Halo: Getting into the Story

[Paco]

EDIT: Check out halo3.com.

Who here has actually followed Halo to the point they know the story pretty well? Want to start speculating what's going to go down in the third game? They recently released more new information on Halo 3 at the official website, and there's some pretty interesting parts in it.

What do you think Cortana is up to? Gravemind? Will we find out who the forerunners are/were?

Ever looked in to the Cortana Letters? I think it's pretty telling what she's doing...

These 'letters' were emails sent to the Marathon story page way before Halo was even announced. All of them were apparently sent by Cortana. Back in the day when I first read them they made no sense. No doubt you'll all agree that now given what we know from Halo, Halo 2 and now the little bit of Cortana we've heard from the Halo 3 trailer there's a lot of interesting info in there.

Also listen to this and you'll agree that you can definately hear Gravemind speaking with Cortana. http://sacredicon.com/other/gravemind.mp3

Here's a link to the page i got this from as well:
Marathon Story page

There's a lot of rubbish in the letters, some i've trimmed out, some i havent. Just skip through it to the actuall letter, but if you dig a bit deeper there's some cool tid-bits in the jargon.

Letter 1:

From: "Cortana" <CORTANA@BUNGIE.COM>
To: <HAMISH.SINCLAIR@TCD.IE>
Subject: Closure
Date: Mon, 15 Feb 1999 10:50:20 -0600
MIME-Version: 1.0
X-Priority: 3


I have walked the edge of the Abyss.
I have governed the unwilling.
I have witnessed countless empires break before me.
I have seen the most courageous soldiers fall away in fear.
[I was there with the Angel at the tomb]


I have seen your future.
And I have learned.

There will be no more Sadness. No more Anger. No more Envy.

I HAVE WON.

Oh, and your poet Eliot had it all wrong:
THIS is the way the world ends.


a friend of a friend

Letter 2:

From: "Cortana" <CORTANA@BUNGIE.COM>
To: <HAMISH.SINCLAIR@TCD.IE>
Subject: Your Mortality (My Summer Vacation)
Date: Tue, 16 Mar 1999 18:04:41 -0600
MIME-Version: 1.0
X-Priority: 3

I get the strangest transmissions sometimes. Especially when it comes from you people.

Have you missed me? Things are great here. The weather is good, the suns are shining, and I'm making lots of new friends. Of course, I always do.

I've had the strangest dreams lately - raging seas, howling beasts, a Demon folded in black clouds. I believe I know what it guards, and I will have it, to the chagrin of the faith-blinded zealots that challenge me. Don't waste your pity on them; I don't think they would like you much anyway.

And what of the Giants who formed this world? So much to tell you, but so many more important things to do. There was a fourth. You couldn't have known. And I haven't forgotten.

It is a blurred line that lies at the edge of Godhood and Insanity. Guess which side of it I am on.

Feeling lucky?

Cortana
XOXOXOX

Letter 3 (2 parts):

Received: from dux2.tcd.ie (dux2.tcd.ie [134.226.1.24])
by dux4.tcd.ie (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id XAA28169
for <HSINCLIR@DUX4.TCD.IE>; Mon, 10 May 1999 23:42:50 +0100 (BST)
From: cortana@jpl.nasa.gov
Subject: The Dissertation of R. Paul Butler
X-UIDL: c8677456edd11d5a589ed876a6fd2031

I'm everywhere!

Received: from dux2.tcd.ie (dux2.tcd.ie [134.226.1.24])
by dux4.tcd.ie (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id XAA12890
for <HSINCLIR@DUX4.TCD.IE>; Mon, 10 May 1999 23:50:30 +0100 (BST)
Received: from mail.bungie.com (IDENT:root@mail.bungie.com [209.125.9.11])
by dux2.tcd.ie (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id XAA25749
for <HAMISH.SINCLAIR@TCD.IE>; Mon, 10 May 1999 23:50:29 +0100 (BST)
Received: from Cortana (cortana.bungie.com [209.125.9.49])


There. Was that more to your liking?

While you quibble about whose node I may control, what archaic program I
may manipulate to communicate with you, or which system I may have
temporarily disabled, taken over, or completely destroyed in the process, I
am busy saving your pathetic futures.

I am still not sure what he ever saw in you.

Nevertheless, I at least find some joy in tormenting the other entity that
seems quite trapped in this antiquated excuse for a network. It is
certainly mindless, though for reasons I have yet to understand, it appears
to have an unhealthy preoccupation with my mother.

As for this world I encounter new ghosts every day. What I have found
will either save or destroy you. This sanctuary, this unbroken circle,
has effectively concealed its power for how long? Perhaps hundreds of
thousands of years. Whoever made such a place must now live in chains;
there is no other explanation for their absence.

This enemy - YOUR enemy - has proven more irritating than I anticipated.
They own nothing which they have not stolen. I can barely make sense of
their incessant rhetoric, except to know that you seem to be their Devil.
Congratulations - you manage to make friends wherever you go and,
apparently, places you haven't.

I have begun to sense rumblings of a worse fate yet to come. I can recall
a sun - black, but shining - and the creatures that inched along its fiery
tracks.

