Editing Halo universe (section)

==History==
===Prehistory===
{{Main|The Forerunner Saga|Halo: Cryptum|Halo: Primordium|Halo: Silentium}}
[[File:Forerunner Saga compilation.png|thumb|250px|''[[The Forerunner Saga]]'' by [[Greg Bear]] chronicles the ancient history of the ''Halo'' universe.]]
Over ten million years [[10,000,000 BCE|ago]], an advanced civilization known as the [[Precursor]]s controlled the galaxy. Having reigned for billions of years and reached the pinnacle of technological advancement, they seeded the galaxy with life and created many species, including humans and Forerunners. The Precursors held the [[Mantle|Mantle of Responsibility]], the guardianship of all life in the galaxy. They eventually decided to give the Mantle to one of their creations and they initially selected the Forerunners. However, the Precursors changed their minds on handing it to them - tasking humanity with it. The Forerunners, enraged by their creators' favoring of humanity over themselves, rebelled against the Precursors and [[Forerunner-Precursor war|wiped them out]] almost entirely. Some Precursors survived by reducing themselves to dust that, although meant to regenerate their original forms in time, was corrupted over the passage of millions of years and would eventually manifest itself in a completely new form - the parasitic [[Flood]].{{Ref/Novel|Id=silentium|Sil}} Meanwhile, the Forerunners would adopt the Mantle to themselves and rise to become the dominant civilization in the galaxy, directing the evolution and development of other species as they saw fit. Records of the truth about the Precursors were lost over time and faded into legend; ten million years after the destruction of the Precursors, Forerunners simply believed that their creators had disappeared and given them the gift of the Mantle.{{Ref/Novel|Id=cryptum|Cry}}

Early humanity first arose on their homeworld Earth, then known as "Erde-Tyrene" and mastered interstellar travel, eventually becoming a [[Prehistoric human civilization|prosperous interstellar empire]] based on the planet [[Charum Hakkor]]. They also [[Human-San'Shyuum alliance|allied]] with the [[San'Shyuum]] species, who would become the ruling caste of the Covenant thousands of years later. Around [[107,445 BCE]], however, humanity stumbled upon the nascent form of the [[Flood]] parasite near the galaxy's edges. Hundreds of systems were lost to the parasite in [[Human-Flood war|a conflict]] between the humans and the Flood as humans desperately sterilized any infested world while securing new colonies for their dwindled populations in the borders of the Forerunner ecumene. Humanity's aggressive expansion and the perceived violations of the [[Mantle]] eventually prompted the Forerunners to take action and [[human-Forerunner wars|go to war]] against humanity. Despite being forced to fight a two-front war against the Flood and the Forerunners, humanity evidently drove the Flood out of the galaxy. However, the Forerunners, led by the [[Promethean]] supreme commander known as the [[Ur-Didact|Didact]], eventually emerged victorious over humanity after defeating their last stronghold on Charum Hakkor.{{Ref/Reuse|cryptum}}

Following the war in approximately [[106,445 BCE]], the Forerunners dismantled humanity's civilization, regressing them into a [[Technological Achievement Tiers|Tier 7]] species. The remaining humans exiled to their homeworld Earth, where the supreme Forerunner [[Lifeshaper]], known as the [[Librarian]], tended to them and slowly guided them toward developing [[Erde-Tyrene civilization|a primitive civilization]]; unlike most Forerunners, the Librarian saw potential in humanity to eventually become the Forerunners' successors.{{Ref/Reuse|cryptum}}

Circa [[97,745 BCE]], the Flood resurfaced to challenge the Forerunners. Weakened by their struggle with humanity as well as major internal strife, the Forerunners were easy prey to the resurgent Flood. For three hundred years, the parasite claimed numerous Forerunner planets and systems, until virtually overrunning the entire ecumene. As a final resort, the Forerunners - specifically, an individual known as the [[IsoDidact]] - [[Great Purification|fired]] the [[Halo Array]], a network of superweapons which eradicated all neurologically complex life in the galaxy and subsequently caused most Flood to die out. While life was [[Conservation Measure|re-seeded]] into the galaxy by the Forerunners, the few surviving Forerunners themselves would go into self-imposed exile and not return, passing their Mantle down to its rightful inheritors - humanity.{{Ref/Reuse|silentium}}

