Praesia

Praesia
Praesia is a very large, rocky planet about 12 times the size of Earth. The location of the planet and even its whole system is unknown, but it easily stands outside the boundaries of the UNSC or Covenant Empire. It is inhabited by extremely diverse wildlife, many of which include animals similar to a few found on Earth. Many details are left unknown to the UNSC, however, aside from size, geography, and climate. The only things that are known about it are the result of contact with the Praesians and their homeworld during 2555-2559, mostly within the Praesian Wars.

Geography
Most of the planet's surface is very rough, and differences in regional climates seem to have bipolar tendencies. When viewing the planet from orbit, one would see a pattern of mountain ranges in parallel alignment all around the planet's surface, each range extending towards the North and South poles, respectively. The pattern would mostly remain intact with the exception of seas and oceans on the surface. The landscape follows a general tendency to go from Windward, Mountainous, and Leeward, due to the continuously adjacent mountain ranges. The windward areas are where most settlements were built by people on the planet. Praesia features innumerable forests, rainforests, grasslands, rivers, and lakes in these areas. The leeward areas sport vast deserts, commonly found to have gargantuan dunes across their expanse. The deserts are mostly empty, leaving only the weather to kill anyone who would dare to walk through one. On the rare occasion, underground water sources may be found, usually landmarked by groups of desert-dwelling organisms. The tops of the mountains are somewhat labyrinthine, where crevices and indents scatter around the peaks of the mountains, but usually form a path of some sort. There have been some known stations or outposts located within these. Standing on the very peak of a mountain is nigh impossible, for two reasons: You would most likely freeze to death before getting halfway up, and you would freeze to death near-instantaneously if you did reach the top. On a mountain of medial elevation, exposed skin tends to become frostbitten in under just a few minutes. As such, the average mountain on Praesia is of comparable height to Mount Everest on Earth. The lack of oxygen atop these mountains makes it practically impossible to survive without equipment strictly suited to these conditions. In the more habited regions, the climate is much more moderate, but still usually maintains around 100-110 degrees fahrenheit.

The Moon
The giant is accompanied by a much smaller satellite, which is still substantially larger than Earth (approximately 4x larger). The surface of this moon is much more even, and sports a much closer resemblance to Earth's geographical properties. While the larger planet, Praesia, remains somewhat barren, and contains no exceptional amount of valuable resources, the moon is practically a goldmine of all the resources Praesia lacks, including enormous, rich deposits of metals and other resources contained underneath the surface. The Praesians colonized the moon almost solely for this reason. Whereas only about 35% of Praesia's surface is water, it's moon is somewhere around 65-70%. As of the current moment, no major cities have been found on the moon, but several examples of ancient ruins and some Forerunner artifacts have been found.

People
The dominant residents of Praesia are known as the Praesians. They are highly intelligent organisms, and are very similar to humans anatomically. So much so, in fact, that some consider them to be within the same genus as humans. One could interpret them as a highly evolved human, that exceeds us in both physical strength and mental capabilities. Their technology is highly advanced, thousands of years beyond humanity's, and even moderately surpassing the Covenant. On the Technological Achievement Tiers, they may be classified as a "high" 2, since they are not yet worthy to actually be deemed Tier One. The first records of their society begin around 75,000 B.C.E.

History
The earliest known records of Praesian history date back to c. 120,000 B.C.E. It is speculated their evolution may have traveled much farther back than that, however, considering their present state of evolution. While it was under Forerunner rule, it does not seem to be within range of any Halo installations, which may explain the lifespan of their race. They were first overtaken by the Forerunners around 115,000 B.C.E. They put up a massive resistance, but were ultimately defeated very badly. They claim the damage done to their world and people to be unimaginable, despite newer advancements as part of being under Forerunner rule. This event has been passed down and written in their history until the current moment, and they still have managed to maintain hatred for them. As experienced in the Praesian Wars, they seem to harbor hatred for the humans as well, as they saw us as the Forerunners' successors. Since their defeat, they swore to never be conquered by another world ever again.

While the Forerunners went into a state of disarmament, and were weakened when it came to fighting the Flood, the Praesian world remained mostly uncontacted. On the occasion it was, however, the Praesians were able to contain and destroy the infestation because they held on to their weaponry, and were advancing and producing military technology for a very long time, for when they may need it the most. Luckily, the Flood only contacted the planet once, and were entirely contained and destroyed. Should another attack have happened, they likely would have been destroyed as over half their planet's population was taken during the conflict. Being out of range of the Halo array, they continued to live undisturbed past the Forerunner-Flood War for the next 100,000 years or so.

In 1503 C.E., the planet was discovered by the Covenant. They noticed all the Forerunner artifacts left behind on the planet and its moon, and at the same time noticed their military potential, and invited them into the Covenant. Due to historical events, however, the offer was spurned by the Praesians, who then proceeded to cut off contact with the Covenant fleet. Following this, the Covenant attacked the planet with a very large fleet at their disposal. Dozens of thousands of troops invaded the surface, and razed a number of cities to the ground. Angered, the Praesians declared war, and mobilized their full military strength. Most Covenant ships had deposited their troops to the surface and started bombarding the planet, while the Praesians organized and deployed their navy. While their ground forces were enough of a match for the Covenant's, the navy had much more effort put into it, and easily dominated most of the Covenant's ships. The Praesians' ships had a much longer targeting range, stronger weapons, a stronger hull, and stronger shielding. As it turns out, the Covenant fleet was destroyed long before the ground conflict ended, and their ships continued to be repelled by the Praesians as the Covenant's invasion force gradually wore away. The most notable fighter of this conflict is known as Praecus, who is celebrated by the Praesians as their Hero above all others to this day. He died at the very end of the war, due to sustained injuries and exhaustion from constant fighting. After the Covenant were driven away, his body and armor were buried in a hidden crypt underneath a monument standing at the moon's northern polar region.

