Species of StarCraft
Encyclopedia
Blizzard Entertainment's
bestselling real-time strategy
game series StarCraft
revolves around interstellar affairs in a distant sector of the galaxy, with three species and multiple factions all vying for supremacy in the sector. The playable species of StarCraft include the Terrans, human
s exiled from Earth who excel at adapting to any situation; the Zerg, a race of insectoid
s obsessed with assimilating other races in pursuit of genetic perfection; and the Protoss, a humanoid
species with advanced technology and psionic abilities, attempting to preserve their civilization and strict philosophical way of living from the Zerg. Each of these races has a single campaign in each StarCraft real-time strategy game. In addition to these three, various non-playable races have also been part of the lore of the StarCraft series; the most notable of these is the Xel'Naga, a race which features prominently in the fictional histories of the Protoss and Zerg races.
The original game has sold over 9.5 million copies internationally, and remains one of the most popular games in the world. One of the main factors responsible for StarCrafts positive reception is the attention paid to the three unique playable races, for each of which Blizzard developed completely different characteristics, graphics, backstories and styles of gameplay, while keeping them balanced in performance against each other. Previous to this, most real-time strategy games consisted of factions and races with the same basic play styles and units with only superficial differences. The use of unique sides in StarCraft has been credited with popularizing the concept within the real-time strategy genre. Contemporary reviews of the game have mostly praised the attention to the gameplay balance between the species, as well as for the fictional stories built up around them.
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Across the course of the game's development, the races and graphics of StarCraft have changed drastically from Chris Metzen
's original concept art
. In particular, since their initial public debut at E3 1996, the Zerg have seen extensive changes to their visual design. This was primarily due to Blizzard's attempt to steer the game away from the visual appearance, unveiled at the 1996 E3, that had earned the game a derisive label of "Warcraft
in space". The Zerg were originally known as the "nightmarish invaders", later becoming the "Zurg", and then renamed again to its current spelling to avoid any potential copyright conflicts with Pixar's
Toy Story
character of Emperor Zurg. In the early alpha versions built by Bob Fitch, the Zerg still showed their insect-inspired base, but their appearance was heavily dominated by spikes and bright shades of blue and purple. Early Protoss concept art showed a green and blue color scheme in their mechanical armour. Closely hewing to the familiar visual style of Warcraft II, the build received much criticism from industry press, prompting a redesign of the game engine
and an overhaul of the races' respective visual designs
.
This new version, unveiled in early 1997, still used the Warcraft II engine as its base, but with distinct changes. The Terrans and the Protoss were detailed to a much greater extent than at E3 1996, revealing many of the game's units in forms similar to those of the final product. Blizzard Entertainment also began the careful task of balancing the game's three races. However, in February 1997, Bob Fitch declared that, despite these efforts, the game engine was simply incapable of delivering features requested by the developers: cloaking
, burrowing and many other special effects. The development team therefore embarked upon a two-month overhaul of the graphics engine. This new beta version was far closer to the release version, as the races took on their now-recognisable graphical styles: the brown insectoid design of the Zerg, the sleek yellow armour of the Protoss, and the grey machinery of the Terrans. Most of the unit designs were estabilised at this point, their graphics only undergoing minor changes. Several game features were also added at this stage in the development that never made it into the final release, such as ships banking as they turned, transport ships landing on the ground to pick up and drop off passengers, and efficiency ranks, although Terran units would retain ranks as a purely aesthestic feature. The Terran Valkyrie-class missile frigate also appeared in this build of the game, although it was removed before the final release, only to be reintroduced later in the Brood War
expansion.
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The Protoss are a race of humanoid
s in the StarCraft series. They are composed of two societies, the conservative Khalai Protoss and the exiled dark templar. The Protoss are depicted as a physically strong species with access to advanced psionic
abilities. The Protoss are considered the most technologically advanced race of the series and are the focus of two episodes within StarCraft and its expansion Brood War, as well as featuring in campaigns in the authorized add-ons Insurrection and Retribution. Protoss strategy in-game is usually built around the quality of units the player controls rather than the quantity. Originating from Aiur, a planet on the fringe of the galaxy, the Protoss are normally shown in the games and the novels of the series as the nemesis of the Zerg.
shared by all Protoss. Khas' discovery and teachings, labelled the Khala, are then used as a base for a new caste
-based society. The Judicator caste forms the Conclave, the ruling body of the Khalai Protoss. The Templar caste constitutes the military, and the Khalai caste includes all other Protoss. The player controls a Templar character in the Protoss campaigns of all the video games to date. Khalai Protoss society is depicted as being stubbornly conservative while maintaining the warrior culture and honor values of the tribal system.
The backstory presented in StarCraft' s manual and in the novel Shadow Hunters also shows the rise of a second society of Protoss known as the Dark Templar, a sizeable minority of the Protoss who reject the Khala out of fear of losing their individuality inside the psychic link. The Dark Templar are treated as heretics by the Khalai Protoss and are forcibly evicted from Aiur. Despite their persecution, the majority of Dark Templar do not hold anything against their estranged brethren, seeking to defend Aiur in any way they can. The Dark Templar are presented as nomadic, only settling on the planet Shakuras to study a Xel'Naga temple there. After the conclusion of StarCraft, the two groups begin to reconcile, but the reconciliation is marred by mutual distrust.
StarCraft II
also depicts a third faction of Protoss, known as the Tal'Darim. Left behind on Aiur during the Zerg invasion, the splinter group lost their connection to the Khalai society and regressed to a state of aggression and fanaticism.
s, around three meters tall with two luminous eye
s, typically gold or blue. With two fingers flanked by two opposable thumbs on each hand, two large toes on each foot, digitigrade
legs, broad chests and shoulders with narrow waists, Protoss are very agile and physically strong. A bony crest extends back from the crown of the head, with long neural strands sprouting from the back of the head. These strands facilitate the basic psychic communal link all Protoss naturally share. Each Protoss has a different skin shade that corresponds to the tribe from which they are descended. The Protoss do not possess any visible ears (but they can hear, as when Terrans speak to them or hear what they are thinking), mouths or noses, but are able to communicate telepathically and possess strong olfactory
sensitivities. Protoss do not need to eat or drink, but are shown in The Dark Templar Saga to instead absorb energy from a form of photosynthesis
. The average life expectancy for a Protoss is about one thousand years. Little is known of the internal anatomy of the Protoss.
In contrast to the other two species, Protoss units and buildings display smooth and elegant designs, usually emphasising yellow and blue colors on armor and vehicles, although dark templar units display gray rather than yellow. Protoss units are generally more expensive and slower to produce in-game compared to Zerg or Terran units, but are conversely also more powerful and efficient in combat. All Protoss units and buildings are covered by a regenerating energy shield, further increasing the amount of damage that they can endure, although the Protoss have no way of healing or repairing their units.
. In the events immediately preceding the beginning of the game, the Khalai Protoss have become aware of a Zerg invasion of Terran worlds, and respond by sending a fleet commanded by the high Templar Tassadar to destroy infested Terran worlds. Tassadar instead disregards his orders to massacre the Terran populations, attempting to destroy the Zerg by conventional means. Tassadar later meets a Dark Templar, Zeratul
, and embraces the Dark Templar culture, prompting the Khalai Protoss to brand Tassadar as a traitor. Zeratul unwittingly reveals the location of the Protoss homeworld Aiur to the Zerg, leading to a Zerg invasion that devastates the planet. At the end of StarCraft, Tassadar sacrifices himself to save his people and their Terran allies by destroying the Zerg Overmind by crashing his carrier, the "Ganthritor", directly into the hivemind.
The Protoss return in Episode IV of Brood War
, the expansion to StarCraft. Following immediately on from the conclusion of StarCraft, Zeratul and a ranking templar Artanis evacuate the surviving Khalai Protoss from Aiur to the Dark Templar world of Shakuras. After the Zerg follow them to Shakuras, Zeratul and Artanis harness the energy of a resident Xel'Naga temple, scouring the planet of all the Zerg. The Protoss attempt to rebuild their lives on Shakuras, but are interrupted by a Zerg raid commanded by Sarah Kerrigan
that kidnaps the dark templar leader Raszagal. Using Raszagal as leverage, Kerrigan blackmails Zeratul into killing a new Overmind in incubation. Zeratul complies, but later kills Raszagal after it is revealed she has been brainwashed by the Zerg. Zeratul disappears while Artanis takes leadership and tries to reconstruct his people's civilization.
StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty introduces the fanatical Tal'Darim, who are at odds with Jim Raynor
while he attempts to find Xel'Naga artifacts for the Moebius Foundation. More significantly, Zeratul discovers that some force has successfully combined Protoss and Zerg genetic material, creating a race of incredibly powerful hybrids. Zeratul travels to Aiur to probe the corpse of the Zerg Overmind for information on an apocalyptic prophecy, and unexpectedly finds Tassadar in an ethereal form. Memories found in the Overmind's cortex depict a vision of a future in which Kerrigan is killed, whereupon the hybrids (led by an entity known only as the Dark Voice) take control of the Swarm, destroy all other forms of life, then obliterate the Zerg as well. The Protoss are the last society left standing against the Dark Voice's armies. Zeratul finds Raynor, knowing his intent to track down and defeat the Queen of Blades, and tells him to spare her life.
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The Terran
s are a fictional future version of human
ity in the StarCraft series. The Terrans are the most splintered of the StarCraft species, consisting of multiple factions that not only fight the other races but each other as well. Considered an adaptive and mobile species, the Terrans are noted in the lore of the series for their ability to quickly access and drain a planet's resources. The Terrans have been dedicated a full campaign in each real-time strategy video game installment to date, and are defined in-game by their specialization of units and tactics of defense and mobility. In the series' storyline, the Terrans are usually displayed as being caught in-between the conflict between the Protoss and Zerg while also dealing with frequent civil wars.
and several colonies both within and outside the solar system, the UED claims to operate under a policy of "enlightened socialism
" but is noted for its harsh methods of public order and media censorship. It is also seen as an advocate for eugenics
, resulting in the mass murder of millions and exile of other unwanted criminals and genetic mutants for colonization of the distant Koprulu Sector of the galaxy in which the series takes place. The UED remains outside the events of the series until Brood War, where it takes interest in the discovery of the Protoss and Zerg, the first contact between humanity and aliens. The player controls the UED faction in Episode V of Brood War.
The exiled prisoners from Earth form the Confederacy of Man in the Koprulu Sector. A de facto oligarchy
, the Confederacy's inner workings are elaborated on in the novels Liberty's Crusade, Speed of Darkness and Nova. Taking the role of the primary antagonistic faction in StarCraft' s Episode I, the Confederacy is shown as the most powerful faction in the sector at the beginning of StarCraft; in the novels, it is depicted as being brutal towards the public and corrupt at the highest levels on its capital Tarsonis. The player gets to control a division of the Confederate Security Forces in the prequel shareware
campaign for StarCraft. Due to the brutality of the regime, it is opposed by a variety of rebel groups and is eventually overthrown by the Sons of Korhal. The Sons of Korhal, a rebel group led by Arcturus Mengsk that the player controls during Episode I of StarCraft, form the Terran Dominion to replace the destroyed Confederacy, with the planet Korhal IV as the capital. The Dominion is an autocracy
with Mengsk as its emperor. The Dominion's operations are built on in The Dark Templar Saga series of novels. Although Mengsk sees himself as a benevolent dictator, he is shown to be just as harsh as his predecessors.
Mengsk's actions during his campaign against the Confederacy make an enemy of Jim Raynor
, one of the Sons of Korhal commanders. After Mengsk betrays other members of his command staff and reveals his real objectives of obtaining ultimate power, Raynor deserts and forms a resistance movement to the Dominion, labeled Raynor's Raiders. Described in the novels as a small army primarily consisting of members from Raynor's former colonial militia, the Raiders use the hijacked former flagship of the Sons of Korhal, the Hyperion, as their base of operations. In Queen of Blades, the group is described as being amongst the most wanted fugitives and rebels of the Dominion. The player assumes the role of Raynor in leading the group in StarCraft II.
s, and are often seen in-game in powered combat suits and with other war machines such as futuristic tank
s and space battlecruisers in use by their militaries. Some Terrans are displayed with cybernetic implants. Human behavior in the fictional history presented in StarCraft' s manual also points to the Terrans having the ability to access and deplete a planet's natural resources at an "alarming" rate. The Terrans are also noted in the backstory of the series as having a developing psionic potential. This psionic potential is what entices the Zerg to attack the Terrans, in hope of incorporating these traits into the Zerg gene pool. This psionic element is mirrored in Terran military technology through the ghost agent. Established as one of the iconic parts of StarCraft, ghost agents are Terrans who are born with ranging psionic abilities—from simple telepathy
to advanced powers such as telekinesis or a special ability shown by Nova Terra where she can kill an entire skyscraper of people in a single thought—that are then located by the military and put through an espionage training regime that can cost them their lives. In-game, the unit of a ghost is equipped with a cloaking device
and is designed for scouting and designating targets for nuclear strike, but has been developed further through the lore of the series to the extent that the StarCraft: Ghost
sub-series was created, specifically focusing on the life of a ghost agent, Nova.
In-game, Terrans tend to favor traditional modes of warfare, often utilizing combined arms
tactics with tanks, aircraft or other combat vehicles in combination with regular infantry. Using light ballistics, large calibre weapons and even tactical nuclear warheads, many Terran units are reminiscent of present-day designs. Terrans are considered to be more adaptive than the other two races and are able to produce units at an average expense. Primary base structures can even lift off and fly to other locations, allowing players to move buildings for quicker troop deployments, access to new resource locations or to save the structures from destruction by the enemy. Terran buildings and mechanized units can be repaired if damaged, and combat medic
s can heal wounded organic units.
. For a number of years before the game begins, the Confederacy is shown to be fighting a slowly losing war against the Sons of Korhal. When the Zerg and Protoss make their existence known, the pace of the war quickly changes. The player, accompanied by Jim Raynor, joins up with Arcturus Mengsk and the Sons of Korhal, and helps bring about the fall of the Confederacy by using Confederate technology to lure the Zerg into destroying the Confederate capital Tarsonis. In the process however, Mengsk abandons his second-in-command, Sarah Kerrigan
, to the Zerg on Tarsonis. As a result of the brutal tactics used by Mengsk and his needless sacrifice of Kerrigan to the Zerg, Raynor abandons Mengsk and his newly formed Dominion to search for the lost Kerrigan. When Raynor finally finds her on the planet Char it is revealed that she had been captured and infested by the Zerg Overmind. He then meets Zeratul
and Tassadar and consequently becomes an ally to the Protoss. Raynor's forces assist the Protoss in defending their homeworld from the Zerg and in destroying the Zerg Overmind in the game's conclusion.
In Brood War's
Episode V, the player takes the role of a captain in a UED expeditionary force, sent to pacify the wartorn sector after news of the discovery of the Zerg and Protoss makes its way to Earth. The UED force meets success in its initial battles, quickly bringing the Dominion to its knees and taking captive a new Overmind growing to replace the one killed by Tassadar. However, the UED fails to capture Mengsk, who allies with Raynor, Kerrigan and the Protoss templar Fenix. The UED is slowly beaten back by this mutual alliance, and although Kerrigan betrays her new allies, her Zerg forces eventually annihilate the UED fleet. Regrouping his surviving forces, Mengsk begins to reconstruct his empire, although he is still opposed by Raynor and his troops.
Raynor is the protagonist and player character of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty. Over the course of the campaign Raynor's Raiders (as his army is known) fight the Zerg and Mengsk's empire simultaneously. At the behest of a group known as the Moebius Foundation, the Raiders gather the pieces of a Xel'Naga artifact, until it is revealed that the foundation is actually led by Valerian Mengsk, Arcturus's son. Valerian intends to use the artifact's power to destroy the Queen of Blades, proving to the empire's citizens that he will be a worthy successor to the throne. Raynor begrudgingly finishes assembling the artifact and joins the imperial army in an assault on the Zerg homeworld of Char, but not before uncovering proof of Mengsk's treachery on Tarsonis and broadcasting it across the sector. The Terran forces on Char use the artifact to partially restore Kerrigan's humanity, significantly weakening her, but Raynor refuses to kill her. The teaser trailer for StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm, following up on this storyline, depicts imperial forces attempting to assassinate Kerrigan.
