by Admiral DuGalle. His orders were to overthrow the Terran Dominion and capture the young Overmind. First, with the assistance of Samir Duran and his Confederate resistance forces, the UED fleet secured the planet Braxis as a staging point. Vice Admiral Stukov, DuGalle's tactical advisor, recruited Duran's group into the UED.
Next, DuGalle launched a surprise attack on the Dylarian shipyards, commandeering many of the Dominion's battlecruisers docked there. Dominion reinforcements arrived, led by General Edmund Duke, but they were outgunned and ultimately retreated. The triumphant UED laid waste to the shipyards and conscripted the remaining Dylarian defenders.
UED forces learned of a mysterious weapon on the planet Tarsonis: the psi disrupter, which could block zerg communications. If the Dominion secured the weapon, the UED would be unable to use the zerg as planned. Thus, Duran recommended destroying the weapon, and DuGalle agreed despite Stukov's objections.
Duran and other UED forces captured the psi disrupter, but several UED ghosts quickly arrived and announced that Stukov had ordered them to dismantle the device. Duran had little choice but to relinquish the weapon.
STUKOV'S DEFIANCE:
The UED fleet headed to the planet Korhal IV, capital of the Dominion. Attacking Korhal's capital city, Augustgrad, DuGalle's fleet eventually surrounded the remainder of Mengsk's forces. UED forces prepared to take the deposed emperor into custody, but Jim Raynor arrived in Mengsk's old battlecruiser, the Hyperion, along with a small protoss fleet. Moments later, Raynor, his protoss allies, and Mengsk had escaped, and the UED fleet was in hot pursuit.
The UED tracked Raynor and Mengsk to Aiur, where the fugitives activated a warp gate in preparation for an escape. The gate's energies incited the surrounding zerg to attack, and to Stukov's shock, Duran's forces moved out of position, leaving UED forces on the planet open to attack by the Swarm. Unable to hold off the zerg and recapture Mengsk at the same time, Stukov withdrew his forces to rejoin the fleet. Stukov himself abruptly departed for Braxis.
DuGalle was puzzled to hear that Raynor and Mengsk had escaped, and Stukov had abandoned the battle on Aiur. When the UED detected a psi disrupter on Braxis, Duran concluded that Stukov had rebuilt the Tarsonis device to sabotage the UED's goals. Unable to deny the evidence, DuGalle ordered Duran to find and kill Stukov.
Duran shot Stukov and then slipped away. Mortally wounded, Stukov told DuGalle that Duran was the real traitor and had likely been infested by the zerg. Duran had allowed Mengsk and Raynor to escape. Furthermore, Duran had suggested destroying the psi disrupter, which Stukov had reassembled because he was certain it was critical to saving humanity from the zerg.
Stukov's message convinced DuGalle, who established a garrison on Braxis before he led the UED fleet to Char. UED forces overcame the young Overmind's defenses and administered powerful neurostims so that the UED could control the Overmind.
CONTROLLING THE SWARM:
As the drugs started taking effect, Duran and the Queen of Blades suddenly appeared in the UED's midst. Kerrigan introduced herself as the leader of the zerg. It was clear that Duran was indeed infested. DuGalle threatened to disrupt her control over the zerg with the psi disrupter, but Kerrigan said that she intended to destroy the weapon. She thanked DuGalle for executing Stukov and departed.
Establishing a base on Char, the UED took control of the Overmind's minions, who made up the vast majority of the Swarm. This control gave the UED a decisive advantage over Kerrigan, for the psi disrupter prevented her from controlling zerg that were not yet under the young Overmind's control.
She contacted Shakuras and convinced Jim Raynor and the protoss to rescue the remains of the Dominion fleet from the UED. Raynor and the protoss remained distrustful, but she informed them that controlling the zerg was only the first step in the Directorate's plan. Earth would inevitably lock down the whole sector.
Furthermore, Kerrigan claimed that she bore Mengsk no ill will. She needed Mengsk's psi emitters to reclaim additional zerg minions, destroy the psi disrupter, and vanquish the Directorate fleet. In return, she offered to help Mengsk reclaim Korhal IV. With no acceptable alternatives, Mengsk agreed. Kerrigan's plan worked perfectly, and she destroyed the psi disrupter.
BREAKING ALLIANCES:
Kerrigan honored her side of the bargain, bolstering the ranks of her zerg minions and helping Mengsk retake Korhal from the UED. Then, without warning, she sent her zerg against the Dominion and protoss encampments. General Duke fell in battle, but Kerrigan spared Mengsk's life because she wanted to savor his suffering as he watched her ascend to power. As for Jim Raynor, he escaped, swearing that one day he would kill her.
Next Kerrigan had Raszagal kidnapped and taken to Char. Predictably Zeratul tracked down the protoss matriarch and demanded her safe return. Kerrigan proposed a trade: if Zeratul and his compatriots destroyed the young Overmind, Kerrigan would permit Raszagal to return to her people. Because the Overmind was indisputably the protoss' enemy as well as Kerrigan's, Zeratul reluctantly agreed.
Only after he and his compatriots had destroyed the Overmind did Zeratul learn that Kerrigan had long ago enslaved and corrupted the dark templar's matriarch. The Queen of Blades had brilliantly outmaneuvered the protoss. With the Overmind and its cerebrates dead, all zerg in the Koprulu sector reverted to Kerrigan's control.
Yet the dark templar refused to give up. They stole Raszagal from the zerg, but Kerrigan's minions surrounded Zeratul's base before the dark templar could escape with their matriarch. As Kerrigan and her minions drew near, Zeratul mortally wounded Raszagal rather than let her be recaptured. In her last moments, Raszagal thanked him for freeing her from Kerrigan's influence. Kerrigan decided to spare Zeratul's life rather than allow him the peace of death. Ravaged by grief and guilt, Zeratul vowed that he would avenge Raszagal.
A FAR GREATER POWER:
As Zeratul and his people left Char, they detected protoss power signatures on an uncharted moon nearby. Zeratul and several other protoss investigated and found that someone had been using gene splicing to create hybrids with mixed zerg and protoss DNA.
In at least one case, the attempt had proven successful. Staring the abomination in horror, Zeratul was surprised when a male terran suddenly uncloaked in front of the stasis cell. The terran introduced himself as Samir Duran.
Zeratul recognized the name and asked if Kerrigan had instigated the hybridization project. Duran denied the accusation and said that he served a far greater power. The zerg-protoss hybrid were the last step in a vast cycle that was approaching its end. Scattered on a thousand different worlds, the hybrid would presently awaken, and the universe would change forever. Deeply troubled, Zeratul and the other protoss returned to their ship and continued on their way to Shakuras.
KERRIGAN'S ASCENSION:
The Queen of Blades soon faced another threat, and she was not pleased to discover that Duran had inconveniently disappeared. Apparently Arcturus Mengsk had called in a few favors and scraped together a new fleet. Artanis had also warped into the area with a fleet of protoss ships from Shakuras. Last but not least, Admiral DuGalle was stubbornly determined to defeat the woman who had masterminded Stukov's death.
Kerrigan taught the three fleets better than to underestimate the Swarm. Facing imminent defeat, Mengsk and Artanis were forced to withdraw from the battle. At last it became clear that the UED fleet could not hope to succeed where the other two fleets had failed. DuGalle offered to surrender if Kerrigan would spare the lives of his soldiers. The Queen of Blades, however, had no interest in taking prisoners. Instead, she told DuGalle to turn his ships in the direction of Earth and flee. She would give him a reasonable head start before she sent the Swarm after him.
DuGalle and his battered ships obeyed, for they had no other choice. Onboard the flagship Aleksander, DuGalle composed a last letter to his wife. His mission was a failure. The zerg remained untamed; the colony worlds, unconquered. His pride had killed Stukov and brought the Directorate fleet to this desperate pass.
The admiral killed himself not long before Kerrigan's forces overtook the UED fleet and devastated it. Not one Directorate ship reached Earth to report the events that had taken place in the Koprulu sector.
