The Secret Resistance Base | White Forest | Half-Life Deep Dive, Lore & Story

there have been many locations on planet earth that have changed the course of human history during the combine reign of earth one location became not only the home and stronghold of the remaining resistance members but also the place where humanity would have the opportunity to strike back at the combine empire and forge a new path for the species where was this place located how much of an impact did it have on the future of humanity and how did its residents stay hidden from the combine for so long here we explore in the law and story behind the white forest resistance base way back during the early years of the cold war many bases were constructed to house the soldiers of the united states and the soviet union each side playing their part in this conflict with this war spanning over many many miles some of these bases were constructed in isolated unique locations with each one built to have a tactical advantage over any invaders with a continued need for bases one began construction in a region now known as the white forest although it is currently unknown which eastern european country the white forest resides within in the future this entire alpine region would become known as a part of the outlands following completion of construction this cold war base nestled within the nature of white forest appeared to be relatively small from a distance the base showed off its signifying feature a large radial tower shooting far out into the sky upon further inspection the base appears to have been designed and separated into three sections above ground underground and the valley the smallest section of this base being the above ground area which was designed to consist of a main building with plenty of space to work and store essential items various small rooms to house complex systems to be used in the war a hanger and a helicopter pad to house vehicles for transportation and a missile control room to activate and fire off rockets located in the underground region of the base from the main building the soldiers stationed here could navigate the facility with ease and access a large plot of land nicknamed the valley through a north and south gate moving underground through the claustrophobic tunnels unseen from above the personnel here would work on the rockets contained within two massive silos labeled silo one and silo two each one containing their own missile the exit for silo one showing just outside of the window of the missile control room above in the event a missile launch were to be unsuccessful nearby emergency bunkers were also constructed in convenient locations to shield the soldiers of any damage that would come from a catastrophic event as the years passed and the cold war died down the base just like many others that have been constructed during the war was abandoned seemingly having fulfilled its purpose over the years the base and its surrounding land were left untouched by the locals of white forest but with this base having been constructed in such a remote location and with ample space inside it would find use again over in the united states of america within the new mexico desert the top-secret black mesa research facility had become a leading force in the scientific field where their development of technologies had broken many boundaries with this line of work and required secrecy all of their research and testing was performed within the sole location in the desert with limited space and the budget's hairy concerns the black mesa leaders decided to search for an additional location to expand their work in their search black mesa came across the abandoned cold war base in white forest with the structure being located in such an isolated region and with the space it had to house their projects the company believed this would be the perfect place to set up their new research facility in the isolated mountain ranges with this they managed to purchase the old cold war base at a low price during their purchase it may not have occurred to them but the name white forest happened to be the exact opposite of black mesa for many years this place became home to various experiments that was until a catastrophic event in the early 2000s in the black mesa research complex changed everything following experimentation with interdimensional travel to a border world called zen the scientists of the complex inadvertently started a resonance cascade after blasting a recently acquired zenian crystal sample with a beam of energy over the following hours earth connected to the border world which led to a devastating aftermath portal storms would later ravage the planet bringing in hostile alien life forms now hoping to make earth their new home not only was this a major strain on earth's armies but this event also alerted the combine a dominating multi-universal empire of planet earth's existence and location and with this they attacked in these subsequent days the combine successfully invaded earth where they conquered all of humanity's armies in just seven hours unable to win this war earth bowed down to their new leaders and an age of submission began hello just jumping quickly here to let you know that this video is sponsored by the ridge as some of my longtime viewers may know i have already worked with the ridge because i like their wallets so much i happily accepted to work with them again when they asked with over 40 000 5 star reviews 30 colors and styles to choose from and rfid blocking technology to protect you from digital pickpocketers you can feel safe when going out with your wallet the ridge is so confident you'll like their wallet that they'll even let you test drive it for 45 days that means that in the small chance you don't like it they'll let you send it back to get a full refund for my wallet i chose the burnt titanium design and i don't think i could go back to my old bulky wallet now i just love the design and the lightweight feel to get yours visit ridge.com for slash carry on and use the code scarion to get 15 off at the checkout thank you to the ridge for sponsoring this video now on with the lore as the new normal began the combine empire took earth's natural resources as they moved humanity into combine-controlled settlements to monitor and regulate their newly acquired species but not every member of humanity submitted so easily to the reign having survived the black mesa incident and the subsequent destruction of the facility over time scientists from the facility were also hurdled into these combine-controlled settlements three of which being dr isaac kleiner dr eli vance and dr arne magnussen relocated to eastern europe they found themselves in city 17. with revolution in mind these scientists formed a resistance but a revolution would need safe havens out of reach from the combine to plan