Protoss photosynthesis is ridiculous

[Gradius]

1. The author is not mistaken and the stories aren’t inconsistent. It’s your fanon interpretation that’s off. How do you even play the games without noting the different energy sources? You can’t.
2. Why do you even care? If you think all this energy is transmitted from the psi matrix then what’s the big deal in doing the same with another energy source?
3. So your hypothesis is that when a protoss leaves the range of the psi matrix and drains his batteries he loses his powers? This is canon breaking in the extreme. Almost every novel doesn’t work.
4. You still haven’t explained how protoss communicated telepathically or used any psychic abilities in the Stone Age.
5. Again, Artanis did not destroy the Khala. The empathic link is destroyed because nobody is in it anymore but the energy source is still there given that void rays and high Templar still use it. Even robotic Sentinels still use the blue psi blades.
6. There’s no evidence carriers get their energy from the psi matrix. They’re not in pylon range when they’re orbiting a planet to purify it. Protoss technology isn’t so inefficient that they’re running on a battery with limited supply. Every unit can regenerate their energy and not be around a pylon.
7. What exactly are the references to void energy and Khala energy in all the games? It’s not the psi matrix or they would call it that. If it’s all just nuclear power then why does one kill the Overmind and other doesn’t? Why did dark Templar have to alter their biology? None of this makes sense.
8. They can destroy planets and still lost. That’s literally the plot...

[Visions of Khas]

1. The author is not mistaken and the stories aren’t inconsistent.

That's a bit disingenuous, Grad. You, more than anyone else here, have been vocal in your criticisms of SC's writing, consistency, and lore.

5. Again, Artanis did not destroy the Khala. The empathic link is destroyed because nobody is in it anymore but the energy source is still there given that void rays and high Templar still use it. Even robotic Sentinels still use the blue psi blades.

This right here means we need to acknowledge that "Khala" can mean different things in different contexts.

The Aiur protoss lost the Communal Link-aspect of the Khala, which would theoretically sever them from its Power Source-aspect. Without their nerve cords, the Dark Templar had to pull upon a new source of nourishing power, the Void. Indeed, the High Templar state, "The loss of the Khala was not easily borne, but we are ready to serve once again." Now, could it be said that their Khaydarin-infused suits are still drawing on the Psionic Link/Power Source-aspect of the Khala? Possibly, but it's important to make that distinction.

6. There’s no evidence carriers get their energy from the psi matrix.

The short story Carrier claims each carrier contains a Khaydarin reactor. Could these khaydarin cores be linked to the Energy Matrix-aspect of the Khala? Possibly. All khaydarin seems to be fundamentally linked in some way.

[Gradius]

I think everyone’s been pretty clear on the Khala and void being an energy source when it gets brought up though. But the Khala is clearly a bunch of things at once. And nobody has mentioned yet that psionic matrix = Khala. Also doesn’t make sense that the psionic matrix is still working like 6 years later if it runs off fuels and renewables instead of cosmic energy or zero point energy or whatever since Aiur is abandoned and overrun by Zerg the whole time.

[Mislagnissa]

On the topic of Khaydarin, Stetmann noted:



Moreover, the Overmind itself claimed that there is power "undreamed of by the Protoss" contained within the crystals. I suspect the Protoss do understand the power they could achieve, but some taboo -- perhaps culturally related to the Aeon of Strife -- prevents them from unlocking that potential.

I say chock it all up to quantum zero-point energy and Stochastic electrodynamics, and Khaydarin is some kind of Jahn-Teller metal.

In any event, the Protoss do not have infinite source of power separate from the Psi Matrix. Whether the Psi Matrix is infinite or so deep it might as well be infinite is irrelevant. It has no effect on how they fared in the fluff and the games.

I agree. In the StarCraft era, we had the Khala, the mental disciplines and training of the Aiur Protoss; we have the Communal Link, the emotional bond they share; and the Psi Matrix, the energy source originating from Aiur -- all conflated into one concept in the StarCraft II era.

Yep, that is what I am talking about. Those things are completely different and makes no sense to conflate them.

1. The author is not mistaken and the stories aren’t inconsistent. It’s your fanon interpretation that’s off. How do you even play the games without noting the different energy sources? You can’t.

That's a bit disingenuous, Grad. You, more than anyone else here, have been vocal in your criticisms of SC's writing, consistency, and lore.

