Raven

The Raven was a terran support aircraft developed by the Terran Dominion as a cheaper replacement for the aging science vessel. Controlled remotely by a pilot while a powerful onboard AI ran its critical systems, the Raven combined the functions of a surveillance drone with those of a combat engineer, detecting cloaked and burrowed enemies and assembling equipment in the field from an internal manufacturing plant. It became a common sight across the Fringe Worlds and saw service with Jim Raynor and his Raiders, the Dominion and other terran factions through the Second Great War and the End War.

Software and AI#

The Raven was controlled remotely by a terran pilot while the craft's computer housed the main AI core that regulated all critical ship systems and sub-systems. The AI closely monitored variables such as the craft's overall condition, temperature, energy levels and external hazards, processing billions of instructions per second and affording the Raven a considerable degree of independent thought and decision making. A few military consultants, speaking anonymously, expressed concern that so powerful an AI might gain sentience with disastrous results. The official response held that there was no evidence to back up those claims and therefore no reason to worry.

Hardware and capabilities#

Functionally the Raven was a robust, all-around air-mobile workhorse that combined the functions of a surveillance drone and a combat engineer. Layers of neosteel and synthetic weave made up the bulk of its fuselage, with space-grade fabric between each layer for insulation. The craft was built to operate in harsh climates: its stabilizer fins and key structural points carried microscopic weeping holes that released a multipurpose solution to break down ice buildups or cool the fuselage as conditions demanded.

The Raven excelled at protection and reconnaissance. Its advanced sensors could detect cloaked and burrowed enemies and unmask protoss hallucinations, drawing on two radars operating at high and low frequencies and four high-resolution multi-spectral cameras for long-range target acquisition. When its low-frequency radar detected anomalies, heuristic detection algorithms supported by thermal and electrical imaging swept the area for cloaked threats. An advanced onboard manufacturing plant let hundreds of thousands of AI-operated nanomachines assemble mission-critical equipment such as the auto-turret, the point defense drone and the seeker missile, and the craft could alternatively carry an interference matrix and anti-armor missiles. These production capabilities gave the Raven greater flexibility than the science vessel it succeeded.

History and operators#

The Terran Dominion initially designed the Raven to provide low-level protection to its most isolated outposts, but its success in that role brought it into more active frontline service as a battlefield support unit, replacing the older and costlier science vessel. Further upgrades pushed the craft into an increasingly active role as conflict levels escalated, and Ravens became a common sight among the Fringe Worlds and across the wider Koprulu sector. Many citizens wondered whether the protection they offered was merely an excuse for the Dominion to spy on its own people.

Raynor's Raiders had access to Ravens as early as the opening months of the Second Great War, and the craft remained in use among terran factions through that conflict and the End War. During the Defenders of Man Insurgency the Dominion deployed advanced Ravens with the covert ops crew of Nova Terra, capable of deploying spider mines and bio-mechanical repair drones that healed both biological and mechanical units. The Dominion Special Forces made extensive use of modified Ravens, rumored to be sensitive enough to hear a Kel-Morian miner's whispers two kilometers underground, while the Umojan Protectorate developed its own Ravens fitted with an artificial intelligence more sophisticated than anything Dominion engineers would have approved. Known variants included the Raven Type-II and the Theia Raven.