I, alongside @MrTuki, @TheDeNuke, and some people over by our French sister-server, have begun to make some serious ground with the Vortigaunt lore of V3. But before we finalize anything at all, I would like to reach out to the general community to gather some opinions. We understand that many people are not fond of the current V2 lore, and we would like to gather an understanding as to what specifically we need to avoid going forward.
Please do not hold back in your criticisms! Anything and everything is fair game in our lore. Xen, what a Vortigaunt is, the vortessence, and so on, are just some examples we would like to see discussed here. We just ask that you remain respectful of everyone, both in the thread and those who are or were responsible for the lore, past, present, or future.
Let vorts have homeworld origins again. I literally had to delete my first vortigaunt because I could not feasibly reintegrate his story when the change was made to set homeworld back 16000 years ago, forcefully retconning him to be a Xen vort. It was abysmal dogshit, and kills off layers of backstories and tribal stuff. I know homeworld is meant to be mystical and vague but hooooly shit that was annoying, and I liked being a Mangarii farmer on homeworld >:[
Vorts need their own weaknesses. They are quite literally on an alien planet not suited for them in any way, shape, or form. However, they act as apex predators on Earth.
Perhaps Vorts can only eat Xen meat without getting sick (toxicity meter rises), meaning eating human food is done as a last resort.
Maybe human medicine doesn't work on them, meaning if they are heavily wounded, they need to seek another Vort to heal them.
IDK, anything but having zero downsides.
I also don't remember them possessing superhuman strength in the games. Perhaps they are more fit than your average human, but not surpassing them in every way.
In regards to what pitfalls we want to avoid going forward, I'll spare preamble and just get right into it.
THE OBJECTIVE: Things I consider basically universally agreed upon by the community at large.
1. NO MORE TALL VORTIGAUNTS
Vortigaunts should not be notably taller than typical humans. That is to say, they should essentially operate off of the exact same height scale. There is nothing, in any game, that implies Vortigaunts are REMOTELY as tall as Vort leads made them. This is likely nothing more than them enjoying a bit of 'power fantasy'. All evidence suggests they are of average height and should frankly share that exact pool.
2. An end to Jedi Vortigaunts
Now, what does this mean specifically? As mentioned above, Vortigaunts are basically better than humans in *every* single aspect. They are written to be stronger, faster, smarter and more powerful in every meaningful way one can be. These abilities are offset, much like an eighth graders Dungeons and Dragons OC, by meaningless 'nerfs'. Inability to consume alcohol. Or being poor swimmers, as examples.
This is a problem that only gets worse the 'older' a Vortigaunt gets. With some 'Grand-elders' LITERALLY having the capacity to BLOW UP THE ENTIRE FUCKING PLANET and nearly having done so. This is comical. It needs to never return.
Vortigaunts need to brought back down to Earth in general. Yes, they are powerful. But they are not, in any remote sense, god-like. They were contested, even with immense reinforcements, by the HECU at Black Mesa. They were subdued at their homeworld just as easily as any other species was. They were subdued once more by the Combine on Earth. While they have strength, and might even be on average more overall 'powerful' than a normal human, they're not Jedi knights.
Nothing In Half Life suggests otherwise.
3. PUT DOWN THE PEN
Even assuming Vortigaunt lore on Willard was good, which it isn't, there is simply too much of it. Like everyone else in this community, I've never read the parables entirely. I've never read the numerous dissertations on what came when - or why or how - or whatever.
Two problems come from this strange need to write about every facet of Vortigant 'lore'
1A. The more you write, the more likely you start producing crap. Some of the only Vortigaunt lore that people would generally accept as worthy of sticking around was produced at the factions earliest inception. Every later edition has only gotten worse...and worse...
Such additions have included the following, retconned or otherwise
Vortigaunts laying eggs
Vortigaunts beating the Combine
Grand Elders blowing up all of China
Everything that is the 'parables'
The Freeman effect
2A. Humanizes the Vortigaunts to the point they no longer even feel alien.
