StarCraft storyline

The StarCraft storyline is the history of the StarCraft universe.

As with many such games, StarCraft came with a series of pre-set combat missions for gamers to play against the computer. These series typically start with introductory missions and become ever more challenging battles. These campaigns are set in a time and place in a fictional universe, and events in one battle lead to the next in the campaign. Unlike some previous Blizzard Entertainment games, StarCraft campaigns aren't alternative histories that vary with which side the player chooses, but are sequential parts of a single larger timeline. Also, the background for StarCraft is far more detailed and complex than others, including the personal stories of tragic and heroic main characters, and was created with the help of professional science fiction authors and artists to give it a full cinematic depth. The campaigns in StarCraft are called "episodes" and are numbered, similar to the Star Wars movies.

Besides the events in the game missions themselves, video clips and text stories and descriptions supplied with the game flesh out the background of the universe. Blizzard has authorized some independent novels, covering events beyond the StarCraft games.

StarCraft fans have supplied additional battles and historical commentary, but these aren't considered canon, and aren't covered here.

StarCraft features three races: the renegade human Terrans, the noble psionic Protoss, and the horrific insectoid Zerg. The storyline covers the fortunes of these three races and their leaders, fighting for dominance in a remote region of the galaxy. Typically, the player's race makes gains during an episode, but never completely conquers the other races.

Background
Full details are in StarCraft Prequel

The year was AD 2499. The Terrans had spread far beyond Earth. In this region at the edge of the galaxy, beyond any contact from the civilized systems, the dregs of Terran society struggled against the elements on a few harsh worlds. The ruthless Terran Confederacy strived to tighten its rule over the scattered colonies.

Seemingly from nowhere, a swarm of unknown creatures descended, settled, and attacked &mdash; the Zerg. The Protoss arrived on a mission to wipe out all life on the planet Chau Sara, including the Terrans, in an effort to halt the Zerg infestation.

The Starcraft Demo showed the first Terran contact with the Zerg, where they were called "xenomorphs" and the player was helped by the "Cerberus" attack squad. Later the player eliminated the xenomorph threat in the area with the assistance of Edmund Duke (in a siege tank, rather than his battleship, the Norad II.)

Episode I
This is the Terran campaign of the original StarCraft game.

Full details are in StarCraft Episode I

The player started as a new official of the Terran Confederacy, charged with protecting local colonies, but our player found out that the Confederacy forces would not aid them. The player and Marshal Jim Raynor fought the Xenomorphs known as Zerg on their own initiative. This lead to a break with the Confederacy and the joining of forces with the rebel underground, the Sons of Korhal led by Arcturus Mengsk. During the battles, Mengsk's second-in-command, Sarah Kerrigan, a telepath and former covert agent, became friends with Raynor. At this point it was discovered that the Confederacy was secretly using Psionic devices called "Psi Emitters" to lure the Zerg to attack disloyal colonies. The desperate rebels used the same methods to lure the Zerg to attack the Confederacy. Another alien race known as the Protoss were seeking to purge the Zerg from the infested worlds; they wiped out all life on the infested worlds, on order from the Protoss Council. This impeded Arcturus's plans of using the Zerg to destroy the Confederacy. The rebels eventually succeeded, but only by perverting all the causes they originally fought for: Mengsk abandoned Kerrigan to the Zerg to gain his victory. Raynor and his followers then split with the Sons of Korhal and fought their way through Mengsk's defenses. Mengsk then formed the Terran Dominion, the new government of the surviving Terran colonies, and declared himself Emperor.

Episode II
This is the Zerg campaign of the original StarCraft game.

Full details are in StarCraft Episode II.

The Zerg were the second "perfect creation" of the ancient race known as the Xel'Naga, who previously created the Protoss. The Zerg are "perfect of essence"; they are a race that continually assimilates new species into the hive mind, controlled by the Overmind, in effect the collective sentience of the Zerg. After turning on their creators, the Zerg began a journey across the galaxy, assimilating and destroying all other species in their path. Eventually, the Overmind learned of the Protoss, and became determined to assimilate this most powerful race, first "perfect creation" of the Xel'Naga, as its final victory. However, despite extensive searching, the location of the Protoss homeworld of Aiur was hidden from the Overmind. Furthermore, the Overmind feared the immense psionic prowess of the Protoss. In their quest to discover the Protoss homeworld they stumbled across the Terran, a race unconscious of its own immense psionic potential.

