New Horizons Lunar Colony
Humanity's First Off-World Settlement
New Horizons was humanity''s first off-world colony, founded on Earth''s moon in 2045, fallen by the 26th century into a decaying EarthGov slum that hid a Red Marker test lab and was consumed by a Necromorph outbreak in 2514.
New Horizons was the first off-world settlement humanity ever built, founded on Earth's moon in 2045 and fallen by the 26th century into a decaying EarthGov metropolis. It was the refuge of Isaac Clarke and Ellie Langford after Titan Station, the site of a hidden Red Marker test lab, and in 2514 the scene of a Necromorph outbreak unleashed by the Circle.
Founding and growth#
New Horizons was established in 2045 by the United States and China as a joint strip mining operation, the first permanent off-world colony ever formed. Amid environmental and energy crises on Earth and conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union, the colony became a crucial installation for its rich natural resources, above all the extraction of Helium-3. In time it also became a staging area for missions to neighboring planets, and as the era of space exploration gathered pace the colony swelled in size, drawing anyone with prospects in space. Before the formation of the Sovereign Colonies government in the 23rd century, many of Earth's national governments competed for control of the Moon, and little was properly regulated. Communities sprang up without plan around the strip mining sites and shipyards, spreading up and down the craters and eventually stacking top to bottom as it grew easier to build up than out.
Decline#
For centuries people migrated to the Moon in great numbers, but when distant travel became cheaper and the local resources were exhausted, the colony's industries began to fail. Once the place to be, New Horizons declined into a slum of struggling businesses and a growing destitute population. Major corporations kept offices and work sites there, but the colony came to be seen only as a layover, the dreary place to wait for a flight out to a proper world such as Mars or Venus. By the 26th century it was largely policed by the New Horizons Security Force, an EarthGov gendarmerie known to use conscription. For all its decay, the colony remained significant enough that EarthGov established a Red Marker test site within it at some point after 2508.
The 2514 outbreak#
Sometime after their escape from Titan Station in 2511, Isaac Clarke and Ellie Langford came to live in the colony's apartments. In 2514 New Horizons was besieged by the Circle, a militarized faction of the Church of Unitology. The Circle massacred most of the New Horizons Security Force and destroyed the Marker Shroud housing the Red Marker at the heart of the city. The Marker's activation triggered a Necromorph outbreak that spread quickly across the colony, and Isaac fought his way through the transformed inhabitants and the Circle's forces to escape. New Horizons was presumably overrun or destroyed in the aftermath.
Frequently asked questions
- What was New Horizons?
- New Horizons was a colony on Earth's moon, founded in 2045 by the United States and China as the first ever off-world settlement. Established as a joint strip mining operation, it grew into a vast metropolis and by the 26th century had declined into a dirty, poorly run EarthGov slum.
- Why was New Horizons important to Isaac Clarke?
- After their escape from Titan Station in 2511, Isaac Clarke and Ellie Langford came to live in the colony. New Horizons was also the site of a secret EarthGov Red Marker test laboratory, established in the city at some point after 2508.
- What happened to New Horizons in 2514?
- In 2514 the colony was attacked by the Circle, a militarized faction of the Church of Unitology, which massacred most of the New Horizons Security Force and destroyed the Marker Shroud housing the city's Red Marker. The Marker's activation triggered a Necromorph outbreak that spread across the colony, which was presumably overrun afterward.
Sources
- WikiNew Horizons Lunar Colony — Dead Space Wiki entry
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Related entries
EarthGov
EarthGov was the centralized regime that replaced the Sovereign Colonies after the Secession War, ruling humanity from an Earth-centric core. Its decision to revive the Marker program and harvest the artifacts' energy spread the Necromorph threat across the colonies.
Ellie Langford
Ellie Langford was a CEC heavy equipment pilot who survived the Necromorph outbreak on Titan Station, fought her way to Tau Volantis to find the source of the Marker signal, and became one of Isaac Clarke's closest companions.
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.
Marker
Markers were enigmatic double-helix obelisks that broadcast a signal capable of reanimating the dead, driving the living to madness, and seeding their own replication. Their purpose was to spread the Necromorph infection across intelligent civilizations until a Convergence Event could form a Brethren Moon.
Necromorph
Necromorphs were aggressive creatures formed when the Markers' electromagnetic signal reshaped dead tissue into monstrous new forms. Driven to kill the living and gather corpses for Convergence, they were the recurring plague that destroyed the Aegis VII colony, the USG Ishimura, and Titan Station.
Red Marker
Red Markers were the man-made copies of the Black Marker, reverse-engineered by the Sovereign Colonies in the hope of harnessing limitless energy. Identical in function to the original, they seeded Necromorph outbreaks across every world where they were built.
Mentioned in12 entries
Ellie Langford
Ellie Langford was a CEC heavy equipment pilot who survived the Necromorph outbreak on Titan Station, fought her way to Tau Volantis to find the source of the Marker signal, and became one of Isaac Clarke's closest companions.
Fodder
The Fodder, also called the Waster, was a Necromorph form that kept the full appearance of its human host to pass as a living person before it struck. It appeared during the outbreaks on the New Horizons Lunar Colony and on Tau Volantis.
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.
Jacob Danik
Jacob Arthur Danik was a high ranking Unitologist and leader of the militant sect known as the Circle, who waged war on EarthGov to free the Markers and pursued Isaac Clarke to Tau Volantis, where his actions awakened the Brethren Moons.
John Carver
John Carver was an Earth Defense Force sergeant who lost his wife and son to a Necromorph outbreak on Uxor and joined Isaac Clarke on the expedition to Tau Volantis to destroy the apparent source of the Marker signal.
Locke
Locke was an Earth Defense Force pilot aboard the USM Eudora who helped recover Isaac Clarke from the New Horizons Lunar Colony. She died during the ship's violent descent to Tau Volantis when her console ruptured the hull and pulled her into the planet's atmosphere.
Mark Rosen: Pilot of the USM Eudora
Mark Rosen was an Earth Defense Force pilot assigned to the USM Eudora. He flew the ship that carried Isaac Clarke toward Tau Volantis, was injured when the Eudora was destroyed, and died during the final descent to the planet.
Plasma Cutter
The Plasma Cutter was a family of handheld mining tools built to cut through ore and rock with a focused bolt of ionized plasma. Compact and precise, it became the most common improvised weapon of survivors during the Necromorph outbreaks.
Red Moon Apartments
Red Moon Apartments was a decaying apartment complex on Luna''s New Horizons Lunar Colony and the home of Isaac Clarke in 2514. It was outside its gates that the Circle ambushed Isaac, John Carver, and Robert Norton during the siege of the colony.
Robert Norton
Robert Norton was the captain of the USM Eudora and an Earth Defense Force Special Ops officer who fought the Circle alongside Ellie Langford and Isaac Clarke, until jealousy and a secret bargain with Jacob Danik turned him against them on Tau Volantis.
Unitologist Dropship
The Unitologist Dropship was an armed troop transport used by the Unitologist extremists of the Circle. Marked with Marker symbols and fitted with a ShockPoint drive, it carried squads of fanatics into the field and deployed them from doors on both flanks.
USM Eudora
The USM Eudora was an Earth Defense Force Special Ops vessel captained by Robert Norton. It pulled Isaac Clarke off the New Horizons Lunar Colony during the Unitologist uprising and carried him to Tau Volantis, where it was torn apart by automated mines in the planet's debris field.
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