Editing Mantle's Approach

{{Title|''Mantle's Approach''}}
{{Status|Canon}}
{{Disambig header|the ship used in [[Halo 4]] and [[Halo: Silentium]]|the ship in [[Halo: Cryptum]]|Didact's ship}}
{{Individual ship infobox
|name=''Mantle's Approach''
|image=[[File:H4-MantlesApproach-ScanRender.png|x300px]]
|manufacturer= Master Builder's Fabricae<ref name="warfleet">''[[Halo: Warfleet]]'', p. 86-87</ref>{{Ref/Book|Id=Enc22P381|Enc22|Page=381}}
|model=
|role=Domination{{Ref/Reuse|warfleet}}{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22P381}}
|length={{Convert|142.7|km|mi|sp=us}}<ref name="VIS">'''[[Halo 4: The Essential Visual Guide]]''', ''page 193''</ref> 
|height={{Convert|371.4|km|mi|sp=us}}{{Ref/Reuse|VIS}}{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22P381}}
|width={{Convert|138.6|km|mi|sp=us}}{{Ref/Reuse|VIS}}
|mass=4.7 quadrillion metric tons{{Ref/Reuse|warfleet}}{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22P381}}
|engine=
|slipspace drive=Equipped
|hull=Programmable matter held together by [[hard light]] bonds and energy interlocks.{{Ref/Reuse|warfleet}}
|armament=*[[Composer]]
*1 [[heavy ion weapon system]]{{Ref/Reuse|warfleet}}
*1 [[stasis tension driver]]{{Ref/Reuse|warfleet}}
*40 [[torsion driver array]]s{{Ref/Reuse|warfleet}}
*1,700 [[light mass fusillade cannon]]s{{Ref/Reuse|warfleet}}
*25,000 [[converging beam cannon]]s{{Ref/Reuse|warfleet}}
*[[Z-8060 Particle Cannon|Particle cannon network]]{{Ref/Reuse|VIS}}
*Anti-Ship Artillery System{{Ref/Reuse|VIS}}
**[[Z-8250 Forerunner Artillery|Z-8250 heavy artillery]]{{Ref/Reuse|VIS}}
**[[Forerunner light point defense gun|Z-8250 light artillery]]{{Ref/Reuse|VIS}}
|countermeasures=*Cloaking system<ref name="cloak">'''Halo: Silentium''', ''page 273''</ref>
*[[Torsion field]]s<ref>'''Halo: Silentium''', ''page 262''</ref>
|misc4-title=Complement
|misc4=*1 [[Strategos]]{{Ref/Reuse|warfleet}}
*25 [[Princeps]]{{Ref/Reuse|warfleet}}
*800 [[Navarch]]s{{Ref/Reuse|warfleet}}
*250,000 [[Praetorian]]s{{Ref/Reuse|warfleet}}
*5.5 million [[Venatore]]s{{Ref/Reuse|warfleet}}
*Over a billion Promethean constructs{{Ref/Reuse|warfleet}}
**[[Promethean Knight|Knights]]
**[[Promethean Watcher|Watchers]]
**[[Promethean Crawler|Crawlers]]
|commission=[[Human-Forerunner wars]]{{Ref/Reuse|VIS}}
|destroyed=[[2557#July|July 25, 2557]]<ref>'''[[Halo: Escalation]]''', ''[[Halo: Escalation Issue 7|Issue #7]]''</ref>
|battles=
*[[Forerunner-Flood war]]
**[[Battle of the greater Ark]]
*[[Post-Covenant War conflicts]]
**[[Raid on Ivanoff Station]]
**[[New Phoenix Incident]]
|fleet=
|namedcrew=[[Endurance-of-Will]]
|captains=[[Ur-Didact]]
|affiliation=[[Promethean]]s
}}

'''''Mantle's Approach''''' was an [[Orders of battle|unordered]] command vessel built specifically to serve as the personal [[flagship]] of the [[Ur-Didact|Didact]].{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22P381}}<ref>'''[[Halo Waypoint]]''', ''Section 3 Archive''</ref> The only vessel of its kind, the ''Mantle's Approach'' played a pivotal roles in the final years of the [[Forerunner-Flood war]] executing the Didact's will by launching an army of [[Promethean#Mechanical Prometheans|machine-warriors]] that were effectively impervious to the [[Flood]], and later composing [[human]]s to create more of these warriors. The ship would remain on [[Requiem]] throughout the Didact's imprisonment, only to be awakened along with the [[Forerunner]]. The ''Mantle's Approach'' would ultimately be destroyed by [[John-117]] and [[Cortana]] with a well-placed [[HAVOK tactical nuclear weapon|nuclear warhead]]. What remained of the ship's core escaped via an emergency [[slipspace]] jump to the [[shield world]] of [[Genesis]].{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22P381}}

