9295911645_817a5028a8_o

thebruce0

…and then Jupiter (which, conveniently, is just the right size to house the capital in its fully spiral alignment! (note: I think the Earth here may be a touch too large)

Additional thoughts:

* Obviously my illustrations are very basic, with no visual sense of Forerunner civilization on its surfaces. This was mainly an experiment in feasibility of a design based on the challenge 🙂

* I know, magic hard-light is taboo. Sue me. 😛

* The hard light beam itself isn’t curved, it only slightly shifts its angle as it’s guided through each disc’s pivot shaft. Obviously each beam segment between discs will be straight as a beam of light 😛

* Presuming the hard light core is bright, and some Forerunner beings do might prefer the option of darkness or “night” cycles, each inter-disc segment of the beam could also be surrounded by day/night shade cylinders.

* External to the main sphere shape, additional rings or platforms could orbit for more protection or added utility, networking, transit, etc.

* I’m not fully satisfied with the cap reactors. After finalizing and scanning, I felt like trying a more vertical Forerunner-style spire, as I felt that might be more iconic, even intimidating – and help the capital appear less “fruit-like” when in defensive alignment. 😛

* The gaps between discs seem to be small when viewing the sphere as a whole – but those gaps are each about half the diameter of Earth. Plenty of room for most standard ships. And if a ship arrives that’s too large for the gap… well, better not arrive when they’re in defense mode 😛

* When aligned in a sphere, the inside of the construct is itself a spherical void. I imagine the Forerunners able to use this space to organize and commission fleets of vessels, protected by the defensive capital sphere. Or perhaps using the inner spherical void to open black holes or slipspace wormholes and whatnot.

* I also realized the caps appear like they would produce a more flattened beam, and less of a round cylindrical arc as implied by the pivot shafts. I do like the idea of a wide, flat beam passing from north to south, and it feels like it would provide a little more horizontal positional integrity.

I think I’ve covered everything… 😛