Did you know that Vortigaunts fought tribal wars on their home planet?
Did you know Vortigaunts once lived in a sci-fi society or some shit?
Well somewhere in the mess that is Vortigaunt lore, they've basically become strange, overpowered humans. Demystified entirely. Discounted utterly.
It isn't to say elements of the Vortigaunts cannot be expanded upon, but it is to say that not all, or perhaps not even most should be. Similar to the Combine themselves, English Willard staff have to accept the fact aliens - need to be left alien.
4. Don't make the collar process such a headache
This one is more of a server gameplay point, but it deserves specific mention for that. The decollaring process was made so absolutely messy, so overly-complex, that the entire system was abandoned. A staple of rebel RP was snipped away from the server itself simply because nobody could be bothered to just simplify things.
This is insane and should not be repeated.
5. Get rid of Coterminous Vortigaunts
Willard has actively shit upon Half Life's cannon endlessly. Why these things were invented to explain away something as trivial as 'all vorts in Half Life have red eyes' is beyond me. The Freeman effect...I dont think we need to get much into this one.
It should go.
THE SUBJECTIVE These are more so my own points brought up more as discussion
1. Vortigaunts should not be measured in Warhammer 40000 years
Currently, Vortigaunts, even normal ones you can meet on the server can range upwards of something like 10,000 years old. The average age of any Vortigaunt is considered to be 750.
750 years.
To place this into actual annual context
2025 - 750 = 1275 A.D
The *average* age of a single Vortigaunt would have them living and conscious around the general time period of the real-life inquisition were they to be on Earth.
This is an insane period of time. So much so, I'd generally question the value it provides them as characters. You cannot even possibly begin to fill that empty void of space, thus them being long-lived doesn't much inform their characters. Hell, if it did they'd probably be emotionless stoics.
Very subjectively...
I'd actually say Vortigaunts shouldn't live much longer than humans for the most part. A vortiguants body is more of a tool housing a fragment of the greater Vortessence, thus really would be far more expendable than a human body might be considered.
Far as I can recall, Vortigaunts are keenly aware they will 'return to the Vortessence' upon death. Taking this literally, which we often do, this means death for them truly isn't final. They return to the greater host of the Vortessence. They wont ever be themselves again, they'll never 'revive' as that same Vortigaunt, but the light doesn't get snuffed out. The matter, or energy, that composed them doesn't fade. It'll never again form the atoms that *were* them as an individual, but those fragments go back to the greater whole.
There's nothing in Half Life that really implies Vortigaunts are some really long lived bodies, and the fact that they operate as partial extensions of their actual intangible hive consciousness, kinda makes me lean to the idea Vortigaunt bodies wouldn't be made for hyper-longevity in mind.
Yeah, they're individuals, all of them, but part of what makes them alien is from that gaze, distant eyes are staring at you. They're not self-contained into themselves like a human is. They are, even if only partially, tethered to an energy far beyond themselves.
I guess at the most bare and basic level, we need to return to the fundamentals of what Vortigaunts are and just start from there again, keeping the core of what a Vortigaunt is in mind when coming up with lore for them from there. As many have said, the current state of the Vorts has them act like Jedi who are, in some strange contradiction, simultaneously both a perpetual slave species that's been enslaved by Nihilanth and Combine alike, while also being potentially incredibly powerful beings who could blow up the entire planet if they wanted to, with them only getting more powerful with age in what could be described as a straight line almost.
Now, with all that being said, I do think it's important to also address where exactly the idea of Vortigaunts as some kind of all-powerful super species that trumps humans and even other aliens in many ways comes from, because there actually are certain scenes within the Half Life games that imply something along those lines. Namely, that, as HL2EP1 and onwards show, the Vortigaunts are powerful enough that, when pooling multiple vessels together and concentrating their powers and connection with the Vortessence, they are actually capable of providing some degree of pushback and resistance against the G-Man himself, a character widely regarded as the single most powerful entity observed throughout all of the Half Life canon, given how much influence he can assert over the narrative itself with his own powers. Even in Half Life Alyx, it's demonstrated that a group of captured Vortigaunts over a few pylons can keep the G-Man contained within the Vault as their powers are harvested by the Combine to keep the Vault powered and to keep the G-Man contained.
