The Mission to Tollen, or the Sinking of Tollen, was one of the first major battles following the Lightmass Offensive and the first indication that the Locust Horde survived. Initially, the Gears and civilians in Tollen were attacked by the emerging Locust Drones. During the battle, the city was sunk completely underground. The sinkhole was filled with natural water, creating an artificial lake within the city's sinkhole. This was the work of Ketor Skorge, commanding the gargantuan Riftworm to burrow underground and sink Tollen, weakening the Jacinto Plateau's granite base in order to sink Jacinto City, causing it to flood the Inner Hollow and destroy the Lambent.
Prelude[]
Years prior to Emergence Day, Professor Adam Fenix assisted the Locust Horde by trying to resolve the Lambent epidemic in order to keep the Locust from invading the surface. Among his proposals was that creating a massive sinkhole in Jacinto City would cause the surrounding seawater to flood the entirety of the Hollow, with nothing below being able to survive. Queen Myrrah continued to keep this plan during the Locust War to vanquish the Lambent following the Locust Horde's successful evacuation and colonization of the surface. It proved to be nearly impossible, however, as the granite bedrock in the Jacinto Plateau would not allow the Locust to dig enough for a massive sinkhole.
Following the Lightmass Offensive, in which a Lightmass Bomb was used to destroy the Outer Hollow, the Locust Horde discovered that it had awoken the Riftworm, once believed by the Locust to be long dead. Ketor Skorge, the High Priest of the Trinity of Worms, convinced Queen Myrrah that he would be able to control the Riftworm and destroy Jacinto. With the Lambent threat exponentially increasing, Queen Myrrah agreed. The plateau under Jacinto City continued to prove impenetrable. Natural fissures in the bedrock occurred more commonly outside of Jacinto City, namely under the cities that surrounded Jacinto. Queen Myrrah and Ketor Skorge then devised a campaign to cut-off Jacinto's resources outside the city, and use the Riftworm to sink the plateau's other cities to weaken Jacinto's base.
Order of Battle[]
Sinking of Tollen[]
One week after the Lightmass Offensive, Ketor Skorge commanded the Riftworm to burrow beneath the city of Tollen, removing the rock and dirt to make the surface unstable - causing major seismic activity. During this, Locust forces emerged and attacked the stationed Gears. Echo-Ten, led by Sgt. John Jakabowski, were forced to fall back to a gas station. Pvt. Jordan Briggs and Pvt. Nathan Dawson were killed in action. Sgt. Jakabowski ordered a Hammer of Dawn strike on their location, killing him, Specialist Joel Kaplan, the rest of Echo-Ten, and the Locust squad.[2]
Once the Riftworm had removed enough of the support, a massive sinkhole formed in Tollen, and the majority of the city was swallowed underground. Once the seismic activity began, it took eighteen seconds for the city to be destroyed.[3] Through access tunnels, the Locust entered the ruins of the sinkhole and swept the area for surviving Gears, civilians, and Stranded to kill or capture. Either due to a nearby lake or river, the sinkhole began to flood. A surviving Stranded managed to send a distress signal to Jacinto City before they drowned.
Coalition Recon[]
After the Evacuation of North Gate, seismic activity was detected under Tollen. After eighteen seconds, contact with the city was lost. Following the distress signal afterward, COG High Command ordered Delta-One on a recon mission to see if the Locust were back. They discovered a massive sinkhole full of water. No survivors were found.
Aftermath[]
The sinking of Tollen significantly weakened the Jacinto Plateau. However, the base beneath Jacinto City was still impenetrable. Queen Myrrah and Ketor Skorge looked to target more cities on the Jacinto Plateau to make Jacinto vulnerable. Meanwhile, Ketor Skorge led his forces to attack the COG's resources. He had successfully managed to cut-off their food supply at the North Gate Agricultural Depot and their population of children at the Jilane Birthing Creche. The next target was the nearby Tollen Dam, which would render the surrounding cities of Fort Reval, Speyer, Bronn, Ilima, and Montevado without power. Speyer would especially be a loss without power, as most of the COG military's manufacturing came from there. As for selecting another city to sink, Ketor Skorge decided on the city of Montevado and eventually Ilima.[4][5]
Appearances[]
- Last Day (First appearance)
- Aspho Fields
- Gears of War 2 (Mentioned only)
- Gears of War 4 (Mentioned only)
- Gears 5 (Mentioned only)
References[]
- ↑ Gears of War: Aspho Fields
- ↑ Last Day
- ↑ Last Day
- ↑ Gears of War: Hollow
- ↑ Gears of War 2