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- "Let this war end in either total victory or our extinction. No further compromise shall we allow."
- — All-Knowing Vortigaunt
The Golmar Earth Uprising also known as The Uprising is the name of the uprising that occurred between Golmar Earth's Human and Vortigaunt controlled Freedom Fighters and the Empire of the Combine Race. Xenian aliens are also partaking as an undeclared third party, fighting against both sides. The war occurred 20 years after the Black Mesa Incident and Seven Hour War, during the Combine's occupation of Earth. It occurred from 2032 (1370) to 2062 (1400 NE) The war resulted in the Resistance's victory, however, Golmar Earth underwent a Civil War over what style of Government the newly freed Humans and Vortigaunts should have.
Not only proven that the spark of rebellion is happening on their Earth, but countless other worlds the Combine had conquered with the aid of the Vortigaunt rebels for the enslaved races to revolt against their overlords and banded together in an alliance of mutual trust and protection.
Prelude[]
Prior to the Seven Hour War, the Black Mesa Incident had caused Portal Storms to spread across the planet, attracting the attention of the Combine Empire. Their motive for invading Golmar Earth remained unknown, though it can be assumed they wished to take control of the planet's natural resources and enslave its population. The Combine invaded Golmar Earth through the use of the Storms and rapidly defeated all of Earth's armed forces in what became known as the Seven Hour War. Dr. Wallace Breen, former Black Mesa Administrator negotiated a surrender on behalf of the surviving Humans. As a reward, he was instated as the interim ruler of subjugated Earth by the Combine and aided them in rounding up the remaining Humans into large, tightly controlled cities. Breen chose City 17 as his de facto capital, and the planet's main Citadel was constructed there, as the headquarters of the Combine Overwatch on Golmar Earth.
With the Combine as the new rulers governed the planet's remaining population with a calculated oppressiveness, restricting Human liberties and assimilating Earth's natural resources into their empire. Dissenting Humans were captured and transformed into Stalkers, or simply killed. A Suppression Field was activated to prevent Humans from breeding, another measure to control the population more effectively. Many Humans were assimilated into the occupational army on Earth, all of the Combine's infantry forces on Earth consisting of trans-Human troops, augmented with Synth technology.
The Resistance[]
In response to the Combine's occupation, a number of escapees from the Combine's iron grip formed the Lambda Resistance, a highly decentralized, loose network of guerrillas, outlaws, spies, and citizens dedicated to overthrowing the Overwatch's rule. Unable to combat the Combine's powerful armies directly, the Resistance instead sought to undermine the Combine. Many of the more experienced Resistance members, such as Barney Calhoun, infiltrated the ranks of Civil Protection, relaying information to the Resistance. Others smuggled weaponry, set up supply caches for other members, and helped civilians escape the Combine controlled cities. The Resistance set up a sophisticated network of bases throughout City 17's outlying area to help ferry escapees to the countryside. Others set up dedicated outposts such as Ravenholm (until its destruction with the exceptions of Father Grigori and the Shorepoint Base and Team), Black Mesa East, White Forest, and a significant presence along The Coast.
According to Judith Mossman, the Combine was aware of the Resistance and its activities, but their efforts to undermine them were largely ineffective on the whole, and as such, the Combine did not consider them an appreciable threat. Nevertheless, they suppressed the rebel activities at every opportunity, raiding the homes of suspected resistance members or sympathizers, and destroying Lambda Resistance outposts. The most infamous of these was Ravenholm. Rather than attack the town directly, the Combine shelled the settlement with Headcrab Shells, with only one known survivor. The Lambda Resistance had made significant headway in technological developments, such as the Teleportation technology worked on by Isaac Kleiner and Eli Vance, the anti-Strider weapon developed by Arne Magnusson, and plans to shut down the portal between Earth and the Combine Overworld, a plan which could not be put into effect until The Uprising had them sufficiently distracted.
