[LotV Story Spoiler] RE The Light & the Dark

[Visions of Khas]

I tagged this as Spoiler, assuming some people have avoided the panels on the storyline.

For those of you who like being spoiled; how can the Khalai expect to fight effectively without the Khala? Up to now we've been led to believe the Khala fueled all Khalai technology, from individual warriors to the all-encompassing warp network and buildings.

Can Amon's corruption effect Protoss technology? How are Khalai remaining viable warriors, stripped of its power? Are they absorbing Void energy now, either naturally or through training and discipline?

Or is the Khala being completely relegated to being an empathic link?

[Jconant]

From what I gather khalai can be independent, but through the khala power can be shared and amplified.

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From what I gather khalai can be independent, but through the khala power can be shared and amplified.

[Visions of Khas]

Then why were the Dark Templar forced to use Void psi?

[Jconant]

So far as I know they didn't "need" to perse, but Adun taught the dark templar how to use the void so that they could hide from the khalai.

As for the khala, tapping into it let protoss harness more power than they individually possess, and that the khala is necessary to form the "empathetic bond" with all other protoss.

[Turalyon]

I didn't know Khala = Protoss psionic ability. I thought it was just a system to allow the Protoss to access their empathic bond with each other and to help focus their psionic power, not the source of it's power. The Protoss had psionic capabilities well before Khas existed afterall. I guess that without it, they can still access psionic powers but that they would be more unrestrained or chaotic (like what happened to the Dark Templar precursors I suppose).

What is potentially interesting with the Khala's removal is that we might finally get to see some infested Protoss!

[Visions of Khas]

To show their disdain for the Conclave and their Judicator lackeys, the Dark Templar ceremoniously cut off their nerve-appendages, effectively severing themselves from the basic communal link that all Protoss share. It was widely rumored that since the shadow Hunters were cut off from the primal chord of their race, they were forced to draw their psionic energies from the dark, cold void of space.

All this makes me wonder about Rohana's character, a Preserver who maintains her nerve appendages.

[Turalyon]

^ Hmm, I don't know. The original quote does say "rumoured", which is different from cold, solid fact.

Besides, if it's so easy to disconnect a Khalai Protoss from the Khala/psionic power by just cutting off the nerve cords, the Zerg would have easily infested many Protoss by now. Would we expect a Khalai Protoss to know how to access Void energy the instant it's nerve cords were cut off to stave off the threat of infestation?

[ragnarok]

I didn't know Khala = Protoss psionic ability. I thought it was just a system to allow the Protoss to access their empathic bond with each other and to help focus their psionic power, not the source of it's power. The Protoss had psionic capabilities well before Khas existed afterall. I guess that without it, they can still access psionic powers but that they would be more unrestrained or chaotic (like what happened to the Dark Templar precursors I suppose).

What is potentially interesting with the Khala's removal is that we might finally get to see some infested Protoss!

This. The Khala allows discipline. This was why for the Dark Templar, at the very beginning, who refused to embrace the Khala, lost control of their powers and caused havoc with their psionic storms. Later on the Dark Templar embraced the Void, and it allowed them other psionic abilities.

As for the Khala's removal, that's hard to say for infested Protoss. If the Protoss get cut off from the Khala, they're embraced by the Void (this was shown when Ulrezaj used Sundrop on the Aiur survivors), and Void energies still prevent Zerg infestation.

All this makes me wonder about Rohana's character, a Preserver who maintains her nerve appendages.

It could be a little different with her. Preservers have knowledge that most other Khalai Protoss don't. This is how the Khalai maintain their history and everything. It's possible her bond to the Khala is a little different, something that Amon couldn't corrupt or something...

[Nissa]

This. The Khala allows discipline. This was why for the Dark Templar, at the very beginning, who refused to embrace the Khala, lost control of their powers and caused havoc with their psionic storms. Later on the Dark Templar embraced the Void, and it allowed them other psionic abilities.

Wait, if that's the case, then why didn't the pre-Khala 'Toss lose control of their powers and wreck havoc? I wonder if that's a plot flaw in the manuals themselves.

On other topics, I can't facepalm hard enough on the whole Khala being corrupted thing. For one thing, Blizzard never defined what the Khala is very well. Sure, there was that whole brain connection thing mentioned in the Twilight Saga, but if the humans at the end of the first book can have their own happy fun brain connection times, despite not being 'Toss, then certainly the Dark Templar can do the same. There just doesn't feel like a clear distinction between normal psychic powers and the powers one would get from following the Khala. Or for that matter, regular psychic powers and Dark Templar teachings. That distinction needs to be there, if only to define how a ghost is different from a 'Toss.

To me, the Khala should properly be more of a political/philosophical thing, with certain psychic techniques that take advantage of the abilities of nerve cords. That way it can have complexity. As is, they direction they went feels like a cheap plot manipulation for Blizzard to make some kind of social commentary (or maybe just be lazy in storytelling). Come on, the whole point of going to Shakuras in BW was to prove that the dark and light Protoss are two halves of a greater whole. By making one a bad thing, they narrow the cultural diversity of the species.

[Visions of Khas]

Okay, so the psionic matrix from which Khalai pull their energy is not the Khala itself, which is the racial bond all Khalai share, coupled with training and discipline. But I still thought a Protoss needed nerve cords to access both the Khala and Psionic Matrix that emanated from Aiur.

I suppose I assumed at some point that Amon was corrupting the Psionc Matrix itself, allowing him to influence the Protoss and their technologies.