Editing StarCraft (video game) (section)

==Synopsis==

===Setting===
{{see also|Races of StarCraft}}

''StarCraft'' takes place in a science fiction universe created by [[Chris Metzen]] and James Phinney for Blizzard Entertainment. According to the story presented in the game's manual, the overpopulation of Earth in the early 24th century has caused the international governing body, known as United Powers League (which was later succeeded by United Earth Directorate), to exile certain members of the [[Terran (StarCraft)|human]] race, such as criminals, the [[cybernetics|cybernetically enhanced]], and [[mutant (fictional)|genetic mutants]], to colonize the far reaches of the galaxy.<ref>{{cite book|chapter=Terran: History|pages=26–28|author=Underwood, Peter|author2=Roper, Bill |author3=Metzen, Chris |author4= Vaughn, Jeffrey |title=StarCraft (manual)|publisher=[[Blizzard Entertainment]]|year=1998}}</ref> An attempt to colonize a nearby solar system goes wrong, resulting in humanity's arrival in the Koprulu Sector.  In the distant Koprulu Sector of the galaxy, the exiles form several governments, but quickly fall into conflict with each other. One government, the Confederacy of Man, eventually emerges as the strongest faction, but its oppressive nature and brutal methods of suppressing dissidents stir up major rebel opposition in the form of a terrorist group called the Sons of Korhal. Just prior to the beginning of the game, in December 2499, an alien race possessing advanced technology and psionic power, the Protoss, makes [[first contact (science fiction)|first contact]] with humanity by destroying a Confederate colony world without any prior warning. Soon after this, the Terrans discover that a second alien race, the insectoid [[Zerg]], has been stealthily infesting the surface of several of the Terran colonies, and that the Protoss are destroying the planets to prevent the Zerg from spreading. With the Confederacy threatened by two alien races and internal rebellion, it begins to crumble.<ref>{{cite book|chapter=Terran: History|pages=30–33|author=Underwood, Peter|author2=Roper, Bill |author3=Metzen, Chris |author4= Vaughn, Jeffrey |title=StarCraft (manual)|publisher=[[Blizzard Entertainment]]|year=1998}}</ref>

===Characters===
{{main|Characters of StarCraft}}

The player assumes the role of three nameless characters over the course of the game. In the first act, the player acts as the Confederate magistrate of an outlying colony world of Mar Sara, threatened by both the Zerg and the Protoss, and is forced through events to join the rebel Sons of Korhal under its leader [[Arcturus Mengsk]]. Mengsk's campaign is accompanied by [[Jim Raynor]], a [[morality|morally conscious]] law enforcement officer from Mar Sara, and [[Sarah Kerrigan]], a [[psychic]] assassin and Mengsk's second-in-command. The second episode of the game sees the player as a [[Cerebrates|cerebrate]], a commander within the Zerg Swarm. The player is ruled over by the [[Zerg Overmind]] – the manifestation of the collective consciousness of the Swarm and the game's primary antagonist – and is given advice from other cerebrates of higher rank and status while accomplishing the objectives of the Swarm. In the final part of ''StarCraft'', the player is a newly appointed [[Artanis (StarCraft)|Executor]] within the Protoss military reporting to Aldaris, a representative of the [[Protoss Conclave|Protoss government]]. Aldaris is at odds with [[Tassadar]] – the former occupant of the player's position – over his association with [[Zeratul]], a member of a heretical group known as dark templar.<ref name="Story1">{{cite web|url=http://eu.starcraft2.com/features/storysofar.xml|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071123100044/http://eu.starcraft2.com/features/storysofar.xml|archive-date=November 23, 2007|title=The Story So Far: Part 1: ''StarCraft''|publisher=[[Blizzard Entertainment]]|date=November 21, 2007|access-date=November 22, 2007}}</ref>

===Story===
<!-- Please keep it short. No mission-by-mission history, just an outline! -->
[[File:Briefing room (StarCraft).png|right|thumb|[[Plot exposition]] often takes place in menu-like screens, with only the characters' faces shown, and their captioned voices are heard.]]
The story of ''StarCraft'' is presented through its instruction manual, the briefings to each mission, and conversations within the missions themselves, along with the use of cinematic [[cutscene]]s at key points. The campaign is split into three episodes, each allowing the player to command one of the game's three races. In the first segment of the game, the player and [[Jim Raynor]] are attempting to control the colony of Mar Sara in the wake of the Zerg attacks on other Terran worlds. After the [[Terran Confederacy|Confederacy]] arrests Raynor for destroying Confederate property, despite the fact that it had been infested by the Zerg, the player joins Arcturus Mengsk and the Sons of Korhal.<ref name="ep1m3">{{cite video game | title = StarCraft | developer = [[Blizzard Entertainment]] | year = 1998 | platform = PC | level = Episode I, mission 3: "Desperate Alliance"}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20071017144236/http://sclegacy.com/content/starcraft-encyclopedia-4/starcraft-story-17/ Transcript]</ref> Raynor, who is freed by Mengsk's troops, also joins and frequently accompanies the player on missions. Mengsk then begins to use Confederate technology captured on Mar Sara to lure the Zerg to Confederate installations and further his own goals.<ref name="ep1m7">{{cite video game | title = StarCraft | developer = [[Blizzard Entertainment]] | year = 1998 | platform = PC | level = Episode I, mission 7: "The Trump Card"}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20071017144236/http://sclegacy.com/content/starcraft-encyclopedia-4/starcraft-story-17/ Transcript]</ref> After forcing Confederate general [[Edmund Duke (StarCraft)|Edmund Duke]] to join him, Mengsk sacrifices his own second-in-command, [[Sarah Kerrigan]], to ensure the destruction of the Confederacy by luring the Zerg to the Confederate capital Tarsonis.<ref name="ep1m9">{{cite video game | title = StarCraft | developer = [[Blizzard Entertainment]] | year = 1998 | platform = PC | level = Episode I, mission 9: "New Gettysburg"}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20071017144236/http://sclegacy.com/content/starcraft-encyclopedia-4/starcraft-story-17/ Transcript]</ref> Raynor is outraged by Mengsk's true aims of obtaining power at any cost and deserts, followed by the player, taking with them a small army of the former colonial militia of Mar Sara. Mengsk reorganizes what remains of the Terran population into the [[Terran Dominion]], crowning himself as emperor.<ref name="ep1m10">{{cite video game | title = StarCraft | developer = [[Blizzard Entertainment]] | year = 1998 | platform = PC | level = Episode I, mission 10: "The Hammer Falls"}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20071017144236/http://sclegacy.com/content/starcraft-encyclopedia-4/starcraft-story-17/ Transcript]</ref>

