Halo Array

From Halopedia, the Halo wiki

Features

Structure

Concept explorations for the construction of a Halo ring.
The foundational latticework of a Halo installation.

The Halos encountered in the modern times are 10,000 kilometers in diameter; this size is roughly similar to that of Earth, which is 12,756 km in diameter. While the original twelve Halos had a diameter of 30,000 kilometers,[1] concerns about their structural stability and transport led to the second series of rings being reduced in size.[2] The surface of each ring is 318 kilometers wide,[3] and 22.3 kilometers thick.[4][5] The main structure of the ring is constructed of a superdense foundational material,[6] with elaborate scaffolding and cantilever structures laid over it to support the artificial landmasses and the myriad tunnel networks and caverns that riddle the installation's internal structure.[7] Many of these tunnels are transit conduits meant for use by the ring's Sentinels, though some of them can be traversed by humanoid beings.[8]

The Halo rings achieve their "gravity" through a combination of centripetal force and artificial gravity generators. As the ring spins, centripetal force pushes all spinning bodies away from the center of rotation, though more exotic gravity manipulation is additionally required to achieve the rings' near-Earth gravity.[note 1] The ring is uniform, and because of this, all points are the same distance from the center, therefore centripetal force applies evenly. When the UNSC Pillar of Autumn was detonated, it blasted a large mass from Installation 04; no longer a full loop, the centripetal force applied in much greater strength on the newly formed weak point, causing the ring to rip apart.[9]

A section of landmass being ejected from Installation 09.

The Halos are capable of repairing themselves to some degree, replacing damaged plates of foundation material and restoring biological sections.[10] Some of the 30,000 km-diameter Halos could also be reduced to a smaller size by shedding large portions of the foundation.[2] In order to prevent the ring from falling apart during this process, it could generate a hard light hub with spokes which hold each of the foundation plates in place.[11] However, the self-reduction process was far from perfect and made the original Halos prone to instability and collapse.[2] The newer Halos are capable of safely ejecting segments as well, as long as the process is overseen by a capable enough intelligence such as a monitor.[12] Additionally, small, specifically defined parts of the Halos' terrain (along with the underlying foundation layers) can be jettisoned into space as a precautionary measure against Flood outbreaks.[13][14] In time, the ecosystems of these ejected sections can be restored by the Halos' automated systems.[13]

Halos also possess hard light reinforcement to stabilize and protect them against tidal and gravitational forces from other objects.[15] One of the most extraordinary systems possessed by the Halos (at least the twelve original rings) is their ability to lock entire sections of the ring, or, if necessary, the entirety of it, into reflective slipspace stasis. This suspends these sections in time and renders them invulnerable to damage from the outside, but consumes an enormous amount of energy.[16]

Each installation in the final Halo Array orbits a large, dense planet—most commonly a gas giant—which serves as a gravitational anchor.[17] For example, Installation 04 and Installation 05 orbited Threshold and Substance, respectively, which are both large gas giants, while Installation 03 is anchored to a large rocky planet.[18]

Custodial

343 Guilty Spark, monitor of Installation 04.

The installations are designed to be run by advanced artificial intelligence constructs specially assigned by the Forerunners. The highest intelligence on each installation is a single monitor.[19] The monitor's task is to ensure that the installation's Sentinels, which range from Constructors to Aggressors and Enforcers, repair, maintain, and defend the ring from damage, contain Flood specimens, and ensure that their own installation is ready to fire on demand, including running activation simulations.[20] Monitors also have access to their respective installation's defensive system.[21]

The Sentinels encompass a broad category of less intelligent constructs which serve virtually any purpose necessary to ensure that the Halo functions properly and are capable of combating small Flood outbreaks. Should a major Flood outbreak occur, heavier automatons, such as the Enforcers and Sentinel Majors will be created. In the meantime, Constructors are also created to ensure that the Forerunner structures on the Installation are kept in optimal shape, and that they are not damaged by conflict or weather.[22]

Save for the monitor, all automatons can be constructed at specialized production facilities that float high in the Halo's atmosphere. They seem to have access to copious amounts of materials for constructing an almost indefinite number of automatons.

