Char

Char was a volcanic planet in the Koprulu sector, a world of thick ash and acrid atmosphere that became the primary hive world of the zerg. Its hazardous environment, driven by a volatile pairing of binary stars and constant tectonic activity, made it one of the richest resource nodes in the sector and one of the hardest places to wage war. Char was where the Overmind brought Sarah Kerrigan to be reborn as the Queen of Blades, and it became the staging ground for some of the most pivotal battles of the Great War, the Brood War, and the Second Great War.

Geography and resources#

Char was an inhospitable volcanic planet, its surface buried under thick ash that tainted an acrid atmosphere high in oxygen and sulfur. Extremely high levels of cosmic radiation poured from its volatile pairing of binary stars, and its elliptical orbit meant whole regions of its sunward face could become molten seas during a close approach, with temporary islands forming as the planet swung away toward the frozen outer reaches of the system. The world was tectonically active, and magma driven by that activity often seeped to the surface, producing firestorms and pyroclastic flows that traveled at over a hundred miles per hour.

Despite the conditions, an unprotected terran could survive on Char, however uncomfortably, and small pockets of liquid water and even precipitation existed. The thick ash wreaked havoc on sensitive equipment, blocked the stars from view, and combined with fluctuating magnetic fields to make navigation difficult. For all its hazards Char was one of the richest resource nodes in the sector; tectonic activity continually uncovered deposits of minerals and geysers of vespene gas, and melted mineral deposits hardened into mineral-laden pathways that served as both landmarks and rich mining fields.

Settlement and the Guild Wars#

Char was originally settled by the Terran Confederacy to exploit its rich reserves of heavy metals, and it earned a place among the thirteen core worlds of the Confederacy. Its wealth made it a source of friction with the independent mining guilds operating out of Moria. In 2485 those disputes escalated into open conflict, and both the Confederacy and the Kel-Morian Combine attempted to secure Char, fighting some of the most bitter battles of the Guild Wars. In regions like Death Valley and Glass Flats, volcanic activity combined with the unrestrained use of nuclear weapons to create radiation levels lethal even to armored marines. In the aftermath the Confederacy's presence was reduced to a few maintenance teams for automated mining sites.

The zerg make Char their hive world#

Ten years after the Guild Wars, Char was rapidly overrun by the zerg, who made it their primary hive planet in the Koprulu sector. It was chosen for its remote location, rich resources, and difficult terrain, which made it easier to hide hatcheries and their populations. Some theorists held that Char's high radiation levels promoted an increased rate of mutation, enabling forced evolution of specialist strains.

In 2500 the Overmind brought Sarah Kerrigan to Char in her chrysalis. Her psionic emanations reached out to Jim Raynor and Emperor Arcturus Mengsk and lured Executor Tassadar and Dark Prelate Zeratul to the world. Mengsk sent General Edmund Duke to flush out the zerg, but Duke was defeated and forced to fall back, and Raynor's forces were prevented from reaching the chrysalis as it opened. While Tassadar diverted Kerrigan, Zeratul killed the cerebrate Zasz and became momentarily linked with the Overmind, in which instant the Overmind gleaned the location of Aiur from his mind. Once the Overmind departed for Aiur, Kerrigan remained behind, rebuilding the hive clusters and spreading creep across Char's surface.

The Brood War#

Several cerebrates commanded by Daggoth returned to Char after the Overmind's death and merged into a new Overmind, nesting near the energies of the Khalis crystal. A protoss army under Zeratul, Artanis, and the Executor arrived to retrieve the Khalis, and Kerrigan exerted limited control over some of the zerg to provide them backup. Soon afterward the United Earth Directorate fleet under Admiral Gerard DuGalle penetrated Char's surface after a psi disrupter scattered the swarms in disarray. The UED overcame three cerebrates that formed the core of the Overmind's defenses and, on reaching the new Overmind, administered powerful neurostims to pacify it.

Using Matriarch Raszagal as leverage, Kerrigan later manipulated Zeratul into killing the captured Overmind. When Zeratul demanded Raszagal's release and learned that Kerrigan had corrupted her mind, he dealt the Matriarch a mortal blow rather than let her be recaptured, and in her last moments she named him the new leader of the Dark Templar. After defeating three fleets above Char, Kerrigan relocated her primary hive cluster to the surface and stored millions of eggs in the acid marsh.

The Dominion assault and Kerrigan's restoration#

In 2504 Raynor's Raiders and half the Dominion fleet assembled above Char under Crown Prince Valerian Mengsk. The zerg launched a surprise attack that scattered the landing forces, and General Horace Warfield's ship was crippled and crashed before Raynor and Tychus Findlay rescued him. After a diversionary attack crippled part of the zerg defenses, Warfield brought the Keystone to the base of the primary hive cluster, and Raynor and Warfield entrenched their last defenses around it. As the artifact charged, all nearby zerg went into a frenzy trying to reach it, and Kerrigan herself joined the attack, but the device was used to make her human again. Raynor's Raiders smuggled Kerrigan off-world, and Warfield claimed Char for the Terran Dominion.

The Dominion's hold did not last. Broodmother Zagara united the feral broods on Char, and upon Kerrigan's return the two clashed across the acid marsh and the Bone Trench before Kerrigan assaulted Warfield's compound on the Dauntless Plateau. Although Kerrigan killed Warfield, he convinced her to pull her zerg back and let shuttles of wounded men escape. During the End War the planet's volcanic activity grew worse still, and Sergeant Bama Kowalski held a fortress against Amon's void thrashers. After the war Zagara gained control of the zerg and forcibly claimed Char and the surrounding planets for the Swarm.