A Luminary.

"A Luminary does not lie."

— A Holy Writ of the Covenant, as quoted byChur'R.^[1]

ALuminary is aForerunner device designed to scan for and identify Forerunner relics. TheCovenant reverse-engineered their own Luminaries, modeled and sculpted after an original Forerunner device recovered from the Covenant-controlledSupernal Spiral-class keyship,Anodyne Spirit.^[2]

Overview[edit]

Luminaries areForerunner devices capable of detecting technology and artefacts left by the long-dead civilisation.^[2][3] When used, they are capable of scanning an entireplanet, identifying signatures of suspected Forerunner relics and assigning them with various glyphs.^[1]

Design details[edit]

There are several different forms of Luminary. The original designs were created by theForerunners, and are considered holy artefacts within themselves; they are the greatest Luminaries, and were jealously guarded by the Covenant's leaders and rarely allowed to leaveHigh Charity.^[3] These devices (the earliest being the one found aboardAnodyne Spirit)^[4] were reverse-engineered by the Covenant to serve as the basis for Covenant-built Luminaries,^[2] which are mass-distributed as a mandatory piece of equipment on allCovenant starships.^[1] However, the security of the Luminary is paramount; as such, during theHuman-Covenant War they were covered by a piece of Covenant scripture recalled byKip Silas as named something akin to the "Writ of Security" or "Writ of Sanctity". Under the Writ, Covenant soldiers were ordered to prevent sacred objects (including Luminaries) from falling intohuman hands - with the Luminary's destruction a priority should a Covenant ship be at risk of beingboarded and captured by human troops.^[5]

Standardised Covenant-issue Luminary models are shaped like a series of three silver pyramids: two smaller ones supporting an upside down, larger one in the center. The Luminary is connected to a given vessel's communications systems, with a givenshipmaster required to report its findings to the vessel's controlling organisation (such as a sponsorministry). As such, should a given shipmaster wish to steal the relics on a given planet for their own gain, they must first disconnect the Luminary from the communications systems, then reactivate it once they have taken their share - ensuring the Luminary reports a consistent number of relics. However, tampering with Luminaries is a serious crime under Covenant law, and punishable by death or worse.^[1]

Alongside the detection of Forerunner technology, Luminaries are notable for also detectinghumans and registering them as Forerunner technology. This was the initial catalyst for the Human-Covenant War, and spurredMendicant Bias' revelation that humans were thereclaimers designated to inherit the legacy of the Forerunners. TheHierarchs covered up this knowledge in an effort to prevent the empire from breaking apart in civil war, though theProphet of Truth noted that the Luminaries' ability to detect humans was not a hindrance, but in fact a help. By so reliably detecting the presence of humans, it would make the Covenant's mission to wipe out the entire species much easier.^[6]

History[edit]

A Luminary depicting the Halo Array.

The Luminary aboardAnodyne Spirit was used by theSan'ShyuumReformists during their exodus fromJanjur Qom. During theWar of Beginnings, it was used by the Reformists to locate valuable relics, which ultimately put them into conflict with theSangheili and resulted in battles such as thebattle onAnvarl.^[7]

After the end of the war and the formation of the Covenant, the San'Shyuum continued to experiment withAnodyne Spirit's Luminary. By attempting to copy it, they were drawn to the gas giantTe in theSvir system, relatively close toSanghelios. The Luminary detected a trove of relics in the system only to find the remnants of a Forerunnerspace station that had been eaten by theLekgolo worms. This ultimately led to the Lekgolo joining the Covenant, after being "tamed" byArbiterJeht 'Lcmutee.^[4]

For much of their history, the Covenant attempted to acquire new Forerunner Luminaries. In850 BCE,Mken Scre'ah'ben led a mission back to Janjur Qom in an attempt to recover a Luminary believed to reside on the San'Shyuum homeworld.^[8][9] However, the Luminary - thought to contain the location of theHalo Array - was lost when thedropship carrying it,Vengeful Vitality, was attacked and destroyed.^[10]

Role in starting the Human-Covenant War[edit]

Luminaries were instrumental in the outbreak ofwar betweenhumanity and the Covenant. The first detection of humanity by a Luminary was by that aboard theKig-Yar missionary vesselMinor Transgression, which initially drew the vessel to thecolony world ofHarvest, claiming to have detected millions of Forerunner relics. In reality, the Luminary had detected the presence of millions of humans on Harvest's surface, though this fact remained unknown toMinor Transgression's crew.ShipmistressChur'R intially severed the Luminary from the ship's communication systems in the hopes of skimming some of the relics from the find to sell on the black market. The Kig-Yar attempted to board thefreighterThis End Up to steal its cargo of "relics" but ultimately found nothing.^[1] While later boarding a second freighter, the Luminary aboardMinor Transgression was reconnected to the signals equipment by theUnggoyDeaconDadab, resulting in the Luminary transmitting its findings to theMinistry of Tranquility.^[11] WhileMinor Transgression was ultimatelyself-destructed by Chur'R, the information discovered by its Luminary was passed to Minister of Fortitude and Vice-Minister of Tranquility, who used the information to begin plotting their ascension toHierarch.^[12] The Vice-Minister dispatched theJiralhanae-crewed vesselRapid Conversion to investigate the find, with the ship reporting back that not only had it detected relics, but even anOracle.^[13]

