Human Vortiguant?

[ríomhaire]

If you consider what the vortigaunts did to Alyx and Gordon, that's actually FOUR times. The three times Gordon Freeman tapped the vortessence were:

1. Black Mesa, immediately after the resonance cascade. Remember that group of vortigaunts in the shadows looking at you? That was communion of the vortessence. That was not Xen.

2. After the defeat of Nihilanth. "You leap, you fall, we see you flash beyond the barriers...for a brief time you joined with us. You are one. Between the worlds. Communion of the vortessence."

3. The beginning of Episode One. It is interesting to note that according to Raising the Bar, Gordon never dreamed while in the G-man's 20-year stasis, but Episode One starts off with a dream, and then Gordon somehow "sees" Alyx Vance being rescued...AFTER he was already retrieved by the G-man. What he was seeing was the vortigaunt's rescue of Alyx Vance through the vortessence. Through the eyes of the vortigaunts themselves.

So he keeps tapping into the vortessence, and it's always by complete accident. He's not intentionally doing anything that would allow him to see the vortessence, it's just that he keeps getting knocked out and his consciousness goes for a ride on the tapestry between dimensions.

Darkside, I'd say 2 is actually refering to event 1.

 

[Maturin]

Electricity and magnetism are much stronger and more omnipresent forces than gravity and heat. That's why the Vortigaunts use those attacks.

 

[coheedswicked]

Darkside, I'd say 2 is actually refering to event 1.

no they're separate. There's no leaping or falling involved in the resonance cascade however, to kill the nihilanth you JUMP on one of those alien trampoline things shoot (or crowbar) the nihilanth and then you FALL back to the floor as he's dying. and im pretty sure that line is preceded by "We see you now in the Nihilanth's chamber"

 

[the cow says moo]

I think the Vortigaunts have special organs that allow them to use the vortessance, i.e. their eyes allow them to see vortessance, much like our eyes allow us to see light.

EDIT: electricity and magnetism are technically the same thing.

 

[WriterforHire]

I think the Vortigaunts have special organs that allow them to use the vortessance, i.e. their eyes allow them to see vortessance, much like our eyes allow us to see light.

EDIT: electricity and magnetism are technically the same thing.

There's no proof for that. All we know about the Vortigaunts and the vortessence is that the vortessence is some sort of force and that they manipulate it somehow to do extraordinary feats. Anything else, (like whether or not humans can do the same) is speculation.

 

[MattyDienhoff]

I agree with Writer. That Radiation bit is crap. Only evidence is when the Gregor meter in the H.E.V. goes bat-shit crazy when you are directly next to the core. If there are Rads, they are rather low.

I also agree. The toxic waste in the city canals was more radioactive than the Citadel core. There is no evidence that the blast that destroyed the Citadel was nuclear, or that it'll have identical effects.

 

[coheedswicked]

If there are Rads, they are rather low.

ha. been playing alot of fallout 3? good game. anyways i agree. even when inside the core the radiation wasnt even high enough to cause any damage to you

 

[WriterforHire]

I also agree. The toxic waste in the city canals was more radioactive than the Citadel core. There is no evidence that the blast that destroyed the Citadel was nuclear, or that it'll have identical effects.

I was always curious about the toxic wastes that can be seen periodically throughout the game. How did they get there? Are the Combine systematically dumping toxic wastes around Earth? For what purpose? I was also curious about the fact that some many Zombies live in irradiated areas, some even are lying beneath the toxic waste and only rise up out of it when Gordon himself comes around. Literally, lying in the wastes. Doesn't this hurt them at all? I realize that they are "Zombiefied", but they're still essencially humans, such radioactive material should still hurt them.

 

[ríomhaire]

Radiation poisoning does not give instant death in real life.

As for how the toxic waste got there; the Combine may have dumped it intentionally because they knew of the rebel presence.

 

[WriterforHire]

Radiation poisoning does not give instant death in real life.

As for how the toxic waste got there; the Combine may have dumped it intentionally because they knew of the rebel presence.

I said harm, not kill, but the same concept applies. I'm pretty sure you won't be feeling fine and dandy if you were lying in toxic waste for who knows how long. And I'm not so sure I buy the Combine excuse, it seems a odd way to try to kill off the rebels when they have so many other means at their disposal which wouldn't directly harm the environment: (headcrab shells, brute force, airstrikes, ect.)

