StarCraft: Evolution

[Nissa]

The trouble with the khaydarins is that it's never explicitly defined what exactly they do. The "Dark Templar" trilogy kinda gave an idea, but since they've already explicitly ignored the books on the Tal'darim, khaydarins can be anything, really.

[ragnarok]

Well, Blizzard seems pretty intent on castrating the Protoss in every way, shape and form. They've assumed this Tolkien-style mindset with regard to the Protoss as the "Elves" in the StarCraft universe; their time has past and they're on the way out. Somehow, the manipulation of the Protoss by Amon was somehow more "severe" than used on the Zerg. The Zerg are redeemed, while the Protoss are intentionally left to whither.

Yet I believe there's potential for the Protoss renaissance: some among the Tal'darim retain their nerve cords. If taught the art of the Khala, the defected Tal'darim could overcome the "marred essence" of their race and attain true Perfection of Form. (My head-canon called them Dawn Templar or Dusk Templar. :3 ) Moreover, it's stated time and again that the Khaydarin possess power that could elevate the Protoss to new heights, but for SOME REASON the Protoss REFUSE to make use of it. Ugh.

If that's true it proves the influence of the Conclave hasn't faded completely. This was a flaw Tassadar had pointed out since SC1, that no matter what, they continue to cling to their failing traditions, which does nothing but bring disaster to their people.

Overall, the whole reliance on Khaydarin crystals is merely as power batteries. Ok sure the DT Saga did give it another purpose via memory crystals, but it's not much. It's a shame Zeratul didn't tap into the Overmind's memories more, since it specifically said back in SC1 those crystals had powers untold of by the Protoss.

[Nolanstar]

Zahn does nice* stories, but never does enough research on the technical lore of the series. Ever.

[ragnarok]

Zahn does nice* stories, but never does enough research on the technical lore of the series. Ever.

Interesting. I would have expected differently from his SW books as he's wrote more of those. With Christie Golden, her SW books for not doing enough research I can understand.

[Turalyon]

If High Templars can create psionic storms then I don't see why they can't levitate other things. It's basically the same thing but to different levels.

What can I say? Magic A is actually not Magic A.

Then you can start imagining how it would be harder(but not impossible) for a protoss to easily levitate something other than their own body while it would be easier for Terrans.

I don't see how this would make it easier to levitate themselves since sharp vectors would not really permit them to gracefully glide about as High Templar observedly do... unless they used multiple vectors to levitate themselves as you said. The problem here is that if they already use multiple conical vectors to levitate themselves, why aren't they seen to to move other things using these multiple conical vectors? The answer really just dovetails back to it being "probably that Protoss can only levitate themselves and not other things" (for some reason or other).

Well, Blizzard seems pretty intent on castrating the Protoss in every way, shape and form.

Eh, that's old news. They've been doing that since BW.

Then again, I'm still unsure as to which one of the Zerg and Protoss races got the worst lore shellacking in Sc2.

[sandwich_bird]

I don't see how this would make it easier to levitate themselves since sharp vectors would not really permit them to gracefully glide about as High Templar observedly do... unless they used multiple vectors to levitate themselves as you said. The problem here is that if they already use multiple conical vectors to levitate themselves, why aren't they seen to to move other things using these multiple conical vectors? The answer really just dovetails back to it being "probably that Protoss can only levitate themselves and not other things" (for some reason or other).

Couple of things:

If the Protoss vectors are conic, that means that the force coming from the point is evenly distributed to the base. If you launch only one vector from the middle of the body, it would be hard to stabilize like below (upside-down representation) unless increasing the power increases the area of the base. Of course, you can't really move like that but...

_______
^
0

With only 4 evenly spaced vectors at a 45 degree angle from the ground, it should be quite stable (think of a cross from a top down perspective) and it should allow gracious movement if you master the "art" of balancing the forces propelling you through the power output of each of the 4 vectors (maybe add a few more vectors if you're that good).

Now, when you try to levitate something other than yourself, it is not the conic base that holds the object but the point. Increasing the intensity of a conic vector doesn't help and can even cause issues because of spatial restrictions. In other words, if you increase the area of the base, you can't stack as many cones unless the cones can overlap without interfering with each others(which we'll assume they can't). So to properly levitate something, you have to control many small conic vectors which we'll assume is a very hard thing to do compared to just increasing the power output of a vector (which the Terran can do because of their cubic vectors).

Hope that makes more sense. Kinda hard to explain without images XD

EDIT: Thinking back on this, changing the area of the base needs to have something other than a direct linear relation with the power output.. We can just say that psionic users have 3 abilities:

-controlling the base area size
-controlling the power output amount
-controlling the number of vectors

And even though a psionic user has both control of the base area and power output, increasing the power output still has an exponential effect on the base area size(so increasing the power a bit doesn't really change the base area size but, at a certain point, you start to really affect the area size).

