Approximately 25 years ago, a war between the Haurman Stellar Coalition and the Empire of Tchelai broke out over the control of an old, highly-automated, and completely abandoned Halo array encircling a desolate-but-mineral-rich planet in what is now widely known as the Djem system. The builders of the Djem b array are unknown.

The Empire of Tchelai regarded the structure as an important cultural landmark, with a major religious sect within the Empire understanding its discovery to be a sign of profound importance from their gods. It was to be preserved, studied, and lightly populated as a vast complex of monasteries, educational facilities, and pastoral food production, in order to provide a place for Empire nobility, clergy, and other persons of significance to seek enlightenment, rejuvenation, and spiritual excellence.

The Haurman Stellar Coalition sought to use it as the central hub of resource harvesting operations in the Djem system and its neighbors, particularly to collect the vast wealth of minerals from the crust of Djem b.

The fighting broke out when, by a particularly stunning coincidence, the first settlement ships from each nation happened to be approaching the Djem b array at the same time. An engagement broke out between them that destroyed the Haurman group of ships and sent a single surviving armored freighter back to Tchelai.

The war came to be known as, variously, the Haurman–Tchelai War, the Djem War, and particularly by heretical Tchelai citizens, the War of Rocks and Gods.

The Haurman–Tchelai War was fought to a standstill after four years and many millions killed in battle on either side of the conflict, and was terminated by the Treaty of Nevir.

In the short span of time over which the Haurman–Tchelai War was fought, both factions went through a rapid period of materiel development, creating some of the most powerful weapons known to humanity in their sector of the galaxy. Some stray projectiles during the fighting were enough to damage parts of the structure the war was being fought over in the first place, which awakened its ancient defense systems that quickly dispatched all vessels Haurman and Tchelai within a 10 light minute radius of Djem b.

As the security system of the Djem b Halo has been active ever since, the two nations penned a treaty aimed at preventing such incidents as aforementioned from ever happening again. This was the Treaty of Nevir, written in orbit on a neutral diplomat vessel owned by the Democratic Republic of am-Ptsepit above the planet Nevir in the Kvin system.

Nevir is a barely-habitable world that resulted from a failed attempt at terraforming. While its atmosphere is theoretically breathable, it's plagued by a chemical stench nearly planet-wide as a result of the exhaust gases of a mutated variety of bacteria. The smattering of organic life present on its surface is particularly hardy and often hostile, as Nevir lacks many of the resources required for a planet to be considered useful. Safe enough for well-prepared scouting and scavenging parties to visit, but dangerous enough to keep most curious passers-by away.

It was thus decided that Nevir would be the perfect taboo world to lay the weapons of the Haurman–Tchelai War to an indefinite rest. The basic tenets of the Treaty of Nevir are as follows:

1. All arms developed during the period of the war shall be left to rest on the surface of Nevir.
2. No nation, whether a combatant in the war, or a neutral party, shall retrieve these arms, except in the case of an obvious existential threat from a more advanced civilization.
3. The Djem b Halo shall be considered a galactic heritage site, and must not be tampered with.
4. Nevir shall be considered a taboo world, and parties found trespassing on its surface in violation of the treaty shall be punished.

However, the Haurman and Tchelai civilizations are not always able to guard Nevir, and so smaller civilizations looking for an upper hand in their latest struggle have been known to slip through to Nevir's surface to scavenge for materiel. For such endeavors, though, there is an ever-increasing threat from the ravages of time as the shells, casings, hardware, and safety mechanisms of the abandoned weapons degrade and release toxic chemicals and radiation into the soil and atmosphere of Nevir.

• Haurman: /'haʊ̯r.man/
• Tchelai: /'t͡ʃe.laɪ̯/
• Djem: /d͡ʒɛm/
• Nevir: /nɛˈvir/
• am-Ptsepit: /am(p) ˈt͡se.pɪt/
• Kvin: /kviːn/

Nevir, with the Great Swan Cluster in the background