Promethean

"Oh, but what I would not give to have even a single company of Prometheans here right now... oh, they would most certainly restore order with their trademark lethality..."

- 343 Guilty Spark musing to himself as his Installation is about to be destroyed.

The Prometheans were the highest and most respected group of Warrior-Servants in the Forerunner ecumene. During and after the Human-Forerunner War, they were led by the Didact. Elements of the Prometheans survived the Forerunner-Flood war and the activation of the Halo Array, eventually awakening within the shield world Requiem and rising to oppose the UNSC in 2557.

Organic Prometheans
Physically, Prometheans were the highest form a Warrior-Servant could mutate to, standing around two times the height of a Forerunner Manipular and weighing about four or five times a Manipular's mass. They were heavily muscled, their hands capable of easily crushing a human. Their mental capabilities were also very sophisticated; it was common for a Promethean to share information and sensory input with the warriors under their command. Prometheans were also capable of controlling a million remote-controlled craft, such as weapon-ships, simultaneously.

They also used powerful vehicles known as war sphinxes for large-scale operations. In order to combat the parasitic Flood during the Forerunner-Flood war, the Prometheans' arsenal of weapons was specifically tailored to disintegrate biomass to prevent Flood infection.

The Prometheans were responsible for creating "Warrior Keeps" known as Cryptums, where an exiled warrior could live in suspended animation for thousands of years.

Mechanical Prometheans
The Prometheans encountered by UNSC and Storm forces on Requiem are mechanical in nature and encompass various classes of leader units known as Knights, support drones known as Watchers, and small, pack-oriented Crawlers serving mostly as cannon fodder. Visually, unlike most Forerunner technology which is chiefly angular and geometric, Promethean units have a more curved, almost biomechanical aesthetic. Various Promethean units, including Knights, Watchers and war sphinxes, also have distinct heads embedded in their mechanical carapaces, complete with stylized facial features.

The origin of these Prometheans is currently unknown.

History
Following the Human-Forerunner War and the discovery of the Flood, the Prometheans, under the leadership of the Didact, stood in opposition to the radical faction of Builders led by Master Builder Faber, who proposed the construction of the Halo Array. They lost the political battle and were subsequently removed from the Ecumene Council, with the Master Builder's allies rising to power in the Council instead. Disgraced, the Didact and some of the other highest-ranking Prometheans were allowed the dignified choice of exile in a Cryptum, while some of the lesser-ranked commanders were accorded more severe punishments.

After a thousand years of exile, the Didact was reawakened amidst the Forerunner-Flood war. Shortly after his revival, a radical shift occurred in the Council, and Faber lost his political power due to his crimes against the Mantle. Called upon to defend the ecumene against the onslaught of the Flood, the new Council elevated the Prometheans back to their former status, and the Didact resumed his duties as the supreme commander of Forerunner military forces. Under the Didact's leadership, the Prometheans would lead the ecumene's defenses against the Flood until the end of the conflict and the activation of the Halo Array.

Approximately five years after the end of the Human-Covenant War, John-117 and Cortana, drifting aboard the wreckage of the, came across the Forerunner world of Requiem, where they faced hostile Promethean defense constructs.

Known Prometheans

 * The Didact
 * The Confirmer
 * The Grammarian
 * The Strategos

Promethean units

 * Promethean Knight
 * Knight Lancer
 * Knight Battlewagon
 * Knight Commander
 * Promethean Crawler
 * Crawler Snipe
 * Alpha Crawler
 * Promethean Watcher

Trivia

 * The Prometheans are introduced as a new enemy class in Halo 4.
 * The name "Promethean" was probably inspired by the Titan Prometheus in Greek mythology, who gave the gift of fire to mankind. However, there is no in-universe relation between the names, as the Forerunners predated the Greeks by well over 100,000 years.
 * "Promethean" was one of the names Doctor Halsey considered for the SPARTAN-II Program.

List of appearances

 * Halo: Cryptum
 * Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary
 * Terminals
 * Halo: Primordium
 * Halo 4