- "He says the sun was yellow. Then, when he was a baby, the People were taken inside. They lived inside walls and under ceilings. He says those People were brought here before I was born."
- — Vinnevra
The Tudejsa, a word that meant the "People from Here" or simply "the People", were a collection of over 120 human species and subtypes who inhabited Installation 07 after being transplanted there by the Forerunners.[1] At least modern humans and Denisovans were present, though due to isolation from Erde-Tyrene humans they did not use the species names familiar to Chakas, and possessed less inter-species unity.[1]
History
The Tudejsa lived across a number of environments in the Halo, such as valleys, jungles, and prairies, and had even built rudimentary cities on the installation. For the hundreds of years Installation 07 remained under the charge of the Lifeworkers, the People were largely allowed to live as they pleased; the Forerunners would not intervene in the humans' internecine wars, for example.[2] Most of the People were transplanted on the ring hundreds of years before the final days of the Forerunner-Flood war. However, after Master Builder Faber hid Installation 07 from the Ecumene Council's supervision and took charge of all operations there around 100,043 BCE, more humans were brought in from Earth on his orders, as he intended to have the ancient memories the Earth humans carried studied in order to find more efficient ways to combat the Flood. The Master Builder's takeover of the installation also led to a dramatic increase in his researchers abducting the Tudejsa for experimentation; what the humans referred to as the "Palace of Pain". Some time later, the Forerunners put a reproductive suppression mechanism into place; as a result, no more children were born to the People.[3] Template:Expand-Section
By the time Chakas visited the installation nobody had lived in the old city near Vinnevra's village for some time.[4] Soon after Forerunners came to take most of them away the remainder decided the city was no longer a safe place. Vinnevra claimed it held many bad memories. Template:Expand-Section
Due to these developments, the People became disorganized and desperate and were unwilling to cooperate with one another or maintain an organized society. Many also abandoned their cities and fled to the wilderness out of fear that the Forerunners would be more likely to abduct them in the cities. Template:Expand-Section
Biology and diversity
All types of human made up the Tudejsa; Chakas noted only the absence of chamanune upon first awakening among the villagers who had taken him in. One older man who was heavy of shoulder and low of forehead stood out to him in particular then. Some of the Tudejsa, such as Vinnevra, had skin that was black as night and even almost purple.[1] For her part she also was slender as a young tree and possessed of a broad nose and wide, rounded cheeks. Vinnevra's large eyes were reddish-brown and her hair was a wild tangle the color of water-soaked rye grass. Though hamamune like he, she could distinguish Chakas as not belonging to the Tudejsa because he did not share their black skin nor possess a flat, broad nose like theirs.
Culture
Spirituality, beliefs, and customs
Although they revered the Librarian, they referred to her as "the Lady".[1]
The men of Vinnevra's village were wont to discuss whether the strongest among them would take her as a mate.[1] Only her Gamelpar protected her, and it was understood that once he had died she would have to finally choose one of them.
When Chakas first mentioned Erde-Tyrene to the first other humans he met on Zeta Halo, none of them were aware of it. Even when he explained the concept of a planet Vinnevra remained unsure regarding what he was really describing. In fact, she was only relatively convinced the ring she called home was not Erde-Tyrene as Chakas described it, since she believed it to be a "place between other places". She understood enough to know her people had come from a place they would never see again and also understood their fate to lie in a place they did not want to go. And so, their existence was one of waiting. To Vinnevra, Chakas had simply come from the sky, so she asked him what it was like up there.
They lived in fear of being taken to the Palace of Pain.
Dress
After Chakas was extracted from his Forerunner armor by the Tuejsa who first found him he was then dressed in just two pieces of worn, dirty cloth. Template:Expand-Section
Food, medicine, and drink
The Tudejsa who surrounded Chakas when he first awoke on Zeta Halo poured water on his face and wiped it clean before rubbing a grassy juice under his nose that smelled sharp and wakeful.[1] The drinking water they provided him was muddy, earthy, and inexpressibly sweet. Vinnevra rubbed her fingers beside her nose, over her cheeks, and through the hair on her scalp in order to get soothing skin-oil to rub on his cracked, chapped lips.
Languages and naming conventions
The Tudejsa of Chakas' day spoke words from ancient languages he had never heard on Erde-Tyrene.[1] Even so, he could just barely understand the words thank to his geas and through digging deep into it he discovered that humans had used such words thousands of years before he had been born. To him the speech used by Vinnevra sounded husky and musical. His own tongue, at first, was not sufficiently trained to form the old words. When he finally was able to give his own name, Vinnevra did not recognize it and asked if it was a secret name. In order to speak of a planet, Chakas chose old words which meant "big home", "broad land", and "all-under-sky". When the question of whether everyone on the ring was human was put to Vinnevra, she replied by affirming that they were all the Tudejsa, which Chakas only later contextualized as meaning "the People" or "the People from Here". Template:Expand-Section
Architecture and technology
When Chakas first awoke after landing on Installation 07, he was lying on a flat, hard, gritty platform beneath a roof made of woven reeds thatched with leaves and branches.[1] Flickering fires lit the interior of the wide meeting house with log walls. The house's door was made of hanging grass and its frame was covered with reeds. The village he found himself in was composed of huts standing on a flat stretch of dirt and dry grass a few hundred meters from a tree line.[4] Beyond the trees, stretching far toward the horizon-wall and some distance up the thick part of the ring's visible band, was a beautiful old city which reminded Chakas of Marontik but which he surmised might have been even older. Template:Expand-Section
List of appearances
- Halo: Primordium (First appearance)
- Halo: Silentium
- Halo: Rebirth
- Halo: Renegades (Indirect mention)
Sources
- ^ a b c d e f g h Halo: Primordium, Chapter 1
- ^ Halo: Primordium, Chapter 6
- ^ Halo: Primordium, Chapter 4
- ^ a b Halo: Primordium, Chapter 3