Infested terran

"Live for the Swarm!"

- Infested terran

Infested terrans (a.k.a. infested humans) are a breed of zerg created when the zerg infest a terran with a hyper-evolutionary virus.

Many infested terrans were used as powerful suicide bombers.

Purpose of Infestation
The zerg believed they needed the use of psionic powers to defeat the protoss. The terrans were the only species they discovered with psionic potential powerful enough to help them achieve victory. However, most terrans aren't psychic, and even those that are, are not necessarily genetically compatible (meaning they would lose their intelligence and any psionic powers).

Most infested terrans, being failures, were used as disposable drones.

As of 2503, Infested Kerrigan solved the problem of infested terran sentience, and could reliably create them. She would use some as her consorts and generals.

Effects of Infestation
An infested terran is created when a terran is infected with the zerg hyper-evolutionary virus. The victim usually loses most of their intelligence and sanity, as their mind becomes consumed by the zerg. Most become stronger, faster, tougher, and develop the ability to burrow, as well as other typical zerg traits (the ability to quickly heal wounds, psionic sensitivity, and so forth). In addition, many infested terrans can explode, sacrificing themselves in a splash of toxic fluid. The resulting explosion has a ten meter radius, a large shockwave and can destroy small structures.

In appearance, an infested terran looks "as if it had been redesigned by a madman who had too many spare parts left over from a variety of species." Growths and tentacles extrude from the body, with ruptured, sunken-in features and festering skin, albeit covered with carapace.

Types

 * Main article: Infested terran (StarCraft)

Before and during the Great War, as well as the following, most infested terrans acted as suicide bombers. Most were created from infesting command centers, which would then release the S.
 * Main article: Infested terran (StarCraft II)

By the Second Great War, the zerg had developed a new strain, which wore CMC Powered Combat Suit and carried gauss rifles. This strain, spawned the infestor, had a short duration. Infestors are known to swallow infested terrans and regurgitate them later.

Infested Colonist
Infested colonists, which were relatively slow and weak and made melee attacks. They did not explode.

Infested Marine
Infested marines, which continued to wear their suits of armor and wield rifles. They were tough but slow. They were nearly identical to the infestor-spawned version but did not have a limited lifespan.

Aberration
Aberrations, large monstrosities which could make powerful melee attacks.

Other Types of Infested Terrans

 * Infested SCV pilot (concept art only)
 * Infested scientist (concept art only)
 * Mutate

Similar Types of Infestation

 * Roverlisk
 * Atticus Carpenter (cerebrate)
 * Ruom (infested protoss/hybrid)

Experiments
Infested terrans have been the subject of many experiments by both terrans and zerg. Even the protoss have taken to experimenting on them.

Zerg Experiments
"Infested humans, Carter. One minute, slavering zerg hosts. The next-some kind of evolution we've not seen until here and now!"

- Jon Dyre relates his encounter with infested terran variants to Wes Carter.

The zerg were successful in acquiring Sarah Kerrigan, a ghost who had been a member of the Sons of Korhal. The Overmind left her with the majority of her spirit, and she retained her intelligence and even some of her humanity.

According to Captain Jon Dyre, a type of infested terran was used on Ursa, where infestation would leave them upon death and even appear normal while still infested. However, it should be noted that Dyre was under intense psychological stress at the time, and, upon his return to Ursa, lost his mind completely.

Kerrigan's Experiments
The Infested Kerrigan developed an interest in recreating the experiment which created her sometime after the end of the Brood War. While she did not believe she could perfectly duplicate the results of her own change, which she considered "perfect", she still sought another infested terran such as herself hoping to get "close". Although she specifically sought out psychic terrans, most of her subjects were non-psionic.

Her experiments were usually a failure, resulting in defects in intelligence and even mobility. She and a cerebrate believed the problem was a genetic compatibility issue, and the rare terrans who are compatible could result in another creature such as herself, albeit less powerful. The experiments were important enough to keep Kerrigan from engaging in combat with her enemies.

Kerrigan's experiments finally succeeded with ex-mercenary and (former) crime lord, Ethan Stewart in 2503, although he was less "perfect" than herself, since she didn't want to create a rival. She intends to make him her consort. He quickly became one of her troop leaders.

