Sanctum of the Ancients

The Sanctum of the Ancients is a Precursor facility on the planet Netherop. The facility is located underneath a tel and had the primary purpose of housing the Divine Hand, a superweapon capable of destroying objects in Netherop's orbit. The Sanctum was built in the aftermath of the Forerunner-Precursor war by a group of Precursor refugees and was able to destroy a Guardian Custode. Later, the facility became the home for the Defenders of the Sanctum and was the primary setting of the Second Battle of Netherop.

Layout

Situated directly on Netherop's equator, the Sanctum is located underneath a tel situated on in the center of a large crater on the surface. This tel is one of thousands of similar structures across the planet, though this site is the only one that was surrounded by a basin of radar-absorbing terrain that made imaging difficult. There is no immediately apparent entrance to the facility, though ventilation ducts can be utilized as access points. The interior of the tel is constructed with a sort of Precursor nanomachine that appeared to be dust, which built the interior to the inhabitant's liking. This led to a series of tunnels inside the facility, with major locations including the Inner Sanctum, where the Divine Hand is fired from, and the Aeroponics Chamber, where food was grown. Other living areas were spread about deep within the facility, including dining areas, training arenas, and individual rooms for the inhabitants.

Characteristics

Prolonged time within the Sanctum led to the inhabitants accumulating a coating of Precursor nanomachine dust referred to as the Sanctum's Hide. This shell is virtually impenetrable and allows the user to engage Active camouflage. The facility also reacts to people with this coating, allowing them to open tunnels through the structure or to the surface with ambient lighting. The Sanctum also took care of its inhabitants, producing food for them and providing them with "Dream Lives", most likely extended pleasant hallucinations to stave off boredom.

History

Forerunner-Precursor war

After the Forerunners had destroyed a majority of the Precursor race, a group of surviving Precursors fled to Netherop. These beings, eventually known as the Nothing, manipulated the native Netherop species into building the Sanctum via telepathic communication. Eventually, a Guardian Custode appeared above Netherop and the Nothing gathered their people into the facility, which they framed as a temple to them. They then fired the Divine Hand, destroying the Guardian and devastating the surface of the planet.

Human-Covenant war

Millions of years later, a handful of Human and Sangheili combatants were marooned on the surface of Netherop in the wake of the First Battle of Netherop. The Sangheili group, led by Nizat 'Kvarosee and Tam 'Lakosee, eventually discovered and inhabited the Sanctum, which housed and sustained them comfortably. 'Kvarosee also learned to control the Divine Hand and fired it twice over the next several decades, presumably destroying the UNSC Alpina and an unknown human vessel. The marooned humans on Netherop, led by Lieutenant Commander Amalea Petrov, worked on the outside of the tel to either break into the Sanctum or lure the Sangheili out. During the second firing of the Divine Hand, three of these humans jumped into the weapon's dimensional rift, causing them to become ghostly beings referred to as the Lurkers. The Lurkers persisted for around two years before the last apparition disappeared, wreaking a considerable mental toll on the Sanctum's residents during that time. This incident as well as the comfortable conditions within the Sanctum factored into the gradual degradation of discipline and fitness in the Sangheili, who had begun calling themselves the Defenders of the Sanctum.

Second Battle of Netherop

Main article: Battle of Netherop (2559)

In November of 2559, the UNSC, the Swords of Sanghelios, and the Banished all became aware of the Divine Hand's existence and converged on Netherop to try to recover the weapon in order to gain an advantage over Cortana's Guardian Custodes. The Sangheili arrived first, and their insertion force of three Phantoms was permitted to land by the Defenders due to the assumption that they were Covenant forces. Soon after this, a human force of forty Pelican dropships and a D102 Owl stealth craft began approaching the planet's surface. 'Kvarosee decided to fire on them with the Divine Hand, destroying the Pelicans and nearly wiping out the Swords of Sangheilios forces on the ground. Despite the firing, the Owl survived and deployed Spartan Olympia Vale and the Orbital Drop Shock Troopers of Tango Team onto the top of the tel. The surviving Swords of Sanghelios forces led by Arbiter Thel 'Vadam made their way to the tel, and together the two forces overwhelmed the Defenders and made their way into the Inner Sanctum. Vadam and 'Lakosee then fired the Divine Hand, destroying almost all the human, Sangheili, Banished, and Created forces above the planet. The force then recovered the vacuum energy condenser that powered the Divine Hand, rendering the weapon inoperable from within the Sanctum. Without its energy source, the Sanctum fell dormant, unable to keep 'Kvarosee and 'Lakosee, the last remaining Defenders, alive within it.

Parallel to these events, Rosa Fuertes came into contact with the Nothing, who cured her of a terminal disease.

List of appearances

• Halo: Outcasts (First appearance)