Meet the Zerg home planet, as Blizzard has released new data on Char! As this is the home planet of the Zerg, their numbers count in dozens of billions, and where there are no Zerg, lava and volcanoes reigns…

Now, if you look at the accompanied screenshot, you’ll see something very interesting there are two new building/units in the middle and upper left of the Zerg base. What these are might be a good question to get answered at the next Q&A Session with Karune.

Interesting facts:

• Probably not a unit, as it has “webs” like the hatchery does.
  
• It appears to be shooting gelatinous “blobs” at the airships, that in turn are bouncing down at the Marines.
  
• The other thing is probably a unit, with things that look like mouth as well as legs, and multiple claws.
  
• Impossible to determine role.
  
• On a sidenote, it seems Roaches have received a range increase on their spit.
  
• Wonder if the Hydralisks have received any change in turn…
  

CHAR
ZERG PRIMARY HIVE

Population: Est. 10,000,000,000+ zerg
Allegiance: Swarm
Diameter/Gravity: 10,521 km, 0.91 standard
Axial Tilt/Climate: 4.1 degrees, +/- 48 Centigrade (average, peaks of 800C+), very low humidity
Geography/Major Settlements: 52 volcanic caldera, 18 mountain chains (all volcanic), 38 lava lakes, 5 lava seas (variable), estimated 150 primary zerg hive clusters, estimated 1029 tertiary zerg hive clusters
Moon(s): 2—Eris, Ate (purple, small sized >1000 km dia)
Dominant Terrain Classification: Volcanic
Dominant Life Forms: Zerg
Indigenous Life Forms: None
Imports: None
Exports: None

Char was formerly one of the thirteen core worlds of the Confederacy, but it is most notorious as the primary hive planet of the alien zerg. Upon its discovery, Char was found to be an inhospitable volcanic planet with thick ash covering most of its surface and tainting its acrid atmosphere. The hazardous environment is further intensified by extremely high levels of cosmic radiation from Char’s volatile pairing of binary stars, a class VI F0 sub dwarf orbiting an M8 irregular variable. Char’s elliptical orbit means whole regions of its sunward face can become molten seas during a close approach, with temporary islands forming in them due to rapid cooling as the planet swings away to the frozen outer reaches of the system.

In spite of the hellish conditions, Char was originally settled to exploit its fantastically rich reserves of heavy metals to fuel the rapidly growing Confederate economy. However, the planet became a source of friction between the Terran Confederacy and independent mining guilds operating out of Moria.

Terran/Zerg Battle on Char

When these disputes escalated into open conflict, some of the bitterest battles of the Guild Wars took place on Char as both sides attempted to secure the planet. In areas like Death Valley and Glass Flats, unrestrained use of nuclear weapons awoke slumbering volcanoes into fiery new life and pushed the already heavily irradiated surface to levels that were lethal even for armored marines.

In the aftermath of the Guild Wars, the Confederacy presence on the devastated planet was limited to a few maintenance teams for automated mining sites. All personnel lived on a space platform, Char Aleph, which was built in near orbit over the planet. During the zerg invasion ten years later, Char was rapidly overrun by the Swarm and became the zerg’s primary hive planet in the Koprulu sector, to the extent that zerg tunnels are now estimated to extend beneath more than 40% of the world’s surface. Char Aleph was also infested and began serving the zerg as an orbital nesting site and hatchery.

Surface of Char

There has been a great deal of speculation over the zerg choice to occupy Char, given its harsh environment and total lack of any organic life forms to exploit. Theorists are evenly split among the ideas that Char forms a useful jump-off point to the core worlds of terran and protoss space, that its inhospitable nature makes it easier for the zerg to defend it, or that Char’s high radiation levels promote an increased rate of mutation in zerg organisms to enable forced evolution of specialist strains.

Regardless of the reasoning, the zerg presence on Char has ensured that the planet has remained a cauldron of battle. Protoss and terran forces have attempted infiltration missions on the planet with varying degrees of success. Huge and bloody battles were fought there amongst the zerg themselves as the Queen of Blades overthrew the cerebrates controlling the Swarm. Four years ago three entire fleets met their demise when they confronted the Queen of Blades on Char. The Queen of Blades emerged as the dominant power in the sector after an apocalyptic battle that destroyed a Terran Dominion fleet, a protoss armada, and finally the UED expeditionary force. Since then the zerg have remained curiously quiescent, apparently content to remain on the worlds they infested so rapidly during the initial invasion.

Source.

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