Strato-Sentinel

Strato-Sentinel is the name applied to a large type of Forerunner Sentinel.

Summary
Strato-Sentinels are part of a group of Forerunner Sentinels that were made to build structures or assist/oversee with these tasks. They also performed tasks relating to this such as gathering materials e.g. Other tasks include terraforming projects, and are capable of mining moons, asteroids, or other planetary bodies. They were notably used to help in the construction of the Halo rings, such as the newly constructed Installation 08 in 2552 in the modern era.

Strato-Sentinels were also used by the Forerunners as escorts to keyships and larger Sentinel variants. In times of crisis, some of them would assist in combat duties.

Dark gray in color, Strato-Sentinels are massive and powerful Sentinels that are slightly smaller than the average human frigate, which are about 478 meters in length. The upper section of a Retriever is vast and wide, while the lower section is lined with numerous mechanical, tentacle-like "legs" that move in pursuit of objects. Glowing eye-like lights are installed on the front of each Sentinel.

Assembler Sentinel
The Assembler is similar in design to the Steward, but it is used in the creation and maintenance of Forerunner structures such as the Portal at Voi.

Excavator Sentinel
The Excavator Sentinel is a class of Sentinel used to construct Halo rings.

Extractor Sentinel
The Extractor Sentinel is equipped with grapplers, and is presumably employed for the purpose of resource extraction.

Retriever Sentinel
The Retriever Sentinel is considered to be one of the more powerful variants of the Sentinel, Retrievers are massive, ship-sized drones that were utilized to construct installations of the Halo Array from Installation 00, as well as to provide maintenance to the Ark itself.

Steward Sentinel
The Steward Sentinel is a variant used to accompany other Forerunner machines and assist them with their tasks.

Prehistory
Strato-Sentinels were used as escorts during the Forerunner-Flood war. Strato-Sentinels were also used at Installation 00 at its stripmining moon, harvesting precious raw construction materials. Following the firing of the Halo Array, Strato-Sentinels assisted the keyships with the reintroduction of species throughout the Milky Way, as per the Conservation Measure, accompanying the vessels back to species' homeworlds. Strato-Sentinels assisted with the excavation and construction of a massive slipspace portal on Erde-Tyrene, in the present-day country of Kenya, that had been set into motion by the Librarian before her death. These Strato-Sentinels were spotted by the human tribe elder N'chala, in the years after the reintroduction, who mistook the sentinels for gods.

Production notes
Strato-Sentinels were originally planned to appear in Halo 3, but were ultimately cut from the game. One of the early settings for the maps "Construct" and "Blackout" was the interior of a damaged Strato-Sentinels in orbit around the Foundry, where other Strato-Sentinels could be seen in the distance harvesting materials from the Foundry's resource moon. However, this idea was scrapped. During production, they were known as "Strato-Sentinels", a name that would later be adopted in subsequent canon. The Strato-Sentinels were also intended to be included in Halo 4, though they were removed from the game during the pre-production stages.

Vic DeLeon indicated that the Strato-Sentinels in Halo 3 were intended to be of a similar size to the similarly-cut Guardian enemy in the cut Guardian Forest level. This level was intended to feature the Strato-Sentinels heavily, with one rising out of the ground with the player riding it. Further information provided by campaign lead Rob Stokes indicates the Strato-Sentinels would have been featured in the ending of Guardian Forest wherein the Master Chief would activate them to destroy Truth's fleet above The Ark, as well as in the ending of Forerunner City and Halo, in both cases being shown constructing Installation 08.

List of appearances

 * Iris
 * Halo 3: The Cradle of Life
 * Halo Legends
 * Origins
 * ''Halo: Hunters in the Dark
 * Halo Mythos
 * Halo Wars 2
 * Halo: Renegades
 * Halo: Outpost Discovery
 * The Ring Experience