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{{Era|Forerunner}} | {{Era|Forerunner}} | ||
{{Under Construction}} | {{Under Construction}} | ||
[[File:HaloFiring.png|300px|thumb|right|A Halo ring is fired, 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>}} | ||
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{{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>}} | ||
The Great Purification was not the first time a Halo had been fired. A ring of the original array had been fired by the [[Master Builder]] at [[Charum Hakkor]] to test its effect on the native wildlife. Later a pulse was fired on [[Janjur Qom]] to punish the [[San'Shyuum]] there who rebelled against the Forerunners. At the [[Battle of the Capital]] | After the Flood appeared defeated by [[Prehistoric human civilization|early humanity]], the [[Builder]]s, led by [[Faber-of-Will-and-Might]] insisted that stronger measures needed to be put in place across the galaxy in case the Flood should ever return. They proposed the assembling of the Halo Array, enormous ringworlds that fire a wave with interstellar range that would purge the galaxy of Flood infection by killing all carbon and calcium-based lifeforms on which it fed. While this proposal was met with immediate outrage from [[Ur-Didact|the Didact]] and the [[Warrior-Servant]]s, the [[Librarian]] and her [[Lifeworker]]s reneged to the plan if environmental steps were taken to preserve as much of the galaxy's wildlife and races as possible for reseeding after the Array was fired. These two suggestions were approved and the Halo Array was assembled, designed as both a weapon of mass destruction and nature preserve. | ||
The Flood eventually returned to the galaxy, but as the war escalated and the parasite spread even further, the Didact (now two individuals) remained steadfastly opposed to firing the rings. Both of them viewed galactic genocide as a violation of the [[Mantle]], the Forerunner code of doctrine. While the IsoDidact refused to fire on moral grounds, not wanting to kill billions of innocents, the Ur-Didact rejected the Halos on societal grounds, certain that the Great Purification would cause the end of Forerunner dominance over the galaxy. Both of them delayed activating the rings by attempting alternate plans to defeat the Flood, including the anti-Flood AI [[Mendicant Bias]] (who went rogue and defected to the Flood) and the creation of [[Promethean Knight]] droids, which were created from unwillingly transformed humans, thereby causing genocide to prevent genocide. Neither of these measures succeeded in defeating the parasite. | |||
By 97,445 BCE, the Forerunners were badly losing, most of their population had been lost, and the Flood had reached almost complete control of the galaxy. With much reluctance, the IsoDidact fired the Array, initiating the Great Purification. The blast resulted in the death of the Flood and everything else and everyone else in the galaxy, including the [[Librarian]] herself. | |||
The Great Purification was not the first time a Halo had been fired. A ring of the original array had been fired by the [[Master Builder]] at the [[Charum Hakkor system]] to test its effect on the native wildlife.<ref>'''Halo: Cryptum''', ''page 245''</ref> Later a pulse was fired on [[Janjur Qom]] to punish the [[San'Shyuum]] there who rebelled against the Forerunners.<ref>'''Halo: Cryptum''', ''page 192''</ref> At the [[Battle of the Capital]] Mendicant Bias took control of five of the nearby rings (which had been assembled for decommissioning) and fired them all.<ref>'''Halo: Cryptum''', ''page 307''</ref> The last use before the combined wave from the Array was at the [[Battle of the greater Ark]], when [[Omega Halo]] was fired, damaging a [[Precursor]] [[star road]] and wiping out all life in the [[Large Magellanic Cloud]].<ref>'''Halo: Silentium''', ''page 273''</ref> Neither of the Halos were used again until 2552, when the [[Jiralhanae]] [[Tarturus]] attempted to fire [[Installation 05]],<ref>'''Halo 2''', ''campaign level ''[[The Great Journey]]''</ref> followed a month later by [[John-117]] activating [[Installation 04B]] in order to cleanse the Ark of the Flood infestation there.<ref>'''Halo 3''', ''campaign level ''[[Halo (Halo 3 level)|Halo]]''</ref> | |||
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