This document was created to highlight points not immediately apparent in the creation of Prophecy.
Unlike its predecessors Prophecy was designed such that the cast would be limited to an even smaller number than before. This scheme was pre-mediated at the end of Black Dream; I gathered all the characters I knew could be voiced, if necessary, on the Black Dream. This effectively left out characters such as Imorih and Ziktofel, who have established voices already which could not easily be duplicated. For such characters a method was devised by which to 'eliminate' them from further use in any future campaign requiring the usage of speech.
Of course, thanks to the mixxed reaction to the voice recordings, such a thought is in consideration to be dropped in any future projects.
The crew of the Black Dream was structured such that most, if not all, the bases will be covered. Kuwadora, naturally, is the ship's owner and the Fleet's leader. Amukasier represents the Khalai, and is the civilian artificer who fixes the ship and its weapons. Consider him along the lines of Chief Engineer, in effect. Adonis represents the Templar aspect, while Chaladar represents the Judicator aspect of Protoss society. In a sense, Kuwadora covers the Dark Templar, as, although he does not share the same abilities as the units of the same name, he is one of those who does not follow the Khala. In this manner all aspects of Protoss society is represented on board the Black Dream. In addition, Ace Tarpals and Xaax the Defiler provide representation for their own respective races.
Kuwadora. The captain, so to speak. He is still young-- for a Protoss, and has a wild imagination. Such imagination is partially the reason he is an outcast of his own people, but he does not mind. He truly believes in what he is doing, in an almost naive fashion, and looks toward an unattainable harmony amongst the warring races in the Koprulu Sector-- not one forged by war, but one attained on its own merits. He sees the Black Dream as a tool of war-- a dangerous tool which must be handled with care, lest those who aspire to command it abuse its power.
Yet it is also important to stress that Kuwadora is no simple dreamer in possession of possibly the universe's most powerful weapon. Kuwadora is a tactical genious, and such was attempted to be stressed on the player throughout the campaign. It's not enough that he devise and execute such plans, but the player understand why-- and execute it themselves. In a sense, the role of Kuwadora was to be in the hands of the player; Kuwadora is only as good as the player that wields his power.
Unlike most of the other Protoss characters Kuwadora's name doesn't mean anything in reverse; it simply didn't work out when I tried. Although his name is taken from one of the bosses in Breath of Fire II, I had Kawamura Maria in mind when I named him.
Ace. The token human. He really has no reason to be on the Black Dream, and unfortunately the former explanation was it. The one aspect which kept going for him was the 'search' for the real Serena Schezar-- the answer which he already had in his hands, but didn't want to know. In order to keep things interesting Van MacDougal was created as his rival, but overall I don't think either character was handled very well. I leave the identity of Serena Schezar up to the player; I have my own ideas.
'Ace' is a generic pilot name, and 'Tarpals' is a character from Star Wars Episode I-- the Gungan general who told Jar-jar he was "in big doo-doo."
Amukasier. I kept him on as justification for any changes I make to the Black Dream. In the campaign of the same name the ship was simply a Battlecruiser with a turret, but I envisioned something more. In a sense, Amukasier is myself. He is not otherwise developed very much, save for a certain refinement of his love for war.
In a sense his outsider status was to be conveyed mostly through his role as narrator; Amukasier was never meant to interact much in the campaign. Even though a unit was created for him the player was never given control over Amukasier-- simply because using a civilian is usually pointless (hence his unit response on the Black Dream).
Amukasier's name, read backwards, is named for Sakuma Rei, who, among other things, voiced Shampoo from Ranma 1/2.
Chaladar. This character has had many unfortunate things happen to him, and he's become the token whiner on board, somewhat akin to Rattrap from Beast Wars. Yet, also like Rattrap he is resourceful enough to keep fighting despite impending doom. Unlike Rattrap, he doesn't mind if he dies. Chaladar was always meant to be unlike any other Protoss devised so far, and his capture by the Zerg Swarm was the catalyst for such a change. He has not developed much further because I don't believe it should be easy for him to change his deathly worldview.
Chaladar's name is taken from a Spelljammer character-- a Dungeons and Dragons campaign setting dealing with space. Chaladar was a Solamnic Knight from the Dragonlance setting with a shady past, and ended up on the legendary ship Spelljammer.
Adonis. He was always meant to be a member of the Scantid Fleet in Black Dream, but was cut from the final version, simply because he didn't fit. He was just like Asakiro in almost every way-- except he personally got screwed over by the Conclave (originally Adonis was one of the captains of the doomed Carriers ambushed by Cephil's Legion who survived the battle). There really isn't much to say about him; he is somewhat of a cross between Asakiro and Fenix-- a stale and been-there character. He only changes slightly throughout Prophecy; he is distrustful of Xaax early on, and resents Kuwadora assigning him on his strike teams, but later he actually asks for his help. This change is slight and barely noticable, but once you've succeeded over the enemy fighting alongside Xaax enough times you begin to recognize his worth (such as Mission 4's minefield).
Adonis' name is directly taken from Greek mythology.
Xaax. I started having doubts about what I was doing with this character; I realized he didn't belong on the Black Dream, more than Ace Tarpals didn't really belong. Xaax was always meant to be the loyal soldier, but the directions taken in Black Dream forced him along a path of power and glory that took him beyond such a role. He has a personality, and resents being told what to do, because he knows better. I gave him the Remains of the Overmind because I felt that such a device would seriously hurt the Starcraft Universe if I brought back the Overmind again. Yet, unknowingly, I also provided Xaax the path to his road to redemption.