AFTERMATH:
The Queen of Blades did not become complacent in the wake of her victory. She kept watch over the Swarm from her core hive on Char. The Brood War left her the dominant force in Koprulu sector. The initial explosive expansion of the zerg has been replaced with a foreboding silence for four years, but no scouting expeditions to Swarm-controlled worlds have lived to tell what they saw there.
Thus, outsiders can only speculate about what she has been doing--or what she has been seeking--these past four years. Many believe that the zerg are building their strength and engineering new organisms before going on the offensive again. Some contend that Kerrigan is staying her hand due to some small shred of humanity buried deep inside the creature she has become. Those who have encountered her savage fury know this to be merely wishful thinking.
ON THE TERRAN FRONT:
Mengsk and his forces have regrouped on Korhal IV. His first order of business was to rebuild the Terran Dominion. In Kerrigan he had found a new target for revenge, and he'd always been happier with a goal to work toward anyway. The Dominion has since become the most powerful force among the terran factions, having taken over many of the original Confederate worlds.
The Kel-Morian Combine and the Umojan Protectorate have been preparing for the inevitable war with either the zerg or Mengsk. The UED task force was almost completely destroyed in Brood War; only a few isolated pockets of survivors remain hidden in the Koprulu sector.
Jim Raynor has led a resistance movement against the Dominion, but that has been a losing battle. Arcturus Mengsk has used his greatest weapons--the media and propaganda--to marginalize Jim's efforts. Raynor seems to be losing faith, drinking heavily and haunted by the ghosts of his past. He has never forgiven himself for letting Kerrigan be taken by the zerg.
REINTEGRATION OF THE PROTOSS RACE:
The protoss evacuees from Aiur have been struggling to recover from the loss of their home planet while finding ways to mesh their society with that of the dark templar who call Shakuras home. The transition has been difficult for both sides, and the name of Raszagal has been invoked more than once to keep the peace.
The old Conclave has been swept away, and in its absence many protoss have begun looking to their ancient tribal affiliations for leadership and a sense of identity. With the protoss people working together as they did in ancient times and studying the xel'naga technology on Shakuras, the protoss have made many technological developments for continuing the war with the zerg. Memories of Raszagal have plagued Zeratul, who was further disturbed by his encounter with Samir Duran and the zerg-protoss hybrid Duran had apparently been creating. Shortly after bidding Raynor farewell on Shakuras, Zeratul departed the planet, and he has not been heard from in years. To this day he seeks to understand what Duran and the hybrid he was creating might portend. Lately he has uncovered something that may be related to the xel'naga, creators of both protoss and zerg, and he seeks new clues to unravel the mystery.
Monday, October 4, 2010
SC2 story...
FIRST CONTACT:
Terrans first journeyed to the far edge of the galaxy when a navigational malfunction sent their automated colony vessels hurtling off course. Bypassing their intended target, the ships crash-landed on three worlds scattered across the Koprulu sector.
Over several decades the terrans established colonies, spread to other planets, and came into conflict with one another. In the decade after the end of the Guild Wars, the Terran Confederacy stood unchallenged in its supremacy over colonial space.
The terran colonies first became aware they were not alone in the universe when a gleaming fleet of protoss warships suddenly emerged over the Confederate world of Chau Sara. The advanced alien ships incinerated the planet's surface without warning.
Reeling from the unprovoked attack, the Confederacy sent a fleet led by Colonel Edmund Duke, to protect the nearby colony of Mar Sara. Surprisingly the protoss retreated, and Colonel Duke proudly declared the retreat a Confederate victory.
MAR SARA:
Back on Mar Sara, Marshal Jim Raynor responded to a distress call out in the wastelands. He found a terran outpost that had been infested by unknown alien organisms. Realizing there could be no survivors, he and his men destroyed it.
The Confederacy reacted by imprisoning Raynor and his men. Further alien attacks broke out on the planet. It took the arrival of an anti-Confederacy rebel group called the Sons of Korhal to begin any sort of organized resistance to the aliens, which had become known as the zerg.
The bestial zerg spread too swiftly to be stopped. Freed by the rebels, Raynor uncovered proof that the Confederacy had anticipated the zerg's arrival. He and the rebel leader, Arcturus Mengsk, evacuated everyone they could from Mar Sara before the protoss fleet reappeared and incinerated the planet.
ANTIGA PRIME:
Thoroughly disillusioned, Raynor joined the Sons of Korhal. On the planet of Antiga Prime he worked with Mengsk's second-in-command, Sarah Kerrigan--formerly a ghost, one of the Confederacy's elite psionic assassins--whom Mengsk had liberated from the government's neural conditioning. Raynor and Kerrigan developed into a formidable team.
Mengsk quickly stirred up a full-scale revolt against Confederate forces on Antiga Prime. Now a general, Duke tried to intervene, but his ship fell victim to a zerg attack. In a stunning coup Mengsk persuaded the general to join the Sons of Korhal in exchange for saving Duke's command and his life from the rampaging aliens.
Hastily the Confederacy sent reinforcement troops to the planet. However, Kerrigan and Mengsk discovered a terrible secret: Confederate scientists had constructed a "psi emitter", a device that acted as a beacon for the zerg. Tests of this new doomsday weapon had drawn the zerg to Mar Sara and other colonies.
Mengsk ordered a psi emitter to be planted in the Confederate base on Antiga Prime, and the zerg swarmed in to destroy the Confederate forces. Soon afterwards the protoss incinerated the planet from orbit, just as they had Chau Sara and Mar Sara.
TARSONIS:
Next Mengsk struck at the ultimate prize, the world of Tarsonis, capital of the Confederacy. He overrode his lieutenants' misgivings and had General Duke place psi emitters on the unblemished and densely populated world. As the zerg descended on Tarsonis, Raynor began to question Mengsk's sanity: no measure seemed too extreme for Mengsk if it achieved his goals. Even so, Raynor did not fully understand the depths of Mengsk's malice.
This time the leader of the protoss fleet, Executor Tassadar, deployed ground forces in an effort to save the planet. There was every chance the protoss could succeed, and so Mengsk ordered Kerrigan to vanquish the protoss on Tarsonis. Despite her concerns Kerrigan obeyed and ensured that the planet would fall to the zerg.
Surrounded by zerg, she called for evac from the doomed planet. However, in a shocking betrayal, Mengsk abandoned Kerrigan and her troops to their fate. Furious, Raynor departed Mengsk's flagship, the Hyperion, and returned to Tarsonis, but he arrived too late to prevent Kerrigan's capture by the zerg.
THE RISE OF THE TERRAN DOMINION:
Despite this minor setback Arcturus Mengsk's victory was all but complete. With Tarsonis destroyed the Confederacy collapsed. Most Confederate survivors quickly joined the Sons of Korhal, which became the primary military force opposing the alien invaders. The former rebels saved many terran lives. They only hesitated when a planet did not welcome their intervention. After all, as Mengsk remarked sadly, a planet's local government had ultimate authority on that planet. Besides, the Sons of Korhal had limited resources, and it was a time of war.
As planet after planet appealed to the Sons of Korhal for aid, Mengsk announced that a new government, the Terran Dominion, was necessary to keep watch over these worlds. He declared himself emperor of the Dominion, and he promised victory over the aliens.
Meanwhile, Raynor realized too late that he had begun to fall in love with Sarah Kerrigan. Unable to save her now, he resolved to seek justice in her name.
OVERMIND:
Terrans mistakenly believed that the zerg were an instinct-driven hive society, but in fact a supreme sentience, the Overmind, controlled the zerg via intermediaries called cerebrates. Moreover, the Overmind had acquired a promising creature on Tarsonis, a creature that would serve the Swarm in new ways.
This creature was wrapped in a protective chrysalis and transported to the remote ash world of Char, where it awaited its rebirth into the Swarm. The creature's powerful psionic emanations drew terran and protoss forces to Char, but the zerg fought off the interlopers and protected the chrysalis until it opened. A new being emerged: someone who would alter the future of the entire Koprulu sector forever.
