Rory Swann

Rory Swann is the chief engineer of Raynor's Raiders.

He's "a big fun guy" who speaks with a New York accent, and has been described as the "soul of the ship". His main task is keeping Hyperion together in the years since it was stolen from the Terran Dominion and is constantly working on new technology.

Swann has extensive knowledge of technology and units and is quite opinionated on some of them. He has a very favorable view of the diamondback. On the other hand, in disagreement with Jim Raynor, he derides the vulture as poorly designed. He often addresses Raynor as "cowboy" and "hotshot," and sometimes "chief."

Miner
"We broke our backs tryin' to make a life on that rock... Kel-Morians squeezing us dry. Day we rose up... we just couldn't take it anymore, y'know? I feel ya'. Man's got a duty to stand up and be counted sometimes. Ah hell, we were stupid. Havin' right on your side ain't no match for gauss guns and combat walkers. Lotta' folks died for nothin'. If you hadn't shown up when you did... Hey, your people bought their own freedom - paid for it in blood. Me and Matt, we were just glad to help."

- Swann and Raynor reflecting on the rebellion at Meinhoff. Rory Swann came from a family of tech-savvy miners. His own understanding of technology was even deeper than theirs, however. Instead of leaving and becoming an engineer, he remained in the mining industry.

He opened a mining operation on Meinhoff at considerable cost, but he enjoyed initial success. However, his operation was soon being crushed by ever-rising taxes. Other operations, secretly under the control of Tavish Kerr, didn't face this burden. Kerr was bribing officials to put rival claims out of business through excessive taxes. Swann tried lodging a complaint against Kerr to Kel-Morian Combine officials, but all those involved with Meinhoff had been bribed. Kerr had no interest in sharing profits with him either.

Swann started a miner's revolt, claiming independence from the Combine. However, Combine forces arrived and mercilessly crushed the revolt. Swann himself lost an arm, along with many friends, and was only saved because Raynor's Raiders responded to their distress signal. Swann had nothing left, so he joined the Raiders, becoming the chief engineer of Jim Raynor's ship, the Hyperion.

Rebel
Swann worked to keep the Raiders' spirits up during dark times, remembering his debt to Raynor. He often pushed Raynor to fight the Dominion. He came to establish an armory bowling team during his time on the ship and encouraged people to sign up. When Milo Kachinsky joined the Raiders, Swann, still remembering his failed revolt against the Kel-Morians, argued with Raynor about Kackinsky's membership. Swann eventually grew to respect Kachinsky and placed him in charge of the robotics wing of Hyperion's weapons research.

Second Great War
With the return of the zerg to the Koprulu Sector in 2504, Swann aided Raynor in his activities. Mostly this involved procuring weapons and technology, along with providing upgrades for both. At other times he took a more direct role, providing support/reinforcements via special ops dropship. During the conflict, Swann had to deal with unwanted individuals – Agrian colonists wandering around in his armory and "pirate" Gabriel Tosh, prompting an inventory check.

On Monlyth, Swann procured marauders for Raynor's Raiders and picked up the artifact, and on Xil, Swann reinforced the Raiders with siege tanks. He also acquired banshees for the mission on Typhon XI.

When Raynor's Raiders came to rescue the colonists of Agria, Swann was able to procure firebats for them. On Meinhoff, Swann was able to procure the hellion schematics, and on Haven, Swann called in a few favors to get the viking schematics.

For the mission on Bel'Shir, Swann got goliaths to aid the Raiders.

Being helped to free "his brothers" from New Folsom, Tosh submitted data to Swann so that spectre equipment could be manufactured.

Being helped to destroy the spectre creating facility at Avernus Station, Nova submitted data to Swann so that ghost equipment could be manufactured.

After finding abandoned diamondbacks on Tarsonis, Swann got their schematics so that the Raiders could produce them. When the Raiders attacked, Swann reinforced them with Wraiths. After the Raiders stole the Odin from, Swann reverse engineered the thor schematics from examining it, and made it less expensive to produce.

The Powder Keg
"Everybody simmer down! We trusted the commander before - we should trust him now!"

- Swann defends Raynor's actions

When Raynor allied with Valerian Mengsk in an effort to retrieve xel'naga artifacts that could deinfest Sarah Kerrigan, Swann was concerned, knowing that the Hyperion's crew was composed of individuals who lost family and friends to the Dominion, hated it, and would not look kindly upon an alliance. However, Raynor didn't care, and promptly justified his decision. Such concerns were well founded and Swann found himself defending Raynor against Kachinsky's outburst. In the case of Tychus Findlay, the convict and armorer came to blows. Swann was no match for a CMC-clad convict; he was thrown easily onto Kachinsky. Raynor intervened however and put the crew at ease, helping Swann to his feet.

He would also be glad to get battlecruiser schematics from Valerian after the mission to the Sigma Quadrant Worldship.

Belly of the Beast
"Jimmy, you need stuff fixed, I'm your guy. This crawlin' around in caves... that guy I ain't."

- Rory Swann regarding the mission to the tunnels

During the invasion of Char, Raynor took Swann into the tunnels to prevent the zerg from using the nydus network in the coming assault on the main hive. The engineer carried the seismic charges to flood the tunnels with lava, and an enhanced Perdition turret, "Flaming Betty". He felt uncomfortable on the battlefield, much to Raynor and Findlay's amusement.

Campaign
Rory Swann is usually stationed in the Hyperion's armory and oversees researching upgrades.

Game Unit
Swann appears as a hero marauder in the "Belly of the Beast" mission. He is capable of deploying a Flaming Betty, which is useful for keeping zerg at bay.

He has a melee attack, made with his cybernetic arm, in addition to the standard ranged attack.