==History==
===Origins===
This massive vessel was once captained by the Didact at the height of [[Forerunner]] power. Built during the [[human-Forerunner wars]], it served as the Ur-Didact's personal command ship. The [[design seed]] of the vessel was not approved by the [[Ecumene Council]], but by [[Master Builder]] [[Faber]] himself.{{Ref/Site|URL=https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/forums/db05ce78845f4120b062c50816008e5d/topics/mantle-s-approach-size/db6315c7-a250-494b-8729-fe68dffeed1f/posts?page=2|Site=Halo Waypoint Forums|Page=Mantle's Approach Size|D=29|M=11|Y=2019|LocalArchive=Catalog/Archive/2014#Mantle's Approach Size}} While not the largest of Forerunner ships, ''Mantle's Approach'' was the fastest and most heavily armed warship in the [[Forerunner fleet]].{{Ref/Reuse|VIS}} The ship held a number of [[Twelfth-order escort|escort craft]] for transport within the vessel,<ref name="escort">'''[[Halo 4: The Essential Visual Guide]]''', ''page 123''</ref> and at its height it possessed enormous support fleets of both manned and automated combat craft, including [[war sphinx]]es,{{Ref/Reuse|escort}} [[sentinel]]s and internally-stored fighters.{{Ref/Reuse|VIS}} During the Didact's assault on [[Omega Halo]], it had an escort of thousands of sentinels.<ref>'''Halo: Silentium''', ''pages 261-262''</ref> Like many Forerunner warships,<ref>'''Halo: Silentium''', ''pages 213''</ref> ''Mantle's Approach'' possessed a cloaking ability.{{Ref/Reuse|cloak}}

===Forerunner-Flood war===
[[File:H4-Terminal-Village-Mantle.jpg|thumb|250px|left|''Mantle's Approach'', moments before [[Composer|composing]] a human village.]]
During the final years of the [[Forerunner-Flood war]], after being returned to the [[ecumene]] from his captivity at the clutches of the [[Gravemind]], the Ur-Didact re-assumed command of ''Mantle's Approach''. He used the ship to travel to [[Nomdagro]] and later when he followed the [[Librarian]]'s ship, ''[[Audacity]]'', to the [[greater Ark]]. Once there, he remained aboard the ''Mantle's Approach'' in orbit over the Ark, where he was briefly visited by the Librarian. When the Ark fell [[Battle of the greater Ark|under siege]] by [[Flood]] forces, the Didact moved the ship to the nearby [[Omega Halo]] and used a [[Composer]], a device designed to transfer organic consciousness to digital form, integrated to the ship to harvest the essences of the [[human]] population that had been transplanted to the ring. He then immediately departed aboard ''Mantle's Approach'', headed for [[Requiem]], his primary [[shield world]]. He docked the ship inside Requiem and began to process the harvested human essences into the next generation of [[Promethean Knight]]s.<ref name="silentium">'''Halo: Silentium''', ''String 34''</ref>

However, the Librarian had trailed her husband on ''Audacity'', aiming to put an end to his genocidal schemes. With the admission of the Didact's lieutenant, [[Endurance-of-Will]], the Librarian entered ''Mantle's Approach'' and confronted the Didact in the command center. She incapacitated the Didact, placed him in a [[Cryptum|combat Cryptum]] previously stored on ''Mantle's Approach'' and sealed the Cryptum inside the core of Requiem.{{Ref/Reuse|silentium}} She also sealed the ship itself within Requiem.{{Ref/Reuse|VIS}}

===Modern era===
After his awakening in [[2557|July 2557]], the Didact quickly escaped in his Cryptum and, once the necessary preparations were complete, he recoupled the Cryptum with ''Mantle's Approach'' and took off immediately. He jumped to [[Ivanoff Station]] alongside a [[Jul 'Mdama's Covenant faction|Covenant]] fleet, intent on reclaiming the Composer. The Didact test-fired the Composer on the station, then proceeded to [[Earth]] to settle his personal war with humanity once and for all.<ref>'''Halo 4''', campaign level ''[[Composer (level)|Composer]]''</ref>  Although Earth had been warned of the attack, the planet's [[orbital defense platform]]s and the [[Home Fleet]] were unable to stop the colossal Forerunner ship.