Environment

An environment on Installation 05.

Although first and foremost designed as weapons of mass destruction, the Halos are also designed as habitats for transplanted lifeforms, including but not limited to humans. After Master Builder Faber's plans were co-opted by the Librarian, the Halos were given terrestrial surfaces to support catalogued specimens. The Master Builder intended to allow these specimens to be infected by Flood forms contained on the rings, and then subsequently terminated in order to test the Halos' effectiveness.[23] The Halo installations support a wide range of environments, habitats, ecosystems, and climates. Installation 04 and Installation 05 supported warm, temperate forests[24] that were both deciduous and coniferous, swamps, and cold, snow covered tundra environments.[25][26] Installation 00 had climate ranging all the way from tundra,[27] to forest,[27] to desert.[28]

While the terrain of a Halo ring may appear to be naturally formed at first glance, it is actually artificially constructed. Strato-Sentinels extract raw materials from the source, process them in transit, and deposit building materials at the Installation.[29] Four huge terraforming factories then move across the face of the installation to "skin" it with landmasses and bodies of water. These factories also hold in the ring's nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere, which is then leaked out to the surface, eventually pouring through the superstructure, and tugged in place by centripetal force;[30] massive walls lining both sides of the ringworld prevent the atmosphere from leaking out into space.[31] The installation's buildings are then built by Constructors and Sentinels. An intricate layer of metallic panels is laid down several meters below the surface of the terrain, upon which rock, soil, and eventually vegetation is added. Slopes, hills and mountains can be created by sculpting these panels.[7] Some features, such as landslides, are the result of time, and have been formed naturally. Others, such as the frigid conditions of the Quarantine Zone or the lake near the Temple on Installation 05 were artificially created.[32] There are also numerous indigenous life-forms that live on the Halos; these were brought on the installations as part of the Lifeworkers' conservation project.

Facilities

The Control Room of Installation 04.

Each Halo has several assets that are uniform to all installations. Each contains a control room located somewhere upon its inner surface. The control room houses the installation's mainframe, known as the Core, from which all of the Halo's systems can be operated. The Halo's main weapon can be activated inserting the Activation Index into the Core; on the other hand, the Core may also be used to disable the main weapon.[14] Each Halo also possesses a Library, a large structure protected by an energy shield and a massive wall, where the Index is housed and protected by Sentinels.[33][34] The index itself is a semisolid holographic representation of the data needed to activate the ring, and can only be directly inserted successfully by a Reclaimer.

Installations also possess Cartographer facilities, which contain the complete, real-time record and schematic of the installation,[35] including its inner passages and networks, to be used as a navigational reference for traversing the installation. Flood containment and research facilities are also standard, used by the installation's monitor to conduct research on and observe the surviving Flood specimens; these are protected by Sentinels to prevent an outbreak.[36]

Transportation

Installation 09 exiting slipspace transit.

Facilities of the Halo Array contain advanced teleportation grids, allowing instantaneous transportation for a Monitor or Reclaimer to any place on the installation. Under normal circumstances, these grids cannot be accessed by the Flood, though the Gravemind was able to use that of Installation 05 by controlling 2401 Penitent Tangent.[20] For Sentinels, the installation is riddled with tunnel and cave networks for access and transportation.[36]

The Halo installations are also equipped with drive engines spaced along their rim. In the event of an emergency, a Halo can maneuver itself to avoid damage from a collision or weaponry.[37] While ideally moved through fixed portals, the rings are able to perform slipspace jumps under their own power. In the case of at least the original twelve rings, a failsafe measure implemented in the event of capture by hostile forces would transition the Halo into slipspace and place it on a collision course with a planet or other celestial body, ensuring the weapon's destruction rather than allowing it to fall in the wrong hands.[38] At the moment of Installation 04's destruction, at least one major fragment of the ring was moved into slipspace, likely as part of a similar failsafe.[39]

Firing method

Installation 05 as it aborts its firing sequence during the Battle of Installation 05.

