Faber's last request

“That is all” Catalog’s words seemed categorical.

“No, it is not” Master Builder’s, on the other hand, were authoritarian.

“I’m no longer connected to the Juridical network” Catalog warned him.

“It doesn’t matter, not anymore. Just listen. This needs be said” his tone, now apprehensive, was filled with sorrow. “There’s one last thing I must confess”.

“As I rose through the Ecumene to become who I am, there has only been one constant in me. Nothing ever calmed my quest for knowledge of The Mantle of Responsibility. The philosophy that governs us, that mediates every action we take part in. We have believed in it since the dawn of time, and now, in our final hours some of us still do. We have faltered, it is true. But my beliefs are stronger that ever, just like my resolve of what must be done.

My doubts arose long before The Librarian’s journey to Path Kethona. By the time Warrior Servants atoned for their sins in the Human-Forerunner War I had already lost all notion of Responsibility to the galaxy. The Mantle were no more than mere words that guided our diets and our ceremonies when the war begun; to me the Tree mark meant only that those who rise to the occasion, adapting, learning, have the right to rule. Humans challenged that, and so the War would prove us stronger than them. But it did not. The Humans had fought fiercely and admirably, were it not for the parasite, we would have been defeated. And were it not for us, I believe the Humans would have defeated the Flood. The same cannot be said about us. The only wound that never heals is that of the pride it is said, and it is true. As we faced the threat of the flood my contempt for the Mantle only grew. As I learned the truth of the prisoner of Charum Hakkor my disdain changed into fear and ultimately madness. Fearing the failure of the Didact’s plans and the eventual demise of the Forerunner the Halos were conceived. Engulfed in foolishness I let an Ancilla, a former enemy of sorts, conduct all the necessary procedures. But you know all of that.

What you do not know is that after building of the first Halo began I embarked in a new quest for knowledge of the Mantle. The Domain offered little else than what I already had studied for years, but it struck me as if it was hiding information, withholding it to be more precise. I dealt with the feeling of rejection every time I was in contact with the Domain. After Didact’s exile I allowed the Librarian the journey to Path Kethona. For more than a hundred years I delved on the origin of the Mantle. Why had we been chosen by the Precursors? In the eyes of our Forerunner pride it was an obvious answer, but the human had taught me that it only blinded us. Had we been chosen at all? Was it a Legacy of our long lost fathers? Or perhaps even a curse leading to our own ruin? From what you told me Catalog, the Librarian has reached such conclusion. And, at first, so did I. When the Librarian came back from her journey I learned of another truth, we had appropriated and secured the Mantle of Responsibility through war with the Precursors, and we had condemned them to oblivion. Only then I thought of the Mantle as a nuisance to stop the flood. But when I tested the Halo for the first time, I was proven wrong. The Primordial proved me wrong.

But it was too late, what I had done I could not undo. So I asked myself, what else is there to protect? Who must guide? We are not destined to guide, and the Domain confirmed this. It gradually shut us out. We were never worthy of the Mantle and we have never been worthy of understanding it. Tell me Catalog, how ironic is it that the very civilization that denies the existence of gods, even to the extent of killing our forefathers and creators, accepts so willingly a divine mandate to protect and guide the rest of the universe? Hypocrisy, that’s our foundation. Even after all this I still have very little answers, but I can tell you this.

I can only accept that The Mantle of Responsibility is not only the words, rituals, guidance and obligations that bind us to others. It is you; it is me; it is juridical, Domain and Forerunner. It is Human with all it’s violence; it is Primordial, with its ever growing hunger for knowledge; it is Precursor, with all the mysteries it conceals. It is the sheer will to progress. To move forward, to advance in knowledge, in reach, in grasp even higher. It is the purpose of every sentient being, living or dead. The Domain knows it, and wisely it denied me, for it foresaw what I had begun. Not a path of progress but the steps that led us here, to this control room, in this Ark. Another civilization shall and will reclaim the Mantle, as it should be, and progress will not be stopped, the Librarian, for utterly different reasons, has helped ensured that it be so. I do not know where the Mantle lies, if it’s in the genetic markers, or the imprinted geas, or perhaps in the nature of the Domain itself, or even there very essence of self-awareness. But I cannot help but to feel that it is all connected. The Mantle of Responsibility is very much alive, though not in the sense we conceive it to be, and because we couldn’t understand its existence it is that it left us, long before we sinned against it. I fear it even exceeds the Precursors.”

“The Master Juridical has reached a verdict on your request” Catalog seemed uneasy “Also the Iso-Didact is set to arrive soon to this station”.

“So be it”.