Phyrrus

Pyrrhus Deep, commonly referred to as Pyrrhus City or simply Pyrrhus, was the largest city and capital of Helghan, located on the banks of the Corinth River. Visari Palace and its complex was located on a hill overlooking the city. Pyrrhus was one of only a small handful of cities of its size on Helghan, and was the largest population center on the whole planet.

Description
As the largest City, the population of Pyrrhus before the ISA invasion was about 12 million, mostly workers and their families.

Most of Pyrrhus consisted of run-down housing and apartments, with a vast stretch of slums and factories. Various ground cars were scattered across the city, and cable cars were located in the more heavily traveled sections.

The buildings drew power from Helghan's electrical storms and the petrusite power grid running underneath the city as well. Cables were typically messily strewn across the city from house to house.

There were small markets in the city, and the main avenue of the city was Visari Square, with cable cars leading up to the military sector and ultimately Visari's Palace. Near the Palace, the headquarters of many companies, such as the Visari Corporation, Stahl Arms and Corinthmetall, were located. Most of the city's resources were invested into the military and propaganda-related structures. The military academy and related structures were much more strongly built and articulated than the more common civilian buildings.

Outside of the city is the characteristic Helghan terrain and mining settlements. An underground pipe system out of the Tharsis Refinery fed Pyrrhus with refined petrusite.

Due to the sheer size of the city, Pyrrhus was very much visible from space.

Invasion and Destruction
During the events of Killzone 2, Helghan (and Pyrrhus in particular) were invaded by vengeful ISA forces in a

counterattack against the initial Helghast assault on Vekta in the first game. This devastating invasion wrought unspeakable destruction upon the city as ISA forces pushed convoys through the streets and both sides took refuge in and around destroyed civilian buildings. The majority of the populace was evacuated to mining settlements and Constantine City before the assault, leading to fewer civilian casualties. Alas, any Helghast attempt to preserve the city and any ISA hopes of taking it as a prize were dashed when Scolar Visari detonated the stolen Red Dust nuclear warhead inside Pyrrhus, annihilating thousands of soldiers and the collected culture of the Helghast Capital. The mushroom cloud remained visible for some time from the ISA drop zone outside the palace of Visari, who himself perished when Rico cut him down mid-speech.

Trivia

 * Pyrrhus takes its name from the Greek general Pyrrhus of Epirus, who became infamous for his incredibly costly victories against the Romans. This type of battle, whereby victory is attained at crippling cost to the victor, has since become known as a "Pyrrhic Victory". Its use in the game is a reference to how the Helghast only achieve victory over the ISA ground forces by obliterating their own city with a nuclear weapon, wiping out many of their own in the process. It also references how the ISA succeed in their mission of neutralizing Scolar Visari, but at such cost that they are subsequently left open to devastating counter-attack.
 * During the campaign of Killzone 2 when Sev, Rico, Garza and Natko are stood upon the steps outside of Radec Academy, Rico remarks upon the grandeur of the Academy's architecture being far superior to the slums of Pyrrhus, "Now we know why the rest of this place is so much of a shithole!"
 * The destruction of Pyrrhus is also witnessed during the Killzone: Mercenary campaign, with Benoit commenting, "Crazy sons of bitches actually did it. Nuked their own city rather than surrender.