Editing Netherop

{{Status|Canon}}
{{Planet infobox
|name=Netherop
|image=[[File:HOut CoverArt.jpg|300px]]<br>[[Crei 'Ayomuu]], [[Olympia Vale]] and [[Thel 'Vadam]] on Netherop during the [[Created uprising]].
|system=[[Ephyra system]]{{Ref/Novel|Id=HSS1|SS|Chapter=1}}
|body=
|position=
|moon(s)=At least 3{{Ref/Reuse|outchapt4}}
|diameter=
|gravity=
|daylength=~23 hours, 5 minutes{{Ref/Novel|HOblv|Chapter=10|Quote=SOLAR TRACKING INDICATES DAYLIGHT AT THIS LATITUDE LASTS 23 HOURS, 5 MINUTES.}}
|yearlength=2.4 [[Earth]] years{{Ref/Novel|HOblv|Chapter=10|Quote=NETHEROP COMPLETES ONE SOLAR REVOLUTION EVERY 2.4 STANDARD YEARS.}}
|atmosphere=[[Wikipedia:Greenhouse effect|Greenhouse gases]]{{Ref/Reuse|HSS1}}
|temperature=Dangerously hot{{Ref/Reuse|HSS2}}{{Ref/Reuse|TD2}}
|demonym=
|species=*[[Netherop species|Unidentified race]] {{c|Extinct}}{{Ref/Reuse|HSS1}}{{Ref/Reuse|TD2}}
*[[Precursor]]s {{C|non-native}}
|population=*Several [[Sangheili]] and [[human]]s {{c|Formerly}}{{Ref/Reuse|Oblivion}}
*[[Castoffs]] {{c|Formerly}}
*The [[Nothing]] {{c|Currently}}{{Ref/Novel|Out|16}}
|colonized=[[2450]]{{Ref/Book|Id=Enc22|Enc22|Page=51}}
|government=*[[Netherop species|Unidentified civilization]] {{c|Formerly}}{{Ref/Reuse|HSS1}}{{Ref/Reuse|TD2}}
}}
'''Netherop''', identified by the [[Covenant]] as '''N'ba''',{{Ref/Reuse|Oblivion}}{{Ref/Reuse|outchapt3}} and called '''Neska''' by the [[Forerunner|Forerunners]]{{Ref/Novel|SS}}{{Ref/Novel|Id=outchapt3|Out|Chapter=3}}, is a  [[Wikipedia:Greenhouse effect|greenhouse]] planet located in the [[Ephyra system]].{{Ref/Reuse|HSS1}} The planet is considered both in [[human]]ity's [[Polona sector]]{{Ref/Twitter|Id=TD1|TDenningauthor|1037934558237405184|Quote=Etalan and Biko are in the Polona Sector. Netherop probably is, too. The action is fairly compressed, timewise, so they couldn't have been traveling far. Harvest is less certain -- in my mind, it was more distant, so was probably in an adjoining sector 2/|D=09|M=03|Y=2022}} and the [[Sangheili]]'s [[Out Sectors]].{{Ref/Reuse|outchapt2}} Netherop was once home to a civilization of intelligent beings, but has been uninhabited for centuries.{{Ref/Twitter|Id=TD2|TDenningauthor|1038654237453049862|Troy Denning|Quote=Okay -- got 'em. Both were Innie bases, not colonies. And I forgot to specify -- Netherop was a non-human, non-Covenant world originally. The civilization is long gone, never advanced to space-faring.|D=09|M=03|Y=2022}}

==Overview==
===Nomenclature===
The Covenant refer to Netherop under two names: Neska and N'ba.{{Ref/Reuse|outchapt3}} Within the [[Sangheili (language)|Sangheili language]], the name N'ba translates to "''world of death''".{{Ref/Novel|Id=outchapt2|Out|Chapter=2}}{{Ref/Reuse|outchapt3}} Neska however is a Sangheili phonetic transcription of a [[Forerunner]] word and means "''world that makes ghosts''", while the original Forerunner word itself means "''planet of ghost makers''".{{Ref/Reuse|outchapt3}}

