Mar Sara was the eighth colony world settled by the old Terran Confederacy. Although the planet is considered a backwater, its mining industry was once seen as a key strategic asset. It was overrun by the zerg and later incinerated by the protoss. Intrepid terrans terraformed and re-colonized Mar Sara in 2502.
The Sara system was initially catalogued by freelance prospectors and colonized by an expedition from Tarsonis several years later. Mar Sara formed the eighth of the thirteen core colonies of the Terran Confederacy. The Sara system was unusual for having two habitable planets, but Mar Sara was always a backwater colony compared to the more prosperous Chau Sara.
Mar Sara was one of the first planets to be infested by the zerg when they appeared in terran space. It was also the first planet on which the Confederates fought the advancing Swarm to any significant extent, although most of the actual fighting was done by local militia forces.
Colonel Edmund Duke, commanding officer of the Confederate fleet in the system, subsequently arrested militia forces for fighting for their homes. These prisoners were later released by a rebel group called the Sons of Korhal. The rebels’ leader was Arcturus Mengsk.
The Sons of Korhal helped evacuate Mar Sara after the Confederates abandoned it entirely. They also liberated secret information from a Confederacy research facility on Mar Sara called the Jacobs Installation. This information revealed that the Confederacy had known about the imminent arrival of the zerg and had been experimenting with captured specimens. It is believed the Confederacy deliberately sacrificed the planet in order to test a secret weapon that incited the zerg invasion.
To keep the infestation from spreading further, a protoss fleet under the command of Executor Tassadar incinerated Mar Sara from orbit, just as it had with Mar Sara’s sister planet, Chau Sara.
After Mar Sara’s incineration by the protoss, the Sara system seemed to have little left to offer the terran race. The subsequent collapse of the Confederacy left the system entirely abandoned. Nevertheless, prospectors from the Kel-Morian Combine found that minerals on Mar Sara had acquired unique properties due to the protoss bombardment. Shortly thereafter, the Kel-Morian Combine staked a claim to mining and salvage rights over the Sara system. Independent and indentured contractors soon began strip-mining both planets of their resources.
The Terran Dominion has recently shown a renewed interest in the Sara system and established several outposts there. The Kel-Morian Combine claims that these outposts have been established at the Combine’s invitation due to security issues with piracy and mining camp revolts. There have also been reports of zerg sightings on the planet. It is believed that these organisms reinfested the desolate world some time after the protoss bombardment.
