- "Holy Meridian shall forever be the seat of the Carja, the City of the Sun, and the Spire venerated as the mark of its founding."
- ―The Sun Faith
The Spire is an unmarked location outside the Sundom's capital city, Meridian, in Horizon Zero Dawn. Originally a transmission array for GAIA, the structure would come to have a crucial element in the Carja's founding.
Description
The Spire is a metal broadcast tower far taller any of the Carja's creations. The structure of the Spire is a triangle-based polyhedron, comprised of an unknown black metal. It sits atop a mesa known as the Alight.
History
To shut down the Faro Plague, the MINERVA subordinate function had several broadcast towers constructed by GAIA's machines, which were used to broadcast the deactivation codes for the Faro machines. With the Faro Plague neutralized, GAIA began the terraforming process.
Icon of the Carja
One such tower was found by the first Carja Sun-King Araman as he and his followers traveled from the "Savage East." According to the Carja faith, Araman followed the shadow cast by the tower to the mesa where Meridian was founded. The tower was henceforth christened "the Spire" by the Carja, and revered as the inspiration for the founding of holy Meridian. The mesa where the Spire sits became the Alight, which serves as a burial ground for the highest-ranking members of the Carja tribe.
HADES
When HADES was reactivated, GAIA destroyed itself in order to stop HADES from carrying out its intended purpose. Without access to the terraforming system, HADES was forced to find an alternative method of causing a second global extinction. Learning of the Spire through its involvement with Sylens, HADES discovered one such method: by hijacking the Spire, HADES could transmit the reactivation codes for the Faro Plague, which would proceed to consume all life on Earth like it had before.
Using the Eclipse, HADES managed to reach the Spire, and used it to send the reactivation transmission. However, this attempt was foiled by Aloy and her allies, and the transmission was cancelled in time.
Trivia
- In-game, the Spire can be seen from as far away as the Valley of Omens.
- The Spire is the only known MINERVA broadcast tower.
