Milky Way
From Halopedia, the Halo wiki
Spartacus is a petty shit that starts arguments on whalepedia when the editing doesnt go his way.
The development of the Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine in 2291 allowed humanity to leave the confines of its home star system for the first time and explore the wider galaxy, ushering in an age of rapid colonization and expansion. The first line of colony ships were unveiled in 2310, and over the next 28 years, the UNSC began terraforming and colonizing more than 210 worlds, which would become the Inner Colonies. Colonial expansion continued and by 2490, UNSC colonial space encompassed over 800 worlds, large and small, in the Orion Arm. The success of colonization of the Outer Colonies made the Inner Colonies the primary stronghold, both military and economic, though they relied heavily on raw materials supplied by the Outer Colonies. At the end of the Golden Age of human expansion in the twilight of the 25th century, tensions between the Inner and Outer colonies culminated in hundreds of civil wars waged across the Outer Colonies, collectively termed as the Insurrection.
In 2525, humanity made contact with the genocidal alien hegemony known as the Covenant, bent on humanity's destruction. During the 27 years of conflict, hundreds of human colonies were destroyed and billions of civilians and military personnel were killed by the Covenant.
Covenant
- Main article: Covenant
Because the Covenant have been spacefaring for over two millennia,[1] and possess far superior slipstream navigation technology to humanity, they have explored a significantly larger portion of the galaxy than humanity has. Based primarily in the Orion Arm of the Milky Way, it is unknown if they maintain territories outside of the region, but there are several homeworlds and colonies located in the Orion Arm. Additionally, the Covenant have discovered and explored several Forerunner shield worlds as well as other Forerunner artifacts, from which they have acquired much of their advanced technology.
The Human-Covenant War has devastated numerous human worlds, but at least one Covenant world, Joyous Exultation, was devastated by Admiral Whitcomb's NOVA bomb in retribution for the destruction of Reach. It is unknown if the Brute and Sangheili-led Covenant destroyed worlds under the control of the other faction during the Great Schism, but both Te and Balaho, the Lekgolo and Unggoy homeworlds respectively, were almost glassed during the Covenant's history.
Forerunner
- Main article: Forerunner
The Forerunners, having been spacefaring for millions of years and possessing slipspace technology allowing them to cross galactic distances in a negligible time, had explored significant portions of the galaxy. Their ecumene encompassed three million fertile worlds,[2] along with many artificial installations they had constructed. The Forerunners divided the galaxy into margin arcs and themas, with the latter being defined by galactic-scale magnetic fields.[3] They were also capable of traveling outside the galaxy, including an expedition to the Large Magellanic Cloud and the construction of the Arks hundreds of thousands of lightyears from the galaxy.[4]
Locations
Orion Arm
- Main article: Orion Arm
The Milky Way, and the Orion Arm in particular, has a large number of inhabited or, at least, habitable, planets within it, with the Unified Earth Government and the Covenant both maintaining distinct territories of their own. Other planets and systems were once home to the ancient Forerunners, whose interstellar empire spanned the galaxy until their disappearance, as well as the contemporary empires of other species, including humanity and the San'Shyuum.
- Human systems and worlds (prehistoric humans)
- Covenant systems and worlds
- Forerunner systems and worlds
Trivia
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- The only engagement or conflict to take place "outside" the Milky Way in the modern times is the Battle of Installation 00. Two other cases of extragalactic conflict are known to have occurred in the distant past; the Battle of the greater Ark in the final days of the Forerunner-Flood war and the later stages of the Forerunner-Precursor war over ten million years earlier.
- The Milky Way can be seen from the Ark.
Gallery
The Milky Way as seen on Halo2.com
