Khaydarin Crystal

Khaydarin crystals were psi-active, monolithic psionic artifacts left behind by the xel'naga on various worlds. Largely blue-hued organic stones, though varying in color from purple to green, their name meant focuser of the heart in the Khalani language, and they were frequently associated with xel'naga temples. The protoss drew upon them to strengthen their psionic bond and to power their technology, and it was a group of these crystals that the mystic Khas used to restore the protoss psionic link and bring an end to the Aeon of Strife.

Nature and properties#

Khaydarin crystals felt cold to the touch and caused an aching pain along with a tingling sensation, at least to terrans; protoss felt the tingling but without the pain, a difference that may have owed to the size of the crystal as much as to differing physiology. The crystals could be affected by outside stimuli to a degree, with notable examples such as the Khalis and Uraj being altered by their users and environments over time. Larger crystals possessed an ability amounting to levitation, demonstrated in pylons and even in landmasses on Aiur, where giant crystals floated in the sky with rock strata formed around them. The energies of the crystals could only be processed by creatures created by the xel'naga.

Uses of the crystals#

The xel'naga had used khaydarin crystals to aid their genetic experiments in an unknown manner, and also as computers and as storehouses of information, a particularly large crystal appearing to act as a xel'naga-designed artificial intelligence within the caverns beneath Aiur. The protoss used the crystals to strengthen their psionic bond and to power their psionic technology, to enhance their psionic energies, and to focus and calm their minds. High templar wore khaydarin to enhance their wide range of psionic abilities, and like the xel'naga the protoss could store information within the crystals, particularly those on the moon of Ehlna, where unique energies allowed it; such crystals became worn with use and required the transfer of their memories to fresh stones.

Some protoss aerospace craft used khaydarin crystals directly. Arbiters possessed khaydarin cores, the crystals formed part of the computer system of the warp prism, and a huge crystal infused with vast psionic energy sat at the heart of each mothership, providing not only its power but its propulsion and control. Carriers and other capital ships drew their power from a large crystal known as the crystal matrix. The crystals were renowned for their reliability, for before two failed simultaneously aboard motherships during the Golden Age of Expansion, only a single khaydarin crystal had ever failed aboard a ship. Protoss structures drew their energy from the great psionic matrix that emanated from Aiur, and while a nexus provided the link to that matrix, it was khaydarin crystal-based pylons that actually tapped the energy needed to power new colonies, each pylon generating a short-ranged aura of psionic power.

To a limited extent, terrans were able to use khaydarin crystals to control zerg. The most famous example was Alan Schezar's control of zerg on Aiur, achieved with captured protoss technology and ghosts. The dark archon Ulrezaj went further, creating six warped copies of khaydarin crystals from dark templar and zerg energy, which could be used to control the Swarm; one was used to control zerg on Korhal, and Ulrezaj used the others to enslave zerg on Char as part of a scheme against the protoss settling on Shakuras, until Zeratul ordered the crystals destroyed and the enslaved zerg fell dormant.

History#

A fairly large amount of khaydarin was present on Aiur, homeland of the protoss, seemingly left behind by the xel'naga. The mystic Khas and his student Temlaa came upon a group of these crystals during their travels in the latter part of the Aeon of Strife and quickly discovered their ability to recreate the lost protoss psionic link. Studying the crystals enabled the two to decipher numerous old xel'naga artifacts that they and the Shelak Tribe had guarded through the civil war, leading them to the xel'naga caverns, an underground xel'naga city, where they found a giant khaydarin crystal at its center. The crystal had previously been used to drain the lives of several protoss, but Khas resolved to subject himself to it; as it began to drain him, Temlaa reversed the ability so that it healed him instead, and when Khas awoke he told Temlaa that the crystal had shared with him and taught him much about the protoss psionic link and the xel'naga. From this came the restoration of the Khala and the end of the Aeon of Strife.

The zerg Overmind learned to manipulate the energies of the crystals after absorbing many xel'naga. Before the Great War, the templar of Tassadar discovered zerg organisms near terran space and, unable to identify them, at last subjected them to khaydarin crystals, which reacted naturally with the creatures and revealed them as creations of the xel'naga. During the Fall of Aiur the zerg obtained small amounts of the crystals, and the Overmind insisted that the protoss temple standing where the xel'naga had first set foot on Aiur be destroyed and a crystal placed on the cleared site so that the Overmind could manifest itself upon the world.