StarCraft category

Protoss

92 entries tagged Protoss. Every entry is sourced from the StarCraft games, the novels, the manuals, or Blizzard’s published canon.

AdeptThe adept is a protoss officer-class infantry warrior, a trained battlefield commander armed with glaive cannons and a psionic transfer ability that projects the warrior's mind across the field.
AdunAdun was a revered protoss executor of the Discord who secretly sheltered the rogue tribes the Conclave ordered him to execute. He burned away saving them as they were exiled, leaving no body behind, and passed into protoss legend as the Twilight Deliverer.
Aeon of StrifeThe Aeon of Strife was a millennia-long civil war among the protoss, called the bloodiest civil war in galactic history. It followed the departure of the xel'naga and the loss of the protoss psychic link, and ended when the scholar Khas rediscovered the khaydarin crystals and founded the Khala.
AiurAiur was the homeworld of the protoss, a verdant world on the galactic fringe engineered by the Xel'Naga and seat of the Protoss Empire. It was overrun by the zerg in 2500 and reclaimed by the Daelaam after the defeat of Amon.
AlarakAlarak was the highlord of the Tal'darim, once First Ascendant in the Chain of Ascension under Ma'lash. A master manipulator who turned his people against Amon after the Dark God betrayed them, he allied with the Daelaam, overthrew Ma'lash in Rak'Shir, and led the Tal'darim on a path of conquest.
AldarisAldaris was a Khalai protoss of the Judicator Caste, a fierce believer in the Khala who judged others by a strict reading of its tenets. He served as advisor to the executors during the Great War and died exposing Sarah Kerrigan's corruption of Matriarch Raszagal on Shakuras.
ArbiterThe arbiter is a protoss psionic support craft that cloaks the allies around it, freezes enemies in stasis, and recalls distant friendly forces across the battlefield in an instant.
ArchonThe archon was a heavy protoss being formed when two high templar merged their bodies and minds into a single creature of raw psionic energy. Devastating in battle and short-lived once formed, it was a weapon made by sacrifice.
ArtanisArtanis was the Hierarch of the Daelaam, a renowned warrior who rose from executor during the zerg invasion of Aiur to lead the reunited protoss. He forged the Khalai and Nerazim into one people, reclaimed Aiur, and led the alliance that banished Amon from the Khala.
Bel'ShirBel'Shir was a jungle world whose terrazine shrines gave protoss their psionic power, sacred first to the Templar Caste and then to the Tal'darim, and later the refuge of the exiled scientist Egon Stetmann.
Brood WarThe Brood War was a zerg civil war between Sarah Kerrigan and the cerebrate Daggoth over the succession of the Overmind, fought against the backdrop of an invasion by the United Earth Directorate. It ended with Kerrigan supreme over the Koprulu Sector and the Directorate destroyed.
CarrierThe carrier was the great protoss capital ship, a mobile fortress that carried no weapons of its own but launched swarms of robotic interceptors. It served the Golden Armada, the Tal'darim, and the Purifiers across the Koprulu sector's wars.
ColossusThe colossus was a towering protoss robotic walker built purely for war, dating back to the Kalath Intercession. Outlawed by the Conclave after the slaughter of the kalathi, it was unearthed and returned to service against the zerg and became, to the Terran Dominion, a symbol of the protoss themselves.
ConclaveThe Conclave was a small body of Judicator elders that ruled the Protoss Empire from Aiur. Conservative and secretive, it banished the Dark Templar, enslaved the Purifiers, and was destroyed during the zerg invasion.
CorsairThe corsair was a protoss air-to-air fighter fielded during the Brood War, built around a rapid splash-firing weapon and the Disruption Web ability that could blind an enemy's ranged defenses.
CybrosCybros was the home warship and space platform of the Purifiers, a command vessel held in stasis above the moon Endion until Artanis reactivated its robotic warriors during the war against Amon.
DaelaamThe Daelaam was the unified protoss government that bound the Khalai, Nerazim, Purifiers, and some Tal'darim together after the fall of Aiur, led by Hierarch Artanis through the End War against Amon and the reclamation of their homeworld.
Dark ArchonThe dark archon was a being of living psionic energy formed when two dark templar merged, wielding powers of the Void far beyond those of an ordinary archon. Its creation was outlawed among the Nerazim for a thousand years.
DisruptorThe disruptor is a protoss artillery construct of the Purifier Program, controlled by a high-level artificial intelligence and armed with directed spheres of unstable energy that devastate clustered enemy forces.
