Promethean: Difference between revisions

{{Status|Canon}}

{{Quote|Oh, but what I would not give to have even a single company of Prometheans here right now... oh, they would most certainly restore order with their trademark lethality...|[[343 Guilty Spark]] musing to himself as [[Installation 04|his Installation]] is about to be destroyed.<ref name="terminal10">'''Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary''' - ''[[Terminal (Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary)#Terminal 10|Terminal 10]]''</ref>}}

The '''Prometheans''' were the highest and most respected group of [[Warrior-Servant]]s in the [[Forerunner]] [[ecumene]].<ref>'''Halo: Cryptum''', ''page 54''</ref> During and after the [[human-Forerunner wars]], they were led by the [[Ur-Didact|Didact]]. The Prometheans' main base of operations was the [[shield world]] known as [[Requiem]].<ref name="h4guide">[http://www.halowaypoint.com/en-US/halo4guide '''Halo Waypoint''' - ''Halo 4 Interactive Guide'']</ref>

In the endgame of the [[Forerunner-Flood war]], the Ur-Didact converted his Prometheans into machine-based intelligences, known as [[Promethean Knight|Knights]], by using the Forerunner machine known as the [[Composer]].<ref name="h4terminals">'''Halo 4''', ''Terminals''</ref> These constructs, along with the Ur-Didact, survived the activation of the [[Halo Array]], eventually awakening within Requiem and rising to oppose the [[United Nations Space Command|UNSC]] in [[2557]].<ref name="characters">[http://halo.xbox.com/halo4#!an-epic-universe/characters/8c164b48-05e7-4c13-a268-f60ec3a72938 '''Halo 4 Official Site''', ''Characters'']</ref>

Physically, Prometheans were the highest [[form]] a Warrior-Servant could [[Forerunner mutation|mutate]] to. With a height of {{Convert|350|cm|ftin}}  or more,<ref>'''[[Halo 4: The Essential Visual Guide]]''', ''page 16''</ref><ref>'''Halo: Silentium''', ''page 245''</ref> a fully mature Promethean was two times the height of a Forerunner [[Manipular]] and weighed about four or five times a Manipular's mass.<ref>'''Halo: Cryptum''', ''page 65''</ref> They were heavily muscled, their hands capable of easily crushing a [[human]].<ref>'''Halo: Cryptum''', ''page 77''</ref> Their mental capabilities were also very sophisticated; Prometheans—and Warriors in general—perceived reality in a markedly different way from baseline Forerunners or [[human]]s, particularly during battle when their mental processes were at their peak. Thousands of Prometheans shared their sensory information with their commanders and individual Warriors observed the battle unfold in a number of separate frames of reference whilst their experience of the surrounding world slowed down, allowing them to perform multiple separate tasks simultaneously and granting them a significantly faster reaction time than baseline Forerunners.<ref>'''Halo: Cryptum''', ''page 162''</ref><ref>'''Halo: Cryptum''', ''page 316''</ref> This heightened state of perception is somewhat comparable to—although considerably more powerful than—the "Spartan time" experienced by the [[SPARTAN-II program|SPARTAN-II]] and [[SPARTAN-III program|SPARTAN-III]] supersoldiers due to their [[SPARTAN-II augmentation procedures|neural enhancements]].<ref>'''Halo: First Strike''', ''page 12'' (2003)</ref>

 

Promethean warriors utilized an assortment of [[combat skin]]s, ranging from various conventional battle armor designs to much larger models, including midsize fighting suits known as [[war sphinx]]es; more akin to vehicles than armor, they possessed enough firepower to destroy cities.<ref>'''Halo: Cryptum''', ''page 95''</ref> In large-scale engagements, individual Prometheans could control automated phalanxes of up to a million [[weapon-ship]]s.<ref>'''Halo: Cryptum''', ''page 174''</ref> Prometheans organized their forces into [[legion]]s,<ref>'''Halo: Cryptum''', ''page 177''</ref> [[Company|companies]]{{Ref/Reuse|terminal10}} and tactical squadrons.<ref>'''Halo: Silentium''', ''page 76''</ref>

==== Known Prometheans ====

* [[Ur-Didact|The Ur-Didact]]

* [[IsoDidact|The IsoDidact]]

* [[Confirmer|The Confirmer]]

* [[Grammarian|The Grammarian]]

* [[Strategos|The Strategos]]

 

 

 

 

