Harvest: Difference between revisions

{{Era|Forerunner|UNSC|HCW}}

{{Center|This article is about the human colony world. Were you looking for the multiplayer map [[Harvest (level)|Harvest]] from [[Halo 4]]?}}

|name=Harvest

|star, position=[[Epsilon Indi system|Epsilon Indi]], IV<ref name="vis">'''[[Halo: The Essential Visual Guide]]''', ''page 91''</ref><ref name="universe">[https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/universe/locations/harvest '''Halo Waypoint''': ''Harvest'']</ref>

|moon(s)=None<ref name="universe"/>

|diameter={{Convert|4012|km|mi}}<ref name="vis"/><ref name="universe"/>

|daylength=17.5 hours<ref name="universe"/>

|gravity= 0.998 G<ref name="vis"/><ref name="universe"/>

|atmosphere=1.02 ([[Wikipedia:Nitrogen|N₂]], [[Oxygen|O₂]])<ref name="vis"/><ref name="universe"/>

|temperature=-19°C to 42°C (-2°F to 108°F)<ref name="vis"/><ref name="universe"/>

|species= [[Human]]

|population= Approximately 3,000,000<ref group="note" name="population">According to ''Halo: The Fall of Reach'', ''Halo: Fall of Reach - Boot Camp'', and ''Halo: The Essential Visual Guide'', Harvest had a population of approximately three million. However, ''Halo: Contact Harvest'' consistently states that Harvest had a population of around 300,000, and that roughly 250,000 civilians, who constituted most of the planet's population, escaped before the planet was glassed.</ref>

|date of foundation=[[2468]]<ref name="vis"/><ref name="universe"/>

'''Harvest''', designated '''CE-309-8 d''' by the [[Forerunner]]s,<ref name="universe"/><ref name="catalog">[https://forums.halowaypoint.com/yaf_postsm2969315_Catalog-Interaction.aspx#post2969315 '''Waypoint''': ''Catalog Interaction'' page 14]</ref> was a [[human]] [[Outer Colonies|Outer Colony]] world founded as a [[agriculture world|"breadbasket" world]]. Founded in [[2468]] by the {{UNSCShip|Skidbladnir}}, the colony was the most remote at the time of its founding.<ref>[http://halowars.com/GameInfo/Timeline.aspx '''Official Halo Wars Community Site''': ''Game Info - Timeline'']</ref><ref group="note" name="17th">According to ''Halo: Contact Harvest'', Harvest was the latest of humanity's seventeen colonies to be settled. The claim of humanity having a mere seventeen colony worlds has been ignored in later material, which instead appear to adhere to the more lenient figure of 800 worlds presented in the [[Xbox.com/Halo|original ''Halo'' timeline]]. Given that the timeline also states that 210 [[Inner Colonies]] had been settled before 2390, it is unlikely that the notion of Harvest being the seventeenth colony is considered canonical. This is further evidenced by the "Story So Far" documentary on the Halo: Legends DVD giving the number of human worlds the same as the original timeline.</ref> Located in the [[Epsilon Indi system]],<ref>'''[[Halo: Contact Harvest]]''', ''page 32''</ref> the planet had the unfortunate distinction of being the first human planet discovered and destroyed by the [[Covenant]]. After [[First Battle of Harvest|a disastrous first contact]], the planet was subsequently [[glassing|glassed]] by the Covenant, but most of its population managed to escape in [[DCS light freighter|freighters]].<ref>'''Halo: Contact Harvest''', ''page 387''</ref>

==History==

===Prehistory===

Harvest was known to the [[Forerunner]]s approximately 100,000 years [[100,000 BCE|prior]] to the Human-Covenant War. The planet was a relatively minor asset in the Forerunners' vast [[Ecumene|empire]] and was utilized as a [[conservation sphere]] waystation. The [[Relic|waystation facility]] included a subsidiary [[Flood]] [[Flood research facility|research]] and [[Flood containment facility|containment]] center,<ref name="catalog"/> as well as administrative nodes that directed Forerunner defenses in the surrounding systems.<ref name="universe"/> The structure housed a [[holography|holographic]] stellar [[cartographer]] that pointed the way to another star system, [[Procyon system|Procyon]].

Harvest was founded in [[2468]] when the {{UNSCShip|Skidbladnir}} arrived transporting colonists, then dismantled to form the core of Utgard. One of the furthest and most isolated colonies to be founded by the UEG,<ref group="note" name="17th"/> the population was still small when Sergeant [[Avery Johnson|Avery J. Johnson]] engaged in his first mission on the planet. By the time he returned in 2525, the population of Utgard alone had doubled. Most of the population of Harvest was of American descent, specifically the Midwestern states of the [[United States of America]]. Most locations on Harvest were named for elements of Norse mythology, as were its primary AIs, [[Sif]] and [[Loki]]/Mack this is because many of Harvest's settlers were of [[Scandinavia]]n ancestry.

