Borealis (cut location)
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| This article is about the location cut from Half-Life 2. For the Aperture Science ship, see Borealis. |
 | This article would greatly benefit from the addition of one or more new images.
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| Borealis / Hyperborea | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Destroyed |
partially destroyed by the Combine |
| Location |
Arctic location, North-West of City 17[1] |
| Builder |
N/A, refurbished by the Resistance |
| Usage | |
| Era(s) | |
| Affiliation | |
| Game information | |
| Map(s) |
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| Designer(s) |
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The Borealis,[1][2][3] originally known as the Hyperborea,[3] is a location and chapter cut from Half-Life 2. It was to be set between two other cut locations, the Air Exchange and Kraken Base,[1] and to be the last location of the third day, visited during the night.
Contents |
[edit] Overview
Gordon was probably to encounter Odell, the ship's engineer, on the Coast, and probably reach the drifting ship on a tugboat.[4] The ship, whose captain was named Johanssen, was an icebreaker supposed to bring supplies to the Kraken Base.[3] Half of the ship's crew consisted of scientists. At some point the Combine found the ship and threw Sacktick shells on the ship, and the creatures attacked the crew. Odell noticed the creatures didn't really like the cold so he shut off the generator to let the whole ship ice over, and it killed the creatures, but most of the crew was already slain. In search of survivors, Gordon and Odell visit the ship filled with the corpses of the original crew members of the ship, Stalkers, Zombies, four tanks containing frozen Combine Assassins and Overwatch Soldiers. Odell and Gordon leave the ship with a small submarine and proceed to the nearby Kraken Base.[3][2][1][5]
[edit] Versions
Several versions of the ship setting exist:
- One version shows the ship stranded in the ice with a base nearby. It can be seen in a very early demo map called "
demo_artic.vmf" last modified in September 2001.[2] It is unknown how Gordon was to reach the site at this point of the game's development; the question was probably not even answered yet.
- An early Half-Life 2 journey shows Gordon traveling across the sea on the ship, directly from the coast to Kraken Base.[6] It is unknown if at this point the ship's crew was already to be dead.
- The most recent[7] (and playable) version shows the ship drifting in the sea. This is this version Gordon reaches with Odell on a tugboat and leaves in a small submarine to Kraken Base.[2] Sacktick are not present since they were cut early in the development process and never scripted, the "shelling" being recycled for the Headcrab, present on the ship. This is the version included in the mod Missing Information (but the maps are not completely finished and the ship workers' corpses are missing) and the E3 version where one of the first Half-Life 2 official screenshots is from.
[edit] Fate
- The Borealis is part of the storyline set between Nova Prospekt and the City 17 street wars that was completely cut, the game timespan having been reduced to three days instead of the original four.
- This chapter was scrapped around August 2002, as the last Borealis maps to be edited, "
d3_borealis_01_017" and "d3_borealis_02_003.vmf" were edited on August 9th, 2002.[2] However, a few of its props, prominently the blue barrels and the Vortigaunt Camp door, are used in the final version of Half-Life 2 and can be found in the model folder "props_borealis". While the original folder contains 238 models, only 6 have been kept in the retail files. Its skybox texture files are also still present in the retail files, under the name "sky_borealis", although they are not used.
- The Borealis was brought back into the Half-Life canon in Episode Two and is likely to be seen or visited in Episode Three.
- Odell's face was recycled for Odessa Cubbage.
[edit] Behind the scenes
- The Borealis appears to be based on existing research icebreakers, the USCGC Polar Sea, the USCGC Polar Star (both sister ships) or the USCGC Healy (which is bigger and more recent than the former), all United States Coast Guard vessels, homeported in Seattle, Washington, USA.[8] However the size of the Borealis seen in Episode Two seems to be closer to these existing vessels.
- Inside the ship can be found signatures of the ship's aviation detachments (AvDet). The pictures seem to be from an actual ship, although it is unknown which one exactly. Most of the time those images consist in the names of the detachment personnel, detachment dates, flight hours, ports of call, and cruise comments, along with humorous images or squadron crests.[9] Such images could be found in the USCGC Northwind, an icebreaker similar to the Polar Star and the Healy, and also belonging to the United States Coast Guard.