DragoonThe dragoon is a protoss four-legged walker that gives a second life to Templar too gravely wounded to fight on foot. The crippled warrior is transplanted into the exoskeleton, where their psionic mastery directs its ranged phase disruptors.
EhlnaEhlna was a moon sacred to the Dark Templar, the first world they settled after their exile from Aiur. Home to a Xel'Naga warp gate and the shrine of Alys'aril, it held khaydarin crystals shaped by the moon's unique energies.
End WarThe End War was the galaxy-wide crusade waged by the fallen xel'naga Amon after his resurrection. It saw the corruption of the Khala, the fall of Aiur and Shakuras, the unification of the protoss under Artanis, and the final destruction of Amon in the Void by Sarah Kerrigan.
EndionEndion was a forest moon orbiting Bellum IV that served the protoss as a secluded research retreat for millennia. During the End War it was infested by Amon's brood and ultimately scoured of all life by a purification beam fired from Cybros.
Eye of the StormEye of the Storm was the final battle of the Great War, in which a combined protoss and terran force struck at the Overmind in its nesting ground on Aiur. Executor Tassadar sacrificed himself by driving the Gantrithor into the creature while channeling dark templar energy, destroying the Overmind and setting the stage for the Brood War.
Fall of AiurThe Fall of Aiur was the zerg invasion of the protoss homeworld during the Great War, fought at the same time as the Protoss Civil War. Tassadar destroyed the Overmind, but the Swarm had already claimed too much of Aiur, killing seventy percent of the protoss and forcing the survivors to abandon their world.
FenixFenix was a protoss zealot and praetor of the Protoss Defense Forces, one of the most celebrated warriors in protoss history. He fell at Antioch and was reborn in a dragoon shell, died again to Kerrigan's betrayal on Korhal, and was later replicated as the purifier Talandar.
GlaciusGlacius was an oceanic world that housed a secret Khalai Caste research facility where the Purifier Revival Program was developed. During the End War the Daelaam fought the Tal'darim there to recover the prototype Purifier data.
GlassingGlassing, also called planet cracking or purification, was a protoss war technique used to destroy all life on a planetary surface, usually to eradicate the zerg. Carried out by ships firing massive energy beams, it could disperse a world's atmosphere and burn through its crust.
Golden ArmadaThe Golden Armada was the greatest fleet of protoss vessels ever constructed, based on Shakuras and built by order of Hierarch Artanis to retake Aiur. After spearheading the invasion of the protoss homeworld, it was corrupted by Amon and turned against the Koprulu sector before being freed.
Grand PreserverThe Grand Preservers were the highest of the protoss preservers, rare Khalai who held the memories of every protoss ever joined to the Khala. They advised the Conclave, urged the building of the arkships, and in Grand Preserver Rohana survived to guide the reclamation of Aiur.
Great FleetThe Great Fleet was the principal military space force of the protoss, the fleet that carried their power across the stars. Built around the carrier and tended by the Auriga Tribe, it was shattered in the fall of Aiur and rebuilt over the wars that followed.
Great WarThe Great War was the first open conflict between the protoss and the zerg in the Koprulu Sector, with the terrans caught between two ancient enemies. It saw the fall of the Confederacy, the rise of the Terran Dominion, the infestation of Sarah Kerrigan, and the death of the Overmind over Aiur.
High TemplarHigh templar are the most honored members of the protoss race, veteran Templar who forgo physical combat to develop their psionic powers into potent weapons. They wield psionic storms, drain energy from their foes, and may merge with another to become an archon.
ImmortalThe immortal is an advanced protoss cybernetic war machine that succeeded the dragoon, housing some of the most revered and venerable warriors of the protoss military. Consecrated in the name of Adun, immortals are protected by hardened shields and a dying breed.
Jake RamseyJacob Jefferson Ramsey was a maverick terran archaeologist who became the unwilling host of the protoss preserver Zamara. Carrying her memories and hunted by Valerian Mengsk, the dark archon Ulrezaj, and the Queen of Blades, he was drawn into the secret history of the protoss and the xel'naga.
Judicator CasteThe Judicator Caste was a collection of protoss tribes who acted as the leaders and statesmen of their people, descended from the first tribes to join the Khala. Governed through the Judicator Assembly and the Conclave, they shaped protoss policy until the caste was shattered and finally dissolved.
KarassKarass was a protoss high templar and praetor of the Daelaam whose mastery of psionic powers was considered legendary. On the eve of the Second Great War he led a force to Ulaan and sacrificed himself and his troops to cover the escape of Dark Prelate Zeratul.
