| “ | "Awaken my child, and embrace the glory that is your birthright. Know that I am the Overmind; the eternal will of the Swarm, and that you have been created to serve me." | „ |
| ~ The Overmind |
The Cerebrate, is a supporting antagonist in the military sci-fi RTS game, StarCraft. It serves as the player character in the Zerg campaign of the vanilla game, and thus is the main protagonist villain of that campaign. It's story was expanded upon in the book StarCraft: Queen of Blades.
Personality[]
Despite being the protagonist of the zerg campaign, the Cerebrate had little personality. This is because the Cerebrate only lived for three month's, and thus was for all intend and purpose, an infant who never managed to forge an distinct identity for itself, like most Cerebrates. But despite it's lack of identity and personality, the Cerebrate was a brilliant military commander, able to outsmart and outfight Terran and Protoss characters including Edmund Duke, Jim Raynor, Zeratul, and even it's own killer, Tassadar.
Bio[]
The Cerebrate was born on Tarsonis shortly after the capture of Sarah Kerrigan. It was created by the Overmind for the purpose of defending Kerrigan's Chrysalis. The Cerebrate quickly established a hive cluster and under the supervision of senior Cerebrates Daggoth and Zasz, fended off and destroyed the remaining Terrans.
Shortly after that, the Cerebrate became strong enough to endure warp travel, and thus was ordered to bring Kerrigan to Char, and with aid from Daggoth and Zasz, held off Protoss ships that attempted to block the Zerg escape. Once the Protoss were defeated, the Cerebrate warp jumped to Char, with Kerrigan.
On Char, Kerrigan's psionic emanations drew Terrans from both the Terran Dominion and Raynor's Raiders. The Dominion, led by General Edmund Duke, attacked first, only to be held off by the Cerebrate and it's brood, who forced the Dominion to retreat in a counterattack. The Cerebrate then relocated Kerrigan to a more secure location, while Daggoth dealt with the remaining Dominion forces. Soon after that, Jim Raynor and his Raiders, arrived. They arrived as the Chrysalis was starting to open. The Cerebrate held of Raynor long enough for the Chrysalis to open, to reveal that Kerrigan had been infested, much to Jim's horror. The Cerebrate was then ordered to press the attack, and with Kerrigan's help, drove Raynor off Char.
Some time after that, the Cerebrate aided Kerrigan in raiding the Terran science vessel, Amerigo. Soon after that, Kerrigan was challenged by Tassadar, who had also responded to Kerrigan's psionic emanations, and with support from the Cerebrate's brood, fended off the Protoss attack... only to learn that the attack was a diversion while Zeratul assassinated Zasz. And due to Zeratul using Dark Templar energy, the Overmind was unable to reincarnate Zasz. This forced the Cerebrate to destroy Zasz's brood as without their master, the brood ran amok and threatened the Hive Cluster.
Outraged by this, the Overmind ordered a full annihilation of the Protoss on Char. All Cerebrates on Char were involved, including the Cerebrate. The attack was a success, with Tassadar and Zeratul's armies suffering heavy losses and the few survivors forced into hiding. The Overmind then directed its attention to its original mission by invading Aiur, the Protoss homeworld, which had been unintentionally revealed in a temporary mind-link when Zeratul murdered Zasz. Mustering all its forces, the Zerg swarm invaded Aiur. The Cerebrate however, along with Kerrigan, remained on Char to hunt down the remaining Dark Templar. Despite this, the Cerebrate deployed it's own brood with the invasion, and was in tactical command during two key battles during the invasion. Under their master's command, the Cerebrate's brood stole a piece of the Khaydarin crystals, and secured the area around a Xel'Naga temple, allowing the Overmind to land on Aiur.
Back on Char however, the surviving Dark Templar had found aid from Jim Raynor and his Raiders who had arrived back. With their help, Zeratul lured Kerrigan into battle, while Tassadar infiltrated the Cerebrates lair, and successfully killed it. A month later, the Overmind would also be killed by Tassadar, at the cost of Tassadar's life. Nonetheless, the Zerg had claimed too much of Aiur and slew too many Protoss, and the Protoss were forced to retreat from Aiur. Furthermore, Kerrigan, who was the original reason for the Cerebrate's creation, was set up for ascension after the Overmind's death.
Despite their deaths, the Overmind and the unnamed Cerebrate had ultimately achieved their goals in the long run.
Legacy[]
The Cerebrate had insured that Kerrigan would become the Queen of Blades, of which the Overmind had planned to do in order to defeat it's own master, Amon. Amon had intended to wipe out all life, including the Zerg, and rebuilt the galaxy in his own image. Due to ther Cerebrate's protection of Kerrigan, the Queen of Blades, after assuming command of the Zerg, and later being freed from Amon's influence, was able to destroy Amon and become Xel'Naga. In a strange way, the Cerebrate had helped save the galaxy.