The Wildlife of Halo

The following is an overview for a hypothetical Wildlife of Halo field guide, akin to other published art/lore books from Microsoft such as Halo: Warfleet or the Halo Encyclopedia. Its aim is to showcase the art and science of the Halo universe.

This is a work-in-progress document that may not be complete as of this reading.

Overview

This sandbox represents the proposed text and artwork for The Wildlife of Halo, as well as the general structure of the book and how it corresponds to the story of humanity's exploration of the galaxy within Halo lore. The intent is to tell the narrative of humanity's expansion from Earth throughout the Orion Arm from a scientific perspective, including the ecological mysteries that emerged on human colony worlds (foreshadowing later discoveries), the revelations brought about by the knowledge of Covenant space, and finally the mysteries of the Forerunners and their various installations.

The information presented here does not accord with Halopedia's standards for accurate lorekeeping, nor does it intend to. Instead of presenting only hard data from established sources, this document also includes elements of original lore, as though the text here were to be published as a reference book for fans to pore over and learn from. Original lore that is not part of official Halo canon has been indicated using notes.

When reading the guide in this format, keep in mind that each section or sub-section as formatted here on the wiki implies a page break. Full-size images represent artwork that would appear at the start of a new "chapter" within the book, typically a two-page spread for maximum visual impact, introducing a new location, which subsequent pages explore in detail. Images presented as part of a gallery would--in the published book--be formatted according to the needs of the page and the text they accompany, but that design is not included here.

The book currently sits at a proposed 133 pages.

"Empty" gallery images indicate an opportunity for Halo Studios to commission new artwork from proven artists.

This is particularly exciting as the artist has the chance to contribute lore conceived during the composition of the images towards official canon, fleshing out unexplored corners of the Halo universe. Some sections of the book will also provide a unique opportunity to collaborate with real astronomers and scientists, especially where the Halo universe overlaps with real-world data. Some examples of these include Holocene ecological trends, Solar System colonies, terraforming processes, and colonies that correspond to real exoplanets. These opportunities for multidisciplinary collaboration will help elevate the art and science at the heart of this book.

Work on this page began on October 18th, 2024. This is a work-in-progress document that may not be complete as of this reading.

Introduction

In-universe introduction to the book and its xenobiologist author/framing device. Ellen Anders presents the most established xenobiologist character from which to frame the narrative, but an original civilian character is preferred, as this can be used to establish how information about the Forerunners/Flood is shared or sequestered between the UNSC and civilian groups.

Human Sphere

Prehistoric Earth

Emerging from prehistoric Africa, our species was one of many hominids that evolved on Earth. This period in our evolutionary history is a great mystery to scientists, with debate about what caused such a variety of hominid forms to diversify around this time, only to shortly thereafter be overtaken by a single dominant species. Homo sapiens began as a tribal species worshipping totemic animal spirits, but with an intense proclivity for exploration and adventure. This lust for the unknown led us to conquer the planet, spreading to every corner of the globe, speaking many languages, interpreting the universe through many religions, constructing great works of art. We conquered fire, tamed electricity, built great cities, learned the secrets of the universe...

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Earth

...And our civilization was mighty. But this came at a cost. Overpopulation was a serious concern as more and more people crowded into less and less land, concentrating resources in cities and sucking dry the natural world. Wars between great nations swept the land, ravaging all in their wake. As our species increasingly relied on and expanded its technology, the climate itself was changed by the engines of industry. Coastlines were altered by rising sea levels. Ecosystems died out. And then, as the artificially-intelligent minds we had built sought solutions to our problems, one came... in the form of the Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine.

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  Ecological outlook not so good in 2552

FTL

Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Manifold

Our species was suddenly able to leave the claustrophobic confines of the Earth, to spread our wings and stretch to fill an infinite horizon.

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  The Shaw-Fukikawa Translight Engine

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  The Odyssey

Terraforming

"Atmospheric processors, orbital mirror arrays, and the introduction of genetically engineered microorganisms can nudge a less-than-hospitable planet toward human sustainability over a period of decades or centuries, but they do not remake worlds from scratch."

"Venus was a long-shot terraforming project whose failure was so colossal and complete that it continues to be a cautionary tale for initiatives seeking to transform marginal worlds for human habitation. There are no permanent habitats on the extraordinarily hostile surface, with derelict orbital platforms existing as solemn reminders."

"Modification and hybridization of crops and animals for specific planetary environments was key to the success of almost every colony. The field has enjoyed significant growth since the Domus Diaspora. with each colony world providing a wealth of new species to study and new genetic sequences to decode."

