Short Story: It Will End in Fire

[Turalyon]

They were described as having pangs of horror/doubt as they approached the star and before they unilaterally accepted what would happen. I mean emotional in terms of the degree of feeling emotion, I just feel as if the Protoss should have those emotions, but feel them more stoically, reserved for major and unique events (such as this one) but feel them as an individual does, all the while being generally mores stolid. Its more the fact that the Protoss are feeling all the time, whereas someone like Fenix never really becomes saddened or devastated (of course Fenix was special, but still).

I don't mind that the Protoss are more "emotional" when in the Khala. It doesn't necessarily detract from them being stoic in their "outward" appearances/interactions to others.

Besides, the story was following three female Protoss Preservers afterall. Of course we're going to see a lot of emotions since they're filtered/processed through their perspective (in contrast to the "heroic manliness" that Fenix and Tassadar exhibit). Yep, I went there...

[Gradius]

Probably my favorite short story. Love this writer.

They were described as having pangs of horror/doubt as they approached the star and before they unilaterally accepted what would happen. I mean emotional in terms of the degree of feeling emotion, I just feel as if the Protoss should have those emotions, but feel them more stoically, reserved for major and unique events (such as this one) but feel them as an individual does, all the while being generally mores stolid. Its more the fact that the Protoss are feeling all the time, whereas someone like Fenix never really becomes saddened or devastated (of course Fenix was special, but still).

The way I see it, this shows that protoss have strong emotions, but are able to process them much faster than humans. It would take me way longer to accept my impending death.

[ragnarok]

Probably my favorite short story. Love this writer.


The way I see it, this shows that protoss have strong emotions, but are able to process them much faster than humans. It would take me way longer to accept my impending death.

I always felt this has to do with because we don't know what awaits us in the afterlife, assuming there even IS an afterlife. The Protoss know upon death, they'll become one with the Khala, and that's why they don't fear it. Human beings, however, simply don't know WHAT will happen once we die.

[drakolobo]

I always felt this has to do with because we don't know what awaits us in the afterlife, assuming there even IS an afterlife. The Protoss know upon death, they'll become one with the Khala, and that's why they don't fear it. Human beings, however, simply don't know WHAT will happen once we die.

Protoss in principle do not survive as individuals they become fragmented memories
and known this that would not do in reality, the average human can not maintained a stoic behavior, when burned alive, I have seen pictures of monks do this, but the average man would sink into despair and agony, every Protoss they turned stoic while the agony going on they , silent pain trying not to inconvenience others

[Turalyon]

I don't know about anyone else but it kinda bugs me that (slight spoiler):

Hidden Content:

the Arkships are on Aiur. Makes me wonder why the Protoss just didn't tap into those resources to help Tassadar fight the Overmind nor help retake Aiur after the Overmind had been defeated sinstead of running away. It's like the whole "Collossi on Aiur but somehow no-one thought to use them"-affair again but that the Protoss are even more stupid than before .

[ragnarok]

I don't know about anyone else but it kinda bugs me that (slight spoiler):

Hidden Content:

the Arkships are on Aiur. Makes me wonder why the Protoss just didn't tap into those resources to help Tassadar fight the Overmind nor help retake Aiur after the Overmind had been defeated sinstead of running away. It's like the whole "Collossi on Aiur but somehow no-one thought to use them"-affair again but that the Protoss are even more stupid than before .

That's the whole pride matter with the Conclave.

In reality I'm sure the Conclave was relatively stupid anyway in the 3000 years they ruled Aiur, it's just that until the swarm arrived no enemy has ever challenged them in such a way.

Don't forget, until the LAST SC1 mission, the Conclave had continued to believe their actions were winning the war against the Zerg. This was exactly the reason why they ordered Artanis to Char to look for Tassadar.

But by the time they finally realized they were in the wrong, it was already too late. By then the Protoss military no longer existed, leaving the Firstborn people largely defenseless. And as the beginning of BW proved, the death of the Overmind did NOT stop the Zerg rampage on Aiur.

