Xen in pieces.

[Farrowlesparrow]

I'm certain i saw a thread about this ages ago but I can't seem to locate it...anyway onto the topic in hand.


Xen has been referred to as the "border world" by Gman.

Border to what?

I assumed it was on the border between dimensions, but perhaps it could be the border to a larger group of planets, populated by the dominant Xen type lifeforms, or even different life forms such as Race X.

That brings me to my next and title point....

Why is it in pieces?

Did it form like that in strange dimension which it exits, do the pieces orbit a larger body that is perhaps a gas giant, dead planet or even a populated planet to which Xen is the border.( i dont remember the skymaps, and they might have given a clue)
Was the planet torn apart by unstable teleportation portals
Or perhaps after possibly centuries of war with Race X, or some other species, it has been ravaged and blow apart by "dimensional" weapons involving teleportation.
Although we only saw a part of Xen, it seems pretty geared towards a war economy. Slaves working in factories producing grunts and different biotechnological weapons. Possibly even the Nihilanth? He may have been created to help fight against their enemy, which Im refering to as Race X as it seems most plausible.
Of course, humans came onto the scene in the middle of it all without a clue of the overall picture. They assume the planet is devoid of intelligent life and being taking stuff off for research. Of course the sentient life of Xen sees this, wonders what is going on and looks into it. They thean realise, send in the troops to stop it and get a little revenge while they are there..they perhaps then see the potential that earth holds for either becoming a new enemy of becoming slaves to them in whcih case they will use the humans and their technology. Race X sees this, and thinks we want some of this and begins siezing humans and information about their race (The scientist being grabbed in Op4?). Hl2 starts and humans are now in the middle of a war which rages between Xen and RaceX. Gman is part of some big organisation that seems to have its fungers in everything, the combine is either an opporesive regime that sprung up in a an effort to combat the aliens or it may in fact be an allience between humans and one of the alien races which has achieved its goal in using the humans to their advantage.

Anyway, what are you thoughts on my ramblings?

 

[Darkside55]

I've always assumed that the "Border World" suggested that it was a place neither here nor there; that is, somewhere in between dimensions. I don't think it's an alien "planet," in that sense. The normal rules of planetary creation probably don't apply here.

In the skies over Xen there were these starbursts...nebulae, water-like prisms that stretch across the sky like webbing, weird translucent spheres out in the distance. The sky was different colors in different parts of the border world, as well. I got the feeling that all these landmasses were suspended in this atmosphere.
It's possible that these areas rotate around something like a gas giant. I doubt that there is a larger land mass, an actual planet, beneath these atmospheric satellites. But I don't think that's the case; I think they're just held there. And if they do rotate, I'm inclined to believe that they're not rotating around some bigger mass with a gravitational hold on them. Normal time and space probably have absolutely no meaning in Xen. These pieces probably didn't break away from each other; over time, they likely just formed in the atmosphere like that.

I think the only reason we saw the war areas of Xen is because that's where Freeman needed to go. How he was "lucky" enough to keep jumping to those specific areas is anyone's guess; perhaps Nihilanth was bringing Freeman to him, or maybe the teleporters on Xen take the being entering them wherever they desire to go. Maybe it was just good coincidence.

That's not to say that they aren't a war economy, though. They did have the troop factories, and they were mining the surface in that one area (with the garg). I think the controllers are the warlike ones. The vortigaunts don't seem to be warriors, and I'm sure wherever there are colonies of vortigaunts living free of the controllers, they're likely to be peaceful. That really brings up the question, though: why are the controllers mass-producing troops?

Maybe it doesn't take long to build a cloned army in Xen. Perhaps they just had the factory; it might not have seen much use before this, but once Earth came into the picture, they began producing more grunts. Full-scale production.
The controllers seem to me like the type of arrogant species that'd want to secure their power base; that's probably the reason for the factory. But from what? Did they anticipate an outside attack, not necessarily from humans? Was it Race-X? Or, like one BMRF scientist once asked, "Do you suspect some alien subterfuge?" Maybe the controllers were actually looking for a war, rather than just stockpiling defenses against one. That'd certainly partially make sense of why they created Nith.

