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{{Quote|This installation has a successful utilization record of 1.2 trillion simulated and one actual. It is ready to fire on demand.|[[2401 Penitent Tangent]]<ref>'''Halo 2''', campaign level ''[[Gravemind (level)|Gravemind]]''</ref>}} | {{Quote|This installation has a successful utilization record of 1.2 trillion simulated and one actual. It is ready to fire on demand.|[[2401 Penitent Tangent]]<ref>'''Halo 2''', campaign level ''[[Gravemind (level)|Gravemind]]''</ref>}} | ||
The biological effects of the rings had long term effects on the galaxy's ecosystems. Because the Librarian could not rescue every species, all of the specimens left behind were wiped out and rendered their species extinct. Those species that had been saved on the Ark were reseeded afterward, but the gaps in the food chain were significant enough that during the [[dark time]] many more species went extinct due to their permanently altered environment. While the [[Conservation Measure]] did its best to eliminate any trace of genetic disruption, scars still remained in the fossil record. In [[2332]], scientists discovered a curious anomaly dated to [[Wikipedia:Late Pleistocene|Late Pleistocene]], in which no fossils dating to roughly 97,000 BCE were discovered on colonized by humans. The [[Ross-Ziegler Blip]], as it was called, was initially dismissed as a random aberration caused by spatial distortion, out of doubt that an interstellar extinction event could have occurred simultaneously on every planet. After the Halos were discovered by humanity, the Blip was reinvestigated, its cause now identified as the destruction of all bio-mass in the galaxy during the Great Purification.<ref>'''[[Halo: Evolutions]] - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe''', "[[From the Office of Dr. William Arthur Iqbal]]", ''page 519''</ref> | The biological effects of the rings had long term effects on the galaxy's ecosystems. Because the Librarian could not rescue every species, all of the specimens left behind were wiped out and rendered their species extinct. Those species that had been saved on the Ark were reseeded afterward, but the gaps in the food chain were significant enough that during the [[dark time]] many more species went extinct due to their permanently altered environment. While the [[Conservation Measure]] did its best to eliminate any trace of genetic disruption, scars still remained in the fossil record. In [[2332]], scientists discovered a curious anomaly dated to [[Wikipedia:Late Pleistocene|Late Pleistocene]], in which no fossils dating to roughly 97,000 BCE were discovered on worlds colonized by humans. The [[Ross-Ziegler Blip]], as it was called, was initially dismissed as a random aberration caused by spatial distortion, out of doubt that an interstellar extinction event could have occurred simultaneously on every planet. After the Halos were discovered by humanity, the Blip was reinvestigated, its cause now identified as the destruction of all bio-mass in the galaxy during the Great Purification.<ref>'''[[Halo: Evolutions]] - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe''', "[[From the Office of Dr. William Arthur Iqbal]]", ''page 519''</ref> | ||
An unexpected effect of the Halos' firing was that Precursor artifacts were destroyed as well. This was due to the Halos interacting with [[neural physics]], which held Precursor constructs together and made them nearly unbreakable. Firing a Halo in the vicinity of the artifacts would disrupt their atomic binds and thus disintegrate the relics. While initially viewed as an unfortunate side effect, as when a ring was tested at Charum Hakkor, this disruption turned into a small advantage for the Forerunners in their war against the Flood, letting them use the Halos to destroy Precursor star roads that were being controlled by the parasite. When the Great Purification occurred, every Precursor artifact in the Milky Way was destroyed, leaving no trace of them for modern civilizations. Shortly before the blast, the Gravemind revealed that the [[Domain]], an immaterial dimension used by the Forerunners as a repository of knowledge, itself was a Precursor creation and so would be wiped out with the Flood. As such, when the rings fired the blast erased 100 billion years worth of stored knowledge and recorded history.<ref>'''[[Halo: Silentium]]'', ''pages 322-323''</ref> | An unexpected effect of the Halos' firing was that Precursor artifacts were destroyed as well. This was due to the Halos interacting with [[neural physics]], which held Precursor constructs together and made them nearly unbreakable. Firing a Halo in the vicinity of the artifacts would disrupt their atomic binds and thus disintegrate the relics. While initially viewed as an unfortunate side effect, as when a ring was tested at Charum Hakkor, this disruption turned into a small advantage for the Forerunners in their war against the Flood, letting them use the Halos to destroy Precursor star roads that were being controlled by the parasite. When the Great Purification occurred, every Precursor artifact in the Milky Way was destroyed, leaving no trace of them for modern civilizations. Shortly before the blast, the Gravemind revealed that the [[Domain]], an immaterial dimension used by the Forerunners as a repository of knowledge, itself was a Precursor creation and so would be wiped out with the Flood. As such, when the rings fired the blast erased 100 billion years worth of stored knowledge and recorded history.<ref>'''[[Halo: Silentium]]'', ''pages 322-323''</ref> |
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