- The name "Borealis" is likely associated with the term "aurora borealis", the northern polar lights only visible in the Northern Hemisphere. "Borealis" comes from "Boreas", a wind god in the Greek mythology. "Hyperborea", the early name for the ship, was the name of the land of the Hyperboreans, a mythical people who lived far to the north of Thrace. "Hyperborea" means "beyond the Boreas", thus beyond the land of the wind god Boreas.
[edit] Trivia
- "Johanssen", the name of the ship's captain in the original story, is quite similar to "Johnson", the name of Aperture Science founder and CEO, Cave Johnson. Also, "Arbeit Laboratories" ("Arbeit" = "work" in German) can be seen on some crates inside the ship. The retail Borealis belonging Aperture Science, it is possible those names were recycled.
[edit] Gallery
 The USCGC Polar Sea and her sister ship USCGC Polar Star near McMurdo Station, Antarctica. |
 Gordon Freeman hiding on the Borealis. |
 Concept art for the four tanks where Combine Assassins are "stored" frozen on the ship. |
Promotional screenshot of the Borealis seen at E3 2003, with the ship's full name not displaying properly. |
 The four tanks. |
 Ditto. |
 One of the four frozen Combine Assassins. |
 Ditto. |
 Overwatch Soldiers inside the Borealis. |
 Zombie inside the Borealis. |
 Borealis worker, mostly the "worker" model with another color, with what became the head for the male Citizen 07, here more faithful to the original model. |
 The back of the Borealis worker reveals the Combine logo. It is unknown why, since the ship's crew is supposed to belong to the Resistance. It is possible they were to reuse Combine worker clothes. |
 Dead Borealis worker. |
 AvDet pictures. |
 The Arbeit Laboratories logo on a cardboard crate texture. |
[edit] List of appearances
- Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar (First appearance) (Non-canonical appearance)
[edit] Notes and references
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 WC mappack
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Playable Half-Life 2 Beta files
- ↑ Note that it is unsure. Only the "tug" word in several Borealis map names suggests this.
- ↑ While no submarine is present in any of the Borealis maps, Raising the Bar indicates Kraken Base to be the next location, while the Kraken WC mappack maps feature a small submarine brush located in the only possible entrance (other than teleportation) to the base.
- ↑ File:HL2 original journey.jpg
- ↑ Since its maps bear the "
d3_" prefix (day 3), typical of the late Beta and retail maps. - ↑ The Valve Corporation headquarters are located in Bellevue, a Seattle suburb, and employees like Ted Backman or Viktor Antonov have been or are living in Seattle.
- ↑ http://semperparatus.com/avi_wagb282_avdet.htm
[edit] See also
| Preceded by Air Exchange | Half-Life 2 original storyline | Succeeded by Kraken Base |
| Vehicles, vessels and transportation | ||
|---|---|---|
| Black Mesa transportation | Black Mesa SUV · Black Mesa Transit System · Black Mesa Truck | |
| HECU vehicles | AH-64 Apache · F-16 Fighting Falcon · M1A1 Abrams · M2A3 Bradley · M35 Cargo Truck · V-22 Osprey | |
| Combine vehicles | Advisor Platform · Armored Personnel Carrier · Hunter-Chopper · Razor Train | |
| Resistance vehicles | Airboat · Mil Mi-8 · Muscle Car · Scout Car | |
| Trainstations | City 17 Trainstation · Depot · Technical Trainstation | |
| Other | Borealis · Rail-based transportation | |
| Combine (cut) | AirEx Truck · C-130 · Combine SWAT Truck · M2A3 Bradley · Merkava · School Bus · V-22 Osprey | |
| Resistance (cut) | Borealis · C-130 · Jalopy · Jet Ski · Submarine · V-22 Osprey | |
| Other (cut) | F-117 Nighthawk · Digger | |