The void ray short story is the only source I know of that clearly claims the khala and void are power sources. While there are statements in other sources to the effect of high templar channeling khala and dark templar channeling void, it is not clear whether this means the two are distinct power sources or merely shape the effect of power drawn from another source. It might be like the difference between power plants and adapters: power plants generate power, adapters convert that power into a form compatible with a device.

2. Why do you even care? If you think all this energy is transmitted from the psi matrix then what’s the big deal in doing the same with another energy source?

It is redundant and adds nothing? Why do we need another energy source when the psi matrix already suffices just fine?

3. So your hypothesis is that when a protoss leaves the range of the psi matrix and drains his batteries he loses his powers? This is canon breaking in the extreme. Almost every novel doesn’t work.

Can Protoss become fatigued and exhausted? Can they starve to death? Did we ever see this happen in the lore, or are bodily functions just glossed over like how nobody ever uses the bathroom on page? I cannot recall any scenes in the EU where anybody of any race had to eat, sleep, bathe, or otherwise attend to their bodily functions. That doesn't mean that everyone, humans and zerg included, are perpetual motion machines.

4. You still haven’t explained how protoss communicated telepathically or used any psychic abilities in the Stone Age.

How do we know they did? The SC1 manual implies they forgot their psychic abilities because of the cultural degeneration after the apocalypse, including telepathy/mind reading/etc (since Khas had no idea what other Protoss were thinking/feeling), and had to relearn them after Khas discovered the crystals. If they did have powers of any kind, it would probably have been limited by the availability of energy. Without advanced tech to supplement them then they would have needed to rely on the energy in food, which would only have been sufficient for very basic abilities I would think.

5. Again, Artanis did not destroy the Khala. The empathic link is destroyed because nobody is in it anymore but the energy source is still there given that void rays and high Templar still use it. Even robotic Sentinels still use the blue psi blades.

This right here means we need to acknowledge that "Khala" can mean different things in different contexts.

The Aiur protoss lost the Communal Link-aspect of the Khala, which would theoretically sever them from its Power Source-aspect. Without their nerve cords, the Dark Templar had to pull upon a new source of nourishing power, the Void. Indeed, the High Templar state, "The loss of the Khala was not easily borne, but we are ready to serve once again." Now, could it be said that their Khaydarin-infused suits are still drawing on the Psionic Link/Power Source-aspect of the Khala? Possibly, but it's important to make that distinction.

Precisely. Though I see no need to distinguish between khala-as-power-source and the psi matrix. The two are never explicitly distinguished in any of the lore: no lore source says that the khala and psi matrix are separate power sources. They are never mentioned in the same context, which leads me to assume that this is a simple case of the two being conflated.

6. There’s no evidence carriers get their energy from the psi matrix. They’re not in pylon range when they’re orbiting a planet to purify it. Protoss technology isn’t so inefficient that they’re running on a battery with limited supply. Every unit can regenerate their energy and not be around a pylon.

The short story Carrier claims each carrier contains a Khaydarin reactor. Could these khaydarin cores be linked to the Energy Matrix-aspect of the Khala? Possibly. All khaydarin seems to be fundamentally linked in some way.

The description of the psi matrix states that it is wirelessly connected to all pylons and that all buildings and units draw their power from it. It is easy to presume that the carriers contain their own pylons to provide power.

Saying units regenerate out of range of pylons is not sufficient evidence: the game mechanics are an abstraction, not a literal representation of the fictional world. The scales with regard to time and space are obviously unrealistic: such as carriers being barely larger than scouts, buildings constructing within minutes, buildings producing units from nowhere, etc.

7. What exactly are the references to void energy and Khala energy in all the games? It’s not the psi matrix or they would call it that. If it’s all just nuclear power then why does one kill the Overmind and other doesn’t? Why did dark Templar have to alter their biology? None of this makes sense.

Perhaps the writers used confusing terminology? They clearly were not scientists or engineers, so they would not know how energy works in reality. Your explanation does not explain those things and only raises more questions, like the self-contained holodeck power source in Star Trek: Voyager. It ultimately boils down to author fiat and taking it for granted.

