Part 2/3 the Khalai <- you're here
Part 3/3 the Nerazim
Part two of this ask, the Khalai
Erzadar. Formerly Erzolun (Because I have another Khalai OC named Talizun and I thought the names were way too similar) First concept was from 2022 (can be seen on the far bottom right of the art compilation) She was originally a tiny researcher from the Shelak tribe (??? I think??) Erza and her team of Khalai protoss were essentially Auir’s equivalent to Shakuras’s delegate team of Nerazim/terran diplomats/researchers/whatever.
She (and all the OCs from this story) were in kind of a limbo as they laid forgotten high on a metaphorical shelf of my mind, collecting dust, while I played with other OCs and stories. Until I was *this* video like half a year ago (no, it is not a Rickroll) and was like oh my god. oh. not to be a lesbian but oh my god. oh my fucking god Jesus Christ- we all know the meme.
Anyway, since then she became a tall, beefy adept.
She’s still mostly in development and therefore there’s not much to say about her. She’s a former zealot (became an adept during the events of LotV) With a friendly personality in a way only people in their early 20s have. She was assigned as a bodyguard/guide to the Dominion delegates Auir hosts and quickly becomes friends with most of them, namely Victor. And yes, I absolutely do plan to drag these two through months and years of delicious angst and yearning and denial and more angst before I allow them to become a thing. Their fault they’re my OCs.
Talizun is also a character who I’ve had for a looooooong time too (2018????? Before 2020) but I never really fleshed him out despite his key importance to the plot of Zhakul’s story. He didn’t even have a name until late 2021 ahaha oops. Most of his story was also conceived that year, meaning it’s pretty outdated and also prone to change in places, but I think it’s skeleton will remain.
Tali is a chill templar from a fringe Khalai colony so far away from the empire that it was entirely excluded from the great war that took place during the events of SC2. Him and many of his templar brethren were in stasis for centuries, only awakened AFTER the war was concluded, which is also the reason why he still bears his cords and is tethered to the Khala.
(One of the big changes in this AU, aside from Shakuras not exploding and the Daelaam not being a thing anymore, is that the Khala prevails. This could be a separate yap session for later, I’m just making this clear now in case someone is confused over me mentioning it)
Anyway. He’s very chill and level-headed for a zealot, which actually came in handy because Zhakul needed to do some serious deconstructing of the bullshit Dal filled his head with and Tali was up for the job. The two end up bonding over a similar experience (being removed from protoss society for so long they feel like complete outsiders) become friends and eeeeeeeeeeventually form a Zhakul-centred polycule that also includes Jake and various other terrans and protoss.
Tali eventually gets himself killed in a border skirmish with the Tal’darim (originally it was Y’rash that yeeted him, now I’m not sure that’s canon anymore) he’s stuffed into the shell of a dragoon and does his best to continue with his life as well as he can, which is made much more complicated because he ends up having an oopsie baby (who we will also talk about later) and from then on struggles with the crushing feeling of knowing he can never be an adequate parent to them because his broken body must forever remain locked in a dragoon exoskeleton.
The Talendir Orchard Head FamilyTM
The main characters in Project Sammuro. There’s very little to say about them for now because the story they were created for is at its infancy and therefore their characters are also very underdeveloped. They’re a down-to-earth family of protoss living in rural parts of Auir, growing and harvesting sammuro fruit for it’s rich blue dye, then distributing it across the Khalai empire as needed.
The story focuses on this entire process and also works as a lightbulb moment for Victor, who realises that the strongly capitalistic society of the Dominion is very very flawed in comparison to the more traditional, socialistic economy the protoss have where culture, tradition and the well-being of it’s people are far more important to them than profit and power.
