Starcraft 2: Redux

Campaign Discussion
1

A custom campaign that acts as a direct sequel to Brood War that retcons all of the books released by Blizzard.

Roster of Heros:
Zerg:
Abathur: Following the Brood war, the Cerebrate provided genetics assistance for Kerrigan’s plan to rebuild the Swarm, including the creation of Broodmothers and undergoing forced evolution to become combat capable.

Zagara: Created on Char by Kerrigan, and the first broodmother to be created. She came to see the Abathur as a rival for Zerg leadership. She was originally a queen, but was mutated into a Broodmother following the Brood War.

Protoss:
Selendis: After the deaths of Aldaris and Raszagal, the Executor quickly gained support from many within both the Khalai and Nerazim tribes for her past military victories and her defiance of the Conclave. As High Executor, Selendis announced an end to old prejudices and formed the Daelaam Empire, attempting to unify the Protoss towards a common goal, the reclamation on Aiur.

Talis: Having joined the Templar caste shortly before the Zerg Invasion of Aiur, Talis had trained under Preator Fenix and followed him when he sided with Tassadar and Selendis during the Protoss Civil War, she continued to serve under Fenix up until his death on Korhal. Though already considered a skilled warrior, Talis eagerly awaits further training under a new teacher.

Mohandar: An experienced military leader, Mohandar was chosen by the elders of the Nerazim tribes to become their new Prelate, following rumors that Zeratul had been killed. As Prelate he opposed the formation of the Daelaam but now advises Selendis on all matters related Nerazim culture.

Terran:
Nova: Born as the illegitimate daughter of Arcturus Mengsk and showing signs of telepathic abilities at an early age. Arcturus believing his fathers power and social status, following Korhals Independence from the Confederacy would protect her, Nova was sent to live with her grandfather Angus Mengsk. The confederates, aware of her psychic potential authorized her capture during the assassination of the Mengks family and was indoctrinated into the Ghost program. It would be years later, after the rise of the Dominion, that Arcturus would reunite with Nova and legitimize her has his heir.

Tychus: Raised as an orphan on the streets of the great Confederate megalopolis of Tarsonis City. Tychus escaped a life of petty crime and underworld gangs by enlisting with the Confederate military and was eventually posted as a Magistrate on Mar Sara. After a failed attempt by Raynor to assassinate Arcturus, Tychus became leader of the Raiders and continues their struggle against the Dominion.

Hanson: A former Confederate scientist and technology specialist. Hanson was assigned to aid Nova after her release from the Ghost program and being named Arcturus’s heir.

Jorgensen: As the Guild Wars closed and the murder of Angus Mengsk became known, Jorgensen, at the time a councilor, announced the formation of an organization which would protect Umoja from Confederate aggression – the Umojan Protectorate. As it’s Minister of the Protectorate, Jorgensen is seen as a grandfatherly gentleman and a servant of the public good. Rumors have spread that he has been manipulated by Arcturus Mengks into developing weapons for the Dominion.

Horner: Serving as Captain of the DSS Aleksander under Admiral Dugalle. Horner gained command of the Directorate’s Expeditionary Forces following Dugalles suicide. Though a skilled tactician, Horner was unable to save the UED fleet from the Zergs onslaught, escaping only with the Aleksander and her crew.

Instead of retreating to Earth, Horner seeks revenge against those responsible for the failure of the Directorates mission in the Korpulu sector.

Episode 7: (The Zerg Campaign)

Setup: One year has passed since the final battle over Char that ended the Brood War. Though Kerrigan had won, the Swarm was left devastated and Kerrigan has spent the time rebuilding, preparing for future conflicts. Just as a new Broodmother is morphed in Kerrigan’s infested platform, the Dominion launch a surprise attack on Char.

Mission 01: The Broodmother is sent by Abathur(The Cerebrate) to help repel the Dominion forces lead by commander Nova. The Broodmother meets Kilysa a senior Broodmother.

