Moz
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Half-Life: Aftermath
The Plot
Several years have passed since the Portal Storms and subsequent invasion of Earth by alien forces. Very little is known about the cause of the storms or invasion, with some attributing it to God's righteous fury against mankind - or perhaps a simple galactic inevitability for all sentient life-forms. As weeks of resistance to occupation turn into months, and then into years, the tenacity and resilience of humanity is pushed to its brink.
Humanities governments fell within hours, with the larger metropolitan areas of Earth becoming quarantine zones, as if for an infection or pandemic. New York and Washington D.C. are now monuments to humanity's failure to defend itself, as giant metallic obelisks begin to rise from the ground as if reaching to pierce the sky itself.
For you, the past few years have been difficult. You find yourself somewhere in Michigan, an arguably forgettable state within the Union. Perhaps you've traveled from another state or country, or perhaps you've been here your entire life. Whatever your story may be, it has led you to this town along the coast of Lake Michigan.
The population of this town is sparse. The occasional drifter will scamper through, grabbing a few food items only to be gunned down by roaming bandits or gorged upon by a strange alien beast.
There reportedly remains only a small group of unified survivors willing to struggle in this inhospitable location, led by an old farmer and the town's old mayor. Many of the group are from out of state, or even from out of the country, as an evacuation convoy was struck near Detriot weeks before, leaving many of its civilians scattered to the winds. At this point, the group has only the strongest remaining among them.
However, the group knows time is running out on their survival; More and more strange beasts and odd flying machines begin to encroach upon the city. Rumors abound within the camp. Some say a group of military remnants are to be arriving in this very town in order to secure any survivors along the coast. Others say that the research facility built in the town not too many years before should be the target of an investigation.
Perhaps only a few know that survival - let alone rescue - is but a pipe-dream.
What is Half-Life: Aftermath?
Half-Life: Aftermath is a short RR (2-3 days) set in the (you guessed it) Half-Life universe, specifically in the rather sparsely talked-about time between the 7-Hour War and the City 17 Timeline. It's generally well known(?) within the Half-Life lore that the major metropolitan areas under Combine control, such as the Cities, were (possibly) set up quickly, however as we see within Half-Life: Alyx, mega-structures and the broader Combine architecture (likely) weren't established for several years after their initial occupation.
So the question is: In the time between these pivotal slots in the timeline, what exactly was the world of Half-Life like?
With the Combine invasion force still in their early years of adapting humans - both in their transhuman-soldier role as well as the mindless worker drones in blue fatigues - how did the surviving cities and towns combat the growing Xenian/Combine forces? What was the end goal - if any - for these groups of survivors? And how did these groups fair as the Combine inevitably encroached on their land?
While the idea of Aftermath is to briefly touch on the "survival" aspect of Half-Life, with inspiration from settings like The Last of Us (or even Terminator), an overarching set of events will allow for characters to experience a lot of what I believe to be important to Half-Life, and hopefully, end with a bang. Aswell, yet not as important, goofy or otherwise futuristic tech akin to D0G or the like would hopefully make an appearance in some way, along with the growing repertoire of aliens and alien technology offered through Half-Life 1, 2, and Alyx.
Embracing the stupid or unrealistic that is Half-Life is, in my opinion, important.
In a similar vein, I'd like to embrace the confusion or unknowing that is Half-Life's lore. Just as the citizens in Half-Life 2's prologue are disoriented or confused on where they are, Aftermath would attempt to have a similar feel.
We know an invasion force has hit Earth, but what happened? Did we win? Lose? Your characters would likely know little to nothing, save a few passing rumours from refugees and perhaps a skeleton crew of military remnants not yet giving up the fight.
Where and when is Half-Life: Aftermath?
Half-Life: Aftermath takes place in a larger metropolitan area in the Americas, yet small enough to not warrant immediate attention. Locations such as New York, Washington D.C., Toronto, etc, are too large to have a dedicated invasion force not either wipe out completely or establish a firm occupational foothold. Therefore, smaller yet still significant locations such as Memphis, or Salt Lake City, for example, may be the prime location for an early militia or resistance movement to take hold - if only in order to survive the alien wasteland that is slowly taking over.
"Where" is still open to suggestions.
As for "when", that's a bit harder of a question to answer. If we decide that Half-Life's 7-Hour War took place sometime in the mid-to-late 2000s, we could assume that Aftermath would take place sometime in the early 2010s. To be safe, the general idea that I was going for when making this event up was approximately 2-3 years post-war. Enough time for the Combine to become comfortable in occupation, yet not too far to see the majority of Earth's remaining population rounded up in Cities. This is subject to change if I'm incorrect on lore.
Who is Half-Life: Aftermath?
Other than perhaps two or three "event" characters, most if not all of the characters played will be regular folk; Nobody is necessarily important or influential in regards to the Half-Life lore. Perhaps your character will live - perhaps they'll be immediately killed in a Xenian stampede. Who knows.
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The Plot
Several years have passed since the Portal Storms and subsequent invasion of Earth by alien forces. Very little is known about the cause of the storms or invasion, with some attributing it to God's righteous fury against mankind - or perhaps a simple galactic inevitability for all sentient life-forms. As weeks of resistance to occupation turn into months, and then into years, the tenacity and resilience of humanity is pushed to its brink.
