Jacinto

"The jewel of inter-species relations. It won't last, the aliens still want to exterminate humanity! Peace was never an option to begin with! End this traitorous treaty! Vengeance for the billions slaughtered!"

- Anonymous protester of the ISCA, 2554.

The Collective Commonwealth of Jacinto, (CCJ) usually referred to as Jacinto, and formerly named Hyacinth δ, is a terrestrial world located in the and stands as one of humanity's most successful settled planets. With vast collections of untapped resources and fertile land for agriculture, provided settlers with the necessary capabilities for rapid growth, and to develop into a major economic hub for the well into the 2550s. Jacinto is the third planet in its solar system and provides an atmosphere suitable for human habitability and the sustaining of its own unique and exotic biosphere.

Jacinto was officially settled in 2370 under a joint Greco-Portuguese effort, which had also been partially funded by the European Union. The first wave of colonization was spearheaded by the colony ships UEEV Stellar Horizon and the UEEV Saint Ovidius. When the colonists arrived at the world, they found out it was perfectly habitable, and required very little to no terraforming at all. The colony soon expanded rapidly and exploded in development, with cities being erected all over the planet. Unchecked economic growth for nearly thirty years after it was first settled would make Jacinto a thriving colony and one of humanity's most treasured worlds for the next two centuries.

Following the end of the war, Jacinto would establish an inter-species trading network between the humans,, , , and Yonhet. However, cross-species tensions still remained high on the colony as the planet was besieged by Covenant forces in 2551 with it finally being lifted in 2553 with the. The Covenant had sent a small but formidable invasion force to Jacinto to capture the planet for its valuable Helium-3 and Platinum deposits. The resulting invasion lasted for two years with brutal fighting on the surface and in orbit before a ceasefire was declared.

Formation
It is believed that Jacinto formed around 4.621 ± 0.0019 billion years ago, roughly 55 million years before the formation of Earth. It is theorized that Jacinto finally cooled around 4.5391 ± 0.0002 billion years ago, where early developments of Jacinto's atmosphere began. However, the rest of the Hyacinth system continued to develop and the resuming of asteroid impacts halted atmospheric development for another 75 million years, thanks to remaining fragments of the circumstellar disc left over from the formation of Jacinto's sun.

A working hypothesis that first began in 2532, stated that at one point during the formation of the Hyacinth system, Jacinto and Hyacinth ε came dangerously close to colliding with one another around 4.4 billion years ago. Luckily however, the orbit of Jacinto stabilized, moving away from Hyacinth ε. This would later become essential to the development of life on Jacinto.

Angel disaster
The most popular and accepted theory for the formation of Jacinto's single natural satellite, Ocaño. During its formation, Jacinto had attracted three protoplanets that would later come to form Jacinto's single natural satellite Ocaño, but with results that would resemble Armageddon itself. Sometime around 4.38 billion years ago, the three protoplanets named after angels of the Jewish and Christian faiths, Raphael, Gabriel, and Michael collided with one another into a much larger planetary object named, Sandalphon which quickly destabilized its orbit, sending the object down to the surface of Jacinto. It is believed that this object collided with Jacinto, scattering debris around the planet which would later form Jacinto's single moon. This theory also states that one of the three protoplanets carried the building blocks of life and that this colossal event led to the formation and evolution of life on Jacinto. This event was rather unusual, as it is believed to have caused problems for the evolution of life and the development of Jacinto's atmosphere, with earliest evidence of life and atmosphere only showing up 970 million years after this event. The period between these two events have come to be known as the Great Silence.

Evolution of life
The earliest universal common ancestor (EUCA) of life found on Jacinto dates back to 3.41 billion years ago. With evidence found within meta-sedimentary soil in the form of biogenic carbon excretions from allotropes such as graphite, amorphous carbon, and coal. Jacinto's high oxygen content is theorized to be in response to rapid photosynthesis development from Jacinto's earliest forms of microbial lifeforms and flora. Due to Jacinto's massively complex life structure, it is widely accepted to be in thanks to the bonding of complex multicellular cells and the formation of eukaryotes. It is theorized that Jacinto has experienced at least two mass extinctions since the Ocaño disaster, with the second extinction being the deadliest, causing at least 96% of all life on Jacinto to die out. The first mass extinction is placed to have occurred around 556 million years ago and the second about 179 million years ago.

Thanks to Jacinto's 33% oxygen content, insects and arachnids found on Jacinto are comparably three-and-a-half times larger than those found on Earth. The most iconic native insect, the Dragonhawk, which closely resembles Earth's dragonfly, has a wingspan of two feet. Most Earth migrated species have not been very lucky with a few exceptions like the elk, Iberian hares and goats.

Jacinto has a wide variety of wildlife, with many species of mammalian, avian and reptilian classification to name a few. Mammals are currently the dominant and most diverse species among Jacintan wildlife. However, that was not the case before the second mass extinction event. It is believed that Reptiles, along with other new classifications were once the dominant species of animals found on Jacinto around 180 million years ago.

Forerunner colonization
Roughly 97,545 BCE, the Forerunner Ecumene discovered and colonized the planet of Jacinto. While it was colonized, the planet was designated FM-1-10 and the colony's main purpose was to study the various forms of life, and began the process of cataloging all lifeforms for reseeding.

