Maethrillian: Difference between revisions

|name=The capital

The '''capital'''<!--"Capital" is written in lower case throughout Halo: Cryptum. It does not seem to be a proper noun.--> was the political center of the [[Forerunner]] [[ecumene]]. It housed the [[Ecumene Council]], the main governing body of the ecumene, as well as the [[Capital Court]]. It was a massive structure, greatly exceeding the scale of even the [[Halo Array|Halo installations]].<ref name="description">'''Halo: Cryptum''', ''pages 280-281''</ref>

The capital was one of the oldest structures in the ecumene, having been constructed roughly around [[125,000 BCE]].<ref>'''Halo: Cryptum''', ''page 296''</ref> Despite its immense size, the capital itself had a comparatively small population of several hundred thousand Forerunners, mostly high-ranking [[Builder]]s. Trillions of [[ancilla]]s served in the capital in the [[Metarchy|capital metarchy]], an enormous network coordinated by a [[Metarch]]-level ancilla that answered to the [[First Councilor]].<ref name="description"/>

It was one of the most trafficked locations in the ecumene, with constant security patrols, [[sentinel]]s, and transports swarming around it.<ref name="description"/> Within five thousand kilometers of the structure, incoming vessels would be carefully screened by sensory fields and directed by [[hard light]] docking nets.<ref>'''Halo: Cryptum''', ''page 283''</ref> The capital's system housed multiple [[slipspace portal]]s that linked to many worlds, as well as [[Installation 00|the Ark]].<ref>'''Halo: Cryptum''', ''page 312''</ref>

During the [[Forerunner-Flood war]], the capital became the site of an [[Battle of the capital|enormous battle]] as [[05-032 Mendicant Bias]], having been persuaded into [[rampancy]] by the [[Primordial]], attempted to deliver a crippling blow to the Forerunner leadership. Even though the Forerunners responded with heavy force, Mendicant Bias was successful in firing [[Installation 07]] in the system, sterilizing the capital and eliminating the Ecumene Council,<ref>'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 272''</ref> although the Council would be reconstituted shortly afterward.<ref>'''Halo: Primordium''', ''pages 373-374''</ref>

The capital was composed of a series of perfectly circular "platforms" arranged in a spiral along a central rod. These platforms decreased in size toward either end of the rod, with the widest central one being approximately 100,000 kilometers in diameter. Each platform was covered with a "city" of structures and buildings,<ref name="description"/> whose gravity was controlled individually by [[buffer field]]s.<ref>'''Halo: Cryptum''', ''page 304''</ref>

The capital was home to the Council amphitheater, where the [[Ecumene Council]] engaged in debate on important matters. The amphitheater was suspended in midair, attached to the rest of the capital by [[Bridge (structure)|bridges]], [[anti-gravity gondola]]s, and [[Elevator|lift]] tubes for individual [[Councilor (Forerunner)|Councilors]]. During Council proceedings, the amphitheater would be decorated with display spheres showing representations of the twelve original systems inhabited by early Forerunners, each carrying an epistle of the [[Mantle]]. Near the Council amphitheater there was a hallway with its walls decorated with countless spent [[slipspace flake]]s, some of which had also been built into sculptures.<ref name="c293">'''Halo: Cryptum''', ''page 293''</ref>

The capital is similar in design and function to the [[W:c:Masseffect:Citadel|Citadel space station]] from the ''[[Wikipedia: Mass Effect (series)|Mass Effect]]'' series. Both are large-scale artificial stations featuring inhabited cities, both serve as a center of galactic politics, and both are able to change their structure, "closing" themselves in the event of siege. However, the Citadel is only approximately forty-five kilometers long and thirteen kilometers in diameter, as opposed to the scale of the capital, which is closer to that of a gas giant.