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The Zerg Swarm is a race of fictional parasitic insectoid
s and the overriding antagonists of the StarCraft series. Operating as a hive mind
, the Zerg strive for genetic perfection by assimilating "worthy" races into their own, creating numerous different strains of Zerg. Unlike the Protoss and the Terrans, the Zerg do not use technology; Instead, they assimilate other species' traits by directed mutation in order to match such technology. As with the other two primary races, the Zerg are the subject of a full campaign in each of the series' real-time strategy video games. Zerg units are designed to be cheap and fast to produce, encouraging players to overwhelm their opponents with sheer numbers. Since the release of StarCraft the Zerg have become a video gaming icon, described by PC Gamer UK as "the best race in strategy history". The term "Zerg Rush" or "zerging
" has entered video gaming jargon to describe sacrificing economic development in favour of using many low-cost and weak units to rush and overwhelm an enemy by attrition or sheer numbers. The tactic is infamous, with most experienced RTS players being familiar with the tactic in one form or another.
of a variety of different races assimilated into the Zerg genome. The Zerg were originally commanded by the Zerg Overmind, a manifestation of this hive mind, and under the Overmind's control the Zerg strove for genetic perfection by assimilating the favorable traits of other species. After a species has been assimilated into the Swarm, it is mutated towards a different function within its hierarchy, from being a hive worker to a warrior strain. StarCraft' s manual notes that some species bear little resemblance to their original forms after just a short time into assimilation. The Overmind controls the Swarm through secondary agents called cerebrates. Cerebrates command an individual brood of Zerg, each with a distinct tactical role within the hierarchy. Cerebrates further delegate power through the use of overlords for battlefield direction and queens for hive watch.
The vast majority of the Zerg do not have any free will as they are genetically forced to obey the commands of those further up the Zerg hierarchy, although they are sufficiently intelligent to form strategies and work as a team on the battlefield. Despite this, the average Zerg has no sense of self preservation
. Along with the Overmind, the cerebrates are the only Zerg with full sapience, each with its own personality and methods, although they too are genetically incapable of disobeying the Overmind. The Overmind also possesses the ability to reincarnate its cerebrates should their bodies be killed, although Protoss dark templar energies are capable of disrupting this process. If a cerebrate is completely dead and cannot be reincarnated, the Overmind loses control of the cerebrate's brood, causing it to mindlessly rampage and attack anything. As a result of the Overmind's death in StarCraft and the subsequent destruction of a new Overmind in Brood War, Blizzard Entertainment's Chris Metzen
revealed that the surviving cerebrates perish as they are genetically incapable of surviving without their master, leaving the infested Terran and prize of the Overmind, Sarah Kerrigan
, in complete control over the Swarm.
e, the "most insignificant lifeform" on their homeworld Zerus. The Xel'Naga are responsible for manipulating the evolution of the Zerg, allowing the larval Zerg to parasitically merge with other creatures, taking control of their host's nervous systems. From here, the Zerg can mutate the host and add its DNA to the Zerg gene pool for other Zerg larvae to mutate into. This method of assimilation means that there is no distinctly typical Zerg; rather, many different strains and breeds of Zerg, each based on the original core genus. However, the style of the Zerg is consistent, with breeds using a carapace
for armor, and using spines, claws and acids for attacking enemies. Each strain serves a distinct role and possesses the traits necessary to fulfill its function. Zerg colonies also exhibit similar roles, with each structure built within a colony essentially making up an organ in a larger lifeform. Zerg colonies produce a carpet of bio-matter referred to as the "creep", which essentially provides nourishment for Zerg structures and creatures. The Zerg are also shown to be highly dependent on their command structure: if a Zerg should lose its connection to the hive mind, it may turn passive and incapable of action, or become completely uncontrollable and attack allies and enemies alike.
Zerg buildings and units are entirely organic in-game, allowing every Zerg to slowly regenerate if they are damaged. Zerg production is far more centralized than with the Terrans and Protoss; a central hatchery
must be utilized to create new Zerg, with other structures providing the necessary technology tree assets, whereas the other two races can produce units from several structures. Zerg units tend to be weaker than those of the other two races, but are also cheaper, allowing for rush tactics to be used. Some Zerg units are capable of infesting enemies with various parasites that range from being able to see what an enemy unit sees to spawning Zerg inside an enemy unit. In addition, Zerg can infest some Terran buildings, allowing for the production of special infested Terran units.
, the Zerg are obsessed with the pursuit of genetic purity, and are the focus of the game's second episode. With the Xel'Naga–empowered Protoss targeted as the ultimate lifeform, the Zerg invade the Terran colonies in the Koprulu Sector to assimilate the Terrans' psionic potential and give the Zerg an edge over the Protoss. Through the actions of the Sons of Korhal, the Zerg are lured to the Confederate capital Tarsonis, where they capture the psionic ghost agent Sarah Kerrigan
and infest her. Returning to the Zerg base of operations on Char, the Zerg are attacked by the dark templar Zeratul
, who accidentally gives the location of the Protoss homeworld Aiur to the Zerg Overmind. With victory in sight, the Overmind launches an invasion of Aiur and manifests itself on the planet. However, at the end of the game, the Protoss high templar Tassadar sacrifices himself to destroy the Overmind, leaving the Zerg to run rampant and leaderless across the planet.
The Zerg return in Brood War
initially as uncontrolled indiscriminate killers. Through the early portions of Brood War, Sarah Kerrigan is at odds with the surviving cerebrates, who have formed a new Overmind to restore control of the Swarm. Through allying herself with the Protoss, Kerrigan strikes at the cerebrates, causing disruption of their plans. Eventually, the UED fleet takes control of Char and pacifies the new Overmind with drugs, putting the cerebrates and most of the Zerg under their control. Kerrigan retaliates by allying with the Dominion and the forces of Jim Raynor
and Fenix, regaining the ground lost to the UED. However, she later betrays this alliance, dealing long-term damage to her allies' infrastructures. Proceeding to blackmail Zeratul into killing the new Overmind, Kerrigan's forces destroy the remnants of the UED fleet, giving her full control of the Zerg and establishing the Swarm as the most powerful faction in the sector.
In StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, Jim Raynor and the rebel forces who oppose both the Dominion and the Zerg, manage to secure an ancient Xel'Naga artifact and after successfully infiltrating Char, they use it to subjugate the Zerg and restore Kerrigan's human form. Once again without an unified leadership, the Zerg get divided into multiple broods feuding over control of the Swarm. This situation persists until the events of the upcoming StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm
.
, a large temple on the planet Shakuras containing the power to wipe the planet clear of other species. During the course of Brood War, the Protoss activate the temple and use it to destroy all of the Zerg on Shakuras. In addition, other structures have been shown in the series. In the novel Shadow of the Xel'Naga, the three main species fight for control of a large Xel'Naga artifact on the planet Bhekar Ro, but accidentally activate it. The artifact releases a creature incubating in the structure, which proceeds to convert the nearby Xel'Naga-empowered Protoss and Zerg forces into energy for nourishment, before disappearing into space. After this, the novel Firstborn reveals that numerous other similar artifacts are discovered by the Terran Dominion within its borders. The Dominion heir Valerian Mengsk consequently sends an archaeological team under Jake Ramsey to investigate these relics. StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty also features a Xel'Naga relic that was broken into pieces. James Raynor and Valerian Mengsk reunite the pieces and use the relic to invade Planet Char and restore Sarah Kerrigan back into her human form.
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The species of StarCraft have been popular enough to inspire the creation of several collectable statues and toys based on in-game units. The first series of action figures was released by ToyCom in 2003 and included the Terran heavy infantry firebat with markings similar to some original StarCraft concept art for the firebat and a hydralisk, the Zerg medium assault warrior strain. A series of toys were also made available in 1998, featuring two colour variations of the Terran marine
, another hydralisk and a Protoss zealot, the basic Protoss infantry ground unit. In addition, 1/30 scale model kits for the marine and hydralisk were released in 1999 by Academy Hobby Model Kits
. A second series of collectable statues, which included one based on the Terran ghost, a Terran espionage agent with psychic powers, was in development but appears to have been cancelled.
Tom Chick stated that the balance and difference between the races was "remarkable", continuing to praise the game's "radical" approach to different races and its high degree of success when compared with other games in the genre. IGN was also positive about the unit arrangements for the three races, crediting Blizzard Entertainment for not letting units become obsolete during extended play and for showing an "extraordinary amount of patience in balancing them." GameSpot
was complimentary of the species in its review for StarCraft, describing the races as being full of personality. Stating that the use of distinct races allowed for the game "to avoid the problem [of equal sides] that has plagued every other game in the genre", GameSpot praised Blizzard Entertainment for keeping it "well balanced despite the great diversity."
Other reviews have echoed much of this positive reception. The site The Gamers' Temple described the species as "very diverse but well-balanced", stating that this allowed for "a challenging and fun gaming experience". Allgame
stated that the inclusion of three "dynamic" species "raises the bar" for real-time strategy games, complimenting the game for forcing the player to "learn how [the aliens'] minds work and not think like a human". Commentators have also praised the aesthetic design of the three races; in particular, the powered armor
worn by the Terran Marine was rated eleventh on in a Maxim
feature on the top armor suits in video games, and ninth in a similar feature by Machinima.com
.
This positive view, however, is not universally held. For example, Computer and Video Games
, while describing the game as "highly playable," nevertheless described a "slight feeling of déjà vu" between the three races.