The Combine[]
The Combine Empire expanded to a vast number of realities and became Golmar Earth's overlords after defeating all of its armed forces combined in the Seven Hour War. After negotiating Golmar Earth's surrender with Dr. Wallace Breen, they established the former Black Mesa Administrator as the planet's interim ruler. Once all of Golmar Earth's population had been rounded up into tightly controlled cities, they began the subjugation of the planet's populace and assimilation of its natural resources. Golmar Earth's oceans had receded significantly by the time of the Uprising, and the cities became comparatively safe under Combine rule after Xenian wildlife infested the countryside. The Combine's control of the Earth was brutal and calculated; while it did not consider the Resistance an appreciable threat to its rule, it suppressed Resistance activity whenever possible.
The Combine often raided the homes of suspected members of the resistance cells or sympathizers, commonly using the pretext of one home being raided as an excuse to search the entire block. Captured Humans were either killed or imprisoned in facilities such as Nova Prospekt, where they suffered from miserable living conditions and torturous interrogations before being transformed into Stalkers or integrated into the Overwatch. The Combine's forces on Earth almost entirely consisted of trans-Human infantry forces, augmented with Synth technology such as Striders, along with a number of human police and military units under the so-called Civil Protection. Their formidable technology, weapons, and numbers prevented the Resistance from direct confrontation; however, despite this, they lagged behind the Resistance in some areas. The Combine utilized dark energy cosmic strings to form their portals, which required an enormous amount of energy to sustain, and could not tunnel to another location on the same planet. The Resistance, on the other hand, utilized the Xen relay, allowing them to transport to another location on the same world. The Resistance also possessed the technology to shut down portals using the old Xenian resonators.
Despite, or perhaps because of, their vast power and resources, the Combine were slow to mobilize in response to threats to their rule on Golmar Earth, a weakness the Resistance was able to frequently exploit in the years preceding the Uprising. The heavy centralization of the Combine occupation, with its sole link to other worlds being housed in City 17, would prove another weakness, one that would lead to disaster for them at the very start of the Uprising.After negotiating Golmar Earth's surrender with Dr. Wallace Breen, they established the former Black Mesa Administrator as the planet's interim ruler. Once all of Golmar Earth's population had been rounded up into tightly controlled cities, they began the subjugation of Earth's populace and assimilation of its natural resources. Earth's oceans had receded significantly by the time of the Uprising, and the cities became comparatively safe under Combine rule after Xenian wildlife infested the countryside. The Combine's control of Earth was brutal and calculated; while it did not consider the Resistance an appreciable threat to its rule, it suppressed Resistance activity whenever possible.
The Combine often raided the homes of suspected Resistance members or sympathizers, commonly using the pretext of one home being raided as an excuse to search the entire block. Captured Humans were either killed or imprisoned in facilities such as Nova Prospekt, where they suffered from miserable living conditions and torturous interrogations before being transformed into Stalkers or integrated into the Overwatch. The Combine's forces on Earth almost entirely consisted of trans-Human infantry forces, augmented with Synth technology such as Striders, along with a number of human police and military units under the so-called Civil Protection. Their formidable technology, weapons, and numbers prevented the Resistance from direct confrontation; however, despite this, they lagged behind the Resistance in some areas. The Combine utilized dark energy cosmic strings to form their portals, which required an enormous amount of energy to sustain, and could not tunnel to another location on the same planet. The Resistance, on the other hand, utilized the Xen relay, allowing them to transport to another location on the same world. The Resistance also possessed the technology to shut down portals using the old Xenian resonators.
Despite, or perhaps because of, their vast power and resources, the Combine were slow to mobilize in response to threats to their rule on Earth, a weakness the Resistance was able to frequently exploit in the years preceding the Uprising. The heavy centralization of the Combine occupation, with its sole link to other worlds being housed in City 17, would prove another weakness, one that would lead to disaster for them at the very start of the Uprising.
