Earth

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Earth
General information
Location	Solar System
Constructed	4.5 billion years ago
Usage
Affiliation	Humanity Combine

 

"Would we model ourselves on the trilobite? Are all the accomplishments of humanity fated to be nothing more than a layer of broken plastic shards thinly strewn across a fossil bed, sandwiched between the Burgess shale and an eon's worth of mud?"

―Dr. Wallace Breen

 

Earth is the third planet from Sol, primarily inhabited by the former dominant species, Humanity. It is orbited by the Moon. After the Black Mesa Incident, the planet experienced significant environmental changes with the ecosystem becoming overrun by alien flora and fauna that resulted in the extinction of the majority of native wildlife. In addition, the oceans receded as they were drained away by the Combine.

History

Shortly after the development of teleportation technology at Black Mesa, the Xen borderworld was discovered. Scientists began investigating Xen and experimenting on the creatures found there by traveling through portals to reach it.

Experiments into mysterious crystals found on the border world led to a catastrophic event, dubbed the Black Mesa Incident, which tore open the gateways between the dimensions, which were then forced open by Nihilanth and allowed waves of Xen aliens to spontaneously travel through and begin attacking the unprepared scientists in Black Mesa. Upon Nihilanth's death, a series of portal storms consumed Earth, this massive interdimensional activity then caught the attention of the Combine empire, who, after discovering Earth, began to send their own legions. A short but decisive war between the world's militaries and the Combine ensued, later called the Seven Hour War, ultimately resulting in the capitulation of all world governments, including the United Nations, and the enslavement of Earth's human population.

Half-Life: Alyx Globe Map

During the first stages of Half-Life: Alyx it is possible to find an old-school globe model that provides various information about the state of the Earth after the Seven Hour War. The model shows the North American continent crossed out with large X mark. While the exact meaning of the X is unclear, it could either indicate a departure point where the remaining human inhabitants were relocated to Eastern Europe by the Combine, or that it suffered serious devastation during the war and was subsequently abandoned by the population. The fate of other continents and areas of the globe, such as Latin America, Asia, Africa, Oceania and Greenland (among others), remains unknown by Alyx, indicated by a question mark placed on their respective model representations.

Under Combine control and littered with Xen invasive species, Earth was left in utter chaos. The Combine began to strip the Earth of any useful natural resources, the planet being "picked to the bone".[1] A sign of this was the considerable drop in sea levels as water was drained and brought to other Combine worlds, however, the collection of other resources was not depicted in the game.

The Beta Half-Life 2 features the Air Exchange, a facility responsible for replacing Earth's air and distributing a collection of gases that would make Earth breathable for Advisors, in the expense of making it toxic to Earth's inhabitants, forcing humans to wear respirators. The concept was later scraped in the final product. While Earth remained healthy, Advisors instead adapt to Earth through Incubation Pods and Life Supports, which Vortigaunts are eager to prevent from happening.

Toxic and radioactive waste is prevalent in many areas of City 17, such as the Canals and abandoned Underground Tunnels, making them inhospitable. Likely dumped there by the Combine for unknown reasons.

The introduction of fierce, extradimensional lifeforms such as the Antlions, Headcrabs and Leeches, left many of Earth's natural lifeforms extinct or close to extinction. Because of all of these factors, even if the Combine rule ends, extensive rebuilding, cleanup, and Xeno-extermination would have to take place to make repair the damage.

The originally hostile Vortigaunts united with the humans and became part of the Resistance, an underground alliance who intended to overthrow the Combine and regain control of the planet. Bases were set up and over several years they gained much information while the Combine secretly allowed their activities, until the return of Gordon Freeman and the subsequent capture of Eli Vance.

The destruction brought upon Nova Prospekt by Gordon Freeman and Alyx Vance led to a sudden spur of movement and attacks from the Resistance, called The Uprising, allowing Gordon Freeman to reach the citadel and destroy the Dark Fusion Reactor, completely erasing the citadel's top and sending a shockwave of subsequent destruction across it. The damage sustained led to the malfunction of the Overwatch Dispatch, forcing Advisors to command their forces directly.

Superportal

The destruction of the Dark Fusion Reactor broke down the Combine's lines of communication with the Combine Overworld and shut down linked Citadel reactors across the world, leaving them stranded within their settlements on Earth. In an attempt to bring more forces through and thwart the Resistance, the Combine induced the Citadel's destruction, which erased an area of many miles surrounding it, causing it to produce a Superportal. At White Forest, the Resistance was able to launch a rocket into space to take advantage of a satellite network to close the Superportal before it matured and fully opened.

