Tarsonis

"This is Duke. The emitters are secured and on-line."

- General Edmund Duke after destroying the Confederate defenses on the central Tarsonis space platform

Tarsonis was the capital world of the Terran Confederacy.

Background
A temperate planet with a core continent and 27 hour day, Tarsonis was colonized by Terran prisoners who landed in the vessel, the Nagglfar. This supercarrier vessel had on board ATLAS, an artificial intelligence which also recorded information on Terran technology and mutations. Once the ship had landed, the 'cold sleep' chambers were deactivated and the 10,000 passengers slowly awakened. They accessed ATLAS directly and confirmed their growing suspicions that they would never see Earth again, for the Nagglfar was damaged beyond repair. The exiles began to salvage their wrecked ship in an attempt to find refuge in their new surroundings.

The inhabitants of Tarsonis worked to survive in what they termed 'the New World'. Unaware that their fellows also thrived upon Umoja and Moria, the vagabond Tarsonians made do with whatever meager resources they could find. Having lost the means to communicate over interplanetary distances when the Nagglfar was stripped for essential materials, the Tarsonians lived in isolation for sixty years. In a relatively short amount of time, they founded sister colonies upon Tarsonis, and grew into a prosperous, self-contained community. Being the largest and most technologically advanced of the Terran colonies, the Tarsonians soon developed second generation sub-warp engines, allowing their ships to explore the myriad, barren planets of the surrounding star system and eventually led them to find the other survivors of the Long Sleep.

Once reunited, the three colonies benefited from mutual trade and commerce treaties. Although Tarsonis kept pushing Umoja and Moria to join in a conglomerated government, the two colonies steadfastly refused. The fleets of Tarsonis continued to explore the Terran patch of space that came to be known as the Koprulu Sector.

Founding prosperous colonies upon seven other worlds within the system enabled the military might of Tarsonis to grow by leaps and bounds. A new government, christened the Terran Confederacy, was founded by the Tarsonian colonies, and at the beginning of StarCraft Tarsonis was still the intellectual and political center of the sector.

The Beginning of the End
Near the end of StarCraft Episode I, the Sons of Korhal arrived at Tarsonis. General Edmund Duke's Alpha Squadron assaulted the central of the three primary orbital platforms. He set up Psi Emitters on the platform. Like a beacon, the combined power of the Psi Emitters reached out to the far corners of the Terran Sector, luring billions of Zerg to Tarsonis which, overrunning the Confederacy's best defenses, proceed to lay waste to Tarsonis' major cities and industrial centers. The main Protoss fleet, under the command of Executor Tassadar, descended upon Tarsonis, heading on a direct course to the primary Zerg Hive at New Gettysburg.

Sons of Korhal leader Arcturus Mengsk, fearing that the Confederates may escape, sent Ghost agent Lieutenant Sarah Kerrigan with a strike force to engage the Protoss and protect the Zerg. After the Sons of Korhal neutralized the Protoss, a wave of Zerg advanced on their position. Mengsk ordered the immediate disengagement of the Korhal fleet from the Tarsonian system and lost contact with the ground forces at New Gettysburg. Protoss and Zerg forces battled across the core continent of Tarsonis.

Shortly after the fall of Tarsonis, the main Protoss fleet abandoned the Terran Sector. Zerg efforts continued on Tarsonis to weed out the remaining Protoss forces. The Zerg soon made their exit from Tarsonis and traveled to Char.

Among the Ruins
After the death of the Zerg Overmind, four Hive clusters were established in the area of the Confederate Psi Disrupter, which was soon uncovered by the United Earth Directorate's research team. Admiral Gerard DuGalle sent a force, led by Lieutenant Samir Duran, to find the Disrupter and secure it. They destroyed the four Hives in the area, allowing them to neutralize the Zerg without too much trouble. Vice Admiral Alexei Stukov's Ghosts relieved Duran at the Disrupter, disassembled it, and secretly took it to Braxis.

Infested Kerrigan established her Fortress on Tarsonis early in StarCraft Episode VI. The Psi Disrupter's signal reached them there and shattered the unity of her Broods. Her minions turned on each other and left their Hive clusters to run out of control, so she had her Cerebrate take the few Zerg still under her control and stem further damage to her seven Hive clusters. After destroying the UED forces on Braxis and Korhal, Kerrigan returned to Tarsonis to rest. Two days later the UED, intent on forcing Kerrigan's hand, tested out control of their pet Overmind by sending hundreds of its Zerg to Tarsonis. Kerrigan had her consort, Duran, rally her forces so that she could defend her remaining outposts and make sure that the renegades couldn't gain a foothold in her immediate vicinity. Once they secured their perimeter, her minions took the fight to the renegades' Hive clusters. Soon after, Kerrigan had her primary Hive clusters relocated to the orbital platform over Char.

Cities and Towns

 * Grange Village
 * Holyktown
 * New Gettysburg
 * Tarsonis City (capital)

Landforms

 * Ewen Park
 * Cortlandt Meadow
 * Palombo Valley

Orbital Facilities

 * Osborne Port

Starports

 * Giddings Station
 * Tarsonis Starport

Trivia
Tarsonis is also the name of a black metal band, lyrically basing itself off of the StarCraft universe.

-http://myspace.com/tarsonis -http://www.purevolume.com/tarsonis