Shalimanda

"I told Vinnevra the ancient story of Shalimanda, the heaven-snake, who one night swallowed the original shining, jewel-encrusted stream of worlds, and the next night exploded, showering the sky with all the darker earthy orbs on which humans would grow."

— Chakas

Shalimanda, known as the heaven-snake, was a legendary entity in the mythology of ancient humans living on Earth in the years prior to the firing of the Halo Array. It was said that one night Shalimanda had swallowed the original shining, jewel-encrusted stream of worlds. The next night, Shalimanda exploded, showering the sky with all the darker, earthy orbs on which humans would grow.

A group of scientists and their Marine escort were compelled by the personality imprints in their geas to worship a being that they called Shalimanda. Shalimanda took the form of a silver-gray construct bearing a circular disk-shaped "head" from which were housed three blue eyes, beneath which dangled an assemblage of arms, grapplers, claws and two bipedal legs. Doctor Madeline Tress once knew what Shalimanda actually was, but that knowledge was taken from her mind. Shalimanda would visit the group twice a season. Tress understood that the construct served some kind of unique role on Zeta Halo. That part of the ring's biosphere was tended to by machine custodians and their flocks of smaller machine farmers enriched and kept the soil fertile, and seeded the fields to provide the bounty of sustenance for the living creatures of Zeta Halo, humans included. The others would paint the words "enemy within" onto Shalimanda. Eventually, Shalimanda left and didn't return following the arrival of the Created on Zeta Halo and its smaller brethren had a significantly reduced presence as well. Without their maintenance of the land, it grew inhospitable to the humans.

List of appearances

• Halo: Primordium (First mentioned)
• Halo: Ghosts of the Gyre (First appearance)