The player took over the role of a newly hatched Zerg Cerebrate, the immortal motive force behind an otherwise subsentient Zerg Brood. The brood had to protect and transport a unique new Zerg; an infested form of Sarah Kerrigan. This new Zerg/Terran hybrid was instrumental in unlocking the secrets of how to assimilate the Protoss. The player fought off Terran forces that were telepathically called by Kerrigan, and a new form of Protoss attack that could have permanently killed Zerg Cerebrates. However, when the Cerebrate Zasz was killed by this attack, the Overmind discovered the location of the Protoss homeworld, Aiur, and the Zerg battled their way there. Here, the Overmind was made manifest as the Protoss reeled in defeat.

Episode III
This is the Protoss campaign of the original StarCraft game.

Full details are in StarCraft Episode III.

The player took the role of the new Executor tasked to replace Tassadar as military commander, who was in charge of the Protoss fleet "sterilizing" Zerg-infested Terran worlds in Episode I. Tassadar abandoned this mission of endless slaughter as fruitless and, during Episode II, sought out the outlaw Protoss Dark Templar, and learned ways to use their dark telepathic powers to defeat the Zerg Cerebrates. Tassadar was saved from Kerrigan's forces by the Executor (the player's character,) and won him over to help him in his quest instead of being arrested. With the help of the few Protoss still loyal to Tassadar as well as the renegade Terrans under Jim Raynor, Tassadar rescued Zeratul and the Dark Templar returned to Aiur. This caused a civil war amongst the Protoss. To stop the war, Tassadar agreed to submit, unable to see his bretheren kill each other. Tassadar was going to be put on trial, but was saved by Jim Raynor and Fenix. The combined Protoss and renegade Terrans fought their way to the massive Overmind. After a long, devastating battle, Tassadar drove his ship, charged with a combination of Dark Templar and high Templar energies, into the Overmind, destroying it as well as himself.

StarCraft Enslavers

 * Main article: StarCraft: Enslavers

Five missions follow the Terran storyline in StarCraft, dealing with smuggler lord Alan Schezar and his strange alliance with Zerg.

Brood War

 * Main article: Brood War Introduction

The Brood War is a massive Zerg civil war, against a backdrop of the Protoss struggling to survive and a new enemy ... from Earth.

Episode IV
This is the Protoss campaign of the StarCraft: Brood War game.

Full details are in StarCraft Episode IV.

Following Tassadar's sacrifice, the Zerg on the Protoss homeworld were overwhelmingly numerous but in disarray. Protoss refugees retreated to the homeworld of the Dark Templar, Shakuras, despite protests from Aldaris, the leader of the Conclave. The Zerg follow them to Shakuras. The Protoss and Dark Templar reluctantly joined forces with Sarah Kerrigan's Zerg forces, after she explained she was free from the Overmind's control, and she needed help with a new Overmind that was growing on Char. Kerrigan asked for their help to kill it before it reached maturity and took control of Kerrigan's mind again. However, the Protoss asked for a favor in return: Two ancient crystals, fused with the powers of the dark and light templar, had to be recovered to defeat the Zerg on Shakuras. The two crystals were found and from the use of the two the Overmind was crippled (but not killed). During the battles, a massive Terran fleet from the distant United Earth Directorate intervened. Aldaris, troubled by their relations with the "traitorous" Dark Templar, splits off and declared resistance on Artanis and the Dark Templar. This was a result of Kerrigan's manipulations, influencing Razagal's mind. After the Conclave Leader had been defeated Zeratul and Artanis activate the Xel'Naga Temple by placing two Crystals inside. The crystals, infused with the power of the two templar (High and Dark), are then joined in a Xel'Naga temple on Shakuras, producing a mix of the two energies. These energies spread across the planet, wiping the Zerg from the face of Shakuras leaving the Protoss alone.

Episode V
This is the Terran campaign of the StarCraft Brood War game.

Full details are in StarCraft Episode V.

The player joined the United Earth Directorate Expeditionary Fleet, assigned to subdue the Terran worlds in this sector, but their high-handed actions quickly make enemies of all the various Zerg and Protoss factions as well. Mengsk's Dominion was the first to fall. Following this the UED gained telepathic control of local Zerg. Kerrigan convinced Raynor to rescue Mengsk. Though divided by a Zerg infested human spy, the UED succeeded in capturing and enslaving the new Overmind and control of Zerg swarms.