As for the dark templar biology changes, that seems to originate in the description of the dark archon in the brood war manual and it is only stated to have resulted in the dark archon at that point. The dark world photosynthesis was introduced later in the DT book. There's no explanation in the brood war manual as to why the dark templar needed to alter themselves beyond adapting to harsh conditions, and what these changes actually are (beyond producing the dark archon,which makes no sense unless the changes were psychic in nature, not biological) is not explained. Furthermore this statement contradicts the statement in the starcraft 1 manual about protoss already being adaptable to harsh conditions (since the protoss were already explicitly the strongest, fastest lifeforms in the entire galaxy, however much sense that makes; what, are their bones made of carbon nanotubes?), since by this point Metzen was introducing his retcons involving the evil xel'naga sending the all-powerful zerg to destroy the wimpy protoss. If you care to reconcile the retcon, it is entirely possible this adaptation refers to the development of void-based psychic powers as a substitute for the khala and not to biological engineering. Perhaps, since the xel'naga considered the protoss a failure to begin with, the dark templar found environments so harsh even the nearly perfect protoss had trouble with it and had to develop new powers accordingly. I mean, the protoss evolved the khala for hunting on Aiur, so it stands to reason the dark templar needed psychic adaptations for outer space or whatever decaying realities Zeratul was talking about.

8. They can destroy planets and still lost. That’s literally the plot...

Originally the Zerg were stated to need a determinant to have parity with the Protoss, but this plot point was ultimately forgotten. Maybe the protoss were unwilling to glass their home planet since it had the psi matrix they needed to power their tech in the first place. Maybe the Zerg deployed electronic warfare against the psi matrix to interdict the Protoss arsenal. We can speculate forever why the protoss lost despite their clear technological superiority, but we will not get anywhere. The ultimate answer is that Metzen could not be bothered to explain it because he was too interested in advancing his absurd Kerry Sue fanfiction.

I think everyone’s been pretty clear on the Khala and void being an energy source when it gets brought up though. But the Khala is clearly a bunch of things at once. And nobody has mentioned yet that psionic matrix = Khala. Also doesn’t make sense that the psionic matrix is still working like 6 years later if it runs off fuels and renewables instead of cosmic energy or zero point energy or whatever since Aiur is abandoned and overrun by Zerg the whole time.

That is a very good question, since the lore explicitly states that the psi matrix is centered on Aiur, draws power from khaydarin crystals on Aiur, and powers the Protoss' manufacturing and war machine. Said question is answered in the games at one point: a quote from the ascendant in SC2 suggests that manufacturing is done on Shakuras and the Spear of Adun.

"Shakuras has fallen... Aiur has fallen... Does that mean all of these structures were constructed aboard the Spear of Adun?"

By extension, this suggests that Shakuras and the Spear of Adun have their own psi matrices. This is supported by the existence of dark pylons aka void pylons used by nerazim in the campaign and co-op. Of course, this could have easily been inferred without explicit statements like that. We do not need to be spoon fed every detail and we do not need to go off on wild tangents to explain simple things like that.

I do not think continuing this argument will go anywhere. The lore is too inconsistent for anyone to agree whether it supports anything. Gradius has made it clear he considers the khala and void as power plants and nothing will change his view. I have made it clear I see no point in that when the psi matrix already performs that role.

Let's just agree that we cannot agree.


Photosynthesis rebuttals
Back to the topic of photosynthesis, I have a final set of rebuttals against the concept of photosynthesis. Basically, it boils down to "photosynthesis" not explaining anything, being redundant to existing lore, and offering no practical applications for the games.

"Photosynthesis" does not explain anything
Protoss photosynthesis seemingly originated from a Q&A sometime in 2006 or so. Someone asked “how do protoss eat without mouths?” and a PR person answered “photosynthesis, like plants.” Both the question and the answer are founded on ignorance.

The SC1 manual already said the Protoss were hunters, so presumably they ate in some alien fashion. The answer is ignorant not only of the previous lore but of real science, as game theory places autotrophic animals at a massive disadvantage outside exceeding rare conditions.

The photosynthesis explanation does not really answer the question it was intended to. The questioner would have no understanding of photosynthesis and if they did then they would dismiss the answer as ignorant. The answer might as well have been “they just do, I don’t need to explain it” for all the difference that it makes. Even “psychic vampirism” or “pylons” would have been a better answer, since that would have been consistent with the existing setting without introducing unnecessary trivia.

It simply does not make sense from a scientific perspective and any attempts to explain it only raise more questions like “how does it work?” “how is it more efficient than terrestrial plants?” “how does it provide nutrients?” and so on. Whenever someone wonders how it is possible without resorting to pseudoscience and magic that doesn’t actually answer anything, the answer ultimately boils down to “they just do, I don’t need to explain it.” That is same answer I suggested for the original question. We are back at square one.