The seven installations in the final Halo Array function via form of lethal radiation designed to kill all sentient life in the installation's three-dimensional radius of 25,000 light-years; when fired in concert with the rest of the Array, this sterilizing effect covers the entire galaxy.[40][41]

When activated, the Halo rings release a burst of cross-phased supermassive neutrinos.[42] The burst possesses a harmonic frequency, which can be tuned to destroy the nervous system of any macroscopic organism that possesses one, even one as rudimentary as a notochord, as shown in the aftermath of a low-powered test firing of a Halo performed by Mendicant Bias in the system of Charum Hakkor. Fine tuning the pulse can also allow for selective extermination of lifeforms with varying degrees of neural complexity.[43] The Halo effect is able to target and eliminate most forms of neural structures, from biological nervous systems to esoteric neural physics constructs, although the effect does not extend to artificial intelligences.[44] Simpler life forms that do not possess a neural system, such as microbes, fungi, algae, mosses, and traditional plants are unaffected.[45] While organisms aboard the twelve older rings were safe from the Halo effect itself due to its directional nature, any sentient being would still experience an uncomfortable sensation in the vicinity of the pulse.[46]

Like virtually all Forerunner technology, the Halos are powered by vacuum energy. When the main weapon is fired, vacuum energy is siphoned from local space-time to near-depletion.[47] The pulse of the main weapon is amplified by a series of phase pulse generators and channeled toward the Halo's center. A concentration of energy collects into the hub of the installation, which, when the weapon is fully charged, blasts outward in all directions.[41]

The radiation is propelled at superluminal speeds and will eventually propagate at a near-infinite velocity. This was known to generate causal paradoxes when the rings first fired, with two of the Halos reporting pre-echoes of the combined activation before the rings had been fired.[48] Once activated from Installation 00, all installations will cumulatively trigger one another as their radiation fields intersect, amplifying the effects of each individual Halo.[49] The energy discharge covers the Array's effective range and cleanses it of all affected sentient life.[41] Individual Halos can also be fired independently from the rest of the Array; this is known as a "tactical pulse".[50]

In the event a Halo's activation is canceled, a burst of energy is fired from the control center into the hub, causing the energy collected there to violently implode, then dissipate harmlessly.[51]

The final Halo Array, comprising the six smaller Halos (and the reduced Installation 07) were designed to fire in all directions, within a spherical radius of 25,000 light-years;[52] together, the rings were capable of killing all sentient life within three radii of the Milky Way's center.[52] The original twelve Halos were designed to fire laterally, generating a cone-shaped field with a maximum effective range of hundreds of thousands light-years. When fired from the greater Ark to the Large Magellanic Cloud, the blast was wide enough to cover the entire 14,000 light-year-wide satellite galaxy.[53] The rings could also be fired on a lower power setting, cleansing specific planets or systems within a relatively small area of effect.[45]

Effects

A creature is killed by the activation of the Halo Array and is instantly decayed by the Lifeworker solvent.

The nervous systems of all beings are targeted by the Halos and destroyed, rendering them useless to the Flood; however, the Halo effect does not disintegrate biomass, leaving the victims' bodies mostly intact.[54] Left untreated, lifeforms killed by the pulse will decay in great masses, which could lead to ecological devastation spread by a miasma of rotten biomatter. Therefore, Lifeworkers sprayed target biospheres with a solute that would cause any animal killed by the Array to instantly decay into its component molecules,[55] resulting in flash-desiccation.[41] Due to the Forerunners' use of solute, 21st century paleo-archeological studies gave no indication of the mass extinction caused by the Array's firing. However, in 2332 the Ross-Ziegler Blip revealed a tiny aberration in Earth's fossil records.[56]

The only known ways to avoid the effects of the pulse are to seek shelter in a shield world or to escape outside the range of the Array.[51]

Protocol

Main article: Containment protocol

Each Halo ring can be activated individually by a Reclaimer, also placing the other installations in standby mode, or they can all be activated simultaneously from Installation 00. In the event of a major Flood outbreak, an installation's monitor will seek out a Reclaimer if available, whom they will enlist to aid them. It will teleport them to the installation's Library and will assist the individual in retrieving the Index. The monitor then stores the Index within its data arrays for safe transportation, lest the Reclaimer fall prey to the Flood before they can activate the installation. Once at the control room, the Reclaimer is given back the Index and must insert it into the Core in order to begin the activation sequence. At any point during the charging sequence, a Reclaimer is able to abort the firing by removing the Index from the Core.[51]

