Exercise 01: Establishing the Status Quo

[Visions of Khas]

Since getting back into WarHammer thanks to the Fall of Cadia event, I've been reacquainting myself with the lore. I've rediscovered the diversity and independence of the Space Marine chapters -- both the Founding chapters and Successors -- and I can see some realism to it.

Though much of the Koprulu Sector is barren wasteland, it is still a big place with habitable colony worlds (naturally or artificially -- though mostly artificial). Some of the Confederate Squadrons probably recruit and hire from particular worlds and colonies. Each one could take on unique practices and traditions and creeds. Due to the diverse and sprawling nature of Terran space, each squadron probably has official allegiance to the Confederacy or Dominion, but the people would be most interested in their own respective worlds -- people just want to keep their families safe.

Say, for example, the bulk of Alpha Squadron was recruited from an Antigan colony, or even Mar Sara. This would make it more believable for an entire military division to whole-sale defect with their general. These people just want justice and protection for their families.


This might be an interesting foil or counter point to the remarkable unity of the Protoss forces. Even though a Protoss may hail from a world beyond Aiur, their dedication to the Homeworld takes precedence. Maybe even introduce a measure of "indoctrination" in Khala society towards this goal.

[KaiserStratosTygo]

"Get in on this Kaiser. What's your views on a proper sequel to BW?"

I have a few ideas regarding the various threads left over.

~~~DURAN~~~

one of the ones that I had thought of was regarding Duran, it was a plot twist where he wasn't a "random shapeshifter" or "xel'naga" like everyone expected, but the very essence of the overmind made manifest, at some point following Episode III he took control of a very real Samir Duran killed him and took his image to blend in.

here was some plot "evidence" that I used to suggest this:
-The rift above the overmind and the stuff that went inside when Tassadar slayed it's body was the essence of the Overmind as well as some biomass that would allow him to retain some form of corporeal existence.
-He helped his "daughter" only until he no longer needed her, helping Kerrigan get rid of his old enemies and allow him to capture any zerg or protoss that he could to continue his grand experiment
-He knew the zerg just as well if not better than Kerrigan throughout Kerrigan's campaign and controlled zerg himself after he "killed" stukov
-He intentionally encouraged the UED to destroy the hives on Tarsonis to minimize the damage to the swarms
-He has surprisingly good knowledge of Protoss technology possibly learned from either Zeratul or his first assimilation attempt
-Duran is a bit hesitant to take out the second overmind, as it may be useful to him later
-He conveniently left Kerrigan to her potential end once she burned every bridge possible, and fled to the Dark moon to continue his experiments with the spoils
he gathered from Kerrigan's uprising.
-Duran's spiel about the "far greater power" is a metaphor as he's concluding the experiments of his species' father's the Xel'Naga, possibly to atone for killing them off
or BECAUSE he killed and assimilated them he now has a greater understanding and interest in what they were trying to do, or perhaps the assimilation actually effected his own
mind as well? (I didn't get that far to answer that question)

Other things:
-No he did not intend to die on Aiur like shitty SC2 implied (or didn't, I don't fucking know anymore because the retcons, retcon themselves now)
-He is capable of making mistakes
-Kerrigan was not designed as a successor (why the fuck would she be?) she was two things in this idea: A, a weapon to counter protoss. B, A prototype to see what a potential hybrid could be like.
-Duran abandoned Kerrigan on Char after she got too powerful and took out some of the assets he might intended on using himself (like Ovie 2 and some cerebrates)
-As Duran/Overmind stated to Zeratul, Kerrigan fulfilled her role, and whatever happened to her on Char Aleph was irrelevant to him as the UED's human "tainted" control of the broods was done away with
and thus the only REAL threat to his experiment was eliminated.
-This isn't great evidence but i'll put it in for shits 'n' giggles, both Duran and the Overmind have flowery psuedo biblical speech patterns when they're being themselves

~~~MENGSK~~~
Mengsk is left in a similiar position as Jim Raynor in Episode I, a small band of followers but now the ability to work in the shadows, he bides his time and acts intelligent oncemore, letting the inevitable
UED invasion and whatever other wars continue with little of his own presence. his philosophy noow is "let them break their teeth on each-other" make some deals with the KMC (who are now the top non-UED terrans)
and let Kerrigan burn more bridges and self destruct.

~~KERRIGAN and later RAYNOR~~
She destroyed any and all attempts at any kind of diplomacy, and since thre's no BULLSHIT fanboy style plot coupon to force her to live at all costs, she inevitably loses more and more control. as it turns out.

