Masterminds & Comets

The tale of the Koprulu Sector unfucking itself

Date: 2508.08.16

Location: Tarsonis, high orbit, aboard the Spear of Adun
Time: Evening

Artanis stood before his Executor Council's holographic representation, having just delivered Zagara's proposal. The mood was tense.

"As impressive as this is from Zagara, the Feral Zerg were necessary for the status quo to remain." Vorazun was deep in thought. "And we can't simply tell Zagara not to do it, we are in no position to force her not to give her permission to Alarak personally, even if Emperor Valerian helped us, but from what you've told he is very much in favour of this idea."

"Of course he is." Yalara rolled her eyes. "He has no idea about Protoss internal affairs, he doesn't know about the discontent among Alarak's Tal'darim. From his perspective, this is the best way to buy time for his people to strengthen their armies and fleets, while also putting a dent in Alarak's. It also removes the Feral Zerg from the board, making the Swarm a much lesser threat."

"What he does not realise is that this will give Alarak exactly what he wants." Selendis continued her Tal'darim counterpart's chain of thought. "An opportunity to eliminate his rivals and all those who are not entirely obedient to him, and to placate his own supporters. He will lose some of his strength but that is nothing compared to the benefits of the unison it will foster among them."

"But what could he accomplish with it?" Talandar asked dismissively. "The Terrans are steadfast allies, and the Swarm is putting itself in a weakened position to show its sincerity in its pursuit of a peaceful future. From their perspective, after the eradication of the Feral Zerg, we could join the Tal'darim in exterminating the rest of the Zerg in the sector, driving them to extinction. If the Tal'darim declared war on us they would join us in repelling them."

"You are quick to put faith in the student of Kerrigan, Talandar." Artanis said grimly. "Zagara could just as well attack us when that happens, forcing us into a war on two fronts that we cannot win, then she would have a chance to finish off the Tal'darim. I do not want to place the future of our people into the hands of the Zerg."

"Then you're putting it in Alarak's." Yalara said flatly. "I'd rather trust a broodmother's survival instinct than Alarak's sense of camaraderie."

"Those are not favourable odds." Vorazun remarked.

"Then assassinate Alarak." Yalara shrugged. "None of the current Ascendants have yet established the renown necessary to become a truly respected Highlord, partially due to lack of time and opportunity since Amon's demise, partially because of Alarak's charismatic and ruthless leadership. If he dies, the Tal'darim will descend into civil war and reduce themselves into a much more manageable size."

"You know as well as I that it is not that simple." Vorazun glared at Yalara. "Alarak is a powerful warrior and he is very well guarded. An army of assassins would have trouble killing him. We talked about this, and only the two of us were in favour."

"Then send Nabiros and his Explorers." Yalara replied dismissively. "After the debacle with the Carrier, we could always claim we had nothing to do with it, whether or not they fail. After all the things they accomplished they might just succeed."

"We will not." Artanis' eyes narrowed as he looked at Yalara. "I have relieved him of duty."

"What?!" Talandar was shocked. "Why?"

"For insubordination." Artanis said flatly. "And he may have been the one who gave Zagara the very idea that is causing us so much difficulty."

"Nabiros might be headstrong but he is not disloyal!" Talandar was progressing from shock to anger. "And what proof do you have that he did what you claim he did?"

"Zagara went to talk to him about his heroics above Char." Artanis was not pleased that a Purifier is challenging him again for the second time this day. "She summoned Emperor Valerian and I immediately after that, then gave us her proposal."

"That's not proof, that's conjecture!" Talandar never would have thought that one day he would fight for Nabiros, of all people, this vocally. "I challenge your ruling! I will put him on trial before his brethren and he will answer for what he has done, if he has done anything at all, as honour demands, and the law demands! You are our Hierarch, Artanis, and I recognise that, but I will not let you tarnish the name of a faithful warrior purely because you distrust him!"

Artanis waved dismissively. "Very well, proceed with your trial. I trust my instincts. I await my vindication."


"So how does this trial work?" Valerie asked, her usual curiosity clouded by her frustration over what she saw as a farce. She was leaning against the wall of the small bridge, on one side of the door.

