![]() ![]() The pain is personal, emotional, psychological, societal, economic, and cultural and it will leave scars. Notwithstanding the human tragedy of lost lives, broken families, and scarred communities, the economic and social changes caused by a pandemic-driven lockdown will constitute a cultural legacy which will live long in our memories and those of future generations. Like other global events with planet-wide impact, Covid-19 could potentially change how we see the world, the ways in which we think, and how we conduct our lives. What we do know is that the world has changed. Probably one of the most important ways to cope with this lockdown to avoid any deterioration of mental and physical wellbeing is to take advantage of the situation to reflect on something that we cherish the most in our research, in our case corporate social responsivity (CSR) and marketing. What is more, we have to do this with little prior warning or training. Whilst academics like us are still busy with our usual research activities, we are learning to adjust to a new reality and way of work (and life, though the boundary is diminished during lockdown) with online meetings with colleagues, research students, and of course quite ‘dauntingly’ online teaching. For more information, refer to this article.We are writing this article during the first period of lockdown in the UK and being “responsible citizens” by complying with the social distancing measures. ![]() More than this cannot be said about the Combine, as more is not known at this time. There is a photo of an Overwatch soldier on a Nova Prospekt television screen, and the abdomen appears to be metal, and there is a tube protruding from its stomach. On the other hand, the Overwatch soldiers that one sees in Nova Prospekt are extremely altered. However, they do not seem to be drastically enhanced, and any changes that are made are most likely to keep the soldiers from deserting or something of the like. In the last stage, there is a picture of a Metro Cop, and you can see that on its face there are mechanical parts. The Metro Police do not appear to be modified, however there is a piece of graffiti in Half-Life 2 that shows the evolution of Man. The dimensional rift caused by the Black Mesa incident drew the Combine’s attention, and they were able to use it to get to Earth.The aliens on Xen were there because they were running from the Combine, and Xen was a temporary Refuge.Late last year, Doug Lombardi of Valve Software released the following information: This information does not mean that the Combine were specifically on Xen. “Their slaves… we are their slaves… we are…” Throughout Xen, the Nihilanth also says things to Gordon that could be referring to the Combine, i.e. There are also what appear to be surgical scars on its torso (this is debatable), which is even further evidence that the Nihilanth had had dealings with the Combine before. Also, it has stumps for legs, suggesting that they were amputated in a very similar fashion to the Stalkers in Half-Life 2. This suggests that it was also a slave at some point in its existence. Like the Vortigaunts, the Nihilanth had metal bands around its wrists. ![]() “The All Knowing Vortigaunt” also mentions that the Nihilanth was a “lesser master” and that there was a “greater master.” This is an important piece of information. They do not have any relation to the Combine, other than the fact that they were aware of them. By destroying the Nihilanth, Gordon unintentionally freed the Vortigaunts. As was mentioned by “The All Knowing Vortigaunt” (an Easter Egg in Half-Life 2), the Vortigaunts were slaves to the Nihilanth before and during the Black Mesa Incident. The original name for the entity was “monster_aslave,” and the Vortigaunts had metal bands around their wrists, suggesting their servitude. The Vortigaunts were slaves, at the time of the Black Mesa Incident. ![]()
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