I doubt there was any threat from Race-X, though. I believe that the shock troopers, along with the pit drones and voltigores, and the icthyosaurs, all live on the complete opposite end of Xen. If Xen were like a sphere, a sphere of their sky with all the landmasses embedded inside of it, the Xenians and Race X would be like north pole and south pole to each other. I like to think that they never really came in contact with each other, and just evolved similar technologies (teleportation, organic weaponry, etc.) because of their environment. If the two races ever did see each other, I don't imagine it was for a long time, or face-to-face. Probably more of a "Casual observer"-type relationship.

Hrm, I have some other theories about how Xen might be structured, but I'll gather my thoughts and save those for a later post. This one's getting a little long in the tooth, hehe.

 

[chimpmunk]

Does anyone know if we'll see Race X in HL² ???

 

[Mechagodzilla]

Does anyone know if we'll see Race X in HL² ???

No info on that yet, but they appear to be bringing back other stuff from OP4, like the barnacle gun and the Gonome. They just might bring back Race X too.


I never really took much notice of the "border world" term.
But, now that I think about it, it could describe the area between teleportations.

The Black Mesa scientists started experimenting with site-to site teleportation, but things kept on appearing on Xen instead.
Eventually, they tried to set up a beacon that would let them get around it.

So, when you teleport from point A to point B, the border between A and B is Xen.


"Border world" could also mean that the smaller rocks loaded with enemies and such are defensive borders surrounding a huge, more habitable landmass.

It's impossible to tell how Xen's landmasses stay up, despite gravity. They are in another dimension, after all.
They variety of different skies indicate that the entire place is huge, so I'm not sure if they are orbiting a planet, or any other mass. All planets that we know of have a uniform atmosphere. Nothing like Xen, where there are several atmospheres, and each is dramatically different.
Our universe has no up and down, but Xen appears to have one of each. It could be that the entire Xen universe is planar?

 

[Farrowlesparrow]

I think it is either a mixture of several ideas from each of the pots above, or it is nothing of the sort.


I will add more tommorow, but its late now and i really need to finish my work.

 

[<RJMC>]

I remenber the skymap looks like you will looking trough a microscope

my (crazy) theory:Xem is the earth in the future after a big self destruction,and the lifefoerms hav been evolutioning to live in the enviroment

I create that theory cuz humans can breathe in Xen right?

 

[Brian Damage]

Well, I'm almost 100% sure that the background pictures in the Xen maps were made from microphotographs/electron micrographs of such odd things as water-bound bacterial colonies and chromosomes... though I think they used them merely for the fact that they looked cool...

I don't get very nice vibes from the Controllers, and the Grunts just seem like smart animals to me, but after playing the game again in recent months, I do feel a pang of sympathy for the Vortigaunts. Their electrical blasts strike me as either a defensive mechanism or a tool, and though they can cause a lot of damage in melee, they look like they're unused to combat...

Anyone here played POV? It's non-canonical, of course, but it does give some interesting ideas...

 

[clarky003]

umm, is race X anything to do with the combine??? could the combine be from beyond the border world?

 

[Brian Damage]

Opinions vary, clarky. Some people think so...

 

[Sprafa]

Can I say stuff?

I will anyway.

Xen - as ppl said, borderworld. point between A and B. Now I think the controller s were making that army probably afradi of the outsiders, which seem to be abundant - Race-X and the Humans. 2 races that were trying to use Xen to get somewhere, but they are quite determinate to stop them. With the Nihilant, which as someone said b4, I think is controlled or maybe even mde by the Controllers, they manage to transform Xen into a war machine.

When the Humans again try to enter Xen, (although acidentally, I don't think they care) they declare War on them. But the one Human particular human blows up the Nihilant, eliminating the greatest Xen leader, and apparently spreding chaos. Therfore, Race-X enter Xen and uses it to expand its "dominion" since there is no more organized resistance to its presence. They could have knows about Earth long time ago, but unpossibilited to get there b/c of the fortified Xen. So, Xen falls, Race-X takes advantage of it and invades some planets - We don't know if it was only Earth.

Now Xen in pieces - I have no reason to think it was not deliberate, like - "let's make it just a few platforms so we can get jumping and all!" but knowing Valve, I think that they have soemthing backing that up, maybe some sort of anti-grav existent in the borderwold, contrasting with the gravity in the A - B places

 

[Mechagodzilla]

Anyone here played POV? It's non-canonical, of course, but it does give some interesting ideas...

