Halo Array: Difference between revisions

The '''Halo Array''', sometimes known simply as '''Halo'''<ref>''[[Halo: Warfleet]]'', p. 92</ref> or '''the Array''',<ref>'''[[Halo 3]]''', ''[[Terminal (Halo 3)|Terminal Four]]''</ref><ref>'''[[Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary]]''', ''[[Terminal (Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary)|Terminal Two]]''</ref> is a network of colossal ring-shaped superweapons individually known as '''Halos''' or '''Halo rings''', constructed by the [[Forerunner]]s.{{Ref/Level|Id=TC|HCE|The Truth and Reconciliation}} The Halos were also referred to by the [[Covenant]] as the '''Sacred Rings''',<ref>'''Halo: The Flood''', page 38</ref>{{Ref/Level|Id=Gravemind|H2|Gravemind_(level)}} and labeled as '''Installations''' or infrequently referred to as Fortress Worlds<ref>'''Halo: The Flood''', ''page 193''</ref> by the Forerunners and their [[monitor]]s.

{{Quote|After exhausting every other strategic option, my creators activated the rings. They, and all additional sentient life in three radii of the galactic center, died, as planned.|[[343 Guilty Spark]] during the [[Battle of Installation 05]]}}.{{Ref/Reuse|Great Journey}}

As it is known in modern times, the Halo Array is a network of seven ring-shaped megastructures created by the Forerunners, designed to exterminate all sentient life within the Milky Way galaxy.{{Ref/Level|Id=Great Journey|H2|The Great Journey}} Built following the [[Human-Forerunner War]], these ringworlds were later used as a last resort against the Flood, a parasitic extra-galactic species that threatened to consume every sentient life-form in the galaxy. By activating the rings, the Forerunners wiped out every sentient being in the galaxy, effectively starving the Flood to virtual extinction, though specimens were kept in a number of Forerunner [[Flood containment facility|containment facilities]], including the Halo installations themselves.{{Ref/Level|Id=Library|HCE|The Library}}

A total of eighteen Halo rings existed during the reign of the Forerunners; an older array of twelve 30,000-kilometer-wide rings produced by the [[greater Ark]] and six 10,000-kilometer rings, constructed at the newer [[Installation 00|lesser Ark]]. Of these, only seven survived to be included in the final Array. The Halos were originally deployed in orbit over large gas giants.<ref name="gas giants">'''Halo: Silentium''', ''page 237''</ref> However, as of [[2557]], [[Installation 03]] orbited a rocky planet.{{Ref/Level|Id=Composer|H4|Composer_(level)}} Installation 04 maintained an atmospheric [[Threshold gas mine|mining facility]] in its anchor planet [[Threshold]]'s atmosphere until [[Battle of the Threshold gas mine|it was destroyed]] by the [[Covenant]].{{Ref/Level|Id=The Oracle|H2|The Oracle}}

The Halo Array in its entirety has been fired only once in known history, approximately 100,000 years ago, by the [[IsoDidact]] in order to stop the Flood from overwhelming the galaxy. All beings in the Array's effective range, including Forerunners themselves, were wiped out by the Array's pulse,{{Ref/Reuse|Great Journey}} with the exception of those who took refuge on the [[shield world]]s. A number of Forerunners survived at the lesser Ark but chose to exile themselves from the galaxy.<ref name="rebirth">'''Halo: Rebirth'''</ref> The array has come close to activation four times since; Installation 04 was almost activated by the [[John-117|Master Chief]], Installation 05 was activated by Commander [[Miranda Keyes]] at the behest of the [[Jiralhanae]] [[Chieftain of the Jiralhanae|Chieftain]] [[Tartarus]], [[Avery Junior Johnson|Sergeant Johnson]] was forced by the [[Prophet of Truth]] to activate the Array from the Ark, and [[Bobby Kodiak]] was forced by [[000 Tragic Solitude]], the Monitor of the Ark, to activate the Halo Array from the Ark as a revenge. None of these attempts were successful; the first was stopped by Cortana, while the other three attempts were halted by UNSC and [[Swords of Sanghelios|Sangheili]] intervention. A [[Installation 08|replacement]] Halo for the destroyed Installation 04 was partially activated outside of the galaxy, but before it could fire the Halo ring shook itself to pieces with the resulting explosion destroying the ring, damaging the Ark, and heavily damaged the Flood back into a feral stage without a Gravemind.{{Ref/Level|Id=Halo|H3|Halo_(Halo_3_level)}}

The installations in the neoteric{{Ref/Reuse|neoteric}} Halo Array are numbered in the order they were built in,{{Ref/Reuse|construction order}} while their alphabetical designations were assigned in the order in which they were fired, with [[Installation 04|Alpha Halo]] being the first ring to fire.<ref>''Halo: Silentium'', p. 327</ref> Although [[Installation 07]] was originally constructed as part of the first series of larger Halos, it was the last ring to be added to the neoteric Array while being heavily modified to suit its new role, hence the designation.<ref>[https://www.reddit.com/r/halo/comments/70wbxc/return_to_the_denomination_installation_04_b_c/dn76qup/ ''Reddit: Return to the denomination. Installation 04 (B), (C). Canonically. 343 PLS'' (comment by GrimBrotherOne)]</ref>