The harsh deserts of Phaeton are inherently inhospitable. Though the planet possesses breathable levels of oxygen, its mineral resources and drinkable water are significantly limited. Phaeton’s location – a considerable distance from the centers of protoss and terran civilization – renders it even less appealing for settlement. Of course, inhospitable environments have rarely stopped the zerg from "settling" a planet before.
On Phaeton, long stretches of sand and rocky, narrow canyons swirling with dust provide ample hiding spaces for wildlife, and, indeed, significant numbers of zerg on Phaeton have occupied the dunes, assembling under the control of a broodmother.
The presence of a moderate-sized brood on such an isolated world suggests a unifying purpose of some sort, but, to date, nothing about their activity – or the arid planet in particular – seems to hint at the swarm’s original objective.
Should Phaeton’s zerg find themselves massed together by a truly superior zerg intelligence (and conditioned for spacefaring), these unaligned creatures might present a far greater danger to other planets in the Koprulu sector. At present, they are merely occasional threats to Phaeton’s already beleaguered native fauna.