Mechanical Prometheans have the ability to repair and improve Forerunner weapons. After the [[Requiem Campaign]], many alterations were made, such as tracking rounds for the [[Z-110 Boltshot]] and [[Z-130 Suppressor]] and dual-beam emitters for the [[Z-750 binary rifle|Z-750 Binary Rifle]].<ref>[https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/news/canon-fodder-locke-load '''Halo Waypoint''' - ''Canon Fodder - Locke & Load'']</ref>

For thousands of years, the fortified shield world [[Requiem]] served as the main command center of the Prometheans.{{Ref/Reuse|h4terminals}} Following the [[Human-Forerunner War]] and the discovery of the [[Flood]], the Prometheans, under the leadership of the Didact, stood in opposition to the radical faction of [[Builder]]s led by [[Master Builder]] [[Faber]]. The Builders proposed the construction of the [[Halo Array]] as the ultimate weapon against the Flood, should they return, while the Prometheans advocated a more conventional solution: numerous [[shield world]]s constructed in strategic locations, used as enormous refuges and fortresses. After several millennia, the Prometheans lost the political battle and were subsequently removed from the [[Ecumene Council]], with the Master Builder's allies rising to power in the Council instead. Disgraced, the Didact and some of the other highest-ranking Prometheans were allowed the dignified choice of exile in a Cryptum, while some of the lesser-ranked commanders were accorded more severe punishments.<ref>'''Halo: Cryptum''', ''page 238-239''</ref> Out of fear of Builder persecution and losing their prestige, many former Prometheans joined the Builder rate, enlisting in [[Builder Security]].<ref>'''Halo: Silentium''', ''page 49''</ref>

=== Forerunner-Flood war ===

After a thousand years of exile, the Didact was reawakened amidst the [[Forerunner-Flood war]]. Shortly after his revival, a radical shift occurred in the Council and Faber lost his political power, due to his crimes against the [[Mantle]]. Called upon to defend the ecumene against the onslaught of the Flood, the new Council elevated the Prometheans back to their former status. With the Didact believed to the dead, his imprinted double, known as the [[IsoDidact]], took up his place as the supreme commander of Forerunner military forces.<ref>'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 336-339''</ref>

Under the new Didact's leadership, the Prometheans would lead the ecumene's defenses against the Flood until the end of the conflict and the activation of the Halo Array. Near the end of the war, the Ur-Didact was revealed to be alive and was returned to the ecumene. Still adamant in his opposition to the Halo Array, the Ur-Didact returned to Requiem with a small number of Promethean warriors still loyal to him, where he began to devise new, more extreme methods of combating the Flood. After failing to discover a way to immunize biological beings from the parasite, the Ur-Didact used the [[Composer]] to convert his Prometheans, as well as a large number of humans, into [[Promethean Knight|powerful robotic forms]] immune to infection. Viewing the Ur-Didact's "conscription" of the humans as a severe transgression, the [[Librarian]] locked him in a [[Cryptum]] on Requiem and sealed off the shield world. She also took control of the mechanical Promethean forces stationed on Requiem, tasking them with preventing outsiders from awakening the Didact.{{Ref/Reuse|h4terminals}}

In [[2557#July|July 2557]], over four and a half years after the end of the [[Human-Covenant War]], [[John-117]] and [[Cortana]], drifting aboard the wreckage of the {{UNSCShip|Forward Unto Dawn}}, came across Requiem. They and forces from [[Jul 'Mdama]]'s Covenant faction were forcibly pulled into Requiem and crashed on the surface, and were soon after engaged by the Promethean constructs inhabiting the shield world. After John-117 accidentally awoke the Didact, the latter retook control of the Prometheans. Bent on preventing humanity's ascendance to the Mantle in the Forerunners' place, the Didact went [[Post-Covenant War conflicts|to war]] with humanity, attempting to use the Composer to neutralize his ancient enemies forever. The Prometheans and Covenant remnants aided in this plan, but with the help of the [[Artificial intelligence|AI]] Cortana, the Master Chief defeated the Didact and destroyed the Composer and his ship ''[[Mantle's Approach]]'' with a [[HAVOK tactical nuclear weapon]].

