Tal'darim

The Tal'darim, known among themselves as "the Forged" or "the Chosen," were a fanatical and warlike sect of protoss taken from Aiur by Amon and his followers as they abandoned the planet shortly before the Aeon of Strife. They stood apart from both the Khalai and the Nerazim, and like the latter they did not use the Khala. For countless ages they served Amon, a fallen xel'naga whom they worshipped as their god, until First Ascendant Alarak uncovered his deception and turned the sect against him.

Origins and the departure from Aiur#

The Tal'darim separated from the rest of protoss kind eons ago, taken away with Amon and his xel'naga not long after they abandoned Aiur before the Aeon of Strife. When the xel'naga departed, they carried away the protoss who remained loyal to them, and those protoss would become the Tal'darim, the "chosen" who continued to worship the xel'naga with fanatical devotion. Having left before the Khala united their distant kin, the Tal'darim never held the connection to the Khala that bound the Khalai, and over the ages they developed a wholly separate methodology and culture.

They were taken to the sigma quadrant, where Amon left them with an order: "Defeat your masters, or rise beyond them." The Tal'darim interpreted this to mean that through obedience they would one day ascend alongside him. In truth the command was a lie, a means for Amon to keep the sect in his thrall. The title "Tal'darim," which translated as "The Forged," was taken from a group of mythological servants to the xel'naga, and they came to base themselves out of Slayn, an ancient stronghold from which the faction operated.

Culture and the Chain of Ascension#

The Tal'darim were the most ruthless of all the protoss kindreds, with morals and ethics their brethren regarded as barbaric and a power in battle that none could deny. Their warriors wielded bane blades, ancient red psionic blades that drew their power from the Void. The whole of their society adhered to a Chain of Ascension, a rigid hierarchy that determined who held command and was ruled by a Highlord. No Tal'darim could fight or kill another above his rank unless he first challenged that superior to Rak'Shir, a rite of ritual combat; to attack a superior outside a Rak'Shir duel was to invite public execution. Those judged too weak to be of service to their Highlord were hunted down and killed by blood hunters, and the Tal'darim took no prisoners in battle.

A Tal'darim could ascend the chain by winning a Rak'Shir duel or by moving up as openings appeared. Those high in the chain were called ascendants, and the one at its summit was the Highlord, an office many had held over the ages. It was a philosophy of survival of the fittest: as the weak were removed from the chain, the Tal'darim grew stronger, and only younglings were exempt from its workings. On Slayn, members were expected to fend for themselves during the day cycle, while at night, all were held equal in their god's gaze, and the sect carried out sacrifices in keeping with their belief.

The Tal'darim kept no scientists or engineers among their own ranks, holding that every Tal'darim was a warrior and that one's strength in battle defined the individual. They instead captured Khalai Caste engineers and interrogated them for engineering secrets, and they invested their resources in offensive technology over defensive. Closer examination of their war machines revealed them to be near-exact duplicates of Khalai designs, with little variation beyond construction materials. This led the Daelaam to speculate that tales of lost Khalai expeditions and missing patrols across the eons may have been the work of Tal'darim raiders pilfering their technology, and there was truth in it, for Tal'darim shipwrights excelled at reverse-engineering Khalai work for their own ends. They had likewise stolen Nerazim designs, envying that kindred's mastery over time. Their architecture resembled that of Daelaam society but employed harsher edges and stood tall and proud, redesigned from stolen templates to present a more intimidating and somber appearance. They named their worlds to honor significant events.

Religion and the worship of Amon#

The Tal'darim worshipped Amon, a fallen xel'naga, as their god, while also giving worship to the xel'naga as a group of deities. Sarah Kerrigan judged that this devotion made them all the more dangerous. They followed Amon's creed and carved his words into their own bodies as demonstrations of their zeal, believing that through his will the Breath of Creation had been shared with them and that through his blessing one could travel safely through the Void. They held that once Amon had undone the corrupt cycle of the xel'naga, they would become their own masters and the Day of Ascension would arrive, and they sought to become hybrids and stand at Amon's side. At least some Khalai regarded them as heretics, having believed for years that they were devoted servants of the xel'naga before discovering their true allegiance to Amon. Their use of terrazine was bound up with this faith: they gathered the gas across many worlds and used it to bring themselves close to the Void, and by association to Amon. This devotion endured until Alarak took over as Highlord, after which the Tal'darim sought revenge on Amon for having deceived them.