Sarah Kerrigan emerged from the chrysalis a loyal servant of the Overmind. Her evolution had unlocked the fantastic potential of her psionic powers and incredible strength. Stripped of human ethics and morality, she was ruthlessly dedicated to the Swarm's survival.
During her time in the chrysalis, Kerrigan had been confused and distressed. She had reached out telepathically to her former comrades, Arcturus Mengsk and Jim Raynor. Raynor had come to Char to save her. Mengsk had sent General Duke, perhaps hoping to regain Kerrigan as an ally, perhaps simply wanting to capture and study whatever remained of her. Whatever their hopes, both men arrived too late. Her confusion was gone, and she easily drove the terrans away.
Yet the Overmind also suffered a terrible blow. Protoss led by Executor Tassadar kept the Queen of Blades and a number of other zerg busy while a dark templar named Zeratul assassinated one of the Overmind's cerebrates. The zerg formerly controlled by the slain lieutenant ran amok, turning on the rest of the Swarm, which were forced to destroy them.
Yet all was not lost for the zerg. When Zeratul had killed the cerebrate, he had made a fleeting telepathic contact with the Overmind. In that moment, the Overmind had discovered the secret location of the protoss homeworld, Aiur.
Long had the Overmind sought the protoss homeworld. With the location of Aiur and the terrans to serve as the zerg's newest servants, the Overmind was confident that the Swarm could finally defeat and assimilate the protoss. Using protoss DNA, the Overmind would produce the perfect killing machines: a new strain of zerg that would conquer the rest of creation.
THE INFECTATION OF AIUR:
The Queen of Blades hunted down the protoss on Char while the main force of the zerg departed to assault Aiur. Although Aiur's inhabitants resisted valiantly, the zerg established a foothold among the planet's lush jungles, and the Overmind embedded itself in the planet's surface.
As the ruling caste of the protoss, the Judicator caste held authority over all protoss on Aiur. The caste's governing body, the Conclave, was in furor. Executor Tassadar, leader of the protoss warrior caste, was fighting on distant Char and defying the Conclave's orders to incinerate any terran world infested by the zerg. Now the zerg threatened to overrun Aiur.
A new executor, Artanis, was chosen and sent into battle, winning a crucial victory in the province of Antioch. Soon afterward Tassadar contacted Artanis and spoke of the battles upon Char, the discovery of the dark templar, and Zeratul's victory against the cerebrate.
DARK BRETHREN:
The dark templar had been banished from Aiur long ago for refusing to become part of the Khala, a deep telepathic connection that had linked all protoss in ancient times. Most protoss believed that the reestablishment of the Khala had ended millennia of civil war and saved their race from extinction.
Thus, Tassadar's decision to work alongside the dark templar, even against the zerg, was heresy in the eyes of the Conclave. The horrified protoss demanded that he return to Aiur, but Tassadar refused, saying he would return when the time was right.
At Tassadar's recommendation, Artanis shifted tactics on Aiur, targeting a cerebrate with a small detachment while his main force kept the zerg occupied. The cerebrate's death threw its minions into disarray, but they recovered when the Overmind reincarnated the slain leader. Only the potent energies wielded by the dark templar could ensure a cerebrate's permanent destruction. The Conclave directed Artanis to return to traditional tactics, and he won another battle in the province of Scion, albeit at great cost.
THE TRIAL OF TASSADAR:
Confident of their final victory, the Conclave dispatched Executor Artanis to bring Tassadar back to Aiur for judgment. Artanis journeyed to Char and regretfully informed his predecessor of the Conclave's wishes. Tassadar agreed to return peacefully if the executor helped him free Zeratul and the other dark templar from a terran installation where they had been trapped by the zerg.
Artanis agreed, and Jim Raynor and his crew also joined the fight. Raynor and the dark templar then accompanied Tassadar back to Aiur, where they planned to help fight the invasion. Unfortunately the Conclave proved intractable in refusing to work with the dark templar. The Judicator caste came to blows with Tassadar's loyal followers and their allies.
Unable to bear the sight of his people destroying themselves, Tassadar surrendered himself to Judicator justice. Even so, his allies swiftly liberated him from imprisonment to face the approaching crisis.
DEATH OF THE OVERMIND:
The Conclave had seriously underestimated the zerg. The protoss military was almost exhausted, whereas the zerg seemed more numerous than ever. Whole continents were being overrun, and Zeratul had worse news to impart. When he had slain the cerebrate on Char, a telepathic link had briefly connected him with the Overmind. He had seen that the evolution of the zerg, like that of the protoss, had been directed and speeded by a race known as the xel'naga.
Ultimately the Overmind had outgrown the xel'naga's control and devoured that ancient race. Now the Overmind intended to consume the protoss as well. If it succeeded, no one would be able to stand against the zerg.
Tassadar rallied the flagging protoss for one last push against their foes, making peace with the failing Conclave shortly before the battle. He and the other heroes only weakened the zerg while sustaining heavy losses themselves. In a last desperate gamble, Tassadar channeled the energy of the dark templar through the hull of his ship, the Gantrithor, and steered it on a collision course with the monstrous Overmind.
The resulting massive explosion killed the Overmind and threw its minions on Aiur into disarray. The protoss had little cause to rejoice, though, for much of Aiur was left in ruins. Furthermore, the zerg race itself was undefeated. Far away on the planet Char, Kerrigan felt the death of the Overmind and finally grasped the true purpose of her creation. The reign of the Queen of Blades was about to begin.
Terrans first journeyed to the far edge of the galaxy when a navigational malfunction sent their automated colony vessels hurtling off course. Bypassing their intended target, the ships crash-landed on three worlds scattered across the Koprulu sector.
Over several decades the terrans established colonies, spread to other planets, and came into conflict with one another. In the decade after the end of the Guild Wars, the Terran Confederacy stood unchallenged in its supremacy over colonial space.
The terran colonies first became aware they were not alone in the universe when a gleaming fleet of protoss warships suddenly emerged over the Confederate world of Chau Sara. The advanced alien ships incinerated the planet's surface without warning.
Reeling from the unprovoked attack, the Confederacy sent a fleet led by Colonel Edmund Duke, to protect the nearby colony of Mar Sara. Surprisingly the protoss retreated, and Colonel Duke proudly declared the retreat a Confederate victory.
MAR SARA:
Back on Mar Sara, Marshal Jim Raynor responded to a distress call out in the wastelands. He found a terran outpost that had been infested by unknown alien organisms. Realizing there could be no survivors, he and his men destroyed it.
The Confederacy reacted by imprisoning Raynor and his men. Further alien attacks broke out on the planet. It took the arrival of an anti-Confederacy rebel group called the Sons of Korhal to begin any sort of organized resistance to the aliens, which had become known as the zerg.
The bestial zerg spread too swiftly to be stopped. Freed by the rebels, Raynor uncovered proof that the Confederacy had anticipated the zerg's arrival. He and the rebel leader, Arcturus Mengsk, evacuated everyone they could from Mar Sara before the protoss fleet reappeared and incinerated the planet.
ANTIGA PRIME:
Thoroughly disillusioned, Raynor joined the Sons of Korhal. On the planet of Antiga Prime he worked with Mengsk's second-in-command, Sarah Kerrigan--formerly a ghost, one of the Confederacy's elite psionic assassins--whom Mengsk had liberated from the government's neural conditioning. Raynor and Kerrigan developed into a formidable team.
Mengsk quickly stirred up a full-scale revolt against Confederate forces on Antiga Prime. Now a general, Duke tried to intervene, but his ship fell victim to a zerg attack. In a stunning coup Mengsk persuaded the general to join the Sons of Korhal in exchange for saving Duke's command and his life from the rampaging aliens.
Hastily the Confederacy sent reinforcement troops to the planet. However, Kerrigan and Mengsk discovered a terrible secret: Confederate scientists had constructed a "psi emitter", a device that acted as a beacon for the zerg. Tests of this new doomsday weapon had drawn the zerg to Mar Sara and other colonies.