Human discovery
The discovery of Jacinto was not one of intention, it was simply an accident while attempting to survey the distant Universe. In 2019, the James Webb Space Telescope attempted to capture high-resolution infrared images of the galaxy MHC10-151030 which had been first discovered by the Hubble Space Telescope in October 2015. However, the positioning of the JWST was off by a few meters after a temporary blackout lasting only 3.0001538 seconds. This blackout would never be fully explained but once the telescope had come back online, it had focused on a star system within the Milky Way galaxy and took 15 photos of the system. A star system previously undiscovered and only 33.4 light-years away from Earth.

This star system was later named JWST-190424 and was one of the telescope's first major discoveries. With the images compiled, scientists at the Mauna Kea observatory and the Kepler space observatory began studying the system and soon confirmed that JWST-190424 was home to over seven planets. Revealed in 2021, two of the seven planets were confirmed to be within the habitable zone of JWST-190424 by Greek-American astrophysicist Rylie Thorne and later renamed JWST-190424 to Hyacinth α after a hero in Greek mythology. Hyacinth δ, the third planet in the Hyacinth system would later become known as Jacinto. The other potentially habitable planet was also named Hyacinth ε.

Colonization
Beginning in 2295, four years after the creation of humanity's first thanks to the efforts of Doctors  and, the Unified Earth Government began cataloging all known potential worlds to be colonized within a 100 light-year bubble around the Sol system. However, it would not be until 2362 when humanity would begin colonizing outside of their home-system.

Jacinto was colonized in 2370 by people of Greek and Portuguese descent from the colony ships UEEV Saint Ovidius and Stellar Horizon. While it was a joint and good-natured effort, the colonists of the two ships established too separate settlements. With the Ovidius establishing Cedros, and the Stellar Horizon founding the settlement of Vidaes. Both colony ships were dismantled to be used as materials for the construction of the two settlements. Three years later, three more colony ships arrived in the Hyacinth system. Two of the ships would go on to Jacinto while the third turned its sights on the world of Hyacinth ε.

By the turn of the century, Jacinto was a sprawling colony. With a population of little over 3,000,000 by 2400 and at least eight established cities, the colony was doing very well. However, tense cultural strife erupted between the Jacintans over establishing the colony's capital city. Colonists of Greek ethnicity designated the city of Vidaes to become the colonial capital while those of Portuguese descent demanded Cedros become the capital and economic center of the planet. This petty feud almost devolved into open conflict, this feud even found its way back to Earth, which got the attention of the United Nations and Unified Earth Government. Both governing bodies of humanity later intervened made a compromise. The city of Cedros would become the capital of Jacinto, and the city along with Vidaes would become designated major economic hubs and trading centers between intertwining colonies. Feeling satisfied that Portuguese-Jacintans would not be reaping economic benefits and creating an ethnic wealth gap, Greek-Jacintans later pulled back their threats and would continue to live in peace as Jacinto entered its golden era, and with it the ethnic barrier soon faded away. It is believed that if the UN and UEG to not intervene and compromise, Jacinto would not be the major economic powerhouse it is in the 26th Century.

The Golden Century
The 2400s was an era of Jacinto's history that saw massive economic growth. During these years, many corporations and factions came into existence on Jacinto, most notably CybCell Incorporated and the iniCom Corporation which produced unmanned ordnance for the UNSC as well as being leading developers of artificial intelligences for both civilian and military sectors. However, during the 2400s, Jacinto was not immune to economic recessions and depressions. Thw worst occurring in 2461 which severely crashed the stock market and cause an unemployment increase of 12.4% before re-stabilizing in 2465.

It was in this century, that Jacinto had seen the most of its growth. Colonists from Earth, mostly from Portugal, Greece, Macedonia, Turkey, Spain and Brazil immigrated to Jacinto. By the mid-2400s, some colonists were even emigrating from other colonies to rebuild their lives on Jacinto, due to its massive and emerging job market and vast unclaimed fertile lands ripe for agriculture and city development. When this happened, the population of Jacinto was nearing 250 million.

Jacinto reached its peak in 2490, four years before the outbreak of the Insurrection. Jacinto also took its place as being the third strongest human world in terms of economy and gross domestic product. At it's peak, Jacinto's total nominal gross domestic product numbered at 79 trillion credits. For comparison, the same year Earth's nominal GDP numbered around 147 trillion credits, and Reach's GDP being 86 trillion credits.

At the beginning of the 26th century, and the increasing tension and intensity with the outbreak of the insurrection, Jacinto experienced a 14 year recession due to terrorist attacks decreasing stocks and the 100 year rapid growth causing a rise in inflation, which nearly crippled the colony's economy almost forcing to default in 2513. Thankfully, in 2515 as the Insurrection began to become more and more isolated and less destructive to colonial infrastructure, along with inflation rates decreased due to temporary policies increasing interest rates, higher taxation eventually allowed the economy to heal

Founding of CybCell

 * Main Article: CybCell Intelligence Systems

Jacinto became the birthplace and home of many powerful corporations. However, no corporation be more popular and powerful than CybCell Intelligence Systems. The corporation was founded in 2449 and soon quickly became a household name. CybCell specialized in the created of advanced artificial intelligence and drone systems. The company was heavily contracted by the United Nations Space Command, Office of Naval Intelligence and the Jacintan Colonial Defence Force. Throughout the 25th Century, CybCell grew ever so more powerful when they bought out the Kahl Corporation who was struggling financially and was CybCell's first major competitor. This buy out soon established a slight monopoly in the artificial intelligence and drone trades. Soon, even off-world companies and other colonial militia and defence groups soon began relying on CybCell's AIs and combat drones.

