Hollow
From Gears of War
- For other uses, see Gears of War:Hollow.
The Hollow is an underground tunnel network that is home to the Locust Horde. In the past, it served as the dumping ground of the Seran people. The Hollow is spit between the Inner Hollows and Outer Hollows. The Outer Hollows was explored by humans after the invention of the Lightmass Process to mine for Imulsion. The Inner Hollows hosted Locust cities like Nexus, and was the location of a large part of Operation Hollow Storm. After the Lightmass Offensive, much of the Outer Hollow was destroyed while the Inner Hollow was flooded when the COG sank Jacinto City. Both areas of the Hollows contained subterranean creatures ranging from the Kryll to the Rift Worm.
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[edit] Overview
The Hollow is the name for the underground network of tunnels that lay beneath the surface of Sera. It has been the Serans dumping grounds for hundreds of years[1]. The Hollow is the original home of the Locust and was their home until they breached the surface of Sera on Emergence Day. Massive and complex, the Hollow and its tunnel network have yet to be completely mapped.
[edit] History
[edit] Gold Rush
The History of the Hollow is long and complex. After the creation of the Lightmass Process, Humans began mining the Outer Hollows. Humanity let the spoils of Imulison nearly destroyed themselves in a decades long war. After the end of the Pendulum Wars, the Locust Horde attacked the human race and placed them on the brink of extinction.
[edit] The Locust-Human war
During the Lightmass Offensive Delta Squad infiltrated part of the Hollow and successfully deployed the Sonic Resonator. However, the Resonator was not powerful enough to map the entire system, as the humans had simply underestimated the size of the tunnel network.
After the failure of the Resonator, the COG were not about to give up. Private Damon Baird had discovered a Geobot which contained more information about the Hollow than the resonator had revealed. The origin of the data was then discovered to be inside Adam Fenix's Estate. This information was gathered by Adam Fenix when he mapped the Hollow years before and stored inside his laboratory. Delta Squad was then deployed to the Fenix Estate to collect the rest of the information stored there. This information was needed to navigate the Lightmass Bomb in the Hollow. Located on the mag-lev train, the Tyro Pillar, this bomb would be used to destroy as much of the Hollow as possible and eliminate a substantial percentage of the Locust forces. However, the train was taken over by the Locust which made arming and deploying the bomb no easy task. After a ferocious battle, the Locust General RAAM was slain, and the navigation data was downloaded, priming the bomb for detonation.
As the train descended off a damaged bridge into a lake of Imulsion, the Lightmass Bomb was deployed and detonated, and a large part of the Hollow was successfully flushed of Locust.
Over the course of six months after the detonation of the Lightmass Bomb, it was revealed that the Locust Horde survived and returned stronger than ever. With them, they brought a force that could sink entire cities which would later be revealed to be the Riftworm. Realizing they will soon have nothing left to defend, Humanity launched an all-out attack on the Locust Horde.
Using Derricks to reach Landown and digging underground through grindlifts, the COG army fought the Locust in the Inner Hollows. During the assault on the Hollow, the Riftworm struck again, this time completely sinking the city of Ilima. It was also discovered during this assault that the Locust had begun taking prisoners and torturing them or "processing" them according to Damon Baird.
Shortly after the assault on the Hollows, Marcus Fenix and the rest of Delta Squad return underground after learning the location of the Locust Queen at the New Hope Research Facility. Once back in the Hollow, Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago set off a beacon using JACK. Once the beacon was activated, COG forces used grindlifts once more to swarm Nexus, the main home of the Locust Horde and the location of the Locust Queen. Delta Squad infiltrate the palace in Nexus and learn of the Locust's plan; to flood the Hollow to eradicate the Lambent that are now attempting to kill the Locust Queen. Also in the palace, Delta Squad finally confronts the Locust Queen who has a brief conversation with them and then sends Skorge to kill them. Marcus and Dom fight Skorge while Baird and Cole go after the Queen. Both Skorge and the Queen, however, escape. Delta then escapes the Hollow on Reavers to warn command of the Locust's plan.
After being pursued by Locust-driven Reavers and defeating Skorge and Hydra, Delta returns to Jacinto which is under attack by Locust forces. As the defense for Jacinto takes place, Marcus and Dom are tasked with returning to the Hollow and clearing out a small area where the COG forces can move in and deploy a Lightmass Bomb that will sink Jacinto and flood the Hollow, killing the Lambent and the Locust Horde before either can escape the Hollow.
Marcus and Dom managed to hijack a Brumak and clear an area underground of Reavers, Seeders, and Nemacysts, allowing several King Ravens to move in to deploy the Lightmass Bomb. The Brumak hijacked by Marcus and Dom, however, becomes infected from exposure to too much Imulsion and becomes lambent. The King Raven carrying the Lightmass Bomb was smashed into the pool of imulsion by the Brumak, temporarily ruining the COG's plan. Marcus, however, used the Hammer of Dawn to trigger the lambent Brumak to explode, creating an explosion large enough to sink Jacinto, therefore flooding the Hollow and killing hundreds of thousands of locust.
