Requiem

This article is about the Forerunner shield world. For other uses, see Requiem (disambiguation).

Requiem
General overview
Description:	A series of concentric spherical shells enclosed within an armored exterior
Location:	Unknown space (currently) Epoloch system (formerly)
Satellites:	7
Operation overview
Type:	Shield world
Function:	Promethean operations hub
Date of construction:	Before 107,445 BCE
Structural information
Diameter:	10,787 kilometers (6,703 mi)
Gravity:	0.987 G
Surface temperature:	-38°C to 71°C (-36°F to 159°F)
Atmospheric composition:	1.2 (N2, O2, Ar)

"The scale and brilliance of the Didact's strategic plan now appears more like the tomb of all hope—certainly of all my hopes. A dream we had both shared is little more than a repository for a Promethean long since chewed up and cast aside by history, by force of his enemies, human and Forerunner—and by the dire influence of the Flood. And yet, this enormous construct, nothing less than a completely artificial world, this bastion designed for endless war, still impresses in a way that a Halo cannot."

— The Librarian reflects on Requiem near the close of the Flood conflict

Requiem, formally designated by its Forerunner creators as Shield World 0001, was a Forerunner shield world located in the Epoloch system. It once served as the central base of operations for the Prometheans, an elite class of Warrior-Servants, for thousands of years until the end of the Forerunner-Flood war. It remained sealed off for a hundred millennia since the end of the war, and became the site of major events as UNSC and Jul 'Mdama's Covenant forces stumbled upon it in 2557. The UNSC Infinity returned to Requiem in early 2558, resulting in a protracted battle between the UNSC and the occupying Promethean-Jul's Covenant alliance. Requiem itself was apparently destroyed at the conclusion of this campaign by Jul 'Mdama.

However, although severely damaged, Requiem survived and as of 2560, was situated in unknown space. Requiem became known as the Graveworld to those who continued to inhabit it.

History

Ancient history

The Didact and the Librarian in Requiem's war room.

Built as the template for the Didact's shield world defensive strategy, Requiem was constructed long before the human-Forerunner wars to serve as a fortress world for the Warrior-Servants' Promethean class. As with the shield worlds which would follow, Requiem's true capabilities were kept as secret as possible from the other rates; although its components were constructed by the Builders, the process was compartmentalized in a way that only the Prometheans would be fully informed of its ultimate configuration.

Requiem was a central hub for all Forerunner forces and war efforts for thousands of years, from the conflict with ancient humanity to the end of the Forerunner-Flood war. Upon his recovery from the clutches of the Gravemind near the end of the conflict with the Flood, the now mentally unstable Ur-Didact returned and reassumed control of Requiem. In his vision, Requiem was to serve as a core of a new era of prosperity and power to the Forerunners through the defeat of the Flood and the subjugation of all their enemies. To this end, the Didact used the Composer to convert his loyal Warrior-Servants into powerful robotic Knights. Despite his grand plans, relatively few of his Warriors joined him: in addition to the Didact's flagship, Mantle's Approach, only one Fortress-class vessel, several dreadnoughts and scrapped Builder vessels were present at Requiem during the endgame of the war.

After the Ur-Didact used the Composer to enslave Omega Halo's human population to use them to create more of his Knight constructs, the Librarian imprisoned the Didact in a Cryptum in the core of the shield world to stop him. The Librarian uploaded a personality impression of herself within Requiem's systems, placing the Janus Key in the possession of this imprint. The Librarian then departed Requiem and sealed the shield world off for the next 100,000 years.

Rediscovery

Main articles: Battle of Requiem, Requiem Campaign

Jul 'Mdama's Song of Retribution first arriving at Requiem.

In 2554, Jul 'Mdama and his Covenant discovered Requiem, using coordinates provided by Forerunner symbols. Over the next three years, his Covenant tried to enter the planet, without success.

The UNSC Forward Unto Dawn entering Requiem via an access portal.

On July 21, 2557, the severed aft section of the Charon-class light frigate UNSC Forward Unto Dawn, containing John-117 and Cortana, drifted near Requiem and were forcibly pulled inside an automated entrance portal on its surface, along with a number of ships from a Covenant remnant fleet and later, the Infinity-class supercarrier UNSC Infinity. Inside, they encountered hostile Promethean forces that occupied the structure, and unwittingly released the Didact.