The Didact and the composed essences survived, however, and the extracted human mentalities were soon implanted into more Promethean Knights, which [[Mission to Installation 03|attacked]] UNSC forces on [[Installation 03]] and later in the [[Composer's Forge]], only a day after the Didact's attack on [[Earth]]. While the Didact was eventually defeated and "contained" as a threat, most of the newly-created constructs were evidently sent to Requiem<ref>'''Halo: Escalation''', ''[[Halo: Escalation Issue 9|Issue #9]]''</ref> and continued to oppose the UNSC forces when the {{UNSCShip|Infinity}} returned to the shield world in [[2558|February 2558]].<ref>'''Halo 4''', ''[[Spartan Ops]]''</ref> While Requiem was eventually destroyed, a number of Promethean constructs survived and would later clash with the UNSC in the battles of [[Battle of Oban|Oban]] and [[Battle of Aktis IV|Aktis IV]], still allied with Jul 'Mdama's Covenant.<ref>'''Halo: Escalation''', ''[[Halo: Escalation Issue 13|Issue #13]]''</ref> By the time of the [[Battle of Kamchatka]] Promethean constructs had turned against Jul 'Mdama's Covenant,<ref>[http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=177136559&postcount=682 '''NeoGAF''' - ''Frank O'Conner clarifies'']</ref> led by both the [[Warden Eternal]] and [[Cortana]], the founders of the [[Created]].<ref name="E3 2015 demo">[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwjwJ9Z_XYs '''YouTube''' - ''Halo 5 E3 Campaign Demo'']</ref>

== Trivia ==

* The Promethean constructs are color-coded based on the individual in command of them at the time; blue is used to represent the [[Librarian]], while the [[Ur-Didact|Didact]] is represented by orange.{{Ref/Reuse|h4terminals}} Prometheans with blue lights only appear in the level ''[[Forerunner (level)|Forerunner]]'', until the Didact takes control of them in the final cutscene. Despite this, there is no in-game difference between the way the orange or blue Prometheans behave.

* The name "Promethean" was probably inspired by the Titan [[Wikipedia:Prometheus|Prometheus]] in [[List of Greek mythology references in Halo|Greek mythology]], who gave the gift of fire to mankind. As the Forerunners predated the Greeks by well over 100,000 years, there is no in-universe relation between the names; however, the name was likely picked by the [[translation software|automated translation systems]] utilized by the UNSC in deciphering Forerunner-era languages. The translators replace many of the original Forerunner terms with contextually similar equivalents from modern humanity's history, culture and mythology, explaining the apparent Forerunner use of the human term.

* "Promethean" was one of the names [[Catherine Halsey|Doctor Halsey]] considered for the [[SPARTAN-II program]].<ref>'''[[Dr. Halsey's personal journal]]'''</ref>

* [[343 Industries]] franchise writer [[Jeff Easterling]] has implied that the Promethean constructs encountered in the games may be less powerful than their canonical counterparts for the purposes of gameplay balance.<ref>[https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/forums/db05ce78845f4120b062c50816008e5d/topics/canon-fodder-6-19-15-under-locke-keynote/a020824e-e55e-4802-b824-6d57ba6b1349/posts?page=2#post26 '''Halo Waypoint Forums''' - ''Canon Fodder 6-19-15: Under Locke & Keynote (post 26 by GrimBrotherOne)'']</ref> In the ''[[Spartan Ops]]'' CGI episode ''[[Invasion (Spartan Ops)|Invasion]]'', [[Sarah Palmer]] destroys Knights with single shots from her [[M6H magnum]] pistols; Easterling implied that this feat is also non-canonical.<ref>[https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/forums/db05ce78845f4120b062c50816008e5d/topics/canon-fodder-6-19-15-under-locke-keynote/a020824e-e55e-4802-b824-6d57ba6b1349/posts?page=2#post32 '''Halo Waypoint Forums''' - ''Canon Fodder 6-19-15: Under Locke & Keynote (post 32 by GrimBrotherOne)'']</ref>

== Gallery ==

File:H4-Cryptum.jpg|John-117 facing the Didact's Cryptum.

File:HTMCC-H4 John117VsDidact.png|The Ur-Didact against John-117, a [[SPARTAN-II program|Spartan-II]].

File:H5G-Render-PrometheanSoldier.png|Armiger Soldier.

File:H5G-Sizechart.png|Size comparison between various Prometheans and John-117.

File:H5G-WarzonePrometheans.png|Various Prometheans part of the [[War Games]] simulator aboard the ''UNSC Infinity''.

File:H5G-Prometheanbuddies.png|Several forms of Prometheans in combat.

== List of appearances ==

* ''[[Halo: Cryptum]]'' {{1st}}

* ''[[Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary]]''

** ''[[Terminal (Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary)|Terminals]]'' {{Mo}}

* ''[[Halo: Primordium]]''

* ''[[Halo 4]]''

*''[[Halo: Epitaph]]''

== Sources ==

{{Ref/Sources|2}}