===Topography===
Netherop appears to be covered in a pall of dingy brown clouds, many of which rapidly expand in various swirls.{{Ref/Reuse|HSS1}}{{Ref/Novel|Id=HSS2|SS|Chapter=2}} Netherop's atmosphere produces a thick [[Wikipedia:Corona (optical phenomenon)|corona]] and its [[Wikipedia:Mesosphere|mesosphere]] creates a pearl-colored haze.{{Ref/Reuse|HSS2}} A survey of the planet described it as uninhabited, marginally survivable, and of minimal strategic value with no exploitable resources.{{Ref/Reuse|O122}} Daylight on the planet, at least at the latitude visited by [[Blue Team]] in [[2526#June|2526]], lasts twenty-three hours and five minutes.{{Ref/Novel|Oblv|Page=147}} The planet's night also appears to last a long time, so long [[Nizat 'Kvarosee]] considered it to be interminable.{{Ref/Novel|Oblv|Chapter=394}}

*[[Mountains of Despair]]
**[[Crystal Bush Plateau]]
**[[Serpentine Canyon]]
***[[Forgotten Highway]]
****[[Ambush Site Alpha]]
****[[Big Surprise Culvert]]
*****[[Blue Force Bunker]]
**[[Last Hope Escarpment]]
*[[Cave Cities]] {{Mo}}
*[[Sanctum of the Ancients]]
**[[Inner Sanctum]]

===Ecology===
In the time of the Forerunners, Netherop was a lush world covered in jungles and home to a now-extinct species of sapient life forms.{{Ref/Novel|Id=OC6|HOut|Chapter=6}} The firing of the [[Divine Hand]] to fend off a Forerunner [[Guardian Custode]] resulted in the destruction of much of the planet's ecology, eventually turning the planet into little more than a barren wasteland.{{Ref/Novel|Id=Out21|Out|Chapter=21}}

In the modern day, Netherop is mostly barren, meaning little plant or animal life grows there. However, a few hardy plant species have been observed. During the battle on Netherop in 2526, Nizat 'Kvarosee remained unsure whether the planet actually had local fauna, or even cool nights that could enable them to come out after dark.{{Ref/Novel|Oblv|Chapter=14}}
;Flora
*[[Sail plant]]s
*[[Teardrop pad]]s{{Ref/Novel|Id=OBE|Oblv|Chapter=Epilogue}}
*[[Vase bush]]es

Thanks to the [[nanotechnology]] inside the [[Sanctum of the Ancients]], Nizat and the [[Defenders of the Sanctum]] were able to survive on Netherop for thirty-three years - with some of the less disciplined warriors even becoming slightly overweight - due to an abundance of fruits and other edible (for Sangheili) flora grown inside the sanctum's agricultural grange. The fruits grown there included [[abbu]], [[banaq]]s, [[pek]]s, [[rishe]], and [[wuff]]. It is unclear whether these fruits were the result of the Precrusor nanotechnology growing fruit that the Sangheili occupants already knew from their own homeworlds, or whether it simply grew flora of its own creation. After the Divine Hand was stolen from the sanctum, the plant life in the sanctum almost immediately withered and the waters became poisoned.{{Ref/Novel|Out|Chapter=25}}

[[Keely Iyuska]] believed that the firing of the weapon to destroy the fleets surrounding the planet in [[2559]] had probably killed what little remained of Netherop's ecology.{{Ref/Reuse|Out21}}

==History==
===Ancient history===
Many centuries ago, Netherop was home to [[Netherop species|an intelligent Tier 6 civilization]].{{Ref/Reuse|HSS1}}{{Ref/Reuse|TD2}}

During the [[Forerunner-Precursor war]], Netherop became home to [[Precursor]] fugitives known as [[Nothing]], who used a powerful weapon that was later dubbed the [[Divine Hand]] to destroy an attacking [[Guardian Custode]]. However, the use of this weapon wiped out the original inhabitants of the planet and effectively destroyed the planet itself, transforming Netherop from a lush world into a barely inhabitable wasteland.{{Ref/Reuse|OC6}} This was later misattributed to being due to the great increases in temperature that resulted from [[Wikipedia:Greenhouse effect|greenhouse gases]].{{Ref/Reuse|HSS1}}{{Ref/Reuse|TD2}}

===Rise of humanity===
A survey was done by the UNSC of Netherop, but was cut short by the planet's hostile environment. The [[Military Survey of Uninhabited Planets]] would list Netherop as uninhabited, marginally survivable, and of minimal strategic value with no exploitable resources. Though the survey notes suggested that a properly equipped survey team should return, a classified ONI addendum listed the planet as possibly abandoned, suggesting that the survey had found anything from an old Colonial habitability probe to the presence of terrain features that could've been artificially constructed. [[Frederic-104]] would later guess that the survey had been electronically added to the ''MSUP'' by some clerk who only read the part about minimal strategic value and no exploitable resources and as such, the assessor's recommendation went unread and thus not acted upon.{{Ref/Novel|Id=O122|Oblv|Page=122}}