Episode VI
This is the Zerg campaign of the StarCraft Brood War game.

Full details are in StarCraft Episode VI.

The player took the role of a Cerebrate under the control of Infested Kerrigan. Kerrigan was severely threatened by the growing control the massive UED fleet had over the Zerg swarms. By painting herself as a victim and arguing that the combined UED and Zerg forces were the greater enemy, Kerrigan gained the reluctant assistance of the scattered Terran, Protoss and Dark Templar forces. As the UED was beaten back, however, she turned on each of her "allies." The Overmind was killed, and Kerrigan gained control of all the Zerg.

A bonus mission revealed more of a hidden plot behind the scenes of the story. This mission is unlocked when the ninth mission is beaten at least five minutes before the time limit.

After being left alive by Kerrigan, Zeratul traveled to Shakuras with the remaining survivors from Char in search of Artanis and remnants of the scattered Protoss fleet. Upon traveling to Shakuras, a nearby moon was giving off Protoss signals, despite the fact that the Protoss never settled here. Believing it to be Artanis, Zeratul traveled to the moon's surface to search for Artanis.

The search left the Dark Templar numb as he discovered the secrets of the dark moon: a secret project of combining Zerg and Protoss genes. When Zeratul approached the last cell containing the prophetic Zerg/Protoss hybrid creature, the voice of Samir Duran was heard.

He explained he was not Kerrigan's servant and that he has served a greater power. He told Zeratul that destroying the cell will not hinder the project, as there are other cells in locations across the universe and Zeratul would not be able to find them all before it's too late.

With the announcement of StarCraft II, however, speculations have begun again. The long-vanished Xel'Naga will return and many believe they will become the new threat in the story.

StarCraft Enslavers: Dark Vengeance

 * Main article: StarCraft: Enslavers II

Five missions follow the Protoss storyline in Brood War, dealing with a new threat involving enslaved Zerg and the Dark Templar renegade, Ulrezaj.

Stukov Storyline
Three bonus missions follow, which dealt with the saga of Alexei Stukov, who had been mysteriously brought back from the dead. Two of the missions (Deception and Mercenaries II) are available for download as Blizzard Maps of the Month, while Resurrection IV is available as a StarCraft 64 map. However there was a port of this map to the computer allowing the greater Starcraft community to experience it.

StarCraft: Ghost
Full details are in StarCraft: Ghost.

The story takes place four years after the Brood War campaign. Emperor Arcturus Mengsk has rebuilt much of the Terran Dominion and built up a new military, despite having to face the Zerg.

Mengsk and his new advisor, General Horace Warfield, had begun a secret project codenamed Shadow Blade. The program used terrazine gas to alter the genetic makeup of Ghosts. These Ghosts were transformed into Spectres - shadowy superhuman beings bent on executing the will of their true master.

This title has been recently postponed indefinitely by Blizzard.

StarCraft II

 * Main article: StarCraft II introduction

StarCraft II takes place four years after StarCraft: Brood War, approximately the same time as the storyline of StarCraft: Ghost.

Arcturus Mengsk is rebuilding his empire with the aid of his son while fending off challenges from the Kel-Morian Combine and Umojan Protectorate, all the while hunting down Jim Raynor.

Raynor's Raiders are poor and demoralized. They strike at the Dominion while collecting strange artifacts for the Moebius Foundation in hopes of some quick cash. Zeratul appears before Raynor and brings him tidings of doom. He says "I bring tidings of doom. The Xel'Naga return, the cycle nears its end, the artifacts are the key... to the end of all things."

Meanwhile the Zerg, under the command of Infested Kerrigan, have pulled back to Char and been quiet for four years. No one knows what Kerrigan is planning.

Behind the Scenes
The initial storyline of StarCraft was in a sense, a science fiction spin-off of its counterpart franchise, Warcraft. More of an action shooter, it featured clans of 'space vampires' in a sci-fi setting. As design on StarCraft shifted towards an RTS game, it was decided to simplify things into recognizable traits; spidery aliens and psychic brain aliens would be easily recognizable to an audience.

Initially, the storyline was broad, the key events such as the fall of the Terran Confederacy and the invasion of Aiur not being implemented until work began on the single player campaign.

Interviews

 * StarCraft: Queen of Blades pocketbook - Interview with Aaron Rosenberg
 * StarCraft Ghost Nova pocketbook - Interview with Keith R.A. Decandido