One Small Scene: “Kharak is burning.”

“No one’s left. Everything’s gone. Kharak is burning.”

The line, the moment that makes the true opening to Homeworld so poignant is how the hit of realisation comes from the player’s own camera movement. It is the introduction to the father of all space strategy games, a truly tragic component of an entire series space opera, and unique for how this famous science fiction story is realised through the gaming medium.

It takes a turning of the camera from the freshly jumped Mothership to the giant orb intended to represent the planet. This first FTL capable Kushan vessel, the focal point of the game is now returned to observe a massive sphere now ashy and orange. Something a couple of inches think on your screen, and a sky box.

Yet the words, much like the understated realism of the quiet of space create both horror, dread, and a little awe.

“Kharak is being consumed by a firestorm. The Scaffold has been destroyed. All orbital facilities destroyed. Significant debris ring in low Kharak orbit.”

Imagine the tonal shift from a curious, almost light-hearted tutorial mission. A final frontier. What establishes this first game, this setting may indeed be the esoteric soundtrack, the unique mythology blended into a science fiction fleet saga…but this moment is what was needed. It’s arguably the strongest piece of dialogue in a story known for its amazing revelations.

This is why Homeworld sticks with science fiction audiences as widely as The Expanse, or Ringworld.

Fiction unveils the human heart against the backdrop of imagination, the will to embrace a gigantic and almost unfathomable galaxy, as well as the mythic quest.

In this case, the maiden voyage of a hopeful civilisation becomes the hard-bitten progression of an all but extinct species, the quick pacing and sheer shock raising immersion. You are cooly told that 400,000 of that last of your world’s species are now secured, tucked away with the machine trays. If the mothership is destroyed, the Kushan civilisation is extinct.

The ‘Scaffold’ is gone, the orbital platforms models representing great devices now swaying pieces and clouds of metal debris. It is not the items, exposition, or even melodrama which sells the moment. But the visuals, and the shock of two human voices quietly shocked as their civilisation and planet is wiped away like broken glass. The massive planetscape is literally torched, the greatest extension of the fear elicited seeing a forest fire, or an atomic explosion.

A story, and then its sequels with its themes of imperialism, desperation, piracy, the ambiguity of religion and the need for a homecoming and vengeance all begin with the seed of this initial investment in the mothership, in why this should matter.

Reference: Homeworld. Relic Entertainment. 1999.