The Strains of Tokyo

Deep within the New Mexico desert, the Black Mesa Research Facility conducted classified experiments with extra dimensional technology. On March 2nd, 2000, a resonance cascade triggered an uncontrolled portal event, allowing alien creatures from Xen to spill into Earth’s atmosphere. The United States government declared martial law as reports of extraterrestrial entities increased across North America. Despite the deployment of military forces, the containment failed. The incident marked the first domino in Earth’s collapse.

Within a year, portal storms engulfed the planet. These violent interdimensional rifts devastated cities, landscapes, and infrastructure. Wildlife from Xen overran entire regions. Global governments scrambled to contain the chaos, but panic, famine, and mass displacement surged. Traditional military responses proved ineffective against the alien threat. Electrical grids failed and economies crumbled under the pressure.

With no solution to the ongoing crisis, the global economy shattered entirely. International cooperation disintegrated as countries focused on survival. NATO unofficially dissolved after its members abandoned collective defense. In its absence, isolated safe zones formed under military remnants, regional governors, and surviving infrastructure. Refugee caravans filled the highways, while rural territories descended into lawlessness.

Nation-states ceased to exist in practical terms. Autonomous regions and independent city-states emerged as temporary strongholds of order. These regions barely stabilized before the Combine arrived. Without warning, Earth faced invasion by an interdimensional empire equipped with overwhelming technology, synthetic armies, and advanced atmospheric suppression. Within seven hours, major world capitals fell. Human militaries were annihilated or surrendered. Dr. Wallace Breen negotiated Earth’s formal capitulation to prevent extinction, offering humanity as a client species under Combine control.

Following the surrender, construction of Citadels began in key urban centers. These towering structures were to serve as command hubs and symbols of Combine dominance. Select humans were conscripted to enforce Combine rule, outfitted with alien technology and integrated into the new order. Others were forcibly relocated into dense urban zones or subjected to genetic modification programs aimed at pacifying resistance.

The Combine began systematic transformation of Earth's cities to align with their logistical and ideological needs. Entire districts were demolished to make way for Combine infrastructure, including rail systems, ration centers, and reeducation hubs. Initial human collaboration programs, designed to promote voluntary assimilation into the Combine regime, collapsed due to widespread resentment. The Combine established Civil Protection as a human enforcement wing, tasked with suppressing unrest and maintaining urban discipline through fear and violence.