 

[Great Grizzly]

That is the waste generated when they build their machines, weapons, or directly from the citadel. Its not like they care if they pollute the water supply.

If they had hazardous waste, and you where a super industrial race and make a lot of it, you would probably dump the shit in the canals that crisscross the city. It also has the added benefit of preventing rebels of living down there.

 

[Commander Xillian]

Well, lets stay on topic. I do play Fallout, BUT Rads are interchangeable with Grays, so pick you poison, really. I do (Kinda) know what I am talking about. I'm not just a nerd, I do know a bit about how Irradiated material affects humans.

So, from what we know, Nuclear bombs release Rads, which are usually around 600-a hell of a lot more. If Gordon was around 600 rads, he would die almost instantly. So, no, there is no fallout or any other rads that were in the reactor. As for the water, I guess it must be around 400 to 500 rads, in any case, Gordon won't survive til his 40th birthday, unless in Canon he never once falls into a vat of Radio-active stuff. But, still being near it will give a large, and dangerous dose. SO, we must conclude that, because Gordon didn't fall over dead the moment he got in the chamber, and the fact that when he gets shot he is able to keep going, that the core did not, in fact, have Rads capable of duplicating Hiroshima, Chernobyl, or Three-Mile Island. Thank you, and there is a paper due next weekend.

[/Lecture]

Boy.... Wow.. Pays to know my stuff, eh?

Radiation poisoning does not give instant death in real life.

As for how the toxic waste got there; the Combine may have dumped it intentionally because they knew of the rebel presence.

Uuuh.. Yes. Yes it does. >600 will kill you in seconds.

 

[LandStander]

I agree with Writer. That Radiation bit is crap. Only evidence is when the Gregor meter in the H.E.V. goes bat-shit crazy when you are directly next to the core. If there are Rads, they are rather low.

Kleiner says the Core is bathed in radiation.

 

[Maturin]

The kind of radiation that is contained by glass and a helmet-less suit. The power operation probably goes through a lot of fuel or has highly-contaminated exhaust, given the toxic sludge they dump in every river, but the ball of energy appears to be a rather clean, sustainable process.

The Combine uses old human power plants too, as we saw in Anticitizen One.

 

[Commander Xillian]

AH! But it has been proven that the Helmet for the H.E.V. is retractable, and that Gordon might just prefer to go Helmetless most of the time. Better visibility and what not.

 

[Maturin]

So it is retractable? How was that figured out?

 

[coheedswicked]

yes do tell ive always wondered about that myself, the whole "Does gordon ever use the helmet thing?" and btw. nice lecture

 

[Commander Xillian]

Basically, after a lot of debating, we found that
1) Gordon must have a retractable helmet, for the underwater sections in Route Kanal, because if you strapped it on it would take a few minuets, and you would see it next to the H.E.V. in both Black mesa and Klieners lab.

2) Your Aux power goes down when under water, so you must have a rebreather of some sort. For this to work, you would need to have some sort of contained environment. This could only be accomplished by a Helmet.

3)It's more convenient from a production stand point, although more expensive and harder to fix, to put the two, helmet and suit, as one. ESPECIALLY when the environment will be actively trying to harm the user. Munitions monitoring systems and the Weapon selection help to give this last part more credit, because if you're running from a Garg, you don't have time to fiddle with a latch.

Thanks to the people at Combine OverWiki for that theory. Even if I did play a critical part in it coming into fruition.

 

[coheedswicked]

hmmm. ya i guess that makes sense, esspecially the underwater thing with the breathing because your aux power is labeled as "oxygen". however this didnt occur in hl1... so that would make it a kliener upgrade... so then the HEV Mark V would have some sort of integrated helmet while there isnt much evidence for one in the Mark IV

 

[LandStander]

The corpses of scientists that traveled to Xen in HL1 had were wearing helmets and had on the same suit as Gordon.

 

[coheedswicked]

true but we didnt see those suits if any before they were put on..............................................oh wait. right before you teleport to xen theres an unused HEV suit and it doesnt have a helmet. since they clearly have traveled to xen before from there, and all the corpses display helmets, that would be evidence for gordon's suit also having a helment...ok. good call