Confess your Nerditude

[Visions of Khas]

Then again, if their "gods" are the Xel'Naga, I'm tempted to give up on the franchise. That just seems so dumb, but it's hard to believe that at least some of the Protoss wouldn't honor the Xel'Naga this way.

Then I guess you're SOL. the 'Naga were among the Protoss, but they were definitely deified to some extent. They were probably incorporated into existing religions and cultures. Referring to them as Gods is probably a holdover from ancient times, more a saying than anything else. That doesn't obviate the fact, however, that the Xel'Naga, their knowledge and technology remain "godlike" by comparison. They may not be supernatural, but for all intents and purposes they are gods to some of the Protoss, most definitely the Tal'Darim.

And yeah, I'd call the Khala itself semi-religious in its doctrine.

[ragnarok]

You make several good points, but I wasn't saying the Protoss aren't religious, I was saying the conflict with the Dark Templar isn't necessarily religious. The Protoss themselves definitely have some sort of pantheon going on, and it'd be interesting to know how similar/dissimilar the DTs versus Khala the two pantheons are. I've always imagined their conflict was sort of based on Ireland and Britain's, and their shared common background means the two have very similar systems of gods.

Then again, if their "gods" are the Xel'Naga, I'm tempted to give up on the franchise. That just seems so dumb, but it's hard to believe that at least some of the Protoss wouldn't honor the Xel'Naga this way.

That's going to depend if they understood the Xel'Naga's purpose for them. This is what Khas tried to change in that they don't HAVE to do what the Xel'Naga wanted them to do.

That being said, Zeratul seems to be the only Protoss so far to see the primal Zerg, and therefore could see that they were not what the Protoss originally thought, although the difference doesn't seem to be all that much.

[FanaticTemplar]

No, no, the Khala is definitely a religion. The entire Protoss khalai mythology rests on the evil of the Aeon of Strife and the good of the Khala. The Protoss' creators descended among them and gave them the gift of knowledge, but this gift made the Protoss prideful and arrogant. Ultimately they rejected the gift and turned against their creators. This is the Protoss 'original sin' and the beginning of the Aeon of Strife, after being tainted by evil from turning against their creators, they turned against each other. Generations lived and died without knowing why they fought, but they kept fighting because all Protoss were tainted by their betrayal of their creators.

The first Protoss messiah was Khas, and he appeared during this time of otherwise eternal suffering, and freed the Protoss from darkness through the Khala. The world was filled with death and despair, but through the Khala (and only through the Khala) one could achieve peace, prosperity, contentment and happiness. This of course makes the Khala figuratively paradise, but lest you think the narrative is being too subtle (about this thing literally called 'the Path of Ascension'), it is also literally paradise: when upright khalai Protoss die, they merge with the Khala. If you discard the Path of Ascension, you are severed from the Khala (this is done when the Dark Templar - the apostates - cut their nerve tendrils).

The Khala is also a code of holy laws (the caste divisions, the Dae'uhl, etc.), rituals appealing for 'divine' intervention (psionic storms) and symbols (revered icons like Adun or tribal marks as a reminder of the Aeon of Strife, the dark world that awaits if one deviates from the Khala) instituted by Khas and maintained by the Judicator Caste, the theocratic elite of the Protoss civilisation.

This brings us back to Aldaris, the Judicators and the Dark Templar. The Judicator do not fear Protoss getting involved with Dark Templar as a threat to their temporal power - a bunch of deviants feeling that they've been mistreated is not going to collapse a government as powerful and thoroughly enshrined as the Judicator Caste, and that's even supposing the Conclave were acting out of such myopic self-interest in the midst of the Zerg invasion, something there is no evidence of at all. No, the Judicator feared the corruption of the apostates, tainting their flock and endangering their souls. If the Zerg consume all of Aiur, and every Protoss dies, they will still live on forever within the Khala. If the taint of the Dark Templar is allowed to spread, and the Protoss abandon the Path of Ascension, they will fall back to the darkness of the Aeon of Strife (it is no coincidence that the Protoss during the Aeon of Strife cut their psychic link to one another) and damn themselves to, at best, death everlasting. This is why Tassadar and the Dark Templar were a greater threat than the Zerg. Because the Judicator were concerned for the souls of the Protoss.

Of course, then we get to Tassadar and the second Protoss messiah, but that's not really the subject of this post.

But yeah, the Khala is definitely a religion.

[Nissa]

Meh, if the Khala is a religion, it's only as religious as Confucianism -- philosphic rather than spiritual. Confucius was all about order in China, and Khas was bringing order to the Protoss. Their gods, likely holdovers if not the Xel'Naga, appear to have nothing to do with it. That, and the conflict in and of itself, is based on the fear of the Dark Templar destroying the order that the Khala brought to the Protoss, not religious differences. Again, despite the Catholics and Protestants being believers in Christianity, their conflict in Ireland is the cultural result of British influence and oppression -- it's not at all religious in origin.

But I don't feel like arguing about it. Clearly you don't see Starcraft as a historical metaphor as I do. Maybe I'm putting too much thought into it, but you could say the same about any of us, I guess. Or huh, maybe that's why SC2 sucks, because it's not based on history. It would have been so much better if Mengsk were a Lenin figure, who is idealistic but at the same time ruthless.

[FanaticTemplar]

Meh, if the Khala is a religion, it's only as religious as Confucianism -- philosphic rather than spiritual.

Can you demonstrate your claim? I've already explained how it redeems the Protoss from original sin and pointed out that it is literally their afterlife, but if you want an even less subtle example: the ultimate commitment to the Khala is the abandonment of one's physical form and individuality to become a being of pure thought (psionics) and power, the Archon.

[Gradius]

The afterlife part has kind of been retconed in a qna.

[FanaticTemplar]

The afterlife part has kind of been retconed in a qna.

Oh, has it? The manual said that Protoss could directly commune with their ancestors using the Templar Archives, though it doesn't mention the Khala. Is this a different form of communication with the dead?

[Turalyon]

I think all we can definitely say is that Protoss history is allegorical to some aspects of human religious history.

[Gradius]

Oh, has it? The manual said that Protoss could directly commune with their ancestors using the Templar Archives, though it doesn't mention the Khala. Is this a different form of communication with the dead?

Q&A 26:

A Protoss warrior who is badly injured but still living may be placed in a dragoon--or latterly an immortal--shell to continue to fight. This is the choice of the individual warrior. Some warriors elect to shoulder the burden of remaining among the living instead of joining the sum of Protoss lives embodied in the Khala. It is worthy of note that the lives of individual Protoss that have passed into the Khala are no longer coherent entities, and the Protoss cannot speak with their dead per se. However, there are memories and strands of experience that can be accessed. Only the most skilled Protoss preservers can locate and follow specific desired strands of knowledge. The tremendous value of preservers comes from the fact that they carry within themselves and can access the sum total of Protoss experience at an individual level.

I feel like this was done to pander to the dark templar saga books. Still don't know how I feel about it though.

[ragnarok]

But I don't feel like arguing about it. Clearly you don't see Starcraft as a historical metaphor as I do. Maybe I'm putting too much thought into it, but you could say the same about any of us, I guess. Or huh, maybe that's why SC2 sucks, because it's not based on history. It would have been so much better if Mengsk were a Lenin figure, who is idealistic but at the same time ruthless.

Mengsk is NOT based on a Lenin figure. He and his Dominion are just a sci-fi version of Hitler and the Nazi regime.

Mengsk's impression is that if he died, humanity wouldn't last 5 seconds without him, proving he was deluded to the very end, and never saw his errors.