StarCraft II Creative Development Q&A - Part 2
In the second part of our continuing series, Brian Kindregan, co-lead writer of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty and lead writer of Heart of the Swarm, answers some of the community’s most burning lore questions.
Question: Jim had a family before he met Kerrigan — a son and wife. How does that play a role in his "one true love" vibe with Sarah?
Answer: We've never said Kerrigan was Jim's one true love.
Jim had a wonderful life for a few short years, and he lost it all. He entered a new phase of his life — or returned to an older one — as a soldier, where the days burn quicker and hotter. Emotions run high. Jim had strong feelings for Sarah, even loved her, but none of that is betrayed his feelings for his family. People grieve, and they move on...eventually.
Question: At the end of Wings of Liberty, Mengsk's empire was collapsing. The zerg had overrun most of the fringe worlds and were encroaching on the core worlds. Raynor had revealed Mengsk's genocide of Tarsonis to all the people of the Dominion, and they were in open revolt and rioting out in the streets of the major cities, including Augustgrad. His son had then commandeered half the fleet in a desperate move to kill the Queen of Blades. How has Mengsk maintained control of the Terran Dominion with all this war and conflict?
Answer: With a mix of brutality, incredible intrigue, and old-fashioned cunning. Mengsk's empire at the time of Heart of the Swarm is by no means secure, but he is crafty and has many mechanisms to hold on to power. If the Swarm had been out to dismantle his empire, that would have been too much to withstand...or if the Kel-Morians had still been a viable enemy at that time, that could have been the tipping point. But remember, the Swarm was taking planets only to search for the artifact, and the Swarm fractured when the Queen of Blades disappeared. And the Kel-Morians were barely holding it together at that time.
Question: Why did Jim Raynor turn his back on everything that happened in the original StarCraft and Brood War, in that instead of killing Kerrigan (he watched her do some BAD stuff), he fell in love with her?
Answer: The first thing to consider is how Jim perceived Kerrigan. Certainly Horner, Tychus, and the Hyperion crew all viewed her as an evil being who should pay for her crimes. They didn't see a distinction between Kerrigan and the Queen of Blades, and for a long time Jim probably didn't either. But the moment Valerian uttered those words about saving Sarah, a door opened in Jim's mind. Could there truly be the "old" Sarah — cold-eyed assassin, but not a mass murderer — somewhere inside the ruthless alien queen? Was it possible? Jim didn’t know the answer to that for sure. He'd seen the Queen of Blades deceive everyone before, and he wouldn’t put all his trust in Valerian's judgment. So for Jim, it came down to his gut, as it always does. Jim had a choice: hold on to his hatred for Mengsk and the Queen of Blades, or grasp the hope that perhaps he could fix this. And his gut told him to take that chance.
Jim has lost so much in his life — more than most people — and that made the idea of redeeming Kerrigan all the more powerful in his mind. He'd lost family, friends, worlds, ideals...and he thought he'd lost Kerrigan, too. Then he learned there was hope of redeeming her. This was the first time he'd had a chance to regain something he'd thought lost, his only opportunity to make things better rather than stop them from getting worse.
Question: How do units like the mutalisk and banshee fly in space if there is no air?
Answer: Another great question that has been the subject of internal debate, hair pulling, and furniture throwing. Basically, mutas produce a gas that pushes against their own mass as it’s excreted. Even in a vacuum, this causes propulsion, because the gas is pushing against the muta as it’s expelled. Maneuvering is difficult for a muta, but it can release the gas in a range of directions.
When mutas are in an atmosphere, they simply use their wings. The gas is reserved for space travel. And if anyone's wondering why they flap their wings in space? Instinct. Just like a dog pumping its hind leg when you scratch its belly.
For any terran or protoss unit, the answer is even simpler: it’s outfitted with standard propulsion equipment only for use when traveling in space.
If you’re looking for more lore, here’s the first part of our StarCraft II Creative Development Q&A. We’ll have many more questions and answers for you in the weeks to come.
Comments (62)
Great piece of design :D
Starcraft is (was) about an overreaching epic story, and this is like bad lovey-dovey fan faction coupled with geektalk about explaining stuff that noone asked for explaining (noone sane at least). This game needs a good story arc, not hammy explanations why ships and buildings aren't to scale, how medivacs heal chopped-off limbs from space or why roaches can burrow through lowered depots but not through raised ones.
I pretty much lost hope that SC will provide any kind of a resemblance to a good story, but please at least try. Retconning and than finding lame excuses for it is not good storytelling, it's apologizing. Quit it.