History[]
Return of Freeman[]
Gordon Freeman was inserted into City 17 by the ominous G-Man approximately 20 years following the Black Mesa Incident. Intercepted by Barney Calhoun, who had infiltrated the ranks of Civil Protection, Freeman was sent to Isaac Kleiner's hidden lab to evade the Combine. A quasi-mythological figure since his disappearance after the Black Mesa Incident, Civil Protection teams began trailing him. The disturbance quickly garnered the attention of the Combine Overwatch, promising additional food rations to citizens as rewards in exchange for cooperation, whilst deducting rations from entire apartment blocks whom had been collectively charged with "permissive inactive coercion".
Freeman was almost captured by several of these patrols until his rescue by Alyx Vance, who escorted him to Kleiner's lab. Kleiner intended to teleport both of them to Black Mesa East, the largest Resistance stronghold in City 17's Outlands. A teleporter malfunction, however, resulted in Wallace Breen becoming aware of Freeman's presence in the city, whilst also forcing Freeman to reach Black Mesa East on foot.
In response, Breen put the Citadel on full alert, a status which had seldom, if ever, been seen by the city's populace. Thousands of Scanners, Airwatch, and Civil Protection teams were deployed in an attempt to locate Freeman. To restrict Freeman's movements and prevent a coordinated effort by the Resistance to aid him, Combine surgical strike teams launched raids on all known bases along the so-called "Underground Railroad". Citizens who refused to aid Civil Protection teams were threatened with permanent off-world relocation. Similarly, Civil Protection teams who prematurely terminated their assignments were threatened with permanent off-world assignment.
Although most of the outposts along the Railroad were silenced, they failed to acquire Freeman and he escaped to Black Mesa East. Acting on intelligence from a Combine informant, Combine troops launched a major raid against the base, neutralising it and capturing Eli Vance, along with his research on the Xenian relay teleporter technology. Using this knowledge, the Combine constructed a facsimile at Nova Prospekt. Nevertheless, the Combine failed to acquire both Alyx and Freeman. Freeman was forced to navigate through the zombie-infested town of Ravenholm to reach the Resistance outposts along the coast, intending to rendezvous with Alyx at Nova Prospekt to rescue Eli.
Though firm control over the coast eluded the Combine, the Resistance's hold on the coast was tenuous at best. Tracking Freeman from base-to-base, the Combine deployed its Trans-Human military arm with significant synth support to the coast, launching systematic raids against these settlements. Though many of the smaller observation posts and the strategically important Bridge Point were overrun, large raids against Shorepoint and New Little Odessa were repulsed. A determined assault was launched against Lighthouse Point which was carried with heavy casualties, although Freeman escaped to the Vortigaunt Camp. Freeman's journey along the coast had also loosened Combine control over many of the posts they had occupied.
Attack on Nova Prospekt[]
- Main article: Attack on Nova Prospekt
Approaching Nova Prospekt, Freeman disengaged all the Restrictors, and, utilising the Myrmidont'spheropods, managed to overrun and breach the perimeter with hordes of Antlions, whilst Alyx infiltrated via the rail route. With the Restrictors offline, the Antlions swarmed into the facility en masse, stretching the garrison's defensive capabilities to the limit. The Overwatch ordered the garrison to deprioritise containment of the Antlion incursion in favour of neutralising Freeman, and killed all captured Resistance prisoners to prevent a breakout.
While the Antlions laid waste to the facility, Freeman successfully rendezvoused with Alyx Vance at the train depot. Together, they located both Eli and Judith Mossman, in the process exposing Mossman's role as a Combine informant. Using the Combine's facsimile teleporter, Alyx intended for all four to escape directly to Kleiner's lab. However, while distracted by Combine troops, Mossman teleported herself and Eli directly to the Combine Citadel, leaving Alyx and Freeman to fend off the Overwatch.
While the pair were successful in defending against the Overwatch's attack, their assault damaged the teleporter. Once they were sent to Kleiner's lab, the teleporter's primary reactor exploded, destroying the prison entirely. Alyx and Freeman were stuck in the teleporter's cycle for over a week and were almost listed as missing by the Resistance.