I needed to figure out how to get Xaax back to the fold, but, at the same time, make certain he doesn't get away with going AWOL, either. For this purpose Thakras and Parakas (dropped from Black Dream) were revived to harass Xaax once again, and the Remains given life of its own. This subplot not only had to convince Xaax to go back, but also serve as part of the plot. Xaax had to go back out of his own free will.
Further notes: Xaax's character is nearly the same as Shizuka, who appeared in Black Dream's B-plot. He does not like being complimented, nor does he liked being pitied; such things are weak in his eyes. He insults and belittles others, because Xaax believes it is the way of strength befit to himself. Such is why he constantly insults others-- it's not always because he truly wishes to insult, but it is the only way he knows how to communicate.
Xaax's name has no discernable origin. It just sounded good.
Kabala. When I finished Black Dream I realized how much I liked this guy, so I devised a means by which he could survive his final battle. What I liked most was his misguided drive to protect his people-- he was so pushed by this idea that he would kill everybody else in order to do it. Not only that, but he insisted that he was the only 'right.' Putting him at odds with Arestes is putting Kabala on the path toward redemption; his way is not necessarily wrong, but it's not necessarily right, either. Kabala walks a fine line between right and wrong, and that's the question that's posed on the Scantid Fleet through Prophecy. Since he was the villain of the previous campaign, I wanted the Fleet's bacon saved by him to be the last thing anybody expects.
Kabala's name was generated from the Mortal Kombat character, Kabal, with an 'a' attached to the end. It didn't originate from religion.
Tipereth. He's Kabala's Aide, the character without a name in Black Dream. He was never meant to have any big roles, but I felt he at least deserved a name-- taken from one of the Sephiroth in the Kabala. He's like Owen from Gargoyles; the evil villain's assistant who remains at the evil villain's side through thick and thin. He's like Scorponok from Beast Wars, who believes the boss knows what he's doing so faithfully that he's blinded by his fault of perfect loyalty.
Van. His role was to keep the Iron Hand going, as well as maintain the Confederacy's presence in the Starcraft Universe. In his quest to avenge himself Van is somewhat of a pathetic character who always gets dealt the bad hand. He's the random scapegoat bad guy we know and love, like Ultros. Yet, unlike guys like Ultros Van has to be very capable of being dangerous... otherwise he shouldn't exist in the first place. Of course, I think I made him a bit too 'Team Rocket' for his own good, which made him seem less-menacing.
He was originally going to have two flunkies: Jeep and (undecided car name), but both were dropped during the outline stage. Yes, the Iron Hand villains were going to be named after motor vehicles.
Arestes. Essentially he is unchanged from Black Dream; the only difference is that enough time has passed for him to create his perfect army. He sees himself as a god, and wishes to usher a new era of peace under his rule. However, I wanted Arestes to be more of a presence rather than a constant threat, so I kept everybody aware of him through his unstoppable army. Only a strong army that represents a god's will would be worthy of this creature. He has possibly my favorite effect of all the voices.
His name is a perverted translation of a Greek play.
Others. The Remains of the Overmind was meant to be a distant echo of the real Overmind-- a shadow of its full self. As such, despite its grandoise speeches, the Remains really can't do a thing. The Remains of the Overmind was devised after a concept from Nadesico anime-- the Remains of Mars.
Asakiro's name in reverse is for Orikasa Ai, who, among other things, voiced Baiko in Saber Marionette J. Kawamura Maria voiced Tamasaburo, her partner, in the same show, and is attributed toward Kuwadora. In effect, it recreates both characters working alongside each other in the campaign. Both these characters were designed in concept when the original Vision of the Future was out the door, but, as you can see if you look in the map editor's location editor, Kuwadora's name was still in flux.
Ziktofel's name has no discernable origin, but the 'fel' part was taken after Baron Fel in the Star Wars novels and comic books-- an ace Imperial pilot.
Imorih and Urust don't mean anything by themselves, but in the original Vision of the Future they merged to become an archon Urust/Imorih. Read in reverse this name is attributed to Tsuru Hiromi, who, among other things, voiced Ukyo in Ranma 1/2.
Hhallahh's name was always meant to be a palindrome, and nothing more. Other than the fact that it's an odd name.
Thakras, Zargil, Archimedes, and Kizrath were directly lifted from the Retribution add-on. Parakas' name was designed to mesh with Thakras' and has no special meaning.
Serena Schezar was, like Alan Schezar, named after a character from the anime Vision of Escaflowne. And, just like Escaflowne, Serena plays the role of her namesake rather well, in that she is not who she appears to be.
The names of all the Dark Templar agents hidden in the Prophecy maps were meant to correspond, out of order, to the alphabet, from 'A' to 'Q.' Some names actually originated from other series, while others were made up to mesh with the letter scheme (Paktahn = Wing Commander 3 ship; Kirala = Skies of Arcadia character; Obsidian = Beast Machines character, etc.). Qinthanas' was originally just going to be 'Q,' but I thought that looked rather bland. The 'thanas' extension was thought up after remembering the Dragonlance character, Gilthanas.
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