Mission 02: The Broodmother meets Kerrigan. Abathur informs that during the Dominions retreat an Umojan strike force has land on Char. Abathur sent another broodmother to handle them but she’s turned feral, with no obvious clue as to how. Kilysa and the Broodmother are sent to deal with her.

Mission 03: Kerrigan wants to attack Korhal but figures the attack was meant to bait her into a trap. Kerrigan sends the Broodmother to the station that the Confederates conducted their Zerg experiments with her that has been refurbished by the Dominion to find info.

Mission 04: Kerrigan sends the Broodmother to destroy, what she believes is a hidden Dominion base only to run into a small colony lead by former ally Tychus Findlay(The Magistrate)

Mission 05: The Swarms movements catch the attention from Protoss outpost on the dark moon of Kaldir. The Broodmother and Abathur are sent to destroy it.

Mission 06: After combing through the databanks from the Dominion facility(Mission 03) Kerrigan and the Broodmother go to Tarsonis were a feral Zerg brood are under the control of Umojan scientists working with the Dominion.

Mission 07: The invasion of Korhal part 1, beginning with Korhals primary orbital platform.

Mission 08: The Invasion of Korhal part 2, Zerg forces landing on the outskirts of Augustgrad.

Mission 09: The Invasion of Korhal part 3, Kerrigan and the Broodmother make the final push to Mengsks palace. During the battle Mengsk activates the Psi-Destroyer only for it to self-destruct. Mengsk dies, Nova promises to avenge her father.

Mission 10: Discovering that Nova is on route to Umoja, Kerrigan follows her to a orbital station. Kerrigan fights the confronts the Umojan leader Jorgensen and Nova knock out and capture Kerrigan. Jorgensen attempts to assassinate Nova, Jorgensen reveals that the Umojans sabotaged the Psi-Destroyer and would prefer if the Dominion died with her. Nova escapes.

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2

Is this one canon or fanfic?

3

Fanfic, and rather poor fanfic at that.

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4

I’d prefer to see a Starcraft 1 Redux myself. With the benefit of hindsight it would be a lot easier to build a story that doesn’t meander or rely on mary sues.

For example:

  • Confederacy rules a bazillion worlds, wages wars of aggression. KMC and Umojan Protectorate formed in response. KMC conquered and annexed. Korhal nuked and Sons of Korhal lead rebel movements. UED sends fleets to stop the wars because these threaten their own interests and influence.
  • Alien attack! Throw the cheese!
  • Terran politics are redrawn. Confederate states wage civil war. Tarsonis-Korhal system claimed by Dominion. Tau Ceti Federation invades protoss space in revenge. Zerg abduct terran cyborg mutants by the millions. Earth itself is threatened!
  • The galactic Protoss Empire considers all this a minor border dispute, because interstellar empires are a dime a dozen. They have their hands full with Galra, Yeerks, Krogans and the Covenant. Dark protoss rebels throw monkey wretch into evil empire’s plans.
  • Zerg have problems with increasing numbers of feral, rogue and enslaved broods as a result of intermittent communications and deliberate psychic warfare. Spawn more overminds to counter the effects of psi-disruptors by boosting the signal-to-noise ratio.

I would’ve loved to see something like that. It’s way too late to do in canon without another round of retcons. Although I expect that will probably happen anyway.

5

You know fanfic is going to be bad when the premise is “let’s throw away everything I didn’t like and make crap up instead.”

If you want to write fan-fic, write something that works with the established lore, not ignores it.

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6

Tell that to Blizzard.

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7

Blizzard can write whatever they like. Its their story, and the actual numbers are largely irrelevant. Frankly, a thousand year old Raszagal makes more sense than a 5k year old one, because that would require either huge generational gaps between the protoss, or else having hundreds of generations of living protoss all at once.

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8

I don’t see a problem. Whether its elves or posthumans, immortal advanced civilizations by definition won’t be recognizable to humans. I say: embrace the alien.

