Aiur

Aiur is the homeworld of the Protoss in the fictional StarCraft universe. The planet is covered with vegetation and has many lush jungles. It has furious seas and stormy weather.

History
Aiur is a huge world located on the fringes of the Milky Way Galaxy. It was engineered by the Xel'Naga and left to itself for a long period of time. When the Xel'Naga returned, they discovered the Protoss on the world.

When the Xel'Naga were forced to flee the world, they left behind large amounts of Khaydarin Crystals.

In the original StarCraft game, Aiur was attacked by the Zerg Swarm in an attempt to consume and assimilate the entire Protoss species. Though the swarms captured most of the planet, killing 70% of the Protoss of Aiur, it was at best a pyrrhic victory: the Zerg Overmind was destroyed by the mighty templar Tassadar, who sacrificed his life in a kamikaze strike. Aiur was abandoned shortly thereafter until the battered Protoss fleets could return to scour the wasted planet of the Zerg.

Aiur was connected to Shakuras by a Warp Gate. It is not known if this Warp Gate could only connect to Shakuras. The Warp Gate was destroyed when the United Earth Directorate invaded Aiur in their quest to arrest Terran Dominion Emperor Arcturus Mengsk.

The Protoss refugees on Shakuras have made at least one trip to Aiur in an effort to recover wounded Protoss warriors.

Psionic Matrix
Protoss structures and units, to a lesser extent, draw their energy from a great psionic energy matrix that emanates from Aiur. This energy can be linked to a Nexus, but Khaydarin Crystal-based Pylons are needed to actually tap into the energy required to provide psionic energy to new colonies and bases. Now that the Protoss have effectively lost Aiur, it is unknown how Pylon-based technology can still operate.