Infested Samir Duran

@string_me_along: Ah, but does not the creator know it's creation better than the creation knows itself, hmm?


(little poke at the "Duran=Xel'Naga" theory me and ShdwyTemplar are tossing around in the "In Depth view of Duran" thread)

 

@SirBaron: My mother knows very little about me, she's mostly my creator. If Duran is actually a Xel'Naga (which is becoming more and more likely the more information we get from Blizzard), it may be possible that he knows some way of counterfeiting zerg infestation. I can agree to that.

However, to play devil's advocate: The Zerg were the Xel'Naga's prized creation for their purity of essence. That purity of essence is not something they shared with the Xel'Naga, only with themselves as a race. Therefore it follows that they would be able to detect an organism that was not zerg simply because it was not linked to them by the purity of essence. In theory, at least, Kerrigan should know whether or not Duran was infested.

 

To string: Even though the purity of essence is not shared with the Naga it does not mean that said essence cannot be manipulated by its creator. One must also remember that the Xel'Naga are more evolved/advanced that we (as simple terrans) cannot comprehend. The fact that they created two sentinent races, races that evolved better than nature made beings (humans) speaks volumes of their power. Now, in hindsight, you must admit that such beings would be able to at least fool the simple minded beings of the Zerg, and even Kerrigan herself. Be it by telepathy, genetic/neaurotic manipulation or any other means we havent even imagined. Surly, in theory, this race should be able bypass this detection.

My 2 cents...

 

@ stizur:

While I must conceed that this is possible (I don't know what the capabilities of the Xel'Naga are, so we have to allow for pretty much anything) I think that it undermines the essence of the zerg purity if it can be polluted (<-- nice play on words, eh?) by other creatures. It's clearly possible, but not probable. The zerg, presumably, have been acting and evolving outside of Xel'Naga influence since they attacked and almost destroyed the Xel'Naga above Zerus.

Also the zerg are not like people who would be fooled by seeing or smelling something that looked or smelled "human". They have a psionic connection with one another. A racially inherited psionic connection. I think that it would be difficult to fool them.

 

@string: You say the Zerg has a psionic connection with one another - this is wrong imho. In fact, this goes against the point of the Cerebrates, or heck, the Swarm itself. The Zerg act only as extensions of the Cerebrates, who in order act as extensions of the Overmind. In fact, Zerg probably does not acknowledge their own existence, even less the existence of other Zerg. They are basic creatures while in the Swarm, like bacteria. Does bacteria know it is bacteria? Nope. Doesn't stop them from doing their thing, though.

That's the strongest and weakest part of the Zerg - that their intelligence and "sentient" status is centralized in the very Overmind itself. The Purity of Essence was never about the Swarm becoming tainted by unworthy species (since it was a friggin Xel'Naga concept to begin with). When the Zerg starts to act apart from one another, when unity is broken, then the Purity of Essence become tainted. The Overmind misunderstands this (according to the theories developed by myself and ShdwyTemplar, due to Durans manipulation).

That is also why the Overmind ordered about the death of the Garm Brood after Zasz was killed - the unity was broken, and the Zerg started acting on their own - becoming a taint in the perfect unity of the Swarm.

Also, the Perfect Design (as good old Duran likes to say) doesn't actually refer to Form and Essence as they are, but rather Body and Mind (body referring to their advanced and sophisticated civilisation, and not the body itself - mind referring to personality, and not the mind itself). The Protoss have powerful bodies blessed with power of psionics. Their forms - their bodies - are perfect, but they are scattered and individual in mind. Individuals tend to develop personal quirks which other individuals find disagreeable.

This is perfectly represented by the Aeon of Strife, and even better, the schism in the Protoss which brought about the Dark Templar exodus. The Protoss could not agree with one another, and thus, their Essence was tainted.

