Shield world
From Halopedia, the Halo wiki
Shield worlds, also known simply as Shields,[1] are Forerunner installations designed as a defensive strategy against the Flood and an alternative to the Halo Array. As opposed to sterilizing the whole galaxy at once, shield worlds would act as a more precise and conventional solution, serving as both refuges for local populations and powerful military fortresses from which to carry out strategic campaigns against the Flood. Several varieties of shield worlds were designed over nearly nine thousand years; in some iterations the interior was suspended in fractal slipspace, protecting organisms within from the Halos' destructive pulse.[2] A prevalent variation of the shield world concept, known as the conservation sphere, was specifically designed in tandem with the Conservation Measure, sheltering various evacuated species from the Halo effect.[3]
Scattered across the Forerunner ecumene, the shield worlds outnumber the Halos by a large margin,[3][4] with over a thousand installations originally planned and at least 673 constructed, assuming their numeric designations were assigned sequentially.[5][6] In the final iteration of the Forerunners' defense plan, the shield worlds were collectively known as "Shields"[1] while the Halos were known as "the Sword".[7]
History[edit]
Shield worlds were used by the Warrior-Servants as military outposts for thousands of years before the Forerunner-Flood war.[8][9] The first shield world, the Prometheans' military operations hub known as Requiem, was constructed long before the human-Forerunner wars in 107,445 BCE.[10]
After the Forerunners learned of the parasite known as the Flood in the later stages of the war with the humans, the Didact began to champion the construction of more shield worlds as part of his star-hopping strategy. Many shield worlds were planned to be mobile, able to be deployed directly into infected systems to purge local infestations,[1] and would be designed as facilities from which to fight and research the Flood, an alternate solution to Master Builder Faber's plan to construct the Halos.[11] Eventually, a compromise between the two rates was reached: the Builders would continue building shield worlds while designing the Halos, with both types of installations planned to be used in tandem.[1] Numerous shield worlds of different configurations were built over thousands of years, but the Builder rate's growing influence eventually led the Old Council to deem the Master Builder's Halo project superior. The Didact, who stubbornly continued to advocate his strategy to the Council, was ultimately ordered to cease his project and was forced into exile.[11]
Though the construction of the shield worlds was abandoned after the Didact's exile, they still found use as shelters for the various species the Lifeworkers indexed and collected in the Conservation Measure. Many Forerunners also intended to evacuate to the shield worlds, but the betrayal by the Forerunners' supreme defense AI Mendicant Bias and its defection to the Flood forced the Forerunners to abandon these plans: Mendicant Bias revealed the locations of the shield worlds to the Flood.[12]
The Covenant owe much of their rapid technological advancement to the discovery of a small number of shield worlds early in their history. They stripped these installations of usable technologies,[13] though whether they continued to inhabit them is unclear.
During the Human-Covenant War, the shield worlds began to be discovered by humanity, starting with Trove in 2531.[14] The shield world Onyx's internal Dyson shell, Sarcophagus, was rediscovered in 2552[15] and Requiem in 2557.[16] Trove was ultimately destroyed, and Requiem damaged so severely it nearly suffered the same fate, but Sarcophagus became home to a joint UNSC-Sangheili research effort and colony.
In 2558, the shield world Bastion was uncovered by Rion Forge and 343 Guilty Spark in the Orion complex.[17] This shield world was built as an exact replica of the Earth surface[18] and it acted as the Librarian's secret research laboratory away from the eyes of the Ecumene Council.[19] Amongst the work kept there was the Librarian's secret efforts to cause the rebirth of the Precursor race.[20] Due to the dangers from the Created, Spark became caretaker of the shield world and moved it to an undisclosed location.[21][22][23]
In 2557 and 2558, Genesis fell under the control of Cortana and the Created. After the destruction of the Ur-Didact's ship, Mantle's Approach, at the hands of John-117 and Cortana, the ship and Cortana were pulled into slipstream space as a last ditch effort for the ship to escape destruction. Unbeknownst to John and the rest of the United Nations Space Command, Cortana had been uploaded into the Domain and "cured" of her rampancy.[24] Once uploaded on Genesis, Cortana seized control of the world from Exuberant Witness, with the help of the Warden Eternal and used the shield world as the rally point for the Guardians she activated and dispersed to populated worlds as a means to enforce the Mantle and her rule upon all races.[25] However, due to the actions of Fireteam Osiris, Exuberant Witness was able to retake control of Genesis.[26] Genesis was subsequently sent through a slipspace portal by Exuberant Witness in order to take it beyond Cortana's reach,[27] leaving the UNSC with no idea where it ended up.[28] A group of former Covenant soldiers led by Sangheili Dham 'Mashatt dedicated themselves to helping Exuberant Witness protect the shield world.[27]
Following the defeat of the Covenant, the surviving San'Shyuum and their flotilla planned to retreat to a shield world known as Cloister for protection. However, it was left unknown if they ever actually succeeded in reaching it.[29] According to Dovo Nesto, Cloister lay at the very heart of the San'Shyuum's designs, holding many ancient secrets within going back to a time when the race was possessed of great youth and vitality.[30]
Known types[edit]
Initial design[edit]
Requiem was the first shield world to be constructed, its design later serving as the template for the entire concept.[10] This variant features an entirely artificial, heavily armored outer surface and contains several concentric miniature Dyson shells within its outer shell. Like the exterior, the interior surface of the outer shell is mechanized and features a light source for warmth and illumination. Another sphere, containing a terrestrial surface-oriented similar to a planet, is located below the outer shell. The interior of this shell contains the hollow core of the shield world and a Dyson shell-like inverted surface.
Requiem apparently lacked shielding from the Halo effect[31] in spite of being the most fortified shield world in existence.[8] Whether this was true of the Refuge, which used a scaled-down version of Requiem's planet-within-shell design, was unclear.
Conservation sphere[edit]
A common iteration of the shield world concept, the conservation sphere consists of an artificial planetary surface encapsulating a miniature Dyson sphere.[3][13] Beneath the artificial planetary surface span kilometers of machinery, including many access portals whic