Combine's History
The Combine, abbreviated as CMB, referred to as "Our Benefactors" and described as a universal union by Dr. Wallace Breen,[2][3]is a vast interdimensional empire spanning an indefinite amount of universes and star systems, comprising of countless species as allies and as slaves. The Combine's ultimate goal is to enslave and control the entire Multiverse.
Following the Black Mesa Incident, and the death of the Nihilanth, the Combine invaded Earth and emerged victorious from the ensuing war against the human race in a mere seven hours. With their extremely superior technology, and the assistance of numerous enslaved species, the Combine completely took over all of human civilization, installed an occupation which brutally oppressed the dwindling human population, and began slowly destroying the planet through the drainage of its resources. Nevertheless, humanity did not remain subjugated, and nearly twenty years later, Earth's Resistance culminated in The Uprising, and the Combine were beaten thrice in pivotal battles.
These events were spearheaded by Gordon Freeman, having been released by The G-Man from stasis. The Combine serves as the overarching antagonistic force of the overall Half-Life series and is the main antagonistic force of Half-Life 2, its episodes, and Half-Life: Alyx.
The Combine is a massive empire spanning countless parallel universes and dimensions, and includes an unknown number of sentient species. The Combine's ultimate goal is to conquer and harness entire universes and dimensions.
Details of the Combine's leadership and administrative structure remain unknown, as do whether they consist of an economy, or even a society that exists beyond the limits of human understanding. On Earth, beings called the Advisors are responsible for overseeing all communication and interaction between the Combine and the Earthly occupation, as well as ruling all Combine forces on earth through Dr. Wallace Breen, who serves as humanity's Administrator and representative on Earth.
The Combine is composed of an untold number of species, with entire alien ecosystems enslaved to their will. They seem to only assimilate intelligent species from the universes they conquer, and manipulate these species through many means, including bioengineering and artificial implantation. The products of the Combine's re-engineering process are known as "synths" — synthetic organisms that serve a variety of functions within the empire.
On Earth, the Combine notably uses their technology to create armies of super-soldiers, resulting in a highly mobile and adaptive military force that can respond to any threat and crush any opposition.
The Combine Overwatch on Earth is a notable example of this: Overwatch Soldiers, humans surgically modified with Combine technology, are overall much deadlier and more resilient than normal human beings. They are also highly trained, and can adapt well beyond the confines of Earth, in other universes and dimensions if needed, as in-game dialogue mentions potential deployment of Overwatch units across the Combine Empire in a "permanent off-world assignment." Assignment on other worlds is considered a terrible fate for Overwatch soldiers unfortunate enough to be stuck with it, and is often used as a punishment or threat only. Equally dire is the threat of "permanent off-world relocation" directed towards citizens. Judging by dialogue from Breen, many of the territories under control by the Combine are nigh-uninhabitable by humans without life support systems.
It is unknown how many worlds the Combine has under its control. Being an inter-dimensional empire, they may have hundreds, if not thousands, of universes under their control. It is known that the Combine invaded the homeworld of the Nihilanth's species and inflicted a total genocide against them, with only the Nihilanth able to escape the onslaught by seeking refuge in Xen.[6] It brought with it members of several species, both its allies and its slaves, including the Vortigaunts.[6][7]
Following the Black Mesa Incident and subsequent Seven Hour War, Earth became the Combine's most recent (known) annexation. Following standard Combine procedure, Earth's dominant species were modified to form a new arm of the Combine military, and the planet's resources were systematically stripped.
