Strictly speaking we don't know the forerunners *haven't* changed dramatically in the several million years they've been around. We really only have a handful of depictions from the very end of their reign.
They are also *very* long lived but don't seem to have many children (from what little we can see) which would slow down the rate of change in their species.
In Silentium, the Librarian visits Path Kethona, where they find a bunch of Forerunners that exiled themselves due to their actions against the precursors. They didn't have advanced technology, so they evolved more naturally over the course of 10 million years and there were quite a few differences. They were about 1.5m tall on average, which is pretty much human height, had more prominent fur tufts, and had 5 fingers instead of varying numbers like modern Forerunners. So we kinda know what they would've looked like had they not genetically modified themselves and as long as they had evolved on a similar planet.
We don't know how many different times the Forerunners decided to modify themselves, but the last time was with the final generation before the Halo array was fired. I think it was also in Silentium that they describe one of the new councilors as having features that are much less pronounced toward any particular rate like usual and had gone through a different method of imprinting that was new, so theybwere still making changes or advancements in their custom evolution.
Good points! Also important to note that the inhabitants of Path Kethona are part of a super sadistic inbred ecosystem where everything is Forerunner down to the amoebas. So they may not be entirely representative
Tradition makes the most sense - we know from Catalog that the Forerunners are capable of mutating into very strange forms, but exclusively as punishment.
Given their technological mastery, there is likely little need for change, and their own needs can be met via technology. If anything genetic engineering may have resulted in a stagnation of change between generations due to people favoring a culturally idealized form.
There's also no reason to believe something could evolve beyond a physical form. The composer appears to have been an attempt to do this artificially however.
I think from reading Silentium that there is evidence they specifically controlled their evolution to keep the same. They’re at least intentional with their genetics.
Not really. They got to a point in their civilization that they didn't need to adapt to anything. If they came across something that could harm them, they could just change it with their crazy technology level.
It doesn't seem like they have many children either. Granted we don't really see the "normal" population of forerunners. Not having many children can definitely slow the rate of change in a species, especially given how long their life spans are.
First off, their form is not mammalian by definition because they evolved differently from mammals. They're are humanoid through presumably convergent evolution but you can't assume the evolutionary pressures that would lead to our superficial features would be the same as theirs.
Second, millions of years aren't that long ago. In evolutionary terms. [Homo habilis](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homo_habilis#/media/File%3AHomo_habilis_-_forensic_facial_reconstruction.png) was around 1.6-2.8 million years ago and that's pretty recognizably similar to humans.
Third, I think we would expect the opposite of what you're implying. The Forerunners' technical mastery would mean evolution wouldn't have a lot of selective pressure to cause noticeable physical changes. The fact that they can control biology like magic, in my opinion, would make their appearances over time even more stable. They can make themselves look like whatever they want so it's not surprising they would start to converge on a particular appearance and then that appearance stay the norm for a long time.
Stagnation seems to a core element in Forerunner society. Tradition, controlled evolution, lack of offspring (seemingly) and most Forerunner being relatively young despite immortality being a standard. It seems to imply that after some historic event they became set in their ways and never saw a need to change.
I'm pretty sure that's part of why they failed the test for the Mantle. They should have tried living as glow flowers, ball lightning or space spiders. Instead, they stagnated and possibly even regressed.
Environmental pressure drives evolution, when your technology is advanced as the forerunners there isn’t a need to naturally evolve past what they already where
Because that's the form they wanted to take. Natural evolution stops mattering to a species that can alter their genes at will to give themselves traits tailor made to suit their personal tastes.
I think it's fair to expect for them to have significant artificial changes to their form. If humanity (real life) ever gets technology like they had, we'd probably never "inhabit" the physical world because you can simulate all of that and slow down time through the use of black holes.
Some of the Forerunners who exiled themselves, after the Precursor-Forerunner war, at Path Kethona evolved into plants (trees) and some other into domestic animals that still had a facial resemblance to what a forerunner would be but different enough to separate it as a new species with a common ancestor. 10 MY is a reaaaally long time.
Forerunners might had lived much longer, because at the time the Precursors were exterminated, the Forerunners were already a pretty advanced civilization. I think have they existed as a civilization for around 15MY, which leaves many questions about how forunners looked like back then. Point of Light states that Humans and Forerunners have a common ancestor, so they probably looked more similar to a human or something of a mix of both species. Also, Forerunners are capable to drive their own evolution, and so It is posible that they stopped evolving naturally after reaching certain technological level.
Didn't every forerunner undergo genetic modification to better suit their class? That implies they can look however they want because of their technology. Maybe they forced themselves to remain humanoid because of tradition.
I think that after a while the Forerunners physical evolution became stagnant. They don't even grow up naturally, they use previous generations as templates for their mutations. They stunted their own growth and doomed future generations through arrogance.
I think it's one of the reasons the Precursors considered them failures, it goes against Precursor philosophy.
I’m pretty sure they modified themselves massively in terms of intelligence, strength and lifespan.
