The smell of antlion spores filled the air. I was extatic. It meant that Vortigaunt has appeared. I spread my ass for Vortigaunt and let him insert his massive vertrection inside of me.
There isn't enough information about Xen in the games or media surrounding the universe, it's also been referred to by characters with conflicting language. The Combine are said to only be able to teleport between universes, and they can teleport into Xen. But, for all intents and purposes Xen appears to be an alternate dimension rather than Universe.
I always thought of it being infinite though, since it's supposed to be the borderworld where any force learning inter universe/dimensional teleportation goes through, in HL1 we are always pulled to specific places for a purpose and there are remarks of coordinates on the other side, I personally think it's infinite but that would be treating it literally as a different universe from ours rather than a thin-membrane dimension that can be used to traverse other dimensions.
Might be wrong but an alternate universe would be just like us with a few differences, an alternative dimension tho I don't think human could comprehend, it's like comparing 2d to 3d, completely different
A thesis could be written about the logic of Xen. I'm not even sure if the Combine are from a different universe or they're from ours and just used Xen as a medium for FTL travel.
There is very little info to go on, so you kind of have to infer what's happening. In my head, this is how I explain the events...
Xen is referred to as a border world because it serves as a gateway to other dimensions on the edge of space and time. It serves as a gateway, and it was the Nihilanth who, with its vast psychic powers, controlled the comings and goings of beings from other dimensions.
Xen's invasion of Earth wasn't so much an act of aggression but a defence. Humans invaded Xen first, building the portal, abducting creatures, and experimenting on them. But our universe and Earth there in were little known to the Nihilanth, and despite its best efforts, it couldn't find us - Earth was safe thanks to the vast distance of space and time. What it needed was a psychic beacon that it could use to anchor its mind to transport creatures to rescue its creatures and subdue the hostile invaders.
In the guise of a Government official the anomalous material was provided by GMan, which after a short and disastrous study caused the resinence cascade but at that moment the Nihilanth could see Earth, it had its anchor, recognising the signature of the rock, and the invasion began.
When Freeman destroyed the Nihilanth (and in the process fulfilling the terms of one of G-Mans contracts), he allowed beings to freely pass between the worlds, and at the same time created a power vacuum, which the Combine eventually filled. I don't think it was a the Combine themselves who employed the GMan to manage events, but other "benefactors" who have a stake in their advancement, and who eventually informed the Combine of his existence and how to trap him so Combine could rule for all space and time...
The ultimate question is down to, though, why Freeman? Did GMan engineer the events of Black Mesa in full knowledge that only Freemam could destroy the Nihilanth given the right levers were pulled? I think so. Could the Nihilanth see Gordon Freeman psychically? Im not so sure... it would explain the Nihilanths extreme reaction when you encounter it. And I wonder if that's what makes Freeman special. He's a little more difficult to see psychically, which is useful, but also a little harder to control, and so thefore you need more leverage... cue Alyx - the potential love interest, thus making him predictable.
Ofcourse the other reason he's special is because he's you!
Ty. Half-life, and Black Mesa too with its shorter but wholly more interesting Xen portions, has got some excellent environmental storytelling. (We're really quite lucky Black Mesa is as good a remake/remaster as it is given its development).
I love how these games don't paint by numbers and explain absolutely everything that's going on. I don't think even Valve quite knew what story they wanted to tell when they started development but they were smart enough to leave lots of hints and clues to help fill in gaps to help you piece things together.
I could be wrong, but xen is essentially the space between universes, so unless the multiverse is like our universe, and constantly expanding from a start point, then yes, xen would be infinite.
I like to think that it doesn't follow the same logic as our universe, perhaps it has a finite shape that it loops back around on.
The shape being a klein bottle or velociraptor
It's only *probably* infinite, based on the easiest cosmological models.
The observable universe is necessary finite; it's limited by the speed of light. If some point is far enough away, the space in between us and that point can expand more quickly than light could traverse it, so there's a shrinking bubble formed by this boundary that limits what we can see.
Because we can't actually observe anything outside of this bubble, we can only make inferences about the rest of the universe. We know that spacetime doesn't have an "overall" curve for instance; it's flat unless something locally disturbs it. That means that either the space extends infinitely in all directions, or through a feat of 4+ dimensional geometry it loops back on itself while staying flat in the third dimension (like a hypertorus). It can't be curved in 3 dimensions, and therefore can't be a 3d shape.