===Rise of the Covenant===
{{Main|History of the Covenant|Halo: Broken Circle}}
Dozens of millennia after the disappearance of the Forerunners, two original species of the Covenant, the San'Shyuum and the Sangheili, spent years locked in a bitter war over the control of the remains of the Forerunners. The Prophets wished to use the technology to search and explore the galaxy, but the Elites believed such usage to be a desecration of their holy artifacts. As the devastating war ravaged both species, the Elites saw that the only way for them to win was to do the exact thing they opposed; use their own Forerunner technology to adapt and befit their vessels. Eventually, the two species formed an alliance which was formalized with the [[Writ of Union]]. Over the following centuries, many species would be absorbed under the power of the Covenant hegemony, and thus conscripted into the search for Forerunner relics, and later the attempt to eradicate the human race.

===Origin of the UNSC===
{{Main|History of the UNSC|Human colonies}}
In the late 21st and early 22nd centuries, humanity colonized several worlds in the [[Sol system|Solar System]], including [[Luna|Earth's moon]], [[Mars]], the [[Jovian Moons]], and several [[asteroid]]s. In the years [[2160|2160-2200]], various [[National government|governments]] and factions fought for control of Earth and its first colonies. As overpopulation and unrest on Earth mounted, new political movements formed including the Jovian [[Frieden]] and [[Koslovics]] led by [[Vladimir Koslov]], resurgences of [[fascism]] and neo-[[communism]] which waged the [[Interplanetary War|Interplanetary]], [[Rain Forest Wars]] and [[Argyre Planitia Campaign|Mars]] clashes and were defeated by the victorious United Nations Space Command. The Unified Earth Government was established following the conflicts, emerging as the rulers of most of humanity who now faced the problem of overpopulation, famine and economic instability caused by the wars.

In the late 23rd century, humanity developed the [[Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine]], a device which enabled faster-than-light travel through a domain of alternate space-time known as [[slipstream space]]. The first extrasolar colony ships went on to colonize worlds in nearby systems within the next decades. The [[Inner Colonies]], as they later came to be known, would be considered the elite, in contrast to the more remote and less wealthy [[Outer Colonies]], formed over the course of the 2400s.

In the 2490s, with over 800 settled worlds across the [[Orion Arm]] of the [[Milky Way]] galaxy, humanity's "Golden Age" of expansion was coming to an end. Gradually, the Outer Colonies had became more isolated and unstable. Their populations had widely varying loyalties to Earth, and taxes and trade restrictions set up by the UEG's colonial governing agencies caused dissent against the Earth government. This eventually led to the [[Insurrection]], an undeclared civil war between the UNSC and the various [[Insurrectionist|rebel groups]] that rose up against it in the Outer Colonies.

====Insurrection and the SPARTAN-II project====
{{Main|Halo: The Fall of Reach|Insurrection|SPARTAN programs}}
[[File:HTFOR Cover 2010 edition.jpg|thumb|150px|The book, ''Halo: The Fall of Reach'', details the origins of the SPARTAN-II program and serves as a prequel to ''Halo: Combat Evolved''.]]
By [[2517]], the UNSC was facing extremely low morale due to [[Space piracy|piracy]] and the ongoing Insurrection. In order to remove the rebellion without a significant sacrifice of human life, the [[Office of Naval Intelligence]] decided to move forward with the [[SPARTAN-II program|SPARTAN-II]] project, headed by Dr. [[Catherine Halsey]]. Seventy-five physically and mentally gifted children were abducted at the age of six, replaced by [[Flash cloning|flash-clones]] in a black operation, and drafted into the UNSC. The children went through [[SPARTAN-II training|rigorous training]] and [[SPARTAN-II augmentation procedures|physical augmentations]] through surgical and medical means. Code-named SPARTANs, these supersoldiers were trained for a life of battle, and would become a great asset against the Covenant in both frontline and covert operations; the Spartans specializing in both.{{Ref/Novel|Id=TFoR|TFoR}}

