Glassing: Difference between revisions

{{Status|Canon}}{{Status|Featured}}

{{Quote|You are, all of you, vermin. Cowering in the dirt thinking, what, I wonder? That you might escape the coming fire? No. Your world will burn until its surface is but glass!|The [[Prophet of Truth]], to [[human]]s regarding [[Earth]]<ref>'''[[Halo 3]]''', campaign level ''[[Crow's Nest]]''</ref>}}

==Doctrine==

The process of glassing a planet begins when a [[Covenant fleet|fleet]] has achieved air and space superiority on an enemy-controlled world. The specifics of the glassing process vary depending on the strategic significance of the planet or the orders of the [[Fleet Master]]. A [[Minor Prophet]] or [[Minister (title)|Minister]] is typically assigned to most [[Covenant]] fleets to oversee the destruction of a human world. In some or possibly all instances, before the fleet is permitted to destroy a planet, the Prophet performs a religious ritual—the Prophet declares by which religious ideal of the Covenant, marked by a glyph, will the world be destroyed. There is currently only one known instance of a human world, [[Kholo]], having a glyph burned into its surface.<ref>'''[[Halo: Evolutions]]''', "[[The Return]]", ''pages 494-496''</ref>  

===Orbital bombardment===

Typically, when fleet actions require no deployment of ground forces, the Covenant will glass the planet from orbit; this is accomplished by their larger warships gathering close together, aiming their plasma batteries, located along the lateral lines of their warships towards the surface and firing them.<ref>'''Halo: The Fall of Reach''', ''page 8'' (2001 edition); ''page 22'' (2010 edition)</ref> Once discharged, the plasma rounds are guided towards the surface, contained in a magnetic bubble and controlled by the ships automation through miles of atmospheric interference until it strikes its intended target. Resembling gigantic fireballs,<ref name="strike2">'''Halo: First Strike''' ''page 32, 46''</ref> these plasma lances are a hundred meters across,{{Ref/Reuse|strike2}} and strike the surface with tremendous speed and force.

===Low-altitude bombardment===

Low-range bombardment is not performed solely by energy projectors; smaller Covenant ships like [[Covenant corvette|corvettes]] are equipped with bombardment guns that fire smaller, less-powerful lances than those utilized by capital ships.<ref>'''[[Halo: Reach Official Strategy Guide|Halo: Reach Legendary Edition Guide]]''' ''page 440''</ref> Capital ships and some smaller ships are equipped with excavation beams to excavate areas of interest for the Covenant, such as unearthing the [[Portal at Voi|Portal]] to [[Installation 00]] during the Battle of Earth.

The Covenant sometimes glassed areas while their ground forces were still in the vicinity, ruthless as they were to eliminate humans.{{Ref/Reuse|hr na}}<ref>'''Halo: Reach''', campaign level ''[[The Pillar of Autumn (Halo: Reach level)|The Pillar of Autumn]]''</ref>

===Aftermath===

{{Quote|The brittle black shit on the outskirts of the huge swathes of destruction the Covenant leaves behind isn't actually glass, of course. It's what you get when you melt everything in the area into a chemical soup and let it cool and harden on its own—more like obsidian from a volcano than anything else.|[[Edward Buck]], on the aftermath of a planet's glassing<ref name="nb103">'''[[Halo: New Blood]]''', ''pages 103-104'' (Google Play edition)</ref>}}

[[File:GlassySurface.png|thumb|left|275px|The "glass" seen on the surface of a planet after being melted by a [[Energy projector|plasma beam]].]]

The destructive process of bombarding the surface of a planet with plasma leaves the surface unable to recover to its former state without re-[[terraforming]]. During the glassing of a planet the Covenant focus on destroying the ecosystem of a planet, and will spend a considerable amount of time vaporizing any bodies of water the planet may possess, or at least reduces the remaining water to small, ash-choked pools. The deeper the body of water is, the more time it will take to vaporize it.{{Ref/Reuse|data10}} Once the Covenant have finished, the surface is dead, devoid of any life on the surface. From orbit the world is simply a series of grays, blacks, and reds,<ref>'''Halo: First Strike''' ''Bonus Content page 417''</ref> everything on the surface is charred and the air is littered with ash and dust. The ash and material left behind from the glassing resembles [[Wikipedia:Obsidian|obsidian]]. The glassing process does not render a world completely smooth; typically, internal scaffolding from structures can be found poking out of the "glass". The glass takes an extended period of time to cool down—as was the case with [[Draco III]], where portions of the partially glassed planet was still hot [[2554|nine years]] after its [[Battle of Draco III|bombardment]].{{Ref/Reuse|nb103}} It is even possible for the atmosphere of a planet to boil away, or more correctly, suffer atmospheric escape from the process.<ref>'''Halo: The Fall of Reach''', ''page 8'' (2001 edition); ''page 23'' (2010 edition)</ref> Glassed planets with an intact atmosphere often experience extreme weather phenomena, namely enormous storms.<ref>'''[[Hunt the Truth]]''', ''Episode 11: DOWN TO THE BONE''</ref>

