The Anatomy of Halo: Difference between revisions

Deep within Halo, and protected by immense chasms and heavily fortified walls, is the enormous research facility known as “The Library”. As with other locations on Halo, the Library’s interior is a catacomb, a series of corridors and tunnels extending outward from a [[Index chamber|centralized hub]]. Outside the structure a vast [[Anti-gravity gondola|gondola system]] interconnects a [[Containment shield|heavily]] [[Quarantine Zone|guarded]] [[Sentinel Wall|perimeter]], while inside, a series of [[elevator]]s gives those who enter it access to every one of its many levels. These dense but clustered compartments distributed across the structure’s enormous frame allow the Library’s array of gliding [[sentinel]]s to maintain and secure the site with relative ease. Accessible through numerous [[Terminal|terminals and peripheral systems]] are the facility’s archives, an immense data-base holding the Library’s numerous caches of information. This data ranges from the genetic sequencing of many species acquired throughout the galaxy to accounts of the [[Ecumene Council|Forerunner governance]] and their [[Forerunner-Flood war|centuries-long war against the Flood.]] As would be expected, knowledge on the parasite itself exists within the Library’s data-banks, though much of the actual research occurred within separate containment facilities buried deep within the ring. And at the apex of this structure is the facility’s most important mechanism: a key, known as the Activation Index. When reunited with the control room’s [[The Core|core]] by a [[Reclaimer]], a [[human]], the Halo ring would send a harmonic pulse throughout [[Milky Way|the galaxy]], triggering the other six rings and destroying all sentient life within range. As the Forerunners prepared to fire Halo 100,000 years ago, [[Lifeworker|they]] enacted [[Conservation Measure|an effort to save and catalogue as many sentient species as they could]], providing shelter for them on [[Installation 00|the Ark]] in the event of the Array’s activation. [[Reintroduction|The final stage of the conservation measure]] would result in these saved species eventually being returned to their to their own homeworlds: a single sweet note in what was otherwise a [[Dark time|dark]], and ultimately devastating reality. For this reason, the Library and its activation index were of great importance to the Forerunners’ plans, and they remain extraordinarily significant in the context of the array.