===UNSC breadbasket===

In [[2502]], various secessionist and [[Insurrectionist]] groups were active on Harvest, including the [[People's Occupation Government]], [[Harvest for Harvesters]] and the [[Secessionist Union]], whose leader, [[Jerald Mulkey Ander]], was assassinated by [[Avery Junior Johnson]] as part of the [[ORION Project]]'s [[Operation: KALEIDOSCOPE]].<ref>[[Halo Graphic Novel, Page 122|'''Halo Graphic Novel''', ''page 122'']]</ref>

 

 

 

===Escape from Harvest===

 

 

 

 

===The Battle of Harvest===

[[File:Outcome of Second Battle of Harvest.png|right|thumb|250px|Cole's victory in the [[Second Battle of Harvest]].]]

 

 

 

[[File:Halo_wars_Ice_02_by_JJasso-1-.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Panorama landscape]]

Harvest was a small planet, approximately one-third the size of [[Earth]] with an equatorial diameter of slightly more than 4,000 kilometers (2,484 miles), making Harvest slightly smaller than the [[Sol system|Sol]] planet [[Wikipedia:Mercury (planet)|Mercury]].<ref name="pg33">'''[[Halo: Contact Harvest]]''', ''page 33''</ref> In terms of surface area, Harvest possessed ~50 million km², roughly one-tenth the surface area of Earth. Harvest orbited [[Epsilon Indi system|Epsilon Indi]] extremely quickly, much faster than most other UNSC colonies, at roughly 150,000 km/h, or ~41km/sec (by comparison, Earth orbits Sol at roughly 30 km/sec). Harvest had no natural satellites. Harvest also has a day/night cycle only 17.5 Earth hours long. Out of a total of five planets in the Epsilon Indi system, Harvest was the only habitable planet, as well as being fertile for farming. The super-continent [[Edda]] dominated the planet, taking up roughly 67% of its surface. Two low-salinity seas covered the remainder of the planet, [[Hugin Sea|Hugin]] to the north, and [[Munin Sea|Munin]] to the south.<ref>'''Halo: Contact Harvest''', ''page 74''</ref> Almost 86% of Edda is within 500 meters of sea level, the only major change in elevation is the [[Bifrost]], an escarpment that "cuts" Edda in half.

 

Harvest's surface was once beautiful, covered in grassland and forests, lush fields and rolling hills, and a thousand lakes swarming with fish. The orchards were filled with luscious crops. [[Starling]]s and [[bat]]s were among the introduced species.<ref>'''[[Halo: Ghosts of Onyx]]''', ''page 75''</ref> After being glassed, however, the surface was reduced to a layer of melted glass, the destruction visible from orbit.<ref>'''Halo: The Fall of Reach''', ''page ??''</ref> The environment suffered a catastrophic blow as a result, the once glorious landscape turning into a nearly frozen tundra, causing most species to quickly go extinct. Soon, all that remained of Harvest's original ecosystem were the scavengers, feeding off the rotting remains of the planet's once abundant wildlife, and even they perished before long.

**[[Relic|Forerunner Relic]]

==Economy and society==

Harvest was one of the [[Unified Earth Government]]'s more productive and peaceful colonies. Within two decades of its founding, it had the highest per capita agricultural manufacture of any outer colony. Major crops, such as [[list of food and drinks|corn]]; [[list of food and drinks|wheat]]; [[list of food and drinks|watermelons]]; [[list of food and drinks|peaches]]; [[list of food and drinks|apples]]; [[list of food and drinks|grapes]], and numerous other foodstuffs nourished the inhabitants of more than half a dozen other colonies.

By 2524 the population of Harvest was 3,000,000,<ref group="note" name="population"/> some of whom escaped during the initial Covenant attack. The capital city and its largest population center was [[Utgard]], also home to Harvest's [[seven]] [[harvest space elevators|space elevators]] connected to the orbital space station, [[Tiara]].

The senior government official on Harvest was the [[Governor]]. The position was held by [[Nils Thune]] at the time of the planet's fall.<ref>'''Halo: Contact Harvest''', ''page 115''</ref> The [[Parliament of Harvest]] was also involved in the planet's governance. It met in a [[Harvest Parliament Building|Parliament Building]] in [[Utgard]].<ref>'''Halo: Contact Harvest''', ''page 79''</ref> One of its positions was the [[Wikipedia:Attorney general|Attorney General]], which was held by [[Rol Pedersen]] when the planet fell.

Harvest had its own [[Planetary anthem of Harvest|planetary anthem]] and an official planetary introduction narrated by the agricultural operations AI Mack. This introduction was played to visitors travelling to the planet via the Tiara's space elevators.<ref>'''Halo: Contact Harvest''', ''pages 73-74''</ref>

The only functional defensive force on Harvest at the time of the Covenant attack was [[Harvest militia|its planetary branch]] of [[Colonial Militia]], consisting of two [[platoon]]s.<ref>'''Halo: Contact Harvest''', ''page 121''</ref> Utgard also had its own [[law enforcement]] agency, the [[Utgard Constabulary]].<ref>'''Halo: Contact Harvest''', ''page 168''</ref>

File:Harvest.png|One side of a glassed Harvest, with frozen poles as a result of the "nuclear winter" effect caused by the Covenant's glassing.

 

*''[[Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe]]''

**''[[Halo 5: Guardians Limited Edition|Limited Edition]]'' {{Mo}}

==Note==

<references group="note"/>

{{reflist|2}}