The Second Great War and the Keystone#

During the Second Great War, Tal'darim Guardians based on a worldship and led by Executor Nyon came into conflict with Raynor's Raiders on numerous occasions, chiefly over pieces of the Keystone. The Raiders first crossed them on Bel'Shir, where they had traveled seeking terrazine; negotiations failed, Nyon ordered his troops to execute the intruders, and the Raiders made off with seven canisters of the gas.

The Keystone itself became the great point of contention. It consisted of five pieces scattered across the Koprulu sector, four of them in Tal'darim custody: one in a shrine on Monlyth, one in a xel'naga temple on the dead world of Xil, another in a vault on the old world of Typhon XI, and the last aboard a worldship in the Sigma Quadrant. The Tal'darim viewed the components as holy relics and appointed themselves their guardians against all thieves. Commander Jim Raynor and Crown Prince Valerian Mengsk sought the Keystone to strike at the zerg and ultimately restore Sarah Kerrigan to human form, while the zerg made their own attempts to seize the pieces. On Monlyth the Raiders and the Swarm both assaulted the Tal'darim guards and, despite the defenders' stone guardians, the Raiders carried off the artifact. On Xil the Tal'darim wiped out a Moebius Foundation expedition before the Raiders fought their way into the temple and stole the component, prompting Nyon to threaten Raynor directly. On Typhon XI the Tal'darim dug in even as a supernova bore down on the world, and they were consumed by the spreading fire after the Raiders again absconded with the piece. Finally the Raiders attacked the derelict worldship in the Sigma Quadrant, where the Tal'darim also held Nerazim prisoners who claimed to be victims of treachery; the Raiders destroyed the ship, and Nyon declared that he would simply return to the xel'naga.

Amon reborn and the war against the deceiver#

Raynor used the Keystone to restore Sarah Kerrigan to human form on Char, and the Queen of Blades' essence was converted into Void energies stored within the artifact. Narud then stole the artifact and traveled to Atrias, a Tal'darim-guarded world, where he revived Amon using the Keystone's Void energy. The reborn Amon used a void catalyst to communicate with Highlord Ma'lash. Another group of Tal'darim was found inhabiting the lower levels of Skygeirr Station in the service of Narud, defending Amon's temple there and willingly submitting to Narud's experiments; they failed to hold the temple against Sarah Kerrigan and Alexei Stukov, who went on to defeat Narud's hybrids and kill Narud himself.

Under Highlord Ma'lash, the Tal'darim based on Atrias raided Daelaam colonies for Templar Caste prisoners, delivering them to a Moebius Foundation base to be experimented upon in the creation of hybrids, where most did not survive. Praetor Talis tracked the captives, and as her forces moved to rescue them, Dark Prelate Zeratul arrived seeking the last piece of a prophecy and Kerrigan arrived with a zerg force bent on destroying anything tied to Amon. Talis freed the templar, and the protoss carried the fight to Atrias, where Zeratul infiltrated the Temple of Erris to recover the prophecy. Within, Ma'lash used a void catalyst to receive Amon's order that the Tal'darim go to war against the protoss; the Daelaam severed the connection to forestall the mobilization, and Zeratul escaped with the prophecy to bring it to Artanis, though the rest of his forces were killed.

At Amon's command Ma'lash gathered the Tal'darim for war. He sent First Ascendant Alarak and a contingent of the Death Fleet against the protoss world of Glacius, where the Khalai were reviving Purifier technology, but Artanis slipped through Alarak's displacement beam and recovered the technology, and Alarak warned that they would meet again. As the Daelaam moved on Ulnar, Alarak gave chase and hounded Artanis and Kerrigan through the temple, which proved to be a trap Amon used to open a portal to the Void. Alarak, having already discovered that Amon's true goal was to consume all life, including the Tal'darim, seized the moment to turn against his god. He boarded the Spear of Adun, won the trust of Matriarch Vorazun, and helped seal the void portal to save Artanis.

Alarak and his followers agreed to aid Artanis against Amon on the condition that Artanis help him defeat Ma'lash in Rak'Shir and so claim the title of Highlord. On Slayn the Daelaam fought through the terrazine fog and slew four of Ma'lash's guardians, which Alarak revealed had not been part of the rite at all but had removed any ally who might challenge him afterward. Alarak then met Ma'lash and challenged him, and with Artanis lending psionic support against the Tal'darim and hybrids who backed the old Highlord, Alarak prevailed, slew Ma'lash, and became the new Highlord. He declared that the Tal'darim would fight Amon and destroy him for his betrayal.