Halo Universe Explained: Part 4 - The Forerunners

So much of the events of the Halo universe – both in the games and the expanded fiction – are dictated by the actions of the Forerunners.  Yet, to most casual fans of the game, almost nothing is known of the Forerunners.  I’ve already covered the Forerunners role in creating the halo array, and have discussed how their decision to fire the array 100,000 years ago in the face of Flood led to their extinction from the galaxy.  However there is more to the Forerunners than that.  For example, humanities unique ability to utilize the technology left behind by the Forerunner allowed humans to develop galactic space travel, create intelligent AI like Cortana, and even the Mjolnir armor worn by the Spartans. The forerunners are even at the heart of the conflict between the Covenant and humanity.

The forerunners were created millions of years ago by the Precursors.  The precursors were an even more ancient civilization that is believed to be responsible for all life in the galaxy (I'll delve a bit more into the precursors during the entry on the Flood).  While little is known of the Forerunners, even less is known of the Precursors.  However, the precursors tended to follow a pattern in which they created a species, fostered their development, and then deemed the species to be "problematic" and exterminated them.  Shortly after the Forerunners were created the precursors deemed them problematic and took steps to eliminate them.  However, the forerunners refused to just lie down and be eliminated.  They fought back and after a long struggle managed to defeat the precursors.  Over millions of years all records of the precursors were lost and by 100,000 years ago the Forerunners simply believed the Precursors had disappeared.

Since I have already discussed the Human-Forerunner conflict and the firing of the Halo Array I'll spend sometime discussing Forerunner society, their technology, and ultimately their unique connection to humanity.

Forerunner society was based on a series of classes.   The most prestigious class was the Builders, who were responsible for designing Forerunner technology - including the Halo array.  The next tier was the Miners, who supplied the raw material to produce the technology.  The next tier were Life-workers who were charged with performing medical and biological research.  Warrior-Servants were the military class.  And finally, the engineers were responsible for actually building the technology designed by the builders.  There were different ranks within each class.  For example, prometheon knights were the highest ranking Warrior servant.

One of the defining characteristics of the Forerunner is their armor. The armor is effectively an extension of the individual. Not only does the armor protect them is can be life sustaining - providing nourishment, hydration, and when necessary can provide oxygen to the individual. As the Forerunner grow and increase in rank their armor will grow along with them. The armor can also be implanted with a smart AI that will enhance the armors connection to the individual. This all should sound familiar if you've read the post on Spartans. It it believed that the Spartan armor was modeled after Forerunner armor technology. This is not confirmed, but Halsey (the mastermind behind the Spartan program) is an expert on Forerunner technology. It is possible the idea for the armor came from discovered forerunner technology.

Another feature of the Forerunner that relates to the modern game world is the development of super intelligent AI. The forerunner developed an assortment of smart AI that were capable of handling many important tasks for the Forerunner. One of the most important task was monitoring the Halos. These monitor AI (or monitors) were left behind by the Forerunners to oversee the operation of the Halos, and ensure that they could be activated again if the Flood were ever to return. In the recent novel Halo: Primordium, it was revealed that the monitors of the Halo Installations contained the minds (i.e. the experiences and memories) of ancient humans. The most famous Monitor - 343 Guilty Spark - contains the thoughts experiences and memories of an ancient human named Chakas.  Again there is a connection with human technology... Cortana - the AI housed in the Master Chief's armor - is based on the mirror image of the mind of Cathrine Halsey.

When not in armor the forerunner have a very human look to them.  In fact the Forerunners discovered that they shared a great deal of DNA with humans. This lead them to believe that the precursors had created both races to coexist and lead the galaxy. The human-forerunner war disrupted that vision, but it did not alter the Forerunners affection for humans. As such, before activating the Halo Array the Forerunners took steps to ensure that humans would repopulate the Galaxy. Moreover, the Forerunner encrypted their technology in such a way that it could only be activated by humans. The forerunners thought of humanity as the "inheritors" of what they left behind. If you think back to the games - you will recall that Guilty Spark refers to the Master Chief as an "Inheritor". Of course humanity is not aware of their status as the inheritor of Forerunner Technology.

Forerunners are believed to have been wiped out when they fired the Halo array.  The humans of the game world believe the Forerunner's sacrificed themselves to save the Galaxy from the Flood.  However, the forerunners made sure to save members of each species so to repopulate the Galaxy after the Array was fired.  Why didn't they save samples of themselves?  The truth is (as we are sure to find out in Halo 4), the Forerunners are not extinct.  But it is true that they are nowhere to be found in the Milky way Galaxy.  They seemingly left the Galaxy by choice and took steps to ensure that humans would have access to their vast technology, and would take over their place as the leaders of Galaxy.  The reason for this self imposed exile has not been fully explained - but there is no doubt that the reason will have a significant impact on the Halo Universe.  I'll speculate why they chose to leave the Galaxy in a future post when I discuss the Precursors and the Flood (yes the two are related and so will be in one post).

One other important fact.  The reason the Prophets wanted to see humans extinguished is because they were jealous that the Forerunner (who they view as their gods) chose humans to be the inheritors.  Not all of the covenant knew that, but the highest ranking prophets did.  They were concerned that if the rank and file in the Covenant found out about humanities role as inheritor, their own role as religious leaders would be questioned.  Instead, the Prophets convinced the rank and file that the humans were an affront to the Forerunners and it was the duty of the Covenant to extinguish them in the name of their Gods.

As I said most of what happens in the Halo universe has its roots in the actions of the Forerunners some 100,000 years ago.