Mengsk ordered a psi emitter to be planted in the Confederate base on Antiga Prime, and the zerg swarmed in to destroy the Confederate forces. Soon afterwards the protoss incinerated the planet from orbit, just as they had Chau Sara and Mar Sara.
TARSONIS:
Next Mengsk struck at the ultimate prize, the world of Tarsonis, capital of the Confederacy. He overrode his lieutenants' misgivings and had General Duke place psi emitters on the unblemished and densely populated world. As the zerg descended on Tarsonis, Raynor began to question Mengsk's sanity: no measure seemed too extreme for Mengsk if it achieved his goals. Even so, Raynor did not fully understand the depths of Mengsk's malice.
This time the leader of the protoss fleet, Executor Tassadar, deployed ground forces in an effort to save the planet. There was every chance the protoss could succeed, and so Mengsk ordered Kerrigan to vanquish the protoss on Tarsonis. Despite her concerns Kerrigan obeyed and ensured that the planet would fall to the zerg.
Surrounded by zerg, she called for evac from the doomed planet. However, in a shocking betrayal, Mengsk abandoned Kerrigan and her troops to their fate. Furious, Raynor departed Mengsk's flagship, the Hyperion, and returned to Tarsonis, but he arrived too late to prevent Kerrigan's capture by the zerg.
THE RISE OF THE TERRAN DOMINION:
Despite this minor setback Arcturus Mengsk's victory was all but complete. With Tarsonis destroyed the Confederacy collapsed. Most Confederate survivors quickly joined the Sons of Korhal, which became the primary military force opposing the alien invaders. The former rebels saved many terran lives. They only hesitated when a planet did not welcome their intervention. After all, as Mengsk remarked sadly, a planet's local government had ultimate authority on that planet. Besides, the Sons of Korhal had limited resources, and it was a time of war.
As planet after planet appealed to the Sons of Korhal for aid, Mengsk announced that a new government, the Terran Dominion, was necessary to keep watch over these worlds. He declared himself emperor of the Dominion, and he promised victory over the aliens.
Meanwhile, Raynor realized too late that he had begun to fall in love with Sarah Kerrigan. Unable to save her now, he resolved to seek justice in her name.
OVERMIND:
Terrans mistakenly believed that the zerg were an instinct-driven hive society, but in fact a supreme sentience, the Overmind, controlled the zerg via intermediaries called cerebrates. Moreover, the Overmind had acquired a promising creature on Tarsonis, a creature that would serve the Swarm in new ways.
This creature was wrapped in a protective chrysalis and transported to the remote ash world of Char, where it awaited its rebirth into the Swarm. The creature's powerful psionic emanations drew terran and protoss forces to Char, but the zerg fought off the interlopers and protected the chrysalis until it opened. A new being emerged: someone who would alter the future of the entire Koprulu sector forever.
Sarah Kerrigan emerged from the chrysalis a loyal servant of the Overmind. Her evolution had unlocked the fantastic potential of her psionic powers and incredible strength. Stripped of human ethics and morality, she was ruthlessly dedicated to the Swarm's survival.
During her time in the chrysalis, Kerrigan had been confused and distressed. She had reached out telepathically to her former comrades, Arcturus Mengsk and Jim Raynor. Raynor had come to Char to save her. Mengsk had sent General Duke, perhaps hoping to regain Kerrigan as an ally, perhaps simply wanting to capture and study whatever remained of her. Whatever their hopes, both men arrived too late. Her confusion was gone, and she easily drove the terrans away.
Yet the Overmind also suffered a terrible blow. Protoss led by Executor Tassadar kept the Queen of Blades and a number of other zerg busy while a dark templar named Zeratul assassinated one of the Overmind's cerebrates. The zerg formerly controlled by the slain lieutenant ran amok, turning on the rest of the Swarm, which were forced to destroy them.
Yet all was not lost for the zerg. When Zeratul had killed the cerebrate, he had made a fleeting telepathic contact with the Overmind. In that moment, the Overmind had discovered the secret location of the protoss homeworld, Aiur.
Long had the Overmind sought the protoss homeworld. With the location of Aiur and the terrans to serve as the zerg's newest servants, the Overmind was confident that the Swarm could finally defeat and assimilate the protoss. Using protoss DNA, the Overmind would produce the perfect killing machines: a new strain of zerg that would conquer the rest of creation.
THE INFECTATION OF AIUR:
The Queen of Blades hunted down the protoss on Char while the main force of the zerg departed to assault Aiur. Although Aiur's inhabitants resisted valiantly, the zerg established a foothold among the planet's lush jungles, and the Overmind embedded itself in the planet's surface.
As the ruling caste of the protoss, the Judicator caste held authority over all protoss on Aiur. The caste's governing body, the Conclave, was in furor. Executor Tassadar, leader of the protoss warrior caste, was fighting on distant Char and defying the Conclave's orders to incinerate any terran world infested by the zerg. Now the zerg threatened to overrun Aiur.
A new executor, Artanis, was chosen and sent into battle, winning a crucial victory in the province of Antioch. Soon afterward Tassadar contacted Artanis and spoke of the battles upon Char, the discovery of the dark templar, and Zeratul's victory against the cerebrate.
DARK BRETHREN:
The dark templar had been banished from Aiur long ago for refusing to become part of the Khala, a deep telepathic connection that had linked all protoss in ancient times. Most protoss believed that the reestablishment of the Khala had ended millennia of civil war and saved their race from extinction.
Thus, Tassadar's decision to work alongside the dark templar, even against the zerg, was heresy in the eyes of the Conclave. The horrified protoss demanded that he return to Aiur, but Tassadar refused, saying he would return when the time was right.
At Tassadar's recommendation, Artanis shifted tactics on Aiur, targeting a cerebrate with a small detachment while his main force kept the zerg occupied. The cerebrate's death threw its minions into disarray, but they recovered when the Overmind reincarnated the slain leader. Only the potent energies wielded by the dark templar could ensure a cerebrate's permanent destruction. The Conclave directed Artanis to return to traditional tactics, and he won another battle in the province of Scion, albeit at great cost.
THE TRIAL OF TASSADAR:
Confident of their final victory, the Conclave dispatched Executor Artanis to bring Tassadar back to Aiur for judgment. Artanis journeyed to Char and regretfully informed his predecessor of the Conclave's wishes. Tassadar agreed to return peacefully if the executor helped him free Zeratul and the other dark templar from a terran installation where they had been trapped by the zerg.
Artanis agreed, and Jim Raynor and his crew also joined the fight. Raynor and the dark templar then accompanied Tassadar back to Aiur, where they planned to help fight the invasion. Unfortunately the Conclave proved intractable in refusing to work with the dark templar. The Judicator caste came to blows with Tassadar's loyal followers and their allies.
Unable to bear the sight of his people destroying themselves, Tassadar surrendered himself to Judicator justice. Even so, his allies swiftly liberated him from imprisonment to face the approaching crisis.
DEATH OF THE OVERMIND:
The Conclave had seriously underestimated the zerg. The protoss military was almost exhausted, whereas the zerg seemed more numerous than ever. Whole continents were being overrun, and Zeratul had worse news to impart. When he had slain the cerebrate on Char, a telepathic link had briefly connected him with the Overmind. He had seen that the evolution of the zerg, like that of the protoss, had been directed and speeded by a race known as the xel'naga.
Ultimately the Overmind had outgrown the xel'naga's control and devoured that ancient race. Now the Overmind intended to consume the protoss as well. If it succeeded, no one would be able to stand against the zerg.
Tassadar rallied the flagging protoss for one last push against their foes, making peace with the failing Conclave shortly before the battle. He and the other heroes only weakened the zerg while sustaining heavy losses themselves. In a last desperate gamble, Tassadar channeled the energy of the dark templar through the hull of his ship, the Gantrithor, and steered it on a collision course with the monstrous Overmind.
