Corson V is a planet in Rivet's dimension in Rift Apart and the alternate dimension version of the Corson V of Ratchet's dimension. It is the home of the enormous, dystopian Nefarious City; the heart of the Nefarious Empire and from where Emperor Nefarious rules all of the known universe.
History[]
Before Rift Apart[]
The subjugation of Corson V[]
Ten years prior to the events of Rift Apart, the planet fell to the Nefarious Empire and Nefarious City was constructed. Emperor Nefarious then chose it to be site of his ruling throne. The Emperor made many new decrees to the populace when he came to power, promising peace and order but at the cost of their civil liberties. It is also from this planet that the Resistance against the Nefarious Empire was born.
Rift Apart[]
Infobot theft[]
In the seedy lower streets area of the city, an important Infobot pertaining to the Emperor is being escorted by the Emperor's Assistant and an entourage of Nefarious Troopers. Rivet climbs out of a nearby street manhole wearing a robot disguise and uses it to blend in with the local inhabitants. She sneaks up on the escort and procures it without being caught, running into a closeby alleyway. They soon realize it is missing however, and spread out their forces to find it. Before escaping and decrypting it however, she defies the instructions of her resistance compatriot on her communicator and instead pursues an organic citizen being hunted down by one of the city's troopers. She follows them to a dead end alleyway and destroys the trooper, rescuing the citizen and gives them her helmet disguise to help them get home. Soon after, the city's patrolling forces track Rivet down to retrieve the stolen infobot and she retreats.
Search for Clank[]
Ratchet awakens in the lower street slums of the city after the Dimensionator explodes.
After Dr. Nefarious steals the Dimensionator in Megalopolis, he uses it to transport himself, Ratchet and Clank to it's dimensional counterpart in Rivet's dimension, the three land on a rooftop in Nefarious City where the Dimensionator explodes after being damaged and the three are scattered in the confusion. Dr. Nefarious awakes in the Emperor's throne room in Nefarious Tower where he is mistaken for being his counterpart and ecstatically takes his place on the currently empty throne. Clank awakes closeby the Bazaar area and discovers his left arm was blown off and his legs locked into their retracted state. Whilst escaping the city in her mission, Rivet runs into Clank and takes him with her. Ratchet awakes in the lower streets area Rivet was in previously and begins searching for Clank. Upon reaching the Bazaar, he meets Ms. Zurkon; an ally of the Resistance, who offers to sell him weapons from her vendor.
Finding Phantom at Club Nefarious[]
Sign to Club Nefarious.
After Ratchet witnesses Rivet escape with Clank in her ship, Ms. Zurkon informs him that a Resistance member known as the Phantom can help him get a royal starship to escape the planet and pursue them. Ratchet finds him undercover inside Club Nefarious, using a hologuise to appear as a robot. Ratchet's presence soon alerts the club however to Resistance activity and troopers are sent in. Phantom escapes out the club's back exit and makes his way towards the Nefarious Luxury Tenements. Ratchet follows and defends him against the pursuing Nefarious Troopers. In thanks, Phantom upgrades Ratchet's Omniglove with a Phantom Dash, allowing him to run along wall panels, become intangible for a short period to pass through checkpoint barriers and avoid enemy attacks. After the two pass through Scrap Alley out the back of the apartments, Phantom informs Ratchet that Rivet always goes to her base on planet Sargasso after her missions.
Obtaining a Royal Starship[]
The Emperor's propaganda blimp.
Phantom makes Ratchet a deal and agrees to help him get a royal ship if the Lombax helps him with hacking a propaganda blimp at the Nefarious Day Spa. Ratchet agrees and travels across the city's Highrise Rooftops to reach the spa. Once there he provides cover for Phantom from the troopers so he can program a message into the blimp for the downtrodden citizens of the city. Phantom then gives Ratchet a hacking program named Glitch, so he can use the Emperor's private shuttle in the Plaza area to get into Nefarious Tower and steal a royal starship. Suddenly however, Phantom gives himself up to the Nefarious Troopers to try and fight the Empire's corruption from the inside out. After Glitch deletes the Zeta Viruses infecting the shuttle's access console, the host computer came back online, allowing Ratchet access to the throne room of Emperor Nefarious. Using a stolen ship from the Tower's hanger, he is able to leave the planet after narrowly escaping Dr. Nefarious and his troopers.
