Ancestors

By approximately 150,000 BCE, Humanity had created a vast civilization, now known as the Ancestors, colonizing planets along the Orion Arm of the Milky Way galaxy.^[1]

History[]

After encountering the San'Shyuum, Humanity formed an alliance, based on the planet Charum Hakkor, the Humans' main hub for their empire. At this point, Humanity's technological advancement rivaled that of the Forerunners, with the Humans using Precursor artifacts to support their structures and installations.^[2]

Human-Flood war[]

Main article: Human-Flood war

The Ancestors encountered the Flood in approximately 110,000 BCE and, after discovering the parasite's true nature, went to war against it. After losing many planets, Humanity desperately invaded a minor sector of the Forerunners' domain. After forty-thousand years of expansion, the collective human genus waged war with the biologically-similar Forerunner species. After considerable bloodshed and the assistance of the San'Shyuum, the Flood were driven out of human occupied space and the few remaining Flood ships retreated out of the galaxy. However, as they had been stretched thin due to fighting two wars at once, the Humans were defeated at the hands of the Forerunners, led by the Ur-Didact.

Human-Forerunner war[]

Main article: Human-Forerunner war

The Ancestors were mistaken by the Forerunners to be aggressively expanding into their territory, attacking Forerunner worlds without reason. This was not the case as Humanity had been running and trying to get ahead of the Flood to stop it from spreading to further planets. At some point Humanity arrived at a Forerunner planet to "get ahead of the infection" although it was too late as there was already a small Flood infection outbreak on the planet. Without action this relatively small infestation would have spread and been far more difficult to contain and, as a result, the Lord of Admirals chose to attack the infection and the planet.^[3] This act was seen by the Forerunners, specifically the Didact, as an attack on the Forerunners and so the Forerunners went to war with Humanity in an attempt to force them to "stand with the galaxy rather than against them."^[4] Humanity and the Forerunners then went to war for years however Humanity had been exhausted fighting the Flood and by the time the Human-Flood war had been "won," Humanity had been pushed back to their capital world Charum Hakkor and had been completely cut off from any support. There, Humanity would wage a bitter war last stand lasting nearly 50 years against the Forerunners which ultimately caused the deaths of the Didact's children. After their defeat at Charum Hakkor, Humanity was reduced to a pre-technological state then exiled to their homeworld, Erde-Tyrene, where they were overseen by The Librarian and her life-workers.^[5]

This Forerunner victory proved disastrous for the galaxy, as the Humans destroyed all their research data and physical evidence concerning the Flood, including an apparent cure to stop the parasite. Bornstellar-Makes-Eternal-Lasting speculated it was Humanity's final act of vengeance to leave the Forerunners unprepared to face the incoming threat that led to the firing of the Halo array, Later the Didact would learn from a Gravemind that humanity did not have a cure but had been passed up by the Flood, revealing the true nature of the Flood and their far more sinister purpose. The Forerunners later learned after the defeat of Humanity that the reason for their aggression was due to them trying to stop the Flood, a foe which would later return to face them in the Forerunner-Flood war, approximately ten thousand years later..

Regression[]

Forced to start again, the collective Homo genus tried in vain to reattain their former glory, with some Human communities establishing wooden cities and steam-powered waterborne vessels under the instructions of The Librarian. Most Humans, however, lived in Tier 7 tribal communities, such as the one that was encountered by the Forerunners during the construction of the portal to the Ark in eastern Africa. After the activation of the Halo Array, the Human civilization regressed once again, and would remain in a Tier 7 state for the next hundred millennia.^[5]

Post-Halo Rediscovery[]

As of the 26th century, most artifacts and records of this former civilization had been lost to time. However, ruins on the planet Heian appear to show hallmarks of Human design, suggesting that the planet was inhabited by ancient, space-faring Humans, possibly descended from the Ancestors.^[6][7]

The core system with Charum Hakkor had not been located by humans by 2557. Only scans of a monument above Sothra Hakkor had been found on Requiem. Though, the UNSC was skeptical of the information these scans provided.^[8]

The Office of Naval Intelligence had discovered a damaged Ancestor ship. Study of this ship fell under Project ARC DREAM.^[9]

Jurisdiction[]

The Ancestors' empire was said to have originally spanned over a thousand systems and twenty thousand worlds.^[10]

• 14 Planets in Charum Hakkor system.
  • Charum Hakkor (Center of Human-San'Shyuum Alliance)
  • Faun Hakkor (Homeworld of the Pheru)
  • Ben Nauk
  • Sothra Hakkor
• Heian
• Erde Tyrene (Homeworld of Humanity)

Assets[]

Personnel[]

• Lord of the Admirals Forthencho
• Yprin Yprikushma

Trivia[]

• The warpaint worn by the Lord of the Admirals Forthencho is reminiscent of Native American warpaint.
• The Ancestors' fighters are not dissimilar of UNSC Sabres or Broadswords.
• The warpaint shown may be representative of position in the military, at least on the ship.
• The bridge appears to be outfitted with a single large window giving visibility as opposed to security much in the same way that UNSC ships do, it is also logical to assume that the bridge is situated towards the front of the ship, also akin to the UNSC.
• The larger ship in the fleet shown in the Halo 4 terminal videos has a large possibly plasma-based cannon on its fore-section that resembles the nose of the Covenant needler and its placement is similar to that of the MAC on certain UNSC ships.
• The smaller ships seen in the Halo 4 terminal videos somewhat resemble Covenant CCS-class battlecruisers. Their main weapons resemble glassing beams, on the bottom of the hull. The one destroyed in the terminal was possibly scuttled due to a Flood infection, which the Forerunners did not know about yet (while the Librarian looked on a holographic model of it.).
• The energy weapons used by the Ancestor soldiers, possibly including their guns, appear to shatter their targets like glass upon impact, according to the Forerunner Saga.

Gallery[]

Concept Art[]

Concept Art of Ancestors' Armor.

Designs of Ancestor battleships.

Ancient Humans' ships above a city.

Forerunner ships above a destroyed city on Charum Hakkor.

Two Ancestors: Forthencho on the left, and Yprin Yprikushma on the right.

An Ancestor city.

Screenshots[]

Lord of the Admirals Forthencho

Lord of the Admirals Forthencho conversing

Unnamed Ancestor, no.1

Lord of the Admirals manipulating a holographic map of a Forerunner planet

Lord of Admirals looking at a Forerunner planet

Unnamed Ancestor, no.2

Ancient human being struck by a Forerunner weapon.

Prehistoric human ships exiting slipspace

Ancient human ship firing its bow cannon

Ancient human ship firing against another ship

Ancient human ships including two fighters

Lord of the Admirals Forthencho at an old age

A human warrior falls in battle.

An Ancestor cruiser.

Regressed Humans being Composed/digitized by the Ur-Didact

Appearances[]

• Halo Legends
  • The Babysitter (First appearance)
• Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe
  • From the Office of Dr. William Arthur Iqbal
• Halo: Cryptum
• Halo: Primordium
• Halo 4
  • Terminals

Sources[]