Aegis VII is a planet in the Dead Space franchise and one of the most prominent locations within the whole series. Located within the remote Cygnus system, Aegis VII was uninhabited and ill-suited for supporting life. However, in 2314, the Earth Government used the planet as a test bed for Marker 3A, a human recreation of the alien Black Marker discovered 100 years previously in Mexico. The experiment led to the birth of the recombinant life-form that would be known in the future as "Necromorphs", created from the bodies of deceased humans. The Necromorphs and the Marker proved to be uncontrollable and both were sealed beneath the planet and abandoned until 2508 when an illegal mining operation headed by Concordance Extraction Corporation resulted in their re-discovery. As a result, the Aegis VII colony was destroyed by the Necromorph infestation.
History[]
First Aegis VII Incident[]
After the Black Marker was successfully reverse-engineered, one copy was relocated to Aegis VII; the research team continued to attempt to decipher the symbols on its surface.
After a number of experiments based on the finally deciphered symbols, resulting in the synthesis of an alien microbial life-form composed of recombinant DNA and the subsequent horrific events caused by its release into the wild, the system was abandoned and the Aegis Cluster was marked off limits to all space traffic as a prohibited zone.
Second Aegis VII Incident[]
The planet eventually became home to an illegal mining facility set up by the Concordance Extraction Corporation. Before the discovery of the Red Marker, the colonists had been experiencing insomnia and uneasiness. At the time of the Ishimura's arrival before the commencement of the planet-cracking, the Red Marker had been found. Many Unitologists believed this to be the Marker from their spiritual texts and desired it be moved to the colony. After its removal, many colonists began experiencing hallucinations, dementia, heightened aggression, and other psychological disturbances. Both the suicide and murder rates on the colony skyrocketed in the days following the Marker's unearthing.
Upon hearing of this "Marker," Captain Benjamin Matthius ordered it taken aboard the Ishimura, apparently following orders from the Church of Unitology. Immediately after the Marker was moved to the Ishimura, the planet crack commenced. As a result, the colony experienced a blackout and all radio contact was cut off.
Shortly after the unearthing of the Marker, a strange organic growth was discovered within the colony. Attempts were made to destroy this unusual fungal presence, but the substance rapidly regrew shortly after its removal and its growth only accelerated regardless of further attempts to clear it. After the Marker was taken off-planet, the organic matter began mutating, spawning the Necromorphs. It is revealed via backstory logs that the Marker created a "dead space" around itself that prevented the Necromorph pathogen from recombining necrotic tissue (hence, the organic matter did not infect/cause the Necromorph threat). After the blackout, the colonists began going insane, causing panic with murder, suicide, and mutilation. This prompted the surviving colonists to flee Aegis VII via shuttles from the shuttle bay to the safety of the Ishimura. An overloaded passenger shuttle crashed into the bay, destroying all the remaining shuttles with it. The survivors were stranded on the planet and more desperate to push upward for the Ishimura. In the end, nobody from the colony survived the outbreak.
Isaac Clarke, an engineer from the USG Kellion, had been fighting for his life against the Necromorph infestation aboard the Ishimura. He returned the Red Marker to Aegis VII believing that it would seal the "Hive Mind", the massive Necromorph creature created during the initial Marker experiments, which was believed to be manipulating the Necromorphs overrunning the colony and the ship. Isaac successfully returned the Red Marker to the pedestal, pacifying the Hive Mind but disrupting the gravity tethers holding a large portion of Aegis VII several miles above the surface, threatening to destroy the planet's colony. Kendra Daniels stole the Marker in order to return it to the Earth Defense Force, but the Hive Mind crushed her before she could get it back to her ship. Isaac defeated the Hive Mind and left the planet on his ship just before the portion of the planet fell on the surface.
Destruction[]
The collision of the planetary fragment left Aegis VII fractured and highly unstable. The USG O'Bannon was dispatched by EarthGov to investigate what had happened to the Ishimura and to stabilize the planet before it tore itself apart. In reality, however, the O'Bannon's mission was to recover any remaining fragments of the Red Marker which were still active and transmitting their dead-space signal.
The crew of the O'Bannon recovered a fragment of the Marker. However, the man who found the fragment - Nickolas Kuttner - was driven insane after touching it and went berserk, attacking his teammates and damaging the machinery that was being used to stabilize the gravimetric distortions tearing the planet apart. As a result of Kuttner's outburst, Aegis VII's destruction was hastened and the team was forced to evacuate before the planet exploded. Of course, when the Marker shard was brought up from the planet, the O'Bannon suffered the same disaster that the Ishimura had done before.
Necromorphs[]
The following is a list of all the different Necromorph types that appeared on Aegis VII.