Norion

Norion
Samus' ship leaves planet Norion.
Location	"Located on the fringe of the Federation" Federation Solar System, Kalandor Region.
Atmosphere	Artificially oxygenated with trace amounts of nitrogen.
Distinct features	Galactic Federation military stronghold; massive terraformed forests.

Norion is a forested planet that hosts a major Galactic Federation base. It is the first planet Samus Aran visits in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. The G.F.S. Olympus was stationed in its orbit.

History

Once a barren, inhospitable world, it was terraformed into a lush forest world by a Federation project led by Aurora Unit 486. Six months after the liberation of Aether, Dark Samus used her newly-enthralled Space Pirate forces to launch a full-scale invasion on Norion, and four Bounty Hunters were tasked with aiding the Federation's defense of the planet: Rundas, Ghor, Gandrayda and Samus Aran.

During the assault, a Leviathan was sent to Norion to corrupt it, forcing the Hunters to get Norion's orbital Defense Cannon back online so it could destroy the Leviathan. They succeeded in restoring its three generators, but were confronted by Dark Samus upon reaching the cannon's Control Tower, who corrupted them with Phazon. Samus only barely managed to activate the cannon before losing consciousness, destroying the Leviathan.

Although Norion was saved, it would be some time before it fully recovered from the assault: Maintenance was still underway a month later, and an entire sector was still overrun by spent Phazon, where none of the Federation Troopers were willing to go.

Features

There is a Galactic Federation base on the surface that houses three Fedtech Plasma Generators, three landing pads, and a large Control Tower that controls the orbital Defense Cannon. The base is crafted in Jovian Steel and mounted with a large planet defense system. Relatively advanced accommodations for the Marines stationed there can be inferred, as they are at least capable enough of protecting the remote planet, and they are among the first to test PED suits, highly experimental technology in itself. The orbital defense system was capable of just barely destroying the incoming Leviathan before it impacted (largely thanks to Samus Aran), which is something that the Chozo on Tallon IV and the Luminoth of Aether were seemingly unable to take success in for reasons unknown. It is possibly due to the Tallon IV Chozo's self-imposed lack of technology, and the Luminoth's peaceful existence, coupled with a lack of knowledge of the incoming calamity.

Originally a barren planet, a sophisticated Federation terraforming process designed by Aurora Unit 486 has transformed Norion into a forest world.

The area of Norion visited in Metroid Prime 3 is known as Base Sector Zero, and is home to the main anti-orbital weapon on the planet.

Attack

Samus's arrival on Norion.

Near the beginning of the game, Samus is told to land on Norion at the Galactic Federation stronghold. A Pirate attack is taking place there. When Samus arrives, she is told by a Federation Marine that the pirates have disenganged the Orbital Defense System of Norion and that three generators A, B and C, must be brought back up. Soon after activating generator A, Samus receives a transmission from Admiral Dane that "something big is happening": A Leviathan seed is heading out of a wormhole for Norion. Samus must bring an Orbital Defense Cannon back online to stop the seed. When Samus walks into the elevator she meets up with the other Bounty Hunters. Right as the hunters are about to bring up the cannon, Dark Samus breaks into the control tower. Dark Samus releases a powerful burst of Phazon towards all of the hunters, rendering all of them unconscious immediately except for Samus, who musters the last of her strength to bring the cannon back online and destroy the seed before succumbing to her injuries as well. The shot by Dark Samus corrupts all of the hunters and makes them self-produce Phazon.

Biology

Norion has no known higher life forms excluding human colonists and invading Space Pirates. Below are a list of creatures, characters and mechanisms on Norion.

• Aeromine (Space Pirate)
• Aurora Unit 486
• Berserker Knight (Space Pirate)
• Berserker Lord (Space Pirate)
• Crawlmine (Space Pirate)
• Crawltank (Space Pirate)
• Dark Samus
• Federation Marine
• Fleet Mechanic
• Gandrayda
• Ghor
• Hopping Metroid
• Human
• "Jolly Roger" Drone (Space Pirate, formerly Galactic Federation)
• Jumpmine (Space Pirate)
• Leviathan
• Liquid Phazon
• Meta Ridley (Space Pirate)
• Metroid Hatcher
• PED Marine
• Phazon Metroid
• Pirate Aerotrooper (Space Pirate)
• Pirate Militia (Space Pirate)
• Pirate Trooper (Space Pirate)
• Ridley (Space Pirate)
• Rundas
• Space Pirate
• Space Pirate ATC (Space Pirate)
• Training Drone (E3 Demo only)

Galactic Federation Data

Scan images of Norion, from the Federation Creatures section of the Logbook.

Planet Norion

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption

Logbook entry

Planet Norion - GFDF NN-088
Though located on the fringe of the Federation, the planet Norion is of great importance. The military maintains a strong presence in this sector, and the base on Norion is often the first line of defense against enemies of GF Space.
Originally a barren orb incapable of sustaining life, a sophisticated terraforming project designed by Aurora Unit 486 has turned Norion into a hardy forest world.

Trivia

• Although in-game the area on Norion is rather small, it can be assumed the facility is much larger in reality as when Samus uses the lift, the floor here she lands on is 4, suggesting there might be a much larger complex to be explored below or above.
• When the N in front of Norion is removed, it spells out "Orion", a possible reference to the constellation.
• The coordinates used to arrive at Norion in the game's intro were ".0473, -3.43, 00.336".
• Unlike the other planets, Norion has only one removable Energy Cell. Also, it is the only planet Samus doesn't mandatorily need to revisit, unless she wants to obtain all pickups in the game.
• Norion is also the only planet that shows Samus operating her Gunship while flying from one landing spot to another; the other planets only show her gunship flying through their skies.
• In the Metroid Prime Trilogy version of Corruption, the room Data Storage B contains codes which, when entered into Samus's transmission console, reveal hidden messages from Prime's producers. The messages are present in the original version of Corruption as well, but there are no hints to them.
• During the cutscene of Samus's first arrival at Docking Hub Alpha, the prologue theme of the arrival at planet Aether from Metroid Prime 2: Echoes plays. The general theme of Norion is internally named "Dark Room Ambience 2".
• When Samus first enters Norion, a cutscene is played of her ship entering the atmosphere. This is only one of two instances in which the cutscene is seen, the other being the arrival on Phaaze.
• The Defense Cannon and Fedtech Plasma Generators appear to harness planetary energy in a manner similar to Aether's Planetary Energy Controllers.

Gallery

Samus observes the battle from Docking Hub Alpha.

Samus fights a Pirate ATC at Cargo Dock A.

Samus battles Meta Ridley as they both plummet down the Generator C shaft.

Matt Manchester renders

The landscape of Norion.