Alzadar

Alzadar was a member of the Tal'darim, a dark protoss cult, and held much influence within it. Before joining the Tal'darim, he used to be a Templar.

Alzadar fought with psionic blades, but eschewed armor after joining the Tal'darim, preferring to wear long flowing robes. He developed Dark Templar-like cloaking powers and had a psionic attack ability. Unlike his Tal'darim brethren, his mental "voice" was almost emotionless due to the effects of the drug Sundrop.^[1]

Biography

Following the destruction of Aiur by the zerg,^[2] the protoss fled through the world's sole remaining warp gate to the Dark Templar sanctuary of Shakuras.^[3] However, the zerg followed the protoss to Shakuras, necessitating the closure of the gate.^[4]

The protoss who were stranded became known as the Shel'na Kryhas ("Those Who Endure"), led by Templar Ladranix. Templar Alzadar was one of his closest friends.^[1]

The Shel'na Kryhas rescued a Furinax craftsman named Vartanil. Alzadar treated him kindly, and earned Vartanil's loyalty.^[5]

However, Felanis and some other Shel'na Kryhas couldn't deal with the feelings of abandonment by other protoss, which exposed a racial wound—the abandonment of the protoss by the xel'naga, which led to the Aeon of Strife. These protoss began to revert mentally to a state similar to the protoss of that age. Alzadar was one of these protoss. He and Felanis broke with Ladranix, taking their group away and settling in extensive caverns beneath Aiur's surface. This group became known as Tal'darim ("the Forged").

The Tal'darim served a creature they called the Xava'tor ("the Benefactor"). The Xa'vator desired preservers (protoss who held ancestral memories) and had other instructions for the Tal'darim, such as capturing zerg for it and to remain away from a certain chamber which held a giant extremely pure khaydarin crystal.

The Xava'tor occasionally asked for one of the Tal'darim to go with him—these volunteers were known as the "Xava'kai" ("Hands of the Benefactor") -- to help him with unspecified tasks. They were never seen again.

The Tal'darim became addicted to a drug known as Sundrop, which made them more like the Dark Templar—which, ironically, the Tal'darim hated. Alzadar himself became so cut off from the Khala that his telepathic voice lost its emotional tenor; he always seemed calm and nearly emotionless.^[1]

Arrival of the Preserver

In 2503^[6] Jake Ramsey, a terran archaeologist, and his mercenary companion Rosemary Dahl, arrived on Aiur seeking the very crystal which the Xava'tor guarded. They came at the behest of Zamara, a preserver who had died but implanted her personality within Ramsey's brain. The Tal'darim quickly became aware of this fact.^[1]

Alzadar and a team of Tal'darim warriors ambushed Rosemary Dahl as she scouted their caverns with the help of their strange new powers.

He subjected her to the drug Sundrop as an experiment; Dahl quickly became addicted to it. Dahl was sent to lure Jake Ramsey (and therefore Zamara) to his location, but she revealed the truth to Ramsey instead. She was used to lure Alzadar out of hiding, where he was defeated in combat by Ladranix and several Shel'na Kryhas.

The protoss broke Alzadar's addiction to Sundrop and healed his angry and paranoid mind by reconnecting it to the Khala. Zamara informed him that the Benefactor he served was none other than Ulrezaj, an extremely powerful dark archon. Alzadar was shocked. He agreed to assist Zamara in her mission; to acquire an extremely pure piece of khaydarin crystal from the secret chamber.^[1]

The terrans, Alzadar and a force of Shel'na Kryhas sneaked into the caverns and reached the chamber where they obtained the crystal. However, the chamber housed other secrets; strange liquid-filled vats housing unseen creatures which emitted a form of psionic horror, and drained corpses of Tal'darim, friends of Alzadar's, who had been betrayed by Ulrezaj. The party was ambushed by the Tal'darim, but Alzadar was able to hold them off by revealing the truths he had recently discovered. He and half the party remained behind while Ladranix, the two terrans and the rest sneaked out.^[1] He convinced Vartanil to follow the preserver as he believed strongly in their wisdom.^[5]

The party fought a fierce battle with zerg forces over towards the warp gate, which they believed they could activate and escape to Shakuras. Unfortunately, the gate had been deliberately damaged by gauss rifle fire, and fixing it would take time. While the Shel'na Kryhas fended off the zerg, assistance arrived in the form of Alzadar and a contingent of (former) Tal'darim whom Alzadar had convinced to turn against Felanis and Ulrezaj.

The battle with the zerg paused when Ulrezaj himself appeared, determined to capture the preserver for himself and punish the renegade Tal'darim. Ramsey suggested combining the Khala-based powers of the Shel'na Kryhas and the Void-based power of Tal'darim to fight the dark archon. Many protoss burned out and died in the joining but their powers still amplified the effect. Alzadar and Ladranix attacked Ulrezaj together. Ladranix was killed.^[1] Dahl, Vartanil and some other former Tal'darim managed to retreat to Shakuras. Ramsey/Zamara also traveled through the gate but ended up elsewhere.^[5]

End

Alzadar was mortally wounded and captured by the zerg. He refused to tell Ethan Stewart how to control the warp gate. The protoss was confident his love of Aiur would allow him to withstand torture. Unable to extract the information Stewart had a hydralisk kill Alzadar.^[5]

References