Zeratul

**Zeratul** was a hero of the Nerazim Protoss during the time of the Great War.

## History

Zeratul was born in 2465 CE. Throughout much of his life, he hated the Conclave that had banished his people from their homeworld of Aiur. For many years, Zeratul fulfilled missions for the Nerazim away from the planet Shakuras, eventually reaching the rank of Prelate. As was tradition, he was presented with a custom set of armor -- however, preferring a much more casual attire, Zeratul rarely wore the armor.

### Great War

During the Great War, Zeratul felt Sarah Kerrigan's psionic call from the planet Char. He brought a small force to the planet with him -- hoping to end the zerg expansion. Here, he met Executor Tassadar and the human Jim Raynor. After overcoming Tassadar's prejudice of him, the three formed an alliance against the zerg and began healing the rift between the two factions of Protoss.

Through the aid of this alliance, Zeratul was able to kill the cerebrate Zasz. When he did so, he briefly made a psychic connection with the Overmind -- learning its motives, but also accidentally revealing the location of Aiur to it. Despite a devastating attack led by zerg under the command of Kerrigan, Zeratul and his allies managed to escape Char. Zeratul and other Dark Templar, however, were held inside a human installation. Tassadar, bringing Protoss reinforcements, freed Zeratul from imprisonment and convinced him to go with him to Aiur to stop the zerg.

The Conclave, however, was not so open-minded as Tassadar and branded him a traitor for returning to their homeworld with Zeratul. Despite their successful fights against the zerg incursions, Tassadar ultimately surrendered himself to Aldaris to stop the Protoss from fighting each other. Without Tassadar, Zeratul and his Nerazim brethren disappeared -- leaving the Khalai forces to fight the zerg alone. Ultimately they reappeared at a critical point, and demanded Tassadar's release.

Zeratul, Tassadar, Raynor, and Fenix led an attack against the zerg, which culminated in Tassadar sacrificing himself to destroy the Overmind on Aiur.

### Brood War

The death of the Overmind unleashed rampant, feral zerg across Aiur. Zeratul remained on the planet to attempt to quell the danger, but ultimately was forced to lead the Khalai Protoss in an evacuation of the planet through a warp gate leading to Shakuras. Some zerg made it through the warp gate, and began infesting Shakuras. Two cerebrates infested the grounds of a sacred xel'naga temple. Matriarch Raszagal insisted that the Uraj and Khalis crystals be brought together to activate the temple and purge the zerg from the planet -- though the cerebrates would need to be killed first.

After the deaths of the cerebrates, Kerrigan arrived with information: a new Overmind was forming on Char. Though most of the allies gathered on Shakuras were suspicious, Raszagal insisted the former adversaries work together. They did so, but upon returning to Shakuras the planet was engulfed in turmoil. The Khalai Protoss were battling the Nerazim, claiming that someone was manipulating Raszagal. While Zeratul had his suspicions, Kerrigan slew Artanis before he could reveal what he had learned. This act, however, proved to Zeratul that Kerrigan was no ally and she soon admitted that she had been manipulating the Dark Templar Matriarch. She left the planet, satisfied that her enemies had been destroyed by the Protoss. The surviving Protoss made a stand against the zerg, activitating the xel'naga temple and purging them from the planet.

Zeratul then left Shakuras to retrieve heroes stranded on Aiur. In his absence, Kerrigan kidnapped Raszagal -- successfully luring Zeratul and his allies back to Char to rescue her. Here, Kerrigan manipulated them into joining forces against the second Overmind, which had fallen under the control of the United Earth Directorate. After the Overmind's defeat, Raszagal refused to return to Shakuras. Zeratul placed her in stasis to forcibly bring her back to her people -- but Kerrigan attacked to reclaim her captive. In a last effort to save Raszagal from Kerrigan's corruption, the praetor slew her. In her last moments, Raszagal made Zeratul the leader of the Nerazim.

Fleeing from Char with his warband, Zeratul discovered Protoss energy signatures on a dark moon. Upon investigating he discovered Protoss/zerg hybrids in stasis. Horrified, Zeratul and his cohorts destroyed the experimental facility. Zeratul returned briefly to Shakuras, but the experience left him convinced the Protoss had fallen under the control of dark forces. Seeking answers, he took a small group with him and entered a self-imposed exile in search of answers.

### Second Great War

As the Second Great War began, Zeratul was committed to investigating the prophecy of the xel'naga's return. His search brought him to Ulaan -- arriving there shortly after Kerrigan. The fought briefly, but Zeratul was able to acquire the fragments of the prophecy and escape from the zerg. He took the fragments to Zhakul, where he expected that the preservers would be able to decipher what they said.

When he arrived on Zhakul, he encountered one of the zerg/protoss Hybrids, Maar, had imprisoned the preservers and corrupted the Zhakul Guardians to serve him. Zeratul slew Maar and freed the preservers. They deciphered the fragments and decoded one piece to refer to a "Great Hungerer". Zeratul assumed this meant the Overmind, and journeyed to Aiur to extract memories from the dead husk of the creature. Here he learned that the Overmind had been a pawn of Amon, and had create Kerrigan as the Queen of Blades to prevent the zerg from falling completely under the sway of the dark entity.

Convinced now of Kerrigan's importance, Zeratul recorded what he had learned in a crystal -- which he gave to Raynor before boarding Kerrigan's leviathan and psychically showing her the location of Zerus. He explained that he was acting on behalf of the greater good, and that the xel'naga wished for Kerrigan to become a more powerful leader of the zerg to stand against Amon.

### End War

A year later, Zeratul learned of Protoss being held in a Moebius Foundation facility. He arrived as Kerrigan began attacking the station -- she had learned that they were followers of Amon. Zeratul freed the imprisoned protoss while avoiding getting in the way of the rampaging zerg. Using information from the facility, they learned that Amon's forces were centered at the planet of Atrias. Zeratul traveled there and battled them, before being granted a vision declaring of the Keystone -- necessary to win against their great enemy -- and its location on Korhal. Zeratul and his forces fled. With all the answers he needed, Zeratul sought Artanis for his aid in the coming conflict.

Amon soon began to corrupt the Khala, turning protoss against protoss. As the corruption spread, Artanis asked Zeratul to sever his connection to the Khala. The request came too late, and even as Zeratul sought to free his friend, Artanis fell under Amon's control. Zeratul managed to cut Artanis' nerve cords, freeing him from the Amon's control, but was mortally wounded in the attempt. He died cradled in Artanis' arms.