Karan Sjet
Karan Sjet is the main protagonist in the Homeworld saga, a space opera computer game released in 1999 and awarded Game of the Year that year. She is both leader and prophet to her people, a scientific genius, and eventually, the commander-in-chief for her the Kushan Mothership Fleet. Her struggles won her a near-deity like status, especially after she took up the mantle of Fleet Command for the second time.
Karan Sjet is, with the exceptions of villains or relatively minor characters like Captain Elson or Captain Soban, the only major named character in the entire series, and the only one ever given a full name instead of title and surname (as it is with the previously mentioned characters. For this reason, the Homeworld series is almost completely tied to Karan Sjet and her story as a spiritual leader for her people.
The only exception to this rule is in the stand-alone expansion pack to the original game, Homeworld: Cataclysm, where Karan Sjet is never mentioned.
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Pre-Homeworld Life
Karan Sjet was born as the daughter to the Sjet kiith'sa, and the first-up for succession to the throne. He was also well-loved by her family and much in the tradition of Kiith Sjet she took on a role as a scientist, in this cause, neuroscientist, a career that would lead her to greater roles and her people to greater struggles and victories than could have been predicted when she applied for the job.
Karan Sjet's research eventually caused her to become rather interested in the problem of the central proccessing unit (CPU) for the Mothership's systems. So far no computer had successfully automanaged all the various intricacies of the Mothership's subsystems and the Mothership was hence inoperable. However, Karan's research allowed her to envision an idea radically different than those proposed by the engineers and technicians working on the Mothership. She proposed that the Mothership be instead managed by the organic computer, the brain.
This was a very radical approach but Karan was able to provide enough research to suggest that the Kushan brain, connected through cybernetic implants and wiring to the Mothership's various computers, could manage the various subsystems. Though dangerous the idea was approved but nearly halted when Karan Sjet insisted that she alone would make the transformation. She didn't want to force it on anyone else, even if they volunteered, for there was a serious implication that once connected to the Mothership the living computer could not be removed and return to a normal life again.
Her family objected but the Mothership's construction crew, seeing no other choice, let it pass and Karan Sjet was wired in directly to the hyperspace core, and from there to the entire Mothership computer network. Later on, she would eventually be given the position of commander-in-chief of the Mothership Fleet and the title of Fleet Command.
The Homeworld War
Karan Sjet's first major test of ability came when the Mothership was launched and subsystems were tested including the ability to construct vessels, refine minerals, and command the fleet from afar. The Mothership's final test was that of the hyperdrive, whose capability had to be tested before engaging in the journey. A simple miscalculation could end in disaster, sending the Mothership thousands of lightyears away from its destination. It was Karan's job, as Fleet Command, to ensure that such an error did not occur.
The jump's destination was to the Khar-Selim, a space vessel traveling at sublight speeds across the Kharak System. The Khar-Selim was to aid the Mothership should any misjump occur and to refuel it and then send it back to Kharak for further upgrades. It was a good plan but did not account for one thing: attack. The Mothership did misjump, although it turned out not to be a miscalculation but rather a lack of contact. Soon afterwards the space pirates the Turanic Raiders came storming in on the Mothership. The ensuing battle was won by the Mothership which jumped back to Kharak.
When they reached the second home of the Kushan however, it had been destroyed by the Taiidan Empire, a vast dominion under the rule of an ancient enemy of the Kushan, who had exiled them in the first place to the world. The Mothership's mission had now significantly changed. It no longer was simply finding the ancestral homeworld and establishing a colony. The very survival of the Kushan was now at stake very immediately and the Mothership Fleet was forced to rescue the cryo trays carrying the last remnants of the Kushan people from under attack and then limp its way to Hiigara.
It took time but Karan was able to help her people get across the galaxy, mostly as a new messiah figure, though in truth she rarely regarded herself as such and the Kushan did not give her a position in their religion. But she was certainly a pivotal figure and more than a simple figurehead. Though Fleet Intelligence handled most of the decisions, it was Karan who managed the fleet and in times, would show compassion where Fleet Intelligence didn't. Sometimes Fleet Intelligence would dismiss it as naivete but Karan's kindness led them to several allies including the Bentusi and the Taiidan Rebellion. As such, Karan more than earned her love amongst the Kushan people.
When Karan reached Hiigara, she along with the rest of her people set down upon its surface, successfully removed from the Mothership and greeted by awaiting gleeful crowds.
Karan Sjet as the Sajuuk-khar
Not much is known as to what happened to Karan Sjet between Homeworld and Homeworld 2. She had no real role to speak of in Homeworld: Cataclysm, but it is known that she did live on to the time of Homeworld 2, set 100 years after Cataclysm. By the time of Homeworld 2 it seems she had settled down but still had some influence amongst the Kushan people. She was a living legend of course and though the people ruling the Daiamid were no longer her colleagues and comrades from the Homeworld War she was still a popular figure.
Even so, her position did not help sway public opinion on a rising force very much, that of Makaan. She was convinced that Makaan was a threat but the Daiamid did not really take an interest in the warlord. Even so, as Makaan grew more powerful they eventually agreed to her decision to build a new Mothership, to be constructed at Tanis. In addition, Karan was again given permission to return as Fleet Command.
It is unknown why Karan Sjet volunteered as Fleet Command again. For one thing it had been proven that once connected to the hyperspace core she could be removed again. In addition it seemed that other vessels no longer used the same procedure anyway. There is little evidence for example that the Somtaaw Fleet Command was connected to the Kuun-Lan's hyperspace core as the Bentusi specifically mention Karan as being Unbound, not the Somtaaw. It is suggested that Karan's connection ot the hyperspace core gave her psionic abilities but this is not completely confirmed. Relic, creator of Homeworld, has yet to offer a solution to this conundrum.
Nevertheless, Karan did take back up the mantle of Fleet Command and when the second Mothership Fleet was similarly surprised in Homeworld 2 by an attack at Tanis by the Vaygr she managed to handle the situation well and escaped with the Pride of Hiigara, the second mothership intact. Overtime, her role would bring her back to the messiah figure she had once been and now she would recieve a formal religious significance. A legend dictating the coming of the End Times would be signalled by the Sajuuk-khar and the fact that Makaan claimed the Sajuuk-khar must have all three of the Trinity Hyperspace Cores (including the one on both his flagship and the one on the original Mothership and Pride of Hiigara) found throughout the galaxy before they could meet Sajuuk.
As such Karan would eventually recover the other two hyperspace cores, one from the wreckage of the Bentus and one from the wreckage of Makaan's flagship once he was defeated. With all three she eventually unlocked the ancient Progenitor vessel Sajuuk, and would become the Sajuuk-khar, leaving the Pride of Hiigara behind. Once she returned to Hiigara she defeated the remaining Vaygr fleet and saved the homeworld of Hiigara. In time she would bring about the Age of Sjet and unlock the secrets of the Eye of Arran.
See Also
- Neuroscience
- Homeworld Series
- Homeworld Universe
- Homeworld
- Homeworld 2
- Kushan
- Kiith Sjet
- The Mothership
- Characters of Homeworld
External Links
Categories: Homeworld series