recruit and most importantly research methods to take down their overlords to this dr eli vance managed to escape to the outskirts of the city where he created a secret base black mesa east in its canals this base would allow him to focus on research as well as house the refugees escaping the grasp of the combine in the city dr isaac kleiner decided to stay within the city just under the noses of the combine and later even managed to acquire inside information from a spy with this information the resistance could avoid combine raids and various other factors that would damage the resistance agenda finally dr arne magdeson decided to set up his base in an entirely different location few knew of the location that had been purchased by black mesa back in the day and luckily this location happened to be within traveling distance of city 17 the cold war base with a goal in mind arnie with a group of resistance members traveled outwards towards the outlands seeking the white forest upon arrival the resistance group discovered this large empty open space free from combine occupation with dr ani magdalen taking on the role of leader of this base he and his vortigaunt assistant uriah put preparations in place to get this place up and running so that it could become a functional resistant stronghold and with it the white forest resistance base was formed over its years of inactivity following the combine invasion the base had degraded over time some damage repairable while others not so much even some rooms had become inaccessible due to flooding only time would allow them to acquire access after settling in it appeared that each member of the base was given a role to maintain in its functionality and operation one of the most important being security as a cold war base the building came with its own security system an alarm that would be set off after being tripped by movement within the area although you would think this would alert the residents here of combine activity it would only grow to frustrate them as the wildlife here mostly crows would set it off eventually leaving the alarm redundant as its activation would often be met with frustration at the local animals aside from this alarm teams were set up to patrol the valley the local stream down the hill into the white forest and others were stationed on watchtowers that looked out over the alpine region with all of these precautions in place the resistance would have enough time to alert those within the base of any combine activity in the area where they could simply re-enter the base and wait for them to pass while many groups would have struggled to survive in such an isolated location this base thrived due to generators on-site giving them access to power with being situated so close to natural unpolluted sources of water wood and food either from local remaining wildlife or nearby abandoned locations white forest became truly self-sufficient and with it their mere existence evaded the combine completely on their patrols it was noted that resistant soldiers would capture combine creatures whenever they had the chance to do so upon capture they would then be experimented with with the hopes to study and discover any weaknesses that they may possess one of which of note being the combine strider in which magnuson and uriah set up a specific location within one of the many courtyards of the resistance base to hold and study the creature each member of the white forest resistance base had a job and this also included their leader with earth having been overwhelmed by the combine's use of portals during the seven hour war to take down earth's armies with force arnie set this resistance base to focus mainly on the research of portals their formation how they worked and how to close them making use of the silos and the space to adjust and construct rockets within them magnuson and his team began developing technology that could be used in the future if the combine were to launch a full-scale attack again during the black mesa incident gordon freeman had attempted to stop the resonance cascade by sending out a relay device attached to a rocket although the science behind this was sound this attempt had ultimately failed simply due to a creature on the other side holding the portal open with their immense abilities over the following years the white forest resistance base worked in secret preparing for a revolution as more of humanity and vortigaunt joined their cause within city 17 keeping in regular contact with isaac and eli arnie could gauge how this was going all he needed to do was continue to run this base in secret and prepare for an upcoming war and this day would soon come as the dark fusion reactor exploded at the top of the citadel in city 17 everything changed the combine for the first time in 20 years had lost their grip on humanity watching from miles away the white forest resistance base and their leader anticipated what was to come over the following hours a super portal began to form this meant that when this portal reached full maturity a new war would begin to reconquer the planet as the refugees of city 17 made their way to a well-established white forest resistance base dr eli vance dr judith mossman and dr isaac kleiner came with them the rocket and technology that arnie and his scientists have been developing over these years was almost complete they just needed two things the first to complete the rocket before the super portal matured and just importantly second the codes to the combine homeworld upon arrival arnie took judith aside and asked her to visit the north believing she could acquire the combine portal codes there as she left to fulfill this very important mission when eli and isaac were not in communication with the remaining residents of city 17 urging them to leave the city before the citadel exploded they helped arnie continue the construction of the rocket in silo one as expected the citadel did explode where it leveled city 17 destroying all within now the race against time began and more resistant members and refugees arrived at white forest each one jumping in to help wherever they could with the base growing much larger in population these extra hands made a significant difference however with more activity in this area it did result in the remaining combine forces on the planet somehow finally becoming aware of the existence of the secluded base with the clock ticking arnie became increasingly impatient with those around him not performing their tasks but good news would come in the form of alex and gordon who had not only managed to escape city 17 alive but they had also infiltrated the citadel before its collapse and acquired the combine homeworld portal codes from it now all they had to do was finish the rocket and launch it having caught on to white forest's plan to close the super portal the combine set out