Char

Char is a planet in the Koprulu sector.

Geography
It is an inhospitable volcanic planet with thick ash covering most of its surface and tainting its acrid atmosphere. The hazardous environment is further intensified by extremely high levels of cosmic radiation from its volatile pairing of binary stars. Char's elliptical orbit means whole regions of its sunward face can become molten seas during a close approach, with temporary islands forming in them due to rapid cooling as the planet swings away to the frozen outer reaches of the system.

Char is tectonically active. The acrid air has a high oxygen and sulfur content and is laced with ash. An unprotected terran may survive on the planet, however uncomfortably. Despite the conditions small pockets of liquid water exist on the surface, and precipitation occurs.

Hazards
"If Hell ever existed - this is it. Oceans of fire, tectonic storms and an atmosphere that'll burn a man alive."

- 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.

By 2504, tunnel systems that teemed with millions of zerg were estimated to stretch beneath more than forty percent of the surface.

History
Char was originally settled by the Terran Confederacy to exploit its fantastically rich reserves of heavy metals to fuel the rapidly growing Confederate economy. Although Char earned a place among the thirteen core worlds of the Confederacy, it became a source of friction between the Confederacy and independent mining guilds operating out of Moria.

The Guild Wars
In 2485, these disputes escalated into open conflict. Both the Confederacy and the Kel-Morian Combine attempted to secure Char, resulting in some of the most bitterly fought battles of the Guild Wars. In areas like Death Valley and Glass Flats, a combination of fiery volcanic activity and the unrestrained use of nuclear weapons created radiation levels that were lethal even for armored marines.

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

In the aftermath of the Guild Wars, the Confederacy's presence on the devastated planet was limited to a few maintenance teams for automated mining sites.

Arrival of the Zerg
Ten years after the Guild Wars, Char was rapidly overrun by the zerg, who made it their primary hive planet in the Koprulu sector. It was chosen for its remote location, rich resources, and difficult terrain that made it easier to hide hatcheries and their populations. Theorists were evenly split among several ideas: some said that Char formed a useful jumping-off point to the core worlds of terran and protoss space; others said that Char's inhospitable nature made it easier for the zerg to defend it; and still others said that its high radiation levels promoted an increased rate of mutation in zerg organisms, enabling forced evolution of specialist strains.

In 2500, the Overmind brought Sarah Kerrigan to Char in her chrysalis. She reached out to Jim Raynor and Emperor Arcturus Mengsk telepathically. Her psionic emanations also lured Executor Tassadar and Dark Prelate Zeratul to Char. Zeratul sensed the power of the Khalis crystal, but was unable or unwilling to retrieve it.

Mengsk sent General Edmund Duke to flush out the zerg. However, Duke was defeated by the zerg and forced to fall back. Raynor's Raiders were prevented from getting near the chrysalis as it opened. Kerrigan allowed Raynor to leave.

Tassadar diverted Kerrigan while Zeratul killed Zasz and became temporarily linked with the Overmind. In that moment, the Overmind gleaned the location of Aiur from Zeratul's mind.

Without its master, the Garm Brood ran amok. It was eradicated by Kerrigan's cerebrate.

Once the Overmind's silence was broken, Kerrigan's cerebrate set a trap for the Dark Templar before she herself devastated Tassadar and Zeratul's armies. The zerg then traveled to Aiur, leaving Kerrigan to hunt down the remaining protoss warriors.

Judicator Aldaris and the new Executor came to Char to arrest Tassadar, whom they found with Raynor. Tassadar convinced his successor to help him find Zeratul. They were surrounded by zerg, but managed to break out.

Duke moved against Tassadar but was defeated. Tassadar then entered an installation and found Zeratul with the help of Raynor's troops. They then departed for Aiur.

The Brood War

 * ''Main article: Brood War

Several cerebrates, commanded by Daggoth, returned to Char following the death of the Overmind and merged into a new one. They locked onto the Khalis' energies and nested near it. When a protoss army under Zeratul, Praetor Artanis and the Executor arrived, Kerrigan exerted limited control over a few of the zerg there and provided them with backup as they retrieved the Khalis. The swarms over Char scattered in disarray when the psi disrupter hampered their communications to one another. This allowed the United Earth Directorate fleet under Admiral Gerard DuGalle to penetrate to Char's surface. Three cerebrates constituted the core of the Overmind's defenses, including one that pumped sunken colonies full of energy that continually reincarnated a Torrasque. Despite this, the UED forces overcame the Overmind's defenders. Once the UED troops had reached the Overmind, a team of specially trained medics administered powerful neurostims to pacify it.