KaraxKarax was a Khalai phase-smith and one of the most precise of protoss engineers. Over the war against Amon he rose above his worker origins to command the Spear of Adun's systems, was named a templar in defiance of the caste system, and helped build the means of Amon's defeat.
KhalaThe Khala was the communal psionic link and guiding philosophy of the Khalai protoss, founded by the mystic Khas to end the Aeon of Strife. It bound its adherents in shared emotion for over a thousand years until Amon corrupted it, forcing the protoss to sever it forever.
Khalai CasteThe Khalai Caste were the working class of the Protoss Empire, the artisans, scientists, and builders who formed the great majority of the protoss population. Long regarded as the lowest of the three castes, they were dissolved during the End War when the age of the caste system came to an end.
KhalaiThe Khalai were the protoss who followed the Khala, the kindred also known as the Aiur protoss or Templar. United by the Khala out of the Aeon of Strife, they founded the Protoss Empire, fled to Shakuras after the fall of Aiur, and endured the loss of the Khala during the End War.
KhalaniKhalani was the telepathic language of the protoss, spoken mind to mind rather than aloud and rendered in writing through a glyph-based script. Both the Khalai and the Nerazim spoke it, and its words gave name to the deepest concepts of protoss culture, from the Khala itself to the honorific En Taro.
Khalis CrystalThe Khalis is a khaydarin crystal shard cut by the xel'naga and entrusted to the Sargas Tribe, infused over time with Nerazim energies and carried into exile by the Dark Templar. With its Khalai counterpart, the Uraj, it activated the xel'naga temple on Shakuras during the Brood War.
Khaydarin CrystalKhaydarin crystals were psi-active psionic artifacts left behind by the xel'naga on many worlds. Used by the protoss to power their technology and strengthen their psionic bond, the crystals restored the Khala at the end of the Aeon of Strife and remained central to protoss civilization.
Koprulu Expeditionary ForceThe Koprulu Expeditionary Force was the protoss fleet, commanded by Executor Tassadar, that first answered the zerg invasion of the Koprulu sector and was ordered by the Conclave to burn the infested terran worlds.
MohandarMohandar was the aged leader of the Nerazim and a member of the protoss Hierarchy, a close ally of Matriarch Raszagal who guided Vorazun and held the dark templar within the Daelaam until his death at rebel hands.
MonlythMonlyth was a protoss shrine-moon held by the Tal'darim, a site of ancient xel'naga relics and a hidden piece of the Keystone. During the Second Great War it was laid waste as the Swarm and Raynor's Raiders fought over the relic it guarded.
MothershipThe mothership was among the most powerful warships in the protoss arsenal, a vast support vessel that served as the flagship of the Golden Armada. Designed during the Golden Age of Expansion as a deep-space explorer, it was later armed and turned to war.
NerazimThe Nerazim, known to outsiders as the Dark Templar, are the protoss tribes who shunned the Khala, severed their nerve cords, and drew their power from the Void instead. Banished from Aiur, they became masters of shadow and exile before reuniting with their kin under the Daelaam.
NyonNyon was an executor of the Tal'darim who guarded sacred xel'naga relics during the Second Great War. He suffered a long string of defeats to Raynor's Raiders as they stole the components of a xel'naga device, and he died aboard his mothership trying to stop them.
ObserverThe observer was a small, stealthy robotic protoss reconnaissance drone, built to survey space, record events for the protoss archives, and reveal what was hidden. Cloaked and fragile, it was prized as much for what it could see as for what it could not be seen doing.
OracleThe oracle was an agile protoss support warship piloted by an order of young Nerazim devoted to understanding time, whose temporal sight let them detect hidden foes and whose pulsar beam struck hard at ground targets.
PhoenixThe phoenix was a protoss air superiority fighter built for speed and aerial harassment, rapidly replacing the older scouts and corsairs. Its patrols swept the outer rim of protoss territory, and its pilots developed dangerous tactics to survive when outnumbered.
PreserverPreservers were a very small group of Khalai protoss who held the memories of the dead within the Khala. Able to reach into the gestalt's deepest layers, they advised the Conclave for millennia until Ulrezaj's campaign hunted them nearly to extinction.
Protoss Civil WarThe Protoss Civil War was an internal conflict that erupted on Aiur as the zerg overran the world, pitting Tassadar and his Dark Templar allies against the Conclave. It coincided with the Fall of Aiur and ended when Tassadar destroyed the Overmind.
