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A dynamic and respected Korhalian senator, Angus Mengsk, became the voice of this movement. His efforts culminated in a senate vote to declare war on the Confederacy if Korhal’s demands for greater autonomy were not satisfied. The Confederacy responded by sending ghosts – psionically enhanced assassins – to kill Senator Mengsk and his family, hoping to stifle the secession by silencing its greatest and most vocal advocate. The ghosts were lethally effective, slaying every member of the Mengsk family on Korhal IV.

The senator’s only son, Arcturus, was off planet at the time. Driven by his anger and grief over the brutal murder of his family, Arcturus Mengsk became a central figure in the resistance against the Confederacy. He led a devastatingly successful insurgent campaign that cost the Old Families of Tarsonis billions. The Confederacy chose a stringent response: a nuclear bombardment of Korhal IV that slaughtered millions and transformed the verdant planet into a radioactive wasteland of black glass.

Arcturus Mengsk was on the planet Umoja during the attack, making plans with the separatist factions he had been able to contact. He witnessed the destruction of his home planet from the Spy Deck in the Umojan Protectorate. His fury and determination only grew, and he renamed his resistance movement the Sons of Korhal. Public outrage over the nuclear holocaust of Korhal IV brought an endless stream of support and volunteers. Taking advantage of the military’s focus on the zerg invasion, Mengsk overthrew the Terran Confederacy to become emperor of the new Terran Dominion. One of his first decrees was to begin reconstruction of Korhal IV, electing to make it the executive seat of his fledgling government.

Vast fortunes have been lavished on the cleanup and rebuilding of Korhal IV, although portions of the irradiated desert have been left untouched in honor of those who died. The capital city of Augustgrad – named in honor of Arcturus’s grandfather Augustus – is crowned by Mengsk’s own imperial palace.

Korhal IV was subject to a brief occupation during the incursion of the United Earth Directorate, but the planet was recaptured by an alliance of terran and protoss forces assisted by the zerg Queen of Blades – all united by their enmity to the UED. Korhal IV’s defenses have been massively increased since Arcturus Mengsk retook the throne, and he’s turned Korhal into the most heavily fortified planet in the Koprulu sector.