The resulting massive explosion killed the Overmind and threw its minions on Aiur into disarray. The protoss had little cause to rejoice, though, for much of Aiur was left in ruins. Furthermore, the zerg race itself was undefeated. Far away on the planet Char, Kerrigan felt the death of the Overmind and finally grasped the true purpose of her creation. The reign of the Queen of Blades was about to begin.
(PART1... to be continue...)
Zeratul
Zeratul is a dark templar, a renowned psionic warrior and assassin whose forbears were exiled from the protoss homeworld of Aiur over a thousand years ago.
The dark templar refused to submerge themselves in the communal protoss mind link, the Khala, preferring instead to strive as individuals. Zeratul holds the rank of prelate and is probably best known for his role in ensuring the survival of the protoss since the zerg threat first became apparent.
It was Zeratul who overcame the prejudices of Executor Tassadar when they met on Char, and thus began to heal the rift between the Aiur protoss and the dark templar. It was Zeratul who was the first to slay a zerg cerebrate although the cerebrates had been thought immortal. Most of all it was Zeratul who returned to Aiur with Tassadar and set into motion the events that would rejoin the sundered halves of the protoss race and overthrow the oppressive rulership of the Conclave.
Zeratul went on to fight alongside Tassadar to bring about the destruction of the zerg Overmind during the invasion of Aiur, and then helped the protoss evacuate the planet as it continued to be overrun by the zerg. When the Swarm followed the refugees to the dark templar world of Shakuras, Zeratul helped recover the Khalis and Uraj crystals, which allowed the protoss to activate the xel'naga temple there and wipe out the invaders. Later, when the dark archon Ulrezaj threatened to destroy the Aiur protoss "violating" Shakuras, Zeratul was instrumental in thwarting Ulrezaj's schemes.
But Zeratul also carries many terrible burdens. In the act of slaying the cerebrate Zasz, Zeratul became temporarily linked with the Overmind. Zeratul came to know much about the Overmind's plans, but the zerg leader gleaned the location of Aiur itself from Zeratul’s mind, and so the seeds of the planet's devastation were sown. Furthermore, Zeratul has a long and bitter history with the Queen of Blades, having been manipulated and betrayed by her more than once as she destroyed the remaining zerg cerebrates in order to secure her control over the Swarm after the Overmind's death.
As part of her schemes, the Queen of Blades took control of the beloved protoss matriarch Raszagal. Zeratul later rescued the matriarch, but he found her to be irrevocably corrupted. Sorrowfully he took the matriarch's life to spare her from continuing as the plaything of the Queen of Blades. With her mind freed by the deathblow, Raszagal thanked him and named him as leader of the dark templar. Such an honor Zeratul felt unfit to take, his soul too scarred by his experiences.
For the moment he focused on a more immediate concern: contacting any other nearby protoss who had survived the Queen of Blades' treachery. Tracking protoss power signatures to an obscure moon, he hoped to reunite with his comrades and return to Shakuras with them in order to plan for the future. Instead of comrades, however, he found a former agent of the Queen of Blades -- the enigmatic Samir Duran -- engaged in breeding protoss/zerg hybrid creatures. Although Zeratul destroyed the facility, Duran claimed that it was merely one of many. Duran also revealed that he had been known by many names over the millennia and that he was not serving the Queen of Blades, but rather a "far greater power". Deeply troubled by what he had seen, Zeratul went into self-imposed exile with only a handful of followers at his side. He continued to seek answers for what manner of being Duran truly was, and what dark future he was working toward.
The dark templar refused to submerge themselves in the communal protoss mind link, the Khala, preferring instead to strive as individuals. Zeratul holds the rank of prelate and is probably best known for his role in ensuring the survival of the protoss since the zerg threat first became apparent.
It was Zeratul who overcame the prejudices of Executor Tassadar when they met on Char, and thus began to heal the rift between the Aiur protoss and the dark templar. It was Zeratul who was the first to slay a zerg cerebrate although the cerebrates had been thought immortal. Most of all it was Zeratul who returned to Aiur with Tassadar and set into motion the events that would rejoin the sundered halves of the protoss race and overthrow the oppressive rulership of the Conclave.
Zeratul went on to fight alongside Tassadar to bring about the destruction of the zerg Overmind during the invasion of Aiur, and then helped the protoss evacuate the planet as it continued to be overrun by the zerg. When the Swarm followed the refugees to the dark templar world of Shakuras, Zeratul helped recover the Khalis and Uraj crystals, which allowed the protoss to activate the xel'naga temple there and wipe out the invaders. Later, when the dark archon Ulrezaj threatened to destroy the Aiur protoss "violating" Shakuras, Zeratul was instrumental in thwarting Ulrezaj's schemes.
But Zeratul also carries many terrible burdens. In the act of slaying the cerebrate Zasz, Zeratul became temporarily linked with the Overmind. Zeratul came to know much about the Overmind's plans, but the zerg leader gleaned the location of Aiur itself from Zeratul’s mind, and so the seeds of the planet's devastation were sown. Furthermore, Zeratul has a long and bitter history with the Queen of Blades, having been manipulated and betrayed by her more than once as she destroyed the remaining zerg cerebrates in order to secure her control over the Swarm after the Overmind's death.
As part of her schemes, the Queen of Blades took control of the beloved protoss matriarch Raszagal. Zeratul later rescued the matriarch, but he found her to be irrevocably corrupted. Sorrowfully he took the matriarch's life to spare her from continuing as the plaything of the Queen of Blades. With her mind freed by the deathblow, Raszagal thanked him and named him as leader of the dark templar. Such an honor Zeratul felt unfit to take, his soul too scarred by his experiences.
For the moment he focused on a more immediate concern: contacting any other nearby protoss who had survived the Queen of Blades' treachery. Tracking protoss power signatures to an obscure moon, he hoped to reunite with his comrades and return to Shakuras with them in order to plan for the future. Instead of comrades, however, he found a former agent of the Queen of Blades -- the enigmatic Samir Duran -- engaged in breeding protoss/zerg hybrid creatures. Although Zeratul destroyed the facility, Duran claimed that it was merely one of many. Duran also revealed that he had been known by many names over the millennia and that he was not serving the Queen of Blades, but rather a "far greater power". Deeply troubled by what he had seen, Zeratul went into self-imposed exile with only a handful of followers at his side. He continued to seek answers for what manner of being Duran truly was, and what dark future he was working toward.
Jim Raynor
Jim Raynor was a Confederate marshal on Mar Sara at the time of the first zerg incursions on that world.
Despite bravely fighting the alien aggressors and saving many lives, he was arrested by Confederate forces on the pretext of destroying Confederate property at Backwater Station. When he was subsequently liberated by Arcturus Mengsk's Sons of Korhal, an anti-Confederate revolutionary group, Raynor chose to fight alongside them.
Mengsk's hunger for power and his growing lack of scruples soon began to trouble Raynor. Eventually Mengsk's betrayal of his own lieutenant Sarah Kerrigan and his ruthless manipulation of the zerg to attack Confederacy-held worlds showed Raynor that Mengsk was no better than the oppressors he sought to overthrow. Raynor led a revolt within the ranks of the Sons of Korhal and seized Mengsk's personal flagship, the Hyperion, and a small fleet of ships. While attempting to rescue Kerrigan from the zerg planet Char, Raynor encountered protoss there and gained the respect of the valiant Executor Tassadar. Raynor's frank honesty enabled him to forge a bond between Tassadar and the dark templar Zeratul.
Raynor and his troops went on to fight alongside the protoss in several campaigns and played a key role in battling the United Earth Directorate incursion that followed. A twist of fate found Raynor temporarily allied with Arcturus Mengsk and the Queen of Blades, the being reforged from Sarah Kerrigan by the zerg Overmind. Although these two tyrants fought against a common foe, it was only a matter of time until their tenuous alliance collapsed. In the end Kerrigan was the one who turned against her erstwhile allies and struck the first blow, and many of Jim Raynor's comrades died to her treachery.
