Creative Development Q&A 6

[Hawki]

Okay. Gradius got 17 on the thread, so I'll see if I can match it (note that I'll be borrowing some). I'll specify that these are questions off the top of my head, and I'm making an effort to try and ask questions that don't fall into "what makes you think we'd answer this" or "no shit Sherlock," along with being hopefully worthy of consideration. I'll probably fail in some of those regards, but anyway:

1) How do protoss reproduce?

2) In Brood War, the KMC used regular units, whereas during the Guild Wars, their military was effective comprised of irregulars and less effective tech than the Confederacy. What I'd like to ask, is whether this apparent modernization come BW is in-universe, or a by-product of game mechanics.

3) Concerning the situation with the protoss, it's self-explanatory, but there's one thing I think hasn't been touched on so much-the Dae'Uhl. While belief in it apparently still exists (see Why We Fight), I'm curious as to the potential power vacuum they could leave in their stewardship over "lesser species," as it's been established that they have had to intervene directly at times. Has the status quo changed in the realm below the 'big three?' Or, as since most species were unaware of their protected status, is this status quo pretty much the same?

4) While on the subject of aliens, can you give us any more info on the kalathi and tagal? Not expecting too much, but some physiological, sociological, psychological and/or technological pointers would be much appreciated.

5) Something I've noticed in regards to the setting's galaxy dispersal of life is...well, interesting. Galactic fringe, blooming with life. Galactic core, we have Zerus. In Earth's region of the galaxy, it's apparently relatively lifeless, as the UED didn't discover any alien species until it observed the protoss and zerg. Can you give any indication as to why this might be the case?

6) Can you give any indication as to what might have happened to Abernathy and Cavez (from Queen of Blades?). While I don't expect every Raider to be accounted for, the reason I ask is that come the end of the novel, they'd both achieved relatively high-ranking positions in Raynor's forces, yet come WoL, there's no sign of them. Granted, the Raiders seem to have grown in size since then so their positions may be less important as a result, but I'm still curious as to their status.

7) Can you please explain why the Ghost seen in the comic series massacred the colonists of Bhekar Ro? I mean, not that I'm complaining per se, but it seems inherantly counter-productive.

8) Concerning zerg FTL travel, is Kerrigan capable of opening wormholes in the same way the Overmind could? Or are behemoths and/or leviathans capable of FTL travel on their own? And if so, were the original behemoths capable of such a thing?

9) Selendis mentions that "the only cure for infestation is purification by fire." Does this mean that nanites are now completely ineffective? Or was she being over-zealous (no pun intended)?

10) The Khala is supposed to protect protoss from infestation, but what about Nerazim?

11) When was the Kel-Morian Combine actually founded? We have two absolute dates for it, neither of which make much sense. More inclined to go with the 24th century one, but still, clarification would be appreciated.

...

Yeah, so much for 17, and I admit that question 10 is not one I'd rank highly in priority on a personal level. Anyway, food for thought if you're hungry.

Edit: Something else I feel I should specify, there are questions I'd like to be answered more. Outside the obvious (e.g. what is Samir Duran), stuff like where Gestalt Zero and the Voice in the Darkness are now, or what happened after Zeratul followed the energy creatures through the wormhole. Reason I don't, and why I'm iffy about those questions being asked in the first place, is that I feel they're questions that should be answered through show rather than tell. If Gestalt Zero comes back for instance, I want to see him in a story, not have his story resolved with "well, this happened BTW."

[TcheQuevara]

Ask again in a month. We'll get to find out.

If the end of the world happens, it will be a little obvious. And some people here are overly sensitive about obvious questions, aren't we, Hawki?

Taking a leaf from D&D, I'd called the xel'naga "chaotic neutral." Not evil, but there's many examples where they don't care about who gets hurt. Protoss? Get them ready, let them fight for centuries till the Khala is discovered. Xil? Yeah, just pack up shop after the catastrophe hits. Zerg? Well, I'm sure all the other life on Zerus will die happily knowing it's all for the cause of purity of essence.

...jackasses.

What, must I enlighten you with my higher knowledge of the alignment system? So be it. This is obviously lawful neutral, since they're very directed to this objective of perfecting alien races and reproducing their own cycle. Maybe the DV could be the chaotic neutral one, the guy who says "screw their cycle, I'm gonna start my own".

All your questions are awesome, why didn't you make them at the BNet thread?