Factory Spybot (Optional)[]
The Resistance Spybot in a trash chute at the end of the factory loading platform.
Whilst in the Bazaar, Ms. Zurkon informs Ratchet that she had hidden a Resistance Spybot in the nearby Nefarious Business Factory and implores him to pick it up for the Resistance before the Nefarious Troopers can track it down to destroy it. Ratchet makes his way through the factory's main shipping rooms and eventually exits out it's back to reach the loading platform. After destroying all of the Nefarious Troopers attacking him and attempting to eradicate the Spybot, Ratchet finally collects it before sliding down a trash chute back to the Bazaar.
Broadcasts from Nefarious Tower[]
Emperor Nefarious declares his intention to conquer every dimension in existence.
Dr. Nefarious continued his new reign as emperor from Nefarious Tower and issued many new decrees to his subjects. From the Emperor's throne room he made multiple broadcasts to the universe in which he announces he is offering a large bounty for the dead or alive capture of Ratchet and Rivet. He later makes another broadcast where he attempts to dispel panic that the dimension is in danger, discarding them as lies and increases his bounty. When the Emperor makes his return and accepts Dr. Nefarious' plea for an alliance, he returns to his throne in Nefarious Tower, where he announces his return before vowing to deal with his followers that were so devoted to him, they did not see the difference between him and the Doctor. After later believing he has at long last rid himself of the last of his enemies, the Emperor makes a public broadcast proclaiming the galaxy is finally his. He does not feel fulflled by this however and concludes he must conquer all dimensions in existence to feel truly contented.
The Emperor's cross-dimensional invasion[]
The Emperor's armies advance into Ratchet and Clank's dimension to invade Megalopolis.
After Ratchet, Clank and Kit are sent to Zordoom Prison and believing he had trapped Rivet in a pocket dimension, the Emperor makes another broadcast from the deck of one of his starships. With the capability to now travel to every dimension in existence with the Dimensionator and Dimensional Map, he reveals he has a large war fleet assembled in orbit of Corson V prepared for invasion. To Dr. Nefarious' shock, the Emperor announces he is starting his multiversal conquest with the Doctor's home dimension and his first stop is Megalopolis, which he intends to redub as New Nefarious City. He creates an enormous rift in front of Corson V leading straight to it's counterpart in Ratchet and Clank's dimension and laughs as his armies advance into it. He however was unaware Rivet had made a huge jailbreak at Zordoom and her allies were mounting a counterattack to stop him.
The liberation of Corson V[]
The Emperor's statue is pulled down in Nefarious Plaza.
With the combined forces of Ratchet, Clank, Rivet, Kit and their many allies, the Emperor was defeated in Megalopolis and his long oppressive reign was brought to an end. In the ending credits sequence, Kit in her warbot form and Rivet, both pull down the giant statue of the Emperor in Nefarious Plaza together to mark the liberation of the planet infront of a huge crowd of cheering citizens. Dr. Nefarious is next seen bidding an end to his brief stint as emperor in Rivet's dimension and leaves Emperor Nefarious' office to go visit Lawrence and his family where he dotes on their newborn, robot child. Next, the Emperor's Assistant is seen attempting to slip into the Emperor's now empty throne to usurp some of his power that she had longed for, but she is soon chased out by Ms. Zurkon and Phantom. Lastly, in Nefarious Tower; Rivet and Kit go through the Emperor's record collection, comprised entirely of music created and sung by himself. Rivet laughs and shows Kit the recent record cover for "Join Me at the Top", a song in which the Emperor forced Dr. Nefarious to sing a duet with him.