I haven't played POV, but the bonus Xen mission in Decay features some similar neat points, since you're a Xen Slave in it:

-The slaves were teleported in against their wills by Nihilanth, and only returned once their objectives were achieved.
-Their objectives were to reclaim stolen Xen technology from Black Mesa. Like the yellow crystals or, maybe, other captured comrades.
-The slaves are given serial numbers instead of names.

Also, they can hear Nihilanth's messages that he broadcasts to Freeman.

 

[mooma]

I put this here. is anyone noticed that when you come to that grunt factory, was it map called interloper, there are couple of slaves working. if you enter that room peacefully those slaves don't attack you. i don't know was that bug or what, but it was cool, like first taste of union of gordon and vortigaunts

 

[Mechagodzilla]

I put this here. is anyone noticed that when you come to that grunt factory, was it map called interloper, there are couple of slaves working. if you enter that room peacefully those slaves don't attack you. i don't know was that bug or what, but it was cool, like first taste of union of gordon and vortigaunts

I played through the game three times before I noticed that.
I'm sure it wasn't a bug. Just goes to show that the vortigaunts are peaceful chaps at heart.
They don't attack unless provoked or forced to by Nihilanth.

 

[Sulkdodds]

I have a feeling the Xenians were a warlike race anyway. If my theory that Xen is not only a dimensional crossroads but one between Earth in all dimensions, then I reckon that Xen has alreayd invaded plenty of other worlds. They invaded our Earth specifically because we effectively invaded them first - forcing our way in via dimensional rift and capturing wildlife (and, indeed, Xen troopers).

And the sky textures? They wanted it to look weird. Simple as that. I would assume that they are meant to be enormous Final Fantasy The Movie style leviathans.

 

[Brian Damage]

Well, the bacterial colony pics could have been supposed to be spheres of asteroids...

Perhaps the Xenians were guardians of the way between different universes? Like the only thing stopping inhabitants of different dimensions invading each other?

 

[Sprafa]

Perhaps the Xenians were guardians of the way between different universes? Like the only thing stopping inhabitants of different dimensions invading each other?

read my theory.
:cheers:

 

[Brian Damage]

Err... yeah... I did. Couldn't really make head nor tail of it, to be perfectly frank... Is that what you were saying?

 

[Stigmata]

If it's help to anyone, I extracted all the Nihilanth .wav files, and here is what he says (not in any specific order):

The last... I am the last...
Alone... Not you alone... Not you alone...
Comes another...
Decieve you, he will decieve you
Die, you will die, you will die
Done, what have you done
The last, you are the last, you are
You are man, he is not man, for you he waits, for you...
Now die, now die, now
The truth, you can never know the truth
Thieves, you all are thieves, you all are
Win, you cannot win

And I also have a theory. I don't have much time to elaborate, but basically it's that the Combine have already invaded Xen. The Nihilanth is under the control of the Combine (physically but not mentally; he attacks you while trying to tell you important information), and the Combine are forcing Xen into a war economy to build forces to invade Earth ("Slaves, we are all slaves..."). But why wouldn't the Combine just attack the Earth on their own? Simple: They don't want to lose any of their own species.

Furthermore, I believe that the Combine are actually an alien species completely different from the Combine Metropolice and Soldiers. Either their title (Combine) is simply passed down to any form they have created or assimilated, or the human resistance has simply taken information about the Combine species out-of-context and labelled any Combine-controlled form as a member of the Combine species.

Discuss.

 

[Brian Damage]

Interesting theory...

I too, went and wrote down all the Nihilanth speech a little while ago. The Vortigaunt speech too, which was definately a language...

I certainly get the impression that the Nihilanth is trying to warn you about something...

 

[Stigmata]

The Vortigaunt speech too, which was definately a language...

Could you put the Vortigaunt speech up? I never noticed them talking before, it would be interesting to see what they say... Maybe.

I certainly get the impression that the Nihilanth is trying to warn you about something...

Impending doom?

But yeah, based on my theory I'd say he's trying to warn Freeman of the Combine invasion of Earth, and some sort of betrayal by the G-Man.

OH!! I just thought... What if, when the Nihilanth says "You are man, he is not man, for you he waits, for you..." and "Decieve you, he will decieve you," what if he's referring not to the G-Man, but to Dr. Breen?

 

[Sprafa]

it suxs to know and not be able to talk....

 

[Mechagodzilla]

it suxs to know and not be able to talk....