"The Purifiers are made up of warriors and... civilians, to use a Terran expression, who have a similar mindset." Nabiros found himself casually explaining the event that will decide his fate, and its cultural and practical aspects. In the meantime, he was making a few adjustments to the bridge's interface to allow for what is to come. "Normally, lower members of the Judicator caste would preside over a trial, but since we have none of those we will simply convene and discuss until we can reach a consensus."

"In theory, the Khalai could lend a judge." Tekka explained, standing in the door. "But according to standing Daelaam law, each faction has the right to put their own on trial according to their own laws and customs. The law of the Daelaam takes precedence over the others', of course, otherwise there would be chaos. For example, if a Tal'darim would kill a Nerazim for an insult, normal Tal'darim law would see it as perfectly fine. However, according to Daelaam law, it would be a very serious crime, so Tal'darim law must treat it as such. In this case, the murderer is executed on the spot."

"I know what the Daelaam is..." Konrad looked up at Tekka on his left in confusion. "But the rest are... who exactly?"

Tekka stared at Konrad for a few seconds before answering. "The Khalai are the blue-eyed Protoss, the ones who Tassadar lead to purge Terran space of the Zerg infestation in the beginning of the Great War. The Nerazim are the Dark Templar, with green eyes and those... veils. Zeratul was one of them. The Tal'darim are the red-eyed Protoss, like me. They have hidden themselves from the Khalai ages ago, to serve the will of Amon. The Purifiers are... well, I'll leave that to Nabiros."

Nabiros stopped. His mind raced to find a way to explain what the Purifiers were in terms the Terrans would understand, not because they were unintelligent but because they did not have the technological understanding that is necessary to make sense of the finer points of a Purifier's existence. It also put his own understanding of his own people to the test, and found concern growing in him, as parallel realizations of the scope and importance of this seemingly simple question created a sense of pressure and heavy responsibility that he had never felt before. His own identity was also put into a different light, one that found many shadows that hid precious and dangerous truths. And yet, there was an answer, albeit one whose consequences even Nabiros dared not imagine.

"The Purifiers are... complicated." Nabiros began slowly. "Your artificial intelligences bear some similarity but compared to us they are like a wooden spear to an orbital bombardment cannon. The intention of our makers was to make copies of the greatest Templar, soldier and leader alike, that can be put in a vast array of shells that they can wear like one wears their clothing, and change it with the same ease.

The plan backfired when the ruling Judicators treated us as slaves instead of people. There was a... brief conflict that ended with us put in stasis aboard Cybros, a vast ship roughly in the same league as the Spear of Adun, although their purposes are significantly different. I've learned that the technology itself was not abandoned, however, and was perfected. It branched out into two distinct paths: the first were the true robots, artificial intelligences without personalities but considerable combat skills. The second were the true individuals, the copies of living Protoss.

It was hoped that this... version would maintain the source personality without error or what they saw as corruption. However, they reached only the first prototype stage when the Zerg arrived. This prototype is known today as Talandar, Executor of the Purifiers. I should note that our original commander, Executor Clolarion, shares this rank with him. Clolarion is an excellent commander but his social skills are just as bad as the original's, so Talandar represents us on the Executor Council, the ruling body of the Daelaam, which is headed by the Hierarch, Artanis. But I digress.

However, the same happened to Talandar as to us: being self-aware, in time he noticed that his memories originate from another self-aware entity, not from him. It created a conflict of identity. Fortunately for him, Artanis handled it much better than the Conclave in our time, so while we became hostile to those we saw as enslavers, Talandar found peace in becoming Artanis' champion. There was also a world-ending war going on so there wasn't much time to ponder either, so it makes sense that his solution to his identity crisis proved to be... insufficient.

After the war was over and our priorities shifted from survival to rebuilding, I had much more time to think, as did others. Doubt began to gnaw at many but our sense of duty held us in check. Hunting the hybrid within and around our borders also helped most but some, like myself, were left home to help rebuild our homes and infrastructure. It was good, honest work that needed to be done but it put hardly as much pressure on our mental capacity as combat. We had time to think.

