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| {{Era|Forerunner}}
| | #REDIRECT [[Prehistoric Human civilization]] |
| By approximately [[150,000 BCE]], [[human]]ity had achieved a considerable level of technological sophistication, achieving [[Slipspace drive|interstellar travel]] and colonizing planets along the [[Orion Arm]] of the [[Milky Way|Milky Way Galaxy]]. This civilization [[Human-San 'Shyuum alliance|allied]] with an earlier civilization of the [[San 'Shyuum]] species and later [[Human-Flood war|waged war]] against [[the Flood]], only to later suffer a disastrous defeat against the [[Forerunner]]s and be subsequently regressed back into hunter-gatherers and confined to their ancient homeworld.
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| ==History==
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| ===Origin and rise===
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| Having evolved and achieved civilization on [[Earth]], originally known as "Erda" and later "Erde-Tyrene",<ref name="prim237">'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 237-238''</ref> humanity was still at this point composed of many species of the [[Wikipedia:Homo|human genus]]. Around [[150,000 BCE]], humanity moved their civilization outward along the Orion Arm, possibly to flee [[Forerunner]] control.<ref>'''Halo: Cryptum''', ''page 20''</ref> Early in their history, before encountering the Forerunners, humanity underwent a series of technological dark ages, which left their populations scattered across many worlds and resulted in the loss of most of their records, including the knowledge of Earth being their original homeworld. It was not until thousands of years later when scientists led by [[Yprin Yprikushma]] traced humanity's origins to Earth.<ref name="prim237"/>
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| After recovering from their dark age, humanity made the former [[Precursor]] world [[Charum Hakkor]] their capital to be close to one of the greatest collections of Precursor structures.<ref name="c112">'''Halo: Cryptum''', ''page 112''</ref> Humanity also formed [[Human-San 'Shyuum alliance|an alliance]] with the [[San 'Shyuum]] species in order to gain access to their advanced technology.<ref>'''Halo: Cryptum''', ''page 113''</ref> At their height, humanity's technological advancement, combined with their understanding of Precursor technology, nearly rivaled that of the [[Forerunner]]s.<ref name="c164">'''Halo: Cryptum''', ''page 164''</ref> Over the course of their history, humanity also fought a number of small-scale conflicts against Forerunners.<ref name="prim237"/>
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| At one point, humanity encountered an ancient being, known as [[the Primordial]], held in hibernation on a planet near the galaxy's edges. Under Yprin Yprikushma's orders, this being was placed in a [[stasis capsule]] and transported to Charum Hakkor for study.<ref name="prim237"/> Human researchers found a way to communicate with this entity, asking for answers to various scientific or metaphysical questions, but received no useful responses.<ref name="c271">'''Halo: Cryptum''', ''page 271''</ref> Instead, the being revealed disconcerting truths about human origins and [[the Flood]]; this was believed by some to have caused the demoralization of human culture and thus contributed to their defeat against the Forerunners.<ref name="prim237"/>
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| ===War===
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| {{Main|Human-Flood war|Human-Forerunner war}}
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| This civilization encountered [[the Flood]] in approximately [[110,000 BCE]], and after discovering the parasite's true nature, [[Human-Flood war|went to war against it]]. They also inquired the captive on Charum Hakkor about the Flood; the answers they received were so traumatizing that many committed suicide.<ref name="c271"/> Eventually, humanity discovered a "cure" for the Flood: According to the Forerunners, they sacrificed a third of their total population, implanting them with destructive, artificially programmed genes used to target the Flood on a genetic level. In reality, however, the Flood had receded by its own volition after the sacrifice; no cure was ever created or used by humanity,<ref>'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 367''</ref> though both Forerunners and humans themselves remained under such illusion.<ref>'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 53''</ref>
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| After losing many planets to the Flood, humanity desperately invaded a minor sector of the Forerunners' [[ecumene]]. The Forerunners responded violently to this aggression and [[Human-Forerunner wars|waged war]] with the humans and their San 'Shyuum allies. Stretched thin due to fighting two wars at once, the humans were finally driven to their capital Charum Hakkor. After [[Charum Hakkor campaign|holding off for fifty years]], they were defeated at the hands of the Forerunners, led by [[the Didact]].<ref>'''Halo: Cryptum''', ''page 267-272''</ref> Before the fall of Charum Hakkor, some humans suggested they should draw out the Flood and use it against the Forerunners. However, this strategy was denied, as the human leadership chose to face defeat rather than allowing the Flood to spread.<ref>'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 190''</ref>
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| ===Downfall===
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| As punishment for defying the Forerunners, nearly all of humanity was wiped out and the remnants of their civilization and technology dismantled, while humans themselves were subjected to biological reduction.<ref name="c127">'''Halo: Cryptum''', ''page 127''</ref><ref name="c25">'''Halo: Cryptum''', ''page 25''</ref> The remnants of the human species were exiled to Earth, where they were overseen by [[the Librarian]]; while many Forerunners wanted to see humanity wiped out, the Librarian had always been considered their greatest protector.<ref>'''Halo: Cryptum''', ''page 77''</ref> With the assistance of the Librarian and a ''[[geas]]'' she had imprinted them with, over twenty of their ancient species made recovery and formed separate populations on Earth,<ref name="c127"/> including the [[Neanderthal|k'ta''manush'']], [[B'ashamanune|b'asha''manush'']], [[Florian|ha''manush'']] and [[Chamanune|cha''manush'']].<ref name="c25"/> This meddling was noted to have considerably distorted Earth's natural fossil records.<ref name="c127"/>
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| The Forerunner victory proved disastrous for the galaxy, as the humans destroyed all their research data and physical evidence concerning the Flood, including their supposed "cure." [[Bornstellar Makes Eternal Lasting]] speculated it may have been humanity's last act of revenge to leave the Forerunners unprepared to face the incoming threat that led to the firing of the [[Halo Array]]. The last human survivors on Charum Hakkor had their minds extracted and archived by the Forerunners in order to find the cure by scouring the humans' memories.<ref>'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 234-235''</ref>
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| ===Partial recovery===
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| [[File:ObservingArtifact.png|thumb|right|300px|After their once highly advanced civilization had been shattered by the Forerunners, most humans lived within [[Wikipedia: Hunter-gatherer|hunter-gatherer]] communities. The humans seen here are observing [[the Portal]] to the Ark.]]