By 2555, the humans made first contact with the Praesians through a Forerunner artifact -- a portal -- on Nexus XXIV. Most of it at first was exploration, before coming in contact with the locals. Somehow, the Praesians connected us to the Forerunners, reminding them of their old hatred, which rose up again now. Civilians and local militia assaulted the Spartan-III Scharfrichters that came to the planet, who in turn assumed hostilities from all Praesians, and attacked or defended when necessary. After escaping the mess, the Scharfrichter squad reported this to the Office of Naval Intelligence. For the meanwhile, they would be sent back to continue their exploration, as well as investigation of political/social structure and military technology, fighting through any skirmishes with the Praesians along the way. In due time, around 2557, a force of 10,000 Scharfrichters was assembled and deployed to Praesia to launch an assault. They performed well, inflicting moderate casualties on the Praesians once they took hold of their weaponry. The symbol of Praesia's military strength, the Praesian Dreadnought (similar to and clearly influenced by the Forerunners' version), rested over the planet, ready to gather an invasion force poised to assault Earth. Once arriving directly underneath the ship, the Scharfrichters proceeded to initiate a boarding attempt on the ship to destroy it from the inside. However, Praesian ground forces held them off for too long, allowing the Dreadnought to fire an orbital round to the surface, ultimately incinerating a 2-km wide crater into the face of the planet, along with all but ten scharfrichters who were still out of range of the blast. The mission still remained however, and in a covert operation, the Scharfrichters had managed to sneak through the ship and destroy it from the inside, nullifying the possibility of an invasion. Reserved recruits began to slowly refill the ranks of the Scharfrichters, as the fighting continued until a ceasefire in 2559, with a tactical victory for the UNSC.

Technology
The Praesian military built up until 1500 C.E., where it assumed a pause of technological advancement, and went through the Praesian-Covenant War. From 1515, the end of the war, to 2559, their military technology remained the same, with the exception of improving armor systems for their troops (they had exceptional offensive capabilities, but were not that well protected). Following the end of the war with humanity in 2559, they proceeded to "advance" their technology more. Technically, they had been advancing for the last thousand years, but never implemented the technology; they simply developed the research and blueprints, with the knowledge of how to create it when the time came. Their armor had become much stronger, and combat shielding systems rendered ballistic weaponry 90% ineffective (the exceptions being shots from higher-calibre weapons to weaker portions of the user's armor), and the energy output of their weaponry was increased significantly. The properties of most of their firearms, aside from explosives, could be compared to the Covenant Carbine: the rounds were effective against combat shields, but still retained penetrative properties and an unshielded opponent would easily be dispatched with one round to a vital area. Armor systems implemented for the military also proved to have a good level of resilience towards energy weapons.

Army
About 50% of the Praesian army is composed of standard infantry, equipped with light (by their standards) shielding and standard issue armor, which protected against ballistic weapons and provided moderate protection against energy-based weaponry. The remaining 50% is composed of: Scout troops (30%), Commandos (15%), and Assassins (5%). The Scouts are the most lightly armored, providing moderate protection against ballistic weaponry and little-to-no protection against energy weapons. They are equipped with enhanced vision modules, able to see objects as far as 2km away in clear detail, and are fully capable of spotting through dark areas. They keep no weapons, and possess stealth modules in order to help them infiltrate/escape areas. A Commando is the most recognized and feared portion of their army, whose armor renders all current UNSC weaponry useless, and is able to lock itself up to protect from explosions, and is very resilient towards heat and energy weapons. They are also given biological enhancements that beat out those of the SPARTAN program in practically all aspects, but with a much higher success rate. The Assassins are, to the few who know of their existence, the most feared of all potential enemies. They are one of the most expensive soldiers, and very few can be trained at one time. They possess all of the capabilities the Commandos do, and their biological enhancements are even more potent. Their armor is light and in no way hinders movement, but is nearly as strong as the armor used by Commandos. They also possess all of the stealth and visual assets that a Scout troop has.

Royal Guard
The Royal Guard is considered an official military branch to the Praesians, separate from the army. These soldiers serve the planet's leaders, and a few nobles who have access to such expensive assets. They are drawn from a select group of army Commandos who have proven themselves extensively, and outfitted with the strongest weapons and armor ever developed by the Praesians, and are practically walking tanks outfitted with hyper-lethal energy weapons and pikes. Their physical strength is trained to practically the natural limit, and then buffered by augmentations that boost the ones already given to the Commandos. Their reflexes are assumed to be instantaneous based on descriptions by those who have survived an encounter, describing them as having the ability to "dodge a shot before you even know where you're aiming for."

Navy
Praesian ships are more heavily influenced by Forerunner technology than any other asset they've implemented. They have longer targeting ranges than even Covenant ships, have faster and more efficient slip-space drives, and have a much stronger hull, weapons, and shielding system. The strongest symbolically and in battle was the Praesian Dreadnought, which acted as the capital ship for the entire navy, but was destroyed in early 2558 by the Scharfrichters. The navy is divided into two sections: Domestic and Aggressive. The Domestic fleet stays back at home to safeguard the planet, while the Aggressive loads up soldiers and moves out for an invasion. Throughout history, however, the Aggressive fleet has found very little use, other than intercepting enemy fleets before they are anywhere near the homeworld.