Nova Terra


 * This article is about the ghost agent. For the former Confederate organization, see Nova Squadron.

"The enemies of the Terran Dominion were everywhere and the Ghosts were the best line of defense against them. It was all Nova ever thought about."

- Nova's thoughts

November Annabella "Nova" Terra, a.k.a. Agent 12-862, is a female terran ghost.

Nova Terra was considered tall as a fifteen-year-old. She has, or at least had, a strong liking for framberries.

Early Life
"Honestly Tino, what are you teaching this girl?"

- Andrea Tygore to Constantino Terra, after hearing Nova's praise for servants.

Nova Terra was born into the Terra family, one of the Terran Confederacy's rich and powerful "Old Families". The family lived in the Terra Skyscraper in Tarsonis City, Tarsonis. She possessed a degree of empathy that was generally lacking in the Old Families, a trait that did not go unnoticed. She also believed strongly in the concept of fair play.

Unknown to Nova, a great deal of her empathy was due to her telepathic abilities. Her father, Constantino, was aware of her talents, if not the full extent of them. Without training she could only sense emotions and at seven years of age was told that she was "empathetic". Normally, psychic children were conscripted into the Ghost Program by wranglers. However her family hid her abilities from the Program, and her father attempted to prevent Nova from realizing she was psychic.

At her fifteenth birthday party, Nova learned that she was psychic by reading the mind of Morgan Calabas, a "suitor".

Betrayal and Flight
The Old Families began planning to send some of their children away from Tarsonis to the relative safety of a resort on Tyrador IX, due to the rising number of attacks against the Old Families and the escalating war the Confederacy found itself in against alien invaders and numerous rebel groups such as the Sons of Korhal. Nova Terra's parents agreed to send her away. Despite her protests, and Edward Peters' support, three days after her fifteenth birthday party she boarded a vessel for Tyrador IX. However, Nova felt her parents' minds as they were killed by anti-Confederate rebels and she quickly disembarked.

Nova returned to find that Edward Peters, Gustavo McBain, and other rebels were murdering her family and their employees. Peters ordered McBain to shoot Nova but now, with her psychic powers elevated by the mental stress caused by the carnage she had just witnessed, she unleashed powerful telepathic and telekinetic abilities without any control. A large section of the Terra Skyscraper was destroyed, and all of her would-be murderers, as well as many hundreds of nearby people, were killed. Nova then fled to "the Gutter", as far away from her former life as possible. The trauma of recent events led her close to suicide.

The destructive spectacle was proof enough that Nova Terra would be a valuable addition to the Ghost Program. Director Ilsa Killiany ordered wrangler Malcolm "Mal" Kelerchian to bring Nova in, assigning her the code X41822N even though the wayward psychic was not yet formally part of the Program.

The Gutter
"In your world, people didn't die. Or if they did, it was neat-tidy. We don't do tidy here in the Gutter. We do ugly, we do nasty, we do mean..."

- Fagin "introduces" Nova to the Gutter

Shortly after Nova Terra arrived in the Gutter, two men attempted to rape her. They were unsuccessful and severely injured by Terra's telekinesis. The goons worked for the crime lord of the Gutter, Julius Antoine "Fagin" Dale. Monitoring her through traffic monitors, Fagin resolved to "acquire" her for her psychic abilities and, deducing from her expensive clothing, a ransom.

Terra was brought before Fagin but, despite being in a fragile state of mind, refused to serve him. Reading minds she realized that Fagin's chief lieutenant, Markus Ralian, wanted him dead. However, Terra was unable to intimidate Fagin nor provoke him to kill her. Instead, Fagin let Terra go and ordered the shopkeepers not to feed her. Fagin was confident that starvation would force Terra to serve him.

Four days later Nova Terra gave up on starvation. While seeking food, she saw a UNN newscast featuring Clara Terra, who claimed that her entire family had been killed. Nova lashed out mentally. Fagin, who was watching through cameras, learned Nova Terra's true identity. Realizing that he would be unable to ransom her, as he would be destroyed by the retaliation of the Old Families, he ordered a reliable enforcer, "the Pitcher", to kill her. Despite four days of starvation and partial dehydration Nova Terra easily killed the Pitcher by destroying his brain with her mental powers. She carried on by stealing food and resolved to go after Fagin for ordering her death.

