The Outer Colonies are the human-colonized planets farthest from the Inner colonies such as Earth and Reach, with colonies founded after. Until the Human-Covenant war, disorder and rebellion were commonplace. By 2536, the majority of the Outer Colonies had been glassed by the Covenant.[1]
History
Founding
The Inner Colonies were finished by settled in 2390. More and more colonies were continued to be settled. By 2490, the Outer Colonies were effectively established.[1]
The Insurrection
- Main article: Insurrection
Operation: TREBUCHET
As humanity expanded, the outer colonies began to experience sentiments of autonomy and political independence from the UEG.[2] By the 2400s, the impotence by the UEG to keep the outer colonies felt to many colonists like an interference on a confederation of independent planets.[3] This began to cause a tremendous amount of stress across human controlled space. In 2492, this stress eventually caused many riots on the colony of Far Isle. With the UNSC unable to control it, they used nuclear weapons to put down the riots and declared Code Bandersnatch.[4] This event has been cited as what sparked the Insurrection.[5]
Many different secessionist movements began springing up and the UNSC responded to these threats. The biggest counter insurgency operation by the UNSC was Operation: TREBUCHET.
Human-Covenant war
- Main article: Human-Covenant war
Harvest post glassing.
The Covenant had found Harvest in 2525. While there was a small skirmish between UNSC forces and the Covenant beforehand, the war didn't begin until a disastrous first contact. This led to a second battle and a protracted five-year campaign.
Outer Colony Massacres
- Main article: Outer Colony Massacres
However, at that point, the Covenant's genocidal judgement of humanity had spread to many of the other outer colonies like Biko and Green Hills. ONI, however, kept this fact a secret from the rest of the public up until 2526.[6]
By 2530, there were at least 62,154,022 deaths in the Outer Colonies.[7] In 2536, after ten years of war, most of the Outer Colonies had been lost, and the inner colonies were beginning to be attacked.[1] Jericho VII was among the last major ones to fall.
By 2552, though some Outer Colonies still remained in UNSC hands (mostly remote outposts), most were small and rather insignificant worlds.[8] The few significant colonies still under UNSC control lived in constant fear of Covenant invasion. Some of the remaining colonies were bases for outlaws.
Post-War
By the time the Human-Covenant war ended on March 3, 2553, tensions were already becoming unsteady in the Outer Colonies.
The escalated riots in the outer colonies.
In 2558, after the revelation that John-117 had attacked a peace delegation on Biko, and that ONI abducted children from the outer colonies for the SPARTAN-II program, huge parts of the outer colonies had again started to distrust the UEG. Many turned to the New Colonial Alliance instead.[9]
Following Benjamin Giraud's interruption of a joint UEG Senate and ONI meeting, the Waypoint buoys connecting the inner and outer colonies were shut down.[9] When Benjamin was publicly discredited on ECB, tensions died down and the buoys were turned back on.[10]
The Reclamation
- Main article: The Reclamation
Cortana sent out Guardians out to systems in the Outer Colonies.[11]
Culture
Many of the fashions, and likely other elements of their culture, were behind that of the Inner Colonies; having gone out of style some time before.[12]
Astrography
Not much is known about the astrography of the Outer Colonies. It is known that the Outer colonies began at 38-lightyears away from the Sol system.[note 1]
Known Colonies
There are at least 590 Outer Colonies.[1] 36 colony worlds, 21 systems, and 2 space station colonies have been mentioned so far.
| System | Colony | Status |
|---|---|---|
| 23 Librae system | Madrigal | Glassed in 2528 |
| The Rubble | Abandoned and destroyed except for Habitat Exodus | |
| 26 Draconis system | Levosia | Unknown |
| 111 Tauri system | Victoria | Unknown |
| Alpha Aurigae System | Unknown | Unknown |
| Beta Centauri | Unknown | Unknown |
| Charybdis system | Charybdis IX | Glassed |
| Circinius system | Circinius IV | Glassed in 2526 |
| Chi Ceti system | Chi Ceti IV | Abandoned in 2525, but reoccupied by UNSC in 2558 |
| Cygnus system | Cygnus II | Unknown |
| New Jerusalem | Glassed in 2552 | |
| Elduros system | Aleria | Fallen out of UEG control |
| Epsilon Indi system | Harvest | Glassed in 2525, retaken by UNSC |
| Eridanus system | Eridanus II | Glassed in 2530 |
| Eridanus secundus | Destroyed in 2552 | |
| Mamore | Unknown, likely glassed | |
| Escala system | Escala III | Still held |
| Groombridge-1830 system | Unknown | System attacked in 2530, but still held by UNSC |
| Hestia system | Meridian | Glassed in 2551. Under control by the Liang Dortmund company. |
| Lambda Serpentis system | Jericho VII | Glassed in 2535 |
| Lambda Aurigae system | Roost | Unknown |
| Orrichon system | Sedra | Shifted away from the UEG during and after the war |
| Procyon system | Arcadia | Attacked in 2531. Destroyed in 2549 |
| Sverdlovsk system | Talitsa | Still held |
| XI Boötis A system | Unknown | Unknown |
| Unknown | Asmara | Glassed |
| Biko | Glassed in 2525 | |
| Bliss | Glassed in 2526 | |
| Cleyell | Glassed in 2556[13] | |
| Coral | Attacked in 2552, most likely glassed | |
| Cote d'Azure | Glassed | |
| Desdoron | Unknown | |
| Dwarka | Unknown, likely glassed | |
| Green Hills | Glassed in 2525 | |
| Hat Yai | Glassed in either 2528 or 2529 | |
| Minab | Glassed | |
| Paradise Falls | Unknown | |
| Ruthersburg | Glassed | |
| Sansar | Glassed | |
| Second Base | Glassed in 2525 | |
| Verent | Unknown | |
| Vodin | Glassed in 2532 |
Appearances
- Halo 3
- Halo: Reach
- Halo Wars
- Halo: The Fall of Reach
- Halo: The Flood
- Halo: First Strike
- Halo: Ghosts of Onyx
- Halo: Contact Harvest
- Halo: The Cole Protocol
- Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe
- i love bees
- Halo Legends
- Halo 5: Guardians
Notes
- ↑ As the Lambda Serpentis system was one of the last outer colonies to be attacked before the Inner colonies in 2536, this means that the Outer Colonies begin at least 38-light years away from Earth.
Sources
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Xbox.com Halo Storyline (Defunct, Copy on HBO Forums)
- ↑ Halo Encyclopedia, page 45
- ↑ Halo Encyclopedia, page 43
- ↑ Halo: Ghosts of Onyx, page 183
- ↑ Halo Encyclopedia, page 288
- ↑ Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn
- ↑ Halo: Reach - Collectible: Data Pad 14
- ↑ Halo: First Strike, pages 98-99: And what did the citizens of the Outer Colonies think? Those who hadn't fled to remote outposts and hidden privateer bases weren't in any position to make trouble. The Covenant didn't take prisoners.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Hunt the Truth - Episode 09: Phantoms (Part 1)/(Part 2)
- ↑ Hunt the Truth - Episode 13: In The Bag (Part 1)/(Part 2)
- ↑ Halo 5: Guardians - Level: Guardians
- ↑ Halo: Contact Harvest - page 115
- ↑ Halo: Escalation Issue 17