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Dead_Space_3_-_The_Story_so_Far

Dead Space 3 - The Story so Far

A definitive summary of the Dead Space timeline narrated by Ellie Langford.

Dead Space Stories and Key Characters

All Dead Space media briefly sorted with all of the key characters for every story. See full size image for details.

The following page serves as both a general order of events and a disambiguation page for all of the events relating to the Dead Space franchise. As with all transmedia, conflicts and discrepancies in the canon may arise as a result of developer oversight or a shift in direction.

An official backstory page from the developers of Dead Space (2023), detailing many events not featured in this article due to their lack of precise dates, can be read here.

Chronology[]

65 million years ago[]

  • The Black Marker, traveling through space, hits Earth and causes the mass extinction of the dinosaurs.

2 million years ago[]

2045-2050[]

2214-2215[]

  • The events of Dead Space: Martyr take place. (semi/dubious canon - see article)
  • The Black Marker is discovered on the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico, with the researchers determining that it is a source of limitless energy.[4]
  • Michael Altman reveals the existence of the Black Marker to the public against the government's wishes.[5]
  • March 15, 2215: Michael Altman is assassinated, becoming a martyr for the fledgling Church of Unitology which eventually grows to become the single largest religion in human space.[5][6]

2294-2311[]

  • The events of Dead Space: Catalyst take place.
  • The Sovereign Colonies researchers successfully reverse-engineer the Black Marker. The result is a series of replicas that are dubbed Red Markers. They are believed to be a source of limitless power and a solution to the resource crisis that plagues mankind.[4]
  • The Red Markers with their research teams are covertly deployed together to isolated worlds including Aspera, Kreemar and Aegis VII to test them.[7]
  • The Red Markers are activated for the first time and trigger Necromorph outbreaks on all planets' test sites.[7]

2311-2314[]

  • The previous incidents lead to the discovery of a Master Signal that is received by the Red Markers.[8]
  • Three new Markers are built and used via the Ptolemy Station Marker array to locate the "Master Signal" by tracking it to a remote and frozen planet.[8][9]
  • The Sovereign Colonies Armed Forces Galactic Expedition to Tau Volantis is launched.[10] The hope is to find the source of the seemingly unlimited energy of the Markers, which can solve humanity's resource crisis as well as end its resulting Resource Wars and Secession War.[11][12]
  • August 29, 2311: An initial drop zone is established on Tau Volantis.[13]
  • Alien life forms are found on the surface of Tau Volantis. Doctor Earl Serrano spearheads the research dig teams' efforts to unearth the alien artifacts and the Markers. "Rosetta" is discovered, leading to breakthroughs in understanding the Markers and the aliens themselves.[14]
  • The prolonged exposure to the Markers begins to affect the dig team personnel.[15][note 1]
  • The Markers that had been transferred to the flotilla for research begin to affect the SCAF personnel. They begin exhibiting symptoms of dementia, headaches, sleeplessness and hallucinations.[16][17][18]
  • Admiral Marjorie Graves is quarantined to her quarters on the orders of General Spencer Mahad, following a deterioration of her mental state as the Markers try to use her to shut the Alien Machine off that is keeping the Moon frozen.[19]
  • The Sovereign Colonies Council evaluate the accumulated research and evidence. They conclude that Tau Volantis is a Class 5 first contact scenario (Extinction-level threat to humanity). Scenario Five is put into effect.[20][21][22][23]
  • June 18, 2314: General Mahad and his loyalists complete the implementation of Scenario Five at Tau Volantis. The science data and the artifacts that had been gathered during the expedition are destroyed. The science staff is executed and all vehicles and spaceships are rendered inoperable. The mine-laying ship that had been accompanying the flotilla releases the space mines to deny access to Tau Volantis. Private Tim Caufman is asked by Earl Serrano to recover the Codex from the The Mule transport that had been shot down and deliver it to him. Caufman is intercepted by Mahad and executed. After wiping the Codex and ensuring the completion of Scenario Five, Mahad commits suicide.[24]
  • All research and personnel related to the Sovereign Colonies' research into the Markers are destroyed. The extent of the purges effectively nullifies the Colonies' ability to continue fighting in the Secession War, which is considered an acceptable price for mankind's survival. The Sovereign Colonies collapse, leading to the formation of an Earth-centric government in its place called the Earth Government Colonial Alliance.[21]

2446[]

2461[]

2477[]

2497[]

  • Wanat Disaster: Three supply ships, one planet-cracker and a CEC colony are lost to gravity tether failure.[27]

2505[]

  • The CEC illegally enters the Aegis Cluster, scanning planets for cracking. Aegis VII is found to have extremely valuable mineral deposits. CEC proceeds with constructing a colony in preparation for planet cracking.

