Editing Erde-Tyrene civilization

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

{{disambig header|the ancient humans regressed to hunter-gatherers|the original ancient humans with an advanced civilization|Ancestors}}

[[File:H4Terminals - Humans.png|thumb|300px|The civilization on [[Omega Halo]].]]

 

Between approximately [[106,445 BCE]] and [[97,445 BCE]], a '''prehistoric civilization''' shared by various species and subspecies of [[human]] and related genera existed on [[Earth]], then known as Erde-Tyrene.{{Ref/Note|Although the narrative of ''The Forerunner Saga'' mainly concerns humans from [[Marontik]] and its immediate region, [[Riser]] mentions in ''[[Rebirth]]'' that ''"Any human on Erde-Tyrene would have known how to voice respect for those now gone"''; as such, it is assumed that the same civilization spanned the entire planet at least on a certain level.}} This civilization was a reduced remnant of humanity's [[Prehistoric human civilization|previous interstellar empire]], which was shattered by the [[Forerunner]]s at the conclusion of the [[human-Forerunner wars]]. Erde-Tyrene itself was considered an insignificant and obscure vassal planet of the Forerunners' [[ecumene]], with a Forerunner [[Miner]] presence on the nearby [[Mars]], known as Edom at the time.<ref>'''[[Halo: Cryptum]]''', ''pages 15, 17''</ref>

Humans first evolved and achieved civilization on [[Earth]], originally known as ''Erda'' or ''Erde-Tyrene'',<ref name="p237">'''[[Halo: Primordium]]''', ''page 237-238''</ref> before [[1,100,000 BCE]]. For over a million years,<ref>'''[[Halo: Silentium]]''', ''pages 67-68''</ref> humanity roamed [[Milky Way|the galaxy]], experiencing a number of technological dark ages in the interim.{{Ref/Reuse|p237}} Around [[107,445 BCE]], their latest—and last—interstellar empire stumbled upon the parasitic [[Flood]], which indirectly forced humanity into a [[Human-Forerunner wars|millennium-long conflict]] with the Forerunners. Exhausted from fighting the Flood, the humans were eventually defeated.

[[File:H4-Terminal-Village.jpg|thumb|250px|A village on [[Omega Halo]].]]

The Librarian's beliefs about humanity were reinforced during the subsequent millennium: in only a thousand years, the devolved humans' population skyrocketed. Furthermore, the humans branched off into numerous species and subspecies, progress that should have normally taken millions of years. While this was partly due to the assistance of the Librarian and her ''[[geas]]'', there were also unknown factors not even the Librarian and her subordinate [[Lifeworker]]s could explain despite studying the humans' genetic code in detail.{{Ref/Reuse|s45}} Over twenty of these species migrated across Earth and formed separate populations across the planet.{{Ref/Reuse|c25}}

The development of civilization began anew; humans began to settle down and gather into tribal communities and villages. They began to grow crops and domesticated many animals, such as sheep, goats, wolves, cattle, and birds. They developed tools and basic technology; this spurred the development of trade and even fledgling industry.{{Ref/Reuse|s45}}{{Ref/Reuse|c25}}<ref>'''Halo: Cryptum''', ''page 86''</ref> Others continued to live in [[Technological Achievement Tiers|Tier 7]] tribal communities, such as the one that was encountered by the Forerunners during the construction of [[Portal at Voi|the portal]] to [[Installation 00|the Ark]] in eastern [[Africa]].<ref>'''[[Halo 3: The Cradle of Life]]'''</ref>

[[File:H4-Terminal-Village-Mantle.jpg|thumb|left|250px|The Ur-Didact preparing to compose a population on Omega Halo.]]

 

After the Forerunners moved their own surviving population to the greater Ark, the Librarian's indexed humans—who represented the bulk of the species—were moved to the nearby [[Omega Halo]]. Most of this population, as well as many of the formerly diverse human species, were lost when the [[Ur-Didact]] used the [[Composer]] on the inhabitants of Omega Halo. However, the Librarian and her successor, [[Chant-to-Green]], managed to save enough specimens aboard [[Installation 00]] to successfully revitalize ''Homo sapiens'' and several other species. Following the firing of the Halo Array, the surviving humans were [[reintroduction|returned]] to Earth.{{Ref/Reuse|rebirth}}

 