There is simply no point to saying “photosynthesis.” It doesn’t explain anything better than “they just do,” which it ultimately boils down to by itself since there is no science to support it. The protoss may not have mouths on their faces, but we can assume they eat in some alien fashion and we don’t need any over-complicated physics-defying explanations how.

"Photosynthesis" is redundant to the existing Psi mechanic
The original lore outright stated that Protoss buildings and units already get their energy from pylons, connected to the Psi Matrix, in the form of psionic energy or Psi. The Psi mechanic exists as a counterpart to Supply for Terrans. Psi may be assumed to operate on similar principles to Supply, serving as an abstraction of electricity, food, shelter, ammunition, etc. If Protoss already get sustenance through this system, they do not need to be photosynthetic on top of that.

"Photosynthesis" offers no practical applications
The previous lore already stated Protoss were hunters. What do we gain by changing that to photosynthesis? It adds nothing of value either in comparison or on its own merits. With the Zerg, their genetic engineering gave us their overall motivations and behavior, the gruesome backstories about the creation of ultralisk and overseer, as well as the evolution missions in HotS. For the Protoss, the fact that they photosynthesize is completely irrelevant. They do not behave any differently than humans do, even though autotrophy would logically be expected to render their psychology unrecognizable to us. The games certainly never reference photosynthesis nor do anything with it in their gimmicks. How would you even make a gimmick, much less a compelling one, about protoss photosynthesis?

[Gradius]

In any event, the Protoss do not have infinite source of power separate from the Psi Matrix. Whether the Psi Matrix is infinite or so deep it might as well be infinite is irrelevant. It has no effect on how they fared in the fluff and the games.

Needs evidence. The Void by definition is energy drawn from the cold void of space, which for all intents and purposes is infinite.

The void ray short story is the only source I know of that clearly claims the khala and void are power sources. While there are statements in other sources to the effect of high templar channeling khala and dark templar channeling void, it is not clear whether this means the two are distinct power sources or merely shape the effect of power drawn from another source. It might be like the difference between power plants and adapters: power plants generate power, adapters convert that power into a form compatible with a device.

That's incorrect and there's literally a trove of evidence supporting that they're forms of energy.

- The BlizzCon 2010 lore q&a: "Yeah, I mean, basically, any protoss that is a part of the Khala is going to have an enormous psionic energy to draw on and can create, you know, obviously, weapons and blades with it."
- The manual:
"Khas was able to channel the primal energies of the Crystals through himself"
"It was widely rumoured that since the Shadow Hunters were cut off from the primal chord of their race, they were forced to draw their psionic energies from the dark, cold void of space."
"By equipping themselves with amulets carved from Khaydarin crystal, the High Templar are able to channel the energies of the Khala with greater efficiency."
- All the things that dark templar use the void for: http://starcraft.wikia.com/wiki/Void
- The BW manual and battle.net SCC: "Created by the merging of any two Dark Templar warriors, the Dark Archon can wield the mysterious energies of the void."

On the other hand, you've so far provided zero evidence that the protoss are helpless without their psi matrix which you think does literally everything for them.

It is redundant and adds nothing? Why do we need another energy source when the psi matrix already suffices just fine?

Because it's part of the backbone of the universe and already in the game, and the psi matrix is what protoss use to power their technology, not a psionic power source. It's completely different. I don't care if you think it'd be more efficient if everything just used the psi matrix, because that's not what the evidence shows.

Can Protoss become fatigued and exhausted? Can they starve to death? Did we ever see this happen in the lore, or are bodily functions just glossed over like how nobody ever uses the bathroom on page? I cannot recall any scenes in the EU where anybody of any race had to eat, sleep, bathe, or otherwise attend to their bodily functions. That doesn't mean that everyone, humans and zerg included, are perpetual motion machines.

Protoss might because they have purity of form. You're still dodging the point. If they're helpless without a pylon around that's just...dumb and literally doesn't work in context with any of the novels. Like in Queen of Blades where they're only stuck with units on Char because they're traveling around from place to place and can't relocate. Or the DT saga where protoss without technology use psychic abilities and make psi storms. It doesn't even work in context of any protoss installation missions like Zeratul's rescue or escape from Aiur where they're without a pylon.

Why should I accept your canon-breaking explanation?

How do we know they did? The SC1 manual implies they forgot their psychic abilities because of the cultural degeneration after the apocalypse, including telepathy/mind reading/etc (since Khas had no idea what other Protoss were thinking/feeling), and had to relearn them after Khas discovered the crystals. If they did have powers of any kind, it would probably have been limited by the availability of energy. Without advanced tech to supplement them then they would have needed to rely on the energy in food, which would only have been sufficient for very basic abilities I would think.

