Overmind


 * For the Zerg campaign "The Overmind", see StarCraft Episode II: The Overmind.

"Truly, no Zerg can stray from my will, for all that you are lies wholly within me."

- The Overmind telling Zasz about Infested Kerrigan's designs

The Zerg Overmind &mdash;or simply the Overmind&mdash; is a character in the StarCraft universe. Created on the Zerg homeworld of Zerus, the Overmind controls the Zerg. It was voiced by Jack Ritschel.

Biography
The Overmind was a brain-like entity of indeterminate age. It was created by the Xel'Naga on the Zerg homeworld of Zerus to bring order to the Zerg. At first it was only a semi-sentient entity created from the instincts and collective sentience of the Zerg, but it quickly evolved.

The Overmind did not directly relay orders to its minions. As new species were added to the Swarm, it began to relay orders telepathically through Cerebrates, giant versions of the larvae. Direct orders were relayed through Overlords.

Rebellion
As the Overmind grew stronger, it extended its senses to the space over Zerus, detecting the Xel'Naga Worldships which floated above. Cutting off its psionic link to the Xel'Naga, it prevented them from knowing what it was doing. It called a naturally space-faring species from the void of space to the planet and assimilated it, enabling its minions to survive in space. Then it commenced its attack.

The Overmind absorbed thousands of sentient Xel'Naga into itself, gaining their knowledge and insights and causing it to grow much more powerful. It learned the secrets of the sacred Khaydarin Crystals, and began to incorporate the energies of these Crystals into its own. Through the knowledge gained from the Xel'Naga, the Overmind was able to increase the level of sentience in many of the higher Zerg strains, while still keeping them fully under its control.

The Overmind dissected the memories of the Xel'Naga experiments with the Protoss. The Zerg then devoted their energies to seeking out the powerful Protoss in the hope of absorbing them into the Swarm, uniting purity of form and of essence, to create a totally "perfect" being.

Conflict with the Protoss
The swarms traveled in the direction of the Protoss homeworld. For thousands of years, the Zerg wreaked havoc upon the galaxy, destroying or assimilating countless of species it encountered and laid hundreds of planets into smoking ruin. As the swarm added ever new strains to its formidable army, the Overmind was still not pleased. It sought a way to counter the awesome might of the Protoss psionics, but found no answer among the strains it devoured.

All changed when one of its deep-space probes encountered humanity, a frail race that lived under the very shadow of the Protoss. Humanity had a great psionic potential and the Overmind ordered the assimilation of the Terran worlds to gain the ability to fight the Protoss on their own terms. It took the Overmind sixty years to reach the series of worlds inhabited by the Terrans, sending out a scouting brood to determine the locations of their worlds.

The Overmind subtly infected the Terran world of Chau Sara with Hive Spores as a prelude to invasion. It hoped to use the Terran psionic potential to help it defeat the Protoss. The Zerg infested or killed most of the populace and had sent minions to other Terran worlds by the time the Protoss discovered what had happened and responded. The Overmind, anxious to learn all it could about the Protoss, held its minions back and let the Protoss hamper the initial infestation process. The Protoss destroyed all life on the surface of Chau Sara. The decisive action of the Protoss pleased the Overmind, which marveled at how the Protoss could bring about such devastation. The Overmind pulled its forces back to see how humanity and the Protoss would react next.

The Terran terrorist leader Arcturus Mengsk sought to use the Zerg as a weapon of war against his enemies, the Terran Confederacy. To this end he acquired psi emitters, a device which amplifies the powers of a telepath, enabling them to attract Zerg from a considerable distance.

Agent of the Swarm
The Zerg had not yet reached Tarsonis, capital world of the Confederacy, when they were drawn there by the emitters. The Protoss arrived, intending to destroy all life on Tarsonis, but Arcturus Mengsk had his own plans. His Sons of Korhal, under the leadership of the politically unreliable Ghost Sarah Kerrigan, would attack the Protoss, preventing them from destroying the Zerg. In turn, the Zerg would destroy the Confederacy. The plan was successful, but Mengsk abandoned Kerrigan to the Zerg. Kerrigan was not killed by the Zerg, only captured and infested.

The Overmind created a new Cerebrate with only one purpose in mind; to protect the chrysalis which now held Kerrigan. The Overmind threatened to punish this new Cerebrate if it failed in its mission.

The Overmind moved the chrysalis and the rest of the Swarm to the planet Char, whose remote location and convoluted terrain would protect it from its enemies.

The sleeping Kerrigan produced powerful psionic emanations, drawing the attention of such enemies as the Terran Dominion and Raynor's Raiders.

Kerrigan also drew the attention of Zeratul and the Dark Templar to Char, who were able to initially hide their presence from the Zerg.

Infested Kerrigan emerged from her cocoon during an attack by Raynor's Raiders. The Overmind referred to her as "the undoing" of its enemies and ordered the deaths of all the invading Terrans. However, Kerrigan allowed Raynor to leave with his life.

Kerrigan's mind had been damaged by the Ghost Program during her training, and she wished to undo the damage and access her entire range of powers. She intended to raid a Dominion Science Vessel to learn how to undo this damage. Cerebrate Zasz took issue with this plan, however, reminding her that she was just a servant, and that her wishes did not take precedence over the Overmind's mission. Kerrigan reacted badly to this pronouncement, but the Overmind allowed her to carry out her desire since she could not stray from its will.

A New Weapon
Once she had expanded her mind, Infested Kerrigan could detect the Protoss who had been hiding on Char.

