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Hey guys, so one of the cool things about the new Fenix/Talandar announcement was that they also announced a new hero system, where Purifier AI replicants of past protoss heroes could inhabit the bodies of your units and give some extra damage. These are awesome, and to add some extra coolness they're from a lot the other, less noted StarCraft media like bonus videos and maps, or blink-and-you-miss-them appearances in campaign. Because a lot of this sub is interested in lore content but often doesn't go past the main campaigns, I figured I'd make a summary of why some of these heroes are so cool.

So a note: Purifiers are reproductions of the greatest heroes of protoss society, they are not the same characters, like Talandar is to Fenix. There is one possible exception (I'll get to later):

1. Kaldalis: Kaldalis is a personal friend of Artanis, and was the zealot from the Legacy of the Void intro with the cut eye. He first appeared in the short video Reclamation:

Before the invasion of Aiur, Artanis began to have doubts as to whether his invasion was the correct decision, and whether the protoss should move on from their obsession with Aiur. Kaldalis helped Artanis along, reminding him of their proud history and how Aiur tied to their heritage, and telling him he would join the first wave because he knew no greater honor then to fight to reclaim their home, a home for all protoss.

Later, he shows up in the intro cinematic, where he and his Akhundelar squadron had to hold a staging point from a massive zerg wave. Many of his squad died in the encounter, but he and the squad's probe (Probius from Heroes of the Storm) held the line long enough for reinforcements to arrive, allowing them to join the fray and lay into the zerg.

It's unknown if Kaldalis survived the attack, or if he fell to Amon's corruption of the Khala. But it'll be cool to see him lay into enemies once again.

2. Talis: Talis was a praetor from the Dark Whispers campaign that lead into Legacy of the Void. She attempted to rescue captured protoss from a Moebius Foundation facility when she encountered Zeratul, who was raiding the facility to discover where Samir Duran/Narud was resurrecting Amon. The two combined forces and rescued the protoss in the facility before Kerrigan could destroy it, discovering the protoss were being sent to the Tal'darim planet of Erris. Talis promised to help Zeratul, and the two broke into the temple there where Highlord Ma'lash communed with Amon. Talis held the temple entrance while Zeratul discovered the last piece of the prophecy; the Keystone would usher his race unto hope.

However, Amon took note, and sent Void shades against Zeratul while Talis was pressed by the Tal'darim. In order to ensure her race survived the coming of Amon, Talis and her squad held the line while Zeratul escaped, dying to the Tal'darim. Talis now lives again as a Purifier.

An interesting note: Talis existed before Karax supposedly created prototype adept gear aboard the Spear of Adun. Because of this, it's very likely every adept is based off of her.

3. Taldarin: Not to be confused with the Tal'darim, Taldarin is from the secret Resurrection IV mission in StarCraft 64.

Taldarin was an ancient warrior who fought alongside Adun (though the mission says that at 3000 years ago, which ended up not quite being right). After being wounded in battle, he was put in a stasis cell until dragoon life support technology was created. He was the first to be placed inside of one.

After the Brood War, Taldarin was ordered by Artanis to help with a situation on Braxis. The cerebrate Kaloth had resurrected and infested Alexei Stukov in the hopes of making a new Swarm. Artanis asked the two of them to fight into his compound and inject him with anti-infestation nanites. The plan succeeded, and Raynor, Taldarin and Stukov escaped the planet. Artanis then purified Braxis. Stukov found out the nanites didn't quite work as well as he would of hoped and was given to the Moebius Foundation.

Again, it's unknown if Taldarin survived until Legacy of the Void but he's now back as an immortal (though sporting the dragoon portrait, nice touch)

4. Mojo: A protoss praetor and scout pilot from the Enslavers and Enslavers II bonus campaigns, Mojo and his group Mojo's Boys fought against pirates and renegades.

During the SC1 zerg campaign, Mojo and his group was captured by the terran pirate Alan Schezar, who used their khaydarian amulets to enslave a zerg cerebrate. Dominion Alpha Squadron forces under Tom Kazansky and Magellan were sent to apprehend Schezar but found him in control of a zerg brood. Defying a direct order from Mengsk, the Alpha Squadron group freed the high templar imprisoned by Schezar, and freed Mojo, Warbringer (who we'll get to later) and an arbiter named Danimoth (who won't be appearing since Fenix took the arbiter role) from the stasis cells). From there the group tracked Schezar to Aiur, and fighting through his terran forces, the zerg broods and a constantly regenerating Torrasque ultralisk, the combined force killed his cerebrate and raised his base. However, Schezar escaped in the fighting.

Mojo appeared later when Schezar worked with a dark templar renegade named Ulrezaj, who sought revenge on the Khalai for crimes against the dark templar. When Ulrezaj stole more khaydarian crystals, Mojo tracked them to Korhal, which was under siege by the UED, to find the crystals. Mojo fought through the zerg and terrans (in, I kid you not, the hardest mission in any StarCraft game period) and retrieved the crystal, severing the renegade's control of the zerg. Schezar would later be killed when Ulrezaj attempted to attack Shakuras.

It's funny because Mojo has a lot of missions where he's allowed to die, so his fate is still unknown. Still, it's cool to have the old scout back.

5. Warbringer: Warbringer is a reaver who served Mojo in the first conflict against Sheznar. Being a reaver, he didn't have much personality, but was freed by Tom Kazansky's Alpha Squadron and helped fight Schznar and his controlled brood on Aiur.

Interesting note: the dev interview hinted that the Purifier AI may be the same AI we saw in Enslavers. A bit of an upgrade considering how simple reaver AI is.

6. Clolarion): Clolarion was one of the ancient Purifiers created by the Conclave, and was modeled after a venerated executor. He was among those who rebelled against the Conclave for their treatment of the Purifiers, and was sealed in the platform Cybros.

After Artanis released Cybros, Clolarion was the one to meet him, and aid the Daelaam in purging the platform of the zerg. However, after the platform was secured, Clolarion wrested control of the platform's main cannon, and purified the nearby moon Endion of the zerg. After the battle, Clolarion was resistant to joining with Artanis as he feared they'd be used as tool again, but he communed with Talandar, who put his fears at east. Clolarion agreed to aid Artanis on one condition, that Talandar lead their forces. Artanis agreed, and the Purifiers fought alongside the Daelaam for the rest of the war. Now he's back in co-op!

So there's the brief rundown of each hero. Let me know if you want to know more or have any questions.