Canon

Slipspace core

From Halopedia, the Halo wiki

The Slipspace core, also known as the Source Crystal or (to its cutters) the Mother Crystal,[1] was a large, quantum-engineered crystal created by the Precursors[2] and later used by the Forerunners to create slipspace drives for their ships. Pieces were chipped off from the core crystal, transported to manufacturing facilities all across the ecumene and then cut into smaller flakes for use in new slipspace drives from the smallest craft to the largest.[1] The exotic composition and slipspace interactions of the crystal were incomprehensible to even the Forerunners and never replicated[3][4] despite attempts by the Miners and Builders, who collaborated in attempts to grow new slipspace cores from the flakes cut from this core.[2] Cleaving a flake from the core was permissible only with approval from a senior Builder.[5]

Befitting its importance, the crystal was stored on Maethrillian,[2] the capitol of the ecumene, and its location was one of the best-kept secrets in the empire.[1] It was said that only the Master Builder knew the location of the core.[5] 343 Guilty Spark stated that only the cutters knew and they would have rather died than reveal its location.[1]

In 2557, Guilty Spark took the salvager vessel Ace of Spades to the Forerunner world of Triniel to acquire a flake of the crystal to help upgrade the ship's systems. The crystals were so dangerous that Spark could not allow them to be salvaged nor could the humans touch them.[1]

List of appearances[edit]

Sources[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e Halo: Renegades, chapter 28
  2. ^ a b c Halo Encyclopedia (2022 edition), page 319
  3. ^ Halo: Warfleet, page 11
  4. ^ Halo Encyclopedia (2022 edition), page 339
  5. ^ a b Halo: Cryptum, chapter 12