Aesir Pass, "The Shattered Corridor," is a jagged, wind-blasted choke point where Helldivers turned crushing defeat into a symbol of defiance and victory.
The lifeless grey of this planet is interrupted only by the violet flowers that grow from strange, parasitic outcroppings.
Overview
Aesir Pass is a jagged, wind-scoured world that bridges critical Automaton supply arteries across the Hydra Sector. Its maze of volcanic ridges and broken valleys makes it a natural choke point — a place where Helldivers can bleed an invasion dry or, if lost, open a corridor for bots to surge into Super Earth space.Planetary Features
Aesir Pass is dominated by knife-edged mountains split by long basalt canyons, fractured ice crusts, and relentless crosswinds that hammer drop pods and knock down comm relays. Frequent ashfalls and pyroclastic bursts obscure vision and clog filters, while tectonic tremors destabilize bunkers and outposts. The planet's volatile geology shapes every mission; squads must move fast and plan multiple fallback paths to avoid sudden collapses or environmental hazards.Strategic Importance
Aesir Pass is a keystone in the Hydra rim's logistics. Holding it controls deep-space lanes feeding the Automaton Reclamation Fleet and offers Super Earth a staging ground to strike eastward. During bot surges, Aesir Pass acts as a bottleneck: liberating it can cut entire supply sectors from the enemy and force them into costly, slow reroutes.History & Lore
The Pass That Broke
Early in the Automaton wars, Aesir Pass was fortified as part of a network of defensive worlds alongside Menkent and Lesath. When Lesath fell, Aesir Pass became the emergency fallback — but the retreat turned chaotic. Automatons swept the lower canyons, using towering walkers to flush Helldiver units into kill zones. Despite eventual evacuation, the Ministry of Defense lost countless squads, and the name "Shattered Corridor" was born.The Return and Reclamation
Super Earth's counteroffensive two cycles later retook Aesir Pass in a brutal, weeks-long liberation. Drop after drop, Helldivers cleared canyon by canyon, planting anti-armor minefields and calling in orbital rail strikes to collapse enemy staging points. Once secured, Aesir Pass became a hub for westward pushes, linking with Menkent and restoring supply lines that bots had severed.Notable Battles
- The Fall of the Corridor (circa 2184): Mass Automaton offensive that routed entrenched SEAF and shredded initial defenses.
- Operation Thunderpath: A coordinated Helldiver reclamation campaign using heavy airstrikes and staggered redeployments to reclaim canyon strongholds.
- Last Stand at Red Fault: A now-legendary delaying action by a handful of squads who held off walkers long enough for a whole Super Destroyer strike group to break through.
On-Planet Combat Notes
- Vertical warfare: Use jump packs and grapnels to control height and deny bots sightlines.
- Collapse traps: Engineers can trigger rockfalls and set remote explosives in canyon choke points.
- Sensor sweeps: Dense ash clouds make motion scanners vital — don't trust your eyes alone.