Xalanyn
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| Xalanyn | |
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The Harbinger, a female Xalanyn | |
| Sociocultural information | |
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Homeworld: |
Unknown |
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Notable individuals: |
The Harbinger |
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Also known as: |
Endless |
- "If Halo cannot end them, it must imprison them."
- — Grand Edict to 117649 Despondent Pyre[1]
The Xalanyn,[2] also known as the Endless,[3] was an advanced race, whose members were imprisoned by the Forerunners on Installation 07 by 97,368 BCE due to their ability to survive the effects of the Halo Array.[1][4][5] Some of their cylixes were eventually discovered by Atriox during the Battle for Zeta Halo in 2560.[1]
History[edit]
Origins[edit]
The origins of the Xalanyn remain shrouded in obscurity, with most known information provided in a poem written by the Harbinger, Harbinger's Lament. In the poem, the Harbinger writes that they originally existed as essences inhabiting the Domain (a quantum information repository created by the Precursors). At some point in ancient history, the Xalanyn were given physical form by Abaddon, the Precursor artificial intelligence charged as keeper of the Domain, seemingly created from Precursor dust similar to the early Flood. In this time, the Xalanyn seemed to be aware of a concept similar to daowa-maad and sought to experience the universe. Their immortal nature gave them their nickname, the "Endless".[6]
The Xalanyn eventually began to create their own life, much as they had been created by Abaddon, coming to create "familiars".[6] According to the Harbinger's Lament, each Xalanyn was "a kind of [its] own",[6] while accounts of the Forerunners who later interacted with them noted that while the Xalanyn did share some common cephalopod and molluscoid traits, no two individuals looked the same.[7] They survived the cataclysm of the Forerunner-Flood war.[6] Of most note, they were the only species in the galaxy known to somehow be immune to the Halos' destructive effects.[7] However, the firing of the Halo Array heavily damaged the Domain and severed the Xalanyn's link to it, to their dismay.[6] It was in the century following the Halos and their omnicidal destruction of all life in the galaxy that the Xalanyn were discovered by the Forerunners. With the reintroduction phase of the Conservation Measure underway, 117649 Despondent Pyre, the monitor of Installation 07 discovered the Xalanyn alive and well, inexplicably unaffected by a weapon that had been lethal to all other intelligent life in the galaxy.[8]
Imprisonment[edit]
- "Halo was the Forerunners' terrible and ultimate solution to the parasite's relentless advance. Designed to destroy all sentient life, nothing was allowed to survive. And we were sure that nothing had. We were wrong."
- — 117649 Despondent Pyre[4]
The discovery of the Xalanyn disturbed the Forerunners for multiple reasons. Their discovery raised an immediate question for them, that they had somehow managed to miss an intelligent and highly-advanced species during their effort to index as much life in the galaxy as possible.[7] In addition, the Forerunners reasoned that their plan to pass the Mantle of Responsibility to humanity was in danger and that the Xalanyn were a threat to the rest of the galaxy's species,[9] and a massive unknown variable in the Forerunners' plans to reseed the galaxy.[7]
In 97,368 BCE,[7] the Forerunners moved Installation 07 into the orbit of Ephsu I, the world upon which they had found the Xalanyn living,[10] under the guise of offering aid.[7] A sect of the Forerunners known as the Criterion were the ones to deal with the task, and three delegates - the Grand Edict, Inspector Meritious, and Chief Judicate-travelled from the Ark to Zeta Halo, where they offered to negotiate with the Xalanyn's leaders alongside two ancillas, Despondent Pyre and Offensive Bias. The Xalanyn were brought to the Silent Auditorium on the Halo under the guise of peace, though in actuality the Forerunners had already considered the options available and decided their sentence; that the Xalanyn would be imprisoned on the ring for study, to ensure that they could not interfere with the Conservation Measure.[7][11] From their prior observations, the Forerunners had been unable to learn much about the Xalanyn or their origins, with a few even speculating that they may be extragalactic in nature-though this was a fringe theory with little evidence to support it. This was further-helped by the Xalanyn's refusal to elaborate on their own origins, simply stating that they "have no wish to conquer or destroy, or to impose [their] will upon others".[7] This event was removed from Zeta Halo's records to hide the Forerunners' final, terrible secret.[12]
The Grand Edict charged Despondent Pyre with guarding the Xalanyn's prison, and assigned Offensive Bias to the ring to aid in this task.[1] However, a few Xalanyn managed to escape from their species' imprisonment, and began to roam the Milky Way in secret, visiting scattered outposts and installations in hope to find a solution in order to free their people from their imprisonment.[13]
Return[edit]
- The Harbinger: "I am the Harbinger. All that you know shall be undone."
- Escharum: "Good."
- — The Harbinger and Escharum upon releasing the former from her cylix.[14]
In 2559, the Jiralhanae Atriox, the leader of a group of mercenary raiders known as the Banished, had discovered the existence of the Xalanyn.[11] Seeking to uncover this secret hidden by the Forerunners, Atriox and his second-in-comand War Chief Escharum travelled to Installation 07.[15] Over the course of the conflict with the UNSC on the ring in 2560, the Banished excavated Forerunner subterranean structures, eventually coming across the cylix that contained the Xalanyn known as the "Harbinger".[16] The Harbinger was released from her cylix by forcing a human prisoner of war, Lucas Browning, to interface with her cylix.[14][16] Upon her release, the Harbinger allied with the Banished. She promised to help Escharum restore the ring to its operational status, while Escharum would help her release her fellow Xalanyn from the Silent Auditorium.[17] By May 2560, the Banished excavated the Conservatory, allowing the Harbinger to gain access to its interior and kill Despondent Pyre, stealing data from her at the same time.[18] Ultimately, Master Chief Petty Officer John-117 intervened, killing the Harbinger and preventing her from releasing the Xalanyn.[19]