Battle of City 17[]
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Main article: City 17 Revolt |
The destruction of Nova Prospekt, a hated symbol of Combine oppression and cruelty, was taken as a signal by the Earth Freedom Fighters to mobilise against the Combine's Sector 17 Overwatch. The Uprising had begun.
For a full week, the Combine's attacks drove the majority of the population into the arms of the Albeda Resistance, while both sides became embattled in a bitter deadlock. Civil Protection found it nearly impossible to hold back the Resistance's guerilla attacks, and Overwatch reinforcements were sent in. At the time of Freeman and Alyx's return, the Resistance largely controlled the suburban districts, while the Combine held the strategic areas in and around the city center. Despite the Combine's vastly superior technology, they found urban combat against a determined guerilla army difficult to counter.
Freeman and Alyx joined with Calhoun, whose Resistance cell launched attacks against the Combine's generators within the city center. However, Alyx Vance was captured shortly thereafter by the Combine, and taken to the Citadel. Proceeding deeper into the city, Freeman and Calhoun's cells found the Combine's field headquarters; the Overwatch Nexus. Infiltrating the building, they disabled the building's suppression device, allowing reinforcements to flood into the central areas of the city. A determined Overwatch counterattack, replete with Gunships and Striders was eventually beaten back by the Resistance, impairing the Combine's counter-offensives into the city. With the Resistance closing in on the Citadel, the Combine turned loose the Striders and Gunships. Despite inflicting severe casualties on the resistance, they could not prevent the elusive rebels from reaching the base of the Citadel. Freeman managed to infiltrate the Citadel by traversing an old sewer network that ran under the city.
Once inside, Freeman allowed himself to be captured and taken to Breen's office. Mossman, in a bout of guilt, freed Eli, Alyx, and Freeman, after learning of Breen's plans to kill them. Breen fled to the Citadel's reactor, intending to teleport to the Overworld. Freeman managed to overload the teleporter's reactor, causing it to explode. The G-Man prevented Freeman's death; however, the Vortigaunts intervened with his plans, burying Freeman and Alyx in the rubble at the base outside of the Citadel. The explosion of the teleporter's reactor blew the top of the Citadel away, and overloaded the building's power grid, causing a fatal meltdown of the Citadel's Dark Energy reactor core. As a result, the city's force fields and thumpers shut down, allowing Xenian wildlife to invade the city. The destruction of the main Citadel in City 17 also damaged the Combine's worldwide network, isolating Combine forces on Earth.
The overload of the Citadel's reactor had caused the formation of an infant superportal, into which the Combine wished to transmit a message, requesting for reinforcements to destroy the rebellion. Alyx and Freeman managed to stabilize the Citadel's unstable reactor, giving the Resistance additional time to evacuate more citizens. Meanwhile, the Combine withdrew the bulk of its forces from City 17, leaving behind only a handful of rearguard units in a desperate bid to stall the Resistance's escape. When the final trains of refugees left the city, the Combine sent their transmission packet, overloading the Citadel's primary reactor. The shock to its power grid caused the Citadel to explode in a Dark Energy flare, destroying the remains of the City and most of the surrounding area.
Battle of White Forest[]
- Main article: Attack on White Forest
The destruction of the Citadel and the destabilization of its main reactor had caused an infant Superportal to begin forming, which if matured could be used by the Combine to bring in reinforcements to defeat the Resistance and reoccupied the earth once more. Since the destruction of the reactor and the retreat of the Combine from City 17, the remaining soldiers intended to use the Citadel's unstable reactor to send a transmission packet to the Combine Overworld, requesting reinforcements. However, to send this transmission would overload the reactor, causing it to explode. Freeman and Alyx managed to obtain a copy of the transmission, and temporarily stabilized the reactor core, giving the Resistance more time to evacuate citizens out of the city, however, the transmission was sent in the end, causing the Citadel to explode. Meanwhile, the Resistance had evacuated their forces and had taken refugees in White Forest, while Judith Mossman had gone on a mission to investigate rumors of the existence of the Borealis.