Blizzard having the ownership to retcon their lore into absurdity doesn’t make it any less absurd. They might easily retcon everything in the other direction. Will you still support their decision then?

Most importantly, the canon is bloody stupid. Why write fanfics for that drivel? They’re never any good even if the author previously won awards. (E.g. Starcraft Evolution)

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9

Of course, it’s their product.

10

If you have to use retcons instead of making a logical continuation of the plot then you’ve failed as a writer.

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11

Fiction, at its core, is just a mass of pretty lies.

Sometimes the lies you want to tell now are different from the ones you already told, and in those cases you need a retcon.

If you can tell your new story without changing the old one, great. But you shouldn’t let the stories you’ve already told stop you from telling the stories you want to tell now.

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12

That’s a hard no from me. Internal consistency is literally your job as a writer.

If you can’t make a logical sequel that flows, then you have no business making a sequel. Make a new story or a reboot, but save the actual sequel writing for people with talent.

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13

Tolkien disagrees with you. Just saying.

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14

I guess I have mixed feelings, generaly I’'m pretty OCD about the internal consistency of the setting, but there certainly are occasions when retcons can enhance the narrative.

Attempting to strip both BW Kerrigan and the Overmind of their agency to build up their new villain was beyond terrible, but the changes made to the Tal’darim in LotV took a horribly bland and uninteresting faction and made them one of the best parts of the game.

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15

While retcons can certainly improve a story, the story is objectively better if it’s built from the ground up without having the retcon in the first place.

What was retconned about the TalDarim though, other than their red color/models? Afaik all they really did was just develop the faction.

My bad, didn’t realize he was the pinnacle of good writing.

16

He’s regarded as the father of modern fantasy, and for good reason.

And yes, he completely retconned The Hobbit so he could write “The Fellowship of the Ring.” They republished The Hobbit with his changes to the riddle game and “birthday present.”

I’ve never read the original version, and one day I’d love to track down a copy to do so.

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17

Your only job as a writer is to make your audience feel something. That has nothing to do with consistently.

I disagree. Kerrigan becoming a gleeful murderer was already a terrible story point. Adding an external force to explain her dramatic personality shift and allow her to regain her old personality fixes that and returns some consistently to her character.

They didn’t change what she did, and her actions as the Queen of Blades continue to haunt her after the fact. The only thing they did was give her a way back to being a hero.

As for the Overmind, it never really had a character beyond “evil space tumor”. Making it a servant of a greater force allows them to leave it at “evil space tumor” instead of having to retcon in a deeper motive for it.

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18

I feel pretty much the complete opposite about all of this. Kerrigan having deep seated issues and violent tendencies adds depth to the previously shy and hesitant-to-kill assassin. And there was already an external force behind the personality change: the infestation and Overmind.

And the Overmind itself was also a rather interesting character. It was almost like a cult leader the way it controlled the zerg, and it was chasing perfection. It had a lot of charisma for a giant space eyeball-brain.

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19

I didn’t ask if he was the father of modern fantasy. I like LoTR, however I like GRRM better and consider him a better writer.

If Tolkien could have written the Hobbit and Fellowship of the Ring without using retcons, it’d be objectively better.

No it’s not. Go tell a publishing company that good grammar, worldbuilding, plot progression, good pacing, believable characters, etc. don’t matter, just “emotions”.

Making a logical continuous plot is one of your most important jobs, and if you can’t do that, you’ve failed. Sure, maybe some people will still enjoy it for other redeeming qualities, but critics are going to $hit all over your story.

Pretty much all of this is objectively wrong. They took a crap on good/interesting characters who’s plot no longer makes sense due to retconning in order to prop up what is one of the worst characters in video games:

https://tl.net/forum/starcraft-2/498994-massive-campaign-poll

2/3 of people in that poll of 170 people gave Amon 1 star. He sucks.

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The day quality is decided by popular vote is the day I give up on humanity.

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