Protoss technologyProtoss technology blended psionic power with material engineering to produce the most advanced civilization in the galaxy, from energy weapons and teleportation armor to anti-gravity craft and the crystal sciences rooted in xel'naga learning.
ProtossThe protoss are an ancient, psionically gifted humanoid species native to Aiur, uplifted by the xel'naga and bound together by the Khala. Among the three dominant species of the galaxy, they are the most technologically advanced, and the most divided by their own history.
Psi bladeThe psi blade, or psionic blade, was an incandescent energy weapon manifested through psionic power, channeled by zealots and high templar through forearm focusers. It cut through almost any material, cauterized as it cut, and gave rise to the dark templar warp blade and to terran imitations.
Psionic matrixThe psionic matrix, also called the psi-matrix, was a field of energy emanating from Aiur that powered protoss structures and units. Tapped through pylons and nexus links, it was first sparked in 500 B.C.E. and later dismantled to deny Amon the Golden Armada.
PsionicsPsionics is the psychic power that runs through the three great species of the galaxy. It is the foundation of protoss civilization through the Khala and the Void, the latent gift that makes terrans valuable to the zerg, and the medium through which the Swarm itself communicates and is controlled.
PurifiersThe Purifiers were an ancient robotic race created by the protoss Conclave, built from the recorded consciousnesses of the greatest warriors in protoss history. Once enslaved and banished, they were reactivated to fight Amon and joined the Daelaam as equals.
Raid on CharThe Raid on Char was a protoss strike on the zerg homeworld during the Brood War, mounted to recover the Khalis crystal from beneath the infant Overmind. Artanis and Zeratul, aided by Sarah Kerrigan, took the crystal and escaped.
RaszagalRaszagal was the Matriarch of the Dark Templar until the Brood War and one of the most powerful psychics in the galaxy. A survivor of the Discord who was saved by Adun, she dreamed of a reunited protoss race before Sarah Kerrigan enslaved her mind.
ReaverThe reaver is a protoss siege construct that carries no weapon of its own. Instead it houses a micro-manufacturing plant that produces small robotic drones called scarabs, and a single reaver can level a colony in minutes.
Reclamation of AiurThe Reclamation of Aiur was the opening battle of the End War, an attempt by the Daelaam to retake the lost protoss homeworld. It ended in failure when Amon corrupted the Khala, and instead opened the way to a far larger conflict.
ScoutThe scout is a protoss aerospace superiority and reconnaissance starfighter that served as the point guard of the protoss fleet from the Golden Age of Expansion until it began to give way to the phoenix.
Second AgeThe Second Age was the era of protoss history that followed the founding of the Khala, when the warring tribes were reorganized into a unified caste society, rebuilt their homeworld of Aiur, and resumed the spacefaring expansion that carried their civilization across the stars.
SelendisSelendis is the protoss High Executor, a celebrated warrior who rose as the protege of Artanis to command the combined military forces of her people. She led the Golden Armada, fell briefly under Amon's thrall, and struggled to find purpose after the loss of the Khala.
SentryThe sentry is a protoss combat drone that supports frontline warriors by weaving light into force fields, guardian shields, and solid holograms. It was developed to offset the diminishing population of the protoss race.
ShakurasShakuras was the twilight desert homeworld of the Nerazim, the Dark Templar who settled it after their exile from Aiur. It sheltered the Khalai refugees during the Brood War and was destroyed by its own people to deny it to Amon.
Shel'na Kryhas: those who endure on AiurThe Shel'na Kryhas, meaning "Those Who Endure," were protoss survivors stranded on Aiur after the warp gate was shut during the evacuation. Led by the templar Ladranix and composed mostly of Khalai, they sheltered in the ruins of Antioch and held out against the zerg.
SlaynSlayn was the capital world of the Tal'darim, a dark and storm-wracked planet rich in the sacred gas terrazine. Once a jungle world, it became a barren bladeworld where the Tal'darim communed with Amon and waged the rite of Rak'Shir along the Chain of Ascension.
Spear of AdunThe Spear of Adun was a protoss arkship, built during the Golden Age of Expansion to preserve protoss civilization through a great calamity and buried beneath Aiur for a time of need. Raised by Hierarch Artanis, it became the flagship of the Daelaam in the End War against Amon.
StalkerThe stalker is a Nerazim cybernetic war machine, a metal body animated by the shadow-essence of a Dark Templar warrior. Developed after the fall of Aiur, it can teleport across the battlefield and tears its targets apart with Void energy.