2507[]

  • The CEC personnel begin preparing Aegis VII for planet crack.

2508[]

  • 5 weeks prior to Dead Space: CEC personnel rediscover Marker 3A on Aegis VII.[28][29] Its existence reaches both the leadership of the CEC and the Church of Unitology.[28] CEC prepares to dispatch the USG Ishimura to Aegis VII.[28]
  • Insomnia cases drastically increase among the Aegis VII Colony personnel.[28][30]

Dead Space (Comics) and Dead Space: Downfall begin.

  • 4 weeks prior: The Aegis VII Colony experiences increasing cases of insomnia and dementia. Colony Management refuses to take increasing violence seriously, even as the first insomnia-related homicide occurs.[30]
  • 1-2 weeks prior: Marker 3A is extracted from its pedestal and brought inside the Aegis VII Colony. Fifty Unitologists kill themselves in the Union Square Mass Suicide.[30][31]
  • Several colony personnel and extraction team members are slain by an engineer experiencing extreme hallucinations.[31]

Dead Space: Extraction begins.

  • Less than 1 week prior: The USG Ishimura arrives above Aegis VII. Marker 3A is immediately taken aboard the Ishimura.[28][30]
  • Captain Benjamin Mathius issues a no-fly order, denying travel between the Ishimura and Aegis VII.[30][32] The CEC personnel aboard the Ishimura begin experiencing insomnia, depression and dementia.[33]
  • 2 days prior: The USG Ishimura commences the Aegis VII planet crack.[28][30] Significant interference jams communications between the Ishimura and the Aegis VII Colony.[28][30][34] The colony comes under attack from Necromorphs originating from dead colonists.[30][34][35]
  • The Aegis VII Colony Shuttleport Disaster destroys five of the six emergency shuttles on the ground and kills numerous colonists.[30][34][note 2]
  • Almost all of the CEC personnel on Aegis VII are killed.[28][30][34][35]
  • The USG Ishimura is compromised as the Necromorphs multiply and spread quickly throughout the ship.[28][36][37]
  • The Ishimura Captain dies in a botched arrest attempt.[37][38] All but one of the escape pods are mysteriously launched with no one on board.[28]
  • All of the decks of the USG Ishimura are compromised. Some sections remain isolated. The majority of the ship's personnel are dead.
Dead Space

Dead Space (Comics), Dead Space: Downfall and Dead Space: Extraction end. Dead Space begins.

3 weeks[note 3] after Dead Space

1 month after Dead Space

2511[]

Prior to Dead Space 2

  • February 7: Unitologists sabotage the Government Sector on Titan Station, enabling the Necromorphs to spread to the Titan Mines and beginning the events of Dead Space (Mobile). They trick a fellow member named Karrie Norton into opening the crossover tubes, allowing the Necromorphs to flood into Titan Station's Public Sector.[43]

Dead Space (Mobile) ends. Dead Space: Ignition, Dead Space 2: Severed, and Dead Space 2 begin.[43]

Dead Space 2

Dead Space 2: Severed ends.

2514[]

