Maethrillian: Difference between revisions

{{Era|Forerunner}}

|name=Capital

|image=[[File:Capital.png|300px]]

|constructed=c. [[125,000 BCE]]

The '''Capital'''<!--"Capital" is written in lower case throughout Halo: Cryptum, but Halo: Silentium renders it as a proper noun. This article follows the standard set by the more recent source.--> was the political center of the [[Forerunner]] [[ecumene]]. It housed the [[Ecumene Council]], the main governing body of the ecumene, as well as the [[Capital Court]]. It was a massive structure, greatly exceeding the scale of even the [[Halo Array|Halo installations]].<ref name="description">'''Halo: Cryptum''', ''pages 280-281''</ref>

It was one of the most trafficked locations in the ecumene, with constant security patrols, [[sentinel]]s, and transports swarming around it.<ref name="description"/> Within five thousand kilometers of the structure, incoming vessels would be carefully screened by sensory fields and directed by [[hard light]] docking nets.<ref>'''Halo: Cryptum''', ''page 283''</ref> The Capital's system housed multiple [[slipspace portal]]s that linked to many worlds, as well as [[Installation 00|the Ark]].<ref>'''Halo: Cryptum''', ''page 312''</ref>

During the [[Forerunner-Flood war]], the Capital became the site of an [[Battle of the capital|enormous battle]] as [[05-032 Mendicant Bias]], having been persuaded into [[rampancy]] by the [[Primordial]], attempted to deliver a crippling blow to the Forerunner leadership. Even though the Forerunners responded with heavy force, Mendicant Bias was successful in firing [[Installation 07]] in the system, sterilizing the Capital and eliminating most of the Ecumene Council,<ref>'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 272''</ref> although the Council would be reconstituted shortly afterward as the "New Council".<ref>'''Halo: Primordium''', ''pages 373-374''</ref> Around 100,000 BCE, the Flood had almost completely overrun the Capital system; as a result, strategic command of the ecumene was moved to the [[greater Ark]].<ref>'''Halo: Silentium''', ''String 25''</ref>

[[File:EcumeneCouncil.png|thumb|270px|A Council meeting in progress at the Capital.]]

The Capital was composed of a series of perfectly circular "platforms" arranged in a spiral along a central rod. These platforms decreased in size toward either end of the rod, with the widest central one being approximately 100,000 kilometers in diameter. Each platform was covered with a "city" of structures and buildings,<ref name="description"/> whose gravity was controlled individually by [[buffer field]]s.<ref>'''Halo: Cryptum''', ''page 304''</ref>

The Capital was home to the Council amphitheater, where the [[Ecumene Council]] engaged in debate on important matters. The amphitheater was suspended in midair, attached to the rest of the capital by [[Bridge (structure)|bridges]], [[anti-gravity gondola]]s, and [[Elevator|lift]] tubes for individual [[Councilor (Forerunner)|Councilors]]. During Council proceedings, the amphitheater would be decorated with display spheres showing representations of the twelve original systems inhabited by early Forerunners, each carrying an epistle of the [[Mantle]]. Near the Council amphitheater there was a hallway with its walls decorated with countless spent [[slipspace flake]]s, some of which had also been built into sculptures.<ref name="c293">'''Halo: Cryptum''', ''page 293''</ref>

The Capital is similar in design and function to the [[W:c:Masseffect:Citadel|Citadel space station]] from the ''[[Wikipedia: Mass Effect (series)|Mass Effect]]'' series. Both are large-scale artificial stations featuring inhabited cities, both serve as a center of galactic politics, and both are able to change their structure, "closing" themselves in the event of siege. However, the Citadel is only approximately forty-five kilometers long and thirteen kilometers in diameter, as opposed to the scale of the Capital, which is closer to that of a gas giant.

*''[[Halo 4]]'' {{C|Terminals}}

*''[[Halo: Silentium]]'' {{mo}}

<references/>