The second campaign reveals that Kerrigan was not killed by the Zerg, but rather is captured and infested in an effort to incorporate her [[psionics|psionic]] traits into the Zerg [[gene pool]]. She emerges with far more psionic powers and physical strength, her DNA completely altered.<ref name="ep2m4">{{cite video game | title = StarCraft | developer = [[Blizzard Entertainment]] | year = 1998 | platform = PC | level = Episode II, mission 4: "Agent of the Swarm"}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20071017144236/http://sclegacy.com/content/starcraft-encyclopedia-4/starcraft-story-17/ Transcript]</ref> Meanwhile, the Protoss commander [[Tassadar]] discovers that the Zerg's [[Cerebrates|cerebrate]]s cannot be killed by conventional means, but that they can be harmed by the powers wielded by the heretical [[dark templar]]. Tassadar allies himself with the dark templar prelate [[Zeratul]], who assassinates [[Cerebrates|Zasz]], one of the Zerg's cerebrates in their hive clusters on Char.<ref name="ep2m7">{{cite video game | title = StarCraft | developer = [[Blizzard Entertainment]] | year = 1998 | platform = PC | level = Episode II, mission 7: "The Culling"}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20071017144236/http://sclegacy.com/content/starcraft-encyclopedia-4/starcraft-story-17/ Transcript]</ref> The cerebrate's death results in its forces running amok through the Zerg hives, but briefly links the minds of Zeratul and the [[Zerg Overmind]], allowing the Overmind to finally learn the location of the Protoss homeworld Aiur, which the Overmind has been seeking for millennia. The main Zerg swarm promptly invades Aiur, while Kerrigan is dispatched to deal with Tassadar, and despite facing heavy Protoss resistance, the Overmind is able to embed itself into the crust of the planet.<ref name="ep2m10">{{cite video game | title = StarCraft | developer = [[Blizzard Entertainment]] | year = 1998 | platform = PC | level = Episode II, mission 10: "Full Circle"}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20071017144236/http://sclegacy.com/content/starcraft-encyclopedia-4/starcraft-story-17/ Transcript]</ref>

The final episode of the game sees [[Characters of StarCraft#Aldaris|Aldaris]] and the Protoss government branding Tassadar a traitor and a heretic for conspiring with the dark templar. The player (later retconned to be [[Artanis (StarCraft)|Artanis]]) initially serves Aldaris in defending Aiur from the Zerg invasion, but while on a mission to arrest Tassadar, the player joins him instead.<ref name="ep3m5">{{cite video game | title = StarCraft | developer = [[Blizzard Entertainment]] | year = 1998 | platform = PC | level = Episode III, mission 5: "Choosing Sides"}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20071017144236/http://sclegacy.com/content/starcraft-encyclopedia-4/starcraft-story-17/ Transcript]</ref> A Protoss civil war erupts, pitting Tassadar, Zeratul, and their allies against the Protoss establishment (known as The Conclave.) The dark templar prove their worth when they use their energies to slay two more of the Zerg cerebrates on Aiur, and the Conclave reconciles with them.<ref name="ep3m9">{{cite video game | title = StarCraft | developer = [[Blizzard Entertainment]] | year = 1998 | platform = PC | level = Episode III, mission 9: "Shadow Hunters"}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20071017144236/http://sclegacy.com/content/starcraft-encyclopedia-4/starcraft-story-17/ Transcript]</ref> Aided by Raynor's forces—who sided with Tassadar back on Char—the Protoss break through the Overmind's weakened defenses and destroy the Overmind's outer shell, but take heavy casualties in the process. Tassadar channels his own psionic energies in combination with those of the dark templar through the hull of his command ship and crashes it into the Overmind, sacrificing himself in order to destroy it.<ref name="ep3m10">{{cite video game | title = StarCraft | developer = [[Blizzard Entertainment]] | year = 1998 | platform = PC | level = Episode III, mission 10: "Eye of the Storm"}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20071017144236/http://sclegacy.com/content/starcraft-encyclopedia-4/starcraft-story-17/ Transcript]</ref>