> One thing you have to take into consideration is that the Forerunner goals never actually went according to plan. I doubt their plan was to make Humans the reclaimers and then not give them anything close which they could reclaim. Mendicant Bias’ betrayal was a huge setback and the entire activation of the Halo array was premature. The Librarian herself had only just finished installing the Portal when all this went down and she was forced to strand herself there, or so was originally believed until Primordium. But we have no idea how long the surviving Forerunner stayed in the Milky Way before leaving and we have no idea what exactly they did besides oversee the reseeding. I’m sure the next Forerunner book will explain this.
I know, it is likely that this premature firing along with MB’s betrayal screwed things up. Still though, even assuming they died, whatever AIs (Presumably?) were in charge of the process could have stripped the worlds they were directly working with of Forerunner technology. With the Forerunners alive it gets harder. But yes, third book.
Although I think I remember now why the Prophets had a Dreadnaught. I think it was one of MB’s that tried to escape. It could have crashed there hundreds of years after the reseeding effort. Likely long after the Forerunners had left that world, if he intended not to be found. Still, doesn’t explain Sanghelios, Te and whatever other worlds there were.
> They did leave us with Geas which would help guide us but for thousands of years the scientific community has been shunned by religions who believed science was blasphemy.
I don’t think they are going to make geas the reason Humanity is fast at progressing. Not only would it undermine that whole theme (general sci-fi theme, albeit) in Halo about Humans being impressively inventive and adaptable, but it undermines free will and sort of invalidates mankinds struggles and achievements. That’s my take on it at least.
I understand the religion thing though, which is why I understand that them hiding their technology from Humanity as well was a wise idea. Humanity ain’t perfect either, and would need time like everyone else to evolve as a society. I would imagine that giant, gleaming Forerunner towers all over Earth would not exactly make the grip of dogma any less tight on society. What probably happened with the Covenant was that they got too much power too soon, and it created societies that thought they had material evidence of gods, making them utterly fanatical to the point where they were willing to wage war on other species if those species had different ideas on how to treat that technology. The same thing could have happened with Humanity.
> As for the Elites and Prophets I don’t know why they were allowed to grow up near Forerunner structures but they were content with simply worshiping the structures and nothing else. It wasn’t until a group of Prophet fundamentalists stole the Dreadnaught and left their planet did things start to change. They fought the Elites and eventually forced them to go against tradition and open up holy relics in order to fight back. Had these events not occurred it’s possible they too wouldn’t have been more advanced because of their refusal to study them. Although I suppose it would have been inevitable that they finally did. Still, crazy religions are unpredictable and more often than not are what ultimately shape a cultures development.
Yeah but the Forerunners could not have known what they would do with them. Perhaps they would just ignore them, perhaps they would build fanatical cults around them in their primitive ignorance or perhaps they would study them and then try to spread those cults throughout the stars, destroying those who resist. Or perhaps we would get lucky and they would not.
The thing with the Elites though is that even though they were not studying Forerunner technology, it still influenced their society in ways that would not have happened had the technology not been there, such as more religiously intense societies based around the treatment and use of these artefacts, which then could still potentiall yput them at odds with the reclaimers. Where it gets bad for Humanity, and where the Forerunners may have failed, is that there was no telling how fast each of the races would evolve, as you said. The Elites and Prophets were probably further along in their development than Humanity when the reseeding took place, as they were already building starships at the same time as the Roman Empire was rising. Even without Forerunner technology to use, had they stumbled across Humanity when it was only just starting to explore Forerunner technology, the Elites or Prophets may have been more advanced on their own accord (A roughly 3000 year time gap between when they developed starships). If they found this weaker Humanity meddling with Forerunner technology, it could have started a war that could have lead to Humanity being destroyed. Basically, it creates the possibility for reasons for war as these alien races might not like others tampering with the technology. The same thing that happened between the Elites and Prophets could have feasibly taken place between a burgeoning Humanity and a much more advanced Prophet or Elite society who could still be religiously devoted to not touching these artifacts.
It is potentially damaging to the Elites and others as well. If they form religions around them, then religious wars are inevitable over how to treat these artifacts. Even without studying Forerunner technology, I imagine that these races would still be capable of wiping each other out. And if they try to assault a more advanced Humanity for the same reasons, then that only hurts them even more. Honestly, the potential for great harm to come from it all was pretty high. I would be surprised if the Forerunners knew about the risks but let them be anyway.