Vorazun

Vorazun was the matriarch of the Nerazim, the dark templar of the protoss, a skilled warrior fiercely committed to her people and their culture. The daughter of Raszagal, she defended Shakuras, rose to Matriarch after the death of Mohandar, and became one of Artanis's closest advisors in the Daelaam's war against Amon.

Daughter of Raszagal#

Vorazun was the daughter of Raszagal and was born and raised on Shakuras. When the zerg followed the Khalai refugees to Shakuras during the Brood War, she took part personally in the defense of her homeworld, taking the skull of a hydralisk she slew as a trophy that she would wear on her shoulder. After Zeratul killed Raszagal, Vorazun blamed him for her death, though she would later admit the hatred was largely emotional rather than reasoned. The loss sent her into a spiral of grief from which she was helped by Raszagal's trusted comrade Mohandar.

Dissent in the Hierarchy#

With the formation of the Daelaam Hierarchy, Vorazun was brought on as one of the Nerazim representatives, lesser in power than Dark Prelate Mohandar. She frequently disagreed with Artanis, and commented that he clearly wished to live a life in service to the Templar Caste rather than lead, yet she was among those who believed he was the only one who could rule both Khalai and Nerazim. When Artanis agreed to take on the mantle of hierarch, Vorazun and the Hierarchy were present.

As the Golden Armada neared completion for the reclamation of Aiur, Vorazun stood in staunch opposition to what she saw as the erosion of Nerazim culture, blocking a proposal to mine the mineral-rich Naszar range and arguing that actions, not words, should keep the Nerazim whole, an ideal she imparted to her pupil Taelus. When a squadron of phoenixes collided with a Nerazim transport, killing twenty-seven, and Artanis did not attend the funeral in favor of preparing the Armada, Vorazun was angered and resolved to speak out against the reclamation.

Ascension to Matriarch#

When her student Taelus seized the Citadel with a handful of insurgents, intent on provoking violence that would expel the Aiur protoss from Shakuras, Vorazun sought a diplomatic solution and entered the Citadel with Mohandar. When Taelus impaled and killed Mohandar, Vorazun engaged her former student in single combat and killed him. She carried Mohandar's body out before the crowd and declared that it was a Nerazim who had slain him, urging her people not to fear the new Daelaam future, and saw Taelus buried alongside Mohandar as a sign of respect. With Mohandar dead and the support of Artanis, Vorazun ascended to the role of Matriarch and claimed a seat on the Hierarchy, committing Nerazim forces to the Golden Armada while remaining behind on Shakuras with a cadre of her own.

The End War#

Some of Vorazun's Nerazim were committed to the battle on Aiur, and when Amon corrupted the Khala her forces, untouched by it, helped rally those who had severed their nerve cords in time to Artanis's side. When Shakuras came under zerg assault through a reactivated xel'naga warp gate, Vorazun contacted Artanis for aid, and after he cleared the launch bays so her ships could escape, she joined his war against Amon. Seeing the extent of the infestation, she resolved to destroy Shakuras rather than let Amon use it as a base, and she and Artanis overloaded the phase prism of the world's xel'naga temple to shatter the planet. She later observed that Artanis's act of holding off many foes alone meant he had undergone the Shadow Walk and was all but a dark templar.

When the Spear of Adun discovered Ulnar and Artanis ventured inside alone, he gave Vorazun command of the ship. After Amon trapped Artanis, First Ascendant Alarak teleported onto the bridge, and Vorazun, believing it an ambush, fought and contained him in a stasis field. Distrustful of the Tal'darim and convinced he would betray her, she nonetheless chose to trust Alarak when he insisted that Artanis had walked into a trap and broke free to remind her that her leader's life was at stake. Together they rescued Artanis and closed the portal to the Void. Afterward Vorazun tasked her best dark templar with tracking the Moebius Corps base, located in the Revanscar asteroid field, and served as an advisor to Artanis, using her scouts for reconnaissance against the corrupted Golden Armada.

Reclaiming Aiur#

When the Daelaam returned to Aiur to cast Amon into the Void, Vorazun served alongside Alarak in destroying the khaydarin crystal at Antioch, using her abilities to bypass zerg defenses and open the sealed gates of the ruined Citadel of the Executor while she defended him as he blasted open the final gate. When Artanis moved against the last crystal she committed dark templar to clear the way ahead, and in the assault on Amon's host body she landed a beachhead at one of the warp-in zones. In the final battle to defend the Keystone, Vorazun and her Nerazim held the western route, and after a brutal fight the combined might of the Daelaam held against Amon even as he sent the Golden Armada against them. Amon was expelled from the Khala.

After the war#

On Aiur, the Nerazim worked to rebuild protoss civilization with the Daelaam, though cultural divides created friction as an artistic movement toward the old Golden Age of Expansion clashed with Nerazim designs. At some point Vorazun took command of a void ray crewed deliberately by Khalai, Nerazim, purifiers, and Tal'darim renegades. In one such mission, investigating a broadcast from the secret Terran Dominion world of Tartarus, she rescued the former Dominion ghost Nova Terra and helped hunt a band of spectres loyal to the late Arcturus Mengsk, seeing in their terrazine-fueled rage an echo of the prejudice that had once divided the protoss. After the spectres surrendered, Vorazun took them and Nova to a remote temple on Aiur, where they trained in finding emotional balance, and counseled that the past could not be left behind but could be built upon for a brighter future.

Character#

A strong and charismatic individual, Vorazun was deeply committed and prideful in the ways of the Nerazim, valuing her people's individuality and culture. Though she originally feared the change the Daelaam brought, she came to fully believe in the benefits of a unified protoss and the mending of the rift between Khalai and Nerazim. She resembled her mother Raszagal but lacked her tranquility, having an outspoken and fiery temperament and a shorter temper than many protoss, though still more patient than any terran. Her relationship with Artanis was complicated by their many arguments, yet she secretly admired his unwavering belief in unification, comforted him when he revealed he had killed Zeratul under Amon's control, and by the End War had become close to his second-in-command. She held a firm dislike of the Tal'darim, especially Alarak, and long bore a grudge against Zeratul, though she came to admit he had been closer to the truth than anyone and vowed to honor him.