[ragnarok]

Eh, that's old news. They've been doing that since BW.

Then again, I'm still unsure as to which one of the Zerg and Protoss races got the worst lore shellacking in Sc2.

The Protoss only got the realization of Amon uplifting them, and therefore they couldn't ascend. The Zerg had it slightly worse as Amon used them for longer periods and everything.

[drakolobo]

Obviously the protoss have telekinesis alrarak gives examples of things in his first apraricion cutscene


, the psychic difference must be of a more subtle nature, and his interest of more scientific than practical

- - - Updated - - -

Yet I believe there's potential for the Protoss renaissance: some among the Tal'darim retain their nerve cords. If taught the art of the Khala, the defected Tal'darim could overcome the "marred essence" of their race and attain true Perfection of Form. (My head-canon called them Dawn Templar or Dusk Templar. :3 ) Moreover, it's stated time and again that the Khaydarin possess power that could elevate the Protoss to new heights, but for SOME REASON the Protoss REFUSE to make use of it. Ugh.

pretty cool

[TcheQuevara]

The difference is probably that Protoss can only levitate themselves but not other things.

Why is everyone losing their minds over this godammit. Their telekinesis is just different. Like bats and dolphins sonars, or different species of bats or cetaceans, work differently from each other. Not in a way that we that don't use sonars know, but somehow that sonar users know the difference. That's it. Like Indians and Italians can make pasta but it's different. Or how swordsmanship in different in each culture, and so on.

If High Templars can create psionic storms then I don't see why they can't levitate other things. It's basically the same thing but to different levels. Maybe the physical manifestation of protoss psychic abilities are formed from vectors of conic shapes with piercing characteristics while the Terran could be cubic vectors with pushing characteristics. So when Protoss use their powers it results like this:

...

I love your explanation, sandwich. Just a note, a psionic storm is made triggering the psionic energy that already exists in a place. It's not like all it's cinetic energy is coming form the HT's mind.

About the difference between lifting yourself and lifting other objects, psionics commonly (in fiction and esoterism) related to the body. It is a classic "yogi power" to levitate while meditating, this is where pop culture takes the "powerful psionists float around" thing. Think about how it would be different for a psionic to enter someone else's dream or entering her own dream. Or, making an analogy to another kind of power, how the Flash can draw Speed Force to accelerate himself but not other people. I see no reason to think that a psionists own body would be treated as any other object, since the psionic mojo is flowing from his own body.

[Turalyon]

Couple of things:

If the Protoss vectors are conic, that means that the force coming from the point is evenly distributed to the base. If you launch only one vector from the middle of the body, it would be hard to stabilize like below (upside-down representation) unless increasing the power increases the area of the base. Of course, you can't really move like that but...

_______
^
0

With only 4 evenly spaced vectors at a 45 degree angle from the ground, it should be quite stable (think of a cross from a top down perspective) and it should allow gracious movement if you master the "art" of balancing the forces propelling you through the power output of each of the 4 vectors (maybe add a few more vectors if you're that good).

Now, when you try to levitate something other than yourself, it is not the conic base that holds the object but the point. Increasing the intensity of a conic vector doesn't help and can even cause issues because of spatial restrictions. In other words, if you increase the area of the base, you can't stack as many cones unless the cones can overlap without interfering with each others(which we'll assume they can't). So to properly levitate something, you have to control many small conic vectors which we'll assume is a very hard thing to do compared to just increasing the power output of a vector (which the Terran can do because of their cubic vectors).

Hope that makes more sense. Kinda hard to explain without images XD

EDIT: Thinking back on this, changing the area of the base needs to have something other than a direct linear relation with the power output.. We can just say that psionic users have 3 abilities:

-controlling the base area size
-controlling the power output amount
-controlling the number of vectors

And even though a psionic user has both control of the base area and power output, increasing the power output still has an exponential effect on the base area size(so increasing the power a bit doesn't really change the base area size but, at a certain point, you start to really affect the area size).

Ah, I see. I got confused since I didn't consider Newtoninan physics and that the source of those vectors as being different to any another object. Silly me.

This explains why Protoss can't levitate objects other than themselves but I'm sure it doesn't mean they can't perform telekinesis of a general nature. Unless the conic vectors "penetrate" other objects (psionic bullets!), I'd assume that some of the force of this conic vector can still be transferred to an object in order to move it in some capacity, if not in an elegant/smooth way. I take it that Protoss can't perform telekinesis on objects other than themselves according to this new book??

Why is everyone losing their minds over this godammit. Their telekinesis is just different.

I'm not losing my mind. I acknowledge that there's a difference.