Kalathi and Tagal

[Hellgrinder]

We know that these are both races in the general backstory of SC. However, we know next to nothing about them. This is for speculation as to what these two races who the Protoss seriously screwed over are like.

Kalathi
Personally, I always thought that the Kalathi were a race of felinoid humanoids, with a social structure not unlike lions. But that's probably only because of the similarities their name has to the Kilrathi from Wing Commander.

Tagal
These guys seem almost like they'd be those bumpy-headed aliens that appear all the time on Star Trek (no not Klingons). Other than that, I can't really think up too much about them.

What are your thoughts on these two races?

[GnaReffotsirk]

I think the Kalathi kinda looks like or in character similar to night elves, as Tagal to taurens. Without the magic of course.

Or Kalathi's would most likely be like shamanistic and such, while the Tagal a hard battle-toad type race.

By their names, that is.

[Gradius]

Nice description of the Kalath intercession from sc2.com:

Juras' mind wandered, flowing through the depths of his many memories. He heard psionic screams, saw a flash of light. The kalathi had gathered at dawn, two great armies bent on destroying each other. Protoss researchers had watched the young species from an enclosure, protected by their shields.

Juras heard his own voice saying the fateful words, "We must stop them, Executor. They are like children; let us use our weapon to scare them into submission. We cannot stand by and let them destroy each other."
Juras flinched. He did not want to remember this.

Walking through a devastated city. Slabs of stone lying askew, kalathi bodies strewn everywhere. Splintered bones protruding at odd angles, torn flesh sagging as blood drained from young and old, male and female. All dead. The executor had indeed used a powerful weapon as a warning, but the kalathi had not desisted; they had turned on the protoss researchers. Kalathi Bloodreavers had attacked the shields, screaming their bloodlust. Outnumbered and surrounded, the protoss had let loose their mighty weapon, and the kalathi had died. That was the flashpoint. The kalathi attacked protoss at every opportunity thereafter. General war had erupted and Colossi had been deployed. By the end of it all, hundreds of thousands of kalathi were dead.

Later Juras had walked alone in the kalathi's great city, letting the images of death, of lives shattered and ended too soon, burn into his mind. He would never forget: the protoss had used a terrifying weapon on another intelligent species.

A weapon designed by Juras.

[pure.Wasted]

I really don't like what these other new races are turning into. Suffice to say that after the Zerg and the Protoss, my hopes were set a little higher.

[Kimera757]

Speaking of other races, does anyone think this "Dark Voice" might be the Voice in Darkness? The name is similar, and it looks like it could be a possessed protoss.

[Alex06]

We know that these are both races in the general backstory of SC. However, we know next to nothing about them. This is for speculation as to what these two races who the Protoss seriously screwed over are like.

Kalathi
Personally, I always thought that the Kalathi were a race of felinoid humanoids, with a social structure not unlike lions. But that's probably only because of the similarities their name has to the Kilrathi from Wing Commander.

Tagal
These guys seem almost like they'd be those bumpy-headed aliens that appear all the time on Star Trek (no not Klingons). Other than that, I can't really think up too much about them.

What are your thoughts on these two races?

I always imagined Kalathi somewhat like the Predator from Aliens (not in technology, but in looks and tribal behavior), while the Tagal would be somewhat more like the Turians from Mass Effect.

[Brutaxilos]

ive always thought of kalathi somewhat like protoss :\ dunno kalathi just seems like a protoss esque word

[Visions of Khas]

I don't see how you can jump to that conclusion, pure.Waster. None of the texts so far give any sort of description of them. Moreover their reaction is really no different from what our own would have been now, forty years ago, or a century ago. Their existence is meant to elucidate upon the Dae'Uhl and provide background for Colossi.

Tagal was just some throw away alien-ish name Chris Metzen slapped into the script. As of yet, they have no substance in the SC universe.

I would, however, like to see some of the alien races make an appearance in StarCraft, to show how, once upon a time, the Protoss were majestic protectors of the stars -- and sometimes, not as smart as they wanted to think they were.

@Kimera: Where have you been lately? We arrived at that theory weeks ago. Some say it's Aldaris.

[pure.Wasted]

I don't see how you can jump to that conclusion, pure.Waster. None of the texts so far give any sort of description of them. Moreover their reaction is really no different from what our own would have been now, forty years ago, or a century ago. Their existence is meant to elucidate upon the Dae'Uhl and provide background for Colossi.

Well, from that excerpt alone we can extrapolate that the Kalathi...

1. Build cities, at least in part of stone.
3. Have two genders, male and female.
4. Have a flesh and bone anatomical structure, even blood.
5. Are intelligent.
6. Age.
7. Die.

I fail to see how they can turn into anything other than rubberhead aliens at this point. Now you might make the argument that the Protoss actually fulfill all of the above criteria, and yet I seem to like them a lot more than I like the Kalathi. Let me use a random example to illustrate why I give the Protoss a pass.

Right now we have in the game 3 distinct factions, Terrans, Protoss, and Zerg. A lot of people seem to like the idea of (eventually) seeing a fully realized UED faction, separate from the Terrans. Ideas on what their units/buildings/features could be have come up for years, and some of them are pretty interesting.

But there is a finite amount of differences we could come up with between human factions to keep them interesting, isn't there? OK, Terrans and the UED. Can we add another, for the UPL? Can we add another, for... Time Traveling Terrans From The Future? At some point, there just aren't going to be enough differences to emphasize; not only will that make the newcomers feel trite and stale, it will cheapen the identity of the oldies who happen to share traits with them.

Now back to the Protoss and the Kalathi. The Protoss don't have mouths, they don't have noses, they don't have (obvious) reproductive organs, they have bow-legged feet, and so on. In a sense, they've taken most of the "as far away from human without becoming un-human" qualities for themselves.

How do the Kalathi look? If they have mouths, then they are even more humanoid. If they don't have mouths, they cheapen the Protoss's uniqueness while simultaneously not being original themselves. Do they fight with melee weapons? That again infringes upon Protoss identity. And so on.


It looks like their role in the lore is going to remain incidental, and in that case it's not wrong, per se, to not put the same amount of creativity into them as went into the main races.

But I am worried that we're going to see a resurgence of the same phenomena that's taken over WarCraft. Where a different type of creatures exists for pretty much every situation imaginable. That works for a fantasy game, but in modern, adult science fiction... I don't want to be seeing "blue people with no noses, red people with long necks, green people with brown spots on their skin."

That does not a mature understanding of space and all its possibilities portray.

[mr. peasant]

True, the Protoss have taken a number of non-human-like features. However, they are far from all the possibilities. For instance, the Kalathi could still differ from the Protoss and Terrans in terms of the number of eyes and limbs (arms and legs). Maybe they have wings and can fly. Maybe they have beaks instead of mouths. Perhaps, they could even have feathers rather than fur/hair or scale. And that's just the off the top of my head with the assumption they share the same body configuration as Terrans and Protoss. There are still countless other phenotypic variations available.

And that's not even considering culture. Depending on the way they dress, their social structure and the technology available to them, they too can feel considerably different. Take the High and Blood Elves from Warcraft for instance. They are effectively the same race but their mindset and way of dress give them a considerably different feel.