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. Phaetons 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 swarms original objective.


Should Phaetons 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 Phaetons already beleaguered native fauna.