And yet, despite their ability to keep the G-Man at least temporarily in check, or block him out temporarily, and even keep him contained within a gigantic Vault using seemingly only a few Vorts at a time, the Vortigaunts are still frequently subjected to enslavement by entities that are weaker than him, like the Nihilanth, and arguably even the Combine. They're still ultimately portrayed as primarily an agricultural species, engaging in antlion husbandry and communicating via murals in addition to their flux shifting and Vortessence connections, which suggests a relatively humble society and form of life that would also be very good candidates for mass enslavement. Not only that, but in canon lore, they require the use of a piece of antlion extract just to fully revive one person, whereas their powers normally would be able to keep a person alive if constantly applied (their powers are seemingly electrical in nature, after all, and it makes sense that they can keep electrical impulses in the body functioning and use this for healing purposes and such).
To me, it seems that part of the issue is that the canon lore, what bits we get of it, also portrays Vortigaunts in a contradictory manner, albeit in a significantly less egregious fashion compared to how it's done in Willard (after all, Vortigaunts are still not portrayed as being fundamentally stronger and physically superior to humans in all aspects or significantly taller than them in the games themselves. In fact, it seems to be implied that their powers, their connection to the Vortessence, as well as the fact that they have claws are the only siginificant advantages they have over humans, and if you were to take those away they'd be fairly easy to fight and kill. Even the HECU could stand up to them in a fight, and it's not like their slave collars from their days under the Nihilanth's servitude really notably handicapped them in any physical way and they still could use their powers fairly standardly.). So I think that we'd need to recharacterize the Vortigaunts on Willard in such a way that removes the egregiousness of their otherwise contradictory nature, enough to allow for suspension of disbelief.
Probably one of the biggest points, ever. I get Vorts are cool n' all, but I don't want to memorize and read so much information to play them, hence why I never even tried to apply (as if it isn't an extremely hard proccess, anyway)
Probably one of the biggest points, ever. I get Vorts are cool n' all, but I don't want to memorize and read so much information to play them, hence why I never even tried to apply (as if it isn't an extremely hard proccess, anyway)
The worst part is. All that lore is never said ICly ever again for lore reasons. WTF WAS THE POINT OF GIVING US ALL THIS LORE IN THE FIRST PLACE. The closest vortigaunt ive had to talk about its own origin was the Archivist / any other of mangos vorts but like everybody else never talks about it.
My main issue with Willard vort-lore is the massive overwriting of it. More isn't always better, keep it simple, keep it mysterious. Not everything needs explaining.
I guess at the most bare and basic level, we need to return to the fundamentals of what Vortigaunts are and just start from there again, keeping the core of what a Vortigaunt is in mind when coming up with lore for them from there. As many have said, the current state of the Vorts has them act like Jedi who are, in some strange contradiction, simultaneously both a perpetual slave species that's been enslaved by Nihilanth and Combine alike, while also being potentially incredibly powerful beings who could blow up the entire planet if they wanted to, with them only getting more powerful with age in what could be described as a straight line almost.
Now, with all that being said, I do think it's important to also address where exactly the idea of Vortigaunts as some kind of all-powerful super species that trumps humans and even other aliens in many ways comes from, because there actually are certain scenes within the Half Life games that imply something along those lines. Namely, that, as HL2EP1 and onwards show, the Vortigaunts are powerful enough that, when pooling multiple vessels together and concentrating their powers and connection with the Vortessence, they are actually capable of providing some degree of pushback and resistance against the G-Man himself, a character widely regarded as the single most powerful entity observed throughout all of the Half Life canon, given how much influence he can assert over the narrative itself with his own powers. Even in Half Life Alyx, it's demonstrated that a group of captured Vortigaunts over a few pylons can keep the G-Man contained within the Vault as their powers are harvested by the Combine to keep the Vault powered and to keep the G-Man contained.