Blizzard Entertainment
Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer and publisher founded on February 8, 1991 under the name Silicon & Synapse by three graduates of UCLA, Michael Morhaime, Allen Adham and Frank Pearce and currently owned by French company Activision Blizzard...
bestselling real-time strategy
Real-time strategy
Real-time strategy is a sub-genre of strategy video game which does not progress incrementally in turns. Brett Sperry is credited with coining the term to market Dune II....
game series StarCraft
StarCraft (series)
StarCraft is a military science fiction media franchise created by Chris Metzen and James Phinney, and owned by Blizzard Entertainment. The series centers on a galactic struggle for dominance between three species—the adaptable and mobile Terrans, the insectoid Zerg, and the enigmatic Protoss—in a...
revolves around interstellar affairs in a distant sector of the galaxy, with three species and multiple factions all vying for supremacy in the sector. The playable species of StarCraft include the Terrans, human
Human
Humans are the only living species in the Homo genus...
s exiled from Earth who excel at adapting to any situation; the Zerg, a race of insectoid
Insectoid
Insectoid denotes any creature or object that shares a similar body or traits with common earth insects and arachnids. The term is a combination of "insect" and "-oid" . Compare "humanoid"....
s obsessed with assimilating other races in pursuit of genetic perfection; and the Protoss, a humanoid
Humanoid
A humanoid is something that has an appearance resembling a human being. The term first appeared in 1912 to refer to fossils which were morphologically similar to, but not identical with, those of the human skeleton. Although this usage was common in the sciences for much of the 20th century, it...
species with advanced technology and psionic abilities, attempting to preserve their civilization and strict philosophical way of living from the Zerg. Each of these races has a single campaign in each StarCraft real-time strategy game. In addition to these three, various non-playable races have also been part of the lore of the StarCraft series; the most notable of these is the Xel'Naga, a race which features prominently in the fictional histories of the Protoss and Zerg races.
The original game has sold over 9.5 million copies internationally, and remains one of the most popular games in the world. One of the main factors responsible for StarCrafts positive reception is the attention paid to the three unique playable races, for each of which Blizzard developed completely different characteristics, graphics, backstories and styles of gameplay, while keeping them balanced in performance against each other. Previous to this, most real-time strategy games consisted of factions and races with the same basic play styles and units with only superficial differences. The use of unique sides in StarCraft has been credited with popularizing the concept within the real-time strategy genre. Contemporary reviews of the game have mostly praised the attention to the gameplay balance between the species, as well as for the fictional stories built up around them.
Design
Chris Metzen
Christopher Vincent Metzen is an American game designer, artist, voice actor and author known for his work creating the fictional universes and scripts for Blizzard Entertainment's three major award-winning media franchises: Warcraft, Diablo and StarCraft. On occasion, Metzen has published his art...
's original concept art
Concept art
Concept art is a form of illustration where the main goal is to convey a visual representation of a design, idea, and/or mood for use in films, video games, animation, or comic books before it is put into the final product. Concept art is also referred to as visual development and/or concept design...
. In particular, since their initial public debut at E3 1996, the Zerg have seen extensive changes to their visual design. This was primarily due to Blizzard's attempt to steer the game away from the visual appearance, unveiled at the 1996 E3, that had earned the game a derisive label of "Warcraft
Warcraft
Warcraft: Orcs & Humans is a real-time strategy game , developed by Blizzard Entertainment and published by Blizzard and Interplay Entertainment. The MS-DOS version was released in November 1994 and the Macintosh version in late 1996. Sales were fairly high, reviewers were mostly impressed, and the...
in space". The Zerg were originally known as the "nightmarish invaders", later becoming the "Zurg", and then renamed again to its current spelling to avoid any potential copyright conflicts with Pixar's
Pixar
Pixar Animation Studios, pronounced , is an American computer animation film studio based in Emeryville, California. The studio has earned 26 Academy Awards, seven Golden Globes, and three Grammy Awards, among many other awards and acknowledgments. Its films have made over $6.3 billion worldwide...
Toy Story
Toy Story
Toy Story is a 1995 American computer-animated film released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is Pixar's first feature film as well as the first ever feature film to be made entirely with CGI. The film was directed by John Lasseter and featuring the voices of Tom Hanks and Tim Allen...
character of Emperor Zurg. In the early alpha versions built by Bob Fitch, the Zerg still showed their insect-inspired base, but their appearance was heavily dominated by spikes and bright shades of blue and purple. Early Protoss concept art showed a green and blue color scheme in their mechanical armour. Closely hewing to the familiar visual style of Warcraft II, the build received much criticism from industry press, prompting a redesign of the game engine
Game engine
A game engine is a system designed for the creation and development of video games. There are many game engines that are designed to work on video game consoles and personal computers...
and an overhaul of the races' respective visual designs
Graphic design
Graphic design is a creative process – most often involving a client and a designer and usually completed in conjunction with producers of form – undertaken in order to convey a specific message to a targeted audience...
.
This new version, unveiled in early 1997, still used the Warcraft II engine as its base, but with distinct changes. The Terrans and the Protoss were detailed to a much greater extent than at E3 1996, revealing many of the game's units in forms similar to those of the final product. Blizzard Entertainment also began the careful task of balancing the game's three races. However, in February 1997, Bob Fitch declared that, despite these efforts, the game engine was simply incapable of delivering features requested by the developers: cloaking
Cloaking device
Cloaking devices are advanced stealth technologies still in development that will cause objects, such as spaceships or individuals, to be partially or wholly invisible to parts of the electromagnetic spectrum...
, burrowing and many other special effects. The development team therefore embarked upon a two-month overhaul of the graphics engine. This new beta version was far closer to the release version, as the races took on their now-recognisable graphical styles: the brown insectoid design of the Zerg, the sleek yellow armour of the Protoss, and the grey machinery of the Terrans. Most of the unit designs were estabilised at this point, their graphics only undergoing minor changes. Several game features were also added at this stage in the development that never made it into the final release, such as ships banking as they turned, transport ships landing on the ground to pick up and drop off passengers, and efficiency ranks, although Terran units would retain ranks as a purely aesthestic feature. The Terran Valkyrie-class missile frigate also appeared in this build of the game, although it was removed before the final release, only to be reintroduced later in the Brood War
StarCraft: Brood War
StarCraft: Brood War is the expansion pack for the award winning military science fiction, real-time strategy video game StarCraft. Released in 1998 for Windows and Mac OS, it was co-developed by Saffire and Blizzard Entertainment. The expansion pack introduced new campaigns, map tilesets, music,...
expansion.
Protoss
Humanoid
A humanoid is something that has an appearance resembling a human being. The term first appeared in 1912 to refer to fossils which were morphologically similar to, but not identical with, those of the human skeleton. Although this usage was common in the sciences for much of the 20th century, it...
s in the StarCraft series. They are composed of two societies, the conservative Khalai Protoss and the exiled dark templar. The Protoss are depicted as a physically strong species with access to advanced psionic
Psionics
Psionics refers to the practice, study, or psychic ability of using the mind to induce paranormal phenomena. Examples of this include telepathy, telekinesis, and other workings of the outside world through the psyche.-History and terminology:...
abilities. The Protoss are considered the most technologically advanced race of the series and are the focus of two episodes within StarCraft and its expansion Brood War, as well as featuring in campaigns in the authorized add-ons Insurrection and Retribution. Protoss strategy in-game is usually built around the quality of units the player controls rather than the quantity. Originating from Aiur, a planet on the fringe of the galaxy, the Protoss are normally shown in the games and the novels of the series as the nemesis of the Zerg.
Society
Protoss society is shown in the background of the series to have been tribal with a strong warrior culture, until a planet-wide civil war allowed a mystic, Khas, to access a natural psionic linkPsionics
Psionics refers to the practice, study, or psychic ability of using the mind to induce paranormal phenomena. Examples of this include telepathy, telekinesis, and other workings of the outside world through the psyche.-History and terminology:...
shared by all Protoss. Khas' discovery and teachings, labelled the Khala, are then used as a base for a new caste
Caste
Caste is an elaborate and complex social system that combines elements of endogamy, occupation, culture, social class, tribal affiliation and political power. It should not be confused with race or social class, e.g. members of different castes in one society may belong to the same race, as in India...
-based society. The Judicator caste forms the Conclave, the ruling body of the Khalai Protoss. The Templar caste constitutes the military, and the Khalai caste includes all other Protoss. The player controls a Templar character in the Protoss campaigns of all the video games to date. Khalai Protoss society is depicted as being stubbornly conservative while maintaining the warrior culture and honor values of the tribal system.