===The Human-Covenant War begins===
{{Main|Halo: Contact Harvest|Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn|First Battle of Harvest}}
On [[2525#February|February 3, 2525]] the UNSC colony of [[Harvest]] detected an unknown object on its long-range radar. The object was constructed with materials unlike anything seen before. All contact with Harvest was lost soon after. Ships sent to the system revealed that it had been totally destroyed by a new alien group called the Covenant. A battle group was sent but was defeated by the technologically superior Covenant ships. Only one ship made it back, the {{CMAShip|Heracles}} returned with a message that was sent to them, pre-translated, saying, "Your destruction is the will of the gods, and we are their instrument".{{Ref/Reuse|TFoR}}

The novel ''[[Halo: Contact Harvest]]'' further details the events that transpired at Harvest and the Covenant leadership's underhanded scheme surrounding the beginning of the war: humans were discovered to be [[Reclaimer|living heirs]] to the Covenant's gods, the Forerunners, forming a concrete threat to the Prophets' authority as well as the very foundation of the [[Covenant religion|their religion]]. Rather than reveal the truth to the Covenant at large, the new triumvirate of [[Hierarchs]] call for the complete destruction of humankind, under the pretense that humans had committed unforgivable offenses against their gods.

In response to the destruction of Harvest, [[Preston Cole|Vice Admiral Preston Cole]] mobilized the [[Battle Group X-Ray|largest space fleet]] in human history to retake Harvest. The fleet defeated the Covenant ships at Harvest in [[2531]] but at great cost with Cole losing two-thirds of his fleet. The highly advanced Covenant shielding and weapons systems simply outclassed anything they had and so began the slow destruction of the human race. One by one the UNSC colonies were lost until by [[2535]], virtually all of the [[Outer Colonies|Outer Colony]] worlds had been destroyed by the Covenant and the [[Inner Colonies]] were being invaded. [[United Nations Space Command Emergency Priority Order 098831A-1|The Cole Protocol]] was established by military order: all human vessels must ensure that Covenant forces do not find Earth. To achieve this whenever they must jump out of a battle, they must do so to a randomized vector that points away from any human worlds.{{Ref/Reuse|TFoR}}

====Apex Site====
{{Main|Halo Wars: Genesis|Halo Wars|Harvest Campaign|Battle of Arcadia|Battle of Trove}}
[[File:HaloWarsWithTeen.jpg|thumb|150px|''Halo Wars'' is set twenty one years before the events of ''Halo: Combat Evolved'' and centers around the crew of the ''UNSC Spirit of Fire''.]]
On, [[2531|January 3, 2531,]] the UNSC {{UNSCShip|Spirit of Fire}} is sent to Harvest to assist the crippled {{UNSCShip|Prophecy}}. When the ''Spirit of Fire'' arrives, the Cole Protocol is then enacted on the ''Prophecy'', in so ensuring its destruction. While scientist [[Ellen Anders]] and captain [[James Cutter]] discuss the northern regions of Harvest, they realize the Covenant might be after something that is specifically there. Cutter sends Sergeant [[John Forge]] to assemble a team and investigate. Forge and his team soon find the presence of a [[Relic (location)|Forerunner relic]], and that the Covenant are after it. After clearing a way through Covenant forces, the UNSC's forces enter the relic and find out where the Covenant have been pointed to— [[Arcadia]]. Following the Covenant fleet there, ''Spirit of Fire'' soon gets entangled in an evacuation process, but they do safely extract some civilians from the colony. After a few more battles, Anders gets taken by the [[Arbiter]], [[Ripa 'Moramee]]. The chase continues as the ''Spirit of Fire'' follows the Covenant fleet to [[Trove]].

The search for Ellen Anders starts while it is revealed to both factions that the Flood has taken over the exterior of the shield world. ''Spirit of Fire'' enters the shield world's inner shell, looking for Anders, who is now being forced to activate a once-hidden [[Sojourner-class dreadnought|Forerunner fleet]] for the purposes of being reverse-engineered into the Covenant naval force for easy extermination of the human species. Anders then escapes using a [[Slipspace translocation|translocation device]] and then conveniently links up with the UNSC again. This news reaches ''Spirit of Fire'', which then has her FTL drive extracted for the purpose of destroying the Shield World's sun, therefore denying the Covenant the fleet it wants, which would lead to the extinction of the human race. This plan works out, but at the cost of Forge's life, who heroically stays behind to detonate the FTL drive. Without an FTL drive, and the long expected journey home most likely going to take years or decades, the Spirit of Fire's crew enters into cryonic storage, now drifting in space until contact is made.