The Zerg, however, lacked the sophisticated civilisation of the Protoss. The Zerg was little more than simpleminded beasts, driven by the most base desires - however, they had a powerful unity amongst themselves, which the Protoss lacked. The Xel'Nagas first approach was in fact not to combine the Protoss with the Zerg, but rather attempt to evolve the Zerg through gene-stealing (warhammer40k reference FTL) into more sophisticated forms (notice that i used the word Form) while preserving their unity. I believe this to have been a disastrous waste of time, as not even the Xel'Naga could hasten the evolution of the Zerg fast enough for them to reach Protoss-level within the next 65 million years.

Now, there are two explanations whether how the Overmind was made aware of the Perfect Design he so intricately chased in the first Zerg campaign:
1) He absorbed it from the Xel'Naga he killed over Zerus, along with what should have been the destination of Aiur.
2) The Xel'Naga was never truly killed, but simply manipulated the Overmind into believing so, while using him as a puppet for creating the Perfect design. "Aaaw but why didn't they just tell the Overmind straight away to do this?" Reason: Had the Overmind known there was already perfect beings lurking around his hood, then he would never in the depths of blazing hells have gone through so much sh1t just to besiege Aiur, in order to create perfect beings. Or would he? (paradox, paradox).

The only reasonable answer is, that the Xel'Naga has been pulling the Zerg strings all along, in order to use their gene-stealing ability to extract the powerful Form of Protoss into the Swarm, thus finishing the Perfect Design, ending the Xel'Nagas work, allowing them to finally punch out, quit work and get 52 lightyears of vacation. The Overmind - it's understandable that he was no mere than a puppet, since his creation was by the Xel'Nagas hands.

And do not for one second mention "What if he revolted against them?". I think the Xel'Naga are waaaaaaay too sophisticated to fall for that old Frankenstein plot - if they were creating a big, omniscient brain, i am sure as hell they would have made sure it would never revolt under any circumstances. (honestly, only humans does these kind of mistakes -.-)

Kerrigan, another deal but still understandable (since she's 50% human and thus gullible by default) since she was a part of the Perfect Design, acting as the prototype (uh, and yeah, the Xel's wanted to make sure their theory of introducing a sentient race into the Swarm fold would be viable. Thus the Overmind's well spoken words "She is my greatest creation.") for the Hybrids.

Oh well, now i gotta stop ranting, but you get where i am going though. And please do not misunderstand me, i do not claim this to be canon or anything, it's just my speculation.

 

That was really cool, Sir Baron. One of the most interesting and fun to read things I've come across in a while. owerup:

One thing I gotta give to Blizzard is this wonderful integration of psyche/philosophy into sci-fi and fantasy. I mean, one main reason I've always enjoyed the Starcraft, or even the Warcraft, stories so much is because of their constant facilitation of human nature. It's funny to think, that while these ARE alien beings, completely...freaking...alien...beyond our scope of creation and whatever foreign existence, still carry the very fundamental problems that humans have in some way. I mean, in a funny way, I almost think that the Zerg is more of a "harmonized" race than that of humans OR the protoss. I know that's kinda stretchin it, but think about it. Humans have this urge for dominance and instinctive nature for self perseverance and so do the Protoss. It's very interesting to have Chriz Metzen come up with these categories of "perfect essence" or what not, cuz it's really just an aspect of human nature. At any rate, we kill each other and have epic wars, annihilating millions of... ourselves... and so did the Protoss. The Zerg? Once in a while u'll get a renegade brood strain that gets wiped out.

But most of the time the Zerg in of itself kinda self-sufficient (minus the occasional cannibalistic act here 'n there). It's almost like... Communism that works, LOL.

Very interesting stuff, though I'm probably just reading too much into it and overthinking stuff like I always do.

Forgive me.

Oh, and by the way...

...You said "taint."

 

i tottaly agree with sir baron, but i maybe found a fluke in this theorie, why didn't the Xelnaga stopped the overmind from being destroyed?

 

@ijffdrie: Well...

1) They would have revealed themselves by protecting the Overmind.
2) I think the Overmind was nothing more than a puppet, a scapegoat, a "patsy" if you wish. The Zerg nor Protoss aren't their true aim (though they have been), but rather the combination between the Zerg and Protoss. Now that the Hybrids have been "completed", the Zerg (and Protoss) are taken off the drawing board and thrown into the trash. Two failures being replaced by a success.

