Char

Char is a volcanic planet in or near the Koprulu Sector. It was fought over by terrans for its mineral wealth and later settled en masse by zerg.

Astrography
Char is located in a binary star system. The primaries, a class VI F0 sub dwarf orbiting an M8 irregular variable, bombard the planet with cosmic rays. The planet's extremely elliptical orbit has a volatile affect on its geography. Eris and Ate are Char's two large natural satellites, each being purplish in color and having a diameter of more than 1000 kilometers. It also appears to be orbited by a debris field. Char is located within the Zerg Quarantine Zone.

Geography
The planet has a diameter of 10521 kilometers and a surface gravity of 0.91. Large areas are covered with lava. Char is tectonically active and all 18 of its mountain chains are volcanic.

When the planet's orbit swings close to the stars vast molten areas can form on its sunward face. Conversely as its orbit takes it farther away cooling may cause large temporary islands to form.

Despite the volatility zerg tunnels may be pervasive under 40% of the surface four years after the Brood War.

The acrid air has a high oxygen and sulfur content and is laced with ash, and the average temperature is 48 degrees centigrade with very low humidity. An unprotected terran may survive on the planet, however uncomfortably. Despite the conditions small pockets of liquid water exist on the surface.

In addition, surveys of Char have revealed the following known landforms:


 * 52 volcanic caldera
 * 38 lava lakes
 * 5 lava seas (variable)

Hazards
"Char. If Hell ever existed, this is it."

- General Horace Warfield

Char has thick layers of ash which can wreak havoc on sensitive equipment and can also cover hazards such as magma pools. Clouds of ash form which are thick enough to block the view of the stars, making navigation difficult. In addition, fluctuating magnetic fields render magnetic compasses unreliable.

The magma, driven by powerful tectonic activity, often seeps to the surface. The harsh tectonic conditions can cause horrifying firestorms which unrelentingly burn across the plains; the tectonic activity can result in pyroclastic flows traveling down mountains at speeds of over 100 miles per hour and with temperatures in excess of 800 centigrade (1470 °F). Temperatures are sometimes so intense that entire sections of its surface become liquefied.

Resources
Char is one of the richest resource nodes in the sector, as the tectonic activity continually uncovers deposits of minerals and geysers of vespene gas. Additional resources become accessible when the planet is farthest away from the stars. The temporary islands formed from the magma are replete with minerals.

The surface of Char can reach such extreme temperatures that mineral deposits melt, forming rivers which can last months before finally hardening. Mineral-laden pathways are then created, protruding from the obsidian landscape, serving as both landmarks and rich mining fields.

Life Forms
While Char has no indigenous life forms, ragnasaurs,  some mushroom-like fungi, and small rodents have managed to survive.

The planet is home to an estimated 10 billion zerg, spread amongst an estimated 150 primary zerg hive clusters and 1029 tertiary zerg hive clusters.

History
Char was discovered by terrans before the Guild Wars. Terran Confederate and independent Morian mining guilds quickly settled on the planet to exploit its fantastic mineral wealth, and the planet became one of the thirteen core worlds of the Confederacy. It became a source of friction between the Confederacy and the Morian mining guilds.

The Guild Wars
Some of the fieriest battles of the Guild Wars were fought on Char. Unrestricted usage of nuclear weapons in some areas awoke dormant volcanoes and made the planet even more radioactive and inhospitable to humans than before.

In August 2488, Confederate troops from the 2nd Regiment defended nuclear fortifications against Kel-Morian attackers.

After the Guild Wars the human presence on Char decreased. Those who remained were tasked with maintaining automated mining sites and were housed in a newly constructed orbital platform, Char Aleph.

Arrival of the Zerg
Char was selected as a base by the zerg after they captured Sarah Kerrigan on Tarsonis due to its remote location and rich resources. Its twisting cliffs, magma pools and other features enabled the zerg to hide their hatcheries and therefore hide their numbers from enemies. Theorists speculate that the zerg chose Char because it forms a useful jump-off point to core terran and protoss space, that the inhospitable nature makes it easy to defend, or that the high radiation levels promote a higher mutation rate in the zerg, enabling forced evolution of specialist strains.

The captured Kerrigan emitted psionic energy, calling Jim Raynor and Arcturus Mengsk. This also drew the attention of the protoss &mdash; specifically Tassadar and Zeratul. Zeratul detected the Khalis crystal on the surface of the planet but was unable or unwilling to retrieve it.

Raynor's Raiders under Jim Raynor and the Terran Dominion Alpha Squadron under Edmund Duke both tried unsuccessfully to save Kerrigan. Both were forced to retreat.

