Mar Sara
Koprulu Sector
Second Terran Planet

After the outlying colony Chau Sara was decimated by the mysterious Protoss fleets, the Terran Confederacy quickly rushed to save its twin planet Mar Sara from suffering the same fate. The counter attack apparently worked as the Protoss forces, led by Tassadar, Executor of the Koprulu Expedition, chose to withdraw from the fray. Unaware of the Protoss’ true intention to rid the Sector of a terrifying alen presence known as the Zerg, the Confederates rejoiced. Soon, the Zerg presence was discovered on the outskirts of Mar Sara, and all went to hell. Overcome by a collective, paranoid terror and encumbered by their own political infighting, the hapless Terran factions could only watch as an ever-increasing tide of alien invaders made their way towards the heart of the war torn Terran Sector.

After the distruction of Chua Sara, the Confederates tightened security on all outlying systems, including a lock down on Mar Sara colony. General Edmund Duke of the Confederate Security Forces, Alpha Squadron, carried out the quarantine of the planet and ordered a relocation of all core colonists to the outlying wastelands. The local Marshal, Jim Raynor was assigned to escort the refugees to the new wasteland site. When they arrived, they received a distress signal that nearby Backwater station was being attacked by unknown organisms later identified as the Zerg. Raynor and his forces immediately took the initiative to save the area from being overrun, but were jailed for burning down an infested Command Center without permission.

Meanwhile, sixteen outland stations reported sightings of the Zerg. The Confederates mysteriously arrested all standing militia forces and continued to avoid action against the Zerg. The renegade activist coalition Sons of Korhal, led by Arcturus Mengsk, was able to evacuate thirteen of the stations with help from the Mar Sara Colonial Magistrate. The Sons of Korhal rescued Jim Raynor from the Confederate prison ships as the Magistrate was suspended for dealing with the renegade group. As both the Confederates and the Sons of Korhal prepared to abandon Mar Sara completely, Raynor was sent on a last mission into a Confederate outpost, the Jacobs Installation, to retrieve whatever design or weapons’ schematics he could find within its networks. Within the installation, Raynor discovered evidence that the Confederacy had known of the creatures for some time. The plans were soon retrived and analyzed to be the design for a Transplanar Psionic Waveform Emitter, a machine that could broadcast the neural imprint of a Ghost across worlds to lure the Zerg into specific isolated containment areas, one of which was Mar Sara.

Fleeing to the border colony of Antiga Prime, Arcturus’ group planned its next crucial moves against the Confederacy. Thirteen hours after the evacuation, Protoss warships took up orbit around the colony and unleashed a massive planetary bombardment, incinerating the entirety of Mar Sara. All life upon the surface was extinguished.

Aiur
Homeworld of the Protoss

The Xel’Naga focused their frustated efforts of fashioning the perfect life-form on the most promising of their engineered worlds millions of years ago. Aiur, a massive jungle-world on the galaxy’s fringe, was the birthplace of the race of highly advanced beings known as the Protoss. The early Protoss lived in harmony and seclusion upon the world of Aiur for hundreds of generations and Protoss civilization spread across the face of Aiur within only a few thousand years. The Xel’Naga marveled at their creatures and lived among the Protoss to guide them in their seemingly insatiable search for knowledge. However, the Tribes soon grew further and further apart, and the Xel’Naga wondered if they had perhaps pushed the evolution of the Protoss too far. Suspicions began to brew among the Tribes regarding the interests of the Xel’Naga in their affairs and they began to shy away from their Xel’Naga teachers, eventually severing the connection to their primal psychic link. The Xel’Naga, believing that they had made a grave mistake in pushing their failed creation too fast, made to depart Aiur forever. Soon after their departure, the Protoss Tribes turned on each other in chaotic despair in the most violent civil war ever recorded in galactic history: The Aeon of Strife. It is legend that even the greater land-masses of Aiur were devastated by the epic struggle between the maddened Tribes. Towards the end of the war, a mystic named Khas developed a theory of insight known as the Khala, or ‘Path of Ascension.’ Soon the Khala began to permeate even the deepest, most fundamental roots of Protoss society. With the newly established leadership of the Conclave and their Judicator Administrates and the zealous might of the Templar, the Protoss soon rebuilt their decimated world of Aiur into a bustling paradise. One faction known as the Rogue Tribes refused to embrace the Khala, however, and these Dark Templar were soon banished from Aiur forever. The Dark Templar eventually settled on the twilight world of Shakuras, but they never abandoned their love for Aiur, and thus worked to safeguard their long lost Homeworld in any way they secretly could.

