Tarsonis

"This is Duke. The emitters are secured and on-line."

- General Edmund Duke after destroying the Confederate defenses on the central Tarsonis space platform

Tarsonis was the capital world of the Terran Confederacy. It became the intellectual and political center of the Koprulu Sector.

History
Tarsonis was colonized by the 10,000 terran survivors of the crash-landed supercarrier Nagglfar. The ATLAS AI system had been installed aboard Nagglfar but had malfunctioned, losing much of the navigational data; the Tarsonians could confirm their suspicions that they would never see Earth again.

Like on the other two colonies – Moria and Umoja – the Tarsonians scavenged their wrecked ship for materials to establish new homes. The ruling class, commanders of the Nagglfar, believed that keeping law and order was critical. The police district headquarters were built from bits of the original colony ships.

In the process the colonists lost the means for interplanetary communications and as such lived many decades in isolation believing they were the only terrans in the Koprulu Sector.

During this time of isolation terrans founded additional settlements on Tarsonis and grew into a prosperous, self-contained community, becoming the largest and most technologically advanced of the colonies. Tarsonians were the first to develop second-generation sub-warp engines and explore the barren planets of their home system, and eventually to find the other colonies.

Tarsonis Ascendant
With contact with Moria and Umoja restored, the colonies benefited from resulting discourse and trade. There were also the inevitable political machinations. Despite Tarsonian pressuring, the other colonies refused to join in a conglomerated government. Undaunted the Tarsonians continued to explore the sector and established prosperous colonies on seven more worlds in their home system, which in turn spurred an increase in Tarsonian military power. The Tarsonian colonies then founded the Terran Confederacy with Tarsonis as its capital world. The Guild Wars that followed – a war between the Confederacy and the Kel-Morian Combine based on Moria – cemented the supremacy of the Confederacy in the sector.

By the end of the 25th century Tarsonis was the intellectual and political center of the sector; it also served as the main base-of-operations for the entire Confederate military overall. Befitting this status the Confederate military maintained a formidable presence for its protection: three orbital platforms served as staging points for the fleet in addition to an Ion Cannon. Over time the defenses were engaged in over thirty major battles.

The Fall of Tarsonis

 * Main article: Fall of Tarsonis

The invasion of the Sector by the zerg and the protoss put enormous pressure on the Confederacy and accelerated the plans of anti-Confederate groups. The rebel Sons of Korhal, led by Arcturus Mengsk, successfully challenged the Confederacy and fought its way to Tarsonis. The rebel assault on the planet was led by the former-Confederate formation Alpha Squadron. The squadron's commander, General Edmund Duke, was intimately familiar with the defenses from years of service. The rebels punched through to the surface via the central of the three staging platforms. The fate of the planet, and the Confederacy, was sealed by the deployment of Psi Emitters on the platform. Billions of zerg were drawn by the emitters' signal and overran Confederate defenses, laying waste to Tarsonis.

The protoss fleet, commanded by Executor Tassadar, arrived in pursuit of the zerg and descended to the surface to engage the primary hive at New Gettysburg. Fearing the Confederates would escape if the zerg were distracted, Mengsk deployed a strike force, led by ghost Sarah Kerrigan, to neutralize the protoss and protect the zerg (hoping the zerg could continue to destroy the Confederacy). Once accomplished the Sons of Korhal fleet disengaged from the planet and abandoned the strike force to be destroyed by the zerg.

For a time the protoss continued the fight across the core continent until withdrawing from the Terran Sector. Some of the zerg left some time afterward for Char with their prize.

The Dominion Engineering Corps, a division of the Kel-Morian Combine, built Theta Prime station over Tarsonis in order to maintain the flow of commerce following the destruction of the Terran Confederacy.

Kerrigan Ascendant
The arrival of the United Earth Directorate's Expeditionary Force shortly after the death of the zerg Overmind on Aiur was an unwelcome addition to a sector already in upheaval. The UED quickly began making its presence felt and asserting its authority to terrans and aliens alike. On Tarsonis, UED research teams rediscovered the Psi Disrupter. A UED force, led by Lieutenant Samir Duran, secured the device by neutralizing four nearby zerg hives. Contrary to the force's intentions, the Disrupter was then clandestinely dismantled and moved to Braxis by order of Vice Admiral Alexei Stukov where it would eventually play a pivotal role in the subjugation of the new Overmind.

The chaos wrought by the death of the first Overmind left Infested Kerrigan free to ponder her own future and she established her base on Tarsonis. The activation of the Psi Disrupter on Braxis disrupted her control of seven hive clusters, causing many of her minions to rampage and damage to the hives before the situation was restored. After destroying the UED forces on Braxis and Korhal, Kerrigan returned to Tarsonis to rest. Two days later the UED, intent on forcing Kerrigan's hand, tested their control of the second Overmind by attacking Tarsonis with enslaved zerg. Kerrigan succeeded in defeating the assault first by denying the attackers a foothold in the immediate vicinity of the hive clusters followed by a general counter-attack. Soon after, Kerrigan relocated the primary hive clusters to the orbital platform over Char.

Physical Attributes
A temperate planet with a core continent and 27 hour day, Tarsonis residents were occasionally afflicted by powerful solar flares.

Cities and Towns

 * Grange Village
 * Holyktown
 * New Gettysburg
 * Tarsonis City (capital)
 * The Gutter

Landforms

 * Ewen Park
 * Cortlandt Meadow
 * Palombo Valley

Orbital Facilities

 * New Gettysburg
 * Osborne Port
 * Tarsonis Orbital
 * Theta Prime

Starports

 * Giddings Station
 * Tarsonis Starport

Trivia

 * Tarsonis is a black metal band named after the planet which lyrically bases its music on the StarCraft universe.