Seaward

Seaward, formally designated G 617 g, is a planet in the G617 system situated within the near border region of the galactic halo. Once home to a Forerunner colony, the planet saw the return of the Flood to the Milky Way circa 97,745 BCE. The planet's inhabitants were the first victims of the parasite during the Forerunner-Flood war.

Description
Seaward was a large planet at the edge of the galaxy, secret to all save a small number of Forerunners. It was capable of supporting sentient life but possessed no indigenous fauna; several plant and insect species were later transplanted to the planet by its inhabitants. The planet had a unique optical effect ("Twofire") caused by its twin stars. As the stars fell below the horizon their combined light would be reflected in multiple colors in the clouds above.

The planet was officially designated an uninhabitable world to allow a small community of wealthy Forerunners to use it as a "private, expensive sanctuary". Supplies were regularly delivered to the settlement via transorbital balloon; the colony's inhabitants exported artwork and energy supplies in return. Aside from these transactions, the planet was largely left alone and ignored. Communication with the rest of the ecumene was almost nonexistent.

The planet's inhabitants had given up most of the Forerunners' advanced technology, including personal armor, in favor of a more primitive lifestyle. Most of the Forerunners in the settlement did this out of a desire to live close to nature, and to eventually age naturally and die. The planet had a single settlement, Wharftown, which contained little more than homes, parks and a small area of agricultural land.

History
Around 97,745 BCE, the Flood made landfall on Seaward, marking their first appearance since the human-Forerunner wars 9,000 years earlier. Their arrival was noted by the Auditor and the Prelate, who were informed of the event through an automated notification system employing several devices - a trade beacon, a medical station, and a local painter's jetbrush. They then agreed to inform the Didact of the Flood's return.

Around this time a Forerunner administrative group recorded that after a successful post-landfall report, a Primary Pioneer Group on Seaward had failed to make a follow-up report. The office noting the delinquency also stated that Advance Survey Team Alpha was to verify the planet's lack of native fauna. Both groups failed to reestablish communication with the office; those monitoring the two groups advised that they would send a military detachment to the site shortly to uncover why the two exploratory teams had halted communication. The accounts of the first Flood contact as presented in the Halo 3 terminals and in "Soma the Painter" differ greatly. The terminals depict G 617 g as an unexplored world, with the Primary Pioneer Group being a planetary survey party. However, "Soma the Painter" depicts the planet as already hosting a Forerunner colony (albeit one secret to most of the ecumene) and the Forerunner authorities being made aware of the Flood attack before any action to explore the planet is taken, at least on their part. While it is uncertain how much of the terminals' story remains canonical, it is possible to reconcile the two to a certain extent. Accounting for possible failures to communicate on either party's part (the Prelate mentions that no one else has been informed of the event), as well as the possibility that the Primary Pioneer Group was operating independently of the administrative party the Auditor and Prelate represented, it is possible that these events took place concurrently or shortly after one another. Given that Halo: Cryptum implies that the Flood threat was kept secret from the Forerunner population at large, survey teams such as the Pioneer Group may not have been informed of the Auditor and Prelate's findings. Additionally, due to the planet's secrecy, the Pioneer Group would not have been aware that the world had been a Forerunner colony, perhaps initially leading them to classify it as an uninhabited world. Despite this, the Advance Survey Team's observations on the lack of native fauna and their apparent failure to notice any artifacts constructed by the Forerunner population are more difficult to explain, although one may infer that these were eliminated when the Flood overwhelmed the planet, with any structures being less durable and permanent than typical Forerunner architecture due inhabitants' rejection of advanced technology.

This would be the last time the Forerunners had any contact with G 617 g. The invasion of the planet was the beginning of the Forerunner-Flood war, which would last three centuries and end with the firing of the Halo Array, killing all sentient life in the galaxy.

Trivia
The planet's formal designation refers to the Biblical story of Noah. Genesis 6:17 (KJV) says, "And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die."

List of appearances

 * Halo 3
 * Terminals
 * Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe
 * Soma the Painter