StarCraft: The Dark Templar Saga: Firstborn

StarCraft: The Dark Templar Saga: Firstborn is a novel that was authored by Christie Golden. It concerns the history of the Dark Templar. It is the first part of the Dark Templar Saga trilogy (the entirety of which will be written by Golden) and is "kind of a thriller/action/mystery" novel.

Back of Book Description
Jake Ramsey, an archaeologist, investigates a recently unearthed Xel'Naga temple on the world of Nemaka, only to discover a dying Protoss mystic. His identity begins to drown within the flood of alien memories, which grant to him the Protoss species' total history. Ramsey soon realizes that he has stumbled upon a secret so cataclysmic that it will shake the very foundations of the universe.

FIRSTBORN

An original tale of space warfare based on the bestselling computer game series from Blizzard Entertainment.

Synopsis
Jacob Jefferson Ramsey (known as Jake Ramsey to his friends) is an archeologist, a respected but unimportant job. While excavating a barren planet, Ramsey was contacted by Valerian Mengsk, son of Terran Dominion Emperor Arcturus Mengsk with a penchant for knowledge and art. Valerian hired Ramsey's team to excavate a recently unearthed temple on the world of Nemaka. Accompanying them was a force of mercenaries, led by the beautiful R. M. Dahl and including the hulking neurally resocialized ex-cannibal Marcus Wright. They were transported to Nemaka by the old battlecruiser the Gray Tiger.

The temple housed a number of artifacts deemed neither Protoss nor Zerg. Inside the innermost structure of the temple, Ramsey found a dead Protoss, and its mind suddenly merges with his own. However, even as Ramsey struggled to find out what happened, he was set up for betrayal. He and the rest of the civilians were taken prisoner by Dahl... who was in turn taken prisoner by the neurally resocialized Marines from the Gray Tiger.

Ramsey eventually discovered the Protoss was a female named Zamara, a Protoss Preserver that was charged with housing the memories of all Protoss, dead or alive. Zamara had already begun warping Ramsey's brain to suit her mental abilities, and used these abilities to undo the resocializing of Marcus Wright, which enabled Ramsey and Dahl to escape before Wright killed everyone else on board. When Valerian Mengsk heard of this, he initiated a desperate hunt for Ramsey.

Dahl took them to Dead Man's Rock, a world outside of Dominion law, where her former partner and lover Ethan Stewart lived. Stewart, also eager to discern the knowledge Jake possessed, gave them shelter, but was secretly planning to hand them over to Valerian Mengsk after he learned all he could. During the journey to Stewart's base and his time with him, Ramsey was subject to the memories of a Protoss named Temlaa, a member of the Shelak Tribe. Temlaa was the friend of a Protoss named Savassan, who taught him things like map-making, telepathy, and writing that the other Protoss tribes had forgotten or never knew about.

Zamara eventually bestowed on Ramsey the same psionic powers of her race, allowing him to read Stewart's mind to a greater degree than before and warn Dahl of his plans. They escaped, but were closely pursued by Dominion ships sent by Valerian. At this time, Ramsey had Temlaa's memories of the Khaydarin Crystals, and was told that Savassan is in fact the legendary Khas, who was legendary for uniting the Tribes. As they were chased, Ramsey finally more memories from Zamara. Hoping to give to his own people the same revelations Khas did when he discovered the Khaydarin Crystals, Ramsey sent these memories to all the Terrans in the sector, establishing a distracting psionic link between them all. As the ships behind them fell off, Ramsey and Dahl entered warp space.

The story continues in the sequel, StarCraft: The Dark Templar Saga: Shadow Hunters.

Legacy of Khas

 * Main article: Khas

Ramsey relived the memories of Temlaa, assistant to Savassan. Savassan restored the sanity of the Protoss at the end of the Aeon of Strife.

Characters in StarCraft: The Dark Templar Saga: Firstborn

 * Rosemary Dahl – petite but deadly mercenary and head of security for the Nemaka Temple expedition.
 * Valerian Mengsk – son of Arcturus Mengsk, the Heir Apparent to the Terran Dominion and archaeologist.
 * Dr. Reginald Morris – former ghost instructor and employee of Ethan Stewart.
 * Jacob Jefferson Ramsey – maverick archaeologist. Ramsey makes incredible discoveries at the Nemaka Temple.
 * Phillip Randall – elderly valet for Ethan Stewart
 * Savassan – Former Shelak Tribe member who discovers Xel'Naga secrets.
 * Ethan Stewart – ex-mercenary and crime lord on Dead Man's Rock
 * Telkar – leader of the Shelak Tribe near the end of the Aeon of Strife
 * Temlaa – Former Shelak Tribe member who assists Savassan
 * Charles Whittier – young red-haired assistant to Valerian Mengsk
 * Marcus Wright – former cannibal and neurally resocialized mercenary Marine. Wright is well over six feet tall and has a gravelly voice.
 * Zamara – Protoss Preserver who follows the Khala. Zamara dies and implants her mind into Jacob Ramsey.

Accuracy, Contradictions and Unclarities
Blizzard Entertainment does not have an official canon policy on its universes.

The novels are being written concurrently with the StarCraft II storyline.

Christie Golden had this to say about the Dark Templar Saga:

Christie Golden: "Considering the nature of some of the events that are portrayed, I can safely say that yes, Starcraft: The Dark Templar series is going to be considered canon."

According to the StarCraft manual, the Ara Tribe was created by Khas after he rediscovered the Khala, and consisted of his first students. According to Firstborn, the Ara Tribe existed during the Aeon of Strife (and was one of many which attacked the Shelak Tribe), and the Shelak Tribe became his first students.

The dessicated corpses were found in the outer chamber, but in one scene in Firstborn, Khas and Temlaa were able to see the corpses and the giant crystal at the same time (the giant crystal and corpses being in the same room).

Trivia
Dr. Eddie Rainsinger is named after a Navajo doctor who appeared in Invasion America: On the Run, a previous work by Christie Golden.

The Sequel
The second book in the series, StarCraft: The Dark Templar Saga: Shadow Hunters (ISBN 0-7434-7126-1) is due November 27, 2007 according to Simon & Schuster and Amazon.com.