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| Forced to start again, the collective human genus tried in vain to reattain their former glory, with some human communities such as the civilization built around Earth's largest city [[Marontik]] establishing wooden cities and steam-powered waterborne vessels nearly nine thousand years later.<ref name="c25"/><ref>'''Halo: Cryptum''', ''page 86''</ref> Most humans, however, lived in [[Technological Achievement Tiers|Tier 7]] tribal communities, such as the one that was encountered by the Forerunners during the construction of [[The Portal|the portal]] to [[Installation 00|the Ark]] in eastern [[Africa]].<ref>'''[[Halo 3: The Cradle of Life]]'''</ref>
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| After the activation of the [[Halo Array]], the human civilization regressed once again, and would remain as Tier 7 hunter-gatherers for nearly a hundred millennia. As of the 26th century, most artifacts and records of this former civilization had been lost to time.
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| {{Clear}}
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| ==Culture==
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| Little is known about human culture of this time. It is known that humanity believed themselves to be the true inheritors of the [[Mantle]], a notion the Forerunners considered heretical.<ref name="c112"/> Ironically, the Precursors had actually intended humans to inherit the Mantle instead of the Forerunners.<ref>'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 364''</ref> Regardless of the pressure on their growing populations and the Flood, humans were also said to be particularly cruel toward other species. [[Chakas]], examining the harvested memories of his ancestors imprinted to him as part of a [[geas]], discovered that they believed in "creating many souls," or expanding their population by conquering and claiming other worlds.<ref>'''Halo: Cryptum''', ''page 130''</ref> They appear to have had a polytheistic religion, as suggested by the [[Forthencho|Lord of Admirals]] making a reference to "gods".<ref>'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 320''</ref>
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| The humans, along with their San 'Shyuum allies, favored the domesticated [[Pheru]], originating from the planet [[Faun Hakkor]], as pets. The Pheru would also be the first vectors for the Flood.<ref>'''Halo: Cryptum''', ''page 131''</ref>
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| ==Technology==
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| Prior to the dismantling of their civilization, humanity had reached Tier 1 on the [[Technological Achievement Tiers|Forerunner technological achievement scale]], making them nearly technological equals of the Forerunners. This was largely thanks to the efforts of Yprin Yprikushma, who encouraged humanity to study Forerunner technologies they had encountered in their early conflicts with Forerunners.<ref name="prim237"/> Despite this, humanity's understanding of slipspace technology, particularly in the area of causal reconciliation, was inferior to that of the Forerunners who were able to use their superior understanding of slipspace to an advantage by clogging the humans' slipspace channels and slowing down their interstellar travel.<ref name="prim240">'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 240''</ref>
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| It is known that humans of this time used [[artificial intelligence]] constructs.<ref name="prim237"/> On Charum Hakkor, the humans built vast constructs supported by the Precursor structures; cities stretching to orbit along [[orbital arch]]es, described by [[Bornstellar Makes Eternal Lasting]] as resembling ivy growing on great trees. In addition, they built energy towers and defense platforms operating at [[geosynchronous orbit]] and equigravitation,<ref>'''Halo: Cryptum''', ''page 164''</ref> linked by virtually unbreakable Precursor [[unbending filament]]s.<ref>'''Halo: Cryptum''', ''page 118''</ref>
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| ==Sphere of influence==
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| Humanity's empire encompassed at least 20,000 worlds in a thousand star systems across the galaxy;<ref>'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 129''</ref> whether this is before or after they lost a third of their colonies to the Flood is unknown.
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| *[[Sol system]]
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| **[[Earth]]
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| *[[Unidentified star system (Human-San 'Shyuum alliance)|Unidentified system]]
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| **[[Charum Hakkor]]
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| **[[Ben Nauk]]
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| **[[Faun Hakkor]]
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| ==Notable individuals==
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| *[[Forthencho]] - Lord of Admirals, head of the human Admiralty.<ref name="prim240"/> Commanded the last human fleets against the Didact's forces at Charum Hakkor.
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| *[[Yprin Yprikushma]] - Political and Morale Commander and prominent scientist. She contributed significantly to the technological breakthroughs that allowed humanity to hold off against Forerunners.
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| ==Trivia==
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| The common term for the different human species, "manush", was derived from the [[Wikipedia:Romani language|Romani language]], in which ''[[Wiktionary:manush|manush]]'' is the word for "human being" or "man". The word itself is one of many derivatives of the [[Wikipedia:Sanskrit|Sanskrit]] word ''[[Wiktionary:मनुष्य|manusia]]'', among the [[Wikipedia:Indo-Aryan languages|Indo-Aryan languages]].
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| ==List of appearances==
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| *''[[Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary]]''
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| **''[[Terminal/Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary|Terminals]]'' {{Mo}}
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| *''[[The Forerunner Saga]]''
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| **''[[Halo: Cryptum]]'' {{1st}}
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| **''[[Halo: Primordium]]''
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| ==Sources==
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| <references/>
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| [[Category:Factions]]
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| [[Category:Human]]
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