The backstory presented in StarCraft
StarCraft II
StarCraft II
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 and its expansions, the game was released worldwide on July 27, 2010...
also depicts a third faction of Protoss, known as the Tal'Darim. Left behind on Aiur during the Zerg invasion, the splinter group lost their connection to the Khalai society and regressed to a state of aggression and fanaticism.
Depiction
The Protoss are humanoidHumanoid
A humanoid is something that has an appearance resembling a human being. The term first appeared in 1912 to refer to fossils which were morphologically similar to, but not identical with, those of the human skeleton. Although this usage was common in the sciences for much of the 20th century, it...
s, around three meters tall with two luminous eye
Eye
Eyes are organs that detect light and convert it into electro-chemical impulses in neurons. The simplest photoreceptors in conscious vision connect light to movement...
s, typically gold or blue. With two fingers flanked by two opposable thumbs on each hand, two large toes on each foot, digitigrade
Digitigrade
A digitigrade is an animal that stands or walks on its digits, or toes. Digitigrades include walking birds , cats, dogs, and many other mammals, but not plantigrades or unguligrades...
legs, broad chests and shoulders with narrow waists, Protoss are very agile and physically strong. A bony crest extends back from the crown of the head, with long neural strands sprouting from the back of the head. These strands facilitate the basic psychic communal link all Protoss naturally share. Each Protoss has a different skin shade that corresponds to the tribe from which they are descended. The Protoss do not possess any visible ears (but they can hear, as when Terrans speak to them or hear what they are thinking), mouths or noses, but are able to communicate telepathically and possess strong olfactory
Olfaction
Olfaction is the sense of smell. This sense is mediated by specialized sensory cells of the nasal cavity of vertebrates, and, by analogy, sensory cells of the antennae of invertebrates...
sensitivities. Protoss do not need to eat or drink, but are shown in The Dark Templar Saga to instead absorb energy from a form of photosynthesis
Photosynthesis
Photosynthesis is a chemical process that converts carbon dioxide into organic compounds, especially sugars, using the energy from sunlight. Photosynthesis occurs in plants, algae, and many species of bacteria, but not in archaea. Photosynthetic organisms are called photoautotrophs, since they can...
. The average life expectancy for a Protoss is about one thousand years. Little is known of the internal anatomy of the Protoss.
In contrast to the other two species, Protoss units and buildings display smooth and elegant designs, usually emphasising yellow and blue colors on armor and vehicles, although dark templar units display gray rather than yellow. Protoss units are generally more expensive and slower to produce in-game compared to Zerg or Terran units, but are conversely also more powerful and efficient in combat. All Protoss units and buildings are covered by a regenerating energy shield, further increasing the amount of damage that they can endure, although the Protoss have no way of healing or repairing their units.
Appearances
The Protoss are the focus of the third campaign of StarCraftStarCraft
StarCraft is a military science fiction real-time strategy video game developed by Blizzard Entertainment. The first game of the StarCraft series was released for Microsoft Windows on 31 March 1998. With more than 11 million copies sold worldwide as of February 2009, it is one of the best-selling...
. In the events immediately preceding the beginning of the game, the Khalai Protoss have become aware of a Zerg invasion of Terran worlds, and respond by sending a fleet commanded by the high Templar Tassadar to destroy infested Terran worlds. Tassadar instead disregards his orders to massacre the Terran populations, attempting to destroy the Zerg by conventional means. Tassadar later meets a Dark Templar, Zeratul
Zeratul
Zeratul is one of the central characters in the StarCraft series. At six hundred and thirty-five years old and holding the rank of prelate, Zeratul is a member of the Nerazim, better known as the dark templar, whose forebears were exiled from the protoss homeworld of Aiur over a thousand years ago...
, and embraces the Dark Templar culture, prompting the Khalai Protoss to brand Tassadar as a traitor. Zeratul unwittingly reveals the location of the Protoss homeworld Aiur to the Zerg, leading to a Zerg invasion that devastates the planet. At the end of StarCraft, Tassadar sacrifices himself to save his people and their Terran allies by destroying the Zerg Overmind by crashing his carrier, the "Ganthritor", directly into the hivemind.
The Protoss return in Episode IV of Brood War
StarCraft: Brood War
StarCraft: Brood War is the expansion pack for the award winning military science fiction, real-time strategy video game StarCraft. Released in 1998 for Windows and Mac OS, it was co-developed by Saffire and Blizzard Entertainment. The expansion pack introduced new campaigns, map tilesets, music,...
, the expansion to StarCraft. Following immediately on from the conclusion of StarCraft, Zeratul and a ranking templar Artanis evacuate the surviving Khalai Protoss from Aiur to the Dark Templar world of Shakuras. After the Zerg follow them to Shakuras, Zeratul and Artanis harness the energy of a resident Xel'Naga temple, scouring the planet of all the Zerg. The Protoss attempt to rebuild their lives on Shakuras, but are interrupted by a Zerg raid commanded by Sarah Kerrigan
Sarah Kerrigan
Sarah Louise Kerrigan, the self-styled Queen of Blades, is a major character and the predominant villain in Blizzard Entertainment's StarCraft series of video games and novels. The character was created by Chris Metzen and James Phinney, and her appearance was originally designed by Chris Metzen...
that kidnaps the dark templar leader Raszagal. Using Raszagal as leverage, Kerrigan blackmails Zeratul into killing a new Overmind in incubation. Zeratul complies, but later kills Raszagal after it is revealed she has been brainwashed by the Zerg. Zeratul disappears while Artanis takes leadership and tries to reconstruct his people's civilization.
StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty introduces the fanatical Tal'Darim, who are at odds with Jim Raynor
Jim Raynor
James Eugene "Jim" Raynor is a fictional character and a major protagonist in Blizzard Entertainment's science fiction StarCraft series. Raynor is a predominant character in the science fiction real-time strategy video games StarCraft and Brood War, and is the player character in StarCraft II:...
while he attempts to find Xel'Naga artifacts for the Moebius Foundation. More significantly, Zeratul discovers that some force has successfully combined Protoss and Zerg genetic material, creating a race of incredibly powerful hybrids. Zeratul travels to Aiur to probe the corpse of the Zerg Overmind for information on an apocalyptic prophecy, and unexpectedly finds Tassadar in an ethereal form. Memories found in the Overmind's cortex depict a vision of a future in which Kerrigan is killed, whereupon the hybrids (led by an entity known only as the Dark Voice) take control of the Swarm, destroy all other forms of life, then obliterate the Zerg as well. The Protoss are the last society left standing against the Dark Voice's armies. Zeratul finds Raynor, knowing his intent to track down and defeat the Queen of Blades, and tells him to spare her life.
Terrans
Terran
- Fiction :Terran is a demonym, a term commonly associated in science fiction with humans.- Literature :* Terran Federation, a government in the 1959 science fiction novel Starship Troopers...
s are a fictional future version of human
Human
Humans are the only living species in the Homo genus...
ity in the StarCraft series. The Terrans are the most splintered of the StarCraft species, consisting of multiple factions that not only fight the other races but each other as well. Considered an adaptive and mobile species, the Terrans are noted in the lore of the series for their ability to quickly access and drain a planet's resources. The Terrans have been dedicated a full campaign in each real-time strategy video game installment to date, and are defined in-game by their specialization of units and tactics of defense and mobility. In the series' storyline, the Terrans are usually displayed as being caught in-between the conflict between the Protoss and Zerg while also dealing with frequent civil wars.
Society
The Terrans are shown to be the most fragmented of the races in StarCraft, with multiple factions all vying for dominance over each other. Numerous factions are used throughout the series, ranging from national governments and corporations to rebels and criminals, although only four factions exhibit any major influence on the overall story arc. The first faction referred to in the backstory of the series is the United Earth Directorate (UED). A unified government of almost all the nations of EarthEarth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
and several colonies both within and outside the solar system, the UED claims to operate under a policy of "enlightened socialism
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
" but is noted for its harsh methods of public order and media censorship. It is also seen as an advocate for eugenics
Eugenics
Eugenics is the "applied science or the bio-social movement which advocates the use of practices aimed at improving the genetic composition of a population", usually referring to human populations. The origins of the concept of eugenics began with certain interpretations of Mendelian inheritance,...
, resulting in the mass murder of millions and exile of other unwanted criminals and genetic mutants for colonization of the distant Koprulu Sector of the galaxy in which the series takes place. The UED remains outside the events of the series until Brood War, where it takes interest in the discovery of the Protoss and Zerg, the first contact between humanity and aliens. The player controls the UED faction in Episode V of Brood War.
