Spear of Adun

"The Spear of Adun, a marvel of Khalai engineering and last of the three great arkships...each created to ensure the continuation of our culture in a dark time."

- Phase-smith Karax

The Spear of Adun is an arkship, and was the flagship used by the Daelaam in the End War. It was designed to preserve protoss society and culture in its time of great need, and be self sustaining for generations after a great calamity struck the protoss.

Overview
The Spear of Adun is a large arkship, able to carry an entire protoss civilization. It is equipped to field armies of protoss warriors, and can even store fleets of carriers and motherships within its hangars. While ancient, its technology is still advanced by the current standards of the protoss. Such is its level of firepower that it could singlehandedly wage a war by itself.

The Spear of Adun possesses the ability to destroy entire planets, along with cloaking technology.

Origins
"A hidden flaw brought down something mighty. You want to find a solution to all hidden flaws."

- Orlana

The Spear of Adun was created during the Golden Age of Expansion of the Protoss Empire, following the suggestion of the three Grand Preservers, Shantira, Orlana and Rohana after a tragedy involving the destruction of two motherships. This was done to ensure that the protoss would have the means to preserve their civilization in the event of said civilization being placed in jeopardy. However, the three preservers discovered the the creation of the Spear of Adun, as well as its sister ships Pride of Altaris and Memory of Nezin, were built too early and would be wasted against the first enemy the protoss fight, rather then be used as a tool to prevent the extinction of their civilization. The Grand Preservers presented this to the conclave, and asked that the ships be buried for a time of great need. Rohana, as well as a contingent of templar warriors were put into stasis aboard the Spear of Adun, and the ship was buried beneath Khor-shakal. Though its two sister ships were destroyed in the zerg invasion of Aiur, the Spear of Adun survived. At some point after its burial, the Dominion Intelligence Section launched a reconnaissance operation that revealed the systems onboard the Spear of Adun. Many lives were lost in the operation. These studies were published in the Dominion Marine Corps Combat Handbook: Infantry Edition, though were heavily redacted.

The Call to War
"With this vessel, we will avenge what has transpired, Karax. And we will free the Templar!"

- Hierarch Artanis

Recapturing Spear of Adun was one of Hierarch Artanis's goals during his campaign to reclaim Aiur in 2506. He had hoped to raise it on the eve of their reclamation. However, after Amon corrupted the Khala and gained control of the Golden Armada, he and Phase-smith Karax were forced to take what protoss they rescued from the dark god and attempt to escape aboard the arkship. The Daelaam forces fought through hybrid, zerg and corrupted Khalai forces, but managed to reactivate the power generators infested with zerg creep and escape aboard the Spear of Adun.

Korhal
The Spear of Adun traveled to Korhal, which was under attack by the Moebius Corps. The ship provided support for the defenders on Sky Shield and aided Dominion forces to reclaim the Keystone from Bennet Port.

Shakuras
Upon the Daelaam's return to Shakuras, the Spear of Adun provided support for the Nerazim as they evacuated Talematros, bombarding the void thrashers that assailed the city's warp conduit and rescuing the Nerazim ships that escaped into orbit. After the Nerazim were evacuated, the Spear of Adun provided support to Artanis as he overloaded the phase prism xel'naga temple. After the preparations were made and a sufficient number of zerg and hybrid were on the surface of Shakuras, the Spear of Adun warped away all forces from the temple grounds. Artanis was the last to be warped away as he defended the inner sanctum of the temple.

Glacius
The Daelaam took the Spear of Adun to retrieve the revived Purifier program from the Khalai Caste facility on Glacius. However, when they arrived there they found a Tal'darim fleet preparing to destroy the facility. The Spear of Adun provided support as the Daelaam navigated through the Tal'darim displacement beam and fought through their forces to the technology vault.

