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- "You dicked around and cost men's lives, Sergeant. Like I never did? You cost us Jacinto. Your father just snapped his fingers, and bang, you leave your men and stroll off with the targeting laser. You think that doesn't make you an asshole, at the very least? You got a buddy like Dom, who'd shit his last drop of blood for you, who put you first even when his wife went missing, and you do that to men depending on you? "
- —Hoffman to Sgt. Fenix, after the Evacuation of North Gate at Wrightman Base, on what happened at Ephyra
The Fall of Ephyra was a major battle that took place Frost of 10 A.E.[7] It was a massive battle with the COG armed forces making a desperate stand to hold the city against tens of thousands of "Grubs" and Boomers, at least a thousand Reavers and numerous amounts of Brumaks, Seeders and Corpsers. COG High Command and COG Intel originally thought that the Locust would have to travel across the surface from an area outside the Jacinto Plateau in order to invade Ephyra. However, there was an unidentified fissure under the Jacinto Plateau that was only discovered just before the Locust began their assault.[citation needed] The Locust are able to penetrate through the surface and move through the metro stations and enter the city.[6] The battle ended with the southern part of Ephyra under Locust control, the northern part under COG control (Until 14 A.E.), many Gears and civilians were killed during the battle and a large amount of COG military hardware including weapons, vehicles, equipment and supplies are either destroyed or in Locust hands.[2]
Prelude[]
- "And we know it’s comin,’ baby. Sooner or later. The big one."
- —Augustus Cole on the impending assault on Ephyra
Nine years after Emergence Day, the Locust launched an assault upon Ilima, personally led by General RAAM. The Locust hoped to invade and capture Ilima to use as a stepping stone for a massive invasion of Ephyra City. The Locust are able to capture and occupy the city which led to the inevitable invasion of Ephyra.[8] In 9 A.E., the COG was bracing for the impending attack on Ephyra and the military had already set the logistics up for relocating to Jacinto City in the event that they might lose Ephyra. Some such as Augustus Cole referred to the possible Locust assault on Ephyra as "the big one" and the battle would be massive in scale. The Locust Horde was gearing up for the attack on the COG capital and began building railways and bridges to move troops near the city.[9]
Order of Battle[]
Emergence in Ephyra[]
- "...KR-Four, Reavers, inbound at...Exchequer...Prince's...at least a thousand."
- —KR Four-Nine reporting in the second visual of Locust forces moving into Ephyra[10]
The Locust Horde reached Ephyra in the Locust War's tenth year. They were able to dig their way past the rocks of the Plateau and are able to overrun the city. Before the battle began, the COG forces assumed that the Locust would have to move across the land in order to assault Ephyra. However, since the metro stations running through Ephyra are shut down, the stations were not under surveillance by the COG forces. The Locust forces are able to find a fissure to breach through without being detected. The Locust forces rapidly moved through the metro stations and began assaulting the city. At the beginning of the battle, it was estimated that nearly ten thousand Grubs were in the city along with numerous numbers of Reavers, Corpsers and Brumaks.[10][6] The battle was particularly bloody as the city was both the capital of Tyrus and the Coalition of Ordered Governments.
Battle at the Chancery Bridge[]
Eventually, the groups of COG forces fell back toward the Chancery Bridge as the Locust forces were making a massive push in order to take the city. Marcus Fenix received a distress call from his father and boarded a King Raven with Dominic Santiago to Haldane Hall. However, Marcus Fenix took the targeting optic with him and left the rest of the targeting device at the Chancery Bridge. The Hammer of Dawn targeting device was left inoperable. The fighting there would nearly destroy any chances that the COG had of winning the war until four years later when the Lightmass Bomb was used. Colonel Hoffman personally went to the bridge to destroy it with the laser which was difficult, but not impossible without the optic. However, it was too late to stop the Locust force and destroying the bridge just prevented more reinforcements from coming. With the help of Anya Stroud who provided covering fire despite her lack of training, Hoffman managed to rescue the two Gears from the bridge by doing it all with a head injury.