It's like they use to say, "Third Times a Charm", innit?

 

I can answer this one from the thread SirBaron and I have. The Overmind needed to be eliminated because it would unleash Kerrigan from his control and bring "Duran's" perfect "prototype" into her own domain/rule. This would allow Duran to observe how well a Zerg Hybrid would work thus far into the Zerg Genetic Strains and see if at this time the Zerg were capable of a Protoss/Zerg Hybrid. When the Overmind attempted to absorb Protoss on Aiur it was unsuccessful, so, Duran made sure it would be killed and went to attempt a Protoss/Zerg Hybrid on his own as he knew that the Zerg might be threatened with extinction sooner or later. Ya...

 

Nice thread ShdwyTemplar, you have a point on there, im agreed.

PEACE

 

maybe tassadar was a part of this grand design too ;D

war[/color]

 

Well I don't want to see Duran at all. I don't like him, he isn't necesarry for SC2. But if he's in, I've got a feeling that Kerrigan will kill him..

 

Hunter, Duran is very 'necesarry' for SC2.

 

That seems to follow, SirBaron. However, the Overmind is the consciousness of the Zerg, but I'm talking about the unconsciousness. The Zerg, as a species, and partly through the Overmind (which was created after the Xel'Naga started their experiments on the Zerg so it can't just be about him), are geared towards a purity of essence. Anything unnatural or incomplete about anything else should be recognized as not being part of the Zerg otherwise it is a false purity. The Zerg, if they really are pure in essence, should be able to detect the interloper in their midst.

He's not my favorite character, but after what happened between him and Zeratul in that hidden mission, I think he pretty much HAS to be in.

 

Since the Xel'Naga made the zerg pure in essence, then the Xel'Naga themselves should know how to make themselves pure in essence, so its easy for them to slip in Duran, posing as an infested terran, to create the hybrids. Kerrigan did not notice that Duran was not infested because he was already pure in essence.

 

I would be happy without him, but you know..

 

can some1 tell me how to get into the "secret" campaigne u guys r on about...where zeratul finds duran or something?

do u have to dl the secret campaigne from somewhere???

lol...

 

There is a missing towards the end of the zerg campaign in brood war.

Its the one where you have to destroy a protoss base in a limited amount of time to stop zeratul from excaping with the matriarch (who is in stasis). Anywho, if you complete the mission before a certain amount of time (5 minutes i think, im doing this from memory) then they will go through some dialogue and then it will say that the secret mission was unlocked.

BTW if you use operation cwal to go faster, the time will go faster as well.

 

Well, isn't Duran is a servant of a far greater power that slept for a countless, ages, if that is the truth that he is a servant of the Xel naga, why he becomes an Infested, well i hope somebody can explain this to me because im too confusing, please thanks

PEACE

 

@Protosscommander: That's because he probably wasn't infested. Remember he had a very different voice in the secret mission, not at all like normal Infested Terrans?

A being of his power (provided he actually IS a Xel'Naga - for that's what i'm going for at least) could surely change guise at will. Also, since he probably is a Xel'Naga, he most likely partook in the creation of the Zerg, and thus have immense insight into their psyche, probably giving him the power to manipulate the Zerg into believing he is one of them, or as i and ShdwyTemplar have suggested, manipulate the Overmind itself, and even Kerrigan (but Kerrigan is 50% human, as i have stated previously, so she doesn't really count).

And even though he refer to himself as a "servant" of the Xel'Naga, it may only mean he stayed "awake" while the rest of his kin left Known Space in order to await the culmination of their work. I mean, if you served a human being, would you not refer to yourself as his servant?

All in all, the Xel'Naga left Duran behind (or whatever his name is in Xel'Nagash) to complete their work, while the rest of them left the sector in order to "fall asleep" and fade from the memories of both Zerg and Protoss (Zerg undeniably forgetting easiest of the two, considering Duran most likely held power over the Overmind, being able to manipulate his memories - which really is the collective memories of all lesser Zerg).

Note that this rant of mine is all speculation, it's not canon lore, so it might be wrong. But it's a good guess, don't you think? :good: