About

Early Life


"Honestly Tino, what are you teaching this girl?"
- Andrea Tygore to Constantino Terra, after hearing Nova's praise for servants.


Nova Terra was born into the Terra family, one of the Terran Confederacy's rich and powerful "Old Families". The family lived in the Terra Skyscraper in Tarsonis City, Tarsonis. She possessed a degree of empathy that was generally lacking in the Old Families, a trait that did not go unnoticed. She also believed strongly in the concept of fair play.
Unknown to Nova, a great deal of her empathy was due to her telepathic abilities. Her father, Constantino, was aware of her talents, if not the full extent of them. Without training she could only sense emotions and at seven years of age was told that she was "empathetic". Normally, psychic children were conscripted into the Ghost Program by wranglers. However her family hid her abilities from the Program, and her father attempted to prevent Nova from realizing she was psychic.

At her fifteenth birthday party, Nova learned that she was psychic by reading the mind of Morgan Calabas, a "suitor".

Betrayal and Flight


The Old Families began planning to send some of their children away from Tarsonis to the relative safety of a resort on Tyrador IX, due to the rising number of attacks against the Old Families and the escalating war the Confederacy found itself in against alien invaders and numerous rebel groups such as the Sons of Korhal. Nova Terra's parents agreed to send her away. Despite her protests, and Edward Peters' support, three days after her fifteenth birthday party she boarded a vessel for Tyrador IX. However, Nova felt her parents' minds as they were killed by anti-Confederate rebels and she quickly disembarked.
Nova returned to find that Edward Peters, Gustavo McBain, and other rebels were murdering her family and their employees. Peters ordered McBain to shoot Nova but now, with her psychic powers elevated by the mental stress caused by the carnage she had just witnessed, she unleashed powerful telepathic and telekinetic abilities without any control. A large section of the Terra Skyscraper was destroyed, and all of her would-be murderers, as well as many hundreds of nearby people, were killed. Nova then fled to "the Gutter", as far away from her former life as possible. The trauma of recent events led her close to suicide.

The destructive spectacle was proof enough that Nova Terra would be a valuable addition to the Ghost Program. Director Ilsa Killiany ordered wrangler Malcolm "Mal" Kelerchian to bring Nova in, assigning her the code X41822N even though the wayward psychic was not yet formally part of the Program.

The Gutter


"In your world, people didn't die. Or if they did, it was neat-tidy. We don't do tidy here in the Gutter. We do ugly, we do nasty, we do mean..."

- Fagin "introduces" Nova to the Gutter

Shortly after Nova Terra arrived in the Gutter, two men attempted to rape her. They were unsuccessful and severely injured by Terra's telekinesis. The goons worked for the crime lord of the Gutter, Julius Antoine "Fagin" Dale. Monitoring her through traffic monitors, Fagin resolved to "acquire" her for her psychic abilities and, deducing from her expensive clothing, a ransom.
Terra was brought before Fagin but, despite being in a fragile state of mind, refused to serve him. Reading minds she realized that Fagin's chief lieutenant, Markus Ralian, wanted him dead. However, Terra was unable to intimidate Fagin nor provoke him to kill her. Instead, Fagin let Terra go and ordered the shopkeepers not to feed her. Fagin was confident that starvation would force Terra to serve him.

Four days later Nova Terra gave up on starvation. While seeking food, she saw a UNN newscast featuring Clara Terra, who claimed that her entire family had been killed. Nova lashed out mentally. Fagin, who was watching through cameras, learned Nova Terra's true identity. Realizing that he would be unable to ransom her, as he would be destroyed by the retaliation of the Old Families, he ordered a reliable enforcer, "the Pitcher", to kill her. Despite four days of starvation and partial dehydration Nova Terra easily killed the Pitcher by destroying his brain with her mental powers. She carried on by stealing food and resolved to go after Fagin for ordering her death.

Fagin responded by acquiring a psi-screen from Confederate Army Supply Sergeant Morwood (the device rendered him immune to telepathy), then surrounded himself with insane heavily armed guards, drug addicts who desperately needed a fix, and children. Although distracted by the thoughts of the drug addicts Terra defeated the ambushing gunmen and confronted Fagin again. Fagin ordered his men to kill the children one by one until she surrendered while he used his psi-screen to torture Terra at range. Unable to bear more, Terra surrendered.

Escape from Madness

Months later Fagin was using Nova Terra as a "loyalty detector" and assassin. Those who failed to pass Terra's test were murdered. She was prevented from going outside which made it difficult for Malcolm Kelerchian and his allies to locate her. Over that same time Fagin had become progressively more unpredictable, killing people, even his own children, almost on a whim, due to overuse of the psi-screen. Markus Ralian's desire for Fagin's death only grew, but he could not bring himself to do it. Terra had no trouble reading this from his mind. Terra knew the psi-screen couldn't protect Fagin from her telekinesis, but she never had the opportunity to use it on him.
Meanwhile Agent Kelerchian discovered her location from contacts in the police force. To help him secure Terra, he was ordered by Ilsa Killiany to take with him Major Esmerelda Ndoci and her "Annihilators", a marine unit ill-suited for such a delicate mission but they were all that was available. The Sons of Korhal offensive on Tarsonis' space platforms were not an ideal theater for a ground-based unit like the Annihilators. With ghosts in short supply acquiring a powerful psychic was an "alpha priority" and they were ordered to bring Terra in unharmed.

Kelerchian resolved to bargain with Fagin first, and if that failed then he would "summon the marines". As the wrangler discovered, Fagin's mental faculties made bargaining difficult if not impossible. As the crime lord ranted Terra used her powers, forcing Ralian to shoot and kill Fagin. Kelerchian let Terra scan his mind and she learned that if she went with Kelerchian she would become a ghost. She also learned that a memory wipe was a standard part of the training regimen. This Terra saw as an incentive, as she did not want to remember the deaths and murders.

A satisfactory end to the operation was interrupted by the penetration of the orbital defenses by the Sons of Korhal. Killiany transferred oversight of the operation from Kelerchian to Ndoci, who directed her troops to kill everybody except for Terra (no exception was made for Kelerchian). In the ensuing firefight Fagin's compound collapsed. Ralian was killed, while Terra and Kelerchian were trapped together, and Ndoci was trapped elsewhere in the building.

Terra used her powers to rescue herself and Kelerchian, but the latter was severely wounded. Terra forced Ndoci to summon medical aid for Kelerchian by threatening to reveal her dangerous tactics (nearly killing an alpha priority target) to Ilsa Killiany. Then the zerg attacked, but Terra, Kelerchian, and Ndoci survived.


Ghost Training


Nova Terra was taken the Ghost Academy based on Ursa. Despite her considerable psychic power she started at a disadvantage due to the ill-effects of months of abuse and malnutrition and she barely handled Sergeant Hartley's physical training regime. She was the focus of resentment, jealousy and sexual desire from many of her fellow trainees.
Six months into training Terra met Kelerchian again, and discovered (through mind reading) that the wrangler was being sent on a one way mission to Sakrysta Mining Base by Emperor Arcturus Mengsk.

As her training progressed, Nova Terra became part of Team Blue as part of the Academy's curriculum of team-based training. This presented a challenge for Terra as her experiences in the Gutter had taught her self-reliance – a strength that became a weakness in the squad.

One of her first training missions was the Valerian hostage rescue scenario. While Gabriel Tosh directed fellow teammates Kath Toom and Lio Travski, Terra ran off and tried to complete the mission by herself. Her teammates messed up and "died", enabling Terra to almost succeed. "Sparky" and Preceptor Lagdamen both rated her highly, something which Terra herself disagreed with. As Terra headed to her next class, she thought she saw a child, whom she would notice several times during her stay.

Terra was rudely confronted by Dylanna Okyl, the leader of Team Red. While Okyl hadn't scored as highly, she hadn't let her whole team "die". Terra ignored her. Tosh privately tried to convince Terra to display teamwork, but she brushed off his advice. Toom was left upset by the encounter. Terra displayed high competence but a lack of teamwork in other training scenarios. After several encounters with Okyl, in which Terra blamed her team for their poor performance, Tosh shouted at her that if she had worked with them, their poor performance wouldn't have mattered. The lesson finally sunk in.

Terra cooperated with Kath Toom on an assignment and later, upon meeting new trainee Delta Emblock, whose background had left her without schooling (which Terra learned by accidentally scanning her), Terra helped her with her literacy test. Toom was so surprised by this new attitude she asked what happened to the old Nova Terra. While celebrating Emblock's successful literacy test, Toom and Tosh discussed similarities between their backgrounds and Terra's. However, Tosh's comments hit too close to home, prompting Terra to run off. She suffered nightmares that night, which Tosh felt because he didn't sleep with a psi-screen on.

Terra participated in another Valerian scenario. This time she worked with her team, including new teammate Aal Cistler. However, as the scenario finished, Lio Travski suffered a bad reaction from drug abuse. Terra, recognizing the symptoms from her days in the Gutter, called for medical assistance. This brought her to the attention of Superintendent Sarco Angelini, who had been secretly testing the effects of drug abuse on Travski's psychic abilities. He memory wiped Terra and Travski so they would forget that experience. Terra now found herself uncomfortable with the prospect of memory wiping, as she would forget friends like Kath Toom. Angelini watched this conversation through the surveillance system. Meanwhile, Terra was promoted to third-class due to her new positive attitude and high scores.

However, Terra's attitude toward the Ghost Program had worsened. She thought they were sloppy about numerous things, such as their psi-screens.

Terra's abilities made her Team Blue's "ace in the hole," at least in Tosh's mind. However, despite the teamwork, Team Blue began to fall apart, the reasons including Tosh's admiration for her turning into distracting attraction. This was one of the reasons Dylanna Okyl was so aggravated by Terra; Okyl had a crush on Tosh.

