Overmind

The **Overmind** was the leader of the Zerg Swarm for centuries, until its defeat at the hands of the combined might of the protoss, Dark Templar, and Raynor's Raiders.

## History

The Overmind was created by the xel'naga Amon, who hoped to control the zerg. The Overmind was to guide them in merging with the protoss -- but when war broke out amongst the xel'naga, Amon gave the Overmind a new purpose: destroy the protoss. This directive undermined the Overmind's free will and instincts. Despite not truly having free will, the Overmind managed to focus primarily on the goals of the zerg, rather than on Amon's.

As the swarm grew, the Overmind could not directly give it orders. He began to telepathically command cerebrates, who in turn directly controlled portions of the swarm. But as the swarm grew, the Overmind knew it was time to leave Zerus. The arrival of behemoths into the Zerus system provided an opportunity to escape -- and so the swarm infected and assimilated the behemoths. This ultimately gave all zerg the ability to survive in space.

Before they could depart Zerus, a civil war broke out among the xel'naga as they learned of Amon's betrayal. The Overmind launched a devastating attack against the xel'naga, destroying much of their fleet. In the attack, the Overmind learned much that the xel'naga had known -- including of the power of the khaydarin crystals. The Overmind began absorbing the energies of these crystals into itself. It managed to increase the sentience of many of the higher strains of zerg -- though it was careful to leave them under its control.

Though Amon was defeated, the Overmind was still bound by his directive. To that end, when the Overmind and the zerg swarm left Zerus they headed into space -- only knowing the general location of the protoss homeworld of Aiur.

As they traveled, they left a wake of destruction across the galaxy -- decimating many species. The species was highly feared across the galaxy, even by the Citadel Council.

Eventually, the zerg encountered a deep-space probe launched by humans. The Overmind ordered the assimilation of the species. It took sixty years for the swarm to reach the colonized worlds of the Koprulu Sector. They took a subtle approach, infecting the worlds with spores. Chau Sara would be the first to fall. Before the protoss discovered what had transpired, the zerg had already begun to infect other worlds in the Terran Confederacy. The protoss wiped out all life on Chau Sara -- a move which both impressed the Overmind and started the Great War. It pulled the zerg back to see how the protoss and humans would react to each other.

Meanwhile, using a young cerebrate and Nargil of the Fenris Brood, the Overmind focused its attention on the planet of Brontes IV. They captured Judicator Syndrea, and forced the 7th Fleet to retreat to their base on the planet. In the midst of this, the Overmind realized that the cerebrate Auza of the Incubus Brood had been taken over by another psionic entity -- Atticus Carpenter. The Overmind found the experiment interesting but determined that the cerebrate needed to be eradicated. The Overmind's forces soon succeeded -- and also wiped out the 7th Fleet and New Dresdin Outlaws.

At about this time, the zerg were drawn to Tarsonis by psi emitters. In the ensuing conflict, Sarah Kerrigan was captured and infected by the zerg. She entered into a chrysalis -- and the Overmind sensed her power. He realized she was both a way to combat the protoss, and a way to undermine Amon's plans. He created a new cerebrate whose sole purpose was to protect the chrysalis. The chrysalis, and the swarm itself, were brought to Char where the Overmind's physical form was manifested.

However, Kerrigan's psionic emanations captured the attentions of many of the zerg's foes -- including the Terran Dominion, Raynor's Raiders and Zeratul. They were unable to prevent Kerrigan from emerging from her transformation -- now she was the Queen of Blades and the Overmind's greatest weapon. Though she exhibited a great deal of free will, she was unable to stray from the Overmind's plans.

Kerrigan's psionic abilities allowed the Overmind to detect the protoss presence on Char, but not in time to prevent Tassadar and Zeratul from discovering a way to kill a cerebrate. When Zeratul slew the cerebrate Zasz, his mind and the Overmind's touched. The Overmind's mental defenses prevented Zeratul from learning everything, but Zeratul was not so well defended. However, the death of a cerebrate threw the Overmind into a state of mental shock from which it could not emerge until the Garm Brood had been eradicated.

When it did emerge, however, the Overmind had at last learned the location of the protoss homeworld of Aiur. The zerg reached the planet and it was then the Overmind revealed its purpose: by assimilating the protoss, the zerg would at last be "perfect". However, in order to truly accomplish this, the Overmind had to physically manifest on Aiur. The zerg wiped out the protoss who guarded the sacred ground where the xel'naga had first landed on Aiur. Using a khaydarin crystal to focus its energies, the Overmind imbedded itself in the planet's surface.

After a brief civil war, the protoss responded to this invasion in force. The final assault upon the Overmind was launched and included the protoss following Praetor Fenix, the Dark Templar followed Zeratul, and Raynor's Raiders under the command of Jim Raynor. After a brutal conflict, they managed to destroy the Overmind's outer shell. The Overmind prepared to escape into the Warp, but Tassadar launched an attack using the powers of the Khala and the Void -- sacrificing himself, he drove his ship down into the Overmind and destroyed them both.

### Legacy

A second Overmind formed some time after this.

On Aiur, the corpse of the Overmind was a treacherous landmark. The area was infested with zerg who both fed on the corpse and defended it. Shortly before the Second Great War, Zeratul returned to the corpse to extract memories from it in an attempt to glean more information about a prophecy.

During the End War, Amon took control of Aiur. His forces built machinery to create Amon's hybrid body on top of the corpse of the Overmind. Ultimately, they were defeated by the Daelaam -- whose assault left little more than a crater where the Overmind had once formed.

## Source

The Overmind is derived from *Starcraft*.