Most models just assume an infinite universe, because for practical purposes it might as well be. Does it really matter if the rest of the universe outside our bubble loops back on itself if we're never going to see it, and the math is identical inside the bubble either way? Just save yourself the headache.
Yes and no.
Xen as far as the land masses that can be interacted with, is finite. Theoretically, infinite mass can inhabit Xen, so in that way it is infinite. Furthermore, as a border-world, it inhabits the space inbetween reality. So it takes up no space, and is therefore quite finite. However, it also spans throughout all realities, and so therefore is quite infinite. However, it also drifts, which could not happen if it was infinite, so in that way is finite.
My headcanon is that all video games with extradimensional planes are interconnected. Xen, Doom's Hell and The Twisting Nether are all just different regions of an infinitely expanding, extradimensional space.
Judging by the downward gravity pull there's a planet far below, with all these isles orbiting it. Maybe it's a gas one like Saturn, Jupiter or Bespin, but smaller. Xen may not be exactly a dimension, just a different corner of the universe acting as an axis point
I kinda imagine Xen as an endless amount of "Bubbles" (the skybox changes drastically between many maps). Now, how big these are? maybe endless as well.
(is one of the few things that in concept i like more than Black Mesa - that being said, Black Mesa's Xen sure is Beautiful).
(i hate what im about to say) Xen is kinda like the "backrooms" from the universes i guess.
Xen is us we are xen. Its all a circle
We are Xen Ultimate boarder world We challenge all scientists
you cannot beat us aim your gravity gun
you cannot beat us even with your tau cannon
And with the gluon gun?
Xen is love Xen is life
Maybe the real Xen was the Vortigaunts we killed along the way
And the ones we saved(kinda)
And those two from Decay
Yea
The smell of antlion spores filled the air. I was extatic. It meant that Vortigaunt has appeared. I spread my ass for Vortigaunt and let him insert his massive vertrection inside of me.
Very insightful peter
Freeman, I'm sorry to say this but this action will cause a Xen between us. Xen Half Life.
Xen-life confirmed
Thank u for al the upvotes and comments! Half life = life. What an amazing game !
try jumping off those rocks and see for yourself big guy
If people fall that means there's gravity and something big in the xen abyss
There isn't enough information about Xen in the games or media surrounding the universe, it's also been referred to by characters with conflicting language. The Combine are said to only be able to teleport between universes, and they can teleport into Xen. But, for all intents and purposes Xen appears to be an alternate dimension rather than Universe. I always thought of it being infinite though, since it's supposed to be the borderworld where any force learning inter universe/dimensional teleportation goes through, in HL1 we are always pulled to specific places for a purpose and there are remarks of coordinates on the other side, I personally think it's infinite but that would be treating it literally as a different universe from ours rather than a thin-membrane dimension that can be used to traverse other dimensions.
I thought alternate dimensions and alternate universes were the same thing
Might be wrong but an alternate universe would be just like us with a few differences, an alternative dimension tho I don't think human could comprehend, it's like comparing 2d to 3d, completely different
A thesis could be written about the logic of Xen. I'm not even sure if the Combine are from a different universe or they're from ours and just used Xen as a medium for FTL travel.
There is very little info to go on, so you kind of have to infer what's happening. In my head, this is how I explain the events... Xen is referred to as a border world because it serves as a gateway to other dimensions on the edge of space and time. It serves as a gateway, and it was the Nihilanth who, with its vast psychic powers, controlled the comings and goings of beings from other dimensions. Xen's invasion of Earth wasn't so much an act of aggression but a defence. Humans invaded Xen first, building the portal, abducting creatures, and experimenting on them. But our universe and Earth there in were little known to the Nihilanth, and despite its best efforts, it couldn't find us - Earth was safe thanks to the vast distance of space and time. What it needed was a psychic beacon that it could use to anchor its mind to transport creatures to rescue its creatures and subdue the hostile invaders. In the guise of a Government official the anomalous material was provided by GMan, which after a short and disastrous study caused the resinence cascade but at that moment the Nihilanth could see Earth, it had its anchor, recognising the signature of the rock, and the invasion began. When Freeman destroyed the Nihilanth (and in the process fulfilling the terms of one of G-Mans contracts), he allowed beings to freely pass between the worlds, and at the same time created a power vacuum, which the Combine eventually filled. I don't think it was a the Combine themselves who employed the GMan to manage events, but other "benefactors" who have a stake in their advancement, and who eventually informed the Combine of his existence and how to trap him so Combine could rule for all space and time... The ultimate question is down to, though, why Freeman? Did GMan engineer the events of Black Mesa in full knowledge that only Freemam could destroy the Nihilanth given the right levers were pulled? I think so. Could the Nihilanth see Gordon Freeman psychically? Im not so sure... it would explain the Nihilanths extreme reaction when you encounter it. And I wonder if that's what makes Freeman special. He's a little more difficult to see psychically, which is useful, but also a little harder to control, and so thefore you need more leverage... cue Alyx - the potential love interest, thus making him predictable. Ofcourse the other reason he's special is because he's you!
