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Using Universal Union instead of Combine

Equinox

Equinox

Radio Bob Approved
Banned
Joined
Sep 17, 2019
Messages
583
As of recent, I've been delving back into writing lore with the purpose of trying to establish how the Combine turned the world from their initial arrival where they "saved" humanity from portal storms and alien invasion, to the oppressive, dystopian totalitarian hell it is today without citizens across the world going into uprisings every weekend.

This involves a lot of work trying to show how the administration on Earth is "good" and how the average person would start to buy into their act.

However, I think one of the largest and most important things in our lore (that is so prevelent that it bleeds into gameplay) is the name itself. I think "The Combine" is a fucking horrible name to call yourself if you were a nation trying to win over people.

Why the Combine is a shit name for a nation.​

In truth, I actually do like the name of the "Combine". It describes what they are perfectly, is cold, and alien. I think it works perfectly well when referring to them in general, as well as when used by rebels and whatnot.

But holy shit, what was Marc Laidlaw and Valve thinking when deciding that Breen should try and propagandize by using "Combine" as their name?

This makes no sense. The Combine administration on Earth is trying to garner support from its citizens. They pump out propaganda, with Breen giving these elaborate speeches about how you should support the Combine. So why in the world would you call yourself something so ineffective and jarring?

What does your average, walmart freak who jacks off to porn and stuffs their face with food think when they hear Combine?
Do they think of a farm combine? A machine that reaps grain for harvest? That is a horrible image to associate with a nation and fuels all sorts of conspiracy.
Do they think of literally combining? Why would the administration portray themselves as a nation that seeks to assimilate and merge everyone? Again, this breeds conspiracy and bad imagery, which is the opposite of what you want in your totalitarian politics.

The only pro to this name is that it sounds truly imhuman, cold, and alien, which fits the Combine as a whole, but the administration on Earth is trying to show the Combine as a path to salvation.


Why the Universal Union is a far better name for a nation.​

The title/name of "The Universal Union" sounds far, far better for a nation.

When your average dude hears "Universal Union", a number of things can arise in their head.
Union, unity, the act of collaborating and joining together to form something better. Far better imagery than "Combine".
A literal worker's union, something that most regular people get behind and want to be affiliated with.
Universal. It's for literally everybody. Nobody is left out.
Universal Union. These are beings from space, and they bring their Union to earth so that you too can go to the stars.

And the best part, is that this still sounds unique and alien. A country normally doesn't call itself by a title. At least, not like this.

I don't understand why people have been so opposed to this name. The only reason I can see is that it doesn't portray the Combine as for what they really are, and sort of leaves their "theme" out of it. That's the entire point. It's a front. A face. It's a lie to tell the masses so that they will gladly walk themselves into the chamber to get borged into a being of war, and cause no trouble. There is a stark difference both in our lore and canon between the Combine we see on Earth, and the actual Combine. There's an administration ran by humans. We see Breen. We see a security council being mentioned. We have the Civil Protection. Then there's the actual Combine. The advisors. The eldritch horror from deep space. I think the Universal Union fits perfectly for one of these, while the Combine fits perfectly for the true depiction.

In Willard Networks​

It would create a cool and obvious difference between those who support the Combine and those who don't. Loyalists would be encouraged (read: pressured) into using Universal Union, and as part of the propaganda machine, the Combine would always refer to themselves as the Universal Union.

Meanwhile, everyone else would use "Combine", with "Universal Union" being a formal title. Kind of like "The United States" and "America".

"But Laidlaw said that he always intended it to be Combine."​

1. What appears in the works is above what the writer says afterwards. Unless you go back and actively change the work for everyone, it stands on its own. Just cause Laidlaw says it's officially "Combine" doesn't mean it's canon when the actual game says otherwise. Yes, I know Combine shows up on a lot of other things, but I'm making a specific point here.

2. Even within the speech that Breen gives, he explicitely refers to the Combine as "The Universal Union". He did not use Universal Union to refer to a system of government, or as a descriptive title to the Combine. He specifically calls them the Universal Union, and then states afterwards that small minds call them the Combine. I've heard people say that by "small minds" he was essentially roasting humanity, but this isn't exactly made clear. Even if this were the case, he is still saying that their name is the Universal Union, and that humanity just has a habit of saying "Combine".

3. I believe Laidlaw and Valve calling them the "Combine" in propaganda meant to appease citizens was a genuine flaw. I'm tired of acting like it's good just cause Laidlaw said that that is the official way. It was a bad decision. It makes much more sense that the Combine occupation of Earth would call themselves the Universal Union, while neutral and resistant humans and vorts would call them the Combine as a popular/street term.

