Ancestors

Long before the arrival of the Flood to the Milky Way Galaxy, humanity had achieved a considerable level of technological sophistication, achieving interstellar travel and colonizing planets along the Orion Arm, then a minor sector of the Forerunners' domain. After forty thousand years of expansion, the collective human genus waged war with the biologically similar Forerunner species. However, the humans were crushed by the Forerunner war machine. As punishment, humanity was reduced to a pre-technological state and were exiled to their homeworld, Erde-Tyrene, where they were overseen by the Librarian.

Forced to start again, the collective human genera tried in vain to reattain their former glory, establishing wooden cities and steam-powered waterborne vessels. These efforts were not sufficient to halt humanity's technological and cultural collapse. Humanity eventually regressed into the Tier 7 tribes that were later encountered by the Forerunners during the construction of the portal the Ark in eastern Africa.

As of the 26th Century, most artifacts and records of this former civilization had been lost to time. However, ruins on the planet Heian appear to show hallmarks of human design, suggesting that the planet was inhabited by ancient, space-faring humans.

List of appearances

 * Halo Legends
 * The Babysitter
 * Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe
 * From the Office of Dr. William Arthur Iqbal
 * Halo: Cryptum