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Revision as of 00:39, April 15, 2021
Stasis field is a generic term for various technologies designed to immobilize or confine individuals or objects.
Covenant
Covenant stasis fields comprise an artificially-induced thickening of the air, used to keep objects or individuals immobilized in their present position.[1] Covenant escape pods use stasis fields to keep occupants safely restrained while the pod blows away from the parent ship at high speed.[1] The Unggoy Deacon Dadab once used the stasis field on a Kig-Yar escape pod to keep Lighter Than Some safely immobilized when the Huragok's buoyancy level dipped dangerously low.
Type-25 Spirit dropships used by the Sangheili were also equipped with stasis fields to prevent passengers from being thrown about by the momentum of the craft, though many Spirits given to the Jiralhanae did not have this capability, instead requiring manual straps and handholds to secure passengers. This was a fact that Maccabeus deeply resented.[2]
The Minister of Fortitude also used a stasis field to keep a ball of medicinal tea floating above his lap. The stasis field he used was presumably projected from his gravity throne, and was smaller-scale than the other stasis fields mentioned above.[3]
A stasis field-emitting device was featured in center of the inner chamber of the Sanctum of the Hierarchs within High Charity. The field was used to hold 343 Guilty Spark in an immobile state after the monitor's capture by the Covenant.[4]
The Covenant also experimented with stasis weaponry, of which the Arbiter Ripa 'Moramee had unrestricted access.[5] Ripa was capable of deploying mass-stasis fields to halt movement and the ability to give or receive damage inside a certain radius, and Stasis mines that stun and immobilise those who activate them.[6] The Type-29 Vampire was also equipped with a Stasis cannon, designed to immobilise enemy aircraft until they crashed into the ground.[7] This weapon operated on the basis of an EMP.[8]
Forerunner
The Forerunners used a type of stasis field to keep a ship's occupants restrained during extreme acceleration. A form of stasis field was used to maintain military equipment such as weapons and vehicles onboard a ship in a pristine condition. These stasis fields produced a barely audible ticking sound.[9] The Lifeworkers also used stasis fields to contain and preserve the various organisms they collected in the Conservation Measure.[10]
Related Forerunner technologies include confinement and constraint fields as well as AI suppressors. As time-locked slipspace bubbles are also referred to as stasis fields in general usage, it is somewhat difficult to determine if some of the fields described here are based on such technology.[11]
Stasis bubble
The Forerunners also created stasis fields with the purpose of physically restraining individuals. In weapons-grade stasis bubbles, individuals could be kept immobilized and unconscious for years. These bubbles were used by the Master Builder to detain the Ur-Didact and several other Forerunners onboard a Builder hulk drifting within a Burn. Due to a loss of power resulting from the ship's decrepit state, the Didact and Sharp-by-Striking were released from their stasis bubbles. These fields were designed for efficiency rather than comfort: after being held in a bubble for years, the Didact felt an aching sensation throughout his entire body.[12] While stasis bubbles were resistant to almost all forms of damage when at full power, the two Prometheans were strong enough to break the two remaining bubbles due to their already failing state. When destroyed, the stasis fields collapsed with shimmering bursts of ultraviolet light[13] and a noticeable stench of ozone.[12] The bubbles could not be detected by Forerunner sensors and could keep their occupants alive even in the vacuum of space for significant periods of time: Sharp and Maker-of-Moons planned re-energize and enter the bubbles and jettison themselves in orbit around Uthera Midgeerrd rather than be absorbed by the Flood.[14]
Confinement device
The Apex Site located on Shield 0459 possessed another type of stasis field, comprised of two rings which emitted an energy field which encircled and restrained a prisoner. The Covenant used this particular containment field device as a holding cell for Professor Ellen Anders before using her to activate the inert Forerunner dreadnoughts docked within the facility. In contrast to most stasis fields which barely manifest visually apart from slight wavering or distortions of the air, the field was conspicuously visible as a thick torrent of blue-tinted energy. The device also functioned as a translocation pad, with both functions operated by vocal commands. When containment was activated a ring would hover above the held object, connecting the tubular stasis field to another ring on the floor. When the field was disengaged, the upper ring would rapidly fall into a socket in the floor. There was a similar device on the surface of the shield world which acted as a receiving end for the teleportation system.[15]
Trivia
- The stasis field device in Halo Wars is aesthetically very similar to the Geonosian containment field used to hold Obi-Wan Kenobi captive in Star Wars: Episode II: Attack of the Clones.
- It is possible that a device like this could kill its occupant in real life if used for long enough due to orthostatic intolerance,[16] unless this effect has been mitigated through the use of some exotic mechanism.
Gallery
343 Guilty Spark held in a stasis field on High Charity.
A stasis field activated by Ripa 'Moramee.
List of appearances
- Halo 2 (First appearance)
- Halo: Contact Harvest
- Halo Wars
- Halo: Cryptum
- Halo: Primordium
- Scanned
- Halo: Silentium
- Halo 2: Anniversary
- Halo 5: Guardians
- Halo: Fractures
- Into the Fire (Mentioned only)
- Halo: Smoke and Shadow (Mentioned only)
- Halo: Envoy
- Halo Wars 2
Sources
- ^ a b Halo: Contact Harvest, page 136
- ^ Halo: Contact Harvest, page 258
- ^ Halo: Contact Harvest, page 154
- ^ Halo 2, campaign level Sacred Icon
- ^ Halo Wars 2, Phoenix Logs - Ripa 'Moramee
- ^ Halo Wars 2
- ^ Halo Wars
- ^ Halo: The Essential Visual Guide, page 200
- ^ Halo: Cryptum, page 128
- ^ Halo: Silentium, page 29
- ^ Halo: Primordium, page 366
- ^ a b Halo: Silentium, page 73
- ^ Halo: Silentium, page 86
- ^ Halo: Silentium, page 107
- ^ Halo Wars, campaign levels Shield World and Beachhead
- ^ OSHA: Suspension Trauma/Orthostatic Intolerance
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