1
in the of the broodwars (the queen of blades campaign) jim raynor and infested kerrigen help mensk to reconquer khorhal and the dominion out the hands of the UED `?
2 why jim raynor said in the campaign treu colours that he will kill kerringen (after destroying the fenix)
3 jim raynor was close with the protoss why he dont ask artanis or zeratul to join the rebels and kill mensk ?
4 the UED where from earth and earth is the lost homeworld of the terrans why dont the ppl in the Koprulu Sector ask the UED where they can find earth ? (confederate soldiers where also allied with the UED and the raynor riders too they are left cofederate - survivors of the UED fleet and just rebellion)
5
why the kel moria combine is never been seen in the campaign of sc (alone 1 mission in sc 1 i thought (and that was with zerg))
6
where is John raynor (the lost son of jim raynor in the storys he have survived that crash)
7 (not about the story)
whats going on with sc ghost will that game ever been published (i think that earn lost of money if blizz do a multiplayer with xbox live)
in the of the broodwars (the queen of blades campaign) jim raynor and infested kerrigen help mensk to reconquer khorhal and the dominion out the hands of the UED. but why they have do that now is mengsk again the leader of the strongest terran origination of the Koprulu Sector ?
to 1. Mengsk showed his true ambition to rule the sector, or burn it, so Raynor was betrayed by the Sons of Korhal, Jim replaced one dictator with another, simply put.
to2. why not ? in order to stop the swarm u gota defeat its leader, in that case it was the Queen of Blades after the Overmind was replaced with her. But i don't know if the Overmind know that his reincanation was held dorment on Char so Kerrigan could takeover the Swarm.
to 3. Raynor's alliance with the Protoss is merely temporarly, infact without Raynors ambition the Protoss would have cleansed the sector from all life, regardless of heritage in order to stop the Zerg.
The Protoss won't repeat the mistakes of their Creators, they knew of the History that the Xel'Naga interfered with the young Protoss and Zerg and they know the disaster what followed after that change in evolution so they would never allowe mere human to wield Protoss gear
to4 the whole knowledge was lost with the 4 ships, even if Earth sill exists no one knows if stil humans live there. There was a reason Earth sended these conlony ships ^^
to5 Kel Moria i'd say is megacorperation gone haywire and was crushed in the civil war between UED and SoK, so its destroyed i think.
to6 can't tell, never read a book bout SC, some merchendise products won't be aviable here ._.
to7 afik SC Ghost was stopped long ago so we don't gonna see it in the original way as it was planned. That Nova appeared in WoL was an easter egg ...
but
question 1 was after he have made the raynor rider/ raynor survivors
so kerrigen was killed
than he escape from tarsonis (mission 10 destroy the ion cannon)
the magistrade and raynor (and some other) start with the raynor riders
but after that the UED have control the dominion raynor and fenix have help him
2 fixed
3its was not quit temporary raynor is a legend in the protoss he have help to defeat the overmind but maybe the protoss wont start a war after they have lost 75 % of there ppl
4 mwa i dont know the the 3 ships have landed safely (the 4th was crahsed) and they have secure the ATLAS (a kind of AI) but it was lost i thought so they cant have coordinations about earth but all terrans know that earth was there orginal planet and they know there are 'humans' (even the protoss do a quote from artanis : zeratul ? do you fear this humans we go in an battle of glory to see there skills. (i thought it was on leven 4 with the space station and that generators))
but after arrive the UED why some ppl dont ask like the confederate or the last survived UED agents (there are some survivors they have join merc originations like the raynor riders (like hall) and some have escape to umodja
but its impossible all total data is lost about earth
5 no they aren't some terrans beleve that the kelmore is stronger than the dominion kelmoria is orginal a gather company but they even protect moria
the kelmoria is leaded under dominion rules
but the Umojan Protectorate is never been seen in combat and they are anti dominion you must say that the dominion and the Umojan Protectorate must have war with each other ?
a funny detail shau sara and mar sara are under the kelmoria but shau sara is destoyer and mar sara was former under the kel moria
6 oke
7 yhe i know but why they dont restart with sc ghost i think they blizz can earn so many money with it if they make a nice multi player on Xbox live
******'SPOILER ALERT ABOUT LORE AND ZERG INC!********
I think I read in one of your novels (can't remember which one since I've read so many) that Zerg has a sort of exoskeleton which allows space traveling.