It's possible that when it comes to reactivating the Colossi was no longer an option because they were buried in locations on Aiur that the Zerg already overran, or if that's not the case, the activation process cannot be done that quickly. It takes time, which means the Protoss activating it would require protection, something that's not possible anymore because the Protoss fleets were all wrecked.

[Turalyon]

In reality I'm sure the Conclave was relatively stupid anyway in the 3000 years they ruled Aiur, it's just that until the swarm arrived no enemy has ever challenged them in such a way.

Nah, that excuse just doesn't cut it for me. I refuse to believe the Conclave are that obviously stupid because that'd be very damning to the Protoss in general for putting up with them and/or supporting them all this time.

Don't forget, until the LAST SC1 mission, the Conclave had continued to believe their actions were winning the war against the Zerg. This was exactly the reason why they ordered Artanis to Char to look for Tassadar.

They probably were successful in keeping the Zerg at bay - we don't really know. Sure they can't keep Cerebrates down but they can pretty much destroy a tonne of their actual standing forces at any time as demonstrated in the early phases of the The Fall. Really, the Protoss only had their backs broken when Tassadar brought civil war back to Aiur and destroyed the ruling government (Conclave) that was most likely co-ordinating the Protoss efforts on Aiur at the time. Oops!

But by the time they finally realized they were in the wrong, it was already too late. By then the Protoss military no longer existed, leaving the Firstborn people largely defenseless. And as the beginning of BW proved, the death of the Overmind did NOT stop the Zerg rampage on Aiur.

This is precisely the time to tap into resources of the Arkship and yet...

It's possible that when it comes to reactivating the Colossi was no longer an option because they were buried in locations on Aiur that the Zerg already overran, or if that's not the case, the activation process cannot be done that quickly. It takes time, which means the Protoss activating it would require protection, something that's not possible anymore because the Protoss fleets were all wrecked.

Can't be that hard. Zeratul just stumbled into some Colossi in a lake on Aiur and they woke-up just by his mere presence. Besides, the Arkships were designed to be activated quickly to help, you know, prevent the extinction of the Protoss. I'm sure expediency in activation would've been one of the top priorities in its use.

[Visions of Khas]

After reading this story and mulling it over with thoughts on the Aeon of Strife, I've had an unsettling thought about the Tal'Darim. Just imagine what the Aeon of Strife would have been like, emotions of hate and anger and alienation constantly being recycled through the communal link, reinforced by negative feedback loops. For decades, if not centuries. A cycle that would go unbroken until the rigorous self-discipline techniques employed by the Khala.

The Tal'Darim are basically stuck in that same psychological scenario, a mindset incapable of stepping outside the psychology of fight-or-flight. Their focus always set on shedding blood. It's PTSD on fucking steroids.

When you think about it philosophically, biologically, psychologically... that's some terrifying fridge logic right there.

[Turalyon]

^ I thought the Protoss lost/denied themselves access to their communal link due to the rising of individual ego back then - which is why the Xel'Naga left them and the reason as to how the Protoss devolved into the Aeon of Strife.

[RODTHEGOD]

I don't think the conclave was stupid. If you compare the invasion of Auir to the invasion of Tarsonis...
The invasion of Tarsonis didn't last that long... a few days? maybe more than a week?
Auir was able to withstand the zerg for longer than that (and at times went on the offensive even if that offensive proved unsuccessful because of the cerebrate reincarnation thing)
I would imagine only the conclave had access to many of the protoss's technology ie. colossi, ark ship, cybros...
and had deactivated them for various reasons throughout their history
How do we know the conclave didn't attempt to activate a bunch of these weapons?
Perhaps that's the reason why zeratual was able to so easily call up the colossi.
The conclave members who were sent to activate them got killed in the process.
As for the Ark ship, it's possible that the conclave didn't think it was necessary yet.
It seemed there were still lots of standing protoss forces holding the various fronts on auir