Thorak'tamin

Long ago, during the Golden Age of Sangheili interstellar expansion, Thorak'tamin was established as a small colony by the Sangheili. For the most part, it was merely a small prison colony for Sangheili criminals, those deemed to have lost their honour by unrighteous and dishonourable acts. There was certainly little other reason to establish a presence there, besides the vast distance between it and Sanghelios - the stars that make up the Devout Foreboding System produce too much heat to be easily habitable close to them, and the complexity of their orbits means that any planetoids that achieve a stable orbit around the primary star aren't guaranteed to survive long. The only reason Thorak'tamin was colonised in the first place was as a test of redemption - few survived the ordeal, but those that could survive the harsh conditions of the planet's surface for a decade were be welcomed back into Sangheili society, often becoming great leaders of philosophers, their lives forever changed by their experience. Even before the discovery if the Venartheman ruins, the colony had become known for instilling a level of wisdom and cunning of rare quality.

The colony itself is actually a moon of the large Gas Giant Venarthema, a Jovian-type gas giant approximately 1.5 times the mass of Sol's Jupiter, but otherwise very similar. Attempts at constructing a gas refinery station by the Covenant were initially hindered by the powerful and anomalous magnetic fields produced by the planet, but were eventually successful - only to find that they had been beaten to it. Discovering damaged but functional Forerunner gas mine installation already in place, it was a relatively simple task for the Covenant to reactivate its refinery systems and begin producing usable hydrogen, deuterium and tritium. In most regards, the facility is similar to that found on Threshold, though with the notable absence of any Flood specimens or Sentinel defences, and practice operations were run in 2552 by Special Operations Commander Rtas 'Vadumee in preparing his Lances to assault the Threshold installation.

The real draw for Thorak'tamin was the discovery in approximately 2342 that the Gas Refinery was not alone - Covenant sensors managed to detect more than thirty two large solid structures deep within the gas giant, further than any Covenant equipment could possibly reach. So far, all attempts at scanning these objects have failed, either unable to penetrate the dense atmosphere or unable to detect the ruins at all. Some have speculated that it is a Forerunner weapons cache, and that each object is a warship to rival the Dreadnought found by the San'Shyuum on their homeworld. Others claim that it was once a Forerunner city, sunk out of reach by its occupants to elude the Flood as it devastated the galaxy, and that if it could be surfaced it could yield proof of the Forerunners mortal lives - so far, the Prophets have denied any and all attempts to do so, though exactly how this would be accomplished is unknown. A research outpost was established on Thorak'tamin for the purpose of studying and cataloguing any and all possible new evidence to come to light, though its main activities have been catering to legions of religious pilgrims of various species arriving to try and glimpse these ruins.

During the Great Schism, the scarce Jiralhanae presence meant that the changeover to the Sangheili secessionist faction was swift and unhindered. During the War of Vengeance, however, the system saw an invading Blood Covenant fleet attempt to invade and capture the colony, perhaps naively hoping that they could claim the ruins first and gain an unprecedented technological boost. In any case, their occupation of the colony was not long - the Second Fleet of Enlightened Benevolence arrived soon after, engaging the fleet and driving the ground forces of the planetoid, devastating the fleet as it retreated. Some anomalous activity was logged by the research station, perhaps a response by the Venarthema objects to the battle in orbit, but quickly returned to the normal quiet that characterise the ruins. With the permission of the Sangheili, the UNSC took over operation of the colony in 2561, establishing it as a naval base in conjunction with the still Sangheili-run refinery, allowing the UNSC to strike deeper into Blood Covenant territory and shortening the neccessary supply lines. Some effort was made to study the ruins, but with no more success than the Covenant. The colony itself was considered as part of the UNSC's recolonisation effort, but rejected given the harshness of the environment, a fact that Sangheili purists have had no end of joy pointing out.

Exactly what the ruins are will likely remain a mystery until they reactivate, and exactly what the trigger for that will be is equally mysterious. There is some indication that the ruins may be related to the mysterious Labyrinth Array, though in exactly what capacity remains unknown - whether it is an actual Labyrinth, a hub world, or something else completely.

Quotes

 * "When the Jiralhanae jumped in-system, I was sure they would blow past our meagre forces and head straight for the refinery. Its what we would have done - cut off a critical supply source, lengthening our supply lines, removing any reason to inhabit the system at all. But no, they attacked the colony - I doubt if the Jiralhanae even knew the refinery was there. It was poorly concieved, poorly executed, everything you would expect from such barbarians."
 * " ALERT: ACTIVITY DETECTED - INITIATING SHORT-RANGE SCAN - CONSULTING [CONTAINMENT PROTOCOL] AND CONTACT GUIDELINES - ACTIVATING [CORE] ARCHIVE UPLINK "
 * "The colony itself is harsh - dry, arid, water sparse, ultraviolet light bombarding the moon. After the colony was established as a religious/scientific outpost, the main settlements were erected to simulate the environment of Sanghelios, but pilgrims continued to try and endure the natural harshness on their own - apparently, they thought that survivors were blessed by the Forerunners, given the close proximity to a former location of the Gods."
 * "The naval base is state-of-the-art - we even use some of the old Elite infrastructure. They aren't popular with off-duty sailors and marines, but they make good warehouses. And, of course, when the Elite refinery workers get time off its another chance to intermingle - we keep the surveillance drones active then, lest the Helljumpers and Elites get too rowdy."