"The limited use of cloning for livestock management has been commonplace for centuries.
- Halo Encyclopedia (2022)"

The field of exobiology flourished, studying not just the potential evolution of life in our solar system, but expanding to study the effects of new planetary bodies on terrestrial organisms that were essential parts of the terraforming and colonization process.

Europa and Xenobiology

This section could largely be a showcase to real-world research into Europa as an abode of life as well as tribute to Arthur C. Clarke's vision of Europa in the Space Odyssey series.

Cryonics

Uses and applications for human transport, agricultural products and livestock.

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Early Colonies

• Visual needed

  Juneou - colonized 2330

• Visual needed

  Titus - colonized 2355

Reach

But when we got to Epsilon Eridani II, we found something strange. The environment was vaguely familiar, like the same landscape interpreted by a different artist. Much of the flora and fauna of the planet--which came to be known as Reach--were incredibly similar to their Earth counterparts (albeit adapted for more rugged terrain and marginally higher gravity), and some species were even identical! Many plants common to the Pacific Northwest region of Earth were found in abundance on Reach, including Western hemlock and Douglas firs. But Reach also had its fair share of unique species, like the Gúta, Spadehorn, and Moa, all encountered early on in Reach's colonization by predominantly Hungarian settlers.

Although Reach would take decades for terraformers to tame, the wealth of data it brought to scientists meant millions of years worth of new information to gather. To speak nothing of its riches in astronomical and geological data, Reach had also solved for biologists the age-old Sample Size Problem: the wealth of data that we had to work with about the evolution of life in the universe totaled not one, but two... and what we learned completely rewrote evolutionary taxonomy. Xenobiology was no longer a theoretical field.

Xenobiologists were relieved to see that the native organisms of Reach could still be broadly classed according to traditional phylogeny: Reach indeed possessed plants, animals, fungi, and abundant microorganisms. The presence of near-identical terrestrial species posed a mystery that invited many theories, further compounded by genetic testing which confirmed that the Douglas fir of Reach was, in fact, the same Douglas fir of Earth. Many proponents of the panspermia theory claimed this was proof of exchanged material between star systems. Others claimed the organisms must have been transported to Earth by previous visitors, and that this was proof of intelligent alien life that predated humanity. Others still claimed that the organisms indeed arose natively on Reach, independent of any exchange with Earth, and our understanding of genetics would need to be entirely rewritten.

Either way, going forward, xenobiologists knew that it was possible to find strange, alien phylums on new planets, as well as all-too-familiar species that seemed like they could have been brought straight from Earth, alongside species that were brought from Earth as part of the terraforming process. The broad terms which scientists agreed to use going forward were:

• Terrestrial: Native to Earth and brought as part of the colonization process--traditional examples include beasts of burden (like horses) and livestock (such as cattle, pigs, and chickens)
• Exo-organism: Species that were identical to Earth-native species, but appeared to be part of the natural evolutionary history of the planet (or transplanted so long ago as to be part of the evolutionary history). Encompasses exoflora and exofauna.
• Xeno-organism: Completely new taxonomy with few analogues to terrestrial life. Encompasses xenoflora and xenofauna.

Within these the general phylogeny of animal, plant, fungi, or micro-organism still held, though part of a different tree of life from that studied for centuries on Earth.

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  Terrestrial beasts of burden, the horse is found on almost all planets colonized by settlers rather than military forces like the UNSC

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Exo-organisms

Exoflora

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  Douglas fir

Exofauna

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  Wolf

Xeno-organisms

Xenofauna

Spadehorn

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Moa

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Gúta

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Xenofauna

• Visual needed

  Reavian Redcrest

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  Cherot

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  Guper

• Visual needed

  Kropey

Eridani System

But Eridani II was not the only candidate in the Eridani System. Once a foothold was established on Reach, the other habitable planets in the system were scouted.

Beta Gabriel

Water world eventually valued as an in-system planetary nature preserve, serving as a popular holiday destination for the wealthy, but also a paradise for scientists of all types. It was on Beta Gabriel that the Paelosur and Nightmare Eel were discovered.

Xenofauna

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  Paelosur

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  Qothal "Nightmare Eel"

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  Krill-like creature

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  Three-meter crustacean

Inner Colonies

Sigma Octanus IV

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  Colonized 2371

Luyten

• Visual needed

  Colonized 2387

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  Xenofaun - Apocritii

• Visual needed

  Xenofauna - Nightgyr

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  Xenofauna - Blood Mot

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  Xenofauna - Thumb Bird

Oban

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  Colonized 2553

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  Xenoflora

Xeno-organisms

Xenoflora

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  Ugparassa Tree - smoked by company Have S'Moa to add flavor to food.

Alluvion

Alluvion established the borderline with the Outer Colonies. It was on Alluvion that scientists discovered the same xeno-organisms they had discovered on Beta Gabriel, in the same system as Reach. There was no explanation for the presence of these creatures on planets separated by light years, unless they were evidence that previous visitors had transported them from world to world. It shed a new light on the presence of Earth-analogous exo-organisms on extrasolar worlds, and reaffirmed for science that it was not just the Earth environment that had been distributed through some means across multiple planets.

Xenofauna

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  Identical organisms found in separate star systems.

Outer Colonies

New Carthage

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  Colonized 2379

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  Xenofauna - Great Red Shark

Levosia

• Visual needed

  Colonized 2414

Endymion

• Visual needed

  Colonized 2420

Far Isle

• Visual needed

  Colonized 2421

Arcadia

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  Colonized 2429

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  Arcadia ruins

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  Exoflora

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  Xenofauna - Drymander

Cascade The "crown jewel" of the Outer Colonies.

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  Colonized 2435

Carrow

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  Colonized 2435

Draco III

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  Colonized 2439

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  Xenofauna - Bat-shaped leech

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  Xenofauna - Ice shark

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  Xenofauna - Naeori

Gao

• Visual needed

  Colonized 2439

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  Xenofauna - Gray Apes

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  Xenofauna - Saurio

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  Xenofauna - Jungaloon

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  Xenofauna - Idjom

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  Xenofauna - Frilled Salamander

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  Xenofauna - Ribbon-Snake

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  Xenofauna - No-Shell Snail

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  Xenofauna - Speckled Jungle Dragon

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  Xenofauna - Glowfish

Terceira

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  Colonized 2440

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  Xenofauna - Giant Crocodile

Biko

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  Colonized 2440

Andesia

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  Colonized 2450

Venezia

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  Colonized 2450

Netherop

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  Colonized 2450

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  Xenoflora - Sail Plants

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  Xenoflora - Vase Bushes

Madrigal

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  Colonized 2458

Dwarka

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  Colonized 2460

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  Xenofauna - Dwarkan Ghost Squirrel

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  Xenofauna - Dwarkan Centipede

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  Xenofauna - Dwarkan Beetles

Sedra

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  Colonized 2460

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  Exoflora equivalent to Ireland species

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  Xenoflora - Sedran Red Fruit

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  Exofauna - Mourning Warbler

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  Xeofauna - White Sturgeon

Coral

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  Colonized 2470

Roost

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  Colonized 2490

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  Xenofauna - Tropical Fish

Concord

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  Colonized 2490

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  Exoflora - Juniper

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  Exoflora - Sage

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  Xenoflora - Gore Valley Trees

Partition

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  Colonized 2543

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  Xenoflora

Circinius IV

Pacific Northwest Planet

Exo-organisms

Exoflora

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Exofauna

Xeno-organisms

Xenofauna

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Onyx

Exo-organisms

Exoflora

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  Acacia trees

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Harvest

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Terrestrial organisms

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  Starlings

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  Bats

Exo-organisms

Exofauna

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Xeno-organisms

Xenofauna

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  "Space Owl"

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  "Arctic Ice Hound"

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  "Harvest Whale"

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  "Eelsnake"

Glasslands

Ecological Catastrophe

"The aliens had rained monsoons of hot plasma down on hundreds of worlds, burning soil and melting bedrock, boiling oceans and filling the air with superheated vapor. Any creature that had escaped instant incineration had suffocated on superheated smoke, or seared away its feet. Fleeing over molten ground, or emerged from hiding to eventually starve while wandering barren expanses of ash-impregnated lechatelierite."

"The glasslands still showed orange because lechatelierite cooled from the top down, its surface solidifying into a vitreous blanket that kept heat from radiating into the air. The ground beneath could stay molten for a year, and remain hot to the touch for a decade. And the beach existed because much of the liquid that had been vaporized during the Covenant’s plasma bombardment had not yet returned to the oceans. Most of the planet’s water continued to hang in the atmosphere in vast banks of fog and clouds, or to lie trapped on the glass in giant lakes and ash bogs.
- Halo: Shadows of Reach"

Crows have survived on glassed planets.

