Hello my friends of Halo…I wish for many answers, for my many, many questions. For the first few paragraphs I want to discuss the Lekgolo species as a whole. The next section upon Te. Then finally, the last few to discuss their history with the very universe itself. So let’s begin!!!
From my knowledge I’ve gained over my many years in the Halo Fandom, I have become particularly interested in the Mgalekgolo, Hunters, for a cacophony of reasons. However, at each and every turn I come to a misty room. By this I mean I find myself in a situation that doesn’t make sense or I have to open a few college textbooks and do my best to understand concepts far from my mind’s intellectual foundation.
The Lekgolo’s physiology is one of great speculation and interest to me. For several reasons, but let’s start with their extremophile nature. It is now known that Lekgolo colonies can survive several years in the vacuum of space without outside assistance, as stated on the Universe Entry “Lekgolo/Mgalekgolo”.
We will first be looking at the Lekgolo’s forms of resipration, which i have come to the conclusion, that the Lekgolo race respire through an anaerobic process. This fact can supported by looking at the atmosphere of Te. Comprised mainly of Nitrogen, Helium, and Methane, it confuses me on how they breathe but it does not involve any manner which i currently can think of. As if the Nitrogen in their air is in an extremely stable form, N2. Even if they were to use the Nitrogen for energy, the only form of respiration I know of using Nitrogen requires Oxygen, which Te does not have. Then there is Helium, a noble gas, rendering it inert, and I know of no respiration processes that use Helium. Then their is Methane, but the only process i know of requires Oxygen. So Lekgolo magically don’t need air…quaint.
Now it’s time to look at their unique platform to gain sentience. Through forming together with hundreds of other Lekgolo to form a gestalt being. If Halopedia is to be believed Lekgolo can “group together to exponentially increase their intelligence, strength, and maneuverability”, but that’s not being questioned, the question is how do they do this. In the Universe Entry “Lekgolo/Mgalekgolo” it is stated that “a group forms into a collective, complex neural connections are generated eventually leading to a resilient network for hormonal and bioelectrical functionality”. The Lekgolo being worm like creatures, I do believe that they have setae and immotile cilia on the surfaces of their bodies. The former, allows locomotion in dirt and when sticking to glass(refer to Hunter Forming scene in Halo 5 mission Blue Team). The later, immotile cilia being the method in which Lekgolo can communicate with one another. If you don’t know what immotile cilia are, look it up, we have the internet. So with this in mind, Lekgolo increase “exponentially” with intelligence, given that a single Mgalekgolo sub-colony has the intellectual capacity of a Human brain, then the combined intellectual capacity of the bond should already be on par or above “Genuis” levels. I shudder to think of the capacity of a Sbalekgolo colony. So that’s that covered…on to the next one.
To the final paragraph about Lekgolo physiology, we’re gonna talk about their capacity for strength, pressure resistance, and radiation resistance. Assuming that the Universe entry on Lekgolo states their weight in 1G environments that means Lekgolo weigh approximately four times more on Te. So, already being exponentially strong, Lekgolo are really freaking strong. Now on to their pressure resistance, given that Te’s atmospheric pressure is 1.2 bar, but its considered a Gas Giant(gonna get to you in just a minute), then the actual surface of Te must be hundreds if not thousands of bar. Given that Lekgolo evolved on such a high pressure world, this easily means that they could survive the depths of our oceans with no problems, and they can survive the vacuum of space for much longer than any firefight engagement. In regards to their resistance to radiation, well the fact is they can survive the duress of the vacuum of space at months or years at a time. This means they survive the constant bombardment of Ultraviolet, Gamma, and X-ray radiation with little to no adverse affects. Lekgolo have become officially the most terrifying Covenant race.
Yay, we’re done with the main part of that. The questions didn’t really exist there, but because I didn’t really question that. Now here’s the question. What in the celestial bodies is Te!? A GAS GIANT OR A TERRESTIAL PLANET!?
Because if it’s the former, how did the Lekgolo evolve on Te??? If it’s the latter, how does Te, a planet with quadruple the gravity of Earth and an atmosphere that’s probably thicker than Venus’s atmosphere, have a surface gravity of 1.2 bar???
Again, if the former, then Te probably has a mass around twice that of Jupiters. Or something, gravity is weird. But then there is the problem of life evolving life on such a planet. However, anything’s possible. This would also explain the bar measurement of 1.2.
There’s so much I could say about this, but I don’t have enough information gathered to properly say something about either possibility.
Now to Lekgolo HISTORY!!!
First off, given that the Lekgolo were studied by the Forerunners in their efforts to defeat the Flood, is it possible that Lekgolo, during their consumption of the Forerunner orbitals around Te, they encountered the Arminger-Class Ancillan known as Soldiers? After all, Soldiers were left in secret locations to defend key locations. Given that such a tampering of life in regard to the Lekgolo would be shunned upon by the Mantle of Responsiblity, I feel like the Forerunner intervention with life on Te would have been kept secret, and given that the Lekgolo showed some promise to defeating the Flood, it makes sense that Te would become a key Forerunner location. Again, with all that in mind, is it impossible to say that Lekgolo may have met the Soldiers, and promptly ate them…while they destroyed the Forerunner facilities above Te?
Now to the Covenant! It is specifically stated that the Lekgolo were a Tier 3 species before their induction into the Covenant. Why is this important? Because clearly the Taming of the Lekgolos was only the end of a much longer war. While not concrete, Tier 3 races should be “(s)pecies has efficient slipspace navigation, mass drivers, asynchronous linear-induction weapons, holocrystal storage, and semi-sentient AI…”. Lekgolo would probably not have a need for AI, given their unique physiology, but they most likely had everything else in some degree.
And it is stated that the Covenant faired very poorly on the ground against Lekgolo. This insinuates a lot of things, for one, the Covenant fought Lekgolo(probably the newly formed Mgalekgolo) on the battlefield. While, yes the Lekgolo were terrifying in a “naked” form(Refer to Halo: Nightfall) if the Lekgolo were a Tier 3 race, then they fought with weapons similar to humanity.
Two, that there were space battles!
I really really want to say more, but I’ve been typing for like the past three hours, and my brain hurts now. So I’ll just leave y’all with this. Oh yeah, first post, so sorry if I break any rules. That is not my intention in the slightest.