Ehlna
Sacred Moon of the Dark Templar
Ehlna 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.
Ehlna, a name meaning "Haven" in the Khalani tongue, was a moon sacred to the Dark Templar, the first world the exiled Nerazim settled after leaving Aiur. It held a Xel'Naga-crafted warp gate and a combination of energies that altered khaydarin crystals, making it possible for the protoss to store memories within them. The moon was home to the secret Nerazim shrine of Alys'aril, the "Sanctuary of Wisdom," and centuries later became the site of a battle between the Daelaam and the Terran Dominion over the captured preserver Zamara.
The first refuge of the exiles#
The moon of Ehlna was the first step on the Dark Templar's journey after their exile from Aiur, discovered shortly after they left their homeworld. It possessed a Xel'Naga-crafted warp gate, and so the exiled protoss settled there. They found that the moon held a combination of energies that altered khaydarin crystals, and a source of such crystals modified by those energies. The crystals could be used to store information, an ability the Nerazim revered, as it gave them a means to preserve memory despite having no preservers among them.
The Dark Templar remained on Ehlna for two centuries. Eventually the majority left, but some, the scholars known as the Alysaar, the "Keepers of Wisdom," remained to tend the shrine of Alys'aril and the moon's memory crystals. The Dark Templar left three ships on Ehlna, one of which was capable of interstellar travel. Long before the Great War, the Alysaar scholar Ulrezaj, based on the sacred moon, accessed forbidden knowledge that eventually drove him mad. When he was caught by the other scholars, he refused to have the knowledge erased and fled.
The Battle of Ehlna#
In 2503 the Daelaam learned that one of the last preservers, named Zamara, was trapped within the mind of a terran named Jacob Ramsey, whose mind her presence was slowly killing. Ramsey was hunted by the dark archon Ulrezaj, by the zerg, and by the Terran Dominion, all of whom desired Zamara's knowledge. Hierarch Artanis authorized an expedition to rescue the preserver, and Prelate Mohandar revealed that Ramsey was likely to head for the secret Nerazim shrine of Alys'aril on Ehlna, where Zamara could be removed. Though Mohandar did not wish any Khalai to travel to the sacred moon, he was persuaded to allow a small expedition under Executor Selendis.
When Selendis arrived she found Ramsey and helped protect him as he underwent the process to separate himself from Zamara. While the ceremony to place the preserver into a pure khaydarin crystal was underway, Ulrezaj attacked, and Zamara trapped both the dark archon and herself within the crystal. Selendis retreated to Shakuras with the prison and a number of memory crystals as the Terran Dominion cleared the remaining zerg forces and captured Alys'aril, stealing a trove of protoss knowledge. The Dominion did not hold Ehlna for long; the Daelaam returned with a large fleet, forcing the terrans to retreat and reclaiming the shrine world.
Frequently asked questions
- What is Ehlna?
- Ehlna, a name meaning Haven in the Khalani tongue, was a moon sacred to the Dark Templar and the first world the exiled Nerazim settled after leaving Aiur. It held a Xel'Naga-crafted warp gate and energies that altered khaydarin crystals so they could store memories.
- Why was Ehlna important to the Dark Templar?
- The moon's unique energies modified khaydarin crystals so they could store information, an ability the Nerazim revered because it gave them a means to preserve memory despite having no preservers among them. It was also home to the secret Nerazim shrine of Alys'aril, the Sanctuary of Wisdom.
- Who were the Alysaar?
- The Alysaar, the Keepers of Wisdom, were scholars who remained on Ehlna after most of the Dark Templar departed. They stayed to tend the shrine of Alys'aril and the moon's memory crystals.
- What happened during the Battle of Ehlna?
- In 2503 the preserver Zamara, trapped within the terran Jacob Ramsey, was brought to Ehlna to be separated from him. Executor Selendis led a Daelaam expedition to protect Ramsey; when the dark archon Ulrezaj attacked, Zamara trapped both him and herself within a khaydarin crystal, and the Daelaam reclaimed the shrine world after an initial Dominion incursion.
- Who was Ulrezaj and how was he connected to Ehlna?
- Ulrezaj was an Alysaar scholar based on Ehlna who accessed forbidden knowledge that eventually drove him mad. When he was caught by the other scholars he refused to have the knowledge erased and fled, later becoming a dark archon who attacked during the Battle of Ehlna.
Sources
- WikiDaelaam — StarCraft Wiki entry
- WikiDark Templar — StarCraft Wiki entry
- WikiGrand Preserver — StarCraft Wiki entry
Spotted a factual error or a primary source we missed? Email a correction. Every flagged claim gets reviewed.
Related entries
Aiur
Aiur 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.
Shakuras
Shakuras 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.
Artanis
Artanis 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.
Daelaam
The 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.
Great War
The 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.
Haven
Haven was a temperate world near protoss space where refugees from Agria resettled during the Second Great War, only to draw a protoss purification fleet when a zerg infestation virus surfaced among them.
Mentioned in10 entries
Grand Preserver
The 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.
Jake Ramsey
Jacob 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.
Khalani
Khalani 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.
Khaydarin Crystal
Khaydarin 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.
Mohandar
Mohandar 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.
Nerazim
The 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.
Preserver
Preservers 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.
Selendis
Selendis 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.
Ulrezaj
Ulrezaj 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.
Xel'Naga
The xel'naga were a god-like race from the Void who seeded life across the universe and sought to perpetuate themselves through the Infinite Cycle. They created both the protoss and the zerg, and the rogue xel'naga Amon's bid to end the cycle drove the central conflicts of the Koprulu Sector.
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