However, this caught the attention of the Reach-based company, iniCom Corporation to expand into the Jacinto market and actively try to end CybCell's monopoly of AI and drone systems. The arrival of iniCom in 2501 would eventually lead to bitter corporate rivalry that involved harsh tactics and sabotage, ending only in tragedy.

Corporate Rivalry
The expansion of the iniCom Corporation into Jacinto caused many problems for the executives of CybCell Intelligence Systems. Not only did iniCom specialize in their own manufacturing of artificial intelligence and drones, they even refined and in some cases, perfected AI and drone systems, most famously were the '''Draco Mk. III combat drones''', and also manufactured the first ever bipedal combat robotics and advanced weapons technology. These innovations and new technologies gained the favor of the JCDF and even had contracts with the UNSC and ONI. This forced CybCell to expand into developing new weapons technology and improving on their combat drone models, however their models were still losing profits to iniCom.

Finally, CybCell began launching an aggressive marketing campaign against iniCom products, stating and providing accusations that iniCom products were not reliable and were extremely volatile under intense stress. CybCell also claimed that the Friend or Foe detection system in the A.C.U drones could fail randomly and perceive civilians, law enforcement and military personnel as hostile. CybCell also launched a series of secret corporate sabotage attacks on iniCom which purposely reprogrammed certain products to follow through with their accusations. The loss in consumer trust in iniCom and massive losses in profits while CybCell gained, eventually led to iniCom discovered several of CybCell's sabotage attempts and soon launched attacks of their own. However, iniCom had not discovered the sabotage of their Autonomous Combat Units, and would soon suffer the price.

The corporate rivalry suddenly ended in tragedy when in 2504, when an A.C.U. drone boarded a maglev train that was being held hostage by a group of Insurrectionists in the city of Rhodes. When confronting the Insurrectionists, the A.C.U. drone experienced a glitch in its Friend or Foe system and identified the Insurrectionists, JCDF personnel and civilians on the train as hostile and proceeded to fire on all parties. The drone killed the Insurrectionists, several JCDF soldiers and many civilians before being taken down by the JCDF. This tragedy caused a massive financial loss for iniCom, who immediately halted all sales and production of future A.C.U. models, and immediately recalled all deployed models to fix the glitch. After this event, both executives from CybCell and iniCom, along with an anonymous ONI agent met in secrecy to discuss their attacks on each other that caused the tragedy, from this the ONI operative ordered the cessation of hostilities between the corporations and that they will both be contracted to produce their products for the UNSC and ONI to combat the growing Insurrectionist threat, as well as continuing the A.C.U. series.

Rise of Crimson Siris

 * Main Article: Crimson Siris

Following several CybCell facilities that came under attack from insurrectionists, the corporation founded and funded their own private security force, Crimson Siris. On paper, the force was created as a way to protect CybCell assets from attack. However, during the rivalry between CybCell and iniCom, they conducted several sabotage and espionage attempts against iniCom, including being the ones behind the A.C.U. sabotage.

Insurrection

 * Main Article: Insurrection on Jacinto

Outbreak
"Disturbing breaking news out of Cedros. It appears that there has been a terrorist attack on the JCDF headquarters. Our sources say that there at at least twenty-one confirmed dead, with many more missing... uh... we're also getting word from Springley that an attack on the Norhill Space Tether has also occurred. We will update you further as we learn more details about these horrific acts."

- A news report during the attacks in 2497 on the Jacinto News Network (JNN).

At approximately 15:07 on the Saturday of February 9th, 2497, the first terror attacks of Jacinto's insurrection took the lives of over six-hundred lives with hundreds more injured after members of Jacinto's new found insurrectionist movement planted a bomb in the Norhill Space Tether, detonating it when it ascended to offload cargo onto an orbiting UNSC cargo ship. The explosion occurred several kilometers in the sky, heavily damaging the space elevator and stranding hundreds of survivors. For nearly four years, the Norhill Space Tether had to be closed to undergo repairs.

Additional attacks were also carried out against JCDF personnel and facilities with an explosion reported inside the headquarters of the Jacintan Colonial Defence Force in Cedros. The next day, the Colonial Governor issued an order for the deployment of the JCDF to hunt down and destroy those affiliated with the Insurrectionist group.

Operation: HAMMERHEAD
Between 2497 and 2500, the JCDF launched Operation: HAMMERHEAD, which saw massive crackdowns on insurrectionists safehouses, weapon caches and leading to the arrests of thousands of known and suspected sympathizers, accomplices and criminals in response to the attacks on the Norhill elevator and JCDF headquarters. The operation led to the gaining of intelligence of most major insurrectionists cells that still posed threats as well as the possible location of the insurrectionist movement, Maria Zimmerman, a retired UNSC Air Force pilot and former miner of the Jacinto-based mining corporation, Augmentix Heavy Industries a subsidiary of CybCell Intelligence Systems.

Initial operations in the capture of Zimmerman failed, as the information given were falsified, or resulted in the location being trapped, killing several JCDF personnel over the next two years. Finally, the JCDF were able to track down Maria Zimmerman in 2499 in a makeshift base of operations for the insurrectionists built into the side of a mountain on Seulon. The battle that took place lasted two days before the JCDF cleared out the base and capturing Zimmerman. Her capture left the insurrection movement disorganized for three years before she escaped from a JCDF prison during the insurrectionist assault on the city of Rhodes.