The Zerg Overmind, after learning of the exceedingly powerful Protoss, knew that the two races would eventually be caught in an inevitable, apoclyptic conflict and made it their mission to invade the hated Protoss Homeworld of Aiur. The Zerg hoped that it could then assimilate the strongest known species into their genetic strains. The assault on Aiur turned out to be very successful for the Zerg, and the Overmind’s last offensive in the campaign was to destroy the temple that marked the site where the Xel’Naga first set foot upon Aiur. However, all was not lost. Tassadar persuaded the reluctant Judicator Aldaris to seek the help of Zeratul, Praetor of the Dark Templar to exterminate the Zerg upon Aiur. Once the Overmind was sufficiently weakened, Tassadar sacrificed himself in a final act for the redemption of Aiur. Due to Tassadar’s noble sacrifice, the Overmind was now dead and the Zerg Swarms were scattered and broken. But as the heroes surveyed their once glorious homeland, they realized that their victory had cost them all but their lives; Aiur was left nothing more than a smoldering ruin.

Many of the mindless Zerg who survived the horrendous battle began to rampage unchecked across the blackened fields of Aiur. The Conclave, which had ruled over the Protoss Tribes for many thousand years, was eradicated along with nearly seventy percent of Aiur’s population. Thus, only a handful of Protoss heroes remained to watch over the beleaguered survivors of their world. The Judicator Aldaris, Praetor Fenix, the Dark Templar Zeratul, and their human companion James Raynor banded together in order to unite and lead the scattered survivors. Soon, it became clear that the remaining Protoss would have to be evacuated from the planet, and so they fled to the Dark Templar home of Shakuras to rebuild their once glorious civilization. Aiur has remained abandoned since.

Char
Terran Dominion Border World Zerg Base of Operations

After the Zerg left thier lifeless, burning homeworld of Zerus, they made their way towards the Koprulu sector and eventually settled on a remote ash world named Char. The Zerg thrive in harsh environments, and the raging firestorms of Char did not deter the malevolent race from settling on the planet. In a Kel-Morian Combine GPS Survey Report, it is reported that “the surface of Char can reach such extreme temperatures that mineral deposits become molten and form rivers of crystal that flow across the planet’s surface. A recent application of space geodetic techniques to this phenomenon has measured the amount and spatial pattern of net vertical crustal deformation and shows that these rivers sometimes snake across the planetary mantle in this liquid state for months before finally hardening. Mineral laden pathways are then created and can be seen protruding from the obsidian landscape, serving as both landmarks and rich mining fields.”

It was upon Char that the Chrysalis resurrected Kerrigan as an infested Terran. Several conflicts took place on Char, with Terran and Protoss alike attempting without much success to pacify the Zerg. After the Zerg invasion of Aiur, the noble Protoss Executor Tassadar sacrificed his energy in the final defeat of the original Overmind. Back on Char, Kerrigan, the self-styled Queen of Blades, knew that the time of her ascension was at hand.

Soon it was discovered that the renegade Cerebrates, commanded by Daggoth, had merged into a new Overmind upon Char. The United Earth Directorate, under project “Black Flag” traveled to Char to capture the massive creature, obtaining uncontested control over the sector. Kerrigan established an infested platform over Char and launched an offensive on the Overmind, defeating the UED in the process. She manipulated the Protoss to aid her in killing the Overmind by kidnapping the Dark Templar matriarch Raszagal. After the defeat of the second Overmind, the Protoss under the command of Zeratul were able to reclaim Raszagal from Kerrigan. However, they were attacked at the last second of escape by Kerrigan’s forces and Zeratul was forced to kill Raszagal to prevent Kerrigan from enslaving her once again. Thus, it was on Char where Raszagal was sacrificed and where she passed on the responsibility to watch over the Dark Templar tribes to Zeratul. Kerrigan knew that the memory of killing Raszagal would haunt him forever, so she allowed Zeratul and a few of his brethren to leave the planet Char with their lives.

After successfully holding her ground against a three pronged attack from the Protoss and Terran factions, Sarah Kerrigan, floating on a dark platform above the burnt-out planet of Char, sat and lorded over the ravenous Swarms. Unable to shake the feeling that a great threat loomed just over the horizon, Kerrigan could only stare off into the vastness of space where she beheld a great void. Or perhaps a reflection of a hollow victory and of the trials yet to come…