Why make this thread?​

I want to see what you all think and what your general opinion of this is. In the end, I want to recommend that we not have the administration call themselves the Combine in both lore and in-game speeches. It should be treated exactly as Breen said: A name used only by "simple minded" people (read: normal people). In the end, we have both, and the best of both parties.

TL;DR: The name "Combine" is bad when used by the human administration of the Combine government on Earth. The administration should call themselves the "Universal Union" or just "Union" while normal people can obviously use Combine.

Let me know what you all think. This isn't a suggestion thread, I just want to see the convo.
 
Combine: umbrella term, colloquial
Benefactors: colloquial term without the bad connotation
(Universal) Union: official term to refer to the Combine as an entity/state, most fitting name to use in official documents/speeches

Anyone trying to make it more complicated than that is just being silly.
 
I personally just use Combine for all my characters. Everyone uses it. Even Breen did. Outside of that, I don't really care or think about it.
 
I don't understand why people have been so opposed to this name. The only reason I can see is that it doesn't portray the Combine as for what they really are, and sort of leaves their "theme" out of it.
Click to expand...

I think the real reason is Laidlaw made a tweet about how its not their actual name. Now people think they're geniuses for just saying "Combine" and disavowing the term. I think its silly.
 
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I don't think this is an issue. It's used interchangably. The Combine wouldn't care what they're called. If you wanna use Universal Union, use it, simple.
 
Our Benefactors do not need to win over the people. The humans of Earth were just systematically homogenized underneath its grasp after suffering from a cataclysmic and completely unknown threat. Portal Storms took many nations by surprise (as far as we know,) and crippled infrastructure. In their infinite wisdom and nature, the Benefactors salvaged what was left of our people and made them useful.

You don't have to like the Combine. Do you think people only become compelled to obedience if they enjoy it, if they're persuaded that it's the best endgame for them? You don't know where anyone is. You are kept away from your loved ones and family. You don't have friends, you're consistently being moved around to different cities. You are just barely kept going by the rations the Combine provide you. You cannot scavenge for better goods. You have lived the past several years of your life in suffering or dread, and the only reason you want to stick around is because it is human nature to survive. If Hl2rp was more likened to the games its based around, you would probably play one character for a few days to a few weeks and then get put on a train or worse.

Why would you want to support the Combine? It's simple.

The last few years of your life have been spent in chaos and calamity. For some people, they lived and experienced only the Portal Storms and the ensuing destruction that comes next. You don't know a life better than this. Aliens came to Earth and, maybe, you have an understanding that something happened in New Mexico due to scientists and their erroneous nature.

Joining Civil Protection gives you a chance to eat better. The voice that relays orders to the inhabitants and oppressors of each city tells you that your family is safe due to your involvement. It could be lying. But you don't care, just having the chance that your wife or mom, who may or may not be across a continent, is able to eat better or sleep in warm conditions is enough to make you shoot your neighbor in the face or beat them for failing their loyalty checks.

There is not a single instance in any source material or gameplay that depicts members of the security council. Wallace Breen is our sole presenter of a publicly known 'leader' in the world. He is a narcistic traitor who put jesters on television and promises that the Combine, forcing you to never have children, are doing so for an altruistic purpose. It is more to our Benefactors typical behavior to presume that a security council is a facetious entity, likely as malign as the rest of its divisions on Earth.

Wallace Breen consistently preaches that humanity put itself in this situation and that it deserves this treatment. By being in universal union with the empire, they can lobotomize these illnesses and become something better.

A starving, tired, and ill-educated or defeated human being will not put up much resistance to believing this lie or becoming desensitized to it in order to continue living.

Also, universal union is not capitalized. Ever. It's not a real name.
 
Combine is fine as a name. Kind of shows they won and don't care about making it particularly palatable. Universal Union is cringe and the only canon implementation of it used by anyone is the singular "Union" for the purposes of verbally differentiating Collaborators and the civilian (ultimately powerless) human government from their alien overlords and those who who would use 'Combine' in a negative light.

I like to think of "Union" as the equivalent of a hypothetical "Transitional Authority" (A figurehead government) who ultimately are subjects and enslaved by the Combine and can, at most, try to work around the mandates they've been given. The Combine don't care about being appealing, they've given their name in the most direct, emotionless way a truly alien being can and expect it to be used accordingly. Question their unknowable, alien reasoning at your own risk.

Even Breen seems to be stuck with dealing with a wholly unappealing name with a hostile logo that goes against his narrative.
 
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Equinox, please stop attacking my rotary dial phone. Its getting annoying
 
Based Equinox post :cool:

Going to have to disagree on this one though :confused:
 
The Combine is a universal union.

It is not the Universal Union.

That’s as simple as it gets, and blatantly obvious when listening to Breen’s speech about it.
 
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