Encyclopedia of Speculative Fiction

Koprulu Sector

From the Encyclopedia of Speculative Fiction - http://encyclopedia.wizards.pro

The Koprulu Sector—nicknamed the Terran Sector— is a sector in space colonized by the Terrans in the StarCraft series. Much of the series' action is set in it, and it is comprised of several planets, possibly distributed around different stars.

Contents

History

Following a period of social anarchy and the "fall of western civilization", a new world-government is re-asserted over Earth: the United Powers League (UPL). A police-state, it encompassed almost all of Earth. Rounding up "undesirables" —cyborgs, geneticly "impure" individuals, hackers, political dissidents— Project Purification was instituted: a mass genocide campaign in which millions died.

However, the dynamic scientist Doran Routhe wanted to explore deep space. It was very risky, but he had no problem with sending political prisoner lab rats to their deaths; 56,000 prisoners were secretly prepared for transport. Of these, 40,000 were loaded into four sleeper-ships designated the Reagan, the Argo, the Sarengo, and the Nagglfar and were sent on a 1 year journey into deep space to Gantris VI, an outlying planet. The Nagglfar was also equipped with an artificial intelligence called ATLAS. Routhe believed they would set up a colony and mine new resources for the United Powers League.

ATLAS scanned the prisoners, and discovered something unusual about them - a high proportion of them had a mutation leading to psionic potential. While currently weak, it would manifest in only a few generations. This information was logged and sent back to Earth. This may explain how the United Powers League came to know of this experiment.

However, the guidance computer failed, and they traveled at faster than light speeds for 28 years, travelling 60,000 light years to the far edge of the galaxy. When they awoke, the survivors had no idea where they were or where Earth was: all hope of making contact again was lost.

The Sarengo crashed on Umoja, killing 8,000 prisoners, the Reagan, which landed softly, founded the colony of Umoja, the Argo founded the colony of Moria, and the Nagglfar built the main Terran colony in the sector: Tarsonis.

As the Tarsonians had access to ATLAS, they had a technological head-start on their stellar neighbours. Even so, it took them sixty years to build second-generation subwarp engines and explore the rest of the system, discovering the other two colonies.

The Terrans of Tarsonis eventually created an interstellar Terran Confederacy, mainly through the creation of new colonies. They also came into conflict with Moria over its own colonies. The Morians founded the Kel-Morian Combine to fight back, sparking the Guild Wars, but lost.

There were roughly thirteen important Terran colony planets in the sector by the 25th century. However, war broke out with the Zerg invasion and subsequent clashes with the Protoss at the dawn of the 26th century.

A Violent Place

Various Terrans have commented on the amount of violence in the Koprulu Sector.

"Not every locale in the Koprulu sector is a hotbed of violence and mayhem. There are actually areas that are quiet, peaceful places to relax as the problems of the universe just pass you by." - Uran Golenko, leading stress therapist and featured guest on the popular "Universe Today" talk show.

"TRAVEL NOTE: A sudden influx of tourists, coupled with the discovery of considerable mineral wealth on the planet, has left the ecology of Helioc III in a less than optimal state. Once the use of tactical nuclear weaponry has subsided, geologists expect a high level of planetary recovery."

"What is it with the Koprulu Sector, anyhow? It seems like every week there's another skirmish, insurgency, sortie, planned offensive, counter strike, police action, border conflict or plain old-fashioned war breaking out. While the chaos and anarchy are great for a spacefaring merchant vessel that's willing to transport certain cargo of questionable legality, I sometimes have to stop and wonder if this madness will ever end.

-Personal entry of First Mate Norris Bailey, Recovery Vessel Starheaper."

The Koprulu Sector is a violent place, with many "small" pirate militias armed with everything from nuclear missiles to advanced battlecruisers and equipped with bootleg labs and large numbers of troops.

Planets of StarCraft

Outlying Worlds

It was the primary target of the Zerg infestation. All Protoss are thought to have fled the planet by now, and the Zerg have moved on, thus it probably remains idle and uncolonized, unless some Protoss have recolonized it. This remains unconfirmed.

More recently, Protoss survivors from Aiur sought refuge there. Zerg infestation was cleansed with the help of an ancient Xel'Naga temple, and the twin crystals Uraj and Khalis. The Protoss race currently resides there.

  • Zerus is the planet that was the homeworld of the Zerg, located near the core of the galaxy. An inhospitable ash-world that was once full of insectoid creatures, it served as the birthplace of the Zerg race.
  • Char is a heavily volcanic planet. It is not clear whether it is officially a part of the Koprulu Sector or not.

It was the staging area of the Zerg during their search for, and consequent invasion of, the Protoss homeworld of Aiur.

References

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