a full-scale attack on the base with the plan to destroy the rocket before it could launch using a vulnerability in the second silo to gain access the combine units gained an advantage over the resistance members as they believed the alarm that had been activated merely to have been the crows again unprepared for this attack many resistance members did die during this first wave but the group managed to regain control and fought back resiliently then the second wave began shortly after and the battle of white forest truly began with another wave of combine units on the way arnie introduced gordon to one of the many devices that white forest had been working on the magnuson device following their capture of a combine strider arnie had developed a bomb that could easily attach to a strider and upon firing a single shot it would kill the strider with ease being shown through to the valley where the combine striders and hunters had gained access to gordon led the charge against this combine invasion with the mission to protect silo one at any cost the resistance fought hard to keep these creatures at bay as the scientists worked hard to complete the rocket the white forest resistance base had been set up for this very moment to prepare for a revolution and give humanity a second chance using every piece of weaponry that had been stockpiled at the base over the years with their training knowledge of the land and the use of the magnuson device each threat fell to the resistance although many died in this war the resistance managed to hold back the threat and then they won the resistance had done well to survive the desperate onslaught of the combine empire and now there was only one more thing left to do within the rocket control room the launch sequence began and as the leaders of the resistance against the combine watched as the timer went down they waited in anticipation as this rocket launched a symbol of hope that had been developed in secret throughout these years where it hit the forming super portal as the relay device was activated the portal closed giving humanity their second chance the hidden existence of the white forest resistance base allowed the refugees of city 17 to have a place to go after its fall due to the combine being completely unaware of the base it also allowed the resistance to research and develop technologies without fear of being interrupted with many years to arm up store food and to train the best soldiers they could white forests were well prepared to take on the battle of white forest when the time came allowing humanity a new chance of freedom those who laid down their lives did it with purpose but even following this battle more lives were lost to the desperate combine forces attempting to regain their grip of this planet it is unknown what became of white forest after the death of dr eli vance in its hunger or in the adjusted timeline what events occurred after the disappearance of alex vance maybe white forest simply continued to thrive as a stronghold for the resistance against the combine or the combine managed to gain the upper hand in later conflict maybe one day we'll know now the reason we have never heard of white forest and arnie magnussen before half-life 2 episode 2 is because it didn't exist according to an early draft of episode 2 eli and isaac managed to make their way to white forest where they would then set it up in preparation for the events to come with all of the work that had been done to the base by the scientists in such a short time frame valve deemed this not to be too believable so they developed the backstory of black mesa purchasing the land and arnie and his team traveling there after the invasion i'm glad they went down this route as i really do like the story of arnie just working away and waiting for his time to shine coming here did show that the wasteland was not all doom and gloom but there is still natural beauty in the world untouched by the combine in development the battle with the striders took many months of testing following player feedback to get it just right this meant that the development of this map took much longer than any other map in episode 2. playing this battle was intense so i can appreciate that they took this time and multiple waves of player feedback to perfect it finally in demos shown during the development of episode 2 in gameplay demo 5 we can actually see that overwatch soldiers and elites were also to feature in the battle maybe this is something the playtesters decided they did not like and wanted to only focus on the striders and hunters this isn't really a behind the scenes piece of information but i didn't know where else to put it in this video white forest is home to the little rocket man achievement a fan favorite achievement you achieve for carrying a garden gnome nicknamed noam chomsky by the community through the entirety of episode 2 your mission to move him from the first map just before the hunter attacks alex all the way to the rocket in silo one this is what i think of when i think of white forest i personally haven't managed to acquire this achievement yet have you although white forest is not one of my favorite locations in the half-life series what i can say is that it is memorable it was a nice break from the desolated strip down wasteland we have been used to during half-life 2 and episode 1. it was also a nice break from the constant fighting and a small portion of this area was just meeting up with old allies after so many brutal fights and twists and turns in the narrative now if you enjoyed this episode i would appreciate it if you could leave a like and a comment on your thoughts to help boost that algorithm it would help a lot i would also like to thank my patrons and channel members who are on the screen right now and an extra special thank you to my goal tier patrons and channel members jonas lewis queen arby fluffy the dragon and mr m791 what did you think of this law what do you think happened to white forest after the events of half-life 2 episode 2 and which resistance base would you have preferred to have been located in black mesa east kleiner's lab or white forest let me know in the comments below that was everything i wanted to cover in this episode now resistance member enjoy your day bye [Music] you

Channel: Skyrionn

Views: 35,702

Keywords: half-life, lore, half-life 2, half-life 3, half-life: alyx, half-life alyx, white forest, half life lore, to the white forest, half-life (video game series), half-life 2 (video game), halflife, half-life storyline, half life 2 lore, half life nihilanth lore, half-life memes, half life combine lore, half life lore combine, half-life 2 memes, half life universe lore, half-life mods, half-life alyx vr, complete half-life timeline, lets play half-life

Id: fGbTbalYOmI

Length: 25min 10sec (1510 seconds)

Published: Tue May 31 2022