The Battle of Ehlna (or Battle of the Alys'aril) was fought several years after the Brood War when the moon became a site of conflict between the terrans, zerg and protoss.
Background[]
Ehlna was the first world the Dark Templar visited after being banished from Aiur. While they traveled on a xel'naga freighter, they also took a number of protoss ships with them. The Dark Templar stayed due a nexus of energy, which could manipulate khaydarin crystals into memory storehouses. The Dark Templar valued these as they had no preservers, unlike the Khalai.
The majority of the Dark Templar eventually left and eventually settled on Shakuras. A small band, the Alysaar, remained, tending to the memory crystals at the Alys'aril. One of the Alysaar, young Ulrezaj, accessed forbidden crystals and went mad from the knowledge he gained from them. He developed an intense hatred against the Khalai who had banished his people. His tutor Krythkal eventually discovered this and tried to erase the memories, but Ulrezaj fled.[1]
In 2500,[2] the protoss defeated the Overmind, but the rampaging zerg forced the protoss to fleet to the Dark Templar homeworld of Shakuras.[3]
In the aftermath, Ulrezaj plotted an attack on the protoss refugees on Aiur[1] while transforming into a powerful dark archon. He hunted down and killed many preservers. By 2503 the preservers were nearly extinct, and none lived on Shakuras.[3]
One of the preservers his forces had attempted to kill was Zamara. She was trapped in a xel'naga temple[1] where she was discovered by a terran archaeologist, Jake Ramsey. She implanted her essence into his mind and began transforming him into a terran preserver.[4] Her presence caused him to develop tumors.[1]
Prelude[]
- Ethan Stewart, an infested terran commander, taunts the protoss(src)
Fugitive terran Jake Ramsey arrived on Aiur, trying to solve a unique problem – he was carrying a preserver, Zamara, in his head, and it was killing him. Zamara had crucial information she had to deliver to the protoss. She intended to store herself in a powerful khaydarin crystal carried by Ramsey. However, she was sought by Ulrezaj (a powerful dark archon terrorist), the Zerg Swarm and the Terran Dominion. Ramsey, his companion, an assassin named Rosemary Dahl, and a group of protoss survivors stranded on Aiur collected the crystal and tried to escape through the warp gate to Shakuras. Ramsey's strategy managed to stall and weaken Ulrezaj, enabling the escape of a few survivors[3] including Vartanil, a Furinax Tribe artisan. However, Ramsey, the last one through the gate, didn't make it to Shakuras, instead ending up on another planet entirely.[1]
Dahl had gotten separated from Ramsey. At Shakuras, she convinced the protoss executor, Selendis, to help her rescue her friend and recover the knowledge Zamara held. Mohandar, the leader of the Nerazim (the new name of the Dark Templar), revealed that Zamara would most likely take Ramsey to the Alys'aril, but insisted that only a small number of templar accompany his own warriors there. Vartanil accompanied them.[1]
Course of Battle[]
Ulrezaj traveled to Ehlna on a xel'naga vessel, followed by Ethan Stewart, an infested terran commander subordinate to Sarah Kerrigan, who was in turn secretly followed by Terran Dominion vessels under the command of Valerian Mengsk, archaeologist and heir to the Dominion throne. Ulrezaj temporarily disappeared, finding an energy nexus underwater in order to recharge.
In the Alys'aril, Ramsey underwent a long psionic ritual to remove Zamara's essence from him. As he did so, Stewart's forces appeared and surrounded the facility. Selendis convinced him that Ramsey was undergoing the ritual to save his life, so Stewart intended to wait until he could strike... after sending a hydralisk spy to watch over Ramsey. Meanwhile, Rosemary Dahl, Vartanil and the alysaar stuffed as many memory crystals as possible into the warp capable protoss vessel so the treasures could be taken safely to Shakuras.[1]
Stewart's hand was forced when Ulrezaj made a personal appearance on the battlefield. Stewart's forces invaded the Alys'aril, attempting to kill Ramsey and Dahl, but both attempts failed, in part due to the efforts of the protoss. The zerg also attacked Ulrezaj, eventually managing to injure him when Terran Dominion forces arrived. Zamara, finally removed from Ramsey, used the energies under the Alys'aril to trap Ulrezaj (and herself) in a pure khaydarin crystal. Elements of the protoss then escaped with the crystal containing Ulrezaj and Zamara, escaping through the warp gate to Shakuras, ensuring Ulrezaj would be under guard. The Dominion gained the upper hand, defeating both the protoss and the zerg. Stewart was shot down attempting to flee the scene and was finished off by Selendis.
The Dominion raided the temple, arresting Ramsey and Dahl. Some memory crystals were removed for later perusal by Valerian Mengsk. Afterward, the protoss arrived in force, and the Dominion had to flee.[1]
Notes[]
The novel StarCraft: The Dark Templar Saga: Twilight places the battle four years after the Brood War. This stands in contrast to the timeline presented in books since StarCraft II: Heaven's Devils, which places the battle in 2503, three years after the war against the zerg, though previous interviews with Chris Metzen show that the book and the confrontation were originally intended to take place in 2504.[5]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Golden, Christie (June 30, 2009). StarCraft: The Dark Templar Saga #3: Twilight. Simon & Schuster (Pocket Star). ISBN 978-0-7434-7129-9.
- ↑ April 6, 2010. "Timeline". StarCraft II: Heaven's Devils. Simon & Schuster (Pocket Star). pp. 311 - 323. ISBN 978-1416-55084-6.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Golden, Christie (November 27, 2007). StarCraft: The Dark Templar Saga #2: Shadow Hunters. Simon & Schuster (Pocket Star). ISBN 978-0-7434-7126-8.
- ↑ Golden, Christie (May 22, 2007). StarCraft: The Dark Templar Saga #1: Firstborn. Simon & Schuster (Pocket Star). ISBN 978-0-7434-7125-1.
- ↑ Chris Metzen, StarCraft Legacy staff. 2009-07-20 July 20, 2009 Metzen Interview. StarCraft Legacy. Accessed 2009-09-07.