Fagin responded by acquiring a psi-screen from Confederate Army Supply Sergeant Morwood (the device rendered him immune to telepathy), then surrounded himself with insane heavily armed guards, drug addicts who desperately needed a fix, and children. Although distracted by the thoughts of the drug addicts Terra defeated the ambushing gunmen and confronted Fagin again. Fagin ordered his men to kill the children one by one until she surrendered while he used his psi-screen to torture Terra at range. Unable to bear more, Terra surrendered.

Escape from Madness
Months later Fagin was using Nova Terra as a "loyalty detector" and assassin. Those who failed to pass Terra's test were murdered. She was prevented from going outside which made it difficult for Malcolm Kelerchian and his allies to locate her. Over that same time Fagin had become progressively more unpredictable, killing people, even his own children, almost on a whim, due to overuse of the psi-screen. Markus Ralian's desire for Fagin's death only grew, but he could not bring himself to do it. Terra had no trouble reading this from his mind. Terra knew the psi-screen couldn't protect Fagin from her telekinesis, but she never had the opportunity to use it on him.

Meanwhile Agent Kelerchian discovered her location from contacts in the police force. To help him secure Terra, he was ordered by Ilsa Killiany to take with him Major Esmerelda Ndoci and her "Annihilators", a marine unit ill-suited for such a delicate mission but they were all that was available. The Sons of Korhal offensive on Tarsonis' space platforms were not an ideal theater for a ground-based unit like the Annihilators. With ghosts in short supply acquiring a powerful psychic was an "alpha priority" and they were ordered to bring Terrain unharmed.

Kelerchian resolved to bargain with Fagin first, and if that failed then he would "summon the marines". As the wrangler discovered, Fagin's mental faculties made bargaining difficult if not impossible. As the crime lord ranted Terra used her powers, forcing Ralian to shoot and kill Fagin. Kelerchian let Terra scan his mind and she learned that if she went with Kelerchian she would become a ghost. She also learned that a memory wipe was a standard part of the training regimen. This Terra saw as an incentive, as she did not want to remember the deaths and murders.

A satisfactory end to the operation was interrupted by the penetration of the orbital defenses by the Sons of Korhal. Killiany transferred oversight of the operation from Kelerchian to Ndoci, who directed her troops to kill everybody except for Terra (no exception was made for Kelerchian). In the ensuing firefight Fagin's compound collapsed. Ralian was killed, while Terra and Kelerchian were trapped together, and Ndoci was trapped elsewhere in the building.

Terra used her powers to rescue herself and Kelerchian, but the latter was severely wounded. Terra forced Ndoci to summon medical aid for Kelerchian by threatening to reveal her dangerous tactics (nearly killing an alpha priority target) to Ilsa Killiany. Then the zerg attacked, but Terra, Kelerchian, and Ndoci survived.

Ghost Training
Nova Terra was taken the based on Ursa. Despite her considerable psychic power she started at a disadvantage due to the ill-effects of months of abuse and malnutrition and she barely handled Sergeant Hartley's physical training regime. She was the focus of resentment, jealousy and sexual desire from many of her fellow trainees.

Six months into training Terra met Kelerchian again, and discovered (through mind reading) that the wrangler was being sent on a one way mission to Sakrysta Mining Base by Emperor Arcturus Mengsk.

As her training progressed, Nova Terra became part of Team Blue as part of the Academy's curriculum of team-based training. This presented a challenge for Terra as her experiences in the Gutter had taught her self-reliance – a strength that became a weakness in the squad.

One of her first training missions was the Valerian hostage rescue scenario. While Gabriel Tosh directed fellow teammates Kath Toom and Lio Travski, Terra ran off and tried to complete the mission by herself. Her teammates messed up and "died", enabling Terra to almost succeed. "Sparky" and Preceptor Lagdamen both rated her highly, something which Terra herself disagreed with. As Terra headed to her next class, she thought she saw a child, whom she would notice several times during her stay.

Terra was rudely confronted by Dylanna Okyl, the leader of Team Red. While Okyl hadn't scored as highly, she hadn't let her whole team "die". Terra ignored her. Tosh privately tried to convince Terra to display teamwork, but she brushed off his advice. Toom was left upset by the encounter. Terra displayed high competence but a lack of teamwork in other training scenarios. After several encounters with Okyl, in which Terra blamed her team for their poor performance, Tosh shouted at her that if she had worked with them, their poor performance wouldn't have mattered. The lesson finally sunk in.

