Milky Way
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The Milky Way, known as Path Tolgreth to the Forerunners,[1] is a barred spiral galaxy.[2][3]
It is the galaxy where humanity and the former Covenant client species reside,[4] The Covenant, as an empire, dominated much of the galaxy, though they would generally leave a world untouched unless it offered particular treasures, whether practical or religious. The UNSC, however, is largely limited to the Orion Arm of the Milky Way.[5] The galaxy is also home to a number of other intelligent species, although only a small number of these have attained spacefaring or even technological status.[6] In total, the galaxy was home to quadrillions.[7]
Overview[edit]
From outside, the Milky Way is a vaguely disk shaped galaxy with a bright center.[9] From inside however, the galaxy appears to be a clouded, bulbous band.[10]
It is orbited by two small satellite galaxies known as the Magellanic Clouds.[11]
Locations[edit]
- Sagittarius Arm
- Kerrec Irruption
- IX-KA anomaly
- Rhotero
- Invicta
- Jad Sappar
- Greater Tiger
- Seclusion
- Norma Arm
- Orion Arm
- Scutum-Centaurus Arm
- Cygnus Arm
History[edit]
Prehistory[edit]
100,000 years before the present day, the previous galactic community was dominated by the Forerunners, a now extinct species that possessed extremely advanced technology and an empire that spanned a significant portion of the galaxy. Millions of years before the rise of the Forerunners, an even more advanced civilization known as the Precursors controlled the Milky Way. Having reached the pinnacle of technological advancement, they were believed to have significantly contributed to the evolution of life across the galaxy, even created several species, such as Forerunners and humans. Over ten million years before the present, however, the Forerunners rose up against their creators in defiance of their decision to bestow their Mantle on humanity,[12] and seemingly ended their rule in the galaxy after destroying their last remnants in the Large Magellanic Cloud.[13]
The Forerunners, originating from Ghibalb in the Orion complex, ruled a large portion of the galaxy for millions of years, affecting the development of other species as they saw fit. Around 150,000 BCE, humanity, still composed of many species, arose from their homeworld Earth, known as "Erde-Tyrene" at the time. They mastered interstellar travel and began to move their civilization along the Orion Arm of the Milky Way. They later allied with the San'Shyuum species, forming a prosperous interstellar empire based on the planet Charum Hakkor. Around 107,445 BCE, humanity and their San'Shyuum allies came into contact with the Flood, a sentient parasite supposedly originating from the Large Magellanic Cloud.[11] Hundreds of systems were lost to the parasite in the resulting conflict. Meanwhile, humanity's aggressive expansion and the perceived violations of the Mantle prompted the Forerunners to take action and begin a war against humanity. Although the Flood later withdrew and seemingly died out from the galaxy, it had already weakened the humans enough to allow the Forerunners to emerge victorious.[14]
Following the war in approximately 106,445 BCE, the Forerunners dismantled humanity's civilization, regressing them into a Tier 7 species. The remaining humans were devolved and exiled to their homeworld, where they slowly began to redevelop a primitive civilization under the tutelage of the Forerunner Lifeshaper, the Librarian.[14]
Activation of the Halo Array[edit]
- Main article: Forerunner-Flood war
10,000 years after humanity's conflict with the Flood, the parasite resurfaced and attacked worlds of the Forerunners' domain. Encounters with the Flood led to the Forerunner-Flood war, with the Flood consuming or killing the great majority of the galaxy's sentient species as the Forerunners first studied them, and then tried to stop them. Eventually, the Forerunners were forced to activate the ultimate weapon, the Halo Array, in order to stop them - at the same time, killing its builders. The Forerunners built safe havens, including the Shield Worlds and the Ark, to save the remaining sentient species in plan known as the Conservation Measure, before activating the Array, scouring the galaxy of all sentient life forms and killing the Flood except for samples kept on the Halos, then releasing the saved species from their havens to their home worlds.
Galactic recovery[edit]
- Main article: Dark time
Almost 100,000 years afterward, the galaxy had recovered substantially, leading to the rise of two great civilizations; the UNSC, comprised of the majority of humanity and controlled from Earth, and the Covenant, a hegemony of many different species who worshiped the Forerunners as gods. Contact between the UNSC and Covenant was not peaceful, leading to the Human-Covenant War, which destroyed hundreds of human colonies and killed billions of colonists and UNSC military personnel, since the Covenant possessed more advanced technology, mostly reverse-engineered from Forerunner artifacts.
The discovery of one of the Forerunners Halo installations set forth a series of events that would not only end the war, but also destroy the Covenant and begin a Covenant civil war, or Great Schism. Triggered by the replacement of the Sangheili with the Jiralhanae in the Covenant military hierarchy, the Sangheili left the Covenant, in the process that consumed a significant amount of the Covenant's populace and resources. A major breakaway faction led by Arbiter Thel 'Vadam, realizing that the Prophets were conducting an unjustified war against humanity and planning a misguided activation of the Halo Array, allied with the UNSC to stop them, leading to the destruction of the Covenant in the Battle of Installation 00.
Post-war[edit]
Following the end of the Human-Covenant War, humanity began a long process of rebuilding, while elements within the Office of Naval Intelligence sought to ensure their former enemies - mainly the Sangheili - would not rise again. Meanwhile, humanity gained significant advances in technology due to the discovery of Forerunner artifacts during and after the war.
Though the civilization of the Sangheili had plunged into chaos due to the breaking of the Covenant,[16] the conflict between them