Cauldron EPSILON

Cauldron EPSILON is an activity in Horizon Zero Dawn exclusive to The Frozen Wilds, located within the 21st century facility known as Firebreak. Before its destruction, it was located at the very back of Firebreak's Battery Facility, and served as the manufacturing facility for the daemonic machines found within the Banuk region known as The Cut. It was also a research and development facility where its creator and overseer, the artificial intelligence HEPHAESTUS, embarked on a drive to develop hunter-killer machines to actively hunt and kill humans.

History
Cauldron EPSILON was built by HEPHAESTUS, a former subordinate function of the Zero Dawn terraforming system's central AI GAIA. Presumably having chosen the location due to the natural geothermal energy and mineral resources available from the magma that the facility tapped into, HEPHAESTUS commandeered the Firebreak facility, enslaved its governing AI CYAN, and built the cauldron. There it set about developing even more aggressive and dangerous machines, including commencing research and development of hunter-killer units to eliminate humans.

However, its actions against CYAN drew the attention of a Banuk shaman named Ourea, who had formed a strong bond of friendship with the AI before HEPHAESTUS enslaved it. This culminated in her forming of expedition consisting of herself, her brother Aratak, erstwhile chieftain of their werak, and the Nora Brave Aloy. Led by Aloy, the party successfully infiltrated the cauldron. Ourea overrode its core, albeit at the cost of her life, freeing CYAN. CYAN caused the cauldron to self-destruct, foiling HEPHAESTUS' plans (at least temporarily).

Description
Like all cauldrons, the design of Cauldron EPSILON heavily features geometric patterns, especially triangles. However, as the first cauldron designed solely by HEPHAESTUS, it is unique in many respects. First, as the cauldron was built over the pre-existing Firebreak facility and parts of an active (albeit controlled) volcano, Firebreak components make up a noticeable part of EPSILON's infrastructure, and parts of the volcano have been left untouched in the construction. Rather than the pale blue lighting of other cauldrons, the lighting is a deep purple. The compromised parts of Firebreak are surrounded in purple wiring, reminiscent of a parasite.

The largest cauldron by far, EPSILON is also the most heavily guarded.

EPSILON Overrides

 * Fireclawundefined
 * Frostclawundefined
 * Scorcherundefined