Conservatory (location)
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- "I am Despondent Pyre, Monitor of this Installation and this is my Conservatory. My Conservatory."
- — Despondent Pyre speaking to John-117 and the Weapon in the Conservatory during the Battle for Zeta Halo.[1]
The Conservatory is the location on all Halo rings that functions as the home of its monitor.[2] In 2560, during the Battle for Zeta Halo, the Banished and the Harbinger forced entry into the Conservatory of Installation 07 in order to capture 117649 Despondent Pyre, the monitor of the ring.[1]
Function[edit]
The Conservatory is a centralized hub location that functions as the home of the monitor or adjutant executors. Within the Conservatory, the Monitor can interface directly with the ring's network infrastructure, file reports, carry out a wide variety of restorative reconnaissance protocols, and dispatch messages to other sites. Maintenance cradles provide the opportunity for repair and modification depending on situational needs or personality directives.[2] There is data continuously running through its translucent wall panels for centralized administration and storage.[3] Data ports within the Conservatory can decrypt data extracted from the Conspectus network.[4]
The facility is designed as a labyrinth to confuse intruders.[5] A series of hallways form a spiral passageway around the central chamber, with a view window into the central chamber at the top floor. The central chamber of the Conservatory, the cradle, is an incredibly tall chamber connecting the underground facility to its surface; there is a pyramidal structure in its center, with a flat, rounded top, accessible from the floor via a broad ramp.[1]
History[edit]
After carrying out the Grand Edict's orders to imprison the Xalanyn on Zeta Halo, 117649 Despondent Pyre, the ring's monitor, eventually became so overwhelmed with the shame of her actions, she ceased communicating with her fellow Monitors on the other rings and sealed herself inside Zeta Halo's Conservatory.[2][6]
Many years later, during the Created uprising in 2558, the leader of the Created, Archon Cortana, seized control of the ring, and sequestered Pyre and a number of submonitors in the Conservatory.[4] They were contained within an energy barrier inside the cradle.[5] While administrative processes and reports and adjustments flowed into and out of the Conservatory, all primary functions had been rerouted to the Silent Auditorium, which became Cortana's base of operation.[3] On December 13, 2559, when Cortana sacrificed herself to destroy the Silent Auditorium and deny Atriox control of Zeta Halo, a large section of the ring broke off, taking with it several key Forerunner facilities, including the Conservatory.[1]
Following the apparent demise of Atriox, his second-in-command and old mentor, War Chief Escharum, assumed his place as leader of the Banished and set out to fulfill Atriox's goal of seizing control of the ring. As part of this plan, Escharum located and freed the Harbinger from her Cylix.[7][8] The Harbinger agreed to help the Banished take control of the ring in exchange for their help in locating and freeing her people, the Endless, who had been imprisoned by the remaining Forerunners due to the former having inexplicably survived the Halo array's firing.[9][10] In order to achieve both objectives, the Silent Auditorium had to be repaired first—a process known as the Reformation.[11] Since only Despondent Pyre had the ability to initiate the Reformation,[12] the Banished began its search for the Conservatory. Intelligence collected and analyzed Chak 'Lok's Tower eventually led to the the Conservatory's location on the ring.[13] Escharum ordered the establishment of Site Novem for the purposes of circumventing the Conservatory's defenses, breaching the facility, and ultimately capturing the monitor.[14]
On May 3, 2560, submonitor 091 Adjutant Veridity led a group of UNSC survivors to the Conservatory;[15] they intend to decipher data from the Conspectus network, including data on the ring's current location, and relay the information to the UNSC space at a beacon tower.[4] On May 9, the team arrived at the Conservatory's cradle. As a human and thus, a Reclaimer, Spartan-IV Tomas Horvath was able to deactivate the energy barrier and awakened the monitors. Although Pyre was initially uninterested in offering any assistance, upon hearing news of the Harbinger being released, the monitor granted access to the beacon towers. She also gave the humans a data key that they must insert into the central plinth of a beacon tower in order to transmit the ring's location and data to human-occupied space. However, Pyre ordered Veridity to remain with her to counter the Harbinger, leaving the humans to travel to the beacon tower without Veridity’s presence.[5]
