Armiger

A group of armigers including (left to right) a Soldier, Officer and Sniper.

Armigers are a sub-classification of Sentinel designed and employed by the Forerunners for use in planetary warfare. Unlike typical Sentinel designs, primarily renowned for their use of flight, armigers are bipedal combat platforms specialising in tactical infantry engagements within enemy constructs and on planetary surfaces. Armigers were particularly heavily used by the Forerunners in their campaigns against ancient humanity and later, their genocidal war against the Flood.

Armiger units may be colloquially referred to as "Promethean Soldiers" or similar; this is in reference to their deployments alongside Warrior-Servant and Promethean forces (particularly the latter) and not as an indication that they are of a similar origin to the Composed essences of the Promethean Knights. Similarly, the Soldier is simply one variant of armiger, albeit the most common (see here for details on armiger variants). Inversely, Knights consist of Composed essences driving an armiger body.

Overview

Jameson Locke and John-117 fighting against armiger Soldiers on Genesis.

Design details

Armigers are primarily constructed by the Ferrarius Assembler Vats, and average a total height of around 2.5 metres (8.2 ft) and weigh on average around 180 kilograms (400 lb). They are primarily constructed of an alloy composed of various metals and machine-cells. The smartmatter structure is capable of interfacing with the armiger's artificial neural framework, which allows the controlling ancilla to repair damage and change their form at will, Despite outward visual similarities, armigers are a classification of Sentinel and thus do not house a composed mind in the same matter as that of their Promethean cousins. During their earlier deployments, armiger ancillae demonstrated considerable autonomy, though later units were limited due to their vulnerability to the logic plague used by the Flood. Their chassis' are capable of housing the artificial intelligence of a Monitor; such as in the case of 343 Guilty Spark.

Due to their bipedal robotic design, they bear a similar posture and frame as a human; even down to the orientation of their plated musculature. Despite this resemblance, armigers distinctly display the design aesthetics of the Forerunners. The design of the armigers displays unconventional angles, angular apertures, and floating items of dress. Though their bodies are thin and lithe, the armigers are heavily armored across their entire body. The face of an armiger is composed of symmetrical plates—made of the same alloy as their body—and noticeable "eyes" that glow the same color as other lights found in breaches in and around their armor. Henry Lamb suspected that a rigid hard light composition holds the components of an armiger together. Armigers are quick and agile, and have the capability to easily avoid incoming weapons fire.

For locomotion, armigers use two bipedal legs powered by what Usze 'Taham likened to pistons and servomotors. They are additionally capable of using Slipspace translocation to rapidly traverse the battlefield.

They are capable of communicating, and can let out a variety of calls and sounds, such as roars, hisses, and ear-splitting death cries. A certain deafening noise used by armigers indicates the presence of hostiles nearby to other armigers in the area. The vocalization of an armiger was considered by Henry Lamb to be comparable to those of a human. Armigers later encountered by Fireteam Osiris and within UNSC War Games simulations vocalised in a synthesised voice, though were fully capable of speaking (and even taunting) in human languages.

Armaments

Simulated armiger Soldiers driving an Urban Warthog in War Games.

Armigers are armed with an assortment of weapons. Some use energy staves that have a geometrical blade of hard light at the end. These staves are capable of blocking projectile fire from weapons. Armigers also arm themselves with powerful, marksman-like energy rifles that fire hard light-like ammunition. An armiger is able to "call" any weapon into its hand by having various pieces of its arm form into the weapon itself.

In a combat situation, armigers may even extend to picking up and using the discarded weaponry of their enemies. This includes martial weaponry such as the Sangheili energy sword, or even using firearms and vehicles such as the MA5D assault rifle or M12B Warthog (among others).

Variants

A common ability for armigers is the ability to transfigure their form to repair damage or even adjust their visage for aesthetic purposes. They were employed by various factions and lobby groups within the Ecumene, with more recent UNSC training simulations manifesting some of these variations (albeit in a largely speculative framework).

The most common kind of armiger was the Soldier; a general-purpose automaton designed for engaging enemies in numbers with high speed. Sub-types of the Soldier employed in War Games simulations include;

• Hydra Soldier
• Soldier Bandit
• Soldier Commando
• Soldier Enforcer
• Soldier Guard
• Soldier Operative
• Soldier Specialist

The other major forms of armiger encountered include the Sniper and Officer.

Role and responsibilities

"I think he's saying that these Forerunner machines are defensive drones that supported Forerunner warriors. Now they guard this place."

— Doctor Luther Mann, translating for Drifts Randomly upon sighting armigers on Installation 00

Armigers were used by the Forerunners for the purposes of planetary warfare, storming enemy strongholds, and boarding and raiding enemy warships. They specialise in tactical infantry engagements, and were typically deployed in support of Forerunner warriors from Builder Security and the Warrior-Servants. During the later portions of the Forerunner-Flood War, the remaining armigers were tasked with the protection of valuable Forerunner sites.

Armigers are intelligent enough to use the environment and their surroundings to their advantage, such as knocking a giant tree down a mountain or setting a giant rockslide in motion to trample opponents.

Operational history

Prehistory

Armigers were first utilized by the Didact's Warrior-Servants during the human-Forerunner wars, from approximately 107,445 to 106,445 BCE. The constructs proved incredibly useful in boarding actions against prehistoric human warships, particularly when attempting to infiltrate the confined spaces of human vessels. Armigers of this era demonstrated considerable autonomy when compared to their successors.