At some point in probably the twenty-fifth century, a group of pirates with [[Insurrectionist]] leanings were marooned on the planet. Though they weren't expected to survive, the pirates and their descendants managed to make a living on Netherop, coming to call themselves the [[Castoffs]].{{Ref/Novel|Id=Oblivion|Oblv}}

===Human-Covenant War===
{{Main|Human-Covenant War}}
On [[2526#March|March 5, 2526]], a single [[Covenant frigate]], the ''[[Radiant Arrow]]'', was holding position in orbit around the planet until it was [[Skirmish over Netherop|boarded]] by three teams of [[Spartan-II]]s, forcing the ship's self-destruction at the hands of its [[shipmaster]].{{Ref/Novel|Id=HSS3|SS|Chapter=3}}

In [[2526#June|June 2526]], the UNSC [[Battle of Netherop|returned]] to Netherop to capture the ''[[Steadfast Strike]]'', a [[Covenant frigate]] that had seemingly crashed on the planet. However, this was actually a trap by renegade Covenant [[Fleetmaster]] [[Nizat 'Kvarosee]] who planned to plant [[Luminal Beacon]]s amongst the human forces so that he could locate and destroy ONI and redeem himself in the eyes of the [[Hierarchs]] and [[Forerunner|their gods]]. However, due to 'Kvarosee's renegade actions, the [[Silent Shadow]] and the [[Fleet of Swift Justice]] chased him to Netherop, leading to a three-way battle on and above the planet. Much of 'Kvarosee's forces were decimated, but two of his ships, including 'Kvarosee's flagship the ''[[Quiet Faith]]'' escaped. The Silent Shadow eventually destroyed the ''Steadfast Strike'' and exiled 'Kvarosee and his few surviving followers on Netherop after removing their armor. At the same time, the surviving human forces pulled out aside from [[Lieutenant Commander]] [[Amalea Petrov]] who intended to create a deep-operations base on the planet.{{Ref/Reuse|Oblivion}}

To complete 'Kvarosee's exile, the Silent Shadow established a [[orbital mine shell|minefield]] of self-targeted [[Plasma torpedo|''Jaet''-pattern plasma torpedoes]] around Netherop, preventing even a drop pod from getting through to land on the surface. In this fashion, the Silent Shadow ensured that no loyal Shipmaster could ever rescue 'Kvarosee who witnessed the destruction of five ships attempting to do so. This also cut the UNSC off from the planet permanently though they rescued many of the Castoffs and relocated them to [[Gao]] at the Castoffs' request.{{Ref/Reuse|Oblivion}}

Information about Netherop in the [[Covenant World Registry]] included information on the two battles but did not include any information on the mine shell placed around the planet or 'Kvarosee's role in it. Instead, the registry simply said that the [[Prophet of Truth]] had deemed the losses to be a sign of divine displeasure and forbade all Covenant vessels from entering the system.{{Ref/Novel|Id=outchapt4|Out|Chapter=4}}{{Ref/Novel|Out|13}}

===War on the surface===
{{stub|section=yes}}

===Created uprising===
{{Main|Created uprising}}
In [[2559]], rumors about an ancient artifact located on the planet were heard by both the [[United Nations Space Command]] and the [[Swords of Sanghelios]]. While the [[Arbiter]] [[Thel 'Vadam]] and [[SPARTAN-IV program|Spartan]] [[Olympia Vale]] travelled to the planet with hopes that the artifact could help them in [[Created conflict|their fight against]] [[Cortana]]'s [[Created]], they were being manipulated by mysterious forces with their own agenda.{{Ref/Site|Id=SCOutcasts|URL=https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Halo-Outcasts/Troy-Denning/Halo/9781668003282|Site=Simon & Schuster|Page=Halo: Outcasts|D=09|M=2|Y=2022}}

==List of appearances==
*''[[Halo: Silent Storm]]'' {{1st}}
*''[[Halo: Oblivion]]''
*''[[Halo: Outcasts]]''
*''[[Halo: Battle for the Blood-Moon]]'' {{Mo}}
*''[[Halo: Empty Throne]]'' {{Mo}}

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

[[Category:Planets]]
[[Category:Netherop locations|Netherop locations]]