- Alexei Stukov(src)
Earth is the human homeworld, often referred to as "Old Earth" by the terrans of the Koprulu sector.[1][2]
History[]
Through the history of Earth, humanity developed an international power structure defined by military superiority, as well as the acquisition of capital. During the 20th Century, the ideology of Communism was dominant in the Eastern Nations. The development and exchange of technology and culture spread rapidly; American and Russian developed space exploration programs which eventually were abandoned due to drastically reduced budgets and incessant political sabotage. The United Nations were an attempt to unify humanity.[3]
In the 21st Century the progress made reckless leaps; radical new technologies offered increased access to advanced computers and informational databases to even the most destitute nations.
The Decline of Western Civilization[]
Communism was eradicated and nuclear weapons quickly became available in abundance. Third-world nations rose to challenge the economic and military might of the world's superpowers, blasting apart the international power structure. Genetic experimentation, cybernetics, cloning and gene-splicing rose steadily into the public forum.
Meanwhile many of the fundamental humanist factions panicked as multitudes of people were augmented with cybernetic implants while others manifested slight physical mutations ranging from heightened senses to advanced telepathy. Militant humanist factions and hard-line religious groups challenged the rights of private interest corporations who profited from these endeavors.
As technology continued to evolve and spread, world leaders sought ways to stem the growth of their nation's inhabitants. Despite this, Earth's population grew to an estimated 23 billion by 2301, challenged by pollution and a lack of natural resources and affordable fuels. As overpopulation and genetic alteration swept across Earth, popular sentiment held that it was plummeting towards an inevitable catastrophe.
Many core international economic systems folded in upon themselves and shut down as tensions rose regarding the use and capitalization of cybernetics and genetic mutations. Acts of terrorism and violence erupted between the corporate sector and the humanist factions, resulting in forced police actions across Earth. Civil chaos was already rampant in many of the larger countries, but media coverage of the police actions spurred it. The precarious balance of world power ultimately exploded into international pandemonium.[3]
The United Powers League[]
- Lieutenant Rosa Morales(src)
On November 22, 2229, the United Powers League was founded upon the basis of 'enlightened socialism'. It accomplished that which the now defunct United Nations never could by unifying humanity. The UPL encompassed and controlled close to 93% of Earth's population, failing to bring order only to a few volatile countries in South America. The UPL often resorted to fascist police actions to maintain the public order. With its control lasting for nearly 80 years, the UPL sought to unify the various cultures of humanity. It went to great lengths to eradicate the last vestiges of racial separatism and designated English as the common language of Earth, banning many ancient languages in their native countries.
The Unitariate Commissions officially banned religions, but the UPL held an almost zealous belief in the supposed 'divinity of mankind,' which called for the immediate eradication of any non-vital prosthetics or mutations amongst the pure-strain human gene pool. Hard-line UPL proponents and scholars argued that genetic alteration, cyber technology, and the use of psychoactive drugs all led to humanity's eventual degeneration.
The UPL leaders set Project Purification in motion. UPL troops scoured every nation, rounding up dissidents, hackers, synthetics, the cybernetically enhanced, tech-pirates and criminals of every kind. Nearly 400,000,000 people were executed, but the general populace was unaware, owing to the controlled world-media that downplayed the violence.
The UPL reopened fields of research that had lain dormant for decades, including the American and Russian space exploration programs. After the ability to travel through warp space was developed, Doran Routhe used his political connections and personal fortune to secure 56,000 prisoners that were slated for mass execution under the edict of Project Purification.
The supercarriers leave Earth
The prisoners were transported to Routhe's private laboratories, where he had his science crews prep them for long-term cryogenic hibernation. He catalogued their various mutations and cybernetic enhancements, then input all of the data into ATLAS, which processed this genetic information and predicted which of the prisoners should be able to survive the rigorous conditions. The 40,000 who were deemed viable were loaded onto four supercarriers loaded with enough supplies, rations and hardware to aid them once they arrived at their destination. The navigation computer was then programmed with the coordinates of Gantris VI.
ATLAS was installed into the Nagglfar. The Argo, the Sarengo and the Reagan were programmed to follow the Nagglfar as it was launched toward Gantris VI. Over the course of the voyage, ATLAS relayed its findings back to Earth.[3]
The UPL kept watch over the prisoners[4] as their ships veered off course and crash-landed in the Koprulu sector.[3]
For generations, the UPL studied the slow advancement and hostile infighting of the Koprulu colonies, content to observe their distant cousins without directly interfering in their affairs.[4]
The United Earth Directorate[]
- Zeratul, in light of the UED's arrival in the Koprulu sector(src)
The zerg "threat" to Earth
News of the discovery of the protoss and the zerg in December 2499 spread like wildfire throughout Earth's populace.[5] The panic include the UPL itself, and brought the dissident countries into its fold, thus expanding its powers and causing it to be renamed the United Earth Directorate.[4]
When it became clear that the Koprulu colonies were losing strength, the UED Council considered it the perfect time to establish control over them.[6] The UED bent all of its considerable resources towards studying the aliens and their maneuverings and spent the next several months monitoring them, gathering data on their strengths and weaknesses. In 2500, the UED Council received word that a new Overmind was growing on Char and formed an expeditionary force under Admiral Gerard DuGalle with orders to enslave the Overmind.[4]
Before leaving Earth, every member of the expeditionary force was briefed on their objective to conquer the Koprulu sector.[7] News of their defeat reached Earth[8] shortly before the fleet was eradicated.[9]
Due to the infestation of UED personnel, including Alexei Stukov, the zerg are aware of Earth's current status and have determined its location for future infestation. For now, though, the zerg are focused on the Koprulu sector.[10]
Locations[]
Earth is divided into seven continents, locations of note including:
- Africa
- Antarctica
- Asia
- Europe
- North America
- Oceania
- South America
Notes[]
The zerg invade Earth
- Earth did not play a role in StarCraft II.[11] Chris Metzen and others at Blizzard have toyed with the image of the zerg invading and the mass destruction that would cause, but it is not an idea the story development team are set to explore in the immediate future.[12] Such an invasion was seen in marketing for Heart of the Swarm, with zerg and terran forces superimposed in real-world locations such as Versailles.[13] Earth similarly was depicted as a battlefield between terran, zerg, and protoss forces in marketing for StarCraft: Remastered, much to the horror (or in some cases, joy) of its denizens.[14]
- Earth's population crisis (such as reaching 23 billion by 2301) was explored in The Real Science of StarCraft II. Dr. Charles A. Hall considered this to be a difficult, if not impossible figure to reach. He pointed out that peak oil has been reached and that there is only so much land available for agriculture. A shortage of resources, as experienced by Earth in the 22nd century, would theoretically lead to a decline in population rather than continued growth.[15]
- In earlier drafts of StarCraft, the government of Earth at the time of the supercarrier launch was named the United Earth Government (UEG) rather than the United Powers League, and their purification of their enemies was named The Great Purification instead of Project Purification, with more of an aim at social malcontents rather than preserving humanity's purity. In addition, the reason for sending the prisoners into space was the detection of a pulsating energy source at the edge of the galactic rim, and secretly sending prisoners to found civilizations at preplanned crash sites.[16]
- Gag lines from Rosa Morales in Heroes of the Storm imply that the Geneva Conventions still exist.[17]
References[]
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This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at Earth The list of authors can be seen in the page history of Earth. Wikipedia content was licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License prior to June 15, 2009 is. Wikipedia content from June 15, 2009, and StarCraft Wiki content, is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License 3.0 (Unported). |