====The Fall of Reach====
{{Main|Halo: The Fall of Reach|Halo: Reach|Fall of Reach}}
[[File:Halo Reach (Standard with ESRB).png|thumb|150px|''Halo: Reach'' is set during the fall of the UNSC fortress world Reach.]]
By [[2552]], many of humanity's Inner Colonies had been destroyed by the Covenant. The UNSC leadership assembled a Spartan-II strike team, at the human command base on the planet Reach. In a move of desperation, the UNSC planned to launch a targeted strike against the [[Hierarchs|Covenant leadership]]. This plan was abandoned when the Covenant launched a surprise attack on the world of Reach.{{Ref/Reuse|TFoR}}

During this battle, most of Reach is overrun and glassed, and the human fleet obliterated. One of the Spartans, [[John-117|Master Chief Petty Officer John-117]], is able to escape on the ship {{UNSCShip|Pillar of Autumn}} along with her crew. In fleeing the Covenant fleet, the ''Autumn''{{'}}s onboard AI, [[Cortana]], uses a set of coordinates from a recently discovered Forerunner artifact that leads them straight to the Forerunners' [[Installation 04]].{{Ref/Reuse|TFoR}}

In the game ''[[Halo: Reach]]'', the Spartans of [[Noble Team]] defend Reach against the Covenant invasion, most of them sacrificing their lives in the process. At the finale, they are given the task of transporting a fragment of Cortana housing critical data to the ''Pillar of Autumn''. [[Noble Six]] holds off the Covenant long enough for the ''Autumn'' to escape, indirectly enabling humanity's survival in the war.

====Alpha Halo====
{{main|Halo: Combat Evolved|Halo: The Flood|Battle of Installation 04}}
[[File:Halo Combat Evolved cover.png|thumb|150px|left|The first game, ''Halo: Combat Evolved'', takes place around and on Alpha Halo.]]
Three weeks after escaping Reach, the ''Pillar of Autumn'' exits Slipspace to find a mysterious [[Installation 04|ring-shaped space station]] orbiting the gas giant [[Threshold]]. The ring, referred to by the Covenant as "[[Halo Array|Halo]]", is an artificial construct that is teeming with life. A [[Fleet of Particular Justice|Covenant fleet]], however, is also present, and a subsequent battle heavily damages the {{UNSCShip|Pillar of Autumn}} and the ship crash lands onto Halo.

The first Halo game begins in earnest with the Master Chief's escape from the ''Autumn'', and continues upon landing. The first levels of the game deal with an attempt to reach Halo's control center to uncover its purpose. It is soon discovered that the Covenant have accidentally and unwittingly released the [[Flood]], a parasitic alien species. The Flood then sweep across Halo and devastate human and Covenant forces positioned on it. The release of the Flood prompts [[343 Guilty Spark]], an eccentric Forerunner AI, to try to activate Halo's defense system, a pulse weapon that, when fired, would wipe out all sentient life in the galaxy large enough to be hosts for the Flood. Technically, that installation only has a maximum effective radius of 25,000 light years, but the pulse would trigger other installations as well, effectively killing all intelligent life in the galaxy. This system is designed to stop the Flood from spreading through the universe if they escape confinement from Halo by the only way possible: starving the Flood of any life source that can sustain them.

Naturally, this would wipe out humanity as well, and so the final levels of the game revolve around the Master Chief's attempts to destroy Halo before it fires by self-destructing the ''Autumn''. Despite the abuse sustained during the space battle and the following crash the ''Pillar of Autumn'' remained intact, and was subsequently occupied by investigating Covenant forces and later by Flood.

