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Great Purification: Difference between revisions
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{{Era|Forerunner}} | {{Era|Forerunner}} | ||
[[File:HaloFiring.png|300px|thumb|right|A Halo ring is fired, [[Extinction|wiping]] the galaxy of Flood and all sentient life.]] | [[File:HaloFiring.png|300px|thumb|right|A Halo ring is fired, [[Extinction|wiping]] the galaxy of Flood and all sentient life.]] | ||
{{Quote|Activation is murder. A genocide larger than [this galaxy] has ever known. We are sworn to protect life, not destroy it! That is the [[Mantle]] we were given to carry.|The [[IsoDidact]], protesting the firing of the rings<ref name="terminal">'''Halo 3''' - ''[[Terminal (Halo 3)|Terminal 2]]''</ref>}} | {{Quote|Activation is murder. A genocide larger than [this galaxy] has ever known. We are sworn to protect life, not destroy it! That is the [[Mantle]] we were given to carry.|The [[IsoDidact]], protesting the firing of the rings.<ref name="terminal">'''Halo 3''' - ''[[Terminal (Halo 3)|Terminal 2]]''</ref>}} | ||
The '''Great Purification'''<ref>'''Halo: Broken Circle''', ''page 205''</ref> was the culminating act of the [[Forerunner-Flood war]] in [[97,445 BCE]], when the [[seven]] rings of the [[Halo Array]] were fired. The rings' combined pulses scoured the entire [[Milky Way]] galaxy, disabling the [[Flood]] and [[Extinction|wiping out]] all [[Sentience|sentient]] life that was not safely outside its range at [[Installation 00|the Ark]]. The effects of the firing had lasting effects on the galaxy for the next 100 millennia, marking the end of the [[Forerunner]] [[ecumene]] and eventually leading to the rise of the [[Covenant]] and [[human]]ity. | The '''Great Purification'''<ref>'''Halo: Broken Circle''', ''page 205''</ref> was the culminating act of the [[Forerunner-Flood war]] in [[97,445 BCE]], when the [[seven]] rings of the [[Halo Array]] were fired. The rings' combined pulses scoured the entire [[Milky Way]] galaxy, disabling the [[Flood]] and [[Extinction|wiping out]] all [[Sentience|sentient]] life that was not safely outside its range at [[Installation 00|the Ark]]. The effects of the firing had lasting effects on the galaxy for the next 100 millennia, marking the end of the [[Forerunner]] [[ecumene]] and eventually leading to the rise of the [[Covenant]] and [[human]]ity. | ||
==Background== | ==Background== | ||
{{Quote|The Flood cover more of our galaxy with each passing day. They feast on the essence of life itself. The only way to stop their advance is to remove that life upon which they feast.|The [[Faber-of-Will-and-Might|Master Builder]] discussing the necessity of the Halo Array with the [[Librarian]]<ref>'''Halo 4''' - ''[[Terminal (Halo 4)|Terminal 5]]</ref>}} | {{Quote|The Flood cover more of our galaxy with each passing day. They feast on the essence of life itself. The only way to stop their advance is to remove that life upon which they feast.|The [[Faber-of-Will-and-Might|Master Builder]] discussing the necessity of the Halo Array with the [[Librarian]].<ref>'''Halo 4''' - ''[[Terminal (Halo 4)|Terminal 5]]''</ref>}} | ||
[[File:Array.png|thumb|left|300px|Installation 00 sending the Halo Array through a [[slipspace portal]] during the [[Forerunner-Flood war]].]] | [[File:Array.png|thumb|left|300px|Installation 00 sending the Halo Array through a [[slipspace portal]] during the [[Forerunner-Flood war]].]] | ||
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==Effects== | ==Effects== | ||
{{Quote|This installation has a successful utilization record of 1.2 trillion simulated and one actual. It is ready to fire on demand.|[[2401 Penitent Tangent]]<ref>'''Halo 2''', campaign level ''[[Gravemind (level)|Gravemind]]''</ref>}} | {{Quote|This installation has a successful utilization record of 1.2 trillion simulated and one actual. It is ready to fire on demand.|[[2401 Penitent Tangent]].<ref>'''Halo 2''', campaign level ''[[Gravemind (level)|Gravemind]]''</ref>}} | ||
[[File:Killed by Halo Effect.jpg|thumb|right|265px|A creature is disintegrated by the Halos' pulse.]] | [[File:Killed by Halo Effect.jpg|thumb|right|265px|A creature is disintegrated by the Halos' pulse.]] | ||