The exiled prisoners from Earth form the Confederacy of Man in the Koprulu Sector. A de facto oligarchy
Oligarchy
Oligarchy is a form of power structure in which power effectively rests with an elite class distinguished by royalty, wealth, family ties, commercial, and/or military legitimacy...
, the Confederacy's inner workings are elaborated on in the novels Liberty's Crusade, Speed of Darkness and Nova. Taking the role of the primary antagonistic faction in StarCraft
Shareware
The term shareware is a proprietary software that is provided to users without payment on a trial basis and is often limited by any combination of functionality, availability, or convenience. Shareware is often offered as a download from an Internet website or as a compact disc included with a...
campaign for StarCraft. Due to the brutality of the regime, it is opposed by a variety of rebel groups and is eventually overthrown by the Sons of Korhal. The Sons of Korhal, a rebel group led by Arcturus Mengsk that the player controls during Episode I of StarCraft, form the Terran Dominion to replace the destroyed Confederacy, with the planet Korhal IV as the capital. The Dominion is an autocracy
Autocracy
An autocracy is a form of government in which one person is the supreme power within the state. It is derived from the Greek : and , and may be translated as "one who rules by himself". It is distinct from oligarchy and democracy...
with Mengsk as its emperor. The Dominion's operations are built on in The Dark Templar Saga series of novels. Although Mengsk sees himself as a benevolent dictator, he is shown to be just as harsh as his predecessors.
Mengsk's actions during his campaign against the Confederacy make an enemy of Jim Raynor
Jim Raynor
James Eugene "Jim" Raynor is a fictional character and a major protagonist in Blizzard Entertainment's science fiction StarCraft series. Raynor is a predominant character in the science fiction real-time strategy video games StarCraft and Brood War, and is the player character in StarCraft II:...
, one of the Sons of Korhal commanders. After Mengsk betrays other members of his command staff and reveals his real objectives of obtaining ultimate power, Raynor deserts and forms a resistance movement to the Dominion, labeled Raynor's Raiders. Described in the novels as a small army primarily consisting of members from Raynor's former colonial militia, the Raiders use the hijacked former flagship of the Sons of Korhal, the Hyperion, as their base of operations. In Queen of Blades, the group is described as being amongst the most wanted fugitives and rebels of the Dominion. The player assumes the role of Raynor in leading the group in StarCraft II.
Depiction
The Terrans are displayed as standard humanHuman
Humans are the only living species in the Homo genus...
s, and are often seen in-game in powered combat suits and with other war machines such as futuristic tank
Tank
A tank is a tracked, armoured fighting vehicle designed for front-line combat which combines operational mobility, tactical offensive, and defensive capabilities...
s and space battlecruisers in use by their militaries. Some Terrans are displayed with cybernetic implants. Human behavior in the fictional history presented in StarCraft
Telepathy
Telepathy , is the induction of mental states from one mind to another. The term was coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Fredric W. H. Myers, a founder of the Society for Psychical Research, and has remained more popular than the more-correct expression thought-transference...
to advanced powers such as telekinesis or a special ability shown by Nova Terra where she can kill an entire skyscraper of people in a single thought—that are then located by the military and put through an espionage training regime that can cost them their lives. In-game, the unit of a ghost is equipped with a cloaking device
Cloaking device
Cloaking devices are advanced stealth technologies still in development that will cause objects, such as spaceships or individuals, to be partially or wholly invisible to parts of the electromagnetic spectrum...
and is designed for scouting and designating targets for nuclear strike, but has been developed further through the lore of the series to the extent that the StarCraft: Ghost
StarCraft: Ghost
StarCraft: Ghost is a military science fiction stealth-action video game under suspended development by Blizzard Entertainment. Part of Blizzard's StarCraft series, the game was announced in 2002 and was to be developed by Nihilistic Software for the Nintendo GameCube, Xbox, and PlayStation 2 video...
sub-series was created, specifically focusing on the life of a ghost agent, Nova.
In-game, Terrans tend to favor traditional modes of warfare, often utilizing combined arms
Combined arms
Combined arms is an approach to warfare which seeks to integrate different branches of a military to achieve mutually complementary effects...
tactics with tanks, aircraft or other combat vehicles in combination with regular infantry. Using light ballistics, large calibre weapons and even tactical nuclear warheads, many Terran units are reminiscent of present-day designs. Terrans are considered to be more adaptive than the other two races and are able to produce units at an average expense. Primary base structures can even lift off and fly to other locations, allowing players to move buildings for quicker troop deployments, access to new resource locations or to save the structures from destruction by the enemy. Terran buildings and mechanized units can be repaired if damaged, and combat medic
Combat medic
Combat medics are trained military personnel who are responsible for providing first aid and frontline trauma care on the battlefield. They are also responsible for providing continuing medical care in the absence of a readily available physician, including care for disease and battle injury...
s can heal wounded organic units.
Appearances
The player is first fully introduced to the Terrans in Episode I of StarCraftStarCraft
StarCraft is a military science fiction real-time strategy video game developed by Blizzard Entertainment. The first game of the StarCraft series was released for Microsoft Windows on 31 March 1998. With more than 11 million copies sold worldwide as of February 2009, it is one of the best-selling...
. For a number of years before the game begins, the Confederacy is shown to be fighting a slowly losing war against the Sons of Korhal. When the Zerg and Protoss make their existence known, the pace of the war quickly changes. The player, accompanied by Jim Raynor, joins up with Arcturus Mengsk and the Sons of Korhal, and helps bring about the fall of the Confederacy by using Confederate technology to lure the Zerg into destroying the Confederate capital Tarsonis. In the process however, Mengsk abandons his second-in-command, Sarah Kerrigan
Sarah Kerrigan
Sarah Louise Kerrigan, the self-styled Queen of Blades, is a major character and the predominant villain in Blizzard Entertainment's StarCraft series of video games and novels. The character was created by Chris Metzen and James Phinney, and her appearance was originally designed by Chris Metzen...
, to the Zerg on Tarsonis. As a result of the brutal tactics used by Mengsk and his needless sacrifice of Kerrigan to the Zerg, Raynor abandons Mengsk and his newly formed Dominion to search for the lost Kerrigan. When Raynor finally finds her on the planet Char it is revealed that she had been captured and infested by the Zerg Overmind. He then meets Zeratul
Zeratul
Zeratul is one of the central characters in the StarCraft series. At six hundred and thirty-five years old and holding the rank of prelate, Zeratul is a member of the Nerazim, better known as the dark templar, whose forebears were exiled from the protoss homeworld of Aiur over a thousand years ago...
and Tassadar and consequently becomes an ally to the Protoss. Raynor's forces assist the Protoss in defending their homeworld from the Zerg and in destroying the Zerg Overmind in the game's conclusion.
In Brood War's
StarCraft: Brood War
StarCraft: Brood War is the expansion pack for the award winning military science fiction, real-time strategy video game StarCraft. Released in 1998 for Windows and Mac OS, it was co-developed by Saffire and Blizzard Entertainment. The expansion pack introduced new campaigns, map tilesets, music,...
Episode V, the player takes the role of a captain in a UED expeditionary force, sent to pacify the wartorn sector after news of the discovery of the Zerg and Protoss makes its way to Earth. The UED force meets success in its initial battles, quickly bringing the Dominion to its knees and taking captive a new Overmind growing to replace the one killed by Tassadar. However, the UED fails to capture Mengsk, who allies with Raynor, Kerrigan and the Protoss templar Fenix. The UED is slowly beaten back by this mutual alliance, and although Kerrigan betrays her new allies, her Zerg forces eventually annihilate the UED fleet. Regrouping his surviving forces, Mengsk begins to reconstruct his empire, although he is still opposed by Raynor and his troops.
Raynor is the protagonist and player character of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty. Over the course of the campaign Raynor's Raiders (as his army is known) fight the Zerg and Mengsk's empire simultaneously. At the behest of a group known as the Moebius Foundation, the Raiders gather the pieces of a Xel'Naga artifact, until it is revealed that the foundation is actually led by Valerian Mengsk, Arcturus's son. Valerian intends to use the artifact's power to destroy the Queen of Blades, proving to the empire's citizens that he will be a worthy successor to the throne. Raynor begrudgingly finishes assembling the artifact and joins the imperial army in an assault on the Zerg homeworld of Char, but not before uncovering proof of Mengsk's treachery on Tarsonis and broadcasting it across the sector. The Terran forces on Char use the artifact to partially restore Kerrigan's humanity, significantly weakening her, but Raynor refuses to kill her. The teaser trailer for StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm, following up on this storyline, depicts imperial forces attempting to assassinate Kerrigan.