Raynor escaped the massacre and vowed vengeance. Even so, against the full strength of the zerg Swarm and the vast psionic powers of the Queen of Blades, his chances seemed slender at best. Eventually, exhausted and disillusioned, Raynor returned to terran space to lead a resistance movement against the spreading power of Arcturus Mengsk's Terran Dominion. Over the years this fight hasn't gone well. Arcturus Mengsk has used his greatest weapons -- oratory, the media, and propaganda -- to marginalize Raynor's efforts.
Raynor's Raiders remain public enemy number one to the powerful Terran Dominion. Mengsk sees Raynor's continuing existence as a challenge to his authority. However, Mengsk is also wary of creating a martyr by having Raynor assassinated, and so he has taken steps to keep Raynor and his followers constantly hunted and harried, denying them any chance to gain a respite and build their strength.
Years of skirmishing with the inexhaustible resources of the Dominion has whittled down Raynor's forces to a shadow of their former selves. Raynor has had to resort to occasional mercenary work just to garner enough funds to repair and rearm in the short term. Keeping his outfit running means that additional mercenary jobs will likely be needed in the future. Freedom isn't free.
Today Raynor seems to be losing faith: he drinks heavily and blames himself for Kerrigan’s fate. His hatred for Arcturus Mengsk has become a festering wound. Raynor's first officer, Matt Horner, still believes in him and in the revolution even though some of Raynor's doubts are spreading to his crew. Horner has done a lot to keep things going over the years, always having faith that Raynor's innate heroism will resurface and lead the rebels to victory.
Raynor is a good leader and an excellent tactician, although he lacks any formal training or background. He has learned his skills through experience, and so he is unfettered by preconceived notions of what "the book" says is the right or wrong approach. Raynor will seldom plan things out in very much depth, but he has an excellent ability to improvise and turn the tables in a situation by using whatever he has at hand.
Raynor is also a man with a past. He is a known associate of notorious convict Tychus Findlay; the pair of them served together in the 321st Colonial Rangers Battalion "Heaven's Devils" toward the end of the Confederacy/Kel-Morian Guild Wars. Raynor and Findlay first met in Fort Howe on Turaxis II after Findlay had finished a three-month stint in a military correctional facility for assaulting a ranking officer.
In the last phase of the Guild Wars, Raynor and Findlay were accused of committing manslaughter during an ill-fated mission on Turaxis II. For their part, Raynor and Findlay knew that their superiors were to blame for the operation's disastrous failure and resulting deaths. The two men fled from the military soon after, well aware that they would never receive a fair trial if it meant tarnishing the reputation of Confederate commanding officers. The pair remained outlaws together for years until Tychus was captured by Confederate law enforcement and sentenced to life in cryogenic incarceration. Exactly how Raynor managed to avoid Findlay's fate and land a job as a marshal on Mar Sara is unknown.
Despite bravely fighting the alien aggressors and saving many lives, he was arrested by Confederate forces on the pretext of destroying Confederate property at Backwater Station. When he was subsequently liberated by Arcturus Mengsk's Sons of Korhal, an anti-Confederate revolutionary group, Raynor chose to fight alongside them.
Mengsk's hunger for power and his growing lack of scruples soon began to trouble Raynor. Eventually Mengsk's betrayal of his own lieutenant Sarah Kerrigan and his ruthless manipulation of the zerg to attack Confederacy-held worlds showed Raynor that Mengsk was no better than the oppressors he sought to overthrow. Raynor led a revolt within the ranks of the Sons of Korhal and seized Mengsk's personal flagship, the Hyperion, and a small fleet of ships. While attempting to rescue Kerrigan from the zerg planet Char, Raynor encountered protoss there and gained the respect of the valiant Executor Tassadar. Raynor's frank honesty enabled him to forge a bond between Tassadar and the dark templar Zeratul.
Raynor and his troops went on to fight alongside the protoss in several campaigns and played a key role in battling the United Earth Directorate incursion that followed. A twist of fate found Raynor temporarily allied with Arcturus Mengsk and the Queen of Blades, the being reforged from Sarah Kerrigan by the zerg Overmind. Although these two tyrants fought against a common foe, it was only a matter of time until their tenuous alliance collapsed. In the end Kerrigan was the one who turned against her erstwhile allies and struck the first blow, and many of Jim Raynor's comrades died to her treachery.
Raynor escaped the massacre and vowed vengeance. Even so, against the full strength of the zerg Swarm and the vast psionic powers of the Queen of Blades, his chances seemed slender at best. Eventually, exhausted and disillusioned, Raynor returned to terran space to lead a resistance movement against the spreading power of Arcturus Mengsk's Terran Dominion. Over the years this fight hasn't gone well. Arcturus Mengsk has used his greatest weapons -- oratory, the media, and propaganda -- to marginalize Raynor's efforts.
Raynor's Raiders remain public enemy number one to the powerful Terran Dominion. Mengsk sees Raynor's continuing existence as a challenge to his authority. However, Mengsk is also wary of creating a martyr by having Raynor assassinated, and so he has taken steps to keep Raynor and his followers constantly hunted and harried, denying them any chance to gain a respite and build their strength.
Years of skirmishing with the inexhaustible resources of the Dominion has whittled down Raynor's forces to a shadow of their former selves. Raynor has had to resort to occasional mercenary work just to garner enough funds to repair and rearm in the short term. Keeping his outfit running means that additional mercenary jobs will likely be needed in the future. Freedom isn't free.
Today Raynor seems to be losing faith: he drinks heavily and blames himself for Kerrigan’s fate. His hatred for Arcturus Mengsk has become a festering wound. Raynor's first officer, Matt Horner, still believes in him and in the revolution even though some of Raynor's doubts are spreading to his crew. Horner has done a lot to keep things going over the years, always having faith that Raynor's innate heroism will resurface and lead the rebels to victory.
Raynor is a good leader and an excellent tactician, although he lacks any formal training or background. He has learned his skills through experience, and so he is unfettered by preconceived notions of what "the book" says is the right or wrong approach. Raynor will seldom plan things out in very much depth, but he has an excellent ability to improvise and turn the tables in a situation by using whatever he has at hand.
Raynor is also a man with a past. He is a known associate of notorious convict Tychus Findlay; the pair of them served together in the 321st Colonial Rangers Battalion "Heaven's Devils" toward the end of the Confederacy/Kel-Morian Guild Wars. Raynor and Findlay first met in Fort Howe on Turaxis II after Findlay had finished a three-month stint in a military correctional facility for assaulting a ranking officer.
In the last phase of the Guild Wars, Raynor and Findlay were accused of committing manslaughter during an ill-fated mission on Turaxis II. For their part, Raynor and Findlay knew that their superiors were to blame for the operation's disastrous failure and resulting deaths. The two men fled from the military soon after, well aware that they would never receive a fair trial if it meant tarnishing the reputation of Confederate commanding officers. The pair remained outlaws together for years until Tychus was captured by Confederate law enforcement and sentenced to life in cryogenic incarceration. Exactly how Raynor managed to avoid Findlay's fate and land a job as a marshal on Mar Sara is unknown.
Saturday, October 2, 2010
What is the changes?
Compared to the original StarCraft, StarCraft II was designed to focus more heavily on the multiplayer aspect, with changes that include major improvements to Battle.net, a new competitive "ladder" system for ranked games, and new matchmaking mechanics—designed to "match-up" players of equal skill level. In addition, the replay function, which allows players to record and review past games, was improved. Blizzard also stated they incorporated changes to the game that were suggested by fans. StarCraft II continues its predecessor's use of pre-rendered cinematic cut scenes to advance the plot while also improving the quality of in-game cut scenes within the levels themselves, which are rendered on-the-fly using the same game engine as the graphics in the game proper. Blizzard states that with the new graphics engine that StarCraft II uses to render the gameplay, they "can actually create in-game cut-scenes of near-cinematic quality". Most Protoss and Terran units, and some Zerg units, have been shown on the StarCraft II official website, and in several video demonstrations held by Blizzard. Improvements include advanced scenery allocation and more detailed space terrain, such as floating space platforms with planets and asteroids in the background. Small cliffs, extensions, and even advertising signs were also shown to have been improved and refined.