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. Using Matriarch Raszagal as leverage, Kerrigan manipulated Zeratul into killing the Overmind. Zeratul then demanded that Kerrigan release Raszagal at once. However, when Kerrigan asked if she wished to return to her people, Raszagal replied that she wished only to serve Kerrigan and remain at her side. Zeratul realized that Kerrigan had corrupted Raszagal's mind.

The remnants of the UED fled Char as Zeratul and his brethren rescued Raszagal and regrouped with a number of protoss survivors on the surface of Char. Kerrigan's cerebrate mobilized all of her broods and sent them to the surface. They closed in before the protoss were capable of dimensional recall. Zeratul cursed Kerrigan bitterly and dealt Raszagal a mortal blow rather than let her be recaptured. In her last moments, Raszagal thanked Zeratul for freeing her from Kerrigan's control and named him the new leader of the Dark Templar.

After defeating three fleets under Mengsk, Artanis and DuGalle above Char, Kerrigan suspected a great and terrible danger to the Swarm and relocated her primary hive cluster to the surface. She stored millions of eggs in the acid marsh for future use.

The Dominion Occupation
In December, 2504, Raynor's Raiders and half the Dominion Fleet assembled above Char under Crown Prince Valerian Mengsk. The zerg launched a surprise attack and the few battle-groups that made it to the surface scattered and vulnerable to zerg assaults. Raynor rallied the survivors and secured a landing zone while a ship with General Horace Warfield aboard took terrible, terrible damage and crashed, but he was rescued by Raynor and Tychus Findlay.

Kerrigan recalled the closest broods to Char. Most of the zerg massed near the planet. After Raynor made a diversionary attack to cripple part of the zerg defenses, Warfield brought the xel'naga artifact to Char and the engineer corps moved it to the base of the primary hive cluster. Raynor and Warfield entrenched the last of their defenses all around it. Once the artifact was activated, all nearby zerg were attracted by its pulse-emanations and went into a frenzy trying to reach it. Kerrigan herself took part in the attack. However, they were held back long enough for the device to charge up. It was used to make Kerrigan human again.

Raynor's Raiders smuggled Kerrigan off-world. Warfield claimed Char in the name of the Terran Dominion and spent the next three weeks trying to eradicate the vast number of zerg hives that still remained there.

The Zerg Retake Char
Broodmother Zagara united the disparate feral broods on Char and attempted to bring her brood through the Bone Trench, but Warfield brought in a Gorgon which strafed them repeatedly. Zagara then set up her hive cluster in the acid marsh to gather as many eggs as she could. Upon Kerrigan's return to Char, Izsha located her hive cluster near a birthing pond there. Kerrigan proceeded to collect eggs while Zagara made troops, which she then sent against Kerrigan's hive cluster, but it was successfully defended. Kerrigan was able to collect enough eggs to spawn an army, which she used to destroy Zagara's hive cluster. However, she let Zagara live. In the Bone Trench, Kerrigan awakened scourge nests by spawning creep tumors near them. The scourges brought down the Gorgons and Warfield's forces retreated from the Bone Trench. Kerrigan then assaulted Warfield's compound on the Dauntless Plateau. Zagara set up a hive cluster and Kerrigan took the first attack wave as Warfield activated his nuclear arsenal. Zagara sent her reinforcements until Warfield used nuclear missiles. The hive cluster barely survived the blast yet despite this, Kerrigan managed to take control of the base and breach Warfield's Tactical Operations Center. Although Kerrigan killed Warfield, he convinced her to pull her zerg back and let three shuttles packed with wounded men go.

The Dominion launched thousands of two-way communicators at the zerg, which Mengsk used to contact Kerrigan and reveal that Raynor was alive.

The Siege of Sgt. Hammer's Fortress
During Amon's war against the denizens of the galaxy, Amon's forces attacked the terrans stationed on Char under the command of Sergeant Bama Kowalski, utilizing void thrashers against the humans. Allied forces were sent to lift the siege.

Landforms

 * Acid Marsh
 * Bone Trench
 * Burning Rift
 * Death Valley
 * Inferno Pools
 * Nydus worm network

Military Bases

 * Primary Hive Cluster
 * Sgt. Hammer's Fortress
 * Warfield's compound
 * Warfield Forward Base

Regions

 * Glass Flats
 * Obsidian
 * Volcanis

Space Installations

 * Char Aleph
 * Satellite 1
 * Brood lord and mutalisk nesting space platforms