SURPRISE! Kerrigan is but one human and cannot control the entirety of the swarm on her own (the Overmind had a hard time and he was DESIGNED specifically for controlling zerg) but with only one cerebrate and no
intrinsic knowledge on how to make more she's forced on the defensive as raids by protoss/terran splinter groups/UED/Your Dad/whatever deal some minor but not entirely pointless damage, without any ability to decieve
enemies that won't show her the time of day, she's entirely out of her element (like Mengsk was) and just like Mengsk, she is eventually defeated in some way.

some ideas on that:
The Cerebrates that survived didn't go with that dumbass SC2 offscreen death shit and build up their own swarms, possibly vying with Kerrigan for the Aiur Zerg which allows Khalai who care not for integration with the Nerazim
to retake the planet in a slow methodical way, rather than some bombastic predictable EPIC!!!@!212 shit.

Kerrigan loses due to being the CAUSE of a power vacuum rather than the one taking advantage of one. by this point the Zerg are no longer the final boss villains and have to play their cards right to survive.

Or:

Kerrigan makes the mistake of using infested Human agents herself, and SURPRISE! gets betrayed by one the smarter more savvy ones that might hold a grudge as she did. continuing the cycle of abusers/victims/abusers

After she inevitably loses...
Two things could happen:
1. She goes through a very slow, painful and kind of humiliating redemption arc where nobody and their dog believes a word she says but does just enough for certain actors to give her a chance and she does just enough over a couple of episodes
to earn a bit of trust back, perhaps she is deinfested (Permenantly not that dumbass SC2 flip flop shit) and works with the Protoss finally coming to some conclusion that they weren't so different and at multiple points had the same goal.
her redemption is earned through death, no godhood. perhaps she dies protecting a Protoss leader and or Jim Raynor, or intentionally leaves herself behind on some world to distract an unstoppable force, long enough for her allies to escape or something

2. She goes out like an asshole, Ray Ray eventually does get lucky, opts to blow her brains out and leaves a badass, but not really, real life ensues, he is the last of the Episode wunners that gets consumed by his own vengeance. Hollow, bitter and with most everyone he knows in these situations:
Tassadar: Dead
Fenix: Dead
Zeratul: Adun knows where?
Artanis: Busy as hell
Mengsk: An asshole betrayer
Kerrigan: An asshole betrayer who's dead
The Commander: Fucked right off
Stukov: enemy turned "ally" as of Res IV, a bitter asshole
Aldaris: Kind of a douche and also dead
Duke: ^
Family: All dead