Synopsis
Characters and setting:
The campaign storyline of StarCraft II takes place four years after StarCraft: Brood War, and features the return of a number of characters from the original series, including Zeratul, Arcturus Mengsk, Artanis, Sarah Kerrigan, and Jim Raynor. Players also revisit the original series' worlds, like Char, Mar Sara, and Braxis, as well as new worlds, such as the jungle planet Bel'Shir. It has been confirmed that the Xel'Naga, the ancient space-faring race responsible for creating the Protoss and the Zerg, plays a major role in the story.
At the conclusion of Brood War, Kerrigan and her Zerg forces became the dominant faction in the Koprulu Sector, having annihilated the United Earth Directorate's Expeditionary Force, defeated the Terran Dominion, and invaded the Protoss homeworld of Aiur. However, after the conclusion of Brood War, Kerrigan retreats to Char, despite having more than enough power to crush all remaining resistance in the Koprulu Sector. In the four years leading up to the events of StarCraft II, she has not been seen or heard from by any of the other characters, although her ultimate attack may come at any moment.
Arcturus Mengsk has been left to rebuild the Dominion, and is consolidating his power while fending off harassment from rival Terran groups. Valerian Mengsk, a character introduced in the novel Firstborn, will play an important role in Dominion politics, due to his position as heir apparent to the throne. Meanwhile, Jim Raynor, whose role in the events of StarCraft and Brood War has been marginalized by the media under the Dominion's control, has been reduced to mercenary status, and has been shown to be doing business with the "Moebius Foundation", a new faction which is interested in ancient Xel'Naga artifacts. Chris Metzen, Vice President of Creative Development at Blizzard, has emphasized that by the events of StarCraft II, Raynor has become jaded and embittered by the way he was used and betrayed by Arcturus Mengsk. Other new characters to the series include Tychus Findlay, first introduced in the StarCraft II teaser cinematic, a marine who will be a member of Raynor's crew, and Matt Horner, Raynor's second in command, a character originally featured in the novel Queen of Blades.
Following the fall of Aiur and the death of their matriarch Raszagal, the Protoss have retreated to the dark templar homeworld of Shakuras. There, Artanis, a former student of Tassadar, is trying to unify the Khalai Protoss and the dark templar, who have nearly separated into a tribal mindset as a result of centuries of distrust. Zeratul, tormented over the murder of his matriarch, has disappeared to search for clues to the meaning of Samir Duran's cryptic statements regarding the Protoss/Zerg hybrids in Brood War's secret mission "Dark Origin".
Plot:
Four years after the Brood War, the Dominion is once again the dominant Terran power in the Koprulu sector. For reasons unknown, Kerrigan gathered the swarm at Char and has vanished from sight. With the Zerg gone, the Protoss have once again taken a passive role in the galaxy. Jim Raynor has formed a revolutionary group named Raynor's Raiders in order to overthrow Dominion Emperor Arcturus Mengsk.
On Mar Sara, Raynor meets with an old comrade, Tychus Findlay. Together, they liberate the local population from Dominion control and also discover a component of a mysterious Xel'Naga artifact. As the Zerg begin to overrun Mar Sara, Raynor arranges an evacuation to his battlecruiser, the Hyperion, captained by Matt Horner.
The Raiders embark on a series of missions to find the remaining pieces of the Xel'Naga artifact, which they sell to the enigmatic Moebius Foundation in order to fund their revolution. Along the way, they meet with Gabriel Tosh (a Spectre, or psychic assassin), and colonist leader Ariel Hanson. The Raiders perform missions to help Tosh procure the raw materials to train new Spectres. They also aid Hanson as she attempts to evacuate her colonists who are caught between the Zerg infesting their planets and the Protoss attempting to eradicate the infestation. Matt Horner also arranges a series of missions to undermine Mengsk with the eventual goal of overthrowing the Dominion. Finally, Zeratul sneaks aboard the Hyperion to deliver a psychic crystal which allows Raynor to share visions involving a prophecy regarding the future of the Zerg and Protoss and a mysterious hybrid of the two, the ultimate revelation being that only Kerrigan has the power to prevent the eradication of all life in the sector and beyond.
After collecting the final artifact piece Raynor's forces encounter Dominion battleships at the pre-agreed Moebius Foundation rendezvous point. The Moebius Foundation is revealed to be under the control of Valerian Mengsk, Arcturus' son. Valerian, intending to show himself as a worthy successor to his father, asks Raynor to help him invade Char and use the artifact to restore Kerrigan's humanity, thus weakening the Zerg. To the initial dismay of the crew, Raynor agrees. As the invasion of Char begins, the Dominion and Raider fleet is severely damaged by the heavy Zerg defenses. Raynor secures a foothold on Char and rendezvous with Dominion forces which survive the crash landings. The combined forces push towards the main Hive Cluster of the planet, protecting the artifact which eventually reaches full power and activates destroying all Zerg within its blast radius. Raynor's team finds Kerrigan restored to human form; however Tychus reveals that he made a deal with Arcturus Mengsk: trading Kerrigan's life for his own freedom. Raynor defends Kerrigan from Tychus' attempt to kill her, shooting Tychus in the process. The closing scene shows Raynor carrying Sarah Kerrigan across the battlefield in his arms.
The campaign storyline of StarCraft II takes place four years after StarCraft: Brood War, and features the return of a number of characters from the original series, including Zeratul, Arcturus Mengsk, Artanis, Sarah Kerrigan, and Jim Raynor. Players also revisit the original series' worlds, like Char, Mar Sara, and Braxis, as well as new worlds, such as the jungle planet Bel'Shir. It has been confirmed that the Xel'Naga, the ancient space-faring race responsible for creating the Protoss and the Zerg, plays a major role in the story.
At the conclusion of Brood War, Kerrigan and her Zerg forces became the dominant faction in the Koprulu Sector, having annihilated the United Earth Directorate's Expeditionary Force, defeated the Terran Dominion, and invaded the Protoss homeworld of Aiur. However, after the conclusion of Brood War, Kerrigan retreats to Char, despite having more than enough power to crush all remaining resistance in the Koprulu Sector. In the four years leading up to the events of StarCraft II, she has not been seen or heard from by any of the other characters, although her ultimate attack may come at any moment.
Arcturus Mengsk has been left to rebuild the Dominion, and is consolidating his power while fending off harassment from rival Terran groups. Valerian Mengsk, a character introduced in the novel Firstborn, will play an important role in Dominion politics, due to his position as heir apparent to the throne. Meanwhile, Jim Raynor, whose role in the events of StarCraft and Brood War has been marginalized by the media under the Dominion's control, has been reduced to mercenary status, and has been shown to be doing business with the "Moebius Foundation", a new faction which is interested in ancient Xel'Naga artifacts. Chris Metzen, Vice President of Creative Development at Blizzard, has emphasized that by the events of StarCraft II, Raynor has become jaded and embittered by the way he was used and betrayed by Arcturus Mengsk. Other new characters to the series include Tychus Findlay, first introduced in the StarCraft II teaser cinematic, a marine who will be a member of Raynor's crew, and Matt Horner, Raynor's second in command, a character originally featured in the novel Queen of Blades.
Following the fall of Aiur and the death of their matriarch Raszagal, the Protoss have retreated to the dark templar homeworld of Shakuras. There, Artanis, a former student of Tassadar, is trying to unify the Khalai Protoss and the dark templar, who have nearly separated into a tribal mindset as a result of centuries of distrust. Zeratul, tormented over the murder of his matriarch, has disappeared to search for clues to the meaning of Samir Duran's cryptic statements regarding the Protoss/Zerg hybrids in Brood War's secret mission "Dark Origin".
