Concordance Extraction Corporation: The Planet-Crackers
The Concordance Extraction Corporation was the mining concern that pioneered Planet Cracking and ended the Resource Wars, operating the deep-space fleet led by the USG Ishimura. Its reach made it a vehicle for the Church of Unitology and the retrieval of Marker 3A.
The Concordance Extraction Corporation, known as the CEC, was the mining concern that pioneered the Planet Cracking process and operated the deep-space resource fleet led by its flagship, the USG Ishimura. In a galaxy starved of resources, the CEC engineered the ships that promised to save humanity, and the engineer Isaac Clarke spent his career in its service. The company also issued the engineering RIGs that make up Isaac Clarke's early suits. The corporation's vast reach also made it a vehicle for the Church of Unitology, which used its influence within the CEC to retrieve a Red Marker from Aegis VII. (Dead Space; Dead Space: Downfall)
Origin and Planet Cracking#
The Concordance Extraction Corporation rose at a moment of crisis, when humanity's rapacious and unsustainable use of resources had brought the species to near-desperation and the only path to survival was to search new planets for what remained. The CEC engineered the ships that would carry that search outward, and in the mid-25th century it developed the revolutionary mining process known as Planet Cracking. This breakthrough brought the bloody Resource Wars to an end and made the company a giant of the mining industry. (Dead Space; Dead Space (2023))
The corporation's flagship and the first of its Planet Cracker fleet was the USG Ishimura, a vessel designed for the new resource-gathering era and regarded as humanity's salvation in a time of scarcity. The Ishimura and its sister ships ranged across colonized space, conducting operations across many systems. In the 2023 remake, a service plaque aboard the Ishimura lists work in the HAT-P1b System from 2506 and in the Cygnus System, home of Aegis VII, from 2507. (Dead Space; Dead Space (2023))
Influence of the Church#
The CEC's prominence made it a target of the Church of Unitology, which had grown to be the most influential religion in human space and held sway in the corporation's higher echelons. Devout Unitologists held senior posts in the company, among them Hanford Carthusia, who managed the illegal Aegis VII mining colony. The CEC had set up the colony in defiance of the government's ban on the system, drawn there by the rich deposits beneath the planet's crust. (Dead Space (comic); Dead Space: Downfall; Dead Space)
The Aegis VII operation#
When the Aegis VII colony uncovered Marker 3A in 2508, the Church used its influence within the CEC to take control of the situation. Captain Benjamin Mathius, a high-ranking Unitologist and ship captain employed by the corporation, was entrusted with retrieving the Red Marker. In the 2023 remake, logs reveal that CEC executive Warren Eckhardt had much of the Ishimura's crew swapped for Unitologists before the ship set out. Acting on the Church's orders, Mathius had the artifact taken aboard the ship over the objections of its security chief. The retrieval triggered a Necromorph outbreak that spread from the colony to the Ishimura, and when the ship fell silent, the CEC dispatched the USG Kellion, carrying Isaac Clarke, to investigate. What the Kellion's crew found was the wreck of the corporation's proudest vessel, overrun by the very creatures the Marker had created. (Dead Space: Downfall; Dead Space; Dead Space (2023))
Frequently asked questions
- What is the Concordance Extraction Corporation?
- The Concordance Extraction Corporation, known as the CEC, was the mining concern that pioneered the Planet Cracking process and operated the deep-space resource fleet led by its flagship, the USG Ishimura. In a galaxy starved of resources, it engineered the ships that promised to save humanity, and the engineer Isaac Clarke spent his career in its service.
- How did the CEC end the Resource Wars?
- The CEC rose during a crisis when humanity's unsustainable use of resources had brought the species to near-desperation. In the mid-25th century it developed the revolutionary mining process known as Planet Cracking, which brought the bloody Resource Wars to an end.
- What was the USG Ishimura's role in the CEC?
- The USG Ishimura was the CEC's flagship and the first of its Planet Cracker fleet, a vessel designed for the new resource-gathering era and regarded as humanity's salvation in a time of scarcity. The Ishimura and its sister ships ranged across colonized space; in the 2023 remake, the ship's service record lists work in the HAT-P1b System from 2506 and in the Cygnus System, home of Aegis VII, from 2507.
- How did the Church of Unitology influence the CEC?
- The Church of Unitology had grown to be the most influential religion in human space and held sway in the CEC's higher echelons. Devout Unitologists held senior posts in the company, among them Hanford Carthusia, who managed the illegal Aegis VII mining colony.
- What happened during the CEC's Aegis VII operation?
- When the Aegis VII colony uncovered Marker 3A in 2508, the Church used its influence to take control, entrusting the Unitologist captain Benjamin Mathius with retrieving the Red Marker aboard an Ishimura crewed largely by believers. The retrieval triggered a Necromorph outbreak that spread to the Ishimura, and when the ship fell silent the CEC dispatched the USG Kellion, carrying Isaac Clarke, to investigate.
Sources
- GameDead Space, EA Redwood Shores, 2008
- GameDead Space (2023), Motive Studio, 2023 (remake)
- VideoDead Space: Downfall, Animated film, Film Roman, 2008
- ComicDead Space (comic), Antony Johnston and Ben Templesmith, Image Comics, 2008
Spotted a factual error or a primary source we missed? Email a correction. Every flagged claim gets reviewed.