Following the end of the conflict, the Didact was exiled during the ecumene Council's diminishment of the Warrior-Servant rate and production of the armigers ceased. When the arrival of the Flood threatened the ecumene, Faber—the Master Builder—recommissioned the production of the armigers to bolster the defenses of the empire. The newly commissioned armigers supported the ranks of both Builder Security and remaining Warrior-Servant forces, though with their independence notably reduced once the effectiveness of the logic plague against armigers became clear. The conflict against the Flood saw the destruction of most armigers, either destroyed by the Flood itself or compromised by the logic plague. After many armigers were subverted by the logic plague, most of the remaining units were placed into dormancy to prevent further corruption. However, some were covertly left to protect valuable Forerunner sites, such as Installation 00.

Post-Covenant War

"It's hard to say what purpose they were previously designed for, but it's clear that the monitor was controlling them as well, along with the Sentinels we encountered, and even the incredibly hostile weather conditions."

— Doctor Luther Mann, referring to the armigers under 000 Tragic Solitude's control

Armigers were present on the Ark, though remained apparently dormant throughout the battle raged there in late 2552. However, they were awakened by the installation's monitor 000 Tragic Solitude in 2555 in response to an incursion on the surface of the installation by a joint UNSC-Swords of Sanghelios expeditionary team sent to investigate the Ark's reactivation. The armigers were used by Tragic Solitude in an attempt to halt the party from foiling Solitude's plans to rebuild the Ark, though were ultimately unsuccessful. Armigers remained a threat on the Ark through into 2559, during which time they partook in the Second Ark Conflict as combatants to defend the installation against the forces of the Banished and UNSC Spirit of Fire - with contingents of them seeing combat against the ODST unit Sunray 1-1.

Halo Infinite concept art depicting the Armigers and Sentinels used to secure the Created occupation on the various worlds of the galaxy.

After crashing the hijacked UNSC Rubicon in 2554, 343 Guilty Spark survived by uploading himself to an armiger made out of parts salvaged from Installation 00 by the Rubicon. After being rescued by the Ace of Spades in 2557, Spark used the armiger as his primary form, even molding the avatar created by Niko for him after it rather than after his old human identity Chakas or his old Monitor form. After traveling to Triniel to get an upgrade seed for the Ace of Spades, Spark was able to use the Builder facility there to repair damage to his armiger. When Spark finally made contact with the Librarian through a personality imprint beneath Kilimanjaro, he suggested that she use an armiger to return to the living world with him, but she refused in favor of going to the Absolute Record. Though offered the same choice, Spark chose to remain with his friends from the Ace of Spades and briefly shifted his armiger into a combat configuration to get them out of trouble. Additionally, Spark's armiger displayed the ability to project a cloaking field over himself and his companions to shield them from ONI drones.

Following the defeat of the Ur-Didact over Earth in summer 2557, armigers began to appear in greater numbers at Forerunner installations across the galaxy - something later linked to the reactivation of the Guardian Custode at the hands of Cortana, indicating she had found the secret to the armigers' manufacture. The armigers would go on to become a primary symbol of the domineering influence of the Created as they took control of the galaxy late in 2558, used to patrol city streets and display the reach of Created control in the face of resistance. These measures allowed Cortana to cement her influence over the major governments and worlds of the galaxy, with her armiger forces used as the primary reaction elements against anti-Created insurgencies. Armigers proved fairly effective in their occupational duties, and relatively low concentrations of them were used to oversee the compliance of civilian regions - with the end goal of Cortana being the hope that Armigers would come to be viewed not as an occupational force, but as a symbol of enduring peace. These enforcers became the targets of strikes by Spartan scout-snipers such as Koju "Romeo" Agu, who was responsible for eliminating many in efforts to prevent Created access to strategic sensor relays.

Armiger forces were deployed during Operation: HOURGLASS to shoot down or board the courier vessel piloted by Parisa.

Following the defeat of Cortana at Installation 07 in late 2559, her position as leader of the Created was taken over by High Auxiliary Sloan. Now in-charge of Created forces, Sloan proceded forward with the FIREWALL contingency - a project he had intended to seek approval from Cortana for prior to her demise. The FIREWALL contingency seeks to pair armiger technology with human-developed MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor schematics, in the hope of creating cybernetic bodies (known as Executors) capable of advancing the next stage of human evolution.

Trivia

An armiger is an individual entitled to use a coat of arms, in heraldry. In Latin, the word "armiger" literally means "arms-bearer". In medieval England, it referred to an esquire attendant upon a knight, but bearing his own unique armorial device.

Gallery

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  Concept art of armiger head variations.

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  Concept art of an armiger.

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  Concept art of armiger variants.

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  Concept art of armiger variants.

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  Concept art of an armiger Soldier.

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  Concept art of an armiger's head and mask.

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  Concept art of armiger eye/goggle variations.

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  Concept art of armiger eye/goggle variations.

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  An early blockout model for the Armiger (left) and a concept paintover (right).

List of appearances

• Halo: Hunters in the Dark (First appearance)
• Halo 5: Guardians
• Halo Mythos
• Halo: Tales from Slipspace
• Halo: Legacy of Onyx
• Halo: Bad Blood
• Halo: Official Spartan Field Manual
• Halo: Renegades
• Halo: Point of Light
• Halo Infinite: Memory Agent
• Story Shard: Precipice (Mentioned only)
• Halo: Outcasts
• Halo: Epitaph