Geography[]
Overview[]
Nefarious City.
Nefarious City level map.
This version of Corson V is a much darker place than its counterpart in Ratchet's dimension, both in terms of tone and in a literal sense. Like Megalopolis, Nefarious City is a vast and bustling population hub, filled with enormous building structures. With the planet ruled by the Nefarious Empire, organic life of any kind is not treated with any kind of reverence, including plantlife, leaving only holograms of trees in their memorium. The destruction of most of the planet's organics and single prioritization of robots have led to much reckless pollution and caused heavy damage to the natural atmosphere, leading it to always appear night and leaving the entire planet engulfed in a purple haze. The frequent rainfall on the planet can also be attributed as acid rain. Much of the city itself is also rather dishevelled and unkempt, with scrap and garbage piles littering it's streets. The lower street areas are typically the dwellings of poorly robotic citizens that can not afford housing or maintenance for their own bodies. The few pockets of organic plantlife left on the planet are found in poorly neglected areas with water runoff sources.
Locations[]
- At the heart of the city stands Nefarious Tower; the Emperor's abode and the site of his ruling throne. It is the tallest building in the city and the entire known universe; a symbol of the Emperor's towering domain over all. The Emperor had the previous record holder jettisoned into a black hole. His throne room is from where he surveys the city and broadcasts his announcements to his subjects across the universe. A passage next to the throne room leads to the Emperor's private ship hanger and where royal Nefarious starships can be found.
- The Nefarious City Bazaar is a lively marketplace area, selling various products to the robotic citizens, including many replacement body parts.
- Nefarious Plaza is a place of worship that many citizens congregate to and pay tribute to the Emperor at his giant statue in the center of the city. Citizens however must earn their right to worship at the statue and cutting in line is strictly against the law, doing so is punishable by death. The base of this statue also contains a private shuttle for the Emperor that will transport him directly to his tower once his identity has been verified.
- Club Nefarious is a popular bar and nightclub establishment that plays music tracks created by the Emperor himself.
- Nearby are the Nefarious Luxury Tenements; an apartment complex for the very few affluent citizens in the city.
- Just behind the tenements and several other buildings is a narrow stretch known as Scrap Alley.
- Above this are the city's Highrise Rooftops, containing lines for entrances into more nightlife establishments.
- At the end of this series of rooftops is the base elevator up to the Nefarious Day Spa, a business providing a variety of services for the purpose of improving health, beauty and relaxation through personal care treatments for the city's robotic customers but at incredibly high costs. Total drink rounds cost as much as one percent of a yearly salary, to the citizens however this is seen a good deal in comparison to how bad prices can get. Special summer membership fees for the I/O spa have also been lowered to at least 22922 Platinum Bolts. Services for the spa Include; scalding hot oil bathes, exfoliating angle grindings, hydraulic press massages, caustic battery acid drinks and compulsory shock therapy sessions. The spa's treatments are lethally hazardous to organics.
- The Nefarious Business Factory is joined to the public Train Station and is full of overworked employees, slaving to make excessively high amounts of shipments in and out of the factory, as many as thirty in one day. Just out the back of the factory is the main loading platform where trains pick up and drop off their cargo.
- Other unseen areas away from the city include, Nefarious Suburbia and Nefarious Farms.
Society[]
Security checkpoint sensor.
Security checkpoint shield.
The vast majority of the population is comprised of robots, with organic life forms being a small minority. Robotic life is prioritised with organics having even less rights and their civil status being likened to that of animals or pets. Organics are such a rare sight that some robotic citizens mistook Ratchet for being a robot with a bad mould problem. The city features numerous security checkpoints for accessing different areas. If a citizen does not have proper clearance to pass through these checkpoints, it's sensor's will immediately generate an impenetrable shield and halt any entry. Any attempts to evade sensors will result in immediate detention. The economy is structured so 100% of all proceeds go directly to the Emperor. Citizens are frequently reminded that the Emperor collects purchasing data on all his subjects, subtly threatening them to purchase as much as they possibly can anytime they shop. Prices of goods and services in the city are also exorbitantly high and the typical worker's pay is quite low, with working hours being extremely long.