Tal'darimThe Tal'darim were a warlike sect of protoss taken from Aiur by Amon before the Aeon of Strife. Calling themselves the Forged and the Chosen, they spent ages worshipping the fallen xel'naga as their god until Highlord Alarak turned them against him.
TalandarTalandar was a protoss purifier built from a brain scan of the Templar hero Fenix. Awakened during the End War believing himself to be Fenix, he came to accept that he was a separate being and chose his own name, becoming a leader among the purifiers of the Daelaam.
Tal'darim: the fanatical protoss sect of AmonThe Tal'darim, known as the Forged or the Chosen, were a fanatical and warlike sect of protoss taken from Aiur by Amon before the Aeon of Strife, who served the fallen xel'naga for ages before Highlord Alarak turned them against him.
TaldarinTaldarin was an ancient protoss praetor and a personal friend of the hero Adun. Mortally injured long ago and preserved in stasis, he became the first warrior ever transferred into a dragoon shell so that he could continue to fight the enemies of the protoss.
TassadarTassadar was a protoss high templar and executor who led the expeditionary force that made first contact with the zerg. He broke with the Conclave to spare humanity, allied with the Dark Templar, and sacrificed himself aboard the Gantrithor to destroy the Overmind above Aiur.
TempestThe tempest is an immense protoss capital ship developed to answer the long-range weaponry of the zerg and terrans. Its kinetic matrix launches a charged projectile across distances that exceed the ship's own sensors.
Templar CasteThe Templar Caste was the order of protoss warriors who followed the disciplines of the Khala to ever-escalating pinnacles of psionic power. In service first to the Protoss Empire and then to the Daelaam, they produced some of the most powerful individuals in the Koprulu Sector.
UlrezajUlrezaj was a protoss dark archon formed from seven of the most powerful Dark Templar, bent on vengeance against the protoss who exiled his people. He founded the Aiur Tal'darim, hunted the preservers, and was finally trapped in a crystal alongside the preserver Zamara.
Uraj CrystalThe Uraj is a khaydarin crystal shard cut by the xel'naga and entrusted to the Akilae Tribe, infused over time with the energies of the Khala. With its Dark Templar counterpart, the Khalis, it was used to activate the xel'naga temple on Shakuras during the Brood War.
UrunUrun was the proud, traditionalist leader of the Auriga Tribe and a member of the protoss Hierarchy who later commanded the carrier Saalok's Eye and died fighting the Niadra Brood on Adena.
VoidThe Void was a dark, cold manifestation of space separate from the material universe, the wellspring from which the Nerazim drew their psionic power and the realm in which the minds of the xel'naga endured after the death of their bodies. Its energy was unpredictable and lethal in sufficient quantity.
Void RayThe void ray was a protoss escort ship born from the union of Nerazim and Khalai technology, one of the first joint creations of the reunited protoss. It channeled the energies of both the Void and the Khala into a beam that grew more devastating the longer it burned.
Void SeekerVoid Seeker was a star relic and the personal starship of the Dark Templar Zeratul. A small, dull-black vessel hidden by powerful illusions, it carried him across the galaxy in his long pursuit of the prophecy of Amon, until it was destroyed on Aiur.
VorazunVorazun was the Nerazim matriarch, daughter of Raszagal, and a skilled warrior fiercely devoted to her people's culture. She defended Shakuras, rose to Matriarch after the death of Mohandar, and became something close to a second-in-command to Artanis in the war against Amon.
Warp gateThe warp gate, derived from the gateway, was a protoss structure that opened a rift to teleport warriors across light-years in seconds. Built on reverse-engineered xel'naga technology and powered by the psionic matrix of the pylons, it let the protoss reinforce distant battlefields almost instantly.
Warp PrismThe warp prism was a flying protoss machine that carried troops across the battlefield by converting them to energy, and could deploy as a mobile focus for the psionic power matrix that sustains protoss structures.
ZealotZealots are the lower-ranked Templar who form the backbone of the protoss military. Trained for decades in martial discipline and armed with psionic blades, they have served since before the Discord and are forbidden from using alien tissue or weaponry in combat.
ZeratulZeratul was a revered Nerazim mystic and dark prelate who allied with Tassadar against the zerg, slew the cerebrate Zasz, and was manipulated by Kerrigan into killing Raszagal. His decades-long pursuit of the xel'naga prophecy shaped the fate of the protoss, and he gave his life freeing Artanis from Amon.