Followed from this entry
Church of Unitology
The Church of Unitology was the most influential religion in human space, born from the death of Michael Altman and built on the belief that the Markers promised rebirth and unity in death. Its faith in Convergence ultimately served the very forces that meant to consume humanity.
Every Isaac Clarke Suit: the RIG and Engineering Suits Explained
Isaac Clarke's suit is a CEC engineering suit built around a RIG, the gear that shows his health as a glowing bar down his spine. This guide explains what a RIG is and goes through every suit Isaac wears, from the Level 3 suit of the first game to the Advanced Suit, the Arctic Survival Suit and the remake.
Aegis VII
Aegis VII was a remote, metal-rich planet in the Cygnus system used by the Sovereign Colonies as a secret test site for Marker 3A. Two Necromorph outbreaks scarred the world, and after Isaac Clarke returned the Marker to its pedestal in 2508 the planet broke apart entirely.
Benjamin Mathius
Benjamin Mathius was the captain of the USG Ishimura and a high ranking Unitologist, placed in command to retrieve Marker 3A from Aegis VII for the Church. His devotion and the Marker's influence drove him to madness, and he died restrained on his own ship as the outbreak began.
Hanford Carthusia
Hanford Carthusia was the Unitologist project manager of the Aegis VII mining colony at the time of the Second Aegis VII Incident. His devotion to the Red Marker and his refusal to heed warnings about the spreading violence helped doom the colony, and he offered himself to a freshly reanimated Necromorph in the morgue.
Isaac Clarke
Isaac Clarke was a ship systems engineer for the Concordance Extraction Corporation who survived the Necromorph outbreak aboard the USG Ishimura, became a host for the Markers' replication blueprints, and spent years hunted by EarthGov and the Church of Unitology as he fought to destroy the Markers.
Mentioned in59 entries
935 Bonder Rivet Gun
The 935 Bonder Rivet Gun was a construction tool built by Schofield Tools for CEC crews on deep space mining operations, driving high velocity rivets into paneling and bulkhead supports. During the fall of the Aegis VII colony it served survivors as both a barricade builder and a weapon against the Necromorphs.
Abraham Neumann
Abraham Howard Neumann was a security operative in the Aegis VII colony who suspected the Red Marker was behind the madness spreading among the colonists. He survived the early outbreak but vanished after fleeing the infested communications needle.
Aegis VII
Aegis VII was a remote, metal-rich planet in the Cygnus system used by the Sovereign Colonies as a secret test site for Marker 3A. Two Necromorph outbreaks scarred the world, and after Isaac Clarke returned the Marker to its pedestal in 2508 the planet broke apart entirely.
Aegis VII Colony
The Aegis VII Colony was an illegal mining settlement built on Aegis VII by the Concordance Extraction Corporation. After the discovery of Marker 3A in 2508, the colony fell into madness and was overrun by Necromorphs before being destroyed in the planet crack.
Alissa Vincent
Alissa Vincent was the Chief Security Officer of the USG Ishimura who fought through the outbreak after Marker 3A was brought aboard. She died launching a warning beacon, unaware the Marker had manipulated her into luring more victims to Aegis VII.
Arc Welder: The Schofield Tools Welding Gun
The Arc Welding Gun was an engineering tool designed by Schofield Tools to repair structural damage by welding metal with a concentrated electrical arc. During the Second Aegis VII Incident, survivors of the Necromorph outbreak turned its arcing discharge on the dead and found it strong enough to dismember them.
Benedykt Malyech
Benedykt Malyech was a disgraced CEC supervisor turned Magpie captain whose zeal for the Church of Unitology turned deadly when his salvage crew stumbled onto Marker fragments aboard the derelict USG Ishimura. He died there and rose again as a Necromorph.
Benjamin Mathius
Benjamin Mathius was the captain of the USG Ishimura and a high ranking Unitologist, placed in command to retrieve Marker 3A from Aegis VII for the Church. His devotion and the Marker's influence drove him to madness, and he died restrained on his own ship as the outbreak began.
Brant Harris
Brant Harris was an Aegis VII miner driven to violence by exposure to Marker 3A, transferred to the USG Ishimura for treatment, and, in the 2023 remake, turned into the Hunter by Dr. Challus Mercer's experiments.
Cameron: Aegis VII Megavent Supervisor
Cameron was the supervisor of the Megavents at the Aegis VII colony and the first person to discover the Corruption, the necrotic growth that preceded the Necromorph outbreak. He fought the spreading organism with a blow-torch until it killed him in the blackout that followed the planet crack.
Cassini Towers: Unitologist enclave of Titan Station
Cassini Towers was an apartment complex on Titan Station that housed the Church of Unitology and the faith's most devoted followers. When the Necromorph outbreak began, untold numbers of its residents took their own lives in ritual suicide, and Isaac Clarke passed through its halls into a trap laid by Daina Le Guin.
CEC Facility: Titan Station's Shipyard and Industrial Complex
The CEC Facility was the Concordance Extraction Corporation's base of operations on Titan Station, a sweltering complex of heavy machinery, fuel storage, and the shipyard where the USG Ishimura lay docked. During the Sprawl outbreak it became a Necromorph killing ground and was finally consumed with the rest of the station.
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