There was a... growing minority, who believed that the true nature of the Purifiers has yet to be discovered and explored, and... I was the most vocal among us, so you could say that I was their leader but in truth we were just people trying to make sense of themselves and their place in the world. So it retrospect, it seems inevitable that I ended up in... an argument. The details are irrelevant but a few Khalai phase-smiths, who were understandably upset by how most Tal'darim showed no respect to them, were wondering if the Tal'darim qualify as Protoss. They might have the same body but their spirit is very different, they said. In a moment of unchecked emotion, I told them that if the Tal'darim are questionably Protoss, then the Purifiers are most assuredly are a different species. We have vastly different bodies, after all, and even though we don't cause trouble, we are different people. We are more contemplative, or maybe I should say 'cautiously passionate', I don't really know how to define it. Being mechanical entities, our thoughts are not swayed by hormones or fatigue, and our bodies grant us enough free capacity to think carefully even in a conversation, though that does not mean that we are perfect, just knowing me should put that statement into a more accurate perspective. But again, I digress.

So that argument escalated to the point where I deduced, based on available facts, that the Tal'darim are very much Protoss, while the Purifiers are not, and whatever similarities exist today will fade in time, as our own identity and culture develops. That in turn eventually escalated to me standing before the Executor Council and having to explain myself. Artanis ordered me to find the answer for this conundrum: who and what are the Purifiers? And to be absolutely truthful with you, I think we are just another people, with our own context as any other sapient species. We are all souls in different shells with different roots. The only unique thing about the Purifiers is that we are just a sapling, with barely any roots and leaves."

"Just like the Zerg." Valerie chimed in.

"We had hoped someone would point that out." Hecate chuckled from behind Tekka, where it was standing in silence since the beginning of the conversation.

"... What." was all Nabiros could manage, as half his mind stopped working at the sheer insolence of the comparison, while the other tried to make sense of it and maintain essential systems.

"Come on, we talked about this." Valerie waited a second to see if it rang any bells for Nabiros. "The Zerg never had the opportunity to contemplate their identity, even under Kerrigan's rule they were just the nastiest bioweapon of the galaxy, used like a beatstick, just as before. Now they have Zagara with Stukov as a different but still partially familiar perspective. They are exploring who they are just as you say you are, and they don't want to end up as someone else's abused beatstick ever again, just like you."

There were several tense seconds that crawled by like a Vulture being pulled through mud that intel warned may have mines in it. Nabiros was elbow deep in the controls in the front, his bulk unmoving, only the sound of the ship's gentle hum could be heard. Nabiros slowly stood up, turned to Valerie, and walked up to her. His glowing yellow visor, like the eye of some mechanical cyclops, stared at her like the gaze of judgement itself. Valerie did not flinch, gambling that Nabiros wasn't trying to be intimidating. This wasn't how she imagined he would have gone about that.

Finally, Nabiros spoke. "As utterly distasteful, insulting, frightening, unholy, confusing, disgusting, infuriating, and abominable the mere thought of it is, let alone the comparison and its implications, it is a petrifyingly and alarmingly accurate assessment."

"Umm... thank you?" Valerie, with almost no body language or facial expressions to work with, had no idea if that was a good thing or not.

"I thank you." Nabiros replied as he returned to his work. "I always appriciate unique perspectives."

"Different topic." Konrad chimed in. "What are you working on, exactly?"

"Since we are not bound by our bodies, I need not physically go to any place for the trial." Nabiros replied. "I need only send my consciousness to Cybros, the hub of our network. Due to the distance and out of a sense of courtesy, I can't simply discuss this through a holographic projection. In the meantime, my shell will be powered down. I'd ask you to be on your best behaviour while I'm gone but that would be like asking the sun not to rise."

"When will you be back?" Valerie asked with apparent concern in her voice.

"By tomorrow night, I think." Nabiros sounded like he was going to visit someone, and not as if his life depended on it. "We talk very fast amongst ourselves."

"See you tomorrow, then." Konrad said as he turned to leave. "Come on, let's leave him to his work."

With a little reluctance, they all left the small room. They are good people, Nabiros thought. They worry if I will come back alive. Much more exciting things could happen than my execution, and even that would not stave off the inevitable. We are not Protoss. What does that mean for the Daelaam?