Battle of Rhodes
For three years, the insurrectionist movement was disorganized and on the run. Over those three years, several other would-be leader were captured and moved to a maximum security prison in Rhodes. This was a major mistake however. The prison held many of the movements leaders, including Maria Zimmerman. After learning of this, many insurrectionists planned an escape attempt. Several thousand men and women would storm the city of Rhodes to create a diversion, while a smaller one hundred-man group assaulted the prison. On April 3rd, 2503 the city of Rhodes erupted into chaos.

Civilians, law enforcement and JCDF personnel were slaughtered throughout the city of Rhodes. After hearing of the attacks, the closest garrison of JCDF soldiers was inside the prison. Out of the two-hundred guards, one hundred and fifty of them had left the prison in order to reinforce the remaining police officers and troops. This left the prison severely understaffed and son the one hundred insurrectionists were storming the walls of the prison. The guards soon found themselves surrounded and outgunned. What added fuel to the fire was the releasing of not just the insurrectionist leaders, but also the hundreds of convicted criminals, unleashing them back into the world. By the time reinforcements came from other cities and military bases, Rhodes was burning, and the guards at the prison were all but slaughtered. The Battle of Rhodes resumed for another ten days, but the leaders of the insurrectionists and several extremely dangerous prisoners had escaped.

The battles would be one of the bloodiest engagements on the Jacinto until the Covenant invaded in 2551, with a total loss of life reaching into the thousands.

Operation: RAVEN ROCK
In retaliation to the massacre at Rhodes, the JCDF and now the UNSC launched several devastating campaigns against the insurrectionists between 2504 and 2512. The death toll on both sides were staggering, with suicide bombings and booby trapped safehouses contributing the most to JCDF and UNSC casualties. Eventually, most firefights between the JCDF and insurrectionists moved away from cities and evolved into guerrilla-styled warfare in the forests of the Pharos and Ibis.

The JCDF once again began arresting civilians who were suspected of having ties to the rebel movement. Many civilians described the scene like the rise of a dictator. Seeing your neighbors and family members being arrested on the streets and doorsteps of their own homes. One notable event, known as the Winston Street Bombing, saw four police officers murdered after someone detonated an explosive device inside their own home as they were being arrested.

The JCDF also began a massive manhunt for the escaped prisoners from Rhodes, with the main target being Germain Abasolo, one of Jacinto's most dangerous and most notorious terrorists. Their hunt would lead to one of the most devastating attacks on the Commonwealth of Jacinto in its history.

Herrara attacks

 * Main Article: 2510 Herrara terrorist attacks

On a cold Thursday evening, the lives of the citizens of Herrara changed forever. Nine sudden and devastating terrorist attacks took place throughout the city in a span of minutes. The worst attacks taking place during a televised ice hockey match, inside the Herrara Public Library and at least three light rail subway bombings. The attacks were carried out not by insurrectionist fighters, but rather by the citizens of Herrara itself. Twenty-three citizens, native to the city, planted or wore suicidal vests at the nine different locations. Out of the twenty-three, only five were captured and interrogated. When asked why they did it, they simply said it was for the money. The interrogators later found out that the majority of the citizens that carried out the attacks were actually homeless or poor. The terrorists were quite literally picked up off the streets. However, one of the vest bombers had surprisingly been captured, and later revealed that those that wore the vests were forced, and had been people of the middle-class, doctors mostly. The vest bomber also revealed the identity of the man who orchestrated the attacks. The man none other than the notorious Germain Abasolo, who later confirmed his role in the attacks by claiming responsibility the following day.

Attack on Cedros
Despite the attacks in Herrara, the insurrectionist movement throughout Jacinto was losing ground. Thanks to support from the UNSC and local civilian militia groups, the JCDF had successfully destroyed several terrorist and rebel cells and strongholds. After witnessing the attacks in Rhodes, Herrara and the countless lives of innocents being taken by the insurrectionists, the original cause for the insurrectionist movement was long forgotten, and civilian opinion of the rebels was at the lowest it could possibly be. Protests were held throughout the planet, calling for the criminal persecution and execution of all rebel-affiliated persons. All throughout Jacinto, the calls for vengeance further weakened the state of the rebels, with some members completely abandoning and deserting their posts and returning home, in hopes that they would never be discovered and be left in their peace and their guilt.

Hope for the insurrection faded and it would not be until 2514 until the fighting would resume. Maria Zimmerman had been planning for years to end the conflict. This plan included a full attack on the Commonwealth's center of power, Cedros. At this point, Zimmerman was half insane, willing to let thousands die just to eliminate the Colonial Governor.

On April 24th, 2514 the day of reckoning had begun. During a Senate session, Zimmerman and dozens of loyal insurrectionists stormed the Capitol building in Cedros. The resulting confusion and firefight left many dead on both sides, along with several government employees and Senators. However, the main target was the Governor, who had been already relocated to a bunker underneath the building. Zimmerman a small team of her best fighters to search for the Governor under the building, while the rest of the rebels held the government as hostage as the JCDF and UNSC responded and surrounded the building.

After a while, Zimmerman had finally found the entrance to the bunker, but she had no equipment capable of breaching the thick bunker door. The situation left her full of rage, firing on the door with her rifle before turning it on her own men and making a mad dash to the top of the Capitol building to instead kill all members of the Commonwealth government. When she finally reached the top, she found her Insurrectionists engaged with the JCDF and UNSC, breaching the front doors and rappelling down from the building's ceiling windows. As she watched her Insurrection come to an end, it is believed she finally reached a point of total insanity. Letting out a disturbing, maniacal laugh before taking her own life with her sidearm.