Humanities governments fell within hours, with the larger metropolitan areas of Earth becoming quarantine zones, as if for an infection or pandemic. New York and Washington D.C. are now monuments to humanity's failure to defend itself, as giant metallic obelisks begin to rise from the ground as if reaching to pierce the sky itself.
For you, the past few years have been difficult. You find yourself somewhere in Michigan, an arguably forgettable state within the Union. Perhaps you've traveled from another state or country, or perhaps you've been here your entire life. Whatever your story may be, it has led you to this town along the coast of Lake Michigan.
The population of this town is sparse. The occasional drifter will scamper through, grabbing a few food items only to be gunned down by roaming bandits or gorged upon by a strange alien beast.
There reportedly remains only a small group of unified survivors willing to struggle in this inhospitable location, led by an old farmer and the town's old mayor. Many of the group are from out of state, or even from out of the country, as an evacuation convoy was struck near Detriot weeks before, leaving many of its civilians scattered to the winds. At this point, the group has only the strongest remaining among them.
However, the group knows time is running out on their survival; More and more strange beasts and odd flying machines begin to encroach upon the city. Rumors abound within the camp. Some say a group of military remnants are to be arriving in this very town in order to secure any survivors along the coast. Others say that the research facility built in the town not too many years before should be the target of an investigation.
Perhaps only a few know that survival - let alone rescue - is but a pipe-dream.
What is Half-Life: Aftermath?
Half-Life: Aftermath is a short RR (2-3 days) set in the (you guessed it) Half-Life universe, specifically in the rather sparsely talked-about time between the 7-Hour War and the City 17 Timeline. It's generally well known(?) within the Half-Life lore that the major metropolitan areas under Combine control, such as the Cities, were (possibly) set up quickly, however as we see within Half-Life: Alyx, mega-structures and the broader Combine architecture (likely) weren't established for several years after their initial occupation.
So the question is: In the time between these pivotal slots in the timeline, what exactly was the world of Half-Life like?
With the Combine invasion force still in their early years of adapting humans - both in their transhuman-soldier role as well as the mindless worker drones in blue fatigues - how did the surviving cities and towns combat the growing Xenian/Combine forces? What was the end goal - if any - for these groups of survivors? And how did these groups fair as the Combine inevitably encroached on their land?
While the idea of Aftermath is to briefly touch on the "survival" aspect of Half-Life, with inspiration from settings like The Last of Us (or even Terminator), an overarching set of events will allow for characters to experience a lot of what I believe to be important to Half-Life, and hopefully, end with a bang. Aswell, yet not as important, goofy or otherwise futuristic tech akin to D0G or the like would hopefully make an appearance in some way, along with the growing repertoire of aliens and alien technology offered through Half-Life 1, 2, and Alyx.
Embracing the stupid or unrealistic that is Half-Life is, in my opinion, important.
In a similar vein, I'd like to embrace the confusion or unknowing that is Half-Life's lore. Just as the citizens in Half-Life 2's prologue are disoriented or confused on where they are, Aftermath would attempt to have a similar feel.
We know an invasion force has hit Earth, but what happened? Did we win? Lose? Your characters would likely know little to nothing, save a few passing rumours from refugees and perhaps a skeleton crew of military remnants not yet giving up the fight.
Where and when is Half-Life: Aftermath?
Half-Life: Aftermath takes place in a larger metropolitan area in the Americas, yet small enough to not warrant immediate attention. Locations such as New York, Washington D.C., Toronto, etc, are too large to have a dedicated invasion force not either wipe out completely or establish a firm occupational foothold. Therefore, smaller yet still significant locations such as Memphis, or Salt Lake City, for example, may be the prime location for an early militia or resistance movement to take hold - if only in order to survive the alien wasteland that is slowly taking over.
"Where" is still open to suggestions.
As for "when", that's a bit harder of a question to answer. If we decide that Half-Life's 7-Hour War took place sometime in the mid-to-late 2000s, we could assume that Aftermath would take place sometime in the early 2010s. To be safe, the general idea that I was going for when making this event up was approximately 2-3 years post-war. Enough time for the Combine to become comfortable in occupation, yet not too far to see the majority of Earth's remaining population rounded up in Cities. This is subject to change if I'm incorrect on lore.
Who is Half-Life: Aftermath?
Other than perhaps two or three "event" characters, most if not all of the characters played will be regular folk; Nobody is necessarily important or influential in regards to the Half-Life lore. Perhaps your character will live - perhaps they'll be immediately killed in a Xenian stampede. Who knows.
This is, for all intents and purposes, a gauge of interest - if something like this would even be wanted. I have no idea if something like this has been done here before, either. It is very much a work in progress, with map selection being an important aspect that I just haven't looked into at all. But I figured I'd get this out here as I've been curious about this timeline since I first played Half-Life 2 nearly a decade ago.
If you have ANY advice, suggestions, etc. - please, don't hesitate to speak it.
If you have ANY advice, suggestions, etc. - please, don't hesitate to speak it.
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