I'd also like to point out lore-wise that Zerg (slightly theorycrafting here too) started out as a bacteria, a meere micro organism which grew and grew. It attacked another creature of some sort and absorbed every gene it though useful thus mutating itself. This continued for centuries until it had made its own sort of ecosystem and a lot of insects are bisexual meaning that they have the ability to reproduce with itself. Now the meere bacteria had grown an army of loyal subjects which made the Zerg and the one to rule them was the Overmind. Yet the Overmind could not reach for the starts, it was planetbound which made it limit its evolution.
But then... The Xel'Naga came and gave them some sort of space whale, a large animal which roamed the vast void of space. These flying creatures had the ability to withstand vaccum and produce this "gas" (which is the first time I've heard of it). The Zerg could now infest and evolve beyond the stars and begin it's crusade to intergalactic domination.
How much of the books we buy from the shelves can we rely on, are we selfproclaimed experts once we've read a dussin books? I feel that some of the things I read aren't really true. I sent a mail a few months ago to Blizzard where I asked if I could get a mail to correspond with the lore writers, sadly I have not received a respons. Maybe I should seek them out at a Blizzcon and tell them which page, which line I find these "errors".....
to the other part : Zerg can warptravel ! the Overmind commenced one after he consumed Kerrigan ( actually after the mission u gotta protect the cocoon and transport it through a big Toss base to a marker ... ) so there is no need for evry single unit to travel as fast as light aslong the Swarm can jump greater distances
who said that Kerrigan was evil ? the Quen of Blades only showed a way she could release her anger and hatred and feast on it, as far i can tell it is like another symbiotic lifeform whick puts its Venom in his victim but she had no chance to fight back since evryone and evrything she stands for betrayed her, left her to die in New Gettisberg.
And her Ghost Training wasn't a happy childhood so why should she spare the human race, she only returned the favors she was given.
Terran's needs something like oxygen to keep themselves alive in space, so there goes your argument. But the fire-y stuff happens for just a brief second.
but that would be to obvious i guess ^^
Now i'm not saying they actually need this (or if they do) while in space, i'm only giving a possible answer here.
Answer: Another great question that has been the subject of internal debate, hair pulling, and furniture throwing. Basically, mutas produce a gas that pushes against their own mass as it’s excreted. Even in a vacuum, this causes propulsion, because the gas is pushing against the muta as it’s expelled. Maneuvering is difficult for a muta, but it can release the gas in a range of directions.
When mutas are in an atmosphere, they simply use their wings. The gas is reserved for space travel. And if anyone's wondering why they flap their wings in space? Instinct. Just like a dog pumping its hind leg when you scratch its belly.
For any terran or protoss unit, the answer is even simpler: it’s outfitted with standard propulsion equipment only for use when traveling in space."
__________________________
Oh my dear Lord... I am having another "midi-chlorians are microscopic lifeforms" moment all over again... please stop...
Better leave it unexplained than write such nonsense. Along with "how can 10 marines shoot down a massive battle cruiser" and "how can a massive piece of armor like a viking stay airborne and not drop out of the sky like a stone".
Battlecruisers can also fly in atmosphere and stay airborne without falling.
The reason is anti-gravitational tech.
I just find it odd that they acording to lore had no contact with each other, but for some reason they devople the same ships, and other techs aswell.
While earth should (atleast in my mind) have more advance tech, since they had quite a few years to devople in while the others was stuck in the ships, and the set back they had when they crashed landed.
I still think there is some explaning to do there
The confederacy must have had contact with Earth and UED in secret for countless decades, probably for a full century, since the Confederacy was formed in 2323. Rumors about this secret contact probably were heard by many in Koprulu sector, but without any evidence, they were just that, rumors.
It kinda makes sense and is weird that just after the Confederacy is toppled by Mengks you have the UED coming in force to get rid of the Dominion and enslave the Overmind.
DuGaulle even states in his last letter to his wife that the beasts they were sent to Koprulu to tame were untamable, hence they must have known about the zerg prior to coming.
UED and the confederacy must have changed technology in secret.
One other question is why the UED never attempted to conquer the Koprulu sector before?
I think that there was no need, since, probably, the Confederacy elected body shared almost every information with Earth and were UED sympathisers.
I also assume that as soon as the presence of Protoss and Zerg was out in the opened in Koprulu sector and the UED found out about it,...then they've decide to get involved personally.
The presence of UED in Koprulu sector was intentional and pre-determined.
but I only could find that the UED had like sensors or a kind of tracking devise on the Ships they sent out, and kept an eye on the koprulu sector.
but some clearity from blizzard about this lore gap could be nice.
(Sorry for the late reply)