Archaic yet futuristic, the Beam Emitters rise from various points across the Halo rings—enigmatic spires that evoke the feeling of ancient shrines or advanced communication towers, or perhaps both. Their architecture hums with latent energy, seemingly dormant yet pulsing with purpose. On Zeta Halo, these towers are a familiar sight to the UNSC Marines. Unlike the initial bewilderment they experienced during earlier encounters, the troops now regard these structures with cautious acceptance. They've seen them before. They don’t fully understand them—but they know, for the most part, that they’re safe.

Shelter is shelter, after all. And the elevated platforms of the Beam Emitters offer more than just refuge—they provide a tactical vantage point. From these heights, Marines can scan the surrounding terrain of this fractured and war-torn ringworld, watching for movement across the blasted plains and jagged cliffs.

Nestled in the shadow of one such tower lies a temporary Forward Operating Base. Makeshift but functional, it serves as the central hub for communications, logistics, and mission planning. Inside, Marines huddle around holotables, exchanging intel, coordinating patrols, and preparing for their next operation to reclaim ground from the Banished.

Unbeknownst to them, just beyond visual range, high atop a craggy mountain ridge, a squad of Banished warriors watches silently. Their eyes gleam with anticipation through the gloom, their weapons ready. These brutal remnants of the Covenant are no strangers to ambush—and the Marines below are dangerously close to becoming their next target.

This project was a collaborative effort between myself and three friends—Tanner, Sam, and Daniel. Each of us was responsible for designing and building a quarter of the landscape, which we then brought together and assembled on-site. Once the core terrain was in place, we worked collectively to blend the sections and add final layers of foliage, texturing, and detailing that helped bring the scene fully to life.

My quadrant featured the Beam Emitter—an iconic, monolithic structure from the Halo universe, created by the ancient Forerunners. These towers appear in nearly every Halo game, always recognizable but with design variations from title to title. For this build, I pulled inspiration primarily from the classic trilogy, incorporating visual cues from those original designs while also introducing my own creative interpretation to give the structure a fresh, unique identity. Despite those individual touches, the final result still reads unmistakably as a Forerunner artifact—powerful, enigmatic, and slightly alien in its presence.

The Beam Emitter itself stands approximately 40 inches tall and is engineered in four modular sections for easier transport: the base with its interior structure, the central platform that connects the tower’s body, and then the two vertical spires—one large, one small. Each spire is designed to slide onto a vertical Technic core roughly the diameter of a 2x2 LEGO plate, with a channel alongside it to house the wiring for integrated lighting. Inside each spire, I installed strands of waterfall LED lights, which cascade soft movement and glow through the otherwise static form. This not only adds a sense of energy to the tower, but also evokes the strange, advanced technology that defines Forerunner design.

Visually, the tower utilizes a variety of subtle greebling techniques—many of which are barely noticeable at a glance—to recreate the intricate patterning typical of Forerunner architecture. The design is intentionally austere, with clean lines and geometric symmetry, meant to contrast with the natural terrain around it and enhance the sci-fi feel of a structure that seems both dormant and dangerous.

One of my favorite details is found at the base: a wall section featuring the phrase "REMEMBER REACH" spray-painted onto its surface—a nod to the fall of the planet Reach, a major event in Halo lore. This detail was created using a variety of studs-not-on-top (SNOT) techniques to give the illusion of graffiti painted onto a concrete-like surface, blending narrative and realism into the build. It’s a small touch, but one that adds emotional depth and lore for those who recognize the reference.