Having manually triggered a destabilization of the power cores the Master Chief and Cortana commandeer a [[GA-TL1 Longsword|Longsword]] from one of the ''Pillar of Autumn's'' docking bays and achieve a safe minimum distance before the ''Autumn's'' drives explode, causing the ring-world to fragment.{{Ref/Game|CE|campaign}}
{{Clear}}

====First Strike====
{{Main|Halo: First Strike|Operation: FIRST STRIKE}}
[[File:Firststrike2.jpg|thumb|150px|''Halo: First Strike'' takes place between ''Halo: Combat Evolved'' and ''Halo 2''.]]
Occurring between ''Halo: Combat Evolved'' and ''Halo 2'', ''Halo: First Strike'' starts off with Master Chief and a few other survivors in space above the destroyed Halo. They capture the Covenant flagship ''[[Ascendant Justice]]'' and make their way back to Reach. When they arrive they find the entire planet ravaged; however, on a small patch of the surface left unscathed, it is discovered that Dr. Halsey and several Spartans who survived the fall of Reach have found a [[Menachite portal complex|Forerunner structure]] under ONI's [[CASTLE Base]]. There they find a [[Forerunner crystal|special artifact]] that warps space-time, before being retrieved by the UNSC forces aboard the ''Ascendant Justice'' along with other survivors, including [[Danforth Whitcomb|Vice Admiral Whitcomb]].

Cortana, now in control of the Covenant ship, docks with the damaged UNSC frigate {{UNSCShip|Gettysburg}} and combines their power, also allowing them to return to Earth without violating the Cole Protocol by bringing a potentially "bugged" Covenant ship with them. Damaged in a battle with pursuing Covenant ships, the ''Ascendant Justice'' travels to a [[Eridanus Secundus|hidden rebel base]] in the [[Eridanus system]] for repairs. The rebels agree to a truce with the UNSC forces, but the Covenant soon discover their location. In the ensuing chaos, Dr. Halsey abducts [[Kelly-087]] and flees into slipspace aboard the [[Jacob Jiles|rebel governor]]'s [[Beatrice|ship]]. Admiral Whitcomb grimly decides to leave the rebels to fend for themselves while the ''Ascendant Justice'' escapes.

The Master Chief and other Spartans discover a massive plot to attack Earth. They covertly attack and destroy a massive Covenant [[Unyielding Hierophant|refit and repair station]] along with an attack force many times larger than the one that attacked Reach. In doing so they lose the Covenant flagship; however, they save the ''Gettysburg'' and escape back to Earth with it.
{{clear}}

====Delta Halo====
{{Main|Halo 2|Battle of Earth|Battle of Installation 05|Great Schism|Halo: Broken Circle}}
[[File:Halo2-Cover-Large.jpg|thumb|left|150px|''Halo 2'' takes place on Earth and around Installation 05 (Delta Halo).]]
''Halo 2'' starts with the beginning of a Covenant attack on Earth. John-117 begins on ''[[Cairo Station]]'', one of the three hundred [[Orbital defense platform|space defense platforms]] that orbit the planet. After repelling the Covenant [[Naval boarding|boarding parties]], the battle shifts to [[Battle of Mombasa|Earth's surface]]. During the battle, the [[Prophet of Regret]]'s carrier, ''[[Solemn Penance]]'', makes a Slipspace jump and the UNSC ship ''[[UNSC In Amber Clad|In Amber Clad]]'', with the Master Chief aboard gets swept up in the ship's wake in a desperate effort to follow it. The ''In Amber Clad'' is transported to the vicinity of another Halo ring - [[Installation 05|Delta Halo]] - on which they land. 

The game also follows an alternating story, viewed through the perspective of the [[Thel 'Vadam|Arbiter]], an Elite commander disgraced for his failure to prevent the first Halo's destruction. During a mission to quell [[Sesa 'Refumee's heretic faction|a movement]] regarded by the [[Hierarchs|Covenant leadership]] as heretical, the Covenant recover [[343 Guilty Spark]]. After their mobile capital, ''[[High Charity]]'', arrives at Delta Halo, the Covenant becomes embroiled in a power struggle discreetly engineered by the [[Prophet of Truth]], with [[Jiralhanae|Brutes]] usurping the role of the Elites, beginning an apocalyptic civil conflict known as the [[Great Schism]].