Emperor Nefarious commemorative statuette.
Travel to other worlds has been heavily restricted with only royal Nefarious starships allowed to leave, any attempt by other crafts to exit the atmosphere will result in them being promptly destroyed by any of the many Seekerpedes that patrol the planet's skies. Breaking of rules such as cutting in line or jumping the train station turnstiles will call in troopers or a Nefarious Juggernaut to apprehend the lawbreaker. Citizens engaging in unsatisfactory activities are forced to report to local intake facilities for cumpolsary behavioral modification. Shoplifters or anyone questioning the Emperor are sent to Zordoom Prison for rehabilitation. These individuals are subjected to extensive brainwashing to love the Emperor and never question his authority. The Nefarious Business Factory also works constantly to ship Emperor Nefarious Tribute Statuettes, all to spread the Emperor's visage throughout the galaxy.
Propaganda material ordering citizens to obey.
Around the city are several wanted posters for Rivet, as she is the most prolific member of the Resistance. Signs around the city also threateningly portray the Emperor as always watching his citizens and ordering them to always obey. Electronic billboards in the area also display advertisments for the Emperor's own line of toy gamma ray blasters for robot children, in stores this summer cycle. There are signs around the city displaying the logo for Big Al's RoboShack, implying that a dimensional counterpart to Al also runs their own robot building and repair business, but in service to the Nefarious Empire. Holograms of a Slorg can also be found on the tops of some buildings, suggesting that they are an eaten delicacy in the city. Electronic street signs depicting a Tyhrranoid and a robot together are seen around the city. The signs seem to portray the two facing off against eachother in a battle, suggesting that it is an advertisment for a fighting event of some sort in the same vein as a boxing match.
Megacorp billboard in Nefarious City.
The Megacorp of Rivet's dimension is shown to have a strong presence in the city, with large electronic signs of their logo, advertisments for their Protopets and shipping vehicles featuring their insignia frequently importing and exporting cargo. This version of Megacorp is very likely to be under the control of the Nefarious Empire however, with all of it's profits and business ventures going to the Emperor's own benefit.
Behind the scenes[]
The displaced Nefarious City citizens relax by the hotsprings on planet Savali.
During Ratchet's fight against a Nefarious Juggernaut in the city's Plaza, a dimensional rift suddenly opens and the two are briefly brought to planet Savali where they continue their battle before being sucked back to Corson V again. During this, three robotic citizens at the Plaza were also pulled to Savali and hastily ran off upon arriving. When Ratchet travels to Savali later himself in his ship, these citizens can be found relaxing at the planet's hotsprings, where they declare they are never going back to Nefarious City again. Finding them will earn the player the "Max Relax" trophy.
The missing Raritanium shipment, sucked through a dimensional rift to planet Savali.
At the Nefarious Business Factory, a robotic worker expresses to Ratchet how busy he is and on top of that, a train shipment of Raritanium has gone missing that they need to find. Whilst on planet Savali, Ratchet can locate this missing shipment on the Urfdah Mesa, along with a squad of Nefarious Troopers after both being sucked through a dimensional rift from Nefarious City. Ratchet defeats the troopers and collects the raritanium for himself.
As a cameo appearance, a hologram of Cronk can be found on the back of Club Nefarious.
Unused Nefarious City NPCs CLAIR, TREBBLE and HANKX at the entrance to Zurkie's.
Three robotic Nefarious City citizens named in production artwork as CLAIR, TREBBLE and HANKX appear destroyed in the entrance tunnel to Zurkie's Gastropub and Battleplex. These citizens however do not appear on Corson V or are ever active as their destroyed remains here are the only times they are seen in Rift Apart. It appears that these citizens were fully modelled and completed but for unknown reasons were left unused as NPCs and simply left as pieces of the environment outside Zurkie's. Another robot citizen named in production artwork as X-2 does not appear in Rift Apart themselves but is the form used by Phantom whilst in his hologuise at Club Nefarious.
