Purifier Origins

[drakolobo]

I wish cybros was the name of the race and not the platform. Purifier is the name of the laser beam and the ship that launches the laser beam. Plus it's boring and generic.


I actually like it! Its stupid for a race as advanced as the Protoss to not use robots when lives are at a premium.

There is nothing original anymore. Every trope has already been used. Sorry to break it to u. :P

Exactly



the absence felt strange, but was excused with the idea of a warrior caste traditionalist with the best equipment and skills . yet so does feel strange the absence of cybernetic prostheses or medical regeneration, rather than lock them into dragoon.
this is strange even more in Eldar Warhammer 40k, boast of the value of every eldar life and their hight tech, but sent their warrior to fight in tights and have not real robot


asterian (like Eldar) corrects this, his troops are machines escorting a single living creature that serves as leader.


therian too use robot squad and remote control bodies


basically Protoss has a Necron/prometheus army waiting

[Turalyon]

^ I knew it was only a matter of time before a WH40K reference started (not that I mind)! Given the medley of sci-fi influences that Starcraft is already, I'm kinda surprised that there hasn't been a faction regarding robots and AI introduced earlier than now. It'll still be interesting to see if they can put a unique spin on it even though I know it probably won't happen.

It wasn't in HotS. Zeratul only said this in Whispers of Oblivion.

Which makes what you said before even more irrelevent since we're talking about the Primal Zerg's narrative purpose in HotS and how their poor representation could be a precendent for how the Purifiers could be represented in LotV. Stay on target, Rag!

[ragnarok]

Which makes what you said before even more irrelevent since we're talking about the Primal Zerg's narrative purpose in HotS and how their poor representation could be a precendent for how the Purifiers could be represented in LotV. Stay on target, Rag!

Except in the purifier's case, this is different because nothing was really said about the purifiers in the SC1 manual. Thus it wouldn't be considered contradictory compared to the primal Zerg (since the manual said the Overmind left Zerus a lifeless burning rock)

Granted you can say this kind of popped out of nowhere and I agree with that, but then Blizzard would just use the excuse of "You have to look at what we DIDN'T say."

[Turalyon]

Except in the purifier's case, this is different because nothing was really said about the purifiers in the SC1 manual. Thus it wouldn't be considered contradictory compared to the primal Zerg (since the manual said the Overmind left Zerus a lifeless burning rock).

I understand what you're trying to say but this distinction is still irrelevent to what my original point was though. You're essentially "splitting hairs". The fact is that the Primal Zerg (oh hell, you one could just say the whole Zerus arc altogether really) were implemented as an unexpected yet convenient tool (plot device) to get Kerrigan to a certain point in her story and it is likely the Purifiers will serve an equivalent, if not similar, function to get the Protoss to a certain point in their story.

[Nissa]

This is yet to be verified nor even remotely implied in HotS. Regardless, whatever the specific in-universe reason is for why they're included in the story, it is irrelevent and ultimately meaningless because their actual role in the functional movement of the plot supersedes all. For the purposes of HotS's narrative, the Primal Zerg are a barely disguised and contrived plot device.

This is exactly why I don't like the purifiers. They're a tacked on race who have to be retconned into the past of the Protoss. To make it worse, Blizzard is going the not only the cliche route of rebel robots, but the cliche route of "it's all the Conclave's fault." Newsflash, Blizz: the dumber you make the Conclave look, the dumber everyone else is for following it. Besides, wouldn't Templar prejudice make more sense? They'd be working with the cybernetics on a closer level, so their feelings would have more of an affect.

I know every trope has been used, Gradius, which is why Blizz should avoid them! Especially the dumb ones that have been done to death. It's entirely possible to have cybernetics that aren't generic rebels. It's possible to have technology that isn't very sentient. Stapling a trope to a game that doesn't need it is exactly why I have no more respect for the "storytellers" in Blizzard anymore.

Well, if you'll excuse me, I have to go have a cynical fit now. Carry on.

[ragnarok]

I understand what you're trying to say but this distinction is still irrelevent to what my original point was though. You're essentially "splitting hairs". The fact is that the Primal Zerg (oh hell, you one could just say the whole Zerus arc altogether really) were implemented as an unexpected yet convenient tool (plot device) to get Kerrigan to a certain point in her story and it is likely the Purifiers will serve an equivalent, if not similar, function to get the Protoss to a certain point in their story.

Yes but as of this moment we don't know WHAT role the purifiers will play in LotV. They're 100% machine. They cannot be used in a way to revive the Xel'Naga like the primal Zerg can.