So they didn't talk to each other during the whole Aeon of Strife? That's absurd. -_-

Again, they don't eat. They don't have mouths, there's no implication they have mouths, and they hunt for skins. You need evidence before you make claims.

The two are never explicitly distinguished in any of the lore: no lore source says that the khala and psi matrix are separate power sources.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argument_from_ignorance

The description of the psi matrix states that it is wirelessly connected to all pylons and that all buildings and units draw their power from it. It is easy to presume that the carriers contain their own pylons to provide power.

Saying units regenerate out of range of pylons is not sufficient evidence: the game mechanics are an abstraction, not a literal representation of the fictional world. The scales with regard to time and space are obviously unrealistic: such as carriers being barely larger than scouts, buildings constructing within minutes, buildings producing units from nowhere, etc.

The manual literally says a unit will regenerate its shields.

You don't get to extrapolate one line from the manual (units use psionic matrix to a lesser extent) to literally everything you want. That one line could mean literally anything i.e. they use it for shields, or they need it to be warped in, or it helps maintains their equipment.

Perhaps the writers used confusing terminology? They clearly were not scientists or engineers, so they would not know how energy works in reality. Your explanation does not explain those things and only raises more questions, like the self-contained holodeck power source in Star Trek: Voyager. It ultimately boils down to author fiat and taking it for granted.

So basically, you want to deny evidence?

As for the dark templar biology changes, that seems to originate in the description of the dark archon in the brood war manual and it is only stated to have resulted in the dark archon at that point. The dark world photosynthesis was introduced later in the DT book. There's no explanation in the brood war manual as to why the dark templar needed to alter themselves beyond adapting to harsh conditions, and what these changes actually are (beyond producing the dark archon,which makes no sense unless the changes were psychic in nature, not biological) is not explained.

Nope. It's from the battle.net SCC dark templar page.

Furthermore this statement contradicts the statement in the starcraft 1 manual about protoss already being adaptable to harsh conditions (since the protoss were already explicitly the strongest, fastest lifeforms in the entire galaxy, however much sense that makes; what, are their bones made of carbon nanotubes?), since by this point Metzen was introducing his retcons involving the evil xel'naga sending the all-powerful zerg to destroy the wimpy protoss. If you care to reconcile the retcon, it is entirely possible this adaptation refers to the development of void-based psychic powers as a substitute for the khala and not to biological engineering. Perhaps, since the xel'naga considered the protoss a failure to begin with, the dark templar found environments so harsh even the nearly perfect protoss had trouble with it and had to develop new powers accordingly. I mean, the protoss evolved the khala for hunting on Aiur, so it stands to reason the dark templar needed psychic adaptations for outer space or whatever decaying realities Zeratul was talking about.

Not sure what kind of mental gymnastics you have going on here, but they're adaptable...yes...and so they adapted when they cut their nerve cords off because they lost their pool of energy. That's the whole point.

That is a very good question, since the lore explicitly states that the psi matrix is centered on Aiur, draws power from khaydarin crystals on Aiur, and powers the Protoss' manufacturing and war machine. Said question is answered in the games at one point: a quote from the ascendant in SC2 suggests that manufacturing is done on Shakuras and the Spear of Adun.

By extension, this suggests that Shakuras and the Spear of Adun have their own psi matrices. This is supported by the existence of dark pylons aka void pylons used by nerazim in the campaign and co-op. Of course, this could have easily been inferred without explicit statements like that. We do not need to be spoon fed every detail and we do not need to go off on wild tangents to explain simple things like that.

I agree with that, I just don't agree it's the protoss only power source. They're not going to lose all their powers just because they lose one of those things.

I do not think continuing this argument will go anywhere. The lore is too inconsistent for anyone to agree whether it supports anything. Gradius has made it clear he considers the khala and void as power plants and nothing will change his view. I have made it clear I see no point in that when the psi matrix already performs that role.

Let's just agree that we cannot agree.

Haha, you're acting like I'm the one with the unconventional view on the topic when all the evidence and majority of the fanbase accepts the Void and Khala as power sources. So far you don't really have a shred of evidence to support your view other than speculation, so the burden of proof remains solely squared on you to provide...something, instead of just denying evidence and pushing your fanon hypotheses. That's how debates work.

Photosynthesis rebuttals
Back to the topic of photosynthesis, I have a final set of rebuttals against the concept of photosynthesis. Basically, it boils down to "photosynthesis" not explaining anything, being redundant to existing lore, and offering no practical applications for the games.

