Seaward

Seaward, formally designated G 617 g, is a planet in the G617 system situated within the near border region of the galactic halo. The planet was the site for the first contact between Forerunner and Flood forces during the Forerunner-Flood war.

Description
Seaward was a large planet at the edge of the Milky Way, secret to all save a small number of Forerunner individuals. It was capable of supporting sentient life, but possessed no indigenous fauna; several species of plant and insect were later transplanted to the planet by its inhabitants. The planet had a unique optical effect caused by its two suns, called Twofire. As the suns 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; communications with the rest of the ecumene were 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
Approximately 100,300 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 Prelate, who were informed of the event through an automated notification system employing several devices - a trade beacon, a medical station, and a painter's jetbrush. They then proceeded to summon the Didact due to the Flood's return.

Presumably concurrent with or following the above events, 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 an "Advance Survey Team Alpha" was to verify the planet's lack of native fauna. Both groups failed to reestablish communication with the office, and 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 the 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. Meanwhile, Soma the Painter, released as a prelude to the revised canon of The Forerunner Saga and incorporating some of its elements, introduces the notion of the planet already being 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 was taken, at least on their part. While it is uncertain how much of the terminals' version 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. However, 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, and it was the beginning of the Forerunner-Flood war, lasting about 300 years.

Locations

 * Wharftown

Trivia

 * There are references to 7 in "G 617 g". "g" is the seventh letter of the alphabet and as such, 6+1+7=14=7+7. There is also a reference in 333 hours, approximately 14 days. 7x2=14
 * The name of the planet contains a Biblical reference. It is presumably named after Genesis 6:17, which 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