Terran Species Overview

Forced to adapt to a harsh existence on the mostly lifeless worlds along the Galactic Rim, the Terrans are masters of survival. Possessing neither the advanced technology of the Protoss nor the natural prowess of the Zerg, their military consists of a varied mix of units. From the effective, yet expendable, Marine conscripts to the highly trained Wraith pilots, the Terrans are a tenacious lot who are quite unwilling to concede their territory.

Despite the setbacks this young species has suffered, the Terrans have managed to spread from world to world, fully believing that they can stand against any opposition.

Moble Buildings

The key to the survival of the Terran species is flexibility. Their primary structures are equipped with self-contained thruster systems that enable low altitude flight and allow them to change locations. A building in flight is unable to perform any of its normal operations. Also, any structures that had been added onto a mobilised building are left behind and are non-functional. Once the primary building has landed it quickly regains full functionality, although the abandoned add-on structure remains useless. The nomadic abilities of the Terrans allow them to not only travel from one cache of resources to the next, but to evade an impending attack as well. Finally, if the appropriate primary building is instructed to land next to an abandoned add-on, even one built by enemy Terrans, it can be captured and put to use.

Critical Building Damage

The primary drawback of the modular and often improvised technology employed by the Terrans is that their buildings are particularly vulnerable to extensive damage.  Ruptured Vespene tanks and sudden power surges can cause an already damaged structure to collapse, even if it is no longer under direct attack. Any Terran building which is severely damaged drops into the “red zone”, indicated by the structure’s Hit Point bar turning red. A building so damaged will continue to lose Hit Points unless it is repaired enough to return to Yellow or Green status.

Support

With the exception of add-ons, all Terran buildings have self-contained power generators and do not require additional support or resources once constructed.  Since add-ons are powered by the building that they are attached to, they will shut down if the primary structure is destroyed or disconnected.

Terran troops and vehicles, however, do require a constant supply of food, fuel, and spare parts that are provided by Supply Depots. The current level of available Supplies is displayed in the upper right hand corner of the Main Screen. Any Supply Depot will also display current Supply statistics when selected. If there are not enough Supply Depots to properly support the current number of Terran forces, the training or manufacture of additional units will not be possible until additional Supply Depots are constructed.

Protoss History

The Xel'Naga and the First Born Although only fragmented documentation remains, ancient Protoss texts speak of a highly advanced race that ruled over thousands of worlds in the galaxy, tens of millions of years ago. This enigmatic race, often called the Xel’Naga, or ‘wanderers from afar’, was rumoured to have seeded and cultivated thousands of various species on the cold and barren worlds within their domain. Protoss traditions hold that the Xel’Naga were a peaceful and benevolent race, utterly consumed with the study and propagation of sentient evolution within the universe. Nothing is known of the origin of the Xel’Naga, save that they were not native to the galaxy over which they held sway.

Obsessed with fashioning the perfect lifeform, the Xel’Naga laboured to create a creature that would be defined by a distinct purity of form. For thousands of years they carefully steered the delicate evolutionary processes of their budding species. Although their protracted experiments produced many intriguing deviants and mutations, the races that the Xel’Naga cultivated always fell short of their enormous expectations.

Despairing at last, the Xel’Naga focused their frustrated efforts on the most promising of their engineered worlds. Aiur, a massive jungle-world on the galaxy’s fringe, had borne a race of highly advanced beings. These beings were incredibly adaptable to harsh natural conditions and climates. Their strength and speed were unparalleled amongst the other races known to the Xel’Naga. The race had even developed a rudimentary tribal society based upon grouphunting and warrior rule. However, their most distinct aspect was that they communicated with each other through a very complex method of instinctive telepathy, allowing them to operate communally with striking efficiency. 

Zerg History

Driven to perfect their science of proto-genetic evolution, the ancient, enigmatic race known as the Xel’Naga traveled to the distant fringeworld of Aiur. The vast jungles of Aiur had produced the most advanced race that the Xel’Naga had ever seen. Believing that they could steer the race’s evolution to the pinnacle of physical perfection, the Xel’Naga began to conduct their proto-genetic experiments. The race that the Xel’Naga would eventually name ‘Protoss’ advanced rapidly and gained what their creators termed ‘a distinct purity of form’.

Unfortunately, the Xel’Naga pushed their experiment too far. The inherent essence and sentience of the Protoss developed far too rapidly, leading to bitter strife and division between them and their creators. The Xel’Naga deemed that the purity of form they sought to create had been sullied by a conflict of essence and thus decreed that the Protoss were, in fact, a failed creation. The Xel’Naga abandoned their children and launched themselves into the void.


The Birth of the Zerg

Terran History

Although technology and world culture progressed rapidly throughout the twentieth century, their advancements paled in comparison to the seemingly reckless leapsthat would follow. By the end of the twentyfirst century, mankind had seen bold and unprecedented changes within the world.  Radical new technologies were surfacing at incredible rates, offering increased access to advanced computers and informational databases to even the most destitute nations of Earth.

In the wake of the eradication of Communism from the Eastern Nations, nuclear weapons quickly became available in abundance. The international power structure, once defined primarily by the acquisition of capital and military superiority, was blasted apart as third-world nations rose to challenge the economic and military might of the world’s super-powers.

As the manipulative sciences of cybernetics, cloning and gene-splicing rose  steadily into the public forum, militant humanist and hard-line religious groups challenged the rights of private interest corporations who profited from genetic experimentation. Multitudes of people were being augmented with cybernetic implants while others began to manifest slight physical mutations ranging from heightened senses to advanced telepathy. These dramatic changes within the human gene pool caused widespread panic amongst many of the fundamental humanist factions.

Technology continued to evolve and spread, and population rates soared. Near the end of the twentieth century, there were six billion people upon the earth. Within three hundred years, the population had grown to an estimated twenty-three billion. Pollution and a lack of natural resources and affordable fuels added to the fire as world leaders sought ways to stem the growth of their nation’s inhabitants. Popular sentiment held that the world was plummeting towards an inevitable catastrophe as overpopulation and genetic alteration swept across the globe.

Meanwhile, as tensions rose around the world regarding the use and capitalisation of cybernetics and genetic mutations, many core international economic systems folded in upon themselves and shut down. Horrific acts of terrorism and violence erupted between the corporate sector and the humanist factions, resulting in forced police actions across the globe. Irresponsible media coverage of these atrocious police actions spurred the already rampant civil chaos in many of the larger countries. Ultimately, the precarious balance of world power exploded into international pandemonium.

Introduction

This blog only exists to present the information present in the manual of original Starcraft.  Everything here is copyright of Blizzard gaming, no infringement intended.  Everything here is for informational purposes, and has not been altered in any way other than formatting from how it originally appeared in the print manual itself.