The Resistance has so far been successful in remaining covert and outside of the Combine's control; however, as of yet the outcome of their endeavors is unknown.

Earth from the Moon (Portal 2 Ending)

At the end of Portal 2, it remains unclear if the Combine have won the battle. Chell emerges in a sunny wheat field that was maintaned by Aperture, no humans, nor Combine, nor Xenians to be seen.

Before the end of Portal 2, Chell goes through a portal onto the Moon as part of the final boss battle between her and Wheatley, and briefly looks at the Earth which appears with its natural sea level, however, it could simply be an oversight from the developers.

Notable locations

Black Mesa Research Facility

The Black Mesa Research Facility was an underground research installation located in the New Mexico desert. Notable for its scientific developments, such as portal technology and advanced weaponry, it was the epicenter of the Xen invasion. The research facility was later destroyed by the military in an attempt to control the alien infestation through use of the Mark IV Thermonuclear Device.

Santego Military Base

Main article: Santego Military Base

The Santego Military Base is a United States Marine Corps-operated military base located in Arizona, west of New Mexico, where the Black Mesa Research Facility is located. It was the military base where Adrian Shephard received his Advanced Training before the Black Mesa Incident. Its status as of yet is unknown but is assumed to have suffered the same fate of other key places near Black Mesa and in North America.

City 17

City 17 was one of many major Combine-maintaned cities on Earth, primarily modeled after Sofia in Bulgaria, it is located in an unnamed Eastern European city and is the base of administration of Dr. Wallace Breen, the puppet administrator of Earth appointed by the Combine.

Located in Eastern Europe, the city boasts characteristic architecture, though most of it has been either outfitted with Combine technology or destroyed altogether. Neglect in maintenance and cleaning has left the city in a precarious state.

The Combine Citadel, located at the center of the city, was the headquarters of the Combine empire and the main Citadel on Earth, as well as Dr. Breen's office. It also provided all of City 17's electricity via a Dark Energy generator, which was later destroyed by Gordon Freeman in an attempt to prevent the creation of a portal to the Combine homeworld.

Aperture Laboratories

Aperture Laboratories are the headquarters of Aperture Science located in the former state of Michigan. Another research organization hired by the US government at first to manufacture shower curtains. Located in a gigantic salt mine (bought by Cave Johnson, founder of Aperture Laboratories) in the upper peninsula of Michigan, the main building consists of an underground Enrichment Center, which is monitored and controlled by a powerful AI, GLaDOS. Preceding the death of their founder, the company started developing portal technology, most notably the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device. The building was famously locked down by GLaDOS with employees still trapped inside. GLaDOS was later partially destroyed by a surviving test subject, but remains "alive".

Sometime before the Black Mesa Incident, Aperture Laboratories had a research vessel named the Borealis, which was rumored to contain a top-secret project, but lacked several critical safety features due to lack of funds. It has gained legendary status ever since the entire ship, along with a large portion of its dry dock, mysteriously vanished one night, never to be heard from again until it was found many years later by Judith Mossman, deep within a frozen crevice in the Arctic Circle.

White Forest

White Forest is a Soviet missile base that was abandoned after the Cold War, it was intended to have been purchased by Black Mesa in response to budgetary issues, however that concept was scraped during production. The human Resistance later took over the site as a major base of operations, and used one of its rockets to stop a Superportal from opening up and preventing a massive Combine invasion.

The few remaining scientists escaped from City 17 to White Forest in an effort to protect themselves. Secure from the Combine tyranny and surrounding alien hazards, it's a haven for many survivors and resistance fighters.

List of appearances

The Half-Life Wiki has more images related to Earth.

• Half-Life: Day One (First appearance)
• Half-Life
• Half-Life: Uplink (Non-canonical appearance)
• Half-Life: Opposing Force
• Half-Life: Blue Shift
• Half-Life: Decay
• Half-Life 2
• Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar
• Half-Life 2: Lost Coast (Non-canonical appearance)
• Half-Life 2: Episode One
• Portal
• Half-Life 2: Episode Two
• Portal: First Slice
• Portal ARG
• Portal 2
• Half-Life: Alyx

See also

• Earth creatures