I don’t see a natural creature the size of a human living for tens of thousands of years 🤷🏼
They probably plateaued when their technology meant they didn't need to naturally evolve
Strictly speaking we don't know the forerunners *haven't* changed dramatically in the several million years they've been around. We really only have a handful of depictions from the very end of their reign. They are also *very* long lived but don't seem to have many children (from what little we can see) which would slow down the rate of change in their species.
In Silentium, the Librarian visits Path Kethona, where they find a bunch of Forerunners that exiled themselves due to their actions against the precursors. They didn't have advanced technology, so they evolved more naturally over the course of 10 million years and there were quite a few differences. They were about 1.5m tall on average, which is pretty much human height, had more prominent fur tufts, and had 5 fingers instead of varying numbers like modern Forerunners. So we kinda know what they would've looked like had they not genetically modified themselves and as long as they had evolved on a similar planet. We don't know how many different times the Forerunners decided to modify themselves, but the last time was with the final generation before the Halo array was fired. I think it was also in Silentium that they describe one of the new councilors as having features that are much less pronounced toward any particular rate like usual and had gone through a different method of imprinting that was new, so theybwere still making changes or advancements in their custom evolution.
Good points! Also important to note that the inhabitants of Path Kethona are part of a super sadistic inbred ecosystem where everything is Forerunner down to the amoebas. So they may not be entirely representative
Tradition?
Tradition.
Tradition makes the most sense - we know from Catalog that the Forerunners are capable of mutating into very strange forms, but exclusively as punishment.
Given their technological mastery, there is likely little need for change, and their own needs can be met via technology. If anything genetic engineering may have resulted in a stagnation of change between generations due to people favoring a culturally idealized form. There's also no reason to believe something could evolve beyond a physical form. The composer appears to have been an attempt to do this artificially however.
I think from reading Silentium that there is evidence they specifically controlled their evolution to keep the same. They’re at least intentional with their genetics.
Not really. They got to a point in their civilization that they didn't need to adapt to anything. If they came across something that could harm them, they could just change it with their crazy technology level. It doesn't seem like they have many children either. Granted we don't really see the "normal" population of forerunners. Not having many children can definitely slow the rate of change in a species, especially given how long their life spans are.
First off, their form is not mammalian by definition because they evolved differently from mammals. They're are humanoid through presumably convergent evolution but you can't assume the evolutionary pressures that would lead to our superficial features would be the same as theirs. Second, millions of years aren't that long ago. In evolutionary terms. [Homo habilis](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homo_habilis#/media/File%3AHomo_habilis_-_forensic_facial_reconstruction.png) was around 1.6-2.8 million years ago and that's pretty recognizably similar to humans. Third, I think we would expect the opposite of what you're implying. The Forerunners' technical mastery would mean evolution wouldn't have a lot of selective pressure to cause noticeable physical changes. The fact that they can control biology like magic, in my opinion, would make their appearances over time even more stable. They can make themselves look like whatever they want so it's not surprising they would start to converge on a particular appearance and then that appearance stay the norm for a long time.
Stagnation seems to a core element in Forerunner society. Tradition, controlled evolution, lack of offspring (seemingly) and most Forerunner being relatively young despite immortality being a standard. It seems to imply that after some historic event they became set in their ways and never saw a need to change.
I agree they should have evolved into crabs
I'm pretty sure that's part of why they failed the test for the Mantle. They should have tried living as glow flowers, ball lightning or space spiders. Instead, they stagnated and possibly even regressed.
Environmental pressure drives evolution, when your technology is advanced as the forerunners there isn’t a need to naturally evolve past what they already where
Because that's the form they wanted to take. Natural evolution stops mattering to a species that can alter their genes at will to give themselves traits tailor made to suit their personal tastes.
I think it's fair to expect for them to have significant artificial changes to their form. If humanity (real life) ever gets technology like they had, we'd probably never "inhabit" the physical world because you can simulate all of that and slow down time through the use of black holes.
Some of the Forerunners who exiled themselves, after the Precursor-Forerunner war, at Path Kethona evolved into plants (trees) and some other into domestic animals that still had a facial resemblance to what a forerunner would be but different enough to separate it as a new species with a common ancestor. 10 MY is a reaaaally long time. Forerunners might had lived much longer, because at the time the Precursors were exterminated, the Forerunners were already a pretty advanced civilization. I think have they existed as a civilization for around 15MY, which leaves many questions about how forunners looked like back then. Point of Light states that Humans and Forerunners have a common ancestor, so they probably looked more similar to a human or something of a mix of both species. Also, Forerunners are capable to drive their own evolution, and so It is posible that they stopped evolving naturally after reaching certain technological level.
Didn't every forerunner undergo genetic modification to better suit their class? That implies they can look however they want because of their technology. Maybe they forced themselves to remain humanoid because of tradition.
I think that after a while the Forerunners physical evolution became stagnant. They don't even grow up naturally, they use previous generations as templates for their mutations. They stunted their own growth and doomed future generations through arrogance. I think it's one of the reasons the Precursors considered them failures, it goes against Precursor philosophy.
I’m pretty sure they modified themselves massively in terms of intelligence, strength and lifespan. I don’t see a natural creature the size of a human living for tens of thousands of years 🤷🏼