GAIA Prime is an ancient ruin in Horizon Zero Dawn located in the mountains to the extreme north of the Carja Sundom. The ruin is the remains of the facility that was the permanent housing for GAIA, the governing artificial intelligence of Project Zero Dawn, designed to restore life to Earth after its eradication by the Faro Plague.
Description[]
The only known means of accessing the ruins of GAIA Prime is through a demanding climb up two cliffs and crossing two plateaus, one rocky, and the other covered in ice and snow and lashed by a snowstorm. This route, known as the Bitter Climb, is prowled by ferocious machines, including Redeye Watchers, Glinthawks, Stalkers, Ravagers and a Stormbird. The route's difficulty and danger dissuade curious delvers and explorers from trying to reach the ruin. Indeed, only two people are known to have reached it: the maverick wanderer Sylens, and, years later, the Nora huntress Aloy.
The ruin itself consists of chambers and corridors, many of which were split by the explosion that destroyed the facility. Traversal of these gaps risks a fatal fall into the vast, deep chasm below. There are doorways that lead to similar drops where the room or corridor beyond the doorway was split away by the explosion.
History[]
In the Old World[]
The GAIA Prime facility had originally been a high-security R&D site built inside King's Peak in Ashley National Forest in Utah, owned and operated by Faro Automated Solutions.[1]
King's Peak being repurposed into GAIA Prime, illustrated by Miguel Angel Martinez.
As the Faro Plague became known, King's Peak began heavy construction to repurpose it to permanently house GAIA and prevent her from being detected by the swarm. As part of the Lightkeeper Protocol, life support and living spaces were included in GAIA Prime, although Elisabet Sobeck abandoned the protocol after they were complete.[2]
Bashar Mati visited King's Peak on orders from FAS, which he found very surprising given his lowly position. He was very aware of the noisy construction going on all around him as he was escorted into a small conference room. Recognizing one of the workers there, Brad Andac, Bashar was about to ask what was going on as Samina Ebadji approached him, who he recognized from her work on the HOMER archive for the Odyssey. She asked him many indepth questions about the Eternity tech,[1] unbeknownst to Bashar, for it's potential use for APOLLO.[3] After the interview was complete, Bashar was escorted back outside to his vert, ready to take him back to FAS.[1]
Bashar later returned to King's Peak, where he was able to successfully hack into Brad Andac's Focus, allowing him to learn the truth about Project Zero Dawn. He returned one last time on day 10 of his Apocashitstorm Tour, putting down a Vantage spike documenting the current look of King's Peak and how he was brought here and later found out the truth of Zero Dawn.[1]
In mid-January 2066, as the Faro Plague approached, GAIA was relocated into GAIA Prime, along with the Alphas as the subordinate functions needed more work being being complete.[2] Unfortunately, an access port seal malfunctioned, which would allow the Faro Plague to detect GAIA's energy signature and destroy her. With the malfunction only able to be fixed from the outside, Elisabet sacrificed herself and went to fix it. After letting the Alphas know they were safe, she left to return home. They made a holographic memorial to honor her.[4]
On February 2, 2066, Ted Faro summoned the Alphas into the control room to inform them that he had purged the APOLLO database, then had the room vented, suffocating and killing the Alphas.[5]
In the New World[]
On August 26, 3020,[6] GAIA received the Extinction Signal from Nemesis, which awoke HADES to begin to undo the terraforming efforts by GAIA. In order to stop it, GAIA ordered GAIA Prime's reactor to overload. However, HADES released a virus to allow it and the other subordinate functions to escape the resulting explosion, destroying GAIA[7] and leaving the facility devastated. The explosion could be heard as far away as the Claim[8] and even the Memorial Grove in the Clan Lands.[9] As ash darkened the skies, the Carja in Meridian fretted as they tried to understand the meaning of the explosion. The crater left behind burned for weeks, but once it was safe, Sylens was the first to explore the ruins. However, he quickly found that he was unable to go far as a sealed door remained shut. Despite his best efforts, he was unable to break his way through.[8] Instead, he settled with setting up a workshop outside the door.
As the Derangement began, machines started gathering around the remains of GAIA Prime, making the ruins even harder to reach.[8]
Horizon Zero Dawn[]
Aloy making her way into the ruins of GAIA Prime.
When Aloy received GAIA's message telling to retrieve the Master Override,[10] she made her way to the ruins and successfully opened the door, allowing her to enter and learn the fate of Elisabet Sobeck and that of the Alphas. Once she obtained the Master Override, she left the ruins behind.[11]
Collectables[]
Vantage Points[]
Datapoints[]
Audio Datapoints[]
- #50 GAIA Prime Arrival Log
- #51 Log: Charles Ronson (1)
- #52 Log: Charles Ronson (2)
- #53 Log: Margo Shĕn
- #54 Rest In Peace
- #55 The Future
- #56 The Solution
- #57 Log: Travis Tate (2)
- #58 Core Control Log
- #59 ELEUTHIA Runtime Check
Hologram Datapoints[]
Trivia[]
- In-game, GAIA Prime can be seen from places as far as the Glarebreak and Sunfall.
Gallery[]
Concept Art[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 King's Peak
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Sobeck Journal, 1-15-66 R
- ↑ Encapsulated DNA
- ↑ Elisabet Sobeck Memorial
- ↑ Emergency Recording
- ↑ Operations Log
- ↑ GAIA's Dying Plea
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Dialogue with Sylens during The Mountain That Fell.
- ↑ Dialogue with Hekarro during The Broken Sky.
- ↑ The Heart of the Nora
- ↑ The Mountain That Fell
[]
| Project Zero Dawn Facilities | |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | GAIA Prime |
| Regional Control Centers | Regional Control Center 9 |
| Cauldrons and Repair-Bays | Cauldron CHI - Cauldron EPSILON - Cauldron GEMINI - Cauldron IOTA - Cauldron KAPPA - Cauldron MU - Cauldron PSI - Cauldron RHO - Cauldron SIGMA - Cauldron THETA - Cauldron XI - Cauldron ZETA - Repair-Bay TAU |
| Cradles | ELEUTHIA-1 - ELEUTHIA-2 - ELEUTHIA-9 |
| Development Sites | LATOPOLIS - Ruins (Mother's Watch) - Zero Dawn Project Facility |
| Other Facilities | Elysium |
| Protocols | Lightkeeper - Omega Clearance |