In part two of our series, Brian Kindregan, co-lead writer for StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty and lead writer for Heart of the Swarm, answers questions about the game’s story that are of most interest to our community.
Question: Before meeting Kerrigan, Jim Raynor already had a family, a wife and son. How is it that at the same time Sarah Kerrigan is “the only and beloved” for him??
Answer: We didn’t talk about the fact that she’s Jim’s only one.
For several years, Jim was doing just fine, but he lost everything. A new stage began in his life (or rather, everything returned to normal), and he again took up arms. The life of a soldier is full of difficulties, and the intensity of passions is simply frantic. Jim had strong feelings for Sarah, even loved her, but this did not change his attitude towards his family. People mourn their loss, but life goes on…eventually.
Question: At the end of Wings of https://casinonalu.uk Liberty, Arcturus Mengsk’s empire was on the verge of collapse. The Zerg absorbed most of the outlying worlds and systematically approached key planets. Raynor revealed to the citizens of the Dominion the truth that it was Mengsk who committed genocide on Tarsonis. Riots and uprisings began to flare up, people took to the streets of all major cities, including Augustgrad. The son of Arcturus then commandeered half the entire space fleet, desperately hoping to put an end to the Queen of Blades. How Mengsk managed to maintain control over the Terran Dominion, despite endless hostilities?
Answer: Mengsk maintained his power through fiendishly intricate intrigue, cruelty, and good old fashioned cunning. The threat to his empire had not passed by the time of Heart of the Swarm, but he is not short of ingenuity, and he still has many ways to retain power. If the Swarm had started a full-scale war with the Terrans or the Kelmorian Syndicate had been able to muster enough forces to attack, the Dominion would not have survived. Note that the Swarm attacked planets only in order to search for an artifact, and after the disappearance of the Queen of Blades, its unity was disrupted. As for the Kelmorians, they had a very hard time at that time.
Question: How did it happen that Jim Raynor was indifferent to the events of StarCraft and Brood War? Why does he not want to kill Kerrigan (after all, he knows about the atrocities she committed)? Did Jim fall in love with her??
Answer: First of all, you need to understand Jim’s attitude towards Kerrigan. Of course, Horner, Tychus and the entire Hyperion crew saw her only as a terrible monster and wanted revenge for the crimes she had committed. For them there was no difference between Kerrigan and the Queen of Blades, and for quite a long time Jim did not see this difference either. But as soon as Valerian told him that Sarah could be saved, Jim began to have doubts. Maybe in the heart of the ruthless alien queen, who destroyed entire worlds, there is still something left of the “old” Sarah, who destroyed her opponents in cold blood, but did not enjoy killing? Is it possible? Jim probably didn’t know. He had already seen the Queen of Blades betray her allies more than once, and he did not rely entirely on Valerian’s idea. So Jim, as always, had to rely on his instincts. He was faced with a choice: give in to his hatred of Mengsk and the Queen of Blades, or grasp hope and try to change everything. His instinct did not let him down, and he chose the latter.
Jim has lost too much in his life, much more than anyone else. That’s why he was so attracted to the opportunity to save Kerrigan. He lost his family, friends, ideals, could not prevent the death of doomed worlds and thought that Kerrigan was also lost to him irrevocably. But then Jim found out that there was a chance to save her. For the first time he had the opportunity to make up for the loss, for the first time he could fix something, and not just try to do everything possible so that it would not get worse.
Question: How are units like the Mutalisk and Banshee able to move in a vacuum??
Answer: Another great question that we discussed among ourselves. The discussion was usually accompanied by fights using furniture. In general, mutalisks produce a specific gas that allows them to use jet propulsion when discarding part of their own mass. Thus, mutalisks can move even in a vacuum due to the thrust created by the gas exhaust. Although they cannot perform complex maneuvers, mutalisks are capable of changing direction of movement.
In the atmosphere of planets, mutalisks simply use their wings, and the gas is intended exclusively for flights in space. Are you wondering why they keep flapping their wings even when there is no air?? It’s all about instincts. In the same way, a dog twitches its hind legs when you scratch its belly.
As for Terran and Protoss units, the answer is even simpler. Their equipment is additionally equipped with standard rocket engines designed exclusively for flights in airless space