Not for us though. Thank you for not spoiling it!

 

[Stigmata]

OK, to elaborate on my above theory #2:

When the Nihilanth says "You are man, he is not man, for you he waits, for you..." and "Decieve you, he will decieve you," he may be referring to Dr. Breen, and not the G-Man. One thing that makes perfect sense in this regard, is if you've read the latest PCZone article (or some other recent article, I'm not exactly sure which magazine it's from) you see a picture of Dr. Breen, and apparently he is spewing Combine propaganda through the video screen.

So perhaps, Dr. Breen is a defector, and is willingly helping the Combine take over Earth. Or, he is the leader of the Resistance (or the leader of the remnants of humanity's scientific community?) who, unbeknownst to the rest of our race, has been assimilated into the Combine hierarchy ("You are man, he is not man"), and the Combine are using him in the hopes that most humans will still blindly follow and agree with what Dr. Breen says ("He will decieve you").

Although, when the Nihilanth talks to you, it is several years before HL2 takes place. So, either Dr. Breen was one of, if not the, first human to be assimilated into the Combine, or Dr. Breen is a product of Combine genetic science, creating a human who is placed on Earth to work as the best scientist on Earth to gain trust from the human race (and the Nihilanth somehow discovers this). So, he works for the Combine, and is also invested with the trust of nearly the entire human race, making the assimilation/takeover process much easier. He could also be the G-Man's employer, so the G-Man also trusts Dr. Breen very much, and does his dirty work no questions asked (probably being told time and time again that what he's doing will save, not destroy, the Earth).

[EDIT] Almost forgot, thank you Sprafa for not spoiling it. It's more fun to speculate anyway :E

And are you a member of the press? Or a Half-Life 2 betatester? Or are you under some sort of NDA so strict that you can't tell us how you found out what you know?

 

[b0ng]

Now lets rewind back to the Race-X taking scientists back to their world... Which most likely means for study. Now maybe from those studies Race-X could genetically alter some of their own genomes to make clones that resembled humans from the genomes of the 'stolen' scientists -- hence the combine with their humanly shape but curiously hidden faces. Just a thought! :bounce: But also with the combine set aside, Race-X could be the Antlions and if this is so then the combine could not be Race-X. Contradicting my last statement, it seems Race-X is a more intelligent race than the Antlions seem to be, and the Portals that were opened could just be attracting all sorts of aliens from all sorts of dimensions. But I mostly stick to my theory about Race-X = Combine. :thumbs:

 

[Brian Damage]

Could you put the Vortigaunt speech up? I never noticed them talking before, it would be interesting to see what they say... Maybe.

Impending doom?

But yeah, based on my theory I'd say he's trying to warn Freeman of the Combine invasion of Earth, and some sort of betrayal by the G-Man.

OH!! I just thought... What if, when the Nihilanth says "You are man, he is not man, for you he waits, for you..." and "Decieve you, he will decieve you," what if he's referring not to the G-Man, but to Dr. Breen?

I'll link to the thread with the transcriptions in..

http://www.halflife2.net/forums/showthread.php?t=21168 - second page

I just copied down what they sound like they're saying... "Die!" is the most obvious one, but I think that a couple of others could actually be really bad alienesque english... "Dula arth shet!" could be "Die, Earth shit!", for instance...

And that theory about Dr. Breen is interesting... I alsways assumed that the Nihilanth was talking about the G-Man... but Breen... hmmmmmm...

(Thanks Sprafa, for not spoiling. Though I thought you said that the "beta" didn't spoil anything...?)

 

[Darkside55]

The only time in-game that I've heard Nihilanth say, "You are man, he is not man. For you he waits, for you," is when he teleports you for the fourth time, and you're facing a Gargantua. Definately not man...definately waiting. I'd always thought he meant the G-Man too, or maybe he meant himself (refering to himself in third person), but once I actually heard it in-game I dismissed all those theories. They were really taken out of context when you only hear them from pak explorer.

And I dunno, something about these Race-X = Combine theories...I dunno, I just don't believe it. In fact I'll only believe it if HL2 tells it to me, but aside from that I just can't get behind these theories that Race-X controls the Combine, or Race-X is the Combine, or they're really the Combine's father and want the Combine to help them take over the galaxy, or the Combine are being funded by Race-X through a Xen First National Bank...doesn't fit, to me. Can't see it happening.

Time will tell...