==History==

Since the formation of the Covenant in [[852 BCE]], the Covenant have used their ship-borne plasma weapons to threaten lesser species into a truce and their eventual induction into the Covenant. The [[Lekgolo]] were the first to be threatened with such destruction because of their transgressions against Forerunner technology before becoming the first outside species to join the Covenant in [[784 BCE]].<ref>'''Halo: Contact Harvest''' ''page 270''</ref><ref>'''[[Halo Encyclopedia (2009 edition)]]''' ''page 114''</ref> The [[Unggoy]] almost faced orbital bombardment for their [[Unggoy Rebellion|rebellion]] in [[2462]] CE, or the 39th [[Ages of Conflict|Age of Conflict]] by Covenant records.<ref>'''Halo: Contact Harvest''', ''page 151''</ref><ref>'''Halo Encyclopedia: The Definitive Guide to the Halo Universe''' ''page 142''</ref> Although the [[Kig-Yar]] were not threatened with orbital bombardment, they were quick to realize the Covenant had such a capacity to destroy them and thus chose to join the Covenant for the far greater wealth that the Covenant would provide.<ref>'''Halo Encyclopedia: The Definitive Guide to the Halo Universe''' ''page 121''</ref>

===Human-Covenant War===

{{Main|Human-Covenant War}}

The term "glassing" was coined by the [[artificial intelligence]] group known as the [[The Assembly|Assembly]] in 2526. The group at the time estimated that it would take 30.3801 years for a Covenant fleet of comparable size to that of the UNSC's to glass Earth. The Assembly chose the term to magnify the horrible act in the hope that it would galvanize humanity into action.{{Ref/Reuse|data10}}

Throughout the rest of 2525 and 2526, the Covenant continued their campaigns in the [[Outer Colonies]], glassing a number of worlds and human establishments including Biko, Green Hills, and Bliss. Admiral Cole and his fleet continued fighting for these colonies but they were lost causes, the Covenant with their determination, superior firepower and technology continued their ruthless campaign until the majority of the Outer Colonies were glassed by [[2535]]. Each battle human forces face with the Covenant were brutal ground forces were often deployed first, but as UNSC forces were routed in space, the bombardment would commence resulting in either loss of life or retreat.<ref>'''Halo: The Fall of Reach''' ''page 173''; ''page 199'' (2010 edition)</ref>

The Covenant's bloody campaign continued as they moved into the [[Inner Colonies]] and began glassing major worlds. Throughout the 2540s, the UNSC continued their attempts at slowing the Covenant. Although some of their tactics succeeded, the Covenant continued to swarm human-controlled space, glassing every world they found. After the apparent death of Admiral Cole in [[2543]], the Covenant briefly halted their advance, then renewed their bloody tenacity and attacked human-controlled worlds with even more ferocity. After the [[Fall of Reach]] in the summer of 2552, which saw much of humanity's greatest stronghold glassed, the Covenant leadership believed that humanity would lose the will to fight.<ref>'''Halo: Evolutions''', "The Return", ''page 499''</ref> However, this was a miscalculation, as humanity's disastrous defeat at Reach caused them to fight to the last breath, scoring a crushing victory at [[Installation 04]], which would indirectly lead to the [[Great Schism]], and with the crucial help of their new-found Sangheili allies, humanity would turn the tide in the Human-Covenant War.  

===Post-war===

In [[2558#September|September 2558]], the [[Jiralhanae Chieftain]] [[Hekabe]] and his faction glassed the area outside of the city of [[Suraka]] using the {{Pattern|Varric|heavy cruiser}} ''[[Foebane]]'' in order to access the [[Sharquoi]] hive underneath. Though the [[Surakan Militia Volunteers]] eventually managed to destroy ''Foebane'', Hekabe was able to successfully access the hive and unleash the Sharquoi.<ref>'''[[Halo: Envoy]]'''</ref>

'''2462''': [[Balaho]] {{C|partially}}

'''2553''': [[Shaps III]] {{C|partially}}

'''2558''': [[Carrow]] {{C|partially}}

}}

==''Halo Wars'' gameplay==

File:Harvest Plasma Glassed.jpg|Harvest, partially glassed by the Covenant in ''[[Halo Wars]]''.

File:Covenant Destroyers Glass Harvest.jpg|Two Covenant destroyers glassing Harvest.

File:Mombasa Glassing.jpg|New Mombasa being glassed in ''[[Halo 3: ODST]]''.

File:Portal odst.png|The Prophet of Truth’s fleet uncovers the [[Portal at Voi]].

File:HR_ReachGlassed_Concept.jpg|The surface of Reach after being glassed.

File:Reach Glassed.jpg|An orbital view of Reach's surface after glassing.

File:NA Glassed.jpg|The glassed remnants of New Alexandria.

File:Halo Glasslands full cover.jpg|A glassed planet on the cover of ''[[Halo: Glasslands]]''.

File:H2A Terminals - glassland.jpg|One of many worlds glassed by the [[Fleet of Particular Justice]] in ''[[Halo 2: Anniversary]]''<nowiki>'s</nowiki> [[Terminal (Halo 2: Anniversary)|terminals]].

File:TFoR-as-concept 5.jpg|The members of [[Blue Team]] meeting up in Reach's glasslands in ''[[Halo: The Fall of Reach - The Animated Series]]''.

File:Halo Waypoint - Meridian surface.jpg|The glassed surface of [[Meridian]] in ''[[Halo 5: Guardians]]''.

File:HW2-HuntersBrand.png|A Hunter's Brand in ''Halo Wars 2''.

File:HW2-RainofFire.png|A Rain of Fire in ''Halo Wars 2''.

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*''[[Halo: Renegades]]'' {{Mo}}

*''[[Halo: Shadows of Reach]]'' {{Mo}}

**''[[Unbound]]'' {{Mo}}

**''[[Allegiance]]''

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