To this day, it is still not fully understood why this attack even occurred, or why other leaders did not try to stop Zimmerman, as this battle ended all possibility of rebel forces continuing the conflict, as all competent leadership soon faded into the shadows, leaving the movement fragmented. Some Historians believed it was a rushed attempt to end the conflict and incite as much terror as they possibly could, knowing full well the stupidity and risk of such an attack.

Final Operations
With Maria Zimmerman dead, and the majority of Insurrectionist leaders captured or fled, the rebellion quickly fell to pieces. While most rebels deserted or surrendered, some chose to continue the fighting. Many bombings and engagements continued for another year in a last desperate attempt to cause chaos. The JCDF launched one final push to defeat the terrorists, taking out the last few remaining strongholds, and arresting or eliminating the last pockets of resistance across the colony.

Finally in 2515, the Insurrection on Jacinto had officially ended. While isolated attacks would occur well into the 2550s, the insurrectionists could no longer field massive engagements and launch major strikes on Jacinto. The end to the war was quite bittersweet. While many Jacintans celebrated the end of the Insurrection, a total of 877,459 lives were lost throughout the eighteen-year conflict. The people of Jacinto would rejoice, but they will never forget. The end to the insurrection on Jacinto led to a period of rebuilding and security, until that fateful day of September 9th, 2551.

Human-Covenant War

 * Main Article: Siege of Jacinto

At approximately 03:36 on September 9th, 2551, the lives of every Jacintan changed forever. While they had known about the war for some time, they never thought the war would come to their doorstep. But all of that changed when the first Covenant signatures were detected in orbit. This day saw the largest mobilization of the JCDF since 2497, when the Insurrection on Jacinto began. By the time the sun had risen over the Vanora Ocean, most of Jacinto's major cities were under occupation by the JCDF. All throughout the colony, the people of Jacinto were being awoken by the sound of air raid sirens and evacuation billboards. The JCDF had already cleared out multiple cities and millions of citzens were being evacuated to Jacinto's sixteen spaceports. The JCDF had managed to only evacuate a mere 14 million people before a Covenant frigate began intercepting and destroying the evacuation shuttles using inter-system slipspace jumps. JCDF Command had also lost contact with the Hyacinth defence fleet after its reported defeat from the invading Covenant fleet, in which the fleet numbers were incorrectly inflated from its actual size. Because of this, all evacuation attempts were cancelled, with the belief that the entire planet was surrounded.

This caused a worldwide panic among the people of Jacinto, fearing for their lives, many of the people fled heavily populated zones, or begun to seek shelter in underground facilities. In just seven hours, the entire planet fell into chaos, and the JCDF HQ had then lost contact with their own defence fleet. Thankfully however, this was only caused from heavy solar activity from Hyacinth, in which communication with the Colonial Defence Fleet was reestablished.

It would take another four hours for the JCDF to have contact with the Hyacinth defence fleet, which had returned to the colony after its defeat to the Covenant invasion force. With both fleets successfully regrouped in orbit above Jacinto, some form of order was returning to the colony. The unusual delay of Covenant was only caused from the fact that they had targeted the colony of Hyacinth ε first. Despite receiving calls for help, JCDF Supreme Commander Veronica Garcia made the decision not to send out the fleets to assist the colony, a decision that would weigh heavily for the commander for many years.

The regrettable sacrifice of Hyacinth ε's population allowed the JCDF to regain control of the colony and prepare for the future invasion to come. The JCDF, with assistance from the UNSC garrison was also able to send out a distress call for aid. While it was received, assistance with the defence of Jacinto would not arrive until a year later.

After the destruction of Hyacinth ε, the Covenant fleet responsible regrouped beyond the system's asteroid belt, to await the arrival of a much larger fleet to begin the invasion of the heavily fortified human colony. On September 11th, the official reports of the larger Covenant arriving were broadcasted from several remote scanning outposts before going dark. Finally, the Siege had begun on September 12th as the fleets of humanity and Covenant both clashed in orbit. The battle was hard fought, and many Covenant ships were destroyed, thanks in part to the five Orbital Defence Platforms around the planet. However, the Covenant still managed to break through the human lines and began deploying troops to the surface.

The result, one of the most destructive and most hard-fought battles of the war. The battle was met with such human ferocity never before seen or ever thought possible. The battle wasn't just bad for the humans, but for the Covenant as well. The siege led to the first ever observances of possible Post Traumatic Stress disorders seen in prisoners of war among the Sangheili. While not important at the time, it saw many award-winning scientific and thesis papers written about the subject after the war.

The Siege would last a little over a year and a half, but humanity would come out victorious. While the majority of the infrastructure and environment were severely damaged, there is hope that the planet, and its people will heal and survive.

Post-War Status
"With the war over, we now have a chance to rebuild, and bury our loved ones. We will never forget the ones we lost, and we shall mourn them forever."

