Starcraft II Single Player Hands On: Screenshots # 17

In the mission: “Tooth and Nail”, you arrive to the Protoss shrine-world Monlyth. It was abandoned centuries ago, but the Tal’drim tribe is here for mysterious reasons. Your mission is to retrieve a Xel’Naga artifact guarded by them. For the lore-nerds out there, the Tal’drim tribe is the same shown in Starcraft: The Dark Templar, Shadow Hunters by Christie Golden. Except those were left behind during the Invasion of Aiur and have survived by allying with a patron who turned out to be Dark Archon Ulrezaj. He gave them a drug named Sundrop which inhibits the Khala artificially without cutting their head-appendages. Those other Tal’drim named themselves The Forged.

I asked Chris Metzen during our video interview on July 20, 2009—see the video on the main article page—if these Tal’drim are also under the influence of Dark Archon Ulrezaj—he didn’t confirm nor deny. He will let us find out as we play the single player. However, here I present to you Exhibit A … this screenshot will show you what I saw while playing the single player myself at Blizzard’s headquarters. These are supposed to be Aiur protoss—yet here you can see they are using a Stalker—which is Dark Templar technology. Aiur protoss are supposed to use Dragoons. So in a sense this basically answered my question partially. The only way these Tal’drim could use Dark Templar technology is if Dark Archon Ulrezaj provided it. Rest my case.

For example, in the novel we are told that The Forged are stranded in Aiur, and have Ulrezaj as their patron—however, we find out later on that Zamara’s assassination attempt before Jake Ramsey found her in the Xel’Naga temple was from Ulrezaj’s lackeys—but if the Forged were supposedly stranded in Aiur, who were these protoss who chased her in the first place? Probably these guys. (report by detective Medievaldragon—this is assumption of course)