Ulnar
When Karax discovered the location of the xel'naga resting place of Ulnar in the Alterian Rift, Artanis sent the Spear of Adun through. In spite of all scientific evidence suggesting the ship should be shredded into its base particles, the arkship made it through the rift and discovered the xel'naga temple there. The Spear of Adun supported the Daelaam as they fought Tal'darim and Moebius Corps forces to unlock the temple, but Artanis decided to go in alone, leaving Matriarch Vorazun in charge of the Spear. Inside the temple, Artanis had no support from his arkship.

After Amon sprung his trap against Artanis and Kerrigan inside Ulnar, First Ascendant Alarak of the Tal'darim teleported aboard the Spear of Adun. Matriarch Vorazun fought him, but he insisted that he had come to help, and gave the location where Artanis was trapped. Vorazun did not trust him, but sent forces anyway. They found Artanis and Kerrigan fighting Amon's forces as a void portal spewed void energies. Reunited with his forces, Artanis used the Spear of Adun to support his assault on the void crystals powering the portal. The crystals were destroyed and the portal was shut down.

Retaliation
After Ulnar, the Daelaam mustered their forces aboard the Spear of Adun. Artanis decided he needed to weaken Amon and bolster his forces before he could strike Amon's host form on Aiur.

Slayn
Allying with Alarak, Artanis lead the Spear of Adun to the planet Slayn with the hopes of usurping Ma'lash as highlord. The arkship supported the Daelaam as their forces assaulted the Guardians of Ma'lash and fought off the Shadows of the Void that sieged them during the terrazine surges on the planet. During the Rak'Shir between Alarak and Ma'lash, the Spear of Adun provided support for Alarak as he fought, aiding in his victory over Ma'lash and allowing Alarak to become the new Tal'darim highlord.

Endion
When Artanis decided to reactivate the ancient Purifiers in Cybros, he guided the Spear of Adun to the moon of Endion. There the arkship helped guide the megalith to the stasis locks that chained Cybros. When Cybros was brought out of stasis and Amon Brood assaulted the platform, the Spear of Adun landed Daelaam forces on the platform and helped them destroy the null circuits keeping the ancient Purifiers deactivated.

Revanscar
Artanis brought the Spear of Adun to the Moebius Corps primary base in the asteroid field in Revanscar. While the asteroid field was too packed for the arkship to navigate, Phasesmith Karax planned to launch a small fleet of carriers to assault the facility. However, when the Spear of Adun arrived at the facility it was ambushed by Moebius Corps battlecruisers, and boarded by hybrid. Artanis and his forces lead the defense of the arkship while Karax commanded the assault on the base. Though the Spear of Adun was under attack, it still provided support functions to Karax's fleet. Karax was successful in destroying the power cores surrounding Revanscar, allowing the Spear of Adun to bombard the base, destroying it and ending Moebius Corps and their hybrid breeding operations.

Return to Aiur
With the Tal'darim and Purifier fleets behind it, the Spear of Adun moved on Aiur and Amon's host therein. It launched an assault on the psionic matrix in order to prevent Amon from instantly warping the Golden Armada to the planet, and after Artanis destroyed the last khaydarin crystal powering the matrix warped out all forces. The Daelaam then began to assault Amon's host body, and the Spear of Adun assisted in destroying the void shards shielding Amon's host form. After the crystals were destroyed, Amon's host awakened and began attacking the Daelaam position. The Spear of Adun combined orbital fire with the rest of the Daelaam fleet and destroyed Amon's hybrid host body.

With Amon's host defeated all that remained was to use the Keystone to pull Amon from the Khala. The Spear of Adun supported the defense of the artifact while Amon send his zerg broods against the united Daelaam forces. However, soon the corrupted Golden Armada arrived, and began attacking the Spear of Adun. Grand Preserver Rohana brought the arkship about to defend itself, but it began to take heavy fire from the armada. Though it tried to support Artanis's forces, the Golden Armada began to damage the support systems of the ship, gradually weakening its effectiveness in the battle below. It did buy enough time for the Keystone to activate, pulling Amon from the Khala and casting him into the Void. Though the Spear of Adun took critical damage, it remained intact, and was brought back to combat readiness.