By May 15, 2560, the Banished had breached the Conservatory using a mining laser enhanced by the Harbinger herself.[16] Surviving Spartans Theodore Sorel and Vedrana Makovich followed the Banished into the Conservatory, but were ambushed by Sangheili Blademaster Jega 'Rdomnai.[17] 'Rdomnai killed Makovich and wounded Sorel, and a short time later, the Jiralhanae Spartan Killers Hyperius and Tovarus killed Sorel.[18]
On May 28, 2560, Master Chief John-117 and the Weapon, acting on information given to him by the late Hudson Griffin, entered the Conservatory through the entrance made at Site Novem. Despondent Pyre contacted them and requested their aid, but before she could explain exactly what was going on, the Harbinger's Skimmers abducted her. The Chief fought his way to the central chamber of the Conservatory, but arrived too late to stop the Harbinger from killing the Monitor and extracting her encephalon. The Chief fought his way back to the surface and confronted the Harbinger at the Conservatory's main entrance. The Harbinger used the Forerunner routines in the Monitor's encephalon to initiate the Reformation, summoning dozens of Reformation Spires. She then blasted the Chief out of the Conservatory and escaped. The Conservatory's main entrance then sealed itself shut.[1][19]
Gallery[edit]
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Concept art[edit]
Concept art of the Conservatory's cradle.
Concept art of John-117 discovering Despondent Pyre in the Conservatory.
More concept art of John discovering Pyre.
More concept art of John discovering Pyre.
Screenshots[edit]
The entry chamber that connects the Conservatory to the surface.
Another view of the Conservatory's entry chamber.
Conservatory's entry chamber with moving pillars.
Central platform located in the Conservatory's entry chamber, as seen from above.
The Conservatory's entry chamber.
A gondola from the entry chamber to the bottom floor.
A view of the gondola's shaft.
An energy beam within a wall in the Conservatory.
The central chamber, the cradle, located within the Conservatory.
Another view of the cradle.
The remains of Despondent Pyre displayed in the cradle.
A plaque printed with Forerunner symbols on the cradle's floor.
Conservatory's surface structure above the cradle.
Conservator's surface structure, seen from the cradle below.
Banished technology installed at a door to breach the Conservatory.
Banished technology installed on a crucible in the Conservatory.
Banished technology installed in a hallway inside the Conservatory.
List of appearances[edit]
- Halo Infinite (First appearance)
- Halo: The Rubicon Protocol
- Halo: Epitaph
Sources[edit]
- ^ a b c d e Halo Infinite, campaign mission Connections: Conservatory
- ^ a b c Halo Encyclopedia (2022 edition), page 352
- ^ a b Halo: Epitaph, chapter 24
- ^ a b c Halo: The Rubicon Protocol, chapter 30
- ^ a b c Halo: The Rubicon Protocol, chapter 34
- ^ Halo Encyclopedia (2022 edition), page 371
- ^ Halo Infinite, Banished Audio log: Escharum's Testimony #02 - Cylix
- ^ Halo Infinite, Banished Audio log: Escharum's Testimony #03 - Harbinger
- ^ Halo Infinite, campaign mission Graveyard: Pelican Down: "When the Endless are found. And when you have your Ring. Then you will never question my worth and I will never question your judgment." - The Harbinger
- ^ Halo Infinite, campaign mission Endless: Silent Auditorium: "If Halo cannot end them, it must imprison them." - Grand Edict, Legendary ending post-credits
- ^ Halo Encyclopedia (2022 edition), page 353
- ^ Halo Infinite, campaign mission Reformation: The Command Spire
- ^ Halo Encyclopedia (2022 edition), page 455
- ^ Halo Infinite, Spartan Audio log: Scattered #04 - The Prize
- ^ Halo: The Rubicon Protocol, chapter 32
- ^ Halo Infinite, Spartan Audio log: Scattered #07 - Infiltration
- ^ Halo Infinite, Spartan Audio log: Scattered #08 - The Assassin
- ^ Halo Infinite, Spartan Audio log: Scattered #09 - Killers
- ^ Halo Infinite, campaign mission Connections: Spire