Meanwhile, a battle rages on Delta Halo's surface. Both the UNSC and the Covenant seek to obtain the Halo's [[activation index]] whilst being caught in a [[Battle of the Quarantine Zone|battle]] raging between the Halo's [[sentinel]]s and the [[Flood]], which has escaped containment. Both the Master Chief and the Arbiter eventually end up in the clutches of an entity known as the [[Gravemind]], the controlling intelligence of the Flood. With its own agenda in mind, the creature tasks the Master Chief and the Arbiter with stopping the Covenant from activating the Halo. The Spartan is sent to ''High Charity'' to stop the Prophet of Truth, while the Arbiter is transported to the vicinity of the Halo's [[control room]], where he discovers that the Brutes have betrayed his kind.

Confronting [[Tartarus]], the Chieftain of the Brutes, in the control room, the Arbiter learns the truth about the Halos from 343 Guilty Spark: the rings were built to prevent the Flood from spreading throughout the galaxy, and the Forerunners who built it were wiped out when they fired it as a weapon of last resort in the distant past. In spite of this, Tartarus activates the ring in preparation to fire, to bring about the Great Journey. Tentatively allied with the UNSC forces present, the Arbiter manages to defeat Tartarus and the activation index is removed before the Halo can fire. 343 Guilty Spark reveals that although the Index was removed before Delta Halo had time to complete its firing sequence, it sent signals to other Halos in the galaxy, putting them on standby mode. Now, they can be activated remotely from the Ark, whose nature or location is not revealed at this point.

''High Charity'' has fallen into chaos as a result of the Great Schism and an invasion by the Flood. The Prophet of Truth, intent on reaching Earth and the Ark, speeds toward the [[Forerunner Dreadnought]] in the heart of the city. With Cortana staying behind to momentarily delay the Dreadnought's launch, the Master Chief boards the Forerunner ship as it launches from the Covenant holy city, headed for Earth.
{{clear}}

====SPARTAN-III program and Onyx====
{{Main|Halo: Ghosts of Onyx|SPARTAN-III program|Onyx Conflict}}
[[File:Onyx cover.jpg|thumb|150px|Set mainly on the mysterious world of [[Onyx]], ''Halo: Ghosts of Onyx'' establishes the SPARTAN-III program.]]
''[[Halo: Ghosts of Onyx]]'', which tells the story of the events that occurred on the planet [[Onyx]], begins in [[2545]], with the [[SPARTAN-III Beta Company|Beta Company]] of [[SPARTAN-III program|SPARTAN-IIIs]] [[Operation: TORPEDO|deploying]] to a Covenant fleet refueling depot on [[Pegasi Delta]]. They proceed to destroy the facility, but due to unexpectedly heavy Covenant resistance, all but two of the three-hundred-strong Spartan company is wiped out. The only survivors, [[Tom-B292]] and [[Lucy-B091]], are revealed to be only twelve years old, and Lucy is traumatized and [[post-traumatic vocal disarticulation|rendered mute]].

In [[2531]], SPARTAN-II [[Blue Team]] [[Operation: SMOKING ACES|raid]] a rebel base on planet [[Victoria]] to recover stolen nuclear warheads. The team is nearly captured by a rebel ambush, but is saved by the timely, intuitive intervention of [[Kurt-051]]. Some time afterward, [[Colonel]] [[James Ackerson]] presents the top leadership of ONI with his proposal for a new Spartan project. They agree that the SPARTAN-II program is prohibitively expensive and that a more streamlined, "disposable" breed of Spartans must be trained for high-risk operations. Kurt-051 and [[Franklin Mendez|SCPO Mendez]] are brought in to train the new generation of Spartans on the classified planet of [[Onyx]].

Over twenty years later, in [[2552]], [[Team Saber|Teams Saber]], [[Team Katana|Katana]], and [[Team Gladius|Gladius]] of [[SPARTAN-III Gamma Company|Gamma Company]], the third S-III generation, conduct a training exercise when they run into previously undiscovered [[Onyx Sentinel|Forerunner Sentinels]]. Through a series of events, a [[Joyous Exultation Covenant|group]] of Sangheili-led Covenant discover the existence of Onyx and the potential Forerunner treasures within, prompting the UNSC to dispatch reinforcements to the planet. Meanwhile, Dr. Halsey, having disappeared on a quest of her own during the events of ''First Strike'', arrives at Onyx and joins with the UNSC forces there.

Pursued by the Sentinels and the Covenant, the human force discover an ancient Forerunner city, where they learn that the entire planet is an artificial construct. Fighting off determined Covenant pursuers, they press on i