After their reintroduction to Earth, the human civilization regressed once again, and would remain as Tier 7 hunter-gatherers for nearly a hundred millennia. The Librarian had imposed a ''[[geas]]'' upon the species, which has been said to have greatly affected their later development; in particular preparing humans for their role as [[Reclaimer|successors]] to the Forerunners as stewards of the galaxy.<ref>'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 375''</ref> In [[2557]], while meeting with [[343 Guilty Spark]] - who had been the Erde-Tyrene human [[Chakas]] before becoming a Monitor - the Librarian told him that Spark's friends [[Riser]] and [[Vinnevra]], who were sent back to Earth as part of the reintroduction, were left to live out their lives in peace, their ''geas'' silent.{{Ref/Novel|Ren|48}}

In this time period, Earth was home to numerous sapient species of [[Wikipedia:Homo|human]], [[Wikipedia:Hominidae|hominid]], [[Wikipedia:Ape|hominoid]], and [[Wikipedia:Simian|anthropoid]], all of whom were understood, or regarded themselves, as being part of a single "People".<ref name="p169">'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 169''</ref> The multitude of species among the human genus itself was generated rather rapidly, most of them over only a thousand years, after the humans' forced devolution at the hands of the Forerunners. There were more than twenty species regarded as human,<ref name="c25">'''Halo: Cryptum''', ''pages 25-26''</ref> with over 120 different subtypes known.{{Ref/Reuse|p188}} These various forms represented species and subspecies both new and ones that had once existed but were suppressed throughout the devolution.<ref>'''Halo: Silentium''', ''page 48''</ref> While given human species had stayed remarkably similar to their ancestral forms during their regression and re-evolution in superficial terms,<ref>'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 129''</ref> humans never fully recovered to the level of their ancient ancestors in terms of size, strength and intelligence.<ref name="wp hum">[https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/universe/species/humans '''Halo Waypoint''': ''Humans'']</ref> This meddling was noted to have considerably distorted Earth's natural fossil records,<ref name="c127">'''Halo: Cryptum''', ''page 127''</ref> and made it difficult to determine the exact lineage for a particular human species.<ref>'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 242''</ref>

Some, although not all, of these species were saved in the Lifeworkers' [[Conservation Measure]] and made it to [[Installation 00]] for preservation when the [[Halo Array]] was fired. In the endgame of the Flood war, the Librarian estimated that only four or five human species remained intact, and due to the scarcity of healthy and intact specimens the recovery of all of the genetic composites the Lifeworkers had stored may be impossible.{{Ref/Reuse|s317}}

*[[Neanderthal|K'ta''manush'']] (''Homo neanderthalensis''; Neanderthal): roamed the northern ice flats of Earth,{{Ref/Reuse|c25}} which was undergoing a glacial period at the time<ref>'''Halo: Cryptum''', ''page 20''</ref>

*[[B'ashamanune|B'asha''manush'']]: a thin and lithe species which inhabited Earth's equatorial grasslands{{Ref/Reuse|c25}}

*[[Denisovan]]: close relatives to both ''Homo sapiens'' and ''neanderthalensis''; tall and lean in stature{{Ref/Reuse|p169}}

The names of these species were changed to reflect significant changes: when most members of a given species were dead or away from a major spiritual center, the species' name would be prefixed with a glottal click. These rules were known to all humans across Erde-Tyrene but were kept secret from non-human species such as the Forerunners.<ref name="rebirth">'''[[Rebirth]]'''</ref>

Upon humanity's defeat, the Forerunners restricted the humans' access to all forms of technology, regressing them back to a hunter-gatherer state. Still, as Erde-Tyrene gradually faded into obscurity in the eyes of the [[Ecumene Council|Old Council]] and the [[Builder]]s, the [[Librarian]] encouraged the humans to begin redeveloping civilization and technology.{{Ref/Reuse|s45}} By the final years before the Halos' activation, rudimentary cities were in evidence, most notable of them being [[Marontik]], located amidst a region of expansive grasslands. By that time, humans had also developed primitive industry,{{Ref/Reuse|s45}} hot-air balloons and steam-powered waterborne vessels as a relatively recent invention.<ref>'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 59''</ref> This led to a strange hodgepodge of the humans' relatively primitive tribal culture and tradition mixed in with these comparatively sophisticated technologies.<ref>'''Halo: Cryptum''', ''pages 21-22''</ref> As one other curious feature of note, certain customs and traditions were shared across all humans on Erde-Tyrene,{{Ref/Reuse|rebirth}} a trait typically unheard of with civilizations of this technological level.

The humans of this civilization followed the way of [[daowa-maad]], the basis of which had survived humanity's devolution from their prior, [[Prehistoric human civilization|advanced civilization]].<ref>'''Halo: Primordium''', ''pages 55-56''</ref> Their most sacred beliefs regarding life and death as well as the power of names were tied to this concept.<ref>'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 207''</ref>{{Ref/Reuse|p210}} In addition, they worshiped the Librarian as "the Lifeshaper" or "the Lady",<ref>'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 48''</ref> viewing her as a sort of goddess who personally visited humans at birth and gave them a purpose.<ref>'''Halo: Cryptum''', ''page 46''</ref> This belief had a basis in truth; the Librarian did subconsciously appear to newborns via a remote imprinting system to give them her ''[[geas]]''.<ref>'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 374''</ref> This faith was practiced in dedicated temples, one of which was located in Marontik.<ref>'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 30''</ref>

Upon maturing, males in the greater Marontik area would traditionally undergo a rite of passage which involved being led through a series of "sacred caves" located a day's journey from Marontik.<ref>'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 206''</ref> These caves contained myriad paintings describing the humans' beliefs about life and death.<ref>'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 221''</ref> During the ceremony, the caves would be fumed with the smoke of intoxicating leaves and with the initiate's body covered in clay, elder shamans would carve a series of ritual scarification designs to his back, shoulders, ribs and chest using bone knives.<ref>'''Halo: Primordium''', ''pages 53, 275''</ref> Those who had undergone the ritual would often repeat the mantra ''"for so I have seen in the sacred caves"'' to affirm their belief in what they had seen.<ref>'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 16''</ref>

 

 

In addition to their primary beliefs about afterlife, the humans of Erde-Tyrene had a rich oral tradition of legends and myths, many of them mutually contradictory and liberally mixed in with their religion. These featured a broad pantheon of deities, many of them embodied in animal form.<ref>'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 182''</ref> Their worldview was generally animistic and featured a plethora of various secondary gods, spirits and ghosts. These incorporeal beings were generally considered unpredictable, occasionally mischievous, and judgmental of the living, because of the lust and envy they felt for them.<ref>'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 54''</ref> There were many tales of gods and devils which played tricks on humans, commonly told to children.<ref>'''Halo: Primordium''', ''pages 284-285''</ref>

*The ''First Human'' or ''First Man'' was a mythical figure who had a forefinger the size of a tree which held the souls of all his children; the human generations to come.<ref>'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 204''</ref> [[Chakas]], after being [[Mind transfer|converted]] into [[343 Guilty Spark|a monitor]] with the essences of thousands of ancient humans stored within compared himself to this being.<ref>'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 371''</ref>

 

*The ''Vaeites and Alben'' were entities who were said to appear in the humans' oldest dreams. [[Riser]] once compared the Forerunners to these beings.<ref>'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 34''</ref>

 

*A warning tale about ''story devils'' described a being who traveled across the land and told great stories; however, those who listened became mute and their descendants would only talk babble. Upon Chakas telling [[Vinnevra]] this story, she asked him if the [[Primordial]] was a story devil.<ref>'''Halo: Primordium''', ''pages 220-221''</ref>

 

*In a particular story, the sky was told to be a great flat plane on which glowing insects moved and occasionally, someone opened a door to let in light from the outside. The stars were also told to be holes punched in the sky by birds pecking for insects.<ref>'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 279''</ref>

 

*According to one account of the creation of humans, ''Mongoose'', a god known for being a trickster, was said to have convinced Mud to mate with the Sun (both personified deities). This union resulted in the creation of worms, which the Mongoose angered and teased until they grew legs and chased it over the grasslands. The worms became humans, who would continue to be played jokes on by humorless gods of Tree, River, Rock and Cloud.<ref>'''Halo: Primordium''', ''pages 209-310''</ref>

 

*''[[Shalimanda]]'', the heaven-snake, was told to have swallowed an original, jewel-covered stream of worlds. It exploded the next night, bringing forth the Earth-like worlds that gave birth to humans.{{Ref/Reuse|p210}}

 

==Trivia==

The common term for the different human species, "manush", was derived from the [[Wikipedia:Romani language|Romani language]], in which ''[[Wiktionary:manush|manush]]'' is the word for "human being" or "man". The word itself is one of many derivatives of the [[Wikipedia:Sanskrit|Sanskrit]] word ''[[Wiktionary:मनुष्य|manusia]]'', among the [[Wikipedia:Indo-Aryan languages|Indo-Aryan languages]].

**''[[Terminal (Halo 4)|Terminals]]''

*''[[Halo: Point of Light]]'' {{Mo}}

*''[[Halo: The Machine Breaks]]'' {{Mo}}

 

{{Ref/Sources|2}}

[[Category:Ancient humanity]]