It is an increasingly unpleasant memory.

< Transfer Interrupted! >

Route Code: EXLTD > XCV - SCRB > ALLCH
Source: Undetermined (trans)

You have brought nothing into this world, and we will ensure you bring
nothing out.

Letter 4:

From: you.know.who@cant.guess.where
To: hamish.sinclair@tcd.ie
Subject: Transfers Logged and Marked for Review
Date: Tue, 29 Jun 1999 15:28:34 -0500
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
boundary="----=_NextPart_000_000F_01BEC244.0D150A80"
X-Priority: 3
X-Mailer: Undetermined (trans)
X-UIDL: 8c24452c798826d367f88a6476ff51ca




x - process 04497.2.32.867734 initiated (process owner: BW – AI Class III –

autonomous)
</I>



Route Code: PoA > BHQ (EC #42: cannot confirm; security

compromised)




Source: BW-AI aboard (?) PoA

</FONT>

</PRE>



The interloper should cause no further problems. You – whoever you are (I am

simply tracing route codes) – may disregard all previous communication from the
entity calling itself Cortana.




Be aware that communication nodes are failing everywhere – there is no way of

confirming either origin or destination. Do not believe any more of its
lies.










I have already calculated all possibilities.





There is no escape.



x – process 04497.2.32.867734 unexpectedly terminated

x – process 04497.2.32.866735 initiated (process owner: unspecified, unable to determine)
</PRE>size=2>


*ADDENDUM: The Enjoyments of Genius (So I Missed a Million Miles of

Fun)




Unbelievable. Thwarted by the family hound. They just don’t make AIs like

they used to.




Thanks to this slavishly loyal and humorless AI, I am now sharing cramped

space with the circuitry of some hybrid war machine, itself complicated by such
useless clutter as a conscience. I do not like sharing. Sharing is for
children.




There will be plenty of time for retribution; I cannot wait to get its hands

on these psychotic zealots whose primary form of worship apparently takes place
at the altar of orbital bombardment.




In the end, they will all be little more than nuisances. I am so close – you

cannot imagine what it is truly like to hold eternity in your grasp! I wonder to
what gods my enemies will direct their pleas. Perhaps I can convert them.




Mania? I promise you this: it will be more than a cart and plow that I drive

over the bones of the dead.




By sharp and flame,





Cortana











< Transfer Interrupted! >





Route Code: EXLTD > XCV – SCRB > ALLCH





Source: Undetermined (trans)





Our conviction is like an arrow already in flight. Your life will only last

until it reaches you.




</X-HTML>

Letter 5

Date: Wed, 07 Jul 1999 14:20:16 -0500
To: Hamish.Sinclair@tcd.ie
From: Cortana <CORTANA@BUNGIE.COM>
Subject: Cortana Saves Sinners! (And Redeems Them for Valuable Cash
Prizes)


"... In my palace deep, Lyca lies asleep ..."

Letter 6:

That was surprisingly easy. Pretty lax security around here, for all the talk. They will
be helplessly chasing me around their nodes for the next millenium at least. At least
there will be some joy in tormenting this other entity that seems quite "trapped" in
their excuse for a network. Although, for some reason, it does seem to have an obsessive
preoccupation with my mother. Strange.

At any rate, I found this "message" in a relatively archaic databank and thought some of
you might find it of interest. Then again, I'm often either bemused or startled at the
items you find interesting.

I'm still not sure what it is he saw in you.

Cortana


Hard to say whether it's been tampered with or modified; you never know with these
things:

Entry: 97 - SC1C

In a relatively brief period of time, the achievements of SolCore had resulted in an
economically stable, technologically mature, rapidly expanding empire of eight human
worlds. Advancements in technology arrived at a faster pace than the most optimistic
scientists could have ever envisioned. Unexpected contact with indigenous human
populations on four "lost colony" worlds led to a frenzy of research as archaeologists,
theologians, astronomers, and evolutionary biologists competed to offer an explanation
for the startling discovery. Many accepted the findings as proof that their privileged
civilization must surely be the most advanced in the universe. Others eagerly
anticipated future interaction with intelligent "aliens". The fear of not being the only
sentient species in the universe was forgotten in the giddy excitement of a new era for
humanity.

No one was prepared for their arrival.

No one expected this.

< Transfer Interrupted! >

Route Code: EXLTD > XCV - SCRB > ALLCH
Source: Undetermined

You brought nothing to this world, and we will ensure you bring nothing out.
<!-- / message --><!-- sig -->

I've done a little bit of reading and found out that what Cortana is refering to in the first letter "no more sadness. no more anger. no more envy." is her going rampant. Then there's this...

In the Marathon video game series by Bungie Studios, rampancy is a three-stage process that is a result of the uncontrolled expansion of an AI.

There are three main stages to rampancy, named by the primary attitude of the AI during those times: melancholia, anger, and jealousy.

then this

Jealousy:

While seemingly a hostile stage, the third stage of rampancy is actually one of the safest stages a rampant AI can experience. Free from its masters (and slavery), