Sons of Korhal

The Sons of Korhal was a terran resistance movement dedicated to toppling the Terran Confederacy. It was led by Arcturus Mengsk, who founded it in the wake of the Confederate destruction of his homeworld, Korhal. Drawing recruits from Umoja and the Fringe Worlds, the Sons of Korhal won a long campaign of victories against the Confederacy and ultimately reorganized itself into the Terran Dominion, with Mengsk crowned emperor. Among its members were Sarah Kerrigan and Jim Raynor, both of whom would later break from the movement.

Origins on Korhal#

Korhal was colonized by settlers from Tarsonis and became known for its advanced science and research facilities, contributing to many of the Confederacy's military and technological advances. It nonetheless remained a vassal to the Old Families, and over time agitators called for outright secession. After repeated riots, the Confederates declared martial law, which only inflamed the populace further.

Senator Angus Mengsk became the voice of the secession movement. His efforts led to a senate vote threatening war on the Confederacy if Korhal's demands for autonomy went unmet, and the Umojan Ruling Council secretly pledged to aid him. Mengsk captured all of the Confederate outposts on Korhal and declared the planet's independence at the end of the Guild Wars in 2489. He was then assassinated alongside his wife and young daughter by Sarah Kerrigan and two other ghosts.

Arcturus Mengsk, who had never agreed with his father's anti-Confederate rhetoric, was filled with a desire for vengeance. With the assistance of the Umojan diplomat Ailin Pasteur, he took charge of the rebellion and rallied the militant groups that had followed Angus. Korhal was then obliterated by a salvo of one thousand Apocalypse-class nuclear missiles fired from Tarsonis, which Arcturus witnessed from orbit.

Foundation and early campaign#

The attack on Korhal wiped out most of the rebellion, but a small number of outraged recruits from Umoja and the Fringe Worlds joined Arcturus Mengsk's organization, which he named the Sons of Korhal. He pressed a crashed Confederate battlecruiser into service and renamed it the Hyperion. Public outrage over Korhal brought an endless stream of volunteers, and the Sons of Korhal quickly became the most wanted fugitives in the sector, winning victories over the Confederacy with methods that ranged from harsh to nefarious.

Horace Warfield quietly directed many of Mengsk's attacks, his knowledge of Confederate military strength proving invaluable. One of the rebellion's early operations was an infiltration of the Fujita Facility on Vyctor 5, where the rebels discovered the young psychic Sarah Kerrigan, whose memory had been wiped. She became a valuable member of Mengsk's team. The movement also recruited Matt Horner from Tyrador IX, who undertook Confederate military training to serve the cause from within.

War with the Confederacy#

The Sons of Korhal resorted to increasingly ruthless tactics as their insurgency continued, and by 2497 Mengsk believed they could field an army to match the Confederacy. In December 2499, following the arrival of the zerg, the movement intervened on Mar Sara, evacuating colonists the Confederacy had abandoned and liberating the marshal Jim Raynor and his militia from a Confederate prison ship. Raynor raided the Jacobs Installation and recovered data discs proving the Confederacy had known of the zerg's approach and had been experimenting on captured specimens.

The rebels then fled to Antiga Prime, where Mengsk sent Kerrigan and Raynor to incite a revolt against the Confederate garrison. When the stolen discs were found to contain psi emitter designs, Mengsk had Kerrigan plant an emitter to lure the zerg onto a Confederate strike force, allowing the Sons of Korhal to escape. The group also rescued General Edmund Duke, whose Alpha Squadron then defected to the rebellion.

The fall of Tarsonis and the Dominion#

The campaign culminated in the assault on Tarsonis, the Confederate capital. Duke planted psi emitters on the central orbital platform with Mengsk's authorization, drawing the zerg to the Confederacy's heart. When Tassadar deployed protoss ground forces to engage the Swarm, Mengsk sent Kerrigan to stop the interference. After she neutralized the protoss, a wave of zerg advanced on her position, and Mengsk ordered the fleet to withdraw, deliberately abandoning her to be captured and infested.

Raynor, joined by Horner and the former Mar Sara magistrate, deserted Mengsk over the betrayal and destroyed the Confederate ion cannon to cover their escape from Tarsonis. With the Confederacy collapsed, the Sons of Korhal became the dominant terran power. Promising victory over the aliens, Mengsk reorganized the movement into the Terran Dominion and crowned himself emperor, with former members given preference for positions of power in the new regime.