Citadels | Key-Capital Hubs & Field Stabilizers
Information:
The Citadels are towering Combine megastructures deployed on subjugated worlds as symbols of absolute control and command. While often perceived as monolithic headquarters, their true function is multi-faceted: Citadels are central command spires, military bastions, population control hubs, and dimensional relay cores—integral to maintaining Combine authority on planetary scales.
On Earth, construction of the Citadel network began shortly after the Seven Hours War and the subsequent Unification Treaty. The Combine selected eight primary terrestrial locations as strategic loci for these spires, aligning with major continental population centers and key dimensional fault points. As of 2014—approximately two years prior to the events of Half-Life: Alyx—none of the Earth-based Citadels have reached full structural completion. However, each planned site is already host to a foundational array known as a Citadel Anchor.
The Role of the Citadels / Anchors | Pre Suppression Field
The Anchors, or Citadel Foundations, are subterranean constructs designed to stabilize trans-dimensional energy output and support early infrastructure deployment. These structures serve multiple purposes.
- Localized Suppression Field Generation: While the global Suppression Field referenced by Dr. Wallace Breen in later broadcasts within the Half-Life 2 timeline is not yet online, the Anchors emit a regional suppression field that inhibit human reproductive biology within controlled zones. These fields are especially concentrated around urban centers designated for long-term Combine occupation.
- Dimensional Interfacing & Stabilization: Anchors maintain stability between Earth and the Overworld (the Combine's interdimensional network), laying the groundwork for future phase-through transportation and signal relays during Early occupation where portal energy is still highly present in the occupied worlds atmosphere. It also mitigates the build-up of dimensional portal energy, preventing what was dubbed "Portal Storms" from occurring within Controlled territory.
- Military Deployment Nodes: Even at this Early phase, the Anchors function as fortified Combine strongholds. They house compact fabrication bays, repair bays, containment blocks, and bio-storage pods for dormant Transhuman units and Synthetics.
Operational Capabilities and Defense Contingencies
Each Citadel-once fully operational-will be vertically integrated command towers capable of exerting total regional control. Current Anchor installations already exhibit the following defense and readiness mechanisms:
- Air Surveillance: Integrated Synth Scanners equipped to deploy proximity-mines and recon packages across city zones. These operate in tandem with passive surveillance systems like City Scanners and Civil protection reports.
- Transhuman Deployment Chambers: Anchors possess stasis-pod arrays for standard Transhuman Soldiers like the Ordinals and Grunts. These troops are stored in a state of readiness for rapid mobilization in the event of insurgency or biohazard threat.
- Synthetic Response Teams: Finally, Anchors possess storage rooms containing various Synthetic Units such as the NOMAD unit, otherwise known as Striders located in the sub-levels of the Anchor. Activation protocols remain rare, but they are fully capable of deployment during major breaches or incursions.
The Citadels—and by extension their Anchors—are not solely tools of war. They are instruments of ideological and psychological warfare. Their impossible scale, featureless design, and constant presence in the skyline serve as reminders of human helplessness beneath the gaze of an unseen empire.
Though most citizens may not understand their full purpose, the intended perception of inevitability is deliberate: humanity is meant to see the Citadels as unchallenged, immutable, and eternal.
For the Combine, they are simply tools—constructs meant to turn Earth from a battlefield into a breeding ground for resources, soldiers, and eventual integration into the greater "Universal Union".