Unbeknownst to the Ur-Didact, however, [[SPARTAN-II program|Spartan]] [[John-117]] had survived the Composer's deadly pulse thanks to immunization provided by the Librarian. Pursuing ''Mantle's Approach'' aboard a [[HAVOK tactical nuclear weapon|nuclear-armed]] [[F-41 Broadsword]], the Spartan took out the ship's point defense turrets, allowing the {{UNSCShip|Infinity}} to punch a hole through the ship's hull with her fore weapons. The Master Chief then fought his way through the ship, eventually finding the Didact controlling the Composer under an impenetrable force field. The AI [[Cortana]] overloaded the shields by flooding the ship's mainframe with her rampant duplicates, allowing the Chief to confront the Didact. Although John was no match for the Didact's powerful abilities, Cortana was able to immobilize the Promethean with [[hard light]] shackles, allowing the Chief to plant a [[Z-040 pulse grenade|pulse grenade]] in the Didact's armour. The resulting explosion knocked the Didact off balance and sent him falling into a slipspace portal underneath the Composer.<ref name="midnight">'''Halo 4''', campaign level ''[[Midnight]]''</ref>

With the Composer already firing upon [[New Phoenix]], [[Unified Republic of North America|URNA]], the Spartan manually detonated the HAVOK warhead as a desperate last resort. The Composer was destroyed by the HAVOK nuke, along with the majority of the ''Mantle's Approach''. The dying Cortana teleported the Master Chief out of the ship at the very last moment and created a hard light barrier around him, saving John's life. The remains of ''Mantle's Approach'' formed a debris field over Earth.{{Ref/Reuse|midnight}} Pieces of the ship's remains exited over [[Installation 03]] in the [[Khaphrae system]]. Some of the debris entered the atmosphere of the Halo installation—an event observed by SPARTAN-II [[Black Team]].<ref>'''Halo: Escalation''', ''[[Halo: Escalation Issue 9|Issue #9]]''</ref>

During the HAVOK nuke's detonation, self-preservation protocols shunted the core seed of ''Mantle's Approach'', including the remnants of Cortana's personality matrix, via emergency slipspace jump, to the nearest repair facility on record, [[Genesis]]. As a result, Cortana was able to access the [[Domain]] and cure her rampancy. Her comments when reuniting with John in [[2558#October|October 2558]] suggest that the ship's remains crashed on the planet.<ref>[https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/forums/db05ce78845f4120b062c50816008e5d/topics/catalog-interaction/4c3e1c6f-6519-4ee0-83a4-4bac13bf07a3/posts?page=23#post454 '''Halo Waypoint''': ''Catalog Interaction (page 23)'']</ref>{{Ref/Reuse|warfleet}}<ref name="reunion">'''[[Halo 5: Guardians]]''', campaign level, ''[[Reunion]]''</ref><ref>'''[[Cortana]]''': "I admit, after the crash here, I didn't think I'd see you again."</ref>

==Design details==
The ''Mantle's Approach'' featured a core seed that acted as the heart of the ship. Even if the ship was destroyed, the core seed could rebuild it as long as it had access to raw materials of sufficient quality. The ship featured a specialized command sector known as the ''Hall of Command''. The ''Heroes' Walk'' housed the barracks, training grounds, museums, and halls of honors for the ship's Forerunners. After the Warrior-Servants voluntarily composed themselves, the section was no longer necessary. The ''Exalted Sepulcher'' was remodeled to service composed Prometheans. The ''Mantle's Approach'' was capable of constructing a billion Knight shells, but there were never enough essences available to fill them. Large numbers of empty Knight shells in maintenance cradles survived the ship's destruction and its' remnants arrival at Genesis.{{Ref/Reuse|warfleet}} The vessel possessed powerful shielding, able to shrug off attacks by the [[UNSC Home Fleet]] and orbital MAC platforms without any trouble. Only a shot from two of the {{UNSCShip|Infinity}}'s main batteries managed to penetrate the shields and they failed to inflict any significant damage upon the vessel which was able to shift its structure to quickly close the hole. Even getting this shot required the ''Infinity'' to move into relatively close proximity and for the point-defense guns in that area to be destroyed.{{Ref/Reuse|midnight}}