[edit] Description
[edit] Outer Hollows
This part of the Hollow has been largely explored by human miners and had miles of pipping built across the subterranean landscape. It is a known fact that miners had a shorter life spans then the average human[2], maybe from the hazards of Imulsion mining or Hollow creatures. This part of the Hollow was also the dumping ground of the Human race. Ironically, because of this the Locust Horde discovered and developed many of their weapons which allowed them to attack the humans years later. The appearance of The Hollow seems to be almost uninhabitable by human standards. Kryll excrement litters the ground, meaning that the area has a foul stench. It can also be surmised that, as Imulsion is very hot, the heat must only amplify the smell. Water flows in rivers throughout The Hollow, and every surface is constructed of rocky terrain, which has almost a viscous texture to it. Stalactites and stalagmites are common, sometimes growing in such size to create full columns between the floor and the ceiling. There is a red, fluorescent fruit that grows on the walls and ceilings of The Hollow, which the indigenous creature known as the Rock worm feasts on. Much seismic activity, often caused by the Riftworm, has devastated the landscape of The Hollow, causing major rifts in the ground, and constant collapse of the environment. It is later revealed that The Hollow is so massive that the COG resonator is only able to map a fraction of the Locust tunnels. Steam pours from numerous rifts in the tunnels, illustrating either that the entire environment is extremely hot, or that that the ground beneath the The Hollow has a naturally high temperature. The Locust Horde transport to the surface of Sera through the use of emergence holes, which are spread throughout the surface of the planet, ranging in size anywhere from 8-13 ft and a depth of 6-20 ft.
[edit] Inner Hollows
The Inner Hollows[3] are the deepest parts of the Hollows. Unlike the Outer Hollows, the Inner Hollows have natural fauna and flora with indigenous creatures from Rockworms to small beetles, and the Locust Horde. The capital of the Locust, Nexus, is located in the Inner Hollows. The Locust deity the Riftworm was in hibernation in the Inner Hollows until the Lightmass Offensive. The Inner Hollows contains natural lakes with various fish including the Leviathan, and Imulsion lakes. It seems human exploration never reached this far into the Sera's crust except for a few Stranded groups who migrated down there to escape the war between the two factions. Unknown to the COG, another Locust faction, the Lambent, shared the Inner Hollow with the Locust Horde and where in a mist of a brutal civil war. During Operation: Hollow Storm, thousands of Coalition troops were dropped into the Hollow and where cut off from the surface[4][5], leaving hundreds dead or captured, which lead to the Locust counterattack at Jacinto and its sinking and flooding of the Inner Hollows.
[edit] Indigenous Creatures
In the aftermath of the destruction of the Outer Hollows and the flooding of the Inner Hollows many of the indigenous creatures were presumably wiped out. The Kryll became extinct in the wake of the Lightmass Bombing and it is likely many other creatures suffered the same fate.
[edit] Hollows-Beetle
These tiny purple beetles crawl across the floor of the Inner Hollow in little groups. They are harmless and usually run away when anything comes too close. They can be killed by stepping on them or shooting them.
[edit] Hollows-Bat
These strange crane-like bats can be seen flying around the Inner Hollows. They can easily be confused with the Kryll, but they differ as they inhabit the brightly lit areas of the Inner Hollows and do not attack Locust of Gears that they encounter.
[edit] Gunboat Fish
These gigantic fish are described as having a similar appearance to Killer Whales. The Locust use these beasts to steer the Locust Gunboat, but it is unlikely that they are true. They appear to be native to the Inner Hollow.
[edit] Rock Worms
These semi-giant worms inhabit small caves within the Inner Hollows. They are protected from most hazards by their extremely resilient rock-like shell, which makes them impervious to all types of gunfire. The Locust appear to use them as a food source, as several butchered corpses are found in the Locust Capital of Nexus.
[edit] Heart Leeches
Unlike other indigenous creatures, Humans were aware of these creatures existence during the Pendulum Wars. This suggests they are native to the Outer Hollows, but they are known to have survived the Lightmass Bombing so its possible they also live in the Inner Hollows. They are not part of the Locust Horde but they are known to attack humans due to their predatory nature.
[edit] Kryll
Kryll are highly aggressive flying pack creatures native to the Outer Hollow of Sera. Now extinct[6].
[edit] Tunnels
The tunnels that the Locust Horde use to gain access to the surface are scattered and overlapped everywhere underneath the surface, as seen from the Geobot data. The amount of tunnels seems to be very massive, numbering of about 40 and more, each tunnel being about 100 feet or more/less in length. Some Tunnels are wide enough to have over six Corpsers crawling in them at the same time. In Gears of War 2 it becomes clear that the giant Rift Worm makes the big tunnels and the smaller tunnels are made by the Corpsers.
[edit] References
- ↑ http://gearsforums.epicgames.com/showpost.php?p=7826629&postcount=83--
- ↑ Beneath the Surface
- ↑ Gears of War 2; in game dialogue with Dom and Marcus after dropping into the Hollows when Dom said "So this is what the Inner Hollows look like
- ↑ Gears of War 2
- ↑ Gears of War:Harper's Story
- ↑ The Lightmass Bombing destroyed the breeding grounds and left 99.9 of the population dead
