Etalan: Difference between revisions

|system=[[Igdras system]]{{Ref/Novel|Id=HSS5|HSS|Chapter=5}}

|body=[[Igdras system|Igdras]]{{Ref/Reuse|HSS5}}

|species=[[Human]]s{{Ref/Reuse|HSS5}}

|population=Ten million {{C|pre-glassing}}{{Ref/Reuse|HSS5}}

|colonized=[[2458]]{{Ref/Book|Id=Enc22|Enc22|Page=50}}

|government=[[Unified Earth Government]]{{Ref/Reuse|HSS5}}

{{Quote|It's ten million nomads living in a hundred thousand camps. The place is so poor they share underwear.|Avery Johnson{{Ref/Reuse|HSS5}}}}

'''Etalan''', known to the [[Covenant]] as '''E'gini''',{{Ref/Novel|Id=HSS9|HSS|Chapter=9}} was a [[planet]] of the [[Igdras system]] and an underdeveloped [[human]] [[Outer Colony]] of the [[Unified Earth Government]], located in the [[Polona sector]].{{Ref/Reuse|HSS5}} Etalan was once home to ten million humans who lived a nomadic lifestyle, inhabiting a hundred thousand small settlements, such as camps, villages, and pastures. The people of Etalan were poor and primitive,{{Ref/Reuse|HSS5}} as well as thinly populated. The planet was only host to a single [[spaceport]].{{Ref/Reuse|HSS9}}

In [[2526#March|March 2526]], during the [[Human-Covenant War]], Etalan was [[Attack on Etalan|attacked]] and [[Glassing|glassed]] by the [[Covenant]]'s [[Fleet of Inexorable Obedience]].{{Ref/Reuse|HSS5}}

Etalan was a planet dotted with green pastures. On the equator, there was a massive [[Wikipedia:Shield volcano|shield volcano]] that could be observed venting ash and steam from orbit.{{Ref/Reuse|HSS9}} After the [[Fleet of Inexorable Obedience]] [[Glassing|glassed]] the planet and destroyed the shield volcano, an eruption was triggered that suffocated Etalan in ash, with slate-gray bands of ground showing between pearl-colored ribbons of smoke and ash. The volcano became a massive orange lake of lava, flooding Etalan's atmosphere with smoke.{{Ref/Novel|Id=HSS20|HSS|Chapter=20}}

Etalan was colonized by [[human|humanity]] in [[2458]],{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22}} and despite the fact that approximately ten million would come to call the planet home, it was known to be a poor world, with most residents living in small nomadic settlements. At some point during the [[Insurrection]], [[Avery Johnson]] of the [[UNSC]] [[UNSC Marine Corps|Marine Corps]] participated in a reconnaissance [[operation]] on the planet.{{Ref/Reuse|HSS5}} By [[2526]], only a single [[spaceport]] had been established on Etalan.{{Ref/Reuse|HSS9}}

On or before [[2526#March|March 8, 2526]],{{Ref/Reuse|HSS5}} Etalan was [[Attack on Etalan|attacked]] by the [[Fleet of Inexorable Obedience]], the [[Covenant]]'s primary invasion [[fleet]] commanded by [[Fleetmaster]] [[Nizat 'Kvarosee]]. Ten days later, the [[Covenant fleet]] was still in the process of [[glassing]] the planet, having destroyed nearly half of Etalan's settlements and the colony's only [[spaceport]]. However, the [[Minor Minister of Artifact Survey]] grew impatient with the lengthy glassing process. To ensure the deaths of Etalan's inhabitants without spending another [[cycle]] glassing the planet, 'Kvarosee [[Orbital bombardment|bombarded]] Etalan's shield volcano with [[plasma]] fire, triggering an eruption that filled the sky with ash. With the destruction of Etalan's biosphere ensured, the Fleet of Inexorable Obedience moved on to [[Biko]] in the nearby [[Kolaqoa system]],{{Ref/Reuse|HSS9}} though the fleet left its logistical elements at Etalan until victory at Biko was assured.{{Ref/Novel|Id=HSS21|HSS|Chapter=21}}

With the [[Battle of Biko]] ongoing, the {{Class|Point Blank|prowler}} {{UNSCShip|Vanishing Point}} and two [[prowler]]s traveled to the Igdras system to attack the Fleet of Inexorable Obedience logistics vessels, hoping to stall the fleet's advance into human space.{{Ref/Reuse|HSS21}} Upon arriving over Etalan on [[2526#March|March 22, 2526]], the three stealth ships observed the logistics fleet for four days, attempting to discern which vessel served which purpose. By [[2526#March|March 26]], it had been determined that four of the vessels were [[Freighter|equipment freighters]] and three were [[bladder ship]]s, collecting gas from Etalan's atmosphere to refine into [[plasma]].{{Ref/Novel|Id=HSS19|HSS|Chapter=19}} Following these discoveries, the [[Spartan-IIs]] to [[Battle over Etalan|infiltrate]] these Covenant ships and destroy them from within using [[HAVOK tactical nuclear weapon]]s. The Spartans ultimately succeeded, destroying most of the logistical ships, aside from the [[Mjern-pattern agricultural support ship|agricultural ships]] and a handful of [[Hospital ship|medical vessels]].{{Ref/Reuse|HSS21}} 'Kvarosee called for a new logistics flotilla to collect the surviving vessels at Etalan and rendezvous with his fleet at Biko.{{Ref/Reuse|HSS21}} After witnessing the flotilla's arrival five days later, [[Catherine Halsey|Dr. Catherine Halsey]] deduced the location of the Covenant colony of [[Zhoist]], based on its distance from Etalan and with information gleaned from the ''[[kelguid]]'' that had been captured during a [[Battle of Seoba|prior battle]].<ref>''Halo: Silent Storm'', p. 295</ref>