"Nexus is where all the Locust come from."

—Chaps explaining Nexus to Sgt. Marcus Fenix.

Nexus was the capital city of the Locust Horde. Located near the center of the Inner Hollow under Mount Kadar, Nexus was founded by Myrrah and the Locust Horde following the uprising in the Mount Kadar Laboratory during the mid-Pendulum Wars and established as the center and source of Locust civilization. The city was constructed with rock-cut architecture and recycled materials that were dumped in the Hollow by humans. Nexus inspired the Locust to create their own religion, the Trinity of Worms, and an industry of science and technology. The center of Nexus was the Royal Palace, where Queen Myrrah and the Locust Council resided. While the Locust civilization built other "tunnel cities", Nexus was the only one known by name.^[1] Nexus was invaded by Lambent and COG forces during Operation: Hollow Storm. On 2nd Frost, 14 A.E., Nexus was destroyed in a flood caused by the COG sinking Jacinto City.

History[]

Founding[]

The caverns of Mount Kadar were initially occupied by a fringe political party within the Coalition of Ordered Governments. They built a secret facility for scientist Dr. Niles Samson to continue his work on finding a cure for Rustlung after being shut down at the New Hope Research Facility for unethical experimentation. His work involved splicing children sick with Rustlung with the DNA of indigenous creatures of the Hollow, creating the Sires. One of his other test subjects was a child named Myrrah - who exhibited a genetic immunity to Imulsion. Her embryonic stem-cells were then fertilized with Sire DNA to create the first of the Locust Horde. However, the Locust Horde began to feel imprisoned by the scientists, to which Myrrah greatly empathized. When Myrrah was led to believe that her human daughter, Reyna, had died - she led the Locust to rebel and killed the scientists. Myrrah escaped the facility with the Locust and assumed her role as Queen.

Queen Myrrah led her people deeper into the caverns of Mount Kadar and found what would become the cradle of their civilization: Nexus. A large stalactite stood over an underground lake of Imulsion, and was carved out into the Royal Palace for Queen Myrrah. The cliffs surrounding the palace were transformed into a city for the Locust Horde by re-purposing disposed human tools and utilizing rock-cut architecture. The Locust established the Trinity of Worms as their religion based on the Riftworms and Rockworms, believing them to be a source of life in the Hollow. The architecture would later also be inspired by worms. The rest of the city surrounded the Imulsion lake and featured mess halls, homes, military installations as well as the Temple of the Trinity and Ukkon's Laboratory. A series of turrets and fortress walls which surrounded the city provided additional security. The Nexus Highway served as the only entrance and exit to Nexus, and the pathway was utilized to deploy thousands of Locust troops at a time.

Lambent War[]

In time, citizens of Nexus and other various Hollow cities became infected with Lambency, an advanced form of Rustlung that caused the host to become possessed by Imulsion and driven to infect or kill all non-infected life in its path. In addition, those who were Lambent had the ability to mutate at an accelerated level and would detonate upon death in order to spread the Imulsion pathogen. By 7 B.E., it became an epidemic - with the Lambent attempting to take Nexus. Queen Myrrah then rallied her people into an army into the Lambent War. The Locust Army would fight the Lambent outside Nexus, with the goal to defend the capital city from the infected. However, as the war continued, the Locust would either perish or become infected - gaining more numbers for the Lambent Horde.

As the losses of her people grew and amount of land corrupted, Queen Myrrah began plans to evacuate her people to the surface and colonize it in order to escape the Lambent, but would include destroying the human race as the humans would not accept them. By 5 B.E., a human scientist, Professor Adam Fenix, discovered Nexus following the personal notes of his wife, Doctor Elain Fenix, who had discovered the Locust but was killed by them in 9 B.E. Queen Myrrah spared his life when she realized his potential in finding a cure for the Lambency. She revealed to them the origins of the Locust and how a solution must be found that would not harm the Locust due to their ancestry being linked to Imulsion. She also warned him that if he could not find a cure, she would be forced to wage a genocidal war on humans to escape the Lambent. However, due to the nature of Imulsion and his responsibilities to the COG to end the Pendulum Wars, Professor Fenix was unable to find a solution.