Protoss leaders Tassadar, a high templar, and Zeratul, a Dark Templar, traveled to Char, following Kerrigan's psychic beacon. Once there, they met Raynor's Raiders and eventually formed an alliance against the zerg. Meanwhile, Infested Kerrigan had unlocked her powers and was able to find the protoss. She challenged Tassadar to a duel. Cerebrate Zasz cautioned Kerrigan about facing Tassadar, but she tried to fight him anyway. However, Tassadar had created an illusion of himself to lure her away from Zeratul, who was testing out his Dark Templar powers to see if they could kill zerg cerebrates. (The test was successful.) Zasz's Garm Brood ran amok without its master and the zerg were forced to destroy them.

In revenge, the zerg hunted down the protoss. Infested Kerrigan led the hunt, but the harsh conditions worked against the zerg; the protoss could also make use of the rugged terrain; however, Kerrigan was victorious, although Tassadar and Zeratul survived, their armies were decimated. The Overmind traveled to Aiur, leaving Kerrigan to hunt down the remaining protoss warriors. Protoss from Aiur eventually reached Char, intending to arrest Tassadar, but Tassadar convinced them to free Zeratul instead. After freeing Zeratul and defeating the zerg who had remained on Char, the protoss left the planet.

The Brood War
Following the death of the Overmind on Aiur, Daggoth returned to Char and ordered many of his cerebrates to fuse, forming a new Overmind and a faction, the Renegade Zerg, opposed to Infested Kerrigan. The protoss would return to retrieve the Khalis crystal, while the United Earth Directorate would attack the planet in order to claim the Overmind, enslaving the zerg.

A Dark Templar terrorist, Ulrezaj, traveled to Char hoping to use the zerg as a weapon against the Khalai refugees on Shakuras. He used warped khaydarin crystals to control numerous zerg. His plans were shattered by Zeratul's forces, however, which sent a raiding team including a dark archon hero in order to destroy the warped crystals.

Kerrigan traveled to the planet in order to destroy the Overmind, accompanied by a force of Dark Templar. Kerrigan had captured their Matriarch, Raszagal, and so Zeratul and his brethren had little choice but to work with her. The "alliance" defeated the UED forces and the Dark Templar destroyed the Overmind for her, but Kerrigan had manipulated the Matriarch into not wishing to return to her tribe.

Zeratul spirited her away and regrouped with a number of protoss survivors on the surface of Char. Kerrigan mobilized all of her broods and sent them to the surface of Char. The protoss were defeated, and Zeratul was forced to slay his own Matriarch. Kerrigan allowed Zeratul and his brethren to leave Char with their lives.



Shortly thereafter, fleets from the United Earth Directorate, Terran Dominion and Shakuras, arrived, all seeking revenge now that Kerrigan was in a weak position. Kerrigan defeated the three forces in a titanic battle and solidified her position.

The Second Great War
In 2504, Kerrigan began a massive invasion of the Dominion Core Worlds in search of several artifacts, beginning the Second Great War. She was beaten to them by Raynor's Raiders, who handed them over to Valerian Mengsk in the knowledge that the assembled device could deinfest her. The combined Dominion-Raiders force attacked the world, encountering zerg resistance.

The initial battle proved to be disastrous for the Dominion Fleet and those on the ground fared no better. On the surface, the Dominion struggled to achieve a foothold as most battlegroups were destroyed in mid-drop or quickly overrun after landing. However, Raynor's Raiders managed to establish a base on the planet and regroup their forces.

After the initial landing, a new strategy was needed. Zerg strength was too great for a direct push on the primary hive cluster, and the Queen of Blades was recalling zerg forces back to Char from worlds conquered earlier in the war. The terrans understood that the time to attack was now, and there was time for only one secondary attack to weaken the defenses and clear the way for the main assault. Thus, two alternative objectives were chosen. Tychus Findlay believed attempting to advance while the rear was threatened by the nydus network was futile. Taking a contrary view, Warfield was convinced securing air superiority was paramount.

With the zerg's air or ground support taken out, the remaining terran forces assaulted the main hive on Char. The Queen of Blades herself attacked the terran base while the terrans held out to let the artifact fully charge up. In the aftermath of the battle, many zerg were wiped out as a result of the final artifact's energy wave, which also deinfested Kerrigan.

Regions

 * Glass Flats
 * Obsidian
 * Volcanis

Landforms

 * Burning Rift
 * Death Valley

Space Installations

 * Char Aleph
 * Satellite 1

Other

 * Warfield Forward Base