Zerg
Insectoid
Insectoid denotes any creature or object that shares a similar body or traits with common earth insects and arachnids. The term is a combination of "insect" and "-oid" . Compare "humanoid"....
s and the overriding antagonists of the StarCraft series. Operating as a hive mind
Group mind (science fiction)
A group mind, hive mind or group ego in science fiction is a single consciousness occupying many bodies. Its use in literature goes back at least as far as Olaf Stapledon's science fiction novel Last and First Men ....
, the Zerg strive for genetic perfection by assimilating "worthy" races into their own, creating numerous different strains of Zerg. Unlike the Protoss and the Terrans, the Zerg do not use technology; Instead, they assimilate other species' traits by directed mutation in order to match such technology. As with the other two primary races, the Zerg are the subject of a full campaign in each of the series' real-time strategy video games. Zerg units are designed to be cheap and fast to produce, encouraging players to overwhelm their opponents with sheer numbers. Since the release of StarCraft the Zerg have become a video gaming icon, described by PC Gamer UK as "the best race in strategy history". The term "Zerg Rush" or "zerging
Rush (computer and video games)
In video games, rushing is analogous to the human wave attack in real-world ground warfare, in which speed and surprise are used to overwhelm and/or cripple an enemy before they achieve effective buildups of sizable defensive and/or expansionist capabilities....
" has entered video gaming jargon to describe sacrificing economic development in favour of using many low-cost and weak units to rush and overwhelm an enemy by attrition or sheer numbers. The tactic is infamous, with most experienced RTS players being familiar with the tactic in one form or another.
Society
The Zerg are a collective consciousnessCollective consciousness
Collective consciousness was a term coined by the French sociologist Émile Durkheim to refer to the shared beliefs and moral attitudes which operate as a unifying force within society...
of a variety of different races assimilated into the Zerg genome. The Zerg were originally commanded by the Zerg Overmind, a manifestation of this hive mind, and under the Overmind's control the Zerg strove for genetic perfection by assimilating the favorable traits of other species. After a species has been assimilated into the Swarm, it is mutated towards a different function within its hierarchy, from being a hive worker to a warrior strain. StarCraft
The vast majority of the Zerg do not have any free will as they are genetically forced to obey the commands of those further up the Zerg hierarchy, although they are sufficiently intelligent to form strategies and work as a team on the battlefield. Despite this, the average Zerg has no sense of self preservation
Self preservation
Self-preservation is behavior that ensures the survival of an organism. It is universal among living organisms. In some vertebrates, pain and fear are parts of this mechanism. Pain causes discomfort so that the organism is inclined to stop the pain...
. Along with the Overmind, the cerebrates are the only Zerg with full sapience, each with its own personality and methods, although they too are genetically incapable of disobeying the Overmind. The Overmind also possesses the ability to reincarnate its cerebrates should their bodies be killed, although Protoss dark templar energies are capable of disrupting this process. If a cerebrate is completely dead and cannot be reincarnated, the Overmind loses control of the cerebrate's brood, causing it to mindlessly rampage and attack anything. As a result of the Overmind's death in StarCraft and the subsequent destruction of a new Overmind in Brood War, Blizzard Entertainment's Chris Metzen
Chris Metzen
Christopher Vincent Metzen is an American game designer, artist, voice actor and author known for his work creating the fictional universes and scripts for Blizzard Entertainment's three major award-winning media franchises: Warcraft, Diablo and StarCraft. On occasion, Metzen has published his art...
revealed that the surviving cerebrates perish as they are genetically incapable of surviving without their master, leaving the infested Terran and prize of the Overmind, Sarah Kerrigan
Sarah Kerrigan
Sarah Louise Kerrigan, the self-styled Queen of Blades, is a major character and the predominant villain in Blizzard Entertainment's StarCraft series of video games and novels. The character was created by Chris Metzen and James Phinney, and her appearance was originally designed by Chris Metzen...
, in complete control over the Swarm.
- Side note: The Overmind itself has Sentience, but not free will of his/its own. the Overmind and the Zerg, both creations of the Xel'Naga, are forced to obey some kind of far-reaching prophecy/order, that is coded in their genetics. The Overmind has the freedom of thought not granted to the Zerg, but he/it has no free will.
Depiction
The backstory for the series describes the original Zerg as small larvaLarva
A larva is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle...
e, the "most insignificant lifeform" on their homeworld Zerus. The Xel'Naga are responsible for manipulating the evolution of the Zerg, allowing the larval Zerg to parasitically merge with other creatures, taking control of their host's nervous systems. From here, the Zerg can mutate the host and add its DNA to the Zerg gene pool for other Zerg larvae to mutate into. This method of assimilation means that there is no distinctly typical Zerg; rather, many different strains and breeds of Zerg, each based on the original core genus. However, the style of the Zerg is consistent, with breeds using a carapace
Carapace
A carapace is a dorsal section of the exoskeleton or shell in a number of animal groups, including arthropods such as crustaceans and arachnids, as well as vertebrates such as turtles and tortoises. In turtles and tortoises, the underside is called the plastron.-Crustaceans:In crustaceans, the...
for armor, and using spines, claws and acids for attacking enemies. Each strain serves a distinct role and possesses the traits necessary to fulfill its function. Zerg colonies also exhibit similar roles, with each structure built within a colony essentially making up an organ in a larger lifeform. Zerg colonies produce a carpet of bio-matter referred to as the "creep", which essentially provides nourishment for Zerg structures and creatures. The Zerg are also shown to be highly dependent on their command structure: if a Zerg should lose its connection to the hive mind, it may turn passive and incapable of action, or become completely uncontrollable and attack allies and enemies alike.
Zerg buildings and units are entirely organic in-game, allowing every Zerg to slowly regenerate if they are damaged. Zerg production is far more centralized than with the Terrans and Protoss; a central hatchery
Hatchery
A hatchery is a facility where eggs are hatched under artificial conditions, especially those of fish or poultry. It may be used for ex-situ conservation purposes, i.e. to breed rare or endangered species under controlled conditions; alternatively, it may be for economic reasons A hatchery is a...
must be utilized to create new Zerg, with other structures providing the necessary technology tree assets, whereas the other two races can produce units from several structures. Zerg units tend to be weaker than those of the other two races, but are also cheaper, allowing for rush tactics to be used. Some Zerg units are capable of infesting enemies with various parasites that range from being able to see what an enemy unit sees to spawning Zerg inside an enemy unit. In addition, Zerg can infest some Terran buildings, allowing for the production of special infested Terran units.
Appearances
In StarCraftStarCraft
StarCraft is a military science fiction real-time strategy video game developed by Blizzard Entertainment. The first game of the StarCraft series was released for Microsoft Windows on 31 March 1998. With more than 11 million copies sold worldwide as of February 2009, it is one of the best-selling...
, the Zerg are obsessed with the pursuit of genetic purity, and are the focus of the game's second episode. With the Xel'Naga–empowered Protoss targeted as the ultimate lifeform, the Zerg invade the Terran colonies in the Koprulu Sector to assimilate the Terrans' psionic potential and give the Zerg an edge over the Protoss. Through the actions of the Sons of Korhal, the Zerg are lured to the Confederate capital Tarsonis, where they capture the psionic ghost agent Sarah Kerrigan
Sarah Kerrigan
Sarah Louise Kerrigan, the self-styled Queen of Blades, is a major character and the predominant villain in Blizzard Entertainment's StarCraft series of video games and novels. The character was created by Chris Metzen and James Phinney, and her appearance was originally designed by Chris Metzen...
and infest her. Returning to the Zerg base of operations on Char, the Zerg are attacked by the dark templar Zeratul
Zeratul
Zeratul is one of the central characters in the StarCraft series. At six hundred and thirty-five years old and holding the rank of prelate, Zeratul is a member of the Nerazim, better known as the dark templar, whose forebears were exiled from the protoss homeworld of Aiur over a thousand years ago...
, who accidentally gives the location of the Protoss homeworld Aiur to the Zerg Overmind. With victory in sight, the Overmind launches an invasion of Aiur and manifests itself on the planet. However, at the end of the game, the Protoss high templar Tassadar sacrifices himself to destroy the Overmind, leaving the Zerg to run rampant and leaderless across the planet.