During a training scenario against zerg-bots, Terra detected a "controlling consciousness" behind them—Sarco Angelini—and psychically attacked him. Angelini quickly ended the scenario, but was very impressed. He wished the other ghosts were as powerful as her. As Okyl ranted about their performance, Terra read her mind, learning about her attraction to Tosh. Okyl was humiliated.

Aal Cistler used his father's influence to return to the Academy, and immediately joined Okyl's Team Red. At martial arts training, a bitter Okyl challenged Terra to a "duel", but Tosh stood up for her. Okyl beat him up. Afterward Tosh and Terra kissed while out of the view of security cameras, even though Academy policies forbade dating between students. When Delta Emblock asked her about it, she said she just wanted some happiness now, and they technically weren't dating anyway.

Tosh feared what could happen to them if Okyl found out and reported them. For this reason he rejected Nova's further advances to protect her. An emotionally stunned Terra then ran into Okyl and Cistler; the latter promised to ruin her. Terra then stumbled across the "spirit" of Colin Phash, who was using his astral projection ability to ask for help. He lured her to a restricted area.

Terra warned her other team members about Cistler's plans while meeting up with a newly-confident Lio Travski. Teams Blue and Red were taking part in a "live fire" (but non-lethal) exercise. Okyl arranged for her entire team to focus on Terra, believing her to be the only threat on Team Blue. She wanted to be the one to beat up Terra. Team Blue, except for Terra and Travski, were taken out. Okyl and Cistler skirted a group of abandoned SCVs in order to reach Terra, but Travski used his technopathic abilities to activate them and capture the entirety of Team Red.

The exercise was terminated, and both teams informed they would join into a new team and take part in a training mission away from the Academy, at The Baker's Dozen.

Nova Terra pulled through and completed her ghost training in a record two and a half years, whereas it normally took four years.

Graduation

Nearing the end of her training Nova Terra was met by Emperor Arcturus Mengsk himself, who gave her a final training assignment: kill Cliff Nadaner, a former anti-Confederate terrorist turned anti-Dominion terrorist. Nadaner had led the group that sent Edward Peters, Gustavo McBain and others to kill her family. Terra was to go to Tyrador VIII alone and kill Nadaner with only her mental powers. She was inserted via drop pod with only some of a ghost's standard equipment. Terra successfully located her target, eliminating the defending troops. She verbally confronted Nadaner for ruining her life and killed him last.


A New Life

"Cliff Nadaner is dead. And soon, for all intents and purposes, I will be too."

- Nova upon terminating Nadaner.

Upon completion of her training, Nova was designated Agent 12-862 and received a memory wipe, becoming yet another ghost single-mindedly focused on serving the Dominion and destroying the Dominion's enemies. She would serve in Nova Squadron under Colonel Jackson Hauler. During a mission against the Koprulu Liberation Front on New Sydney Nova would again meet the Annihilators. Esmerelda Ndoci recognized Nova but due to the memory wipe Nova no longer recognized Ndoci, nor did she particularly care.
Despite her efforts however, Nova couldn't run from her past forever. Reunited with an old friend, Nova was assigned to investigate a ghost-kidnapping plot, making a shocking discovery that not only pitted her against her past, but also the future of terran psionic warriors: spectres. Through the ordeal, she would come to choose between loyalties to Arcturus Mengsk and Colonel Hauler.

Nova ended up capturing numerous spectres. They were imprisoned in New Folsom Prison.

The Second Great War

"Strictly business."
- Nova assaulting Gabriel Tosh's base

Nova was sent to assassinate spectre Gabriel Tosh and stop his spectre program. Tosh was working with Raynor's Raiders and had so far neglected to inform the rebels of his true nature or intentions. Nova attempted to dissuade further cooperation by sending an anonymous message to the Raiders exposing Tosh as a spectre.
Raynor was prepared to continue working with Tosh, especially as they both had anti-Dominion goals. Nova learned of the operation to raid New Folsom Prison and decided to contact Raynor directly in an attempt to forestall the operation. She revealed the prison held captured spectres, which Tosh wanted to reactivate with the jorium and terrazine the Raiders had procured for him. Furthermore, she claimed all spectres became psychopathic killers, and that Tosh would inevitably crack and betray Raynor. The ghost grossly exaggerated the risk posed by spectres. Finally she warned a jailbreak would inevitably release prisoners better left imprisoned.

Plot branch : Raynor's Raiders sides with Tosh.

Raynor was disappointed by Tosh's secrecy, but was willing to continue working with the anti-Dominion spectre, rather than with a Dominion agent. The prison guards were forewarned of the impending raid by Nova, but were ultimately unable to prevent the breakout.

Plot option ends here


Plot branch : Raynor's Raiders side with Nova against Tosh


Raynor was convinced by Nova's argument. The ghost and Raynor's Raiders destroyed the spectre's training facility. Tosh himself was killed by Nova while arguing remotely with Raynor. For their assistance, Nova gave the Raiders the material needed to train ghosts. She also ominously told Raynor that she'd be seeing him. She sometimes appeared in the armory afterward, randomly cloaking and uncloaking The ghost gave the Raiders Tosh's knife and voodoo doll as trophies.