  • EarthGov Marker facilities are systematically attacked by the followers of Unitology.[46]
  • Captain Robert Norton and John Carver locate Isaac Clarke on Luna.[47]
Dead Space 3 begins
  • The USM Eudora reaches Tau Volantis and is destroyed by the SCAF space mines still active after two centuries. Survivors, including Clarke and Carver, regroup at the CMS Roanoke and eventually acquire the CMS Crozier. Believing that the planet is the Marker homeworld, they attempt to reach the surface, rather than evacuate, and are scattered on landing. Followed by Jacob Danik, who was contacted by Norton in a desperate attempt to secure passage off-world, the team is reduced to Ellie, Isaac and Carver by the time they reach the SCAF science complex. After reconstructing the Codex and apparently losing Ellie, Isaac and Carver pursue Danik into the buried alien city, to stop him from deactivating the Alien Machine and restarting the Tau Volantis Convergence. After a confrontation at the top of the Machine, the Brother Moon successfully awakens and is defeated in a desperate battle in space by Isaac and Carver.
Dead Space 3: Awakened begins
  • Isaac Clarke and John Carver, seemingly doomed to die after defeating the Moon in orbit and sent falling down towards the planet, wake up on its surface after mysteriously surviving. Rallying together, they pursue the evacuating Unitologists under The Cult Leader to the CMS Terra Nova. Manipulated against one another by the awakened Brethren Moons, they lose valuable time fighting each other and miss the chance to warn Earth. They successfully jury rig the mass driver to use a modern ShockPoint drive and return to Earth, only to find it under attack by the Brethren Moons.

Notes[]

  1. These insulated suits are worn by a SCAF deep dig team assigned to exhume the darkest secrets of Tau Volantis. Whatever they found locked deep in the ice changed them forever. When they emerged weeks later, they are covered head to toe in strange graffiti and claimed to be “Witnesses to the Truth.”
  2. The sixth emergency shuttle is destroyed by the Ishimura when it attempts to land.
  3. Campbell: "The planet was Aegis VII. It was virtually destroyed in a mining accident three weeks ago."

Sources[]

  1. Log:Alien Artifact 02
  2. Dead Space 3: Chapter 14: Everything Has Its Place
  3. 3.0 3.1 No Known Survivors
  4. 4.0 4.1 Dead Space 3: CAG Briefing
  5. 5.0 5.1 Log:Unitology Article
  6. Dead Space 2: Chapter 4: Going to Church
  7. 7.0 7.1 Dead Space: Catalyst
  8. 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 Dead Space: Liberation
  9. Log:S.C.A.F. Artifact 16
  10. Log:S.C.A.F. Artifact 02
  11. Log:A Desperate Mission
  12. The World and History of Dead Space - EarthGov Page
  13. Log:Lumley's Log
  14. Log:S.C.A.F. Artifact 15
  15. Press Release: EA Forecasts the World's Deadliest Winter When Dead Space 3 Releases on February 5, 2013
  16. Log:S.C.A.F. Artifact 05
  17. Log:S.C.A.F. Artifact 06
  18. Log:S.C.A.F. Artifact 07
  19. Log:Offical Orders
  20. Log:First Contact
  21. 21.0 21.1 Log:Last Contact
  22. YouTube: Dead Space 3: Scenario Five
  23. YouTube: Dead Space 3: Reaper Barracks Mission | Brainwashing video
  24. Dead Space 3: Prologue: Beginnings
  25. Log:Sponsored Article: The USG Ishimura
  26. 26.0 26.1 Dead Space 3: Dev Team Collector's Edition
  27. Log:Planetary Mining - An Investor's Guide
  28. 28.00 28.01 28.02 28.03 28.04 28.05 28.06 28.07 28.08 28.09 28.10 Dead Space: Downfall
  29. Antony Johnston Q&A
  30. 30.0 30.1 30.2 30.3 30.4 30.5 30.6 30.7 30.8 30.9 Dead Space (Comic)
  31. 31.0 31.1 Dead Space: Extraction: Chapter 1: Worlds Apart
  32. Log:Cross's Log 01
  33. Log:Calculated Risks
  34. 34.0 34.1 34.2 34.3 Dead Space: Extraction: Chapter 2: Another Day At The Office
  35. 35.0 35.1 Dead Space: Extraction: Chapter 3: Return To The Megavents
  36. Dead Space: Extraction: Chapter 4: Rendezvous With Fate
  37. 37.0 37.1 Dead Space: Extraction: Chapter 5: Emergency Care
  38. Log:Captain's Fate
  39. Dead Space: Extraction: Chapter 10: Secrets And Salvation
  40. Amazon: Aftermath Plot
  41. YouTube: Agents of EarthGov Audio Log
  42. Dead Space: Aftermath
  43. 43.0 43.1 Screenshot from the Lights Out 2 Video Log
  44. Dead Space 2: Chapter 14: Marker Access and a New Threat
  45. Dead Space 3: Chapter 2: On Your Own
  46. Log:EarthGov Artifact 01
  47. Log:EarthGov Artifact 02
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