- Governor Ioannidis, 2553

Thanks to the efforts of the UNSC, JCDF, law enforcement and its courageous civilians, the colony of Jacinto survived the war. Reconstruction efforts began almost immediately once the ceasefire was declared. While difficult at first, Jacintans began to return to their homes, and contribute to the reconstruction and mourn the loss of their loved ones. Governor Markos Ioannidis declared March 16th to be a colonial holiday and day of mourning to remember the Siege of Jacinto. On March 24th, 2553 the official numbers of casualties sustained during the battle were immense, with Jacinto losing roughly 67.7% of its population. The loss had a heavy psychological and economic impact on Jacintans that survived the battle. The colonial government feared that widespread post-traumatic stress would run rampant throughout the surviving population. Thankfully, only a small portion of the civilian population developed PTSD-like symptoms. Sadly, this was not the case for military and law enforcement personnel, with reported cases of post-traumatic stress disorder and suicides among veterans of the Siege reaching an all-time high in 2556.

By the end of 2553, the majority of Jacinto's cities had been rebuilt, with a promising rebound in the colonial economy. While still severely damaged, the environment had also been healing, with former battlefields along the countryside being repopulated with animal and plant life. But the full recovery of Jacinto's environment is estimated to occur for many hundreds of years.

Following the end of the war, Jacinto was one of the few remaining colonies with major economic influence and stability. With the loss of Reach, Jacinto became a sort of replacement. In 2555, the colonial government was contracted by the UNSC to construction an additional twelve shipyards, as well as repairing the colony's original three shipyards in order to bolster the reconstruction of the battered UNSC Navy. By 2558, Jacinto will have contributed to about 25% to the rebuilding of the Navy.

Jacintan Colonial Defence Force

 * Main Article: Jacintan Colonial Defence Force

After being colonized, Jacinto did not establish its own self-defense force or request the establishment of a UNSC garrison on the colony. The only military personnel present on Jacinto for a time were the 1,000 soldiers that had gone with the colonists. However, by 2415 as Jacinto was becoming one of humanity's most successful and powerful colonies coupled with virtually unstoppable economic growth, the Colonial Governor established the Jacintan Colonial Defence Force (JCDF) in 2420. The JCDF would be privately funded through the colony itself and would be allowed permits to license ships from SinoViet shipyards. By the time the Insurrection began in 2494, the manpower of the JCDF numbered at 300,000 active personnel with an additional 150,000 in reserves. The JCDF had also acquired a small fleet of thirty-five ships of frigate and destroyer classification.

UNSC Garrison
In 2499, an insurrectionist cell sprouted up on Jacinto. Numerous terrorist attacks were taken out on UNSC military complexes, including severely damaging a shipyard as well as causing serious damage to Jacinto's industrial sectors, crashing their economy in 2502 which would cause a ripple effect across the rest of the colonies as stocks plummeted. Action was finally taken later that year when the UNSC sent a garrison force of 10,000 to assist with JCDF operations and ensure the security of UNSC and ONI structures. When this insurrectionist cell was defeated in 2515, the UNSC sent another 5,000 men and women to strengthen the garrison. Since the founding of the JCDF, Jacinto had largely defended itself, but now the UNSC had planted its feet on the colony, which would soon aid the Jacintans against their defence of the colony against the Covenant in 2551.

Police and Security
Many of Jacinto's cities have police departments, the largest being the Cedros Metro Police Department, which played a major role in the defense of the city during the Covenant siege of the colony. In 2551, the total number of law enforcement around the planet numbered at 34,600.

With such a low number for a heavily populated colony world, many police departments purchased '''Draco Mk. III combat drones''' from the iniCom Corporation. These drones could police areas of cities that officers could not. Also, without infringing on the personal and private rights of a city's denizens, these drones could respond swiftly to any situation deemed a hazardous threat to police or pedestrians, effectively disabling criminal vehicles, or aiding police forces that are engaged.

The Draco Mk. III drones faced heavy criticism and fears that everyday citizens would be watched day and night by the police and government. Many protests were held every few years to ban the usage of these drones, claiming they infringe on people's personal lives, and cast a 1984-esque shadow upon the cities they were deployed in. When the Covenant attacked, these drones proved valuable to city police forces who did not have the firepower to combat the Covenant. It is believed this drones saved thousands of lives, buying time for police to consolidate their manpower to aiding in the evacuation of cities. After the war, the Draco Mk. IV drones entered service and became very popular with other clients such as the United Nations Space Command, Office of Naval Intelligence, Crimson Siris, as well as police departments across Jacinto and on other colonies.

Naval Intelligence
The Office of Naval Intelligence had seeded itself on Jacinto as early as the first settlements in 2370. At least four bases had been established on Jacinto by ONI by 2551. The Delta-Nine Facility was the first ONI building on Jacinto, located in the capital of Cedros and constructed in 2385. RHODES Base was the second facility constructed in 2402 outside the city of Vidaes. The third base was constructed in 2460 into the side of Jacinto's second highest mountain range, Serra da Guarda for which is is named after, GUARDA Base. And the fourth base constructed in secret, known as Camp Yankee which conducts classified studies on Forerunner artifacts found on the colony in 2510 beneath the Ayance Canyon.

Other Defences

 * Numbers are estimated from reports dated 2550-2553.
 * Active Manpower: 650,000 (2551)
 * Reserve personnel: 200,000 (2551)
 * Civilians available for service: 349,651,213
 * Civilians fit for service: 289,161,553
 * Total land assets: 33,210
 * Total naval assets: 90 ships (2550); 182 ships (2551)
 * Total 'wet' naval assets: 22 ships (2552)
 * Total air assets: 5,420
 * Serviceable airports: 823
 * Serviceable spaceports: 16
 * Defence budget: cR. 18,450,230,000 (2550); cR. 22,170,000,000 (2553)

Food & Agriculture
The lands of Seulon and the southern half of Pharos prove to be the most fertile areas of Jacinto. The majority of the inhabitants of Seulon are farmers with the only urban location being the city of Emborió. Jacinto produces a wide variety of grains, meats, fruits and vegetables, with certain animals and plants native to Jacinto becoming popular delicacies throughout the Colonies.

