| “ | Apophis, the great god of chaos, raised his mighty hand and the just, and unjust felt his wrath. | „ |
| —Anonymous |
| “ | 'Humanity is no more, A just end to thousands of years of exploitation,destruction and war. We deserve this fate. As in all things, nature will exact her revenge without a thought, and with devastating consequences | „ |
| —RAGE Comics Issue #1 |
99942 "Apophis" or simply Apophis for short, was a gigantic meteorite that crashed into planet Earth in the December of 2029, destroying most of human civilization and drastically changing the very face of the planet.
Rage[]
According to the RAGE novel and the introduction cinematic of the game, Apophis grazed the Moon before hitting Earth, breaking into three large fragments and numerous smaller ones, each one "veering in slightly different directions." As a result, humanity wasn't completely wiped out, as was previously predicted by scientists working on the Ark project. Thus, by 2112, Ark Survivors weren't the only ones who emerged to begin settling the Wasteland. The Feltrite Crater is the result of a fragment of the meteorite hitting Earth. Apophis was filled with a vast reserve of Feltrite, which reacts violently with gravity. Thus, Feltrite may have been what triggered Apophis to veer off of its predicted path and onto a collision course with Earth.
Rage 2[]
As of 2165, Feltrite-rich meteorites continue falling throughout the Wasteland. It therefore appears that some fragments of Apophis remain in orbit.
Notes[]
- Apophis contained one of the richest deposits of Feltrite in the universe. Some characters, such as Antonin Kvasir, suspect that this material may have had something to do with the creation of the mutants and mutated plants that dot the wasteland.
- Apophis is worshipped by the Scorchers as a god of sorts.
- By the events of RAGE 2, the Human population of the Earth has climbed back up to 80% of what it was before Pre-Apophis impact.
Trivia[]
- 99942 Apophis is a real-life asteroid, and was discovered in 2004, which at the time was estimated to have a 1 in 37 chance of direct Earth impact in the year 2029, which is why id Software chose that time for it to strike in-game. As time passed and Apophis grew closer, revised calculations determined that there is almost zero chance of Apophis striking the Earth even indirectly, and it is currently believed that it will harmlessly pass by the Earth in 2029.
- Apophis is the Greek name for Apep, the Egyptian god of darkness and chaos. The asteroid was named Apophis after the long-running villain posing as Apophis in Stargate SG-1 by the two astronomers who discovered it.
- The diameter of the real-life asteroid 99942 Apophis is only 370 m or 1,080 ft, and as deadly as it might be, it is still rather small. The video in the beginning of the game shows us a much bigger asteroid, likely larger than the one that killed off the dinosaurs, which is especially noticeable when the in-game Apophis grazes the Moon.
- If the real-life Apophis were to directly collide with the Earth, it would cause damage to an area of thousands of square meters, but would not be large enough to cause any long-term global effects such as those depicted in RAGE.
- Judging by the opening cutscene, Apophis probably crash-landed in the Middle East with the energy of 1 Billion Megatons of TNT.
Gallery[]
