Arcadia

Arcadia was a United Nations Space Command outer colony located in the Procyon System.

The Forerunners
The Forerunners had a presence on Arcadia before the Forerunner-Flood War, leaving behind a building complex that became a site of conflict in 2531.

Human colonization
Upon humanity's discovery of Arcadia, the planet had no need for terraforming. It was already inhabited by dense jungles and large oceans. Arcadia was rich in natural resources. Almost no change was made to its geographical features. The UNSC established the largest landmasses into six continents; Eire, Pacifica, Mu, Caledonia, Lemuria and Avalon. Pirth City, in Mu, became the largest city on the planet, and soon became the capital city of the planet.

Arcadia became a center for agriculture, research and recreational activities. It was also home to the Deep Space Research Array. However, Arcadia's population and structures were all very clustered, leaving huge areas of the planet unexplored. The planet's police force was the Arcadian Patrol.

Professor Ellen Anders, the unwitting protegé of Dr. Catherine Halsey, was a native of the planet.

Human-Covenant War
By 2531, Arcadia had a population of approximately three million. In February 2531, Arcadia was invaded by the Covenant after a Forerunner stellar map on Harvest pointed Arbiter Ripa 'Moramee toward the colony. Over the course of the battle, the Covenant managed to extract the location of a Forerunner Shield World from a complex of ruins near an Office of Naval Intelligence facility. Eventually, the Covenant were pushed off by the efforts of the crew of the, as well as SPARTAN teams Red and Omega, allowing much of its civilian populace to be evacuated.

After the evacuation of the planet, the capital city of Pirth was soon overtaken by nature. Meanwhile, the remaining colonists formed the farming community of Abaskun on the continent of Mu. It would remain a mostly lawless region, but continued to supply the UNSC with food. The Covenant would return to Arcadia later in 2549, glassing it.

Main continents

 * Eire
 * Pacifica
 * Mu
 * Abaskun, a settlement on Mu.
 * Pirth City - The capital city of Arcadia.
 * Caledonia
 * Lemuria
 * Avalon

Other locations

 * Deep Space Research Array - A research facility on Arcadia.
 * ONI base - An ONI facility in Arcadia's jungles.
 * Forerunner ruins - A complex of Forerunner ruins near the ONI base.

Trivia

 * The planet was likely named after Arcadia, a region and city south of Greece in the Peloponnesus.
 * Arcadia is also a name for a paradise in Greek mythology, as well as in later fiction.
 * The original idea for Arcadia was pitched to Joseph Staten by Graeme Devine, the lead designer of Halo Wars. Staten liked the idea so much that he mentioned it in his novel Halo: Contact Harvest.
 * Arcadia is the setting for the RISK: Halo Wars Collector's Edition board game.
 * In the Halo Encyclopedia, Arcadia is erroneously referred to as an Inner Colony on page 286.

List of appearances

 * Halo Wars
 * Halo Legends
 * Origins