Terra cooperated with Kath Toom on an assignment and later, upon meeting new trainee Delta Emblock, whose background had left her without schooling (which Terra learned by accidentally scanning her), Terra helped her with her literacy test. Toom was so surprised by this new attitude she asked what happened to the old Nova Terra. While celebrating Emblock's successful literacy test, Toom and Tosh discussed similarities between their backgrounds and Terra's. However, Tosh's comments hit too close to home, prompting Terra to run off. She suffered nightmares that night, which Tosh felt because he didn't sleep with a psi-screen on.

Terra participated in another Valerian scenario. This time she worked with her team, including new teammate Aal Cistler. However, as the scenario finished, Lio Travski suffered a bad reaction from drug abuse. Terra, recognizing the symptoms from her days in the Gutter, called for medical assistance. This brought her to the attention of Superintendent Sarco Angelini, who had been secretly testing the effects of drug abuse on Travski's psychic abilities. He memory wiped Terra and Travski so they would forget that experience. Terra now found herself uncomfortable with the prospect of memory wiping, as she would forget friends like Kath Toom. Angelini watched this conversation through the surveillance system. Meanwhile, Terra was promoted to third-class due to her new positive attitude and high scores.

Nova Terra pulled through and completed her ghost training in a record two and a half years, whereas it normally took four years.

War Pigs
Near the end of her training, Nova Terra trailed the War Pigs, a group of outlaws, for unknown reasons.

Graduation
Nearing the end of her training Nova Terra was met by Emperor Arcturus Mengsk himself, who gave her a final training assignment: kill Cliff Nadaner, a former anti-Confederate terrorist turned anti-Dominion terrorist. Nadaner had led the group that sent Edward Peters, Gustavo McBain and others to kill her family. Terra was to go to Tyrador VIII alone and kill Nadaner with only her mental powers. She was inserted via drop pod with only some of a ghost's standard equipment. Terra successfully located her target, eliminating the defending troops. She verbally confronted Nadaner for ruining her life and killed him last.

A New Life
"Cliff Nadaner is dead. And soon, for all intents and purposes, I will be too."

- Nova upon terminating Nadaner.

Upon completion of her training, Nova was designated Agent 12-862 and received a memory wipe, becoming yet another ghost single-mindedly focused on serving the Dominion and destroying the Dominion's enemies. She would serve in Nova Squadron under Colonel Jackson Hauler. During a mission against the Koprulu Liberation Front on New Sydney Nova would again meet the Annihilators. Esmerelda Ndoci recognized Nova but due to the memory wipe Nova no longer recognized Ndoci, nor did she particularly care.

Despite her efforts however, Nova couldn't run from her past forever. Reunited with an old friend, Nova was assigned to investigate a ghost-kidnapping plot, making a shocking discovery that not only pitted her against her past, but also the future of terran psionic warriors: spectres. Through the ordeal, she would come to choose between loyalties to Arcturus Mengsk and Colonel Hauler.

Nova ended up capturing numerous spectres. They were imprisoned in New Folsom Prison.

The Second Great War
"Strictly business."

- Nova assaulting Gabriel Tosh's base.

Nova was sent to assassinate spectre Gabriel Tosh, who was working with Jim Raynor. The ghost went to Raynor and asked for his help in eliminating Tosh.

Nova convinced Raynor that Tosh was a threat to everybody. The ghost and Raynor's Raiders destroyed the spectre's training facility. Tosh himself was killed by Nova while arguing remotely with Raynor. For their assistance, Nova gave the Raiders the material needed to train ghosts. She also ominously told Raynor that she'd be seeing him.

StarCraft: Ghost
Nova is the player character in StarCraft: Ghost. Her appearance shifted from "realistic" to a more "anime-ish" look when Swingin' Ape Studios was purchased by Blizzard and their console design teams were merged.

In the campaign, she is sometimes guided by General Horace Warfield.

Psionic Abilities
Nova's psionic abilities include cloaking, psionic sight (which enables her to see heat signatures) and psionic speed (which quadruples her speed). She could also use psi blast (knock down opponents surrounding her) and psi stun (stun an opponent by touch).

Weapons
Nova typically carries an AGR-14 assault rifle and a sniper rifle, and sometimes uses the E-11 lockdown device; however, she can use nearly any terran weapon that she can pick up such as the Perdition flamethrower, C-14 rifle and Torrent SR-8 shotgun.

Nova can use a variety of grenades, like other ghosts.

Nova can also use the psyblade as a melee weapon. It is designed from a combination of terran and protoss technology.

