This is a featured article

Earth

From Halopedia, the Halo wiki

Revision as of 22:40, October 23, 2007 by Captain J (talk | contribs)
A high-resolution view of Earth, seen in the Halo 2 theatrical trailer.
Earth from the Halo 2 Cinematic Trailer.
File:Earthshot.jpg
UNSCDF Orbital Defense Platforms in geosynchronous orbit around Earth.
File:HumanEarth.jpg
Earth, with a human Marine in the foreground.
Pangaea, the supercontinent 250 million years ago that was the amalgamation of all current present-day continents.
File:H3 CradleOfLife Machines.jpg
The Forerunners construct "machines" in Halo 3: The Cradle of Life.
The Forerunner portal to the Ark, built to protect humanity, opens in 2552 during the Second Battle of Earth.
The UNSC Home Fleets orbital defenses in orbit around Earth.
File:H2 UNSCDF Earth.jpg
The UNSCDF streams towards the Covenant attack fleet during the First Battle of Earth.
SPARTAN-117 leads the UNSC thrust from Old Mombasa towards the Covenant Scarab ravaging New Mombasa.

Earth is the third planet in the Sol System and is the home planet of the human race, as well as many other various life forms.

Introduction

Earth consists of six geological continents (traditionally there are 7), which offer a myriad of different meteorological and geological climates, which are home to a significant diverse population of animals, plants, and other organisms, all of which are believed to be carbon-based lifeforms. It was formed about 4.6 billion years ago.

Earth holds significant oceans and bodies of fresh and salt water, and also a mostly nitrogen atmosphere, although it contains oxygen to facilitate aerobic respiration.

History

The Earth gave rise to single-celled organisms about 3.5 billion years ago. About 200,000 years ago, a certain species of exceptional speech and toolmaking adeptness arose: Homo Sapiens, otherwise known as the Human race. Indigenous to Eastern Africa, they gradually spread across the entire planet. The enigmatic race known as the Forerunners are believed to have came to Earth 100,000 years ago, making significant contributions to the human race, and are believed to have made a "Conservation Measure"[1] to conserve the human race from the threat of the Flood, and have built a portal to the Ark in Africa, where the Forerunner intelligence of AdjutantReflex resides[2]. The Forerunners were also seen constructing "machines" in Africa[3].

Eventually, humans, originally consisting of groups of hunter-gatherers, began to develop civilizations. These civilizations gradually became more and more complex, with some becoming nation-states and empires. After thousands of years of wars against one another a governing body of sorts was formed with the UN in 1945. By 1961 man had reached space and in 1969 had finally stepped on an extraterrestrial surface. After World War II, Humanity would lack war on that scale, although smaller wars and conflicts erupted, including the Korean War, Vietnam War, and the Cold War. In the early 21st century terrorism became a potential thorn in the side for the nations on Earth. However, no full scale wars erupted.

After years of overcrowding on Earth and the other planets in the Sol System, dissident factions emerged. The Neo-Communist Koslovics and Fascistic Frieden, the two major movements, began to battle one another and the United Nations. In March-June 2160, Jovian secessionists attacked United Nations Colonial advisers on the moon Io, which led to three months of fighting between the Earth military and Jovian "Frieden" forces. National governments began to support their own colonies which began in a proxy wars off planet, leading to tension and militarization on Earth. In 2162 armed conflict ripped through South America, starting the Rain Forest Wars, as Koslovic, Frieden, and UN forces all clashed over ideological differences, sparking additional conflicts off-planet. In December of 2163, the three factions clashed, this time on Mars. This was the first extraterrestrial use of Marines, who launched lightning raids on Koslovics positions, permentally affecting military doctrine for centuries. In 2164 UN forces began a massive military build-up and began the first true interplanetary war. The UNSC was bolstered by a massive propaganda campaign running on the victories on Mars and over the next six years took back the Sol System and drove the dissident factions to destruction. Now with a massive military with no enemy to fight, overpopulation, famine, and a collapsing population, the unified Earth faced trouble.

It wasn't until 2291 that this problem was solved when researchers created the Shaw-Fujikawa Slipspace Drive and gained access to Slipspace. In 2310 the UNSC unveiled their first line of colony ships and the best and brightest from both civilian walks of life and the military go out to form the Inner Colonies. This eased the overpopulation problem upon Earth, which became the capital of the Colonial Administration Authority, while the inner colony of Reach became the headquarters of the UNSC.

It remained peaceful until insurrections began to open up in the outer colonies, flaring up a number of conflicts, promoting the creation of the SPARTAN-IIs. However, all this was canceled by their first meeting with the alien alliance known as the Covenant. After first contact at Harvest in 2525 the Covenant systematically beat humans back to Earth in just over 25 years, with their last victory upon Earth's doorstep, Reach, on September 4th, 2552. On October 20th the Covenant launched their first attack upon Earth, resulting in a final stand between UNSC forces and the Covenant.[4][5][6]

Pre-First Battle of Earth

Prior to the first attempt to invade Earth there had been a suppressed influx of information by ONI, resulting in people going about their normal lives even up until the attack. The forces stationed at Earth were heavy, with the Second Fleet, Seventh Fleet, the Sixteenth Fleet and the 6th Battle Group along with large amounts of Marines and ODSTs present, four SPARTAN-IIs, Admiral Hood and Earth's most prominent means of defense, three hundred Orbital Defense Platforms, each sporting a Mk. V "Super" MAC. Also, there were numerous human colonies on various moons, a large naval shipyard and factories at Mars, and a listening post at Io.