Plot:
Four years after the Brood War, the Dominion is once again the dominant Terran power in the Koprulu sector. For reasons unknown, Kerrigan gathered the swarm at Char and has vanished from sight. With the Zerg gone, the Protoss have once again taken a passive role in the galaxy. Jim Raynor has formed a revolutionary group named Raynor's Raiders in order to overthrow Dominion Emperor Arcturus Mengsk.
On Mar Sara, Raynor meets with an old comrade, Tychus Findlay. Together, they liberate the local population from Dominion control and also discover a component of a mysterious Xel'Naga artifact. As the Zerg begin to overrun Mar Sara, Raynor arranges an evacuation to his battlecruiser, the Hyperion, captained by Matt Horner.
The Raiders embark on a series of missions to find the remaining pieces of the Xel'Naga artifact, which they sell to the enigmatic Moebius Foundation in order to fund their revolution. Along the way, they meet with Gabriel Tosh (a Spectre, or psychic assassin), and colonist leader Ariel Hanson. The Raiders perform missions to help Tosh procure the raw materials to train new Spectres. They also aid Hanson as she attempts to evacuate her colonists who are caught between the Zerg infesting their planets and the Protoss attempting to eradicate the infestation. Matt Horner also arranges a series of missions to undermine Mengsk with the eventual goal of overthrowing the Dominion. Finally, Zeratul sneaks aboard the Hyperion to deliver a psychic crystal which allows Raynor to share visions involving a prophecy regarding the future of the Zerg and Protoss and a mysterious hybrid of the two, the ultimate revelation being that only Kerrigan has the power to prevent the eradication of all life in the sector and beyond.
After collecting the final artifact piece Raynor's forces encounter Dominion battleships at the pre-agreed Moebius Foundation rendezvous point. The Moebius Foundation is revealed to be under the control of Valerian Mengsk, Arcturus' son. Valerian, intending to show himself as a worthy successor to his father, asks Raynor to help him invade Char and use the artifact to restore Kerrigan's humanity, thus weakening the Zerg. To the initial dismay of the crew, Raynor agrees. As the invasion of Char begins, the Dominion and Raider fleet is severely damaged by the heavy Zerg defenses. Raynor secures a foothold on Char and rendezvous with Dominion forces which survive the crash landings. The combined forces push towards the main Hive Cluster of the planet, protecting the artifact which eventually reaches full power and activates destroying all Zerg within its blast radius. Raynor's team finds Kerrigan restored to human form; however Tychus reveals that he made a deal with Arcturus Mengsk: trading Kerrigan's life for his own freedom. Raynor defends Kerrigan from Tychus' attempt to kill her, shooting Tychus in the process. The closing scene shows Raynor carrying Sarah Kerrigan across the battlefield in his arms.
Where is the units?
StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty features approximately the same number of units as the original game. Some units from the original game have returned, some featuring new upgrades and abilities. For example, the Protoss Zealot, a melee unit from the original game, now has the researchable ability to dash forward and quickly reach nearby enemies as a refinement of its speed upgrade from the original. Other units have been replaced or removed entirely. Other changes to unit design have been inspired by story events in StarCraft and its expansion, Brood War, replacing old units with new or renamed versions which sport different attributes and abilities.
Units in StarCraft II have new abilities, compared to the original, that encourage more complex interaction with the game environment. Among these are the inclusion of units that can traverse varying levels of terrain, or have the ability to teleport short distances. Some Protoss units can be warped into pylon-powered areas using the Warp Gate, a slight modification of an existing building called the Gateway. StarCraft II's campaign also has exclusive units which are only playable in the campaign and not in the regular multiplayer mode, though they are available for custom maps. These mostly consist of units which have been scrapped from development such as the Terran Diamondback as well as various returning units from the original StarCraft such as the Terran Wraith and Vulture.
Brief SC2 information
StarCraft II features the return of the three species from the original game: Protoss, Terran, and Zerg. The single-player aspect of StarCraft II has also been altered substantially from the original game. The Terran campaign shown at BlizzCon 2007 replaced the original StarCraft briefing room with an interactive version of the battlecruiser Hyperion, with Jim Raynor, now a bitter and hard-drinking mercenary captain, as the central character. In a departure from previous Blizzard games, the campaign is non-linear, with Raynor taking jobs for money and using that money to buy additional units and upgrades. Although each playthrough will vary, the end result will remain consistent keeping the storyline linear. Vice president Rob Pardo has stressed that each campaign will function very differently. The Terran campaign, Wings of Liberty, places players in a mercenary style campaign, as Terran rebel Jim Raynor performs missions for cash. The second release, the Zerg campaign Heart of the Swarm, will have RPG elements. The player will level up the Queen of Blades, Kerrigan, throughout the missions. In the last expansion, the Protoss campaign Legacy of the Void, the dark templar Zeratul will have to employ diplomacy between Protoss tribes to acquire units and technologies for each mission. Each campaign is expected to span 26-30 missions. Wings of Liberty has 29 playable campaign missions. Of this 29, only 26 are playable through a campaign playthrough since three missions are choice-related alternates. There is one secret mission named "Piercing the Shroud," which can be unlocked on the "Media Blitz" mission.
Lead Designer Dustin Browder has discussed with Shacknews some of the unique missions that are included in the Wings of Liberty campaign. In one level, lava floods the battlefield every five minutes, forcing the player to move their units to high ground or watch them get destroyed. In another mission, enemy units will only attack the player at night. The last mission Browder discussed was one where the player tries to influence the tide of an AI controlled battle with only a single unit, a Ghost. The single player missions will be highly customizable and are featured in the StarCraft II Community Zone. Between missions, players can choose units, buildings and upgrades that are not available in the multiplayer missions.
A major new addition to the map-making community will be the StarCraft II Marketplace, where high quality maps will be sold for a small fee as "premium maps" over Battle.net. The mode of payment has not yet been announced. Dustin Browder has mentioned that even maps like player-created DotA (Defense of the Ancients) in Warcraft III would not meet the quality requirements to be branded as a premium map.
Lead Designer Dustin Browder has discussed with Shacknews some of the unique missions that are included in the Wings of Liberty campaign. In one level, lava floods the battlefield every five minutes, forcing the player to move their units to high ground or watch them get destroyed. In another mission, enemy units will only attack the player at night. The last mission Browder discussed was one where the player tries to influence the tide of an AI controlled battle with only a single unit, a Ghost. The single player missions will be highly customizable and are featured in the StarCraft II Community Zone. Between missions, players can choose units, buildings and upgrades that are not available in the multiplayer missions.
A major new addition to the map-making community will be the StarCraft II Marketplace, where high quality maps will be sold for a small fee as "premium maps" over Battle.net. The mode of payment has not yet been announced. Dustin Browder has mentioned that even maps like player-created DotA (Defense of the Ancients) in Warcraft III would not meet the quality requirements to be branded as a premium map.
Finally, after a long long wait... StarCraft 2 have arrived!
Starcraft 2: Wing of Liberty. Release date: 27/July/2010
StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty is a military science fiction real-time strategy video game developed and released by Blizzard Entertainment for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. A sequel to the award-winning 1998 video game StarCraft, the game was released worldwide on July 27, 2010. It is split into three installments: the base game with the subtitle Wings of Liberty, and two upcoming expansion packs, Heart of the Swarm and Legacy of the Void.
Set in the 26th century in a distant part of the Milky Way galaxy, the game revolves around three species: the Terrans, human exiles from Earth; the Zerg, a race of insectoid genetic assimilators; and the Protoss, a species with vast psionic power. Wings of Liberty focuses on the Terrans, while the expansions Heart of the Swarm and Legacy of the Void will focus on the Zerg and Protoss, respectively. The game is set four years after the events of StarCraft: Brood War, and follows the exploits of Jim Raynor as he leads an insurgent group against the autocratic Terran Dominion. The game includes both new and returning characters and locations from the original game.
Warning! Starcraft2 have arrived!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)