Alternative art of the Emperor seen on propaganda signs in Nefarious City.
The propaganda images of the Emperor on various signs around the city use multiple different designs of him from his concept art stages. A plausible explanation in-game for this is that due to the Emperor himself being chronically self-absorbed in regards to his own charisma and looks, he may have repeatedly altered his appearance over the years and gone through multiple different phases before eventually settling on the one he is shown with in Rift Apart.
An Insomniac orb hidden in the Nefarious Business Factory.
Inside each level of Rift Apart are hidden easter eggs in the form of a dark orb with the logo of Insomniac Games marked on them. Some major locations also have more than one. The logo was intended to be a sky blue color the same as the official Insomniac Games' logo, but due to a graphical glitch it appears as a mix of blues and purples. They are not related in anyway to game progression or trophies and are simply placed in out of view locations for players to happen upon as pieces of the level environment. When they are hit by a weapon, a burst of confetti will emit from them and they will freely roll around the area. If the player refreshes the area, they will be reset again. In Nefarious City, an orb can be found inside the Nefarious Business Factory, on top of a tall stack of crates in the second main shipping room, right next to the factory exit leading to the loading platform.
Tributes[]
Steve Kirk tribute sign.
Michael Kuehl tribute sign.
At the Nefarious Business Factory; as well as several packages of Emperor Nefarious commemorative statuettes, packages of Dan Johnson figures can be found along with them. The price shown on the box is 1.000.000 bolts and the serial code is "1974-2006". As well as Dan Johnson, there are a number of tributes around the city to other Insomniac Games employees that have since passed away. Several electronic signs can be seen featuring the avatars and initials for developers Steve Kirk and Michael Kuehl; with Steve Kirk being represented as a robot with glasses and a cowboy hat and Michael Kuehl as a robot cat sitting against the moon and stars. Throughout Rift Apart, collectibles named CraiggerBears can be found as tribute to developer Craig Goodman, with one in each major location and nine in total. Collecting one earns the Bronze trophy "It's So Fluffy!" and all nine earns the Gold trophy "UnBEARably Awesome". The one in Nefarious City is located on a market stall's counter in the Bazaar area, in the opposite direction of Club Nefarious.
Influences[]
The dystopian neo-noir world of Blade Runner used as the inspiration for Nefarious City.
The design for Nefarious City was based on the world of the neo-noir science fiction films, such as Blade Runner. Particularly in the city's harsh dark visuals highlighted by bright neon lights and the constant rainfall. In internal development and on some alien language signs still in-game, the city was fully named Neo Nefarious City, to accentuate it's neo-noir influences. This name was changed however as in the late story of Rift Apart, the Emperor intended on conquering Megalopolis and renaming it New Nefarious City. With the word neo itself being a prefix for new, this naming convention would become confusing and neo was dropped from the name.
The totalitarian world of the novel 1984 used as inspiration for the Nefarious Empire's society.
Two robot citizens can be heard speaking to each other with altered quotes from the dystopian social science fiction novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four. One citizen tells the other that the Emperor has stated to his subjects that they are at war with the Resistance, while the second questions this and thought they were at war with the Blarg. The first citizen iterates that they have always been at war with the Resistance and deduces that the second must have missed their weekly reprogramming. This is a reference to the George Orwell quote, “The past was alterable. The past never had been altered. Oceania was at war with Eastasia. Oceania had always been at war with Eastasia.” The world of the novel is reflected heavily in the Emperor's empire, who control every aspect of the peoples lives, always watching and can even alter their perceptions of past events. The influences of Nineteen Eighty-Four are also seen on various signs and posters depicting the Emperor's always watching eyes in the same vein as the novel's character, Big Brother.
Development art[]
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