Invasion at East Barricade Academy[]
The Gears stationed at East Barricade Academy led a last stand effort that was nearly successful. However, Marcus Fenix received a distress call from his father, leading him to abandon his post, taking the targeting laser with him in an attempt to save his father.[11] This action was carried out at the cost of his fellow Gears and left Jacinto open for attack.[12] Marcus and Dominic Santiago battled the Locust at the Fenix Estate, but Adam was apparently crushed to death by the falling debris when the King Raven coming to pick them up was shot down.[13]
Aftermath[]
- "Santiago is an exemplary soldier and one of the most courageous men I've ever met. But even with his outstanding record, I can't recommend his promotion to corporal. His loyalty to Fenix may well exceed his loyalty to the COG. Even if it doesn't, then his decision to testify for Fenix must call his judgment into question, However... even if I have refuse his promotion, I'll state privately that this is a man I can only admire for his refusal to abandon a friend, knowing what it would cost him."
- —Lieutenant Colonel James Amstin, assessing Private Dominic Santiago shortly after Marcus Fenix's court-martial
With the fall of the Southern half of Ephyra, the Northern part was still under Coalition control so all of the government buildings including the House of Sovereigns were still running and the government was still effective. The evacuation of the city population was successful.[1][2] It would be another four years until the COG could mount an effective offensive up in the form of the Lightmass Offensive.
Marcus Fenix was put on trial for cowardice and would have been executed if not for his exemplary two tours of duty in the Pendulum Wars and Dominic Santiago testifying in his favor. In secret, Chairman Richard Prescott also intervened as Adam Fenix was in fact still alive and Prescott was working to keep him happy as Adam attempted to find a solution for the Lambent Pandemic. Fenix was sentenced to 40 years of imprisonment in the Slab, the COG's most infamous prison while Santiago's loyalty to the COG was questioned by his superiors for his decision to defend Fenix. Dominic Santiago, Anya Stroud, Jace Stratton and Tai Kaliso would work during their off-duty hours to help get Marcus out of prison over the next four years,[14] which would eventually succeed during the fourth year when Dominic Santiago rescued Marcus during the Battle of the Slab.[14][15]
Four years after the fall of Ephyra, the ruined city was partially retaken following the Lightmass Offensive which resulted in the death of Uzil RAAM, the near-extinction of the Kryll and the deaths of millions of Locust. While the COG never reoccupied Ephyra in any meaningful way, the Locust numbers that were present were low enough for the Stranded to go about their daily lives without much trouble and for the COG to fight off Locust ambushes while crossing through Ephyra during the Evacuation of North Gate.[16]
It was later revealed that Adam Fenix survived and was abducted by Prescott and taken to the island of Azura where he eventually developed a weapon, the Imulsion Countermeasure Weapon to destroy the Locust Horde and the Lambent.
Behind the Scenes[]
- The original plot to RAAM's Shadow was the fall of Ephyra. It would have shown Marcus Fenix, Dominic Santiago, Jace Stratton, Tai Kaliso, Anya Stroud, Adam Fenix, and Victor Hoffman during the fall, also including Minh Young Kim and Jonathan Harper. The story involved fighting the Locust in the streets of Ephyra, rescuing Anya from the Bank of Tyrus, defending Chancery Bridge, and ending with Marcus attempting to rescue his father at Haldane Hall. Elements of the original storyline were used for the final version of RAAM's Shadow. Other elements were used in the novelization, Gears of War: The Slab, and the prologue chapter, Troubled Past, in Gears of War 3.
Appearances[]
- The Slab
- Gears of War (First mentioned)
- Gears of War: Ultimate Edition (Mentioned only)
- Aspho Fields (Mentioned only)
- Hollow (Mentioned only)
- Gears of War 2 (Mentioned only)
- Gears of War 3 (First appearance) (Appears in flashback(s))
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Gears of War: The Slab pg 61
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Gears of War: The Slab pg 107
- ↑ Gears of War: The Slab pg 96
- ↑ Gears of War official strategy guide
- ↑ Gears of War: The Slab pg 37
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Gears of War: The Slab pg 67
- ↑ Gears of War: The Slab Chpts 1-4
- ↑ RAAM's Shadow: Darkness Spreads
- ↑ Gears of War: Coalition's End pg 365
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Gears of War: The Slab pg 66
- ↑ Inside the Mind of Marcus Fenix: Marcus
- ↑ Gears of War: Aspho Fields pg 361
- ↑ Gears of War 3
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 Gears of War: The Slab
- ↑ Gears of War
- ↑ Gears of War: Aspho Fields