Raszagal

Raszagal was the Matriarch of the Dark Templar until the Brood War, one of the most powerful psychics in the galaxy, and a figure renowned for her stoicism and calm. As a young member of the Rogue Tribes on Aiur she was saved from execution by the executor Adun, and across more than a thousand years she became the leader who guided her people on Shakuras and dreamed of one day reuniting the entire protoss race. Her life ended in tragedy after her will was enslaved by Sarah Kerrigan.

The Discord#

Raszagal was a young member of the Rogue Tribes, a secret protoss movement on Aiur that disdained the Khala, the innate psionic bond of their people. Captured by Conclave agents and held prisoner, she was treated poorly, given only a minimal ration of light, just enough to keep her alive. The Conclave kept the existence of the Rogues secret and ordered the Templar executor Adun to meet them alone, declaring the Rogues a threat that could spark another Aeon of Strife and commanding him to execute Raszagal and the others.

Adun interrogated Raszagal and found her views reasonable, and rather than kill her he hid her and the other Rogues and faked their executions. In the recorded execution, Raszagal insulted the Conclave in order to distract them from examining her wounds too closely. Anticipating that the Conclave would soon demand to witness a real execution, Adun began teaching the Rogues to hide themselves from the order, and Raszagal learned the new power fastest of all. The Rogues' rapid progress spiraled into uncontrolled psionic storms that alerted the Conclave to the deception, and the order resolved to banish them from Aiur forever. As the Rogues were loaded aboard an ancient but functional xel'naga ship, Adun's presence prompted their leader Kortanul to attack him, and when Raszagal demanded he stop, he turned on her people instead. To end the fighting before it sparked further storms, Adun took drastic measures, and the Rogues escaped though Adun did not live to see it.

Matriarch of the Dark Templar#

Around the year 2000, Raszagal became leader of the Dark Templar tribes on Shakuras. By 2500, at 1,045 years of age, she was one of the oldest living protoss and among the oldest Dark Templar, one of the few old enough to clearly remember Aiur from before the exile. Although her banishment left her with rage toward the Conclave, she bore no ill will toward the wider Khalai society and hoped one day to see the entire protoss race reunited. She had a daughter, Vorazun, by an ordinary member of Nerazim society, and entrusted the teaching of her vision of a unified protoss to her close comrade Mohandar. As she aged, her control over her formidable powers began to slip.

The fall of Aiur and the refugees#

After the death of the Overmind, the zerg rampaged across Aiur, killing nearly seventy percent of the protoss. Dark Prelate Zeratul proposed leading the survivors to Shakuras through a warp gate, and Judicator Aldaris, assured the Dark Templar would welcome them, reluctantly agreed. The refugees emerged on Shakuras only to find the zerg had followed, until Fenix and Commander Jim Raynor sealed the gate from the other side.

Raszagal met Zeratul and the refugee leaders at the Executor's Citadel at New Antioch. Willing to forgive the protoss of Aiur for the exile now that the Conclave that had enforced it was destroyed, she was even prepared to make peace with Aldaris. She explained that her people had settled on Shakuras after discovering a xel'naga temple whose power could destroy the zerg, but that activating it required the Uraj and Khalis crystals, which were off-world. Her first request was the destruction of the cerebrates that had infested the temple grounds, a task the protoss forces accomplished, slaying both with Dark Templar energies.

Enslavement to Kerrigan#

Before or early in the Brood War, Raszagal's will had been psionically dominated by Sarah Kerrigan before the Queen of Blades had even set foot on Shakuras, making her a slave to Kerrigan's will. When Kerrigan appeared requesting to speak with the protoss leaders, Raszagal agreed to the meeting. Kerrigan claimed she was no longer affiliated with the zerg attacking Shakuras and appealed for help to kill a new Overmind maturing on Char, which would otherwise bring her under its control. Protoss opinion was divided, with Aldaris refusing any cooperation and Artanis and Zeratul reluctant, but on the urging of the Matriarch they agreed, and Raszagal ordered the new allies to recover the Uraj and Khalis with all speed.

When the protoss returned with the crystals, they found Shakuras in uproar. Aldaris had rallied the Judicator and Templar refugees in revolt against Raszagal herself. The corrupted Matriarch claimed they were driven by old prejudices and ordered Aldaris terminated, tolerating no dissent with the zerg poised to strike. Zeratul sensed something wrong, remarking that Raszagal had always been a gentle soul, yet he followed her orders. After Aldaris was defeated and began to reveal that someone was manipulating Raszagal, Kerrigan arrived and killed him before he could finish, then boasted that she had manipulated the protoss into destroying her enemies before departing. Despite the loss, the xel'naga temple was activated, destroying the zerg invaders, and when Zeratul asked whether Kerrigan's treachery lingered, Raszagal reassured him it was merely the stress of recent events.

The reckoning#

As the Brood War continued and the United Earth Directorate seized control of the second Overmind, Kerrigan returned to Shakuras to abduct Raszagal and use her as a bargaining chip. The defenses of Talematros were overcome and the Matriarch taken to Char, with Zeratul following. Kerrigan demanded that Zeratul and his Dark Templar slay the young Overmind in exchange for Raszagal's return, and when he hesitated, the enslaved Raszagal convinced him the Overmind was a threat to the protoss. After Zeratul killed it, Kerrigan asked whether Raszagal wished to return to her tribe, and the Matriarch answered that she wished only to remain at Kerrigan's side.

Realizing Raszagal was wholly under Kerrigan's control, Zeratul had her spirited away and placed in a stasis cell while he prepared a dimensional recall to escape Char. Kerrigan sent all her broods to the surface and destroyed Zeratul's base in less than thirty minutes. With no hope of escape and unwilling to let Raszagal live on as Kerrigan's slave, Zeratul killed the Matriarch himself. As she lay dying she thanked him for his mercy and named him the new leader of the Dark Templar. In an unexpected move Kerrigan allowed Zeratul to leave, claiming she took sadistic pleasure in watching him live on in perpetual guilt.

Legacy#

Although Raszagal's life ended on Char, her legacy endured. Artanis began the difficult work of merging the Khalai and Dark Templar societies, and more than once her name was invoked to keep the peace, with the Dark Templar calling on her to watch over them and a statue of her standing in Talematros. As the years passed, however, many young Nerazim came to view her constant calm and philosophy of unity as a sign of weakness, and her daughter Vorazun openly criticized her, hoping to prevent the Hierarchy from using the Matriarch as a symbol and to step out of her mother's shadow. Vorazun eventually took Raszagal's place as Matriarch, succeeding Mohandar.