Alyx and Freeman began to make their way to White Forest; however, Alyx was critically wounded by a Combine Hunter, and almost died. Due to the intervention of the Vortigaunts, however, she survived, and the two continued on their journey. They found themselves advancing parallel to a large contingent of Combine soldiers, who had re-grouped from their defeat at City 17, planning to attack White Forest. A large detachment of Overwatch soldiers and Hunters ambushed the pair at the White Forest Inn but were beaten back, allowing the two to escape. Soon after reaching White Forest, the Overwatch launched an attack against the base, and managed to breach the compound. Despite them gaining a foothold, the Resistance managed to fight off the attack, and the Combine withdrew.
In the meantime, Magnusson, Kleiner, and Vance worked on decoding the transmission packet and using its information to seal the Superportal with the old Xenian resonator in Earth orbit. However, the Resistance's observation teams had spotted a significant force of Striders advancing toward White Forest, escorted by Hunters. Knowing that a single Strider could destroy the rocket, Magnusson directed Freeman in the use of an advanced anti-Strider weapon; the Magnusson Device. The Resistance mobilized their troops, after which the Combine launched their main attack; around two dozen Striders, each one escorted by two to three Hunters. This force destroyed many of the outlying buildings; however, the valleys and hills were not ideal terrains for the Striders, and they were easily ambushed by Freeman using the Magnusson Devices. The attack was eventually repelled, and the rocket was launched successfully. The Superportal was sealed shortly thereafter, stranding the Combine on Earth.
Following the victory, Alyx and Freeman prepared to leave White Forest in search of Mossman and the Borealis. Isaac Kleiner wished to use the Borealis, previously thought to be a legend, against the Combine, whereas Eli Vance believed the technology to be far too dangerous, and urged Freeman to destroy the ship. Shortly thereafter; a pair of Advisors attacked the Hangar, killing Eli Vance, and presumably learning all of the information he knew of the Resistance, before being driven off by Dog. This was however undone with the help of the G-Man, kills the Advisor. The G-Man placed Alyx in stasis, leaving her missing and Eli alive. Eli Vance wakes Freeman, and tells him that Alyx had disappeared, before handing Gordon his crowbar, telling him that "we've got work to do."
Freeing Alyx[]
To free Alyx, Freeman was deployed to a combine base in the Antarctic to free Mossman after she was captured. This was successful and the Resistance used information recovered from Mossman to use the Borealis to enter where Alyx was being held and extract her. However, this also resulted in the destruction of the Borealis.
Freedom[]
After the long 30 years of battle, the Combine were finally driven out of the Golmar Universe in 2062 (1400 N.E.), few pockets of their forces trapped and left at the hands of the many rebel worlds they conquered. Golmar Earth was at last free, by this point 976 million humans remained and brought together to rebuild their civilisation as well as their homeworld with new found technologies alongside their Vortigaunt allies, researching the advance bio-technologies and theories of inter-dimensional travel so they can understand to possibly reverse engineer for when the time comes should the Combine return. They also discovered that their Earth wasn't the first, nor would be the last given there be a vast number of alternate universes.
Rise of the Commonwealth[]
As the conflict continued on Golmar Earth, many other worlds the Combine had conquered began to rebel against their rule with the support of other Vortigaunt Rebels spread across known worlds providing aide for them in the Milky Way and other galaxies within the Local Group
People Involved[]
The Golmar Earth Freedom Fighters[]
The Empire of the Combine Race[]
Impact[]
- The Golmar Uprising sparked a mass revolt across the Conquered Golmar Worlds against the Combine, to the Combine, while not the first time a universe rebelled, this event led the events of the Combine Empire to begin its assault in all the universes they can find.
- Many Pure Combine refer this as a wound to their pride while others saw this as a realisation there are new challenges ahead of them.
- Many races of the Golmar Universe, mostly humans and Vortigaunts on Golmar Earth made an annual celebration known as the Day of the Uprising after standing up to the Combine.
Known Engagements of the Uprising[]
Gallery[]
Notes[]
- This event is based on the Uprising event of Half-Life.