Forerunners (Halo)

The Forerunners are an ancient species that appear in Halo.

History

Origin

The Forerunners were an ancient race who themselves were created by an even older species known as the Precursors. They were seeded in the Milky Way Galaxy alongside other species around fifteen million years ago where they evolved on the planet Ghibalb in the Orion complex. In time, their home world served as the centre of their young interstellar civilisation that consisted of twelve systems inside a nebular complex. Ghibalb was rendered uninhabitable by an astro-engineering disaster when they were attempting to manipulate several stars in that region of space but an accident instead caused a number of supernovae that left their planet scarred by radiation. This incident was noted for nearly causing the extinction of the Forerunner people. Despite this incident, they continued their development and came to see themselves as inheritors to the Precursors to the point that they believed that would inherit the Mantle of guardianship of life. During this time, they resettled on a new world called Maethrillian that served as the Capital of the Forerunner Ecumene. Over ten million years ago, however, the Precursors decided to pass on the Mantle to Humans who were chosen to be their successors. This sequence of events led to the Forerunners being provoked and it was believed that the Precursors intended to eliminate them. As a result, the Forerunners responded by attacking their creators and exterminated the majority of them in retaliation for their actions.

In an effort to immunize himself from the Flood, the Didact conducted a procedure that ultimately failed. As a result, it was deemed that the only option left was the use of the Composer though it would not operate on the Didact's new form. However, his Prometheans willingly submitted themselves to the process as they believed that it was the only way to defeat the Flood. This resulted in the Prometheans being transformed into energy based constructs that were immediately deployed to attack the Flood where they assaulted infested vessels above one world. Despite their success in destroying several vessels, the Flood was simply too many by this point. The Didact reasoned that if he had greater numbers than perhaps he could proceed to wipe them out. He decided to go one of the worlds that the Humans had been settled on and forcibly used the Composer on them to add them to his army. The Didact believed that this served as final recompense for their actions during the Human-Forerunner War. Upon learning of his actions, the Librarian had the Humans moved to safety to protect them from further retribution from her husband the Didact. Ultimately, the Forerunners decided to utilize the Halo Array to scour the infestation of the Flood which was a move that the Didact was firmly opposed to as he intended to wage conventional warfare against the parasite. To silence his opposition, the Librarian betrayed him by rendering him unconscious and sealing him within a Cryptum on the Shield World Requiem. Trapped inside, she intended that he survive the Halo Array and perhaps learn from his mistakes to guide humanity in the future that were to be the Reclaimers to inherit the Mantle from the Forerunners.

Reclamation

This saw the rise of the Covenant with the Prophets leading them in the belief that the Forerunners were gods and that their technology were sacred relics. Critical to their belief was that of the Great Journey where they believed the faithful would go to Paradise by the use of the sacred Halo rings. As such, the Covenant were completely blind to the true purpose of the Halos.

The Master Chief and his AI Cortana had landed on the Shield World Requiem where they attempted to warn the UNSC ship Infinity from following them into the titanic artificial planet. Unknown to them, the signals Cortana had received were a trick to open up the Cryptum and free the Didact from his long imprisonment. Upon being freed, he took over the Prometheans once more and intended to continue his campaign against mankind.

Glassman was actually not killed but transported elsewhere where he was captured by 'Mdamas forces. They had discovered the site containing a personality fragment artificial intelligence of the Librarian and tasked Glassman with accessing it.

Cortana was, however, not killed but rather transported to the Forerunner world of Genesis. Once there, she encountered the Warden Eternal and was exposed to the Domain that cured her of her rampancy. As a result, she became immortal and became convinced that she along with other AI's were the true Reclaimers that would inherit the Mantle of Responsibility from the Forerunners. Thus, she began using her influence to reactivate numerous gigantic Guardian constructs buried on numerous worlds to use them as her means of bringing about peace to the galaxy.