Kerrigan's experiments continued into the Second Great War. She infested some of the inhabitants of the "refugee world" of Meinhoff. There, the plague spread very quickly, and powerful aberrations (particularly large, bloated infested terrans) emerged, but the infested colonists fell prey to the high UV of Meinhoff's star during the day. Raynor's Raiders eventually defeated the plague.

Fugitive scientist Dr. Ariel Hanson began working on a cure. Her colonists were taken to the world of Haven, but the plague was spread by virophages with such virulence that much of the population was quickly infested. Raynor's Raiders attacked the infested towns, eventually putting an end to the plague.

Reanimation
Kaloth, a zerg cerebrate who survived Kerrigan's purge of the cerebrates, conducted its own experiment of infesting humans as leaders. It acquired the corpse of former United Earth Directorate Vice Admiral Alexei Stukov and reanimated it, creating Infested Stukov. Stukov was able to interact with remnants of the old Terran Confederacy, who were engaging in high-tech research, including experimentation on infested terrans such as Morik.

Stukov was put in charge of a weak brood on Braxis, a world he was already familiar with. Stukov was captured by a protoss and terran task force, led by Jim Raynor and Taldarin, who subjected him to an experiment of their own; they used protoss-devised nanites to reverse the infestation process, resulting in a living (and presumably fully human) Alexei Stukov.

Terran Experiments
The Terran Confederacy stored ardeon crystals tainted with zerg spores deep within the Jacobs Installation. Years later, a deserting soldier tried to steal the crystals, and discovered to his dismay that mere contact with a tainted crystal would quickly transform a terran into an infested terran. He was trapped within the facility.

Remnant members of the Terran Confederacy worked at a secret facility on a means of "restoring faculties in Infested Terrans" and created Morik, a terran they performed horrible experiments on. They also studied a method of reanimating the dead using zerg infestation techniques. Significantly, one reanimated human, Infested Stukov, appeared in their facility. Along with studying the possibility of offspring from infested humans, a few files on such experiments were found;


 * "Zerg/Human Genome Manipulation."
 * "Saving Human Mental Faculties In Zerg/Human Hybridization Experiments."
 * "Reanimation Using Zerg Infestation Techniques."
 * "Offspring of Infested Humans." (Top secret file)

The data was sold to the black market by the Kimeran Pirates. Most of the above experiments, including the possibility of offspring, had little to no chance of success. (Offspring of such unions, if they could even be created, would be dangerous captives and "irredeemably unbiddable.")

Mutates

 * Main article: Mutate

"Mutate" is a term used for an infested terran whose intelligence has been preserved through the use of terran-devised nanites.

Protoss Experiments
The protoss are more interested in destroying infested terrans or reversing the process which created them than using them. To this end, the protoss developed a "radical nanotech serum" which could be used on infested terrans such as Infested Stukov. The serum was successfully administered to Stukov, who was freed from his infestation.

StarCraft I

 * ''Main article: Infested terran game unit

StarCraft: Ghost
Infested terrans appear as enemies in some StarCraft: Ghost preview videos. They explode much like their StarCraft counterparts.

Infested marines were also available (as a playable character "class").

StarCraft II

 * Main article: Infested terrans in StarCraft II

Infested terrans have appeared in StarCraft II as units produced by the infestor.

Advanced Infested Terrans
All of these infested terrans have kept their sentience, although not necessarily their sanity.


 * Samir Duran (exact species and even whether or not he was actually infested are in dispute)
 * Eschueta the Wicked (mercenary leader)
 * Sarah Kerrigan, the Queen of Blades, now the sole ruler of the Zerg Swarm
 * Morik (infestation held in check by nanites)
 * Sistask (mutate, infestation held in check by nanites)
 * Ethan Stewart (infested by Kerrigan to be her consort)
 * Alexei Stukov (infested and reincarnated by Kaloth, later uninfested by nanites)
 * Jackson Hauler (concept art only)
 * Ariel Hanson (infested during fall of Haven, story branch dependent)

Other Infested Terrans
A few other terrans are known to have become infested, although they have become mindless drones for the most part.
 * Main article: Infested terran characters