While throughout most of Jacinto's human history, the agriculture industry was going strong, the aftermath of the siege left many farms destroyed. Entire crops and livestock were either taken by both sides for food or killed off all together in the heavy fighting. With food shortages already reported as early as 2553, it may take decades for the agriculture industry to resurface to its pre-war capabilities.

Energy
The Commonwealth of Jacinto utilizes both nuclear reactors and hydrogen fuel cells to power its infrastructure and vehicles. It is also known that hydroelectric and wind power are also utilized to power some of Jacinto's cities, such as Rhodes that is completely powered by using three hydroelectric dams from the Daros river delta, and the city of Emborió using both wind turbines and nuclear power.

Jacinto is one of the largest suppliers of Deuterium to the UNSC and merchant companies. And recently became the target of the Covenant for its abundant supplies of Helium-3 found on its moon, Ocaño.

Raw & Industrial Materials
The mountains of Jacinto have been mined extensively mined for its plentiful raw materials and rare resources. The planet is also extremely rich in platinum deposits and very recently deposits of palladium and titanium have been discovered with industries moving in to begin excavation operations. Iron, steel and forestry industries also exist throughout the planet, refining the production products to be used on Jacinto or shipped anywhere in the Colonies.

Finished Goods
There is a very small presence of vehicular, machinery and home appliances industries. Most of the goods from these sectors are imported and bought from off-world companies. However, companies like CybCell and iniCom have a relatively good market on Jacinto in selling their products.

Services
Basic services like health care, engineering, construction have a strong base on Jacinto along with the majority of other colonies and Earth, due to them being essential needs for a productive society.

Transportation
The infrastructure of Jacinto is highly developed, with hundreds of highways and high-speed railways making transportation easily available. The Trans-Continental Highway, which connects the continent of Pharos and Seulon was built in 2462 and extends from Cedros, to Vidaes, to Emborió with many locations in between.

Tourism and Gambling
Jacinto has become a popular tourist spot for its resorts in Jacinto's tropical regions like Herrara and the Timoti islands off the south-western coast of Pharos. Ski resorts are also opened year-round in the Bluehollow and de Guarda mountain ranges. Throughout most of Jacinto, gambling has been decriminalized. However, gambling is still illegal in Aelburn and Herrara provinces.

Politics
The Jacintan Colonial Senate is located in the city of Cedros and is made up of eight parties, which was maintained by the until 2529 when its governance over Jacinto was dissolved by the UNSC. The Senate is consisted of 105 representatives, three from Jacinto's thirty-five provinces. Out of the eight parties, there are three major parties that have exactly or more than twenty-four representatives in the Senate that take up more than two-thirds of the Jacintan government. The three major parties are the democratic socialist-leaning Social Democrat Alliance, the conservative-leaning Collective Unionist Party , and the secessionist Western Alliance Coalition.

The Western Alliance Coalition has gained popularity in the early 26th Century with the outbreak of the Insurrection. The party refused to support local insurrectionists but also condemned the UNSC for failing to keep their colony safe, despite the fact that Jacinto had its own standing military that was already fighting the insurrectionists. The party soon lost membership as well as most of its seats in the Senate but eventually rose in the polls and regained their former seats in the 2540s when the war against the Covenant went public. The party claimed that previous history when conflict arose on Jacinto, the UNSC failed to protect it. The party later used fear tactics stating that if the Covenant invaded, the UNSC would not help Jacinto, and that Jacinto must become an independent state in order to save the lives of millions. After the war, the party gained even more popularity and surpassed the Unionists as the second largest party in the government after the 2554 elections, with having only 13 less seats than the Social Democrats. The Coalition also became largely xenophobic when the Inter-Species Commerce Agreement was signed.

Ethnicity & Language
About two-thirds of Jacinto's population are Portuguese and Greek descendants. The languages are the largest and most spoken among households across Jacinto with Greek holding a slight majority. Since its colonization, several other settlers of European and African descent emigrated to Jacinto. Business is conducted in English, which after some generations, all if not, most Jacintans speak English fluently as a second language.

Religion
Christianity, Islam, Judaism and several other "New Age" religions have traveled the stars and found its place on the colony of Jacinto. Despite humanity having become largely more secular in the 26th Century, religions of the old world and the "New Age" religions still have a large place among humanity, and with the outbreak of the Human-Covenant War, many of Jacinto's residents looked to religion for hope and faith in a time of stress and fear.

Biology
Life on Jacinto is quite unique and exotic, with wide varieties and diverse species littered throughout the planet's landmasses and oceans. However, due to the massive diversity of Jacinto's biosphere, only around 47% of known species have been officially classified. The majority of Jacinto's lifeforms are unclassified with many more species remaining undiscovered.

Fauna of Jacinto
Thanks to efforts from notable scientists, such as Henrique Gervásio, Desmond Clarke, Felicity Davis, Nora Sulu, and many others have contributed the to identification and classification of Jacinto's wildlife. As of 2550, Jacinto had more than 1,532 species of mammals, 3,450 species of birds, with at least 482,000 species of insects. There are also 992 species of reptiles, 467 species of amphibians and 1,566 species of fish. It is theorized that this is less than half of all possible identifiable species on Jacinto, with hundreds of thousands of species still unclassified. Many of the animals on Jacinto vary in many sizes, from the massive Trisão to the Springley cod.