The two San'Shyuum brought the Luminations to thePhilologist aboardAnodyne Spirit, with the hopes of presenting them toMendicant Bias - the dormantMetarch-class ancilla that had silently inhabited the vessel for millennia. While discussing the findings, Mendicant Bias awoke for the first time in living memory, noting that the Covenant had misinterpreted the Luminary;s sign as "Reclamation", rather than the actual translation "Reclaimer" - and that the symbol represented the ancilla's makers. The revelation that humanity were connected to the Forerunners disturbed the trio of San'Shyuum present, resulting in the realisation that were the news to spread, it could be the undoing of the empire. As such, they endeavoured to blackmail their way into becoming Hierarchs, with the goal of steering the Covenant on a new path - the complete and total genocide of humanity.^[4][14] At their ascension to the throne, the newly-crownedProphet of Truth noted that he had covered up the lie by claiming that theglassing ofHarvest was the result of humanity's attempt to destroy the relics on their world, and a potent of what they would do to theHalo Array, were they to find it. Using this as acasus belli, the Covenant declared war, and began to use Luminaries to find humans and hunt them down.^[6] This event began the thirty-year war that would ultimately culminate in theGreat Schism and the empire's collapse intodisparate warlord states.

Use in the war[edit]

During theHuman-Covenant War, Covenant commanders used Luminaries to both hunt down humans^[6] and uncover new Forerunner relics. In the early war, a delay in installing Luminaries on newly-constructed ships resulted in an edict being issued by the Prophet of Truth dictating that on each vessel lacking a Luminary, one in 64 Unggoy were to be executed by Kig-Yar death squads, with choice of executee done by aSangheili overseer. This practice would continue daily for every ship until a Luminary was installed.^[15]

Makar-pattern light corvettes were installed with Luminaries as standard and used as scouts with the purpose of both locating Forerunner artefacts and keeping a watchful eye over their own fleet for signs of disloyalty.^[16]

Upon his promotion toSupreme Commander,Rho 'Barutamee was entrusted with a rare Forerunner-built Luminary with which to use as part ofhis fleet's duties as a long-ranged scout for the empire.^[3] Rho hoped to use his Luminary to eventually uncoverMaethrillian, the long-lost capital of the ForerunnerEcumene;^[17] however, it ended up ultimately leading him to theBeta Eridani system, and ultimatelyReach itself - beginning the climacticFall of Reach.^[3]

In2551, Covenant forces under theProphet of Regret's command discovered a Luminary onMeridian cataloguing the astrogration data for the entire Halo array, the Ark, and the network ofslipspace portals connecting to it.^[18] Choosing theclosest portal, Regret ordered theFleet of Sacred Consecration to head to a planet known asErde-Tyrene, unaware that Erde-Tyrene was actuallyhumanity's homeworld, Earth. Regret sought to outdo his fellowHierarchs by claiming the monumental discovery for himself, but ultimately found himself overrun and quickly routed.^[19]

Post-war use[edit]

TheUNSC developed theVECTOR-class Mjolnir armor based on Covenant technology, forSpartan-IVs to commune with Luminaries. This was notably used to seek artifacts among the debris ofAlpha Halo onBasis.^[20] The UNSC also installed a Luminary alongside a Covenanthyperscanner aboardUNSCInfinity.^[21]

The high rate of Luminary destruction (both by hostile action and Covenant self-destruction) in the Human-Covenant War means that they are a rare prize for post-war scavengers, withRion Forge considering acquiring one her ticket to an early retirement.^[22]

Non-canon and dubious canon appearances[edit]

Silver Timeline[edit]

This article contains information about theSilver Timeline, and is not a part of the establishedHalo canon.

As a child,Makee was discovered onOban by twoSangheili warriors who were using a Luminary to search for a Forerunner artifact. Instead, the Luminary proved to be leading them to Makee herself, aReclaimer.^[23]

Gallery[edit]

• 

  A Luminary found onMeridian.

• 

  Stewards present a Luminary.

• 

  A Luminary inHalo: The Television Series.

List of appearances[edit]

• Halo: Contact Harvest(First appearance)
• Halo Wars(Mentioned only)
• Halo: Broken Circle
• Halo 2: Anniversary
  • Terminals
• Halo: Fleet Battles
• Halo 5: Guardians(Mentioned only)
• Halo: Shadow of Intent(Mentioned only)
• Halo Mythos(Mentioned only)
• Halo: Smoke and Shadow
• Halo: Renegades
• Halo: The Television Series
  • Emergence
  • Reckoning

Sources[edit]

• Sensors
• Covenant technology
• Forerunner technology