Reclamation of Aiur

The Reclamation of Aiur was the opening battle of the End War, the campaign by which Hierarch Artanis and the Daelaam sought to retake Aiur, the lost homeworld of the protoss. Intended as the triumphant reclamation of the planet abandoned during the fall of Aiur, it instead ended in disaster when Amon corrupted the Khala and enslaved the Templar connected to it. Rather than restoring the protoss to their birthplace, the failed invasion forced Artanis to flee aboard the Spear of Adun and opened the way to the far larger conflict that followed.

Background#

Aiur had been lost to the zerg during the Great War and abandoned by the Khalai in the opening stages of the Brood War. The protoss returned to the world on at least one occasion, and in 2503 a body of survivors made their way to Shakuras through a warp gate, yet Aiur itself remained under the control of the Queen of Blades. In response, the Golden Armada was assembled at the behest of Hierarch Artanis, its express purpose being one day to reclaim the homeworld. After Kerrigan's de-infestation during the Second Great War, a unit was sent to Aiur's moon of Saalok to prepare for the planet's liberation; the team was wiped out, but not before it warned the protoss that the zerg there were under another's control, and the fleet was pulled back.

At the conclusion of the Second Great War, as Kerrigan led the zerg away from the Koprulu sector, the Daelaam were at last presented with the chance to reclaim Aiur. Artanis took the Golden Armada under his command and led it to the planet, for its recovery was the one common interest shared by both the Khalai and the Nerazim. He hoped that a new protoss civilization might be raised from the rubble of the old. Though Matriarch Vorazun could not commit the full strength of the Nerazim, she sent a force to aid the Armada. By this stage the zerg on Aiur were no longer under Kerrigan's control.

Course of the battle#

In the opening stages of the invasion at least one khundelar unit was sent to the surface, led by Kaldalis. It came at once under zerg attack and was nearly wiped out, but it held long enough for a beachhead to be established by pylon, and scores of zealots were teleported down through the work of a probe named Probius. Many had fallen, but the Armada now had a foothold.

As more Templar stood ready to deploy, the dark prelate Zeratul made his presence known, warning Artanis of the looming threat of Amon and asking that the invasion be halted. Selendis refused to listen, and Artanis, though more cordial, judged that too many lives had already been spent to turn back. More Templar were deployed outside the ruined city of Kherrisan to reactivate its warp conduits, which once secured would let the protoss move across the surface of Aiur with impunity. As they advanced against the feral zerg in the ruins, they met a brood showing unusual signs of coordination, soon revealed as hybrid reavers, which the Firstborn destroyed. With the conduits secured, Artanis turned command of the invasion over to Selendis while he spoke further with Zeratul, who told him that they had to recover the Keystone, the key to defeating Amon. To that end Artanis asked Zeratul to travel to the Terran Dominion world of Korhal and acquire it.

The Khala corrupted#

Before Zeratul could depart, Amon revealed himself, corrupting the Khala and enslaving the Templar bound to it. Only the Nerazim, disconnected from the Khala, were spared. Zeratul freed Artanis by severing his nerve cords, but in doing so the dark prelate was fatally wounded. Before he died, Zeratul told Artanis that the Keystone would lead them to the Xel'Naga.

The reclamation having failed, Artanis had no choice but to retreat. He worked to save as many Templar as he could, the phase-smith Karax among them, before making for the Spear of Adun. With Karax's aid he reactivated the ancient ship and escaped the planet. Shortly afterward Amon unleashed legions of hybrids in a galactic assault, bringing about the End War.