Korhal

Korhal IV is a Terran colony founded by the Terran Confederacy. This planet rose up against the Confederacy, and in retaliation the Confederacy launched a massive planetary bombardment of nuclear weaponry aimed at eliminating the dissents, transforming the planet into a nuclear desert and causing mutations in local organisms, such as Scantids. Many of the survivors of the rebellion called themselves the Sons of Korhal, and some others joined other rebel organizations.

By the time of the fall of the Confederacy, the planet had detoxified enough to allow resettlement. Sons of Korhal leader Arcturus Mengsk made it the throne world of the Terran Dominion, the successor to the Sons of Korhal.

During the United Earth Directorate invasion of the Koprulu Sector, the UED conquered Korhal and populated it with their captive Zerg. It was during this period that the Dark Templar terrorist, Ulrejaz, hid strange Khaydarin Crystals on the planet, protected by Schezar's Scavengers and enslaved Zerg. The Scavengers left the world when they were defeated by Protoss forces led by Praetor Mojo.

The planet fell into the hands of the Terran Dominion again when an alliance between the Dominion, Praetor Fenix's Protoss warriors, Raynor's Raiders and Infested Kerrigan's Zerg Swarm defeated the Dominion and their enslaved Zerg. Kerrigan left the world, but not before unleashing a surprise attack on her former allies.

Before the devastation, its capital was Styrling. The new capital is Augustgrad.

Aurora Station
Aurora Station is rumored to be the remains of an experimental arboretum platform (where strange plants were grown for unknown purposes) jettisoned during the Terran Confederacy destruction of Korhal. Now and again a giant platform (believed to be Aurora Station) is seen drifting through space, accompanied by a strange set of lights following in an eerie glow.

Broken Mesa
Broken Mesa (possibly a punn on black messa from half-life) was the site of a Terran Dominion bio-weapons testing facility. Shortly before the UED assault on Korhal, Dominion scientists created a new and potentially devastating plasma-pulse weapon. As reports of an approaching enemy fleet reached the high command on Korhal, testing was ordered in hopes that the power of this weapon might destroy the UED armada. While in the final testing phase, Senior Scientist Ozmel Dodds turned traitor as he attempted to curry favor with the attacking UED forces. On the day of the final test, Dodds changed the pulse-modulation frequency on the weapon causing the awesome cannon to overload, destroying itself and the research facility that housed it. What happened to the scientist remains a mystery to this day, but the Broken Mesa site still sees occasional conflict as various factions attempt to discover the remains of the weapons lab and the fabled plasma-pulse weapon.

Trivia
Korhal is referred to as Korhal IV in the Arcturus Mengsk section of the Roster of Heroes in the original StarCraft manual. It is almost always referred to simply as Korhal, however.

External links/References

 * StarCraft Legacy Planets - a fan site with information about every planet mentioned in StarCraft.
 * StarCraft Legacy: Locations - a fan site with information about the planet Aiur.
 * Aurora Station
 * Ozmel Dodds and the Plasma Cannon
 * Underwood, Peter, Bill Roper, Chris Metzen and Jeffrey Vaughn. StarCraft (Manual). Irvine, Calif.: Blizzard Entertainment, 1998.