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Post-War Colonies

Draetheus V

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  Colonized 2553

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  Xenoflora

  "There were these big damn plants, like tentacles. I swear, it was like the planet was fighting us, too.
  — Lieutenant Caitlin de Sauveterre"

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Erebus VII

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  Colonized 2554

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  Xenoflora

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  Xenofauna - Anglers, known to Forerunners as "Eiyaa-Mahtuhaa"

Covenant Sphere

Sanghelios

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Xeno-organisms

Xenoflora

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  G'lul'g Tree

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  Irukan

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  Kafel

Xenofauna

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  'sKelln

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  Kryn'qodon

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  Colo

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  Helioskrill

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  Orzil

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  Sea Titans

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  Aquatic Cephalopod

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  Doarmir

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  Electric Kesh

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  Keifra

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  Nishum

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  Quillick

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  Snap-Tails

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  Thremaleon

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  Velithra

Janjur Qom

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Te

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  Mgalekgolo

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  Dipholekgolo

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  Rhulolekgolo

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  Sbaolekgolo

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Palamok

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Eayn

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  Kig-Yar diet

Balaho

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Xeno-organisms

Xenofauna

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  Balahoan Octopoda

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  Mud Wasp

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  Shade Crab

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  Unggoy Predator

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  Zap-Jelly

Doisac

Great Immolation

Nuclear Wasteland

Xeno-organisms

Xenoflora

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Xenofauna

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  Ogre-wolf

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  Antaeus

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  Dengkra

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  Degaeorth

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  Grattle-bah Shrew

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  Kateukal

Razing of Oth Sonin

Destruction and Mass Extinction

Forerunner Sphere

Alpha Halo - Installation 04

Exo-organisms

Exoflora

• Spruce

Exofauna

Xeno-organisms

Xenofauna

Thorn Beast

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  Known to the Forerunners as "Saaliban"

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  Blind Wolf

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  Keelbug

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  Vulpard

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  Thorax

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  Threeleg

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  Rockworm, Quadwing, Eye Bug

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Destruction

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  Alpha Shard

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  Alpha Shard surface

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  A life form detected on the Alpha Shard.

Replacements

- Installation 08
- Installation 09

Delta Halo - Installation 05

Xeno-organisms

Xenofauna

Quadwing

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  Known to the Forerunners as "Rangmejo"

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The Ark - Installation 00

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Xeno-organisms

Xenofauna

Sky Leviathan

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  Known to the Forerunners as Olfmeri

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Tusk Beast

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  Known to the Forerunners as Chaefka

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Blind Wolf

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  Known to the Forerunners as Moralaath

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Sarcophagus - Shield World 0006

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Trove - Shield World 0459

Exo-organisms

Exofauna

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Xeno-organisms

Xenofauna

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  Oxyaena

Destruction

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Requiem - Shield World 0001

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Xeno-organisms

Xenoflora

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Xenofauna

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Destruction

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Genesis - Shield World 0111

Xeno-organisms

Xenoflora

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  Fractal plant growth and infinite biodiversity.

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  Paddle Grass, Fiber Optic Succulent, Floating Lotus, Aloe Husk

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Xenofauna

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  "Sky Rays" - Known to the Forerunners as "Lumenon"

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  Logrodite

Zeta Halo - Installation 07

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Exo-organisms

Exofauna

Brontothere

Very similar to species of prehistoric fauna from Earth.

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  Known to the Forerunners as "Kaimistro"

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Xeno-organisms

Xenofauna

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The Flood

The ultimate xeno-organism. An end to biodiversity everywhere.

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Feral

Flood Super Cell

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Biomass

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Infection Forms

Pod Infector

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Combat Forms

Non-sapient

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Human

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Sangheili

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Unggoy

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Augmented Human

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Dispersal Forms

Blister

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Carrier

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Launcher

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Seeders

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Bomber

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Coordinated

Compound Intelligences

Proto-Gravemind

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Gravemind

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Command Forms

Juggernaut

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Abomination

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Blightstalker

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Pure Forms

Stalker

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Tank

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Infestor

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Spawner

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Hellion

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Gaunt

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Interstellar

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Transgalactic

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Neural Physics

As a culmination of the book, this chapter would present Greg Bear's panentheistic interpretation of the Halo universe from an ecological perspective, highlighting the fact that the recovery of this knowledge from Forerunner data stores was a significant breakthrough in all the major Earth sciences.