[Gradius]

I've had a .txt file of lore questions we were going to use for interviews one day, so I posted them all on b.net.

- How do Protoss reproduce?
- Have you decided whether the StarCraft add-on packs, Insurrection and Retribution, are canon?
- How powerful are hybrids? In Wings of Liberty, a single hybrid mind-controlled an entire protoss force. In the Flashpoint novel, Kerrigan beat several hybrids single-handedly.
- Do the xel'naga or dark voice care about other galaxies? If the dark voice wins, would other races in other galaxies notice, or are their actions on a more provincial scale?
- How safe are the Protoss on Shakuras with their Xel'Naga temple? Are they guaranteed protection from the zerg, or was the temple a one-time-use?
- How do communications i.e. transmissions work in StarCraft? Do any of the races or factions use faster-than-light communications?
- What exactly is the "shadow essence" of a Protoss warrior according to the Stalker's Starcraft II page? How does this differ from dragoons?
- If immortals are a dying breed then what is done with fallen khalai warriors now?
- How exactly do Zerg assimilate other species? Do the Larvae still burrow into the host's spine or does the Overlord do all the work, as mentioned in The Dark Templar Saga: Shadow Hunters?
- How did Kerrigan hop from planet to planet in Brood War? Does she open wormholes herself, or does she utilize some other means of faster-than-light travel?
- What exactly is the cosmic energy matrix that emanates from planets such as Aiur or Shakuras?
- Is there an actual explanation as to why any combination of two high or dark templar create an archon?
- Can marines really shoot down a battlecruiser or carrier? Or is this just for gameplay?
- Do Missile Turrets have operators?
- Before Fenix was placed in a dragoon, was he dead or just on the brink of death? Do Protoss use artificial prostheses if they don't want to become a dragoon/immortal?
- Why did Zeratul not learn about the dark voice when he touched minds with the Overmind in StarCraft, even though he learned about the xel'naga and why the Overmind came to destroy the protoss?
- In several StarCraft novels, terrans can don their marine suits by themselves. In the cinematic trailer for StarCraft II, Tychus Findlay is fit in his suit by machinery. Are both methods canonical?

If anybody else has any questions they want asked, post them here and I'll incorporate them into the fold.

[TcheQuevara]

Awesome. I have my own questions:

Communication: how do Protoss communicate with Terran without going into their minds? How did Tassadar gave his speech to Edmund Duke? Do they hack into Terran radio communication? Do they communicate in English? Do they craft a different artificial voice for each Protoss who is talking to Terrans? And how does Terrans answer?

Scale: Ok this is a long one.

Given the following characters:

A regular modern soldier
A gorilla
A cheetah
Action Comics #1 Superman (the one "faster than a train", etc)
DBZ Goku (a reasonable version, like just before fighting Vegeta)
A modern athlete/weightlifter/chessmaster etc
A regular marine (inside/outside his suit)
A regular ghost
A regular zealot
A regular high templar
A zergling
A hydralisk
An ultralisk
2499's Sarah Kerrigan
The Queen of Blades
Fenix
Zeratul
Tassadar
A Cerebrate
Stone Age Arthur Dent

Could you compare and scale them about the their physical and maybe mental prowesses? (weightlifting, speed, strenght, unarmed brawl, intelligence, etc).

In the comics we see a zealot defeating an ultralisk almost by herself. Frankly, this makes complete sense. I can't imagine that lore-wise, zealots are the cannon folder of MP matches. They seem to me more like a whole army of elite super soldiers.

[Shadow Archon]

Do any of the races or factions use faster-than-light communications?

Isn't that one obvious? There's tons of points all across the lore of them communicating at FTL.

Terrans: Mengsk uses a device in I'Mengsk when he's a prospector IIRC to talk either with his old friend on Korhal or Umoja and both Tosh and Valerian communicate with Raynor at distances that require FTL communications on his battlecruisers. There's also the distress calls you pick in Starcraft 2.

Protoss: Zertaul and Tassadar do this with Aldaris in Queen of Blades using psionics. They also have technological methods such as those Spires that will be in HotS.

Zerg: The hivemind connects them all, even at FTL needed distances.

[Quirel]

1) How do protoss reproduce?

Careful what you ask...

5) Something I've noticed in regards to the setting's galaxy dispersal of life is...well, interesting. Galactic fringe, blooming with life. Galactic core, we have Zerus. In Earth's region of the galaxy, it's apparently relatively lifeless, as the UED didn't discover any alien species until it observed the protoss and zerg. Can you give any indication as to why this might be the case?