Overview

This species was designated as Primoris prognatus were generally a large bipedal race whose physiology and appearance amongst the various rates. As such, whilst a single species there was a great deal of morphological differences among the rates. These distinctive phenotypes were created through a wide range of means that included genetic engineering, biochemical manipulation and gene therapy. Advancement rate involved further augmentations known as mutations with these preparing the for their further education in the sciences along with their station.

Their caste based system was divided into a number of Rates that included:

• Builders :
• Miners :
• Lifeworkers :
• Juridical :
• Warrior-Servants :
• Engineers :
• Theoreticals :

Certain members of their kind that committed crimes and voluntarily decided to repent for their actions. Such Forerunners underwent training to become a Catalog where they sacrificed their individuality to become a collective entity that was part of the Juridical network. Their bodies were misshapen as they adopted a carapace shell that had five legs and an array of recording optical devices that could be extended or retracted. The purpose of a Catalog was to record the deposition and evidence of an interviewed subject to be passed to the Juridicals.

For issues of failure or dishonor, certain high ranking Forerunners could be placed in a sealed capsule known as a Cryptum as a form of exile. These large spherical machines were used to keep a Forerunner inside of it and could be used as a prison for their kind.

A central tenet followed by the Forerunners was a quasi-religious philosophy known as the Mantle. It was the Mantle that guided their rule of law and placed an obligation on not only preserving life but protecting it as well. However, the Mantle of Responsibility was said to bring about peace but an imperial peace forced upon others that were required to follow the Forerunners. The government of their civilization was the Forerunner Ecumene that was headed by the Ecumene Council. Central to the society was the Domain that served as a vast repository of knowledge collated by the Forerunners and included the impressions from the dead.

Technology

They made heavy use of artificial intelligences with these being referred to as an ancillia. Such intelligences were capable of inhabiting a Forerunners armor and assisted them. A class of ancillia was the Metarch-class that were a highly advanced version and so exclusive that only five were in existence at any given time. One model that was used to watch over and maintain their installations were Monitors. The most powerful AI created by them was a Contender-class artificial intelligence.

Another creation of the Forerunners were the Huragok that were artificial nanomechanical supercomputers that were purposed for maintaining their technology. On a military level, they made use of a number of different kind of constructs such as:

• Sentinels :
• Armiger Combat Platform : humanoid bipedal constructs that were smaller than an average Forerunner with this allowing them to infiltrate the confined spaces of human vessels. They were armed with a variety of Forerunner weapons in the field and were used to support the ranks of the Ecumene's forces. There were various types of Armigers such as the Soldiers.

To catalog the location of all their technology, they built a hand-held data storage device known as the Janus Key that contained real-time coordinates to all their facilities and installations.

Forerunners were often equipped with various kinds of armor that protected their bodies. Models that were designed for battle engagements were referred to as combat skin. Another variant was referred to as a platform interface skin.

The gigantic Guardians were one construct used by the Forerunners that were individually able to police entire star systems. These machines were used by the Forerunners long ago to maintain the peace in systems that were under their control and to enforce order among the lesser races. Each of these constructs were able to produce powerful energy pulses that caused large scale destruction, disabled technology and knocked individuals to the ground. Furthermore, they had slipspace capability allowing them to travel through space and to various worlds with ease.

The Ecumene operated a number of starships and class of vessels such as the Keyships.

A further height in their mega-engineering skills was the construction of large sanctuaries known as Shield Worlds. These were entire planets that were encased in a series of concentric planetary shells within each other and enclosed beneath a vast armored surface. Such artificial worlds were created as bases for the Forerunners and placed to protect themselves from the effects of attacks such as from the Halo Array. Another example was the artificial moon the UNSC designated X50 that had a planetary destroying weapon and was used by the Miner Rate to demolish or construct planets.

Members

• Didact :
• Librarian :

Appearances

• Halo:
• Halo 2:
• Halo 3:
• Halo 4:
• Halo 5:
• Halo Wars:
• Halo: Spartan Assault:

External Links

• Halopedia Entry
• Halo Wikia Entry

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