[LotV Story Spoiler] RE The Light & the Dark

[Nissa]

Psionic Matrix? Did I miss something? I don't remember that being in any of the games.

[Turalyon]

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.

What? So the instant a Khalai Protoss is denied the capability of accessing the Khala (by nerve cord removal) they instantly are able to access the Void as an immediate surrogate? I thought the first Nerzim/Dark Templar had to learn how to access the Void, much in the same way the pre-Khas Protoss had to learn the Khala initially. Would've been plenty of time for the Zerg to start infesting...

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.

They did lose control. It was called the Aeon of Strife. It was how they managed to devastate landmasses.

Even though the EU "clarified" that the Aeon of Strife was a battle waged by primitive/stone aged Protoss, I'd assumed that the Protoss always had access to psionic powers even then.

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.

I think the manual defined it well enough. To me, it was clearly a philosophy, a way of life/thinking and even a religion.

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.

I somewhat have to agree with your concern. It sort of undermines the entire culture of the Protoss in the same way that HotS revealed the Overmind (or the concept of a hivemind) was a bad/unnatural thing for the Zerg. Next they'll say Khas (who taught the Protoss the Khala, was the responsible for ending the Aeon of Strife and revered forevermore) was actually minion of Amon and really only taught the Khala as a backdoor for Amon to exploit/corrupt later a time that just so happens to coincide with when LotV begins. Ugh!!

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.

Hmmm, it's already difficult understanding the nature of what the Khala is and how it can be corrupted without also having to understand what the nature of the psionic matrix is and knowing it's the specific source of Khalai psionics, too. From what I can gather, only structures and warpgates are wholly dependent on the psionic matrix for power whilst "units" are only to a lesser extent. Still, I like the way you're thinking.

[ragnarok]

What? So the instant a Khalai Protoss is denied the capability of accessing the Khala (by nerve cord removal) they instantly are able to access the Void as an immediate surrogate? I thought the first Nerzim/Dark Templar had to learn how to access the Void, much in the same way the pre-Khas Protoss had to learn the Khala initially. Would've been plenty of time for the Zerg to start infesting...

I'm saying they're very quickly embraced by the Void. That's why I'm not convinced of infested Protoss.

There was only once of that, in the Creep story...

[Nissa]

But...what's a psionic matrix?

[Visions of Khas]

But...what's a psionic matrix?

The Psionic Matrix is an energy field that emanates from Aiur. Protoss bases access its power from across the galaxy with Nexus. This power is transmitted to Pylons, which manifest it as an omnidrectional power field that powers buildings.

Gradius has a neat theory on the origin of this field. While it's implied the Xel'Naga's has something to do with it, alongside the huge Khaydarin deposits on Aiur, Gradius also thinks that Aiur's geomagnetic field pulls solar energy from the sun. This energy is trapped and magnified by Aiur's geomagnetic field.

The Khala is different in that it is based on the emotional connection between Protoss. The Khala itself is a system of discipline and belief, but it sometimes used anonymously with the empathic link Protoss share. This is why I got confused; I conflated the psionic matrix with the empathic link-aspect of the Khala.

During the Ye Olden Dayes of StarCraft 1, I had this theory that the Overmind was trying to bind itself to Aiur's psionic matrix. This tampering was my explanation for Fenix' blades shorting out. (The Overmind was also fanning the flames of hatred in Protoss minds, encouraging the civil war during Tassadar's return to Aiur, essentially leading to a new but brief Aeon of Strife.) This is what I think is kind of happening with Amon right now, using the Khaydarin crystal at the Overmind's death bed.

[Nissa]

....Was the psionic matrix something that existed in SC1 days, or is it a retcon? It's hard to believe I missed something that big.

[Visions of Khas]

....Was the psionic matrix something that existed in SC1 days, or is it a retcon? It's hard to believe I missed something that big.

It was background information contained in the old manual, yeah. It's rarely talked about even then, and never discussed in the game itself.

[Nissa]

Well, I just downloaded the manual, so I guess I'll read that again.

[Visions of Khas]

Mm, there's also this. But yeah, the Psionic Matrix only makes one appearance in the manual, in the summary paragraph for the Protoss. (Which is missing in SCLegacy's race history, for some reason.)

http://sclegacy.com/feature/8-scency...race-histories

[Telenil]

Next they'll say Khas (who taught the Protoss the Khala, was the responsible for ending the Aeon of Strife and revered forevermore) was actually minion of Amon and really only taught the Khala as a backdoor for Amon to exploit/corrupt later a time that just so happens to coincide with when LotV begins.

This sounds so... possible And Adun knew that this was about to happen, which is why he had the dark templar cutting those tendrils! Brilliant!
...
Oh god