"Photosynthesis" does not explain anything
Protoss photosynthesis seemingly originated from a Q&A sometime in 2006 or so. Someone asked “how do protoss eat without mouths?” and a PR person answered “photosynthesis, like plants.” Both the question and the answer are founded on ignorance.

The SC1 manual already said the Protoss were hunters, so presumably they ate in some alien fashion. The answer is ignorant not only of the previous lore but of real science, as game theory places autotrophic animals at a massive disadvantage outside exceeding rare conditions.

The photosynthesis explanation does not really answer the question it was intended to. The questioner would have no understanding of photosynthesis and if they did then they would dismiss the answer as ignorant. The answer might as well have been “they just do, I don’t need to explain it” for all the difference that it makes. Even “psychic vampirism” or “pylons” would have been a better answer, since that would have been consistent with the existing setting without introducing unnecessary trivia.

It simply does not make sense from a scientific perspective and any attempts to explain it only raise more questions like “how does it work?” “how is it more efficient than terrestrial plants?” “how does it provide nutrients?” and so on. Whenever someone wonders how it is possible without resorting to pseudoscience and magic that doesn’t actually answer anything, the answer ultimately boils down to “they just do, I don’t need to explain it.” That is same answer I suggested for the original question. We are back at square one.

There is simply no point to saying “photosynthesis.” It doesn’t explain anything better than “they just do,” which it ultimately boils down to by itself since there is no science to support it. The protoss may not have mouths on their faces, but we can assume they eat in some alien fashion and we don’t need any over-complicated physics-defying explanations how.

"Photosynthesis" is redundant to the existing Psi mechanic
The original lore outright stated that Protoss buildings and units already get their energy from pylons, connected to the Psi Matrix, in the form of psionic energy or Psi. The Psi mechanic exists as a counterpart to Supply for Terrans. Psi may be assumed to operate on similar principles to Supply, serving as an abstraction of electricity, food, shelter, ammunition, etc. If Protoss already get sustenance through this system, they do not need to be photosynthetic on top of that.

"Photosynthesis" offers no practical applications
The previous lore already stated Protoss were hunters. What do we gain by changing that to photosynthesis? It adds nothing of value either in comparison or on its own merits. With the Zerg, their genetic engineering gave us their overall motivations and behavior, the gruesome backstories about the creation of ultralisk and overseer, as well as the evolution missions in HotS. For the Protoss, the fact that they photosynthesize is completely irrelevant. They do not behave any differently than humans do, even though autotrophy would logically be expected to render their psychology unrecognizable to us. The games certainly never reference photosynthesis nor do anything with it in their gimmicks. How would you even make a gimmick, much less a compelling one, about protoss photosynthesis?

Again, I think everyone here agrees that the photosynthesis explanation is unnecessary. That doesn't rule out the fact that they might need photons from the sun to synthesize some sort of crucial compound like humans do with vitamin D.

[Mislagnissa]

Gradius, I am done answering your inane complaints. You will never accept or understand my argument because we both make fundamentally different assumptions about everything. I could conceive of dozens of alternative explanations like vocal cords, psychic vampires, batteries, writer fiat or anything else.

My only answer for you is that the Starcraft lore is fiction and vague fiction at that. It works however any random Blizzard Q&A rep says it does and they cannot keep anything consistent.

I have moved on to writing a Starcraft clone where I can nip this bullshit in the bud. Psychic powers in my story cannot produce free energy and that is final. Got a problem with that?

[Nolanstar]

You two are like similar sides of a roughly equivalent coin. Same purpose with details as different and shifty as this analogy.

On topic, it doesn't work for conservation of energy. Probably psionically supplemented or by absorbing liquids including blood into skin.

[KaiserStratosTygo]

Why would they do that? They don’t even eat.

No idea, don't ask me, that's not my fanon.

[Gradius]

I have moved on to writing a Starcraft clone where I can nip this bullshit in the bud. Psychic powers in my story cannot produce free energy and that is final. Got a problem with that?

I'm the one that suggested you do that so...no, not really?

[Nissa]

On topic, it doesn't work for conservation of energy. Probably psionically supplemented or by absorbing liquids including blood into skin.

I've always assumed that Protoss "drink." Like, they have little spray devices to discretely spray water on their faces. Or they use little hankies that they dip into bowls.

I also imagine that they burn really, really strong incense, but that has nothing to do with consumption.