Precursor
From Halopedia, the Halo wiki
| Precursors | |
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 The Primordial, a member of the Precursors
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| Physical information | |
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Distinctions: |
Tentacle draped mouths, gigantic stature, able to change physical forms at will. |
| Sociocultural information | |
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Homeworld: |
Extragalactic |
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Notable individuals: |
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- "We are the last of those who gave you breath and form, millions of years ago. We are the last of those your kind defied and ruthlessly destroyed. We are the last Precursors. And now we are legion."
- — The Gravemind to Catalog in the final years of the Forerunner-Flood war[2]
The Precursors were an advanced race that preceded and were mythologized by the Forerunners. The Forerunners classified them as "Transsentient" beings, having the ability to travel among galaxies and accelerate the evolution of intelligent life.[1] While the Precursors themselves had long since disappeared during the time of the Forerunners, evidence of their technological and architectural achievements remained scattered across not only the galaxy but also outside it, namely in the Large Magellanic Cloud.
Forerunner beliefs[edit]
The Forerunners knew few concrete details about the Precursors, and most of their supposed knowledge came from the mythology they had constructed around their creators. Their most central belief was that the Mantle (the role of guardianship of the galaxy and of all life) was bestowed upon them by the Precursors. From a Forerunner perspective, the passing of the Mantle secured the Precursors' legacy in the form of the Forerunners, continuing their work after they departed, much in the same way humanity was appointed to be the Forerunners' inheritors shortly before the activation of the Halo Array. According to Forerunner belief, the Precursors had peacefully passed away after they fulfilled their mission in creating the Forerunners.[3] The Forerunners believed the Precursors had shaped the Forerunners in their own image, and some even suggested that they may have done the same with humans.[4] By the time of the human-Forerunner wars, ancient humans also claimed to be the sole inheritors of the Mantle, something contemporary Forerunners considered heretical.[5]
The majority of this information was mythology with a dubious historical basis, providing a set of explanations for the innumerable mysteries surrounding the Precursors. The facts were very different from what the Forerunners had ultimately chosen to believe.
According to the Librarian, the concept of one-mind unity as seen in the Flood is not an aspect inherent to the Precursor race as a whole. There was corruption, but purity, division and unity, inclusion and exclusion and all Precursors were not the same. While the Primordial relished in suffering, others celebrated joy.[6] The fugitives on Netherop appeared to be of this kind of Precursor, choosing to hide themselves away but at the same time allowing the Defenders of the Sanctum to share their hiding place, kept them fed using the Precursors' technology and allowed them to live in some modicum of comfort for over thirty years which was an act of compassion that didn't match the Forerunner stories about the race.[7] The Precursors also healed Rosa Fuertes' injuries and incurable prion disease on the condition that Rosa kept their existence a secret and warned her that everyone must leave as they would all die otherwise,[8] likely aware that the Inner Sanctum would become uninhabitable once the power source was gone.[9]
History[edit]
Background[edit]
- "The Gravemind no more understands the whole truth than we do. It is past all our understanding, from the greatest to the smallest."
- — Forthencho's imprinted essence to the Librarian.[10]
The Precursors originated outside the Milky Way and arrived in the galaxy billions of years ago. They were an incredibly advanced race of beings who explored many galaxies and seeded them with life over the course of many billions of years as part of a grand experiment.[11] As transsentient beings, they existed on a level beyond that of conventionally sapient biological organisms; they were described as "dreamers and makers whose minds transcended many realms and having infinite forms, many voices, and singular purpose".[12] The Precursors were not tied to any particular physical form, assuming any shape as they saw fit; they would allow themselves to die away and be evolved anew over and over again, taking on numerous incarnations both physical and immaterial. They lived through different stages of technological and cultural development countless times, being at times hyper-advanced and spacefaring and at others living primitively and remaining confined to their worlds.[13] The Precursors based their existence around the philosophical concepts of the Mantle, Living Time, and a meta-technological mechanism known as neural physics, which enabled them to manipulate the fabric of the universe. According to the philosophical aspect of neural physics, the universe itself is a living entity, though vastly different in nature and scale from organic beings.[14] The Precursors' stewardship for all life involved the belief that all experience of biological organisms enriched the greater, universal whole,[15] something they experienced firsthand through the constantly changing nature of their own existence. To contain their vast knowledge and experience the Precursors created the Domain, a transcendent quantum reservoir of information later accessed by the Forerunners.[16] The Precursors were not strictly benevolent, considering strife, pain and indeed evil an inherent part of the universe. The struggles of good and evil, the pleasures and pains of life, added to the 'sweetness', a sensation or emotional state that seemed to not have a human-analogue.
