Onyx Sentinel

Template:Ratings

Onyx Sentinel
General information
First Seen	Onyx, 2552
Purpose	Defense of Onyx
Approx. Size	Three meters long
Strength	High
Armament information
Primary Weapon	High Power Sentinel Beam
Weaponry Strength	More powerful than the Standard Issue
Other Abilities	Fast speeds, Capable of conversing in Latin
Defense	Superior Shielding (Activated when fast motion is detected)

The Onyx Sentinel is a Forerunner-created electromechanical variable configuration and purpose machine. It has only been seen on the Forerunner artificial world known as Onyx, which was actually comprised of trillions of the machines. Whether the same model is on other worlds is currently unknown. It is a variant on the Standard Sentinel design.

Appearance

The Onyx Sentinel could possibly share a similar appearance to the Monitors - with a round sphere in the center, and with a central "eye" that glows golden. The eye is the weaponry and offensive capability of the sentinel as it charges and unleashes what appears to be a devastating array of energy. The Monitors also have the ability to fire a weapon out of their central eye. However, the Onyx Sentinel is different in that it also has three metal booms extending from equidistant points on the surface of the central sphere.

The Onyx Sentinel also has anti-gravity technology, similar to that of the Monitors. Although the Onyx Sentinel can even reach escape velocity and fly into outer space, in ground operations, it normally engages its targets at a height of three meters, working a "Higher Ground" battle mentality. It is also able to attenuate its booms to the various signals, such as that of UNSC COM channels, and can actually speak the Human archaic language and root language of Latin.

Combat

The Onyx Sentinel is infamous to be the most dangerous classification of known Sentinels, is extremely versatile, and is a powerful combatant on both the ground and in space. One of their primary advantages, is a gold-colored Energy Shield that is entirely resistant to all projectiles, even the rockets of the SPNKr Launcher and LOTUS Mine detonations; however, the shield is duped by slow moving objects, such as a rock, which was used to destroy one Sentinel on Onyx. It is unknown why the shields only snap into place when fast moving projectiles are coming in the direction of the Sentinel. (It is unlikely that they do so to conserve energy, for the enormous output of energy per beam is far greater than the amount used to hold shields in place.)

It is also very adaptive, each Sentinel transmitting its combat footage to an unknown intelligence that continually upgrades Onyx Sentinel combat algorithms. As per a Spartan: "We are teaching it how to fight." The Onyx Sentinels can also merge together for a variety of purposes, such as combining to increase firepower and shield strength, architectural purposes, and forming clusters to protect Onyx.

It is far superior to the regular Sentinels that guard the Halo installations and The Ark and even the Sentinel Majors of Installation 05 due to its shielding and extreme firepower. Onyx Sentinels fire golden, lethal spears of light from a central eye, which is thought to be similar in strength to the beam weapon fired by 343 Guilty Spark at several points of Halo 3 when the player is on the Ark, not just fighting him at the end. This attack causes devastating damage: the destruction of a granite plateau, vaporization of a combat bunker, and the instantaneous destruction of any ground vehicle or infantry, even including a SPARTAN-III. Enough Onyx Sentinels (about 45) can even vaporize a large starship with apparent ease.

Their shielding and weaponry are too advanced for ground engagements. Onyx Sentinels seem to be more designed for stellar combat, especially because their shields are only activated by fast moving objects, much like anything moving in space; and their energy beams are more destructive than incinerating. This may be because of, the Forerunners realization that, ground engagements against the Flood were mostly ineffective, which implied the complete destruction of all infested ships before penetrating the planets´ atmosphere, using an equally numerous defensive measure. In other words, Onyx Sentinels were conceived to take out the Flood controlled ships being used as ablative armor, while more powerful defense systems would destroy the ships intended for landfall.

Other Roles

Onyx Sentinels are also known to have other specific tasks beside combat, much like other types of Sentinels. Because of their modular shape, they can transform into several different types of configurations. For example, they can interlace into oblong-shaped formations, which are used for excavating and earth-moving. In the center of the worm-shaped configuration travels a continuous stream of stone. This type of configuration has been observed excavating the underground Forerunner city on Onyx, to allow access to the Shield World within. These variants are not hostile, unless provoked.