Xalanyn

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Xalanyn
The Harbinger, a female Xalanyn
Sociocultural information
Homeworld:	Unknown
Notable individuals:	The Harbinger
Also known as:	Endless

"If Halo cannot end them, it must imprison them."

— Grand Edict to 117649 Despondent Pyre

The Xalanyn, also known as the Endless, 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. Some of their cylixes were eventually discovered by Atriox during the Battle for Zeta Halo in 2560.

History

Origins

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 nanotechnology dust similar to other Precursor creations such as the early Flood and the armour and artefacts present on Netherop. 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".

The Xalanyn eventually began to create their own life, much as they had been created by Abaddon, coming to create "familiars". According to the Harbinger's Lament, each Xalanyn was "a kind of [its] own", 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. They were spared the destruction of the Forerunners' genocide of the Precursors thanks to the Forerunners lacking any knowledge of the Xalanyn, and also survived the cataclysm of the Forerunner-Flood war. Of most note, they were the only species in the galaxy known to somehow be immune to the Halos' destructive effects. However, the firing of the Halo Array heavily damaged the Domain and severed the Xalanyn's link to it, to their dismay. 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.

Imprisonment

"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

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. 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, and a massive unknown variable in the Forerunners' plans to reseed the galaxy.

In 97,368 BCE,, the Forerunners moved Installation 07 into the orbit of Ephsu I, the world upon which they had found the Xalanyn living, under the guise of offering aid. 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. 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".

The Grand Edict charged Despondent Pyre with guarding the Xalanyn's prison, and assigned Offensive Bias to the ring to aid in this task. 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.

The door leading into the chamber containing the Xalanyn's cylixes.

Return

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.

In 2559, the Jiralhanae Atriox, the leader of a group of mercenary raiders known as the Banished, had discovered the existence of the Xalanyn. Seeking to uncover this secret hidden by the Forerunners, Atriox and his second-in-comand War Chief Escharum travelled to Installation 07. 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". The Harbinger was released from her cylix by forcing a human prisoner of war, Lucas Browning, to interface with her cylix. 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. 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. Ultimately, Master Chief Petty Officer John-117 intervened, killing the Harbinger and preventing her from releasing the Xalanyn.

After being rescued from Rdomnai Keep by the Master Chief, Browning revealed to him and Tomas Horvath that the Harbinger had done something to his memory, encoding something into the memory of Browning's service number so that the numbers had a more significant meaning. The Master Chief recalled Browning repeating the numbers in his data drops and Browning told him that the Harbinger had called it insurance and a geas. It was discovered that the geas contained the preliminary access code to the Xalanyn prison, possibly as a backup plan. Joyeuse theorized that the Harbinger had stored the code in Browning as a backup and, with her last transmission, potentially stored the location somewhere else as a backup as well which was apparently in the Huragok Rises High who possessed a similar compulsion to Browning. Browning didn't understand the numbers that he had in his head, only knowing that they were a container for something.

After scanning Browning's geas, Rises High brought itself, the Master Chief and Joyeuse to the Silent Auditorium where it activated the Grand Edict's Durance, showing the Master Chief and Joyeuse the Grand Edict's memory of the Xalanyn's trial. Continuing to be driven by its own compulsion, Rises left with Jega 'Rdomnai when he and the Banished took the Harbinger's body.

Elsewhere on the ring, cylixes of other Xalanyn, though with a different appearance compared to that of the Harbinger, were found by Atriox.

Physiology

"Vessels of eternal light
Computation circulation
Quantum blood and neural bone within a skin aglow of home"

— The Xalanyn's physical forms described in Harbinger's Lament.

The physical form of the Xalanyn was created by Abaddon from Precursor nanotechnology dust, seemingly-comparable to the spores that make up the Flood. Their original forms were seemingly those of disembodied essences inhabiting the Domain, and it is from this perspective through which the Xalanyn view the world. This nature naturally means that the Xalanyn did not have an evolutionary process like many other species, and the variety in their individual forms is massive. When meeting with the Xalanyn to confirm their imprisonment, the Grand Edict noted that no two Xalanyn looked alike, though all shared some mollusk and cephalopod traits. The Xalanyn leadership had at least two sexes, with both male and female individuals present.

To-date, the only physically-observed Xalanyn is the Harbinger, a blue-skinned, gaunt humanoid with mollusk-like characteristics. She possess two arms and two legs, and her hands are tetradactyl, bearing four fingers. Her feet, in contrast to other humanoid species, project downward in a hyperextended position rather than forward, which renders them incapable of terrestrial locomotion. As a result of this, she relies on mechanical thrusters for movement. Her head is smooth and hairless, with two wide-set pupil-less eyes, no nostrils, and a narrow, thin-lipped mouth surrounded by a pair of flipper-like tentacles. Her mouth contains a vaguely cephalopod-like beak in lieu of teeth, and the anterior of the lower jaw houses a single hinged, dagger-like mouthpart. This oral appendage is always exposed, and both the upper and lower lips are clefted to accommodate it when the mouth is closed.

Although incredibly little is known about their nature, the Xalanyn somehow have the ability to manipulate various forces and energy types in unique ways. The most troublingly ability the Xalanyn have, however, is a peculiar attunement to elements of Living Time itself, though to what extent remains unknown.

According to the Xalanyn, they survived the Great Purification simply as a consequence of their nature because the Xalanyn "are Endless. Endurance is our nature."

Technology

The Xalanyn utilize thrusters as a way to travel since they rarely walk similar to their companions of how they float instead of walk. In combat, the Harbinger utilized a ranged attack launching a sphere of energy into the air and it tracking its target doing a large amount of damage. On Chief's first encounter the Harbinger used a form of teleportation to evade him as well as locking his MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor for Joyeuse to unlock it. It is known that the Harbinger has an interface with technology as seen with her hacking the Weapon, accessing the Silent Auditorium and her activating of the Reformation Spires.

The Harbinger had access to geas technology, able to implant one in Lucas Browning and seemingly the Huragok Rises High. Joyeuse theorized that the Xalanyn had access to a similar or parallel technology to what the Librarian used given their level of advancement or the Harbinger simply co-opted the Forerunners' own systems.

Gallery

Concept art

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  Concept art of the Xalanyn for Halo Infinite.

Screenshots

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  A close up of the head of a Xalanyn.

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  Cylix containing one of the Xalanyn.

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  Cylix containing the Harbinger, with a different insignia than the Xalanyn.

List of appearances

• Halo Infinite (First appearance)
• Halo: The Rubicon Protocol
• Halo: Epitaph (Mentioned only)
• Halo: Edge of Dawn
  • Harbinger's Lament