Trivia

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  • The Halos are remarkably similar to the eponymous megastructure of Larry Niven's Ringworld series. However, Niven's Ringworld encircles a large star, whereas the Halos merely orbit planets, being much smaller than the former. The Halos are also very similar to the Orbitals from Iain M. Banks' Culture series, though considerably smaller.
  • In a Halo: Combat Evolved prototype, Installation 04 had a section that was only partially constructed. This feature was dropped from the final game, though it inspired the design of the second Installation 04.
  • The Prophet of Mercy once referred to the Halo Array's pulse as a divine wind.[22] This is a literal translation of kamikaze, suicide attacks carried out by Japanese pilots against Allied vessels near the end of World War II. Kamikaze aviators were willing to give their lives based on their fanatical devotion to defend Emperor Hirohito and the state. This is mirrored by the Covenant's quest to activate the Halos and commit holy war in deference to their gods.

Gallery

List of appearances

Notes

  1. ^ With only centripetal force the ring would spin around 19 times within a 24 hour period. With this in mind having a simple ground battle would be nearly impossible with the physics involved.

Sources

  1. ^ Halo: Cryptum, page 310
  2. ^ a b c Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named maker
  3. ^ Halo: The Essential Visual Guide, page 6
  4. ^ Halo: The Fall of Reach, page 339 (2001)
  5. ^ Halo: The Flood, page 13 (2003)
  6. ^ Halo: The Flood, page 340
  7. ^ a b Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named halo3halo
  8. ^ Halo: Combat Evolved, campaign level Halo
  9. ^ Halo: Combat Evolved campaign level, The Maw
  10. ^ Halo: Primordium, page 77-78
  11. ^ Halo: Primordium, pages 345-346
  12. ^ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named HE10
  13. ^ a b Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, Terminal Four
  14. ^ a b Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Last Stand
  15. ^ Halo: Cryptum, page 311
  16. ^ Halo: Primordium, page 331-332
  17. ^ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named gas giants
  18. ^ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named h4composer
  19. ^ Halo: Combat Evolved, level 343 Guilty Spark
  20. ^ a b Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named gravemind
  21. ^ Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, Terminal 1
  22. ^ a b Halo 2, level Sacred Icon
  23. ^ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named c313
  24. ^ Halo 2, level Uprising
  25. ^ Halo: Combat Evolved, level Assault on the Control Room
  26. ^ Halo 2, level Quarantine Zone
  27. ^ a b Halo 3, level The Covenant
  28. ^ Halo 3, level The Ark
  29. ^ The Art of Halo 3, page 30
  30. ^ The Art of Halo 3, page 116
  31. ^ Halo: Primordium, pages 40, 148
  32. ^ Halo 2, campaign level Delta Halo
  33. ^ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named library
  34. ^ Halo 2, level Sacred Icon
  35. ^ Halo: Primordium, page 295
  36. ^ a b Halo: The Flood, pages 240-242
  37. ^ Halo: Cryptum,, page 314
  38. ^ Halo: Primordium, pages 279, 339
  39. ^ Halo Waypoint: Alpha Shard
  40. ^ Halo Encyclopedia, pages 170-174
  41. ^ a b c d Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, Terminal Eight
  42. ^ Halo: Cryptum, page 274
  43. ^ Twitter: Jeff Easterling on Twitter
  44. ^ Halo: Silentium, page 310
  45. ^ a b Halo: Cryptum, pages 131-133
  46. ^ Halo: Silentium, pages 272-273
  47. ^ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named s270
  48. ^ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named sil326
  49. ^ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named s312
  50. ^ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named thecovenant
  51. ^ a b c Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named great journey
  52. ^ a b Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named radius
  53. ^ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named s273
  54. ^ Halo 3, Terminal 6 ("I toss around [37,654 tonne] dreadnoughts like they were fighters; dimly aware of the former crews being crushed to liquescence.")
  55. ^ Halo: Silentium, String Two
  56. ^ Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe, "From the Office of Dr. William Arthur Iqbal", page 519
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