===Hull and weaponry===
The ''Mantle's Approach'' featured a variable geometry hull full of programmable matter, hard light, and energy interlocks in order to change its shape for fighting the Flood and Ancient Humanity. The ship's main cannon was a [[heavy ion weapon system]] adapted from emplacements used on planet-cracking siege platforms. Firing a bolt of exotic matter accelerated to a significant fraction of the speed of light, the cannon was able to buckle continental plates and disintegrate phase-rotated fortifications. However, the ship must reconfigure after a single shot. Another important armament was the [[stasis tension driver]], an array of three projectors that pairs quantum singularity generators with repurposed [[torsion driver]]s. Together, they generate localized space-time distortions that impede the formation of [[Slipstream Space|slipspace ruptures]] and jam all [[superluminal communications]] and sensors.{{Ref/Reuse|warfleet}} The vessel's point-defense guns were potent, able to destroy several [[UNSC]] ships that were in close-proximity with relative ease.{{Ref/Reuse|midnight}}

==Trivia==
''Mantle's Approach'' resembles a [[w:c:masseffect:Reaper|Reaper]] (particularly of the ''Sovereign'' class) from the [[w:c:masseffect:Mass Effect|''Mass Effect'' universe]]. [[Wikipedia:Keith Szarabajka|Keith Szarabajka]], the Ur-Didact's voice actor, previously voiced the Reaper [[w:c:masseffect:Harbinger|Harbinger]], who shares similar goals to the Didact. Namely, Harbinger seeks to convert all sufficiently advanced sentient life (particularly humanity) into mechanical form, creating a new Reaper, and views this act not as genocide but as a sort of cosmic necessity.

==Gallery==
{{Linkbox|gallery=yes}}
<gallery>
File:H4-Terminal-MantlesApproach.jpg|The ''Mantle's Approach'' in ''Halo 4''{{'}}s terminals.
File:H4-Mantle-Departure.jpg|The ''Mantle's Approach'' rising above [[Requiem]]'s main entry opening.
File:H4-MantlesApproach-Shields.jpg|The ''Mantle's Approach'' exiting slipspace alongside [[Lich]] dropships.
File:H4-MantlesApproachShip.jpg|The ''Mantle's Approach'' flying through the void.
File:H4-MantlesApproachShip-Slipspace.jpg|John-117 pursuing the ''Mantle's Approach'' onboard his [[F-41 Broadsword]].
File:H4-Portal.png|A portal on Mantle’s Approach.
File:H4-MantlesApproach-Slipspace1.jpg|The ''Mantle's Approach'' opening a slipspace portal.
File:H4-MantlesApproach-Slipspace2.jpg|The ''Mantle's Approach'' jumping into the slipspace rupture.
File:H4-Infinity-Mantle.jpg|The UNSC ''Infinity'' facing the ''Mantle's Approach''.
File:H4-Midnight-Trench.jpg|A view of the trench that [[John-117]] flew through in an [[F-41 Broadsword]].
File:Mantles-Approach wreckage.jpg|The debris field left behind by the destruction of the ''Mantle's Approach''.
</gallery>
===Concept art===
<gallery>
File:H4 Mantle's Approach concept art.jpg|Concept art of the profile of the ''Mantle's Approach''.
File:H4-Concept-MantlesApproach.jpg|More concept art of the ''Mantle's Approach'' ship with the Didact's Cryptum.
File:H4-Concept-Mantle-Interior.jpg|Concept art of the interior of ''Mantle's Approach''.
File:H4-Concept-Ivanoff-Mantle.jpg|Concept art of the ''Mantle's Approach'', laying siege to [[Ivanoff Station]].
File:H4-DidactShip-3DConcept01.jpg|Untextured 3D model of the ''Mantle's Approach''.
File:H4-DidactShip-3DConcept02.jpg|Close-up on the fore section of the 3D model.
File:H4-DidactShip-3DConcept03.jpg|Detailed views of the model's upper half.
</gallery>

==List of appearances==
*''[[Halo 4]]'' {{1st}}
**''[[Terminal (Halo 4)|Terminals]]''
*''[[Halo: Silentium]]''
*''[[Halo: Escalation]]''
*''[[Halo 5: Guardians]]'' {{Mo}}
*''[[Halo Mythos]]''
*''[[Halo: Shadows of Reach]]'' {{Mo}}
*''[[Halo: Outcasts]]'' {{Mo}}
*''[[Halo: Epitaph]]''

==Sources==
{{Ref/Sources}}

{{Forerunner|ships}}

[[Category:Forerunner ships]]