General Combat Abilities
Nova is capable of a wide variety of combat moves, including climbing and sliding down ziplines. Nova can also kill silently by sneaking up on an opponent, and can use techniques such as "dangle snipe" (in which she hangs from a pipe with her legs and snipes an opponent). She could inflict a deathblow on a downed opponent.

Calldowns
Nova has the ability to "call for help"; she has at least six calldowns; Identify, Irradiate, EMP Burst, Arclite (which directs attacks from a powerful siege tank), Yamato Cannon, and the ever-popular nuke.

StarCraft II
Nova appears in the mission Ghost of a Chance, an alternate to the mission Breakout.

She demonstrated a number of abilities: Permanent Cloaking, Psionic Radar, Nuke, Snipe, and Domination.

Skills and Powers
Nova has a good sense of balance. She underwent physical training at the Ghost Academy. She found it very difficult at first, not being accustomed to exercise, but eventually excelled at martial arts, the use of weapons, and driving a vulture. She was given permission to learn some skills earlier than usual, and undertook the four-year program in only two-and-a-half years; a record.

Nova is a skill hacker; she can take control of a nuclear silo in only a few minutes.

Psionic Abilities
Nova is a powerful telepath and has telekinetic abilities. She has a Psi Index rating of 10, and is so powerful that she finds it difficult not to read minds. She can even read minds through some types of psi-screens (such as those worn by the Annihilators) but was unable to read or attack the mind of Fagin while he wore one. Nova has the ability to telepathically communicate, at least with other psychics.

Nova developed a powerful attack which can destroy the brains of up to a dozen opponents while leaving an individual in their midst unharmed.

Nova's telekinetic abilities can slowly lift her, is powerful enough to uproot shrubs, and she was able to briefly hold up part of a fallen building. She eventually learned to focus these abilities, and has frequently "jammed" firearms with it. She once used the ability to physically force someone to shoot another opponent. She could use her power to fire guns "remotely", open and damage metal doors and destroy combat robots.

Nova's psionic training at the progressed rapidly, and she found it much easier than the physical aspect.

Her abilities first manifested as "empathy" at age seven; her parents hid this from her. On her fifteenth birthday she found she could read one person's mind at close range. A few days later she discovered she could read her family's mind from a considerable distance away.

After her family died, Nova uncontrollably unleashed a massive telepathic and telekinetic blast which damaged the Terra Skyscraper and slew hundreds of people.

Personality-Pre Ghost
Even through her ghost training (before the memory wipe) Nova's personality generally remained the same throughout her late teen years. She possessed a degree of empathy that was generally lacking in the Old Families (a trait that did not go unnoticed) and believed in the concept of fair play, or at least had an aversion to "cheating" (eg. considered attaching gliders to her shoes at her birthday to walk elegantly to be "cheating").

Although willing to deal death to those she believed to deserve it (eg. Fagin and Cliff Nadaner), she wanted to avoid harming those who fell outside this definition (she did not want to harm Fagin's associates and regretted having to dispatch the rest of Nadaner's group).

Personality-Ghost
As of becoming a full fledged ghost, after undergoing a memory wipe, Nova's personality has, perhaps not that surprisingly, changed radically. From her interactions in the New Sydney incident, elements of snideness and arrogance can be seen. As per the aims of the Ghost Program, virtually no traces of her previous moral code remain.

Other Appearances
Blizzard Entertainment employees have stated that they definitely want to continue Nova's story, either in novel or comic format.

Nova was expected to appear in StarCraft: Issue 9, trailing the War Pigs, a group of outlaws, for unknown reasons. However, the issue was canceled.

StarCraft II
She has been seen on a flatscreen in the Hyperion, the images being of gameplay from StarCraft: Ghost.

World of Warcraft Easter Eggs
thumb|Nova's tomb. Nova's tomb had been spotted at a strange stone in the Netherstorm of World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade at location 41, 83. Drysc, a Blizzard World of Warcraft Community Manager later stated that "Some say that under certain conditions you can see her ghost... Pun not intended." A cloaked blood elf figure resembling Nova can also be found near the tomb.

Drysc used the lyrics of Kansas song Dust in the Wind to describe her: "Rest in peace Nova... I close my eyes Only for a moment, then the moment's gone All my dreams Pass before my eyes, a curiosity Dust in the wind All they are is dust in the wind...  /tear"

- Drysc

Another blood elf character named Nova can be found in World of Warcraft. She is a child who keeps a pet cat.