And yet, despite their ability to keep the G-Man at least temporarily in check, or block him out temporarily, and even keep him contained within a gigantic Vault using seemingly only a few Vorts at a time, the Vortigaunts are still frequently subjected to enslavement by entities that are weaker than him, like the Nihilanth, and arguably even the Combine. They're still ultimately portrayed as primarily an agricultural species, engaging in antlion husbandry and communicating via murals in addition to their flux shifting and Vortessence connections, which suggests a relatively humble society and form of life that would also be very good candidates for mass enslavement. Not only that, but in canon lore, they require the use of a piece of antlion extract just to fully revive one person, whereas their powers normally would be able to keep a person alive if constantly applied (their powers are seemingly electrical in nature, after all, and it makes sense that they can keep electrical impulses in the body functioning and use this for healing purposes and such).
To me, it seems that part of the issue is that the canon lore, what bits we get of it, also portrays Vortigaunts in a contradictory manner, albeit in a significantly less egregious fashion compared to how it's done in Willard (after all, Vortigaunts are still not portrayed as being fundamentally stronger and physically superior to humans in all aspects or significantly taller than them in the games themselves. In fact, it seems to be implied that their powers, their connection to the Vortessence, as well as the fact that they have claws are the only siginificant advantages they have over humans, and if you were to take those away they'd be fairly easy to fight and kill. Even the HECU could stand up to them in a fight, and it's not like their slave collars from their days under the Nihilanth's servitude really notably handicapped them in any physical way and they still could use their powers fairly standardly.). So I think that we'd need to recharacterize the Vortigaunts on Willard in such a way that removes the egregiousness of their otherwise contradictory nature, enough to allow for suspension of disbelief.
Less contradictory when you consider G-Man himself "willingly abides by certain restrictions" that prevent him from directly involving himself. In fact, a lot of the Vortigaunt's more impressive feats seem specific to G-Man and his effect, whereas we never see any as impressive feats done in his absence. (of course, irl, we know that hl2's ending was retconned & the writers needed a deus ex machina to save both gordon & alyx from the g-man and death, which is probably why we haven't seen those exact abilities demonstrated again)
Also, I don't know how much credibility I want to afford the Combine or Vortigaunts in imprisoning G-Man in the vault, since that was intended as a trap for Alyx from the get-go.
When I was vort lead I actually had them drop vorts down to be average to above average human heights (5'8"—6'4" or smth like that), but some of them didn’t call staff to have it changed.
You know, the fact that, now that I think about it, the most impressive thing the Vortigaunts are ever seen doing beyond what they've done with the G-Man and such is that one time they saved Alyx's life with antlion extract (and I guess Gary could lift up Eli with a degree of telekinetic abilities too, but that's not really all that impressive tbh) also leads me to believe that, because the only time we've seen Vorts use extract is to save Alyx's life, it seems some people have also been led to believe that antlion larval extract is basically to Vortigaunts like spinach is to Popeye or some shit and that they can just use extract as an excuse when they want Vorts to do something ultra powerful and shit. I don't think the implication of the extract being used to save Alyx is that it gives Vorts the equivalent of temporary superpowers, so much as it's just something that they know how to utilize for impressive healing properties and such given their history as an agricultural society practicing antlion husbandry. They should just know how to use extract as a resource to do various things with, but that shouldn't be used as an excuse to basically turn them into superpowered beings every time they consume it, because I highly doubt it was ever implied that extract can do something like that for them.
My main issue with Willard vort-lore is the massive overwriting of it. More isn't always better, keep it simple, keep it mysterious. Not everything needs explaining.
I've seen vorts get some retarded lore in every other community, but I always felt that everything vort-related in Willard kinda went atomic in any aspect possible. The faction was stripped bare of any mystery it had, and that's a fatal flaw in the Half Life universe, where everything is written with as much subtlety as feasible.
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