The Precursors were responsible for seeding the Milky Way with life, creating the galaxy's diverse composition of species to become "new tools and companions", and engineered millions of star systems. Over time, they would also judge whether a species was worthy of the Mantle, their assumed role of guardianship of all life. The humanoid species native to the world of Ghibalb, who would come to be known as the Forerunners, were next chosen for this task. Originally created by the Precursors to serve as their assistants and adjutants,[11] the Forerunners were eventually judged to be unworthy of taking on the Mantle and according to one record, planned to be wiped out, and the Precursors instead decided that the responsibility would fall on the shoulders of another of their creations; a collection of species referred to as humanity, hailing from the planet known as Erde-Tyrene. According to this record, the Forerunners made an expedition to Path Kethona, where they encountered their creators, and accidentally found out this genocidal plan[17] around 10,000,000 BCE. The Forerunners decided to prevent this fate and furiously retaliated against their creators and drove them to near-extinction, first in the Milky Way and eventually in the satellite galaxy of Path Kethona; only a small number managed to escape the Forerunners' campaign of extermination. According to another record, the Precursors decision to pass the Mantle to humanity seeded antipathy in the hearts of the Forerunners and this combined with some Forerunners coming to believe the Precursors were planning to exterminate them, caused them to commit genocide against their creators in a one-sided war.[18] This account was corroborated by the Gravemind, whom contained the consciousness of the Primordial, a Precursor and other Precursor essences who told the Ur-Didact that the Forerunners struck against their creators unprovoked.[19]
During this war, some Precursors settled on Netherop with the Tier 6 civilization that was already on the planet. These Precursor fugitives used a weapon later called the Divine Hand to destroy a Guardian Custode that was sent after them by the Forerunners. However, the effects of their weapon devastated Netherop, turning a once lush planet into a barely inhabitable wasteland. The indigenous population was wiped out, but the Precursor fugitives remained in hiding on Netherop for over a hundred thousand years.[20]
Return[edit]
- Main article: Flood
- "We are the Flood. There is no difference. Until all space and time are rolled up and life is crushed in the folds... no end to grief, war or pain. In a hundred and one thousand centuries... unity again, and wisdom. Until then - sweetness."
- — The Primordial speaking to the IsoDidact.
A few Precursors escaped or were spared by the Forerunners. They either went into suspended animation or became molecular dust that was meant to eventually regenerate into their past forms. However, over millions of years, the dust became defective, failing to reconstitute the Precursors and instead inducing madness and mutations in lifeforms that came in contact with it. This form would later be known as the Flood. Far from accepting failure and extinction, the Precursors viewed the Flood as a means to bring unity to the galaxy as well as punish the Forerunners for their insolence. Vowing that none of their creations would rise against them again, the Precursors decided that all life would be deprived of free will and merged into one; in the end, the sum of the Precursors' creation would be a reflection of themselves and the suffering their creations caused them.[21]
However, not all Precursors chose this course of action. After the genocide, those Forerunners who refused to partake in the genocide of their creators were exiled to a planet in Path Kethona. While there they discovered two Precursor survivors who were not corrupted like the Primordial but were instead of a gentler and kinder nature. The Forerunners tried to save them but the survivors chose to die with the rest of their species.[22]
