Harhatri

From Halo: Daybreak

Harhatri is a planet within the Covenant Sphere, located in the Sound of Storms. Out of the way of the major slipspace routes of the Arterial Network, Harhatri is an airless, cold world orbiting a white dwarf; this gives the planet's light a sharp, biting quality, and contributes to the unsettling feeling said to permeate the world. The planet's surface is littered with stygian cracks, which are home to Harhatri's most notable feature: vast networks of ancient cyclopean stone-mazes and catacombs. While initially associated with the Forerunners, the origin of these structures is disputed among Covenant scholars, as they do not match any known Forerunner architectural styles and appear to predate all other known Forerunner ruins; though they have not been conclusively dated, they appear to be at least tens of millions of years old.

Many legends surround Harhatri, and even the most hardened pirates and relic-hunters fear to tread there out of superstitions that may have some basis in reality. The mazes are rumored to have time-bending properties; madmen have claimed to have been trapped in the subterranean catacombs until they were old and withered while only days passed in the outside world, while others have allegedly emerged from the depths of the world centuries since they entered despite having spent only hours inside. Reports of active defenses and traps, while unsubstantiated, further deter curious visitors. Centuries ago many thought treasures lay deep in the planet's caverns, but most have since given up the search as nothing has been found there but peril and madness.