Into the Void
After the battle on Aiur, the Spear of Adun continued to remain in service. The ship received a communique from Kerrigan, requesting a meeting at Ulnar. Through the structure, the Spear of Adun joined a combined fleet of Dominion and Swarm forces to entered the Void to confront Amon, defeating him once and for all.

Bridge
The bridge is the helm of the ship. It contains the celestial array, which allows for a protoss commander to have a detailed overview of known space.

Solar Core
The solar core is the heart of the Spear of Adun, and is a miniature synthetic and contained star powered by solarite. Through it, power is allocated to the various weapons and support systems of the Spear of Adun, with more solarite allowing for more energy to be allocated. The solar core provided nutrients for the protoss onboard the arkship.

Starforge
A starforge is located in the ship's lower decks. It is capable of constructing weapons of war. The star forge provides warp technology for surface production facilities, enables direct orbital gas extraction, and can upgrade any base nexus by adding critical defensive functionality.

War Council
The war council allows for the allocation of Daelaam troops, and is where Hierarch Artanis dictates what forces from which faction will be deployed. Grand Preserver Rohana serves as an adviser and will inform Artanis when new troop choices are available. The room also serves as a meeting area for the commanders aboard the arkship.

Fabrication Matrix
The fabrication matrix is an advanced facility that can warp down a pylon to a surface location, warp in a handful of troop reinforcements or provide a quick but powerful boost to the production speed of a protoss structure.

Assault Cluster
The assault cluster is the ship installation that controls the arkship's offensive armaments. These include massive orbital strike cannons that can decimate entire areas below, a series of timed detonations that can stun ground targets and disrupt enemy structures, and a solar lance battery that can strafe a target area.

Force Support
The force support is a set of support functions for surface troops. It includes functionality for healing and structural repair, a temporary "guardian shield" boost that raises troop shields to near impenetrable levels, and enhanced power fields that can pump psionic energy through the base's pylon network to bolster nearby allies. During the End War, it also provided the ability to warp down the Purifier Talandar to the field of battle for a short duration.

Annihilation Cluster
The annihilation cluster is a set of combat abilities that can direct a purifier beam to eviscerate single targets, unleash a strafing fusillade over a target area, or tap into the warp drive to create a time stasis on the battlefield, briefly freezing enemies.

Other
The Spear of Adun has the ability to fire a suppression pulse, can blind hostile forces in a large, circular area.

Game Unit
"With the touch of a button, you can command that arkship to destroy an entire enemy army. And you’re gonna need that fire power, ’cause the threat of the Xel’Naga is very real."

- Dustin Browder

Legacy of the Void
The ship's abilities can be used as calldowns from an overhead menu after "The Spear of Adun" is completed. The solar core can be used to activate and change abilities between missions.

Co-op Missions
The Spear of Adun is accessible to Vorazun, Karax, and Artanis in Co-op Missions, allowing them to use various abilities in relation to it. Karax is able to use the solar forge to upgrade the Spear's abilities.

Heroes of the Storm
"Yes, my starship follows me wherever I go. It is like what you terrans call a pet. Only useful."

- Artanis

The Spear of Adun provides support powers for Artanis in Heroes of the Storm.

Trivia

 * When designing the ship, Blizzard went for something that was "very high concept, and very protoss." However, due to its long history, the design had to incorporate archaic designs that would blend in with modern protoss ones. Thematically it represents the idea of the protoss clinging to the past, standing as a contrast to what their civilization is now, as opposed to what it once was.


 * As part of its 2015 April Fool's event, Blizzard advertised a Spear of Adun replica (estimated completion date 2315), and one to scale. This included a link to its merchandise page with a special price of $9,999,998.00 (a whole $1 discount).


 * A Spear of Adun portrait will be available to players who attend BlizzCon 2015 or purchase a virtual ticket for the event.


 * The Spear of Adun is 224 times larger than a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier. Through the comparison, its length, width, and height, can be roughly ascertained.