First Battle of Earth

Main article: First Battle of Earth

On October 20th, 2552, the first Covenant forces entered the Sol system. An expeditionary force of 13 CCS-class Battle cruisers and 2 Assault Carriers appeared in system, first detected around Io, the third largest moon of Jupiter. After the existence of the Covenant presence was confirmed by probes the UNSCDF forces went to full alert. The option was taken to wait for the Covenant forces to come to them rather than let Fleet Admiral Harper launch a counter attack. The Covenant began to work on punching a hole through the orbital defenses by taking out the stations in the battle cluster above the Mediterranean via bombs planted by boarding parties. Both Athens and Malta Stations were destroyed. Cairo Station was saved thanks to the efforts of John-117, who was on board for an awards ceremony at the time. After the Covenant fleet attempted to rush the newly formed gap the UNSC fleet annihilated them, destroying all the Battle cruisers but failing to destroy the Assault Carriers, though one Carrier was destroyed during its descent to Earth by John-117. The other Carrier, commanded by the Prophet of Regret, assaulted the city of Mombasa in Kenya.

On the ground members of "A" Company of the 405th from Diego Garcia launched the first counterattack and defense of the city and took severe casualties, but held their ground. More reinforcements were brought in from the UNSC Frigate In Amber Clad, which included Marines, members of the 7th Orbital Drop Shock Trooper Battalion and the Master Chief, along with Sergeant Major Avery J. Johnson. They successfully pushed the Covenant back from Old Mombasa then destroyed hostile forces in New Mombasa, finally hunting down and destroying a Scarab walker. After its destruction a general retreat was called by Regret who began to instigate a slip space jump inside the city. The In Amber Clad followed as Mombasa was devastated by the slip space jump.

Second Battle of Earth

The UNSC resistance movement battles to retake Tsavo Highway from the Covenant Loyalists.
File:H3 E3 2007 Scarab Down.jpg
SPARTAN-117 and Hornet fliers surround a recently grounded Covenant Loyalist Scarab.
Main article: Second Battle of Earth

After Regret's disastrous attack and subsequent retreat, the Covenant forces returned in full strength, bringing their full armada to bear down upon Earth. More and more gaps formed in Earth's orbital defense grid with Covenant forces attacking Mount Erebus, the sea floor of the Yucatan peninsula and the Centennial Orbital Elevator in Havana, Cuba. These attacks were pushed back thanks to the actions of the three SPARTANs on Earth who remained on active duty. However, the Covenant forces focused their attacks on Kenya, securing massive areas throughout the country and devastating the remaining Marines.

The tide began to turn as the Forerunner Dreadnaught that recently escaped from High Charity arrived, carrying with it the Master Chief, back from the Battle of Installation 05. In the events of Halo: Uprising he gets off at Io Station and returns to Earth. Upon the surface he reunites with Marine forces and then meets The Arbiter and after a initial misunderstanding they unite and begin to fight across the wastelands of Kenya. After fighting through the jungles he reached a UNSC base under attack. After an initial defense he, along with Marine forces, moved down the Tsavo Highway to the position where Covenant vessels were excavating the surface of the Earth to reveal The Ark, an ancient Forerunner artifact buried underground for a hundred millenia. After that they attacked the Covenant held town of Voi, neutralizing the heavy garrison and a Scarab walker then proceeded to disable the anti-air emplacements there, allowing UNSC forces including the former Commander of the In Amber Clad, Miranda Keyes, to slip past to the Ark site. After winning the Second Battle of Earth[7], UNSC forces were able to engage and defeat all remaining Covenant forces, winning the war in March of 2553.

Earth locations

File:2ndsunriseovernewmombasa6uk.png
New Mombasa, with the New Mombasa Orbital Elevator at its city center.
File:Earth.jpg
A Covenant Assault Carrier transitioning to Slipspace over New Mombasa, causing a slipspace cataclysm that destroyed the city.
File:Zanzibarfull.jpg
Wind Power Station 7 on Zanzibar Island, Tanzania.
Tactical Autonomous Robotic Defense System testing grounds in Industrial Zone 08 of Chicago, United States of America.
Orbital Defense Platform Cairo Station in geosynchronous orbit over Earth.

Planetside

Africa

Oceania

Asia

North America

Europe

Antarctica

Orbital

Luna

[12]

  1. ^ http://www.bungie.net/fanclub/118020/Forums/posts.aspx?postID=12360308
  2. ^ http://206.16.223.61/X84xE2/flash/web/index.html
  3. ^ Halo 3: The Cradle of Life
  4. ^ http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/h/halo/storyline.htm
  5. ^ Halo: The Fall of Reach
  6. ^ Halo 2
  7. ^ Museum, Believe
  8. ^ Halo 2, Turf
  9. ^ http://www.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?type=topnews&cid=12358
  10. ^ Halo 2, Zanzibar (Level)
  11. ^ Halo 3, Last Resort
  12. ^ {{{Text}}}
Retrieved from "https://www.halopedia.org/index.php?title=Earth&oldid=13668"