...He's given up on giving a fuck and begins getting delusions of grandeur that, killing Mengsk would somehow fix everything, so he goes after him, possibly letting the UED do whatever they want this causes an ACTUAL mutiny within his band of perfect angels and some fun political shit can happen, Raynor becomes a bitter, apathetic old man


~~~UED~~~
They come back and wipe the floor with everyone with new technology, not bothering to enslave the Zerg, opting for the protoss strategy of burning planets but with Nukes like the Confeds. The cycle of rebellion continues as many within the UED fleet aren't actually fans of genocide on humans caught between Protes and Zerbz.

~~PROTOSS~~
As mentioned previously they slowly retake Aiur, no final big epic conclusion for that. The Khalai/Nerazim divide, goes deeper with Ulrezaj being an example used by the Khalai bigots, and the Conclave for the Nerazim bigots, various tribes fight among themselves after their common goal of retaking Aiur is complete, but a new charasmatic group of
protoss who are not fans of Khalai, Nerazim or even Artanis' failed centrist stuff comes into being, perhaps a new protoss who has been humiliated during the original SC and BW, someone who'd have good reason to stay in the background for a bit to plot his rise gain the popularity of various tribes and brings the Protoss into a new age of not getting
cucked all the time. They stand against the UED and the LOYALIST Zerg remnants, not for kumbaya greater good, but because they're rage at constantly being on the losing side and finally using their technology, abilities and strategies to effectiveness, not trusting any Kerrigan types or some random Terran schemer. Their age of putting honor ahead of reason
ends due to in part to Tassadar's actions of the past.

basically the Protoss win and not "just barely" or "by the skin of their teeth" they win unequivocally. Still, they have their internal disputes that prevent them from being invincible retaining some degree of a balance of power, but in a way that cycle's back to the very beginning of the series. The Protoss start and end as the dominant power.

I pursued some of this in my Uprising Campaign, but didn't like some other plot points unrelated to this and kind of discontinued after the third episode.

[GnaReffotsirk]

I like your leanings about Kerrigan, and the cerebrates. I don't really like how she goes order 66 on them.

Also bigotry within the factions can only come from leaders speaking to masses who either are ignorant of facts, and/or who already has a bias. Aldaris' coup forces, we could use those guys as well.

I have to check on how "forgiving" the DTs are really, as Zeratul would put it, now that their Matriarch is dead for getting involved. I'm sure she had her defectors.

A few questions to all:

1. How many capital ships can the Terrans realistically produce in 6 years?
2. What are the actual totals in fighting force does the Templar and Dark Templar have?
3. How fast can the protoss rebuild their warmachines given warp-technology. By warp, I'm thinking 3d-printing esque, not teleporting from a manufacturing center on Aiur.
4. How many capital ships do Terrans have after the events of BW?

[Visions of Khas]

Oooh, statistics!

I'm doing some reading on navy production. According to this site, following the Cold War:

Between 1968 and 2009, Newport News built, and the Navy commissioned, ten Nimitz-class carriers—about one every four years. The Navy currently buys one every five years.

All ten Nimitz carriers were constructed over a nearly 40 year period from the Newport News Shipbuilding Company, in Newport News, Virginia. However, production methods improved, and they began a modular construction process that sped up production. Newport News Shipbuilding's facilities cover an area of just under one square mile.

Now granted, since we're on the cusp of automated construction and 3D printing, these methods would be obsolete in the year 2500, and the Confederacy and Dominion devote considerably more resources and real estate to mass production of war vessels. At the same time, Terran technology seems to have stagnated somewhat, especially in the area of AI. How much that would speed things up, I have no idea. I'd actually tap Econ and see what he says about it.

[KaiserStratosTygo]

I like your leanings about Kerrigan, and the cerebrates. I don't really like how she goes order 66 on them.

Also bigotry within the factions can only come from leaders speaking to masses who either are ignorant of facts, and/or who already has a bias. Aldaris' coup forces, we could use those guys as well.

I have to check on how "forgiving" the DTs are really, as Zeratul would put it, now that their Matriarch is dead for getting involved. I'm sure she had her defectors.

A few questions to all:

1. How many capital ships can the Terrans realistically produce in 6 years?
2. What are the actual totals in fighting force does the Templar and Dark Templar have?
3. How fast can the protoss rebuild their warmachines given warp-technology. By warp, I'm thinking 3d-printing esque, not teleporting from a manufacturing center on Aiur.
4. How many capital ships do Terrans have after the events of BW?

I liked one of the ideas here where it was implied that the protoss are much more numerous than we think (and the Zerg too) just spread out across the vastness of space.

after all, they had a Protoss EMPIRE and apparently conquered at least two other species in their history.

which means the full might of the three races has yet to be centralized.

Also! I think the because of what you brought up, I believe many Dark templar would become more agitated with the Khalai and many would become bigoted as their Khalai bretrhen.

IE they and the Khalai would keep bringing up the past, would use certain bad actors as examples of "this is why these guys suck" etc..

[ragnarok]

I liked one of the ideas here where it was implied that the protoss are much more numerous than we think (and the Zerg too) just spread out across the vastness of space.

after all, they had a Protoss EMPIRE and apparently conquered at least two other species in their history.

which means the full might of the three races has yet to be centralized.

That's still hard to say, Stratos. Tell me, back in the SC1 days, did you think the Protoss empire was still vast even after Aiur fell?

[GnaReffotsirk]

The Conclave believed they were winning. From that, we could say they never allowed other forces to come and help.

Aldaris' revolt could then mean the DTs are keeping them from doing what they want. They could be trying to contact other protoss, but the matriarch would not allow them. Not directly, but maybe in some way similar to how creepy dudes would try to convince you they're looking for your friends, after they found you unconscious in the woods, in a post-apocalyptic scenario.

Why would Aldaris revolt then, when if they were really free, they could just go if they didn't like what was happening, right?

edit: But then again, artanis would have time to do so while they were looking for the Khalis and Uraj, so...

[ragnarok]

The Conclave believed they were winning. From that, we could say they never allowed other forces to come and help.

Aldaris' revolt could then mean the DTs are keeping them from doing what they want. They could be trying to contact other protoss, but the matriarch would not allow them. Not directly, but maybe in some way similar to how creepy dudes would try to convince you they're looking for your friends, after they found you unconscious in the woods, in a post-apocalyptic scenario.

Because the Khalai still had this sense of superiority over the Dark Templar even after the loss of Aiur. Despite what happened, they still couldn't bring themselves to see that it was the Nerazim who were the key to victory over the Overmind, and saw that the Nerazim's rejection of the Khala as a betrayal.

This was something if you read Shadow of the Xel'Naga, was summed up by Xerana, that the Khalai understand so little, yet command so much. In that sense, they're nothing more than children playing with matches.

[KaiserStratosTygo]

That's still hard to say, Stratos. Tell me, back in the SC1 days, did you think the Protoss empire was still vast even after Aiur fell?

Back then I didn't know it was the protoss Empire, but I still figured it was bigger than just aiur and like two other planets.

"The Conclave believed they were winning. From that, we could say they never allowed other forces to come and help."

Exactly, they had so much hubris that they didn't even bother to reach out.

[GnaReffotsirk]

The Zealot would say, "For the empire" or something like that in-game.