I will agree with the primal Zerg being used in a way to reach a certain point in the story. Hell without them she would have lost in the "Death From Above" mission

[ragnarok]

This is exactly why I don't like the purifiers. They're a tacked on race who have to be retconned into the past of the Protoss. To make it worse, Blizzard is going the not only the cliche route of rebel robots, but the cliche route of "it's all the Conclave's fault." Newsflash, Blizz: the dumber you make the Conclave look, the dumber everyone else is for following it. Besides, wouldn't Templar prejudice make more sense? They'd be working with the cybernetics on a closer level, so their feelings would have more of an affect.

I know every trope has been used, Gradius, which is why Blizz should avoid them! Especially the dumb ones that have been done to death. It's entirely possible to have cybernetics that aren't generic rebels. It's possible to have technology that isn't very sentient. Stapling a trope to a game that doesn't need it is exactly why I have no more respect for the "storytellers" in Blizzard anymore.

Well, if you'll excuse me, I have to go have a cynical fit now. Carry on.

This is the problem for the Conclave ruling Aiur for 3000 years. That being said however, you have to remember that until the recent years of SC1, Aiur DID prosper into a Golden Age, which was why people supported the Conclave for so long.

You have to look at it from the Khalai POV during those years BEFORE everything went to hell.

This is no different than the Nazi Party during the pre-war years. From the German people's POV, they were the ones who rescued Germany from economic depression and made the nation great again. The same was true during the early years of conquest. It was only by the end of 1942, and increasingly during late 1944 until the end of the war, that the people tried to distance themselves more and more from the regime and accused them as victims, completely forgetting the early years of what the regime did for them.

This isn't to say the Nazi regime was good in any way, but merely to explain why the German people had held on to the regime for so long, and then all of a sudden as the western allies and Russians overran Germany from Jan 1945 onwards, found the German people rejected the regime. Do not forget, even AFTER the war, and all the way until the early 1950s, the German impression was that National Socialism was nothing more than "a good idea that was incompetently carried out."

Thus if we return to reflect this in the SC universe, I wouldn't be one bit surprised if during their time on Shakuras, some of the Khalai Protoss lamented the "good years" on Aiur and what the Conclave had done, only to suddenly have everything go to hell when the swarm invaded and overran the planet. Thus to those Khalai Protoss, they would feel that the rule of the Conclave was a good thing, but the people who were in charge of the Conclave at the critical time were very stupid and THAT was why Aiur fell.

I'm sure you can see where this is going....

[Turalyon]

This is exactly why I don't like the purifiers. They're a tacked on race who have to be retconned into the past of the Protoss. To make it worse, Blizzard is going the not only the cliche route of rebel robots, but the cliche route of "it's all the Conclave's fault." Newsflash, Blizz: the dumber you make the Conclave look, the dumber everyone else is for following it. Besides, wouldn't Templar prejudice make more sense? They'd be working with the cybernetics on a closer level, so their feelings would have more of an affect.

It's kinda unfortunate that the official background of the Purifiers is pretty typical of all other sci-fi rebel AI's (they fought their masters and fled to build up their own civilisation in order to spite thier masters) which is why I was hoping for a slight spin where there was perhaps the beginnings of a conflict (why the Collosi were eventually stored away for example) but it got ultimately resolved through the AI making a decision to leave the Protoss because they were violent and didn't want to be a part of that and the Protoss just let them go because they're enlightened enough to know those robots were right by guilt-tripping them about their violent past and holding them to their Dae'Uhl (the purifiers being lesser race). It's a way for them to acknowledge their shame without acting on it and makes the Conclave seem smarter and competent at one point in their rule. They must have done something right in the all that time, right?

It could inform why the Sc1 Protoss robotic elements in their armies don't have obviously sapient AIs (interceptors, reavers) or that they're used mostly in support roles (probes, shuttles, observers). It's interesting to note that the Reaver has its origin in being a civilian manufacturing unit rather than being created solely for military purposes.

Course, none of this will be explored in any great detail because their inclusion will purely be a mechanical (can you spot the puns?) means to move the plot forward. In the end, they're just one piece to the army that will overthrow Amon and his Hybrids. Just like how the Primal Zerg could've been more but were not. *Sigh*

Yes but as of this moment we don't know WHAT role the purifiers will play in LotV.

There you go again with the irrelevent trivialities and semantics that have nothing to do with the point. It doesn't really matter that they're Purifiers or robots or what their motivations are or what their ties to the Protoss are since you could just as easily put something else (like an orange?) in its place to fulfil the plot device function that it (whatever "it" may happen to be) essentially is.

[ragnarok]

There you go again with the irrelevent trivialities and semantics that have nothing to do with the point. It doesn't really matter that they're Purifiers or robots or what their motivations are or what their ties to the Protoss are since you could just as easily put something else (like an orange?) in its place to fulfil the plot device function that it (whatever "it" may happen to be) essentially is.

For the most part I see that will only be like what happened in "Death from Above" in HotS.

[Nissa]

Thanks for understanding, Tura. I'm just so boggled that an older than dirt scifi trope gets put in, and it's probably making me more than a little irritating.