The Great Purification marked the end of the [[Forerunner-Flood war]]. Just before the firing, the galaxy had been teeming with Flood, who had progressed to an [[Interstellar Stage|interstellar threat]], consuming whole star systems, forming advanced Flood intelligences called [[Key Mind]]s, and able to [[Neural physics|interact]] with the fabric of the universe itself, halting slipspace travel across the galaxy. Immediately after the firing, the Flood was neutralized. Flood and sentient lifeforms on planets that had been seeded with [[solute]] beforehand were disintegrated.<ref>'''Halo: Silentium''', ''page 19''</ref> Forms in starships and non-soluted sites were killed but not melted, their bodies remaining but their nervous systems irreparably destroyed. The remaining [[Flood spore]]s and [[Flood combat form|combat forms]] that were left were taken to the Halos and other sites for study, in hopes that a cure could be found should the Flood ever return.<ref>'''[[Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary]]''' - ''[[Terminal (Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary)|Terminal 6]]''</ref> | The Great Purification marked the end of the [[Forerunner-Flood war]]. Just before the firing, the galaxy had been teeming with Flood, who had progressed to an [[Interstellar Stage|interstellar threat]], consuming whole star systems, forming advanced Flood intelligences called [[Key Mind]]s, and able to [[Neural physics|interact]] with the fabric of the universe itself, halting slipspace travel across the galaxy. Immediately after the firing, the Flood was neutralized. Flood and sentient lifeforms on planets that had been seeded with [[solute]] beforehand were disintegrated.<ref>'''Halo: Silentium''', ''page 19''</ref> Forms in starships and non-soluted sites were killed but not melted, their bodies remaining but their nervous systems irreparably destroyed. The remaining [[Flood spore]]s and [[Flood combat form|combat forms]] that were left were taken to the Halos and other sites for study, in hopes that a cure could be found should the Flood ever return.<ref>'''[[Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary]]''' - ''[[Terminal (Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary)|Terminal 6]]''</ref> | ||
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==Legacy== | ==Legacy== | ||
{{Quote|Halo! Its divine wind will rush through the stars, propelling all who are worthy along the path to salvation.|The [[Prophet of Mercy]] | {{Quote|Halo! Its divine wind will rush through the stars, propelling all who are worthy along the path to salvation.|The [[Prophet of Mercy]].<ref>'''Halo 2''', campaign level ''[[Sacred Icon]]''</ref>}} | ||
[[File:H2A - Battle of Delta Halo.jpg|thumb|250px|The Covenant sought to activate the Halos in order to embark on "the Great Journey".]] | [[File:H2A - Battle of Delta Halo.jpg|thumb|250px|The Covenant sought to activate the Halos in order to embark on "the Great Journey".]] | ||
When the reseeded civilizations of the galaxy rebuilt in the following millennia, they were left with only distant historical fragments of the age of Forerunners. The [[San'Shyuum]], initially rebellious against the Forerunners, turned to worshipping their long departed oppressors. Without the complete account of what had happened, the San'Shyuum came to believe that the Halos were great machines designed to ascend its users to godhood. Their interpretation of the fragmentary texts was that the rings summoned sublime energies that burnt away falsehood and freed the soul from the material world.{{Ref/Reuse|sublime}} The Forerunners, according to them, had become spirit and reigned as gods, and had left their relics and holy texts behind to inform the other races on how to ascend like them. This legend about the Halos came to form the basis of the [[Covenant religion]], and the [[Covenant]] was formed as an interspecies union that together would seek the sacred rings. | When the reseeded civilizations of the galaxy rebuilt in the following millennia, they were left with only distant historical fragments of the age of Forerunners. The [[San'Shyuum]], initially rebellious against the Forerunners, turned to worshipping their long departed oppressors. Without the complete account of what had happened, the San'Shyuum came to believe that the Halos were great machines designed to ascend its users to godhood. Their interpretation of the fragmentary texts was that the rings summoned sublime energies that burnt away falsehood and freed the soul from the material world.{{Ref/Reuse|sublime}} The Forerunners, according to them, had become spirit and reigned as gods, and had left their relics and holy texts behind to inform the other races on how to ascend like them. This legend about the Halos came to form the basis of the [[Covenant religion]], and the [[Covenant]] was formed as an interspecies union that together would seek the sacred rings. | ||