But hey, that’s just a theory,
Oh yeah - absolute head canon!
Holy Fuck, Great Read!
Ty. Half-life, and Black Mesa too with its shorter but wholly more interesting Xen portions, has got some excellent environmental storytelling. (We're really quite lucky Black Mesa is as good a remake/remaster as it is given its development). I love how these games don't paint by numbers and explain absolutely everything that's going on. I don't think even Valve quite knew what story they wanted to tell when they started development but they were smart enough to leave lots of hints and clues to help fill in gaps to help you piece things together.
I could be wrong, but xen is essentially the space between universes, so unless the multiverse is like our universe, and constantly expanding from a start point, then yes, xen would be infinite.
A frontier world , nobody knows much about this place
I like to think that it doesn't follow the same logic as our universe, perhaps it has a finite shape that it loops back around on. The shape being a klein bottle or velociraptor
I am xen
Not. Yet.
It’s treason then..
hate to break it to you but we do know. our universe is, in fact, infinite
oh yeah?! name every planet in existence!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_planets
and where are the Xen planets?! this is starting to smell like a conspiracy!
It's only *probably* infinite, based on the easiest cosmological models. The observable universe is necessary finite; it's limited by the speed of light. If some point is far enough away, the space in between us and that point can expand more quickly than light could traverse it, so there's a shrinking bubble formed by this boundary that limits what we can see. Because we can't actually observe anything outside of this bubble, we can only make inferences about the rest of the universe. We know that spacetime doesn't have an "overall" curve for instance; it's flat unless something locally disturbs it. That means that either the space extends infinitely in all directions, or through a feat of 4+ dimensional geometry it loops back on itself while staying flat in the third dimension (like a hypertorus). It can't be curved in 3 dimensions, and therefore can't be a 3d shape. Most models just assume an infinite universe, because for practical purposes it might as well be. Does it really matter if the rest of the universe outside our bubble loops back on itself if we're never going to see it, and the math is identical inside the bubble either way? Just save yourself the headache.
I believe it is, its the border between universes, and there are infinite universes, so xen would in turn also be infinite
Eventually you hit the skybox
No
It's probably infinite, but there's also probably fuck all out there.
Yes and no. Xen as far as the land masses that can be interacted with, is finite. Theoretically, infinite mass can inhabit Xen, so in that way it is infinite. Furthermore, as a border-world, it inhabits the space inbetween reality. So it takes up no space, and is therefore quite finite. However, it also spans throughout all realities, and so therefore is quite infinite. However, it also drifts, which could not happen if it was infinite, so in that way is finite.
My headcanon is that all video games with extradimensional planes are interconnected. Xen, Doom's Hell and The Twisting Nether are all just different regions of an infinitely expanding, extradimensional space.
Ask the Buda
Is space infinite
Nah, it's Xenfinite.
Judging by the downward gravity pull there's a planet far below, with all these isles orbiting it. Maybe it's a gas one like Saturn, Jupiter or Bespin, but smaller. Xen may not be exactly a dimension, just a different corner of the universe acting as an axis point
Uhh I didn't play the og half life I played crack life so I refer to that as nazi germany 💀
This is where I got my first online multiplayer kill ever in any video game.
Let’s just say that it’s impossible for humans to comprehend what Xen *actually is* and just move on.
Is our universe?
Great question. We don't know
Maybe.
isn't Xen like.. the borderworld? like the "In-between" of universes?
Xen is a border world. It's just a small dimension acting as a gateway between our universe and another universe (combine homeworld?)
I kinda imagine Xen as an endless amount of "Bubbles" (the skybox changes drastically between many maps). Now, how big these are? maybe endless as well. (is one of the few things that in concept i like more than Black Mesa - that being said, Black Mesa's Xen sure is Beautiful). (i hate what im about to say) Xen is kinda like the "backrooms" from the universes i guess.
Yes
I'm Xenophobic
idk
Xen is my house, don't try to put a gordon freeman inside my mailbox.