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. (Dead Space: No Known Survivors; Dead Space 3)
Founding and growth#
New Horizons was established in 2045 by the United States and China as a joint mining base, the first permanent off-world colony ever formed. It was founded in the same troubled years that saw the United States and the Soviet Union clash in the Bering Sea conflict, long before the Sovereign Colonies united Earth and carried humanity out to the stars. (Dead Space: No Known Survivors; Dead Space 3)
Decline#
By the 26th century New Horizons had become a crowded, run-down sprawl of stacked housing and ageing industry, a long way from the frontier outpost it had once been. It was largely policed by the New Horizons Security Force, an EarthGov force with a reputation for drafting anyone it could get. For all its decay, the colony remained significant enough that EarthGov established a Red Marker test site within it at some point after 2508. (Dead Space 3; Dead Space (2023))
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. (Dead Space 3)
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 mining base, it grew into a vast metropolis and by the 26th century had declined into a run-down EarthGov sprawl.
- 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
- WebDead Space: No Known Survivors, Official interactive web series, Electronic Arts, 2008
- GameDead Space 3, Visceral Games, 2013
- GameDead Space (2023), Motive Studio, 2023 (remake)
Spotted a factual error or a primary source we missed? Email a correction. Every flagged claim gets reviewed.
Followed from this entry
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 in19 entries
Artifacts: the forty text logs that carry Dead Space 3's backstory
Artifacts are the forty collectible text logs of Dead Space 3, split across four factions and scattered from the New Horizons Lunar Colony to Tau Volantis. Collecting all of them awards the Flight Suit.
Dead Space 3 Ending Explained, Including Awakened
What happens at the end of Dead Space 3, what the Brethren Moons are, and how the Awakened DLC ends the series with the Moons over Earth. The full plot is here too, in order.
Dead Space Timeline: every major event from the Black Marker to the Brethren Moons
The full Dead Space chronology, from a Convergence frozen on Tau Volantis two million years ago to the Brethren Moons arriving over Earth in 2514. Events are grouped into eras, oldest first, and every entry names the game, film, novel or comic it comes from.
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.
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.
Every Necromorph Type in Dead Space: all forms from Slashers to the Brethren Moons
A full list of Necromorph types across the Dead Space games, films and novels. Each entry says what the creature is, what it was made from where the series tells us, and which games it shows up in.
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.
Luna
Luna, commonly known as the Moon, was the only natural satellite of Earth and the site of the New Horizons Lunar Colony. Long settled and long past its best, the colony had become a run-down city of the poor; it slum, sheltered Isaac Clarke in hiding, and fell to a Necromorph outbreak after the Circle exposed its secret Red Marker.
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