Halo: Primordium (Forerunner Saga (Halo), 2)

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Hope Spot: When they find the human village run by Genemender. It looks like they've finally found somewhere safe... but then it turns out everyone there is dead, the visions they're seeing simply holograms of their AI walking around. Then the power shuts down, Gamelpar dies, and they have to move on. After centuries of constant warfare against the Forerunners and the Flood, human society had become exceedingly militarized; military officials wielded significant decision-making power, some military offices (namely that of the Political and Morale Commander) doubling as political leadership. During the siege of Charum Hakkor, even human children were organized into their own defensive guards. [46] Shortly afterward, the Didact brings a mortally wounded Chakas — who is already undergoing conversion into a monitor — with him to confront the Primordial, who has been imprisoned. The ensuing conversation reveals that the Primordial is actually a Gravemind, and that more Precursors may have survived their war with the Forerunners. The Didact claims that war happened because the Precursors resented any who might take up the Mantle, but the Primordial explains that the Forerunners had been deemed unfit for the Mantle. The Primordial asserts that "there is no difference" between the Flood and the Precursors, although it does not reveal the precise nature of their relationship. It also reveals that no human was ever truly immune to the Flood, but the Flood can choose whether to infect or not infect. The Primordial states that the Flood is a test to judge a species' worthiness of inheriting the Mantle, stating that the Forerunners are to be eliminated and that humans will be tested next once they rise again. At the conversation's conclusion, the Didact kills the Primordial by activating a reverse stasis chamber that forces the Primordial to go through a billion years of aging in several seconds, causing it to disintegrate. He was the grandfather of Vinnevra, raising her after her parents had been taken to the Palace of Pain and protecting her from unwanted attention by sexually mature male Tudejsa. Due to this, he was unpopular within the village, and was eventually banished, living in the forest outside of it. [8] While they could have killed him, the other Tudejsa were afraid of Gamelpar, as he knew the ancient way of daowa-maadthu and feared that his "spirit" would come to haunt them. [7] [9]

It also implied that there is no true cure for the Flood, but that it could choose whether or not a victim was infected. Once this conversation was complete, the Didact, enraged about the revelation, fully activated the reverse stasis chamber, forcing an artificial decay process equivalent to a billion years to transpire over the course of several seconds, killing the Primordial, and breaking its body down to a state of complete physical entropy. [22] Richard Mitchell (October 18, 2012). "Halo: Silentium concludes Greg Bear's Forerunner trilogy in March 2013". joystiq . Retrieved April 14, 2013. Human and Forerunner infantry shared many similar military technologies, including advanced battle armor and directed energy weapons such as various particle rifles. The Didact indicated that at one point humanity (with the help of the San'Shyuum) had developed offensive military technologies that the Didact's warriors had no effective defense against, which enabled them to compensate against the overwhelming numbers of the Forerunner military. [58] Human warships could emit high-intensity energy streams capable of destroying Forerunner ships and sterilizing entire Flood-infected worlds. [47] Examples of ancient human warship types include the prime cruisers and tuned platforms. [59] Ancient human warships were equipped with a weapons system known as a Fibril cutter, alongside weapons superficially similar to particle-beam weapons. [8]When the Contender-class artificial intelligence Mendicant Bias tested Installation 07, one of the original twelve Halo rings, in the Charum Hakkor system, the Halo's energies destroyed every Precursor structure on the planet, freeing the prisoner. The creature was then taken to Mendicant Bias' Halo for study; both the Halo and Mendicant Bias disappeared soon after, not to return for 43 years. [20]

Gamelpar's "best wife" also came from Earth and told him stories of it. [4] At one point in his life on Installation 07, he lived with his family in a newly-constructed city, but the Tudejsa abandoned the city after the Forerunners started abducting more humans for their brutal experiments with the Flood in the " Palace of Pain". After fleeing the city to the nearby plains, Gamelpar witnessed the Primordial and Mendicant Bias observe them and decide who would be taken for experimentation. [6] Gamelpar was once taken to the Palace of Pain himself, but he was not infected. He survived and was returned to his community; however, he would never speak of what he had experienced. [7] Williamson, Hilary. "Halo Cryptum: Book One of the Forerunner Saga". Book Loons . Retrieved March 20, 2013. Lifeworkers in the employ of Master Builder Faber initially studied the Primordial for some time, but their research as to its nature proved inconclusive; while some believed it was connected to the Flood, others dismissed this theory. The Master Builder soon withdrew the Lifeworker researchers and assigned Mendicant Bias to interrogate the creature. [10] The AI conversed with the Primordial, who in turn explained the nature of the Flood, the Mantle, and the eons-long plan of the Precursors. Mendicant Bias was eventually persuaded by the Primordial's arguments and deliberately succumbed to what the Forerunners referred to as the logic plague, which induced a state of rampancy in the AI. Bias then defected to the Flood, and referred to the Primordial as its master, demonstrating its denial of the Forerunners.

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Having lived much of his life fending off for himself with his personal interests in mind, Chakas was not a particularly social person. He regarded Riser as his closest friend and the more social counterpart. [31] The two often used the Florian language to communicate with one another, something the cha manush rarely did outside of their own kind. [32] After being separated from Riser on Installation 07, he came to realize just how much he had come to depend on him. He was apprehensive of forming new attachments and despised responsibilities placed upon himself, such as Gamelpar having him promise to take care of his granddaughter. [33] However, over time, he also found himself caring for her, although he attempted to deny this even to himself; Forthencho's imprint dryly commented on the immaturity of this. [34] The novel's cover illustration, as well as that of Halo: Cryptum, was created as concept art for Halo 4. Both images were illustrated by Nicolas "Sparth" Bouvier. [7] [8] Later, the ship carrying Chakas was caught in the massive battle around the Forerunner Capital and destroyed. Chakas, accompanied by several Forerunner guards, fled in an escape pod which made a rough landing on the surface of Installation 07, one of the Halos under control of the rampant AI Mendicant Bias. Injured, Chakas was discovered and tended to by a human girl known as Vinnevra, from whom Chakas learned that the Halo was home to various species and subspecies of humans, who collectively referred to themselves as "the People". While initially unable to understand or speak their ancient language, Chakas managed to obtain the knowledge he needed from the old memories his geas gave him. [17] Many of these humans had been transplanted on the ring long ago by the Librarian, while others had been brought in more recently by the Master Builder, who used humans in his cruel experiments on the Flood.

Forthencho - Lord of Admirals, head of the human Admiralty. [54] Commanded the last human fleets against the Didact's forces at Charum Hakkor.Released January 4, 2011, [4] Cryptum focuses on a young Forerunner known as Bornstellar Makes Eternal Lasting, a rebellious Manipular from a family of Builders, the highest and most politically powerful rate of the Forerunner. His father sends him to the planet Edom in a distant system known as Sol to work with the Miners to come to terms with his duty as a Builder. As part of the Librarian's far-reaching plans, however, Bornstellar is led to Earth, where he crosses paths with two humans, Chakas and Riser. They soon stumble upon the Cryptum of the ancient Promethean military leader known as the Didact, forever changing the fate of the galaxy. [14] Primordium [ edit ] Main article: Halo: Primordium