Starcraft 2 news » Shakuras — Home of the Dark Templar

After their exile, the Nerazim, the rogue protoss known as Dark Templar, arrived in the moon of Ehlna, a place that bore the mark of the Xel’naga—the race who steered the evolution of the protoss—in the form of a warp gate, but they didn’t permanently settle there. Instead, the Nerazim built a sanctuary of wisdom where pilgrims could have their memories preserved. More than two centuries later, they took to the stars once again.

During their travels, the Nerazim found a Xel’naga temple on planet Shakuras and decided to stay and study it, a choice that forever changed them. Shakuras is a world of twilight, where night and day are all but indistinguishable from each other. Harsh desert terrain constitutes the majority of its surface, with few pockets of scarce vegetation. The Nerazim used the abilities they learned from Adun, the executor who protected them from the Conclave, in order to adapt to their new environment. Survival in Shakuras demanded both determination and an unbreakable will, but the Nerazim flourished, founding an outpost called Talematros.

When Aiur fell to the zerg onslaught, the survivors traveled to Shakuras by means of a warp gate, and settled in New Antioch. The zerg followed the Aiur refugees, and a brutal campaign ensued as the monsters gained a foothold on Shakuras. During the conflict, Talematros fell when its pylon grid was sabotaged by Samir Duran. Eventually, the zerg were cleansed from the surface when the protoss used the Uraj and Khalis crystals to activate the dormant power of the Xel’naga temple. In the aftermath of the Brood War, Talematros was rebuilt, becoming the capital of Shakuras and the seat of the Hierarchy.

The Aiur protoss and the Nerazim have had bitter disagreements during their time in Shakuras, and tensions have been especially high since the forming of the Daelaam. Yet, with Artanis’ and Vorazun’s leadership, both protoss factions have managed to set aside their differences and work together in the efforts to reclaim their homeworld: Aiur.

Yet, ill winds blow on the horizon, and war comes to to the protoss. In the upcoming battle, the Nerazim will stand firm against adversity, as they have done for millennia.