Assembly Forges

A Scarab assembly facility within the primary forges.

The Assembly Forges refer to the various central manufacturing facilities of the Covenant, individually referred to as an assembly forge. These facilities produced items piece-by-piece using clouds of programmable nanomachines. These nanomachines were fed instructions via a design pattern, maintained by artisan-armorers. An imperfect replication of the assembler vats once used by the Forerunners, assembly forges are susceptible to mutations in design patterns, unaccounted variance in feedstock material, and transcription errors. The mutation of a design pattern often required the resetting of the forge that had attempted to produce the design.

The Assembly Forges produced numerous matériel—ranging from weapons, vehicles, shuttles, and starships—for the Covenant war machine. Due to advanced manufacturing methods applied by fabrication plants like Assembly Forges, the Covenant deliberately avoided rigid standardization and mass production of their starships. While considered a separate entity from the Assembly Forges, the Ministry of Preparation's Sacred Promissory operated assembly forges.

After the fall of High Charity during the Great Schism in November 2552 and the loss of the Primary Assembly Forges, the Swords of Sanghelios and successor factions of the Covenant were forced to turn to independent forges and armories for equipment, notably Lodam Armory. The Banished utilise Assembly Forges within the foundries of their forward bases - something which would have been considered heretical during the imperial era of the Covenant, but a necessity for Atriox.

More recently, the Anvil Initiative between the Swords of Sanghelios and United Nations Space Command has seen select Office of Naval Intelligence researchers aboard ANVIL Station begin learning the operation of assembly forges from Sangheili teachers.

Classifications

The Primary Assembly Forge

There were three known types of assembly forge facilities, graded based on their size:

• Primary Assembly Forges were a series of expansive manufacturing forges and refineries, notably the Assembly Forges located in the Covenant holy city of High Charity. Considered to be the greatest and most capable assembly forges within the empire, High Charity's vast forge labored to meet the demands of the capital and supply the armies of the Covenant.

• Secondary Assembly Forges manufactured light warships and attack ships, such as the Zanar-pattern light cruiser.

• Tertiary Assembly Forges are primarily used for the manufacturing of space fighters, dropships, small arms, vehicles, and other equipment. Some of these forges are built aboard Mjern-pattern agricultural support ships, producing weapons, maintenance kits, food packs, and clothing for the fleet the support ship is attached to.

Products

Weapons Pelosus-pattern Energy Sword Domotos-pattern Energy Sword Sulok-pattern Beam Rifle Pek-pattern Plasma Cannon Kopasa'mada-pattern Plasma Launcher M'tara-pattern Focus Rifle Emp'seam-pattern Antlion Starships Ket-pattern battlecruiser Sinaris-pattern heavy destroyer Zanar-pattern light cruiser Mutan Et-pattern storm cutter Mjern-pattern agricultural support ship Varric-pattern heavy cruiser

Vehicles Dextro Xur-pattern Spirit Taaku Xur-pattern Spirit Preksheda-pattern Shade Rizsheda-pattern Shade Eeo'pimu-pattern Shade Mamua'uda-pattern Shade Skar'wa-pattern Mantis Elsedda-pattern Banshee R'sisho-pattern Tick Bkowe'nei-pattern Vampire Ruwaa-pattern Shadow Shua'ee-pattern Locust Kai-pattern Seraph Morsam-pattern Seraph Cheru-pattern Tyrant Wuzum-pattern Spectre Protos-pattern Scarab Deutoros-pattern Scarab Sumda'te-pattern Scarab Ru'swum-pattern Phantom Kez'katu-pattern Phantom Zo'op-pattern Weevil Ekesan-pattern Umbra Zashk-pattern Draugr Pnap-pattern Goblin Brhi Xur-pattern Leech Za'zayara-pattern Harvester

Production notes

The Halo 3 multiplayer map Assembly occurs within a Scarab-constructing facility in the forges.

Gallery

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  A section of a Scarab manufacturing plant.

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  The beam of light that presumably powers the manufacturing plant.

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  A corridor on Assembly Forges.

List of appearances

• Halo 3 (First appearance)