The Dark Templar leader, Zeratul, and Tassadar conspired to perform a "weapons test" against the Zerg. They had discovered the purpose of the Cerebrates and believed that only Dark Templar energy could permanently destroy one. Tassadar distracted Infested Kerrigan while Zeratul slew Cerebrate Zasz of the Garm Brood. This created a psionic link between the Overmind and Zeratul. Each learned the other's secrets. The shock of permanently losing a Cerebrate threw the Overmind into a state of mental shock. It did not emerge until the remnants of the Garm Brood had been destroyed. Senior Cerebrate Daggoth commanded the Zerg Swarm while the Overmind was unable to communicate.

The Overmind changed its plans. It would travel to Aiur, whose precise location it had drawn from Zeratul's memory, but leave Infested Kerrigan behind on Char in order to fight the Protoss remaining there. Upon reaching Aiur, the Overmind told its new Cerebrate the purpose of the invasion; in order to assimilate the Protoss.

It wished to be "made manifest" on Aiur, and it could needed the Khaydarin Crystals to do so. The Swarm acquired a Khaydarin Crystal for the Overmind.

The Overmind ordered its forces to clear the "hallowed ground" upon which stood the original Protoss Temple on Aiur and place the Khaydarin Crystal in its place. Only there could it be made manifest. The crystal was placed, after which the Overmind dived upon Aiur like a bomb.

The Fall
Infested Kerrigan had some success in hunting down the Dark Templar, capturing Zeratul and many others in a Terran installation. However, Tassadar was able to recruit a Protoss task force and rescue them. These Dark Templar were transported to Aiur.

After winning a civil war with the Protoss Conclave, Zeratul and his allies (including Tassadar, Fenix and Jim Raynor) plotted their attack on the Zerg. Fenix and Zeratul intended to permanently destroy a pair of Cerebrates, which would thin the Overmind's defenses and distract the Overmind. The attacks were successful, opening the path to the Overmind. In the final confrontation, the Protoss drew upon the services of the Dark Templar along with Raynor's Raiders. Together, both forces fought their way to the Overmind. Due to the psychic shock that had been induced by the death of the cerebrates by the hands of the Dark Templar, the Overmind was unable to escape as Tassadar channeled both the High and Dark energies into a gigantic glowing ball of energy and destroyed the Overmind, along with himself.

The Second Overmind
Upon the death of the Overmind, the Zerg rampaged over Aiur, killing nearly 70% of the Protoss population, while Infested Kerrigan and Daggoth each came to control half of the Zerg Swarm.

Daggoth ordered many Cerebrates to merge, creating a new Overmind. The creature was an infant, too weak to control the Zerg as of yet, but Daggoth and the others could still control many Zerg. The Cerebrates were not designed to exist without their creator, a partial explanation for Daggoth's order. The Overmind itself was nestled next to the powerful Khalis crystal.

The Zerg under the control of Daggoth were termed "Renegade Zerg" by Kerrigan. These Zerg followed the Protoss as they retreated from Aiur to the Dark Templar homeworld of Shakuras through a Warp Gate. Two of their Cerebrates stationed themselves near Shakuras' Xel'Naga Temple, but were slain by the Dark Templar.

The Overmind itself came under attack by the Protoss, seeking to retrieve the Khalis crystal for their own ends. They were allied with Infested Kerrigan, who took control of a small number of Zerg which assisted in the invasion. The Protoss successfully retrieved the crystal, but did not kill the Overmind. The Zerg on Shakuras were eventually destroyed by the Xel'Naga Temple.

To Chain the Beast
The arrival of the United Earth Directorate Expeditionary Force into the Koprulu Sector would create trouble for the Overmind; one of their reasons for entering the Sector was to take control of the Overmind and use the Swarms for their own purposes.

To this end, they took control of the Psi Disrupter, using it to interfere with Zerg communications and coordination, despite the interference of Kerrigan and her pawn Samir Duran. The UED succeeded in capturing the Overmind, using powerful Neurostim drugs to pacify it. The UED may also have used powerful psychics to assist in their efforts.

To Slay the Beast
Infested Kerrigan felt the new Overmind was a threat, because it could take control of her when it reached maturity. To this end she assembled an alliance with Jim Raynor, Fenix and Arcturus Mengsk.

This alliance destroyed the Psi Disrupter, then moved to Korhal to defeat the UED forces stationed there. Kerrigan, wondering why the UED had so few enslaved Zerg to protect them, suspected that they were having trouble controlling the Overmind.

Following the defeat of the UED at Korhal, its forces launched an attack against Kerrigan's base of operations on Tarsonis. However, Tarsonis was too remote to enable them to maintain direct control of the Zerg, so they used "scientists" to coordinate the attack. Kerrigan ordered her forces to eliminate the scientists, freeing some of the captive Zerg.

Kerrigan planned a final assault on the Overmind. She blackmailed Zeratul into an alliance with her, as she needed the powers of his Dark Templar to slay the Overmind for her. The Dark Templar fought alongside her forces against the UED and its Slave Broods, achieving victory. Zeratul personally slew the second Overmind.

Following the death of the Overmind, Kerrigan destroyed the other Cerebrates, granting her leadership over the entire Zerg Swarm.

The Cerebrates were not designed to exist without their creator, a partial explanation for their deaths.

Kerrigan has effectively replaced the Overmind in the Zerg hierarchy, and does not appear to need Cerebrates to assist her.

Powers of the Overmind
It is biologically impossible for the Zerg to oppose the Overmind's directives. Although the Overmind is a living being, it is really an entity that embodies the whole will of the Zerg species.

The Overmind is able to create rifts into Warp space to transport its minions at faster-than-light speeds. It used these rifts at least three times during the course of the StarCraft game.