Cybernetics

Rory Swann sporting a cybernetic arm

Cybernetics is the interdisciplinary study of the structure of regulatory systems. The field involves the replacement and/or improvement of an organism's organic components with robotic ones.

The technology is used by both terrans and protoss.

Overview

Protoss Cybernetics

Dragoon close-up

Cybernetics is the central applied technology of the protoss military, melding psionic biological beings with their machinery. Dominion scientists continue to be mystified by protoss cybernetics. "Technology" seems to be an inadequate term to describe the process, as protoss cybernetic warriors exhibit not just physical control of their weapons systems, but also an essentially cognitive, almost "spiritual" bond with their machines. Some terran scientists characterize this as a profound evolutionary step—the ability to infuse technology with living essence.

Of note, dragoon pilots can control their exoskeleton as well as if it were their own body. This is an ability shared by the current generation of protoss cybernetic warriors, the immortals and stalkers.

Protoss cybernetics extends beyond crippled warriors. Zealot power suits are compatible with cybernetic leg enhancements that bolster the warrior's speed. Karax attached cybernetic tentacles to the tips of his severed nerve chords, allowing him to control the limbs via thought.

During the wars of the 2500s, the Khalai had often been forced to install robotics and cybernetics onto live subjects, an act done out of sheer necessity.

After the End War, protoss cybernetics were successfully grafted onto terran subjects, replacing lost limbs.

Terran Cybernetics

A terran cyborg

The study and practice of cybernetics was an issue of great controversy to humanity in the 21st and 22nd centuries. As cybernetics became more commonplace, humanist factions lashed out, resulting in numerous acts of terrorism between the humanist and corporate factions. With the formation of the United Powers League however, it was argued that cyber technology, among other things, led to the degeneration of the human species. As such, Earth's cybernetics were rounded up in Project Purification, either executed or sent to the colonization mission to Gantris VI that instead landed the colonists in the Koprulu Sector.

Of the inhabitants of the Koprulu Sector, cyber technology is reasonably sophisticated. Examples include ocular implants and cybernetic grafts that essentially perform as advanced prosthetics.

General Horace Warfield's cybernetic arm, capable of converting into a cannon

While cybernetic limbs (called "cyberlimbs") are widely available, terrans generally prefer the lab-grown biological variety. Cyberlimbs are constructed out of neosteel, and possess endoskeletal nerve clusters.

Remnants of the Terran Confederacy undertook research into dragoon technology, hoping to convert it so that it could be used for human reconstruction. However, the information was stolen by the Kimeran Pirates and sold on the black market.

	This article or section contains information about StarCraft: Ghost, which has been declared non-canon. Elements may be taken as 'flavor lore' however. The content may be significantly out of date. Please do not add speculation to this article, and remember to cite a published source for details.

Vulcan's brain sustained via cybernetics

Colonel Jackson Hauler used the body of a ravaged ghost, Vulcan, and placed his brain in cybernetics, keeping him alive. He then infused the ravaged cyborg with terrazine, making him the first spectre. Renders exist for a spectre with grafted cybernetics very similar to how Vulcan is described, but it is not confirmed whether this render was made for Vulcan.