Burning Shores

"There's so much to learn, and less time than I'd hoped."

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This article is about the location. You may be looking for the DLC to Horizon Forbidden West.

The Burning Shores are the playable location of Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores.

The Burning Shores were mentioned in datapoints in Horizon Forbidden West.^[1]^[2]

Description[]

The Burning Shores are a volcanic archipelago formed from the ruins of Los Angeles, located south of Desert Tenakth territory and the mountain range that separates the Clan Lands from Plainsong and No Man's Land.

Unlike the Isle of Spires in the north, which was formed by rising sea levels, the Burning Shores were formed by catastrophic geological activity which fractured the land into an island chain in addition to raising sea levels.

The Burning Shores are not considered part of the Forbidden West, as Aloy notes that she is back in the Forbidden West upon returning to the base game map for the first time, and the game notes that Aloy is leaving the Forbidden West for the Burning Shores if she travels too close to the southern boarder of the base game map after completing To the Burning Shores.

History[]

Old World[]

During the time of the Old Ones, the land that would become the Burning Shores was a heavily urbanized coastal region encompassing the city of Los Angeles and its surrounding metropolitan area. Los Angeles (commonly referred to as simply LA) was the largest city in the state of California and a global hub for the technology and entertainment industries. Hollywood, a neighborhood within LA, became a metonym for American cinema due to many major film studios being based in the area. By the mid-21st century, augmented reality and holographic technologies had revolutionized the entertainment industry, giving rise to a new form of media, dubbed "holos", and giving Hollywood the nickname "Holo-wood"^[3] In addition to entertainment, Los Angeles was a center for finance and technology, with numerous corporations, such as Heaven^¢, being based in the area.

Erik-van-helvoirt-vantage-point-01 — The Faro Plague attacking Los Angeles.

In October 2065, when the Faro Plague made landfall on the Pacific Coast of the United States, Los Angeles served as a major defensive point along the California-Marine (Cal-Mar) defensive line. However, USRC would carry out a "strategic retreat" of all forces from the area, instead redirecting them to the Reno and Las Vegas defensive lines, leaving Los Angeles to fall to the Faro Plague.^[4]^[5]

During terraforming[]

Around the year 2150, about 176 years before humanity would be reintroduced, the area was torn apart by a series of massive earthquakes occurring along the San Andreas, San Gregorio, Hosgri, Hayward, and Rodgers Creek fault lines for nearly six decades, transforming the area into an archipelago of islands. These earthquakes caused considerable damage to Cauldron THETA, and even disrupted Cauldrons as far away as GEMINI in the Forbidden West. After nearly six decades, around the year 2210, the earthquakes subsided, though there are still occasional tremors and past activity has opened a number of magma fissures, from which lava continues to flow and erupt from centuries later.^[3]

New World[]

Following the reintroduction of humanity, the region, dubbed the Burning Shores by the nearby Tenakth,^[6] remained uninhabited.

Shortly before the outbreak of Regalla's rebellion, a scouting mission led by Ritakka was sent by Hekarro to the Burning Shores to determine its suitability for habitation by the Tenakth. The region was quickly deemed unsuitable, as the enormous force needed to fortify the region against machines would be unrealistic.^[7]

At some point, it appears that Brin arrived in the Burning Shores after being led there by a dream induced by consuming Bristleback oil,^[8] painting a Banuk style painting on the wall of a ruined building. Also, Gildun joined a group of Oseram heading for the Burning Shores, where they also successfully arrived. The Banuk painting was discovered by some of the Oseram.^[9]

The Quen's Eastern Expedition destined for San Francisco was split in two by a storm, leading one half of the fleet further south than intended, becoming shipwrecked in the Burning Shores, arriving about a year prior to the events of Burning Shores. These lost Quen established Fleet's End, the only true settlement in the region.^[10]

Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores[]

Upon returning to Earth with the rest of Far Zenith, Walter Londra abandoned his peers and returned to Los Angeles, now the Burning Shores, where he encountered a group of Quen expedition searching for resources, and subsequently enslaved them. Once Sylens discovered Londra's absence, he sent Aloy to deal with him,^[6] eventually ending in her killing him as he piloted a Horus in an attempt to kill her. Thanks to Aloy's discovery of the Quen in the Burning Shores, and with their lost people found, the two halves of the Eastern Expedition were able to re-establish contact, allowing them to begin coordinating a reunification of the fleet.^[11]

Aloy found Gildun trapped in a ruin. Upon freeing him, he enlisted her help to discover the fate of Olvar, one of the Oseram Gildun came to the Burning Shores with. Afterwards, she gave Gildun a Focus, allowing him to talk to and form a friendship with GAIA.^[12] When GAIA gave Gildun an Old World map, he planned to leave the Burning Shores, although he was undecided which direction to go.^[13]

With her mission complete, Aloy left the Burning Shores to return to the Base in the Forbidden West.^[14]

Locations[]

Trivia[]

Unlike the Cut, which is connected to the base map in Horizon Zero Dawn, the Burning Shores are not connected to the base map of Horizon Forbidden West.