Wow. That is interesting.
Wonder if the answer would be cosmological (I:E Supernova explosions and gamma radiation bursts are less likely out toward the fringes of the galaxy) or another Ancient Evil.

7) Can you please explain why the Ghost seen in the comic series massacred the colonists of Bhekar Ro? I mean, not that I'm complaining per se, but it seems inherantly counter-productive.

Catharsis. Or maybe the colonists just learned that, if you humiliate a pompous rat like General Duke, his retribution is going to be swift and silent.

10) The Khala is supposed to protect protoss from infestation, but what about Nerazim?

Cyanide tablets implanted in one of their molars.
That would work, right? I think that would work...

[Gradius]

Isn't that one obvious? There's tons of points all across the lore of them communicating at FTL.

Terrans: Mengsk uses a device in I'Mengsk when he's a prospector IIRC to talk either with his old friend on Korhal or Umoja and both Tosh and Valerian communicate with Raynor at distances that require FTL communications on his battlecruisers. There's also the distress calls you pick in Starcraft 2.

Protoss: Zertaul and Tassadar do this with Aldaris in Queen of Blades using psionics. They also have technological methods such as those Spires that will be in HotS.

Zerg: The hivemind connects them all, even at FTL needed distances.

Obviously. The point is to get an explanation for how it works i.e. like what Tche asked. Anyway, the second part of the question I believe was asked in the early 2000s before all this extra lore when it was less obvious, since it looked like Fenix never contacted Shakuras to learn about Kerrigan, Earth never learned about the UED's fate even though Dugalle sent a message, and even the swarm seemed to always stick together i.e. tarsonis->char->aiur.

5) Something I've noticed in regards to the setting's galaxy dispersal of life is...well, interesting. Galactic fringe, blooming with life. Galactic core, we have Zerus. In Earth's region of the galaxy, it's apparently relatively lifeless, as the UED didn't discover any alien species until it observed the protoss and zerg. Can you give any indication as to why this might be the case?

Wasn't that explained in the manual though? The Xel'Naga seeded their regions of space with life, because they were actual scientists at the time, instead of a "mysterious" civilization that did nothing useful besides leave artifacts behind.

The Khala is supposed to protect protoss from infestation, but what about Nerazim?

I'd like to know as well, but my personal theory is that DTs are also protected, since we already know that their energies are harmful to the hive-mind?

Selendis mentions that "the only cure for infestation is purification by fire." Does this mean that nanites are now completely ineffective? Or was she being over-zealous (no pun intended)?

I like to think that the zerg are the organic versions of the replicators from stargate. It's hard to destroy them with DEMs, because they just adapt too damn fast.

[The_Blade]

I'd like to know as well, but my personal theory is that DTs are also protected, since we already know that their energies are harmful to the hive-mind?

IIRC, DT energies were harmful to the hivemind because they were basically the same "language" of energies used by the overmind (Void energies). I just don't seem to find the void energy as a good reason on why DT's are not infestestable. Perhaps the protection is in the biological, psionic potential of a Protoss. The Khala just enhances psionic abilities. A Protoss within the Khala would just get a greater psionic potential and more protection as a consequence. DT's empowering their psionic biology would also be imune to infestation.

On the energy topic, the Zerg Creep at PAX mind controlled a single Protoss and then used an infected version of the Khala to "kill" everyone else. Just like Zeratul vs the Overmind, the Zerg could use the Khala vs the Protoss.

Swarm assimilation is not possible, because the Protoss and the Zerg are both high experiments of the Xel'naga. Something biological should prevent them from merging through the Zerg virus. Some sort of DNA encryption ^^

[Visions of Khas]

It's weird that the Zerg can't infest the Protoss, given that they're basically destined to become one. Though I recall that Zeratul called the Khala an "attenuation" of the Protoss' natural power, and that utilizing the Void was their true gift. I think this was in Queen of Blades. Which made me wonder if the Khala was contrived by some agent of the Dark Voice to further ensure that a natural convergence of Zerg and Protoss would be impossible.

[Kimera757]

Khas learned about the Khala from that dangerous crystal later used by Ulrezaj for draining his protoss cultists. So, it's possible... I still think the Dark Templar are giving up something too. (Then again, I kind of like the "light" protoss more. The Dark Templar seem like superhumans rather than aliens.)