The Zerg return in Brood War
StarCraft: Brood War
StarCraft: Brood War is the expansion pack for the award winning military science fiction, real-time strategy video game StarCraft. Released in 1998 for Windows and Mac OS, it was co-developed by Saffire and Blizzard Entertainment. The expansion pack introduced new campaigns, map tilesets, music,...
initially as uncontrolled indiscriminate killers. Through the early portions of Brood War, Sarah Kerrigan is at odds with the surviving cerebrates, who have formed a new Overmind to restore control of the Swarm. Through allying herself with the Protoss, Kerrigan strikes at the cerebrates, causing disruption of their plans. Eventually, the UED fleet takes control of Char and pacifies the new Overmind with drugs, putting the cerebrates and most of the Zerg under their control. Kerrigan retaliates by allying with the Dominion and the forces of Jim Raynor
Jim Raynor
James Eugene "Jim" Raynor is a fictional character and a major protagonist in Blizzard Entertainment's science fiction StarCraft series. Raynor is a predominant character in the science fiction real-time strategy video games StarCraft and Brood War, and is the player character in StarCraft II:...
and Fenix, regaining the ground lost to the UED. However, she later betrays this alliance, dealing long-term damage to her allies' infrastructures. Proceeding to blackmail Zeratul into killing the new Overmind, Kerrigan's forces destroy the remnants of the UED fleet, giving her full control of the Zerg and establishing the Swarm as the most powerful faction in the sector.
In StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, Jim Raynor and the rebel forces who oppose both the Dominion and the Zerg, manage to secure an ancient Xel'Naga artifact and after successfully infiltrating Char, they use it to subjugate the Zerg and restore Kerrigan's human form. Once again without an unified leadership, the Zerg get divided into multiple broods feuding over control of the Swarm. This situation persists until the events of the upcoming StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm
StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm
StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm is an upcoming sequel and expansion pack to the military science-fiction real-time strategy game StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty and part two of the planned StarCraft II trilogy...
.
Xel'Naga
The Xel'Naga (whose name, according to the original Starcraft manual means "Wanderers' from Afar") are an ancient race that has to date only been featured in the lore of the StarCraft series; their only appearances have been in the form of relics. The Xel'Naga play important roles in the backstories to both the Protoss and Zerg, being responsible for manipulating the evolution of the two races, along with an unknown number of other species. It was speculated that a player could control the Xel'Naga in StarCraft II and although this has been firmly denied by Blizzard Entertainment, they have confirmed the Xel'Naga will contribute to the game's storyline "in a rather epic tale".Attributes
In the manual to StarCraft, the Xel'Naga are described as a race determined to create the perfect lifeform. The Xel'Naga are also stated to have come from another galaxy and to have "seeded and cultivated thousands of various species" in their time. The Xel'Naga guided the evolution of the Protoss, a species the Xel'Naga believed possessed purity of form. However, after revealing themselves to their seemingly successful experiment, their presence caused the Protoss to devolve into a fearful and tribalistic mindset. Believing their experiment a failure, the Xel'Naga were shunned and eventually attacked by the Protoss while departing Aiur. The Xel'Naga then discovered the Zerg, small parasitic larvae that could control the nervous systems of other species. The Xel'Naga saw this as purity of essence, and guided the evolution of the Zerg as well. However, the Zerg were animals, concerned only with self-preservation. To help further the Zerg as a species, the Xel'Naga created the Overmind, a central consciousness to organize the Zerg. They hid their existence from the Overmind, however. On becoming aware of their existence (after being filled with an overriding directive it could not fight off), the Overmind attacked the Xel'Naga, infesting and destroying the greater whole of the race.Appearances
Although the Xel'Naga do not themselves appear during the novels and the video games, various relics left behind from their legacy are scattered throughout the series. One such relic appears in Brood WarStarCraft: Brood War
StarCraft: Brood War is the expansion pack for the award winning military science fiction, real-time strategy video game StarCraft. Released in 1998 for Windows and Mac OS, it was co-developed by Saffire and Blizzard Entertainment. The expansion pack introduced new campaigns, map tilesets, music,...
, a large temple on the planet Shakuras containing the power to wipe the planet clear of other species. During the course of Brood War, the Protoss activate the temple and use it to destroy all of the Zerg on Shakuras. In addition, other structures have been shown in the series. In the novel Shadow of the Xel'Naga, the three main species fight for control of a large Xel'Naga artifact on the planet Bhekar Ro, but accidentally activate it. The artifact releases a creature incubating in the structure, which proceeds to convert the nearby Xel'Naga-empowered Protoss and Zerg forces into energy for nourishment, before disappearing into space. After this, the novel Firstborn reveals that numerous other similar artifacts are discovered by the Terran Dominion within its borders. The Dominion heir Valerian Mengsk consequently sends an archaeological team under Jake Ramsey to investigate these relics. StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty also features a Xel'Naga relic that was broken into pieces. James Raynor and Valerian Mengsk reunite the pieces and use the relic to invade Planet Char and restore Sarah Kerrigan back into her human form.
Merchandise
Space marine
The space marine, an archetype of science fiction, is a soldier that operates in outer space or on alien worlds. Historical marines fulfill amphibious roles: ship defence, landing parties, and general high-mobility deployments...
, another hydralisk and a Protoss zealot, the basic Protoss infantry ground unit. In addition, 1/30 scale model kits for the marine and hydralisk were released in 1999 by Academy Hobby Model Kits
Academy Plastic Model Co.
Academy Plastic Model Co., Ltd. is a Korean plastic model, chemical, and toy company. It is headquartered in Uijeongbu-Si, Gyeonggi-do, Korea and was established on September 1, 1969. It holds three headquarters in Seoul, Korea; Gelsenkirchen, Germany; and Rosario, Cavite, Philippines...
. A second series of collectable statues, which included one based on the Terran ghost, a Terran espionage agent with psychic powers, was in development but appears to have been cancelled.
Critical reception
Before StarCraft, most real-time strategy games consisted of factions and races with the same basic play styles and units with mostly superficial differences. Thus, the uniqueness and variety of the species in the StarCraft series has been well received by many of the industry's critics. In their review for StarCraft, IGN'sIGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
Tom Chick stated that the balance and difference between the races was "remarkable", continuing to praise the game's "radical" approach to different races and its high degree of success when compared with other games in the genre. IGN was also positive about the unit arrangements for the three races, crediting Blizzard Entertainment for not letting units become obsolete during extended play and for showing an "extraordinary amount of patience in balancing them." GameSpot
GameSpot
GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
was complimentary of the species in its review for StarCraft, describing the races as being full of personality. Stating that the use of distinct races allowed for the game "to avoid the problem [of equal sides] that has plagued every other game in the genre", GameSpot praised Blizzard Entertainment for keeping it "well balanced despite the great diversity."
Other reviews have echoed much of this positive reception. The site The Gamers' Temple described the species as "very diverse but well-balanced", stating that this allowed for "a challenging and fun gaming experience". Allgame
Allgame
Allgame is a commercial database of information about arcade games, video games and console manufacturers.Allgame is owned by All Media Guide, along with Allmusic and Allmovie....
stated that the inclusion of three "dynamic" species "raises the bar" for real-time strategy games, complimenting the game for forcing the player to "learn how [the aliens'] minds work and not think like a human". Commentators have also praised the aesthetic design of the three races; in particular, the powered armor
Powered exoskeleton
A powered exoskeleton, also known as powered armor, or exoframe, is a powered mobile machine consisting primarily of an exoskeleton-like framework worn by a person and a power supply that supplies at least part of the activation-energy for limb movement.Powered exoskeletons are designed to assist...
worn by the Terran Marine was rated eleventh on in a Maxim
Maxim (magazine)
Maxim is an international men's magazine based in the United Kingdom and known for its pictorials featuring popular actresses, singers, and female models, sometimes pictured dressed, often pictured scantily dressed but not fully nude....
feature on the top armor suits in video games, and ninth in a similar feature by Machinima.com
Machinima.com
Machinima.com is a gaming and media streaming website, that aims to be a hub for machinima, the art of creating animated videos in real-time virtual 3-D environments. The site features machinima-related articles, and news. Machinima productions can be submitted for possible redistribution after...
.
This positive view, however, is not universally held. For example, Computer and Video Games
Computer and video games
A video game is an electronic game that involves human interaction with a user interface to generate visual feedback on a video device. The word video in video game traditionally referred to a raster display device, but following popularization of the term "video game", it now implies any type of...
, while describing the game as "highly playable," nevertheless described a "slight feeling of déjà vu" between the three races.
External links
- The StarCraft Compendium on Battle.netBattle.netBattle.net is a gaming service provided by Blizzard Entertainment. Battle.net was launched in November 30, 1996 with the release of Blizzard's action-RPG Diablo. Battle.net was the first online gaming service incorporated directly into the games that make use of it, in contrast to the external...
. - Races at StarCraft Wiki, a WikiaWikiaWikia is a free web hosting service for wikis . It is normally free of charge for readers and editors, deriving most of its income from advertising, and publishes all user-provided text under copyleft licenses. Wikia hosts several hundred thousand wikis using the open-source wiki software MediaWiki...
project.