Aiur

From The StarCraft 2 Wiki

Aiur is the home planet of the Protoss. Inevitably lost during the events of the original StarCraft game.

History

Aiur is a huge world located on the fringes of the Milky Way Galaxy. It was engineered by the xel'naga and left to itself for a long period of time. When the xel'naga returned, they discovered the protoss on the world. They guided protoss evolution, albeit too fast. As a result, they were forced to flee, and the protoss fell into a racial madness-fueled conflict called the Aeon of Strife.

When the xel'naga were forced to flee the world, they left behind large amounts of khaydarin crystals.

Aiur was devastated in the Aeon of Strife but after the period ended, it began to steadily recover.

The Fall

Aiur hosted a population of billions of protoss before its fall.

Aiur was attacked by the Zerg Swarm in an attempt to consume and assimilate the entire protoss species. Though the Overmind was destroyed by the mighty high templar Tassadar, who sacrificed his life in a kamikaze strike using dark templar energy, it was at best a pyrrhic victory: the swarms had infested most of the planet, killing 70% of the protoss of Aiur and ruining much of the landscape. The zerg have scoured almost all non-zerg life from several continents. The jungles are now littered with ash, broken war machines, and corps

Abandonment

The planet was abandoned shortly thereafter through a warp gate which connected to the Dark Templar homeworld of Shakuras. Hundreds of thousands of protoss died during the evacuation. Some protoss were stranded on Aiur, and others volunteered to remain behind in order to defend the Aiur end of the warp gate.

The warp gate was destroyed when the United Earth Directorate invaded Aiur in their quest to arrest Terran Dominion emperor Arcturus Mengsk. The stranded protoss belonged to several groups; one led by Fenix and Raynor, as well as the Shel'na Kryhas and the Tal'darim. The latter, serving a mysterious Benefactor, learned strange powers.

The protoss refugees on Shakuras have made at least one trip to Aiur in an effort to recover wounded protoss warriors. Protoss commanders noticed stranded protoss but, believing they could not be rescued, kept their existence secret.

Circa 2505, Aiur is still occupied by the zerg. While they have stopped killing each other, they still wander Aiur like "discarded tools" and have stopped spawning minions. The surviving protoss had divided into two factions—Shel'na Kryhas and Tal'darim— and clung to life on the ruined world, fighting and avoiding conflict with the zerg. The arrival of a preserver, contained within the brain of terran archaeologist Jake Ramsey, brought great changes to both groups of protoss. The former attempted to flee through the disabled (and then repaired) warp gate, while the latter splintered as they learned the truth behind their mysterious Benefactor. The Shel'na Kryhas and renegade Tal'darim banded together to attack the Benefactor, most giving up their lives using a powerful psionic technique to hold the Benefactor off.

Some of the renegade Tal'darim escaped but none of the Shel'na Kryhas made it. The remaining Tal'darim were attacked by zerg forces led by Ethan Stewart.

Space Navigation [e]
Space:	Koprulu Sector | Sara system
Planets:	Agria | Aiur | Avernus | Bel'Shir | Braxis Alpha | Castanar | Char | Chau Sara | Earth | Haven | Korhal IV | Mar Sara | Meinhoff | Monlyth | Moria | New Folsom | Redstone | Shakuras | Tarsonis | Typhon | Ulaan | Xil | Zhakul'Das