Some colonies have the feared, Jacinto however, has the Trisão, which resembles a six-horned bison. While not as dangerous as the Gúta, the Trisão is a massive creature, with an average height of 445 centimeters (14.6 feet) and is known to be extremely antagonistic to anything invading their territory or herd. Since 2478, around 48 people have been killed from Trisão attacks. The Trisão almost never leaves the plains of Pharos or Seulon, and herds can reach up to the thousands. They are herbivores and almost never attack other animals unless they pose a threat to themselves or the herd. The creature has very little predators, thanks to its extremely sharp and dangerous horns that can impale even its largest predator, the Voxdus, a terrifying wolf-like animal resembling Earth's extinct direwolf, which can reach a height of 231.6 centimeters (7.6 feet). Most Trisão have a thick coat of grey fur, with some having black, brown or white fur from a mutation. However, how evolution favored grey fur over black or brown, especially since the Trisão's main habitats are located in the plains of Jacinto, have remained a mystery. There are also two other species of Trisão that live in the cold wilderness of Ibis and in the mountains of Seulon. However, these Trisão are considerably smaller, with an average height of 289.6 centimeters (9.5 feet) and having coats of white in Ibis and a brown color for the mountain Trisão. While most Trisão are considered dangerous, some ranchers of Jacinto have begun mastering the art of Trisão husbandry. Domesticated Trisão are bred for their fur and their meat, which has become a delicacy throughout Jacinto in recent years.

Another iconic animal, mostly found in the savannas, and in some mountain ranges of Jacinto, is the Golden-striped jackal. The jackal has a long, yet narrow weak tail, and has spectacular eyesight for hunting. Fur is almost non-existent, except for its coat on its back, the jackal is mostly naked, with its skin making up its black and gold color.

Compared to Earth, Jacinto's animal life, aside from some very interesting and unique species, is not different. Due to Jacinto's higher oxygen content, some insects are twice as large as Earth's insects, with the largest being the Dragonhawk.

Covenant Impact on Environment
The amount of environmental damage to Jacinto's biosphere was immense. The brutal fighting and partial glassing of Jacinto thanks to the Covenant led to several species dying out, and causing a major decline in numbers of most species across the planet. Sadly, it is speculated that many species that had not been classified or discovered have gone extinct and may never be categorized. Species like the Trisão have lost around 90% of their numbers and must now be assisted by humans in order to recover from the threat of extinction. Conservation efforts were put immediately in effect when the war ended and luckily, some species have shown signs of recovering in 2558 with some estimates stating that Jacinto's biosphere will be partially recovered by 2600 and a complete rebound into pre-war number by 2700. However, some species like the Alovar whale could not recover, becoming officially extinct in the wild in 2556. But hope remains as conservationists had successfully saved several Alovar whales and hundreds of embryos, and through the utilization of anthropogenic hybridization and Cloning, Jacinto may soon see the return of its most famous species of whale and thriving in the wild once again.

Notable Geographical formations
Jacinto has four notable continents, named Pharos, Seulon, Ibis and Eyora, and at least five named oceans. The majority of Jacinto's population lives on the eastern hemisphere, where the three largest continents are located. The western hemisphere is comprised of the continent Eyora and several small islands. Eyora has been largely closed off from colonization due to both the UNSC and ONI taking up residence prohibiting Jacintans from establishing colonies on the continent. However, small settlements have been erected in the past three decades since 2550 as the two government agencies begun lower its prohibition of settlements. It is believed that the UNSC and ONI may soon vacate the area in a couple of years and allow the inhabitants of Jacinto to colonize the lands.

Approximately 77% of the planet is covered in water, thanks to the oceans Kaia, Nerida and Vanora which separate the continents Pharos, Seulon, Ibis and Eyora.

Notable locations
The majority of the population is located on the continent of Pharos. Throughout Pharos, Seulon and Ibis, there are a total of thirty-five provinces that make up the Commonwealth of Jacinto.

Pharos

 * Aelburn province
 * Cedros
 * JCDF Headquarters
 * Colonial Capitol building
 * Cedros police department
 * Cedros spaceport
 * Delta-Nine Facility ONI_1.png
 * Serra da Guarda mountains
 * GUARDA Base ONI_1.png
 * Old Haven province
 * Vidaes
 * Vidaes police department
 * Vidaes spaceport
 * RHODES Base ONI_1.png
 * Herrara province
 * Herrara
 * Norhill province
 * Springley
 * Norhill Space Tether
 * Stonemarsh province
 * Foxmount
 * Whitebank province
 * Whitebank
 * Timoti islands

Seulon

 * Emborió province
 * Mount Ovidius
 * Emborió
 * Eastendale

Ibis

 * Winterdell province
 * Rhodes
 * Corpond
 * Bluehollow mountains

Eyora

 * Ayance Canyon
 * Camp Yankee ONI_1.png
 * Krosov Testing Facility

Oceanic

 * Kaia Ocean
 * Nerida Ocean
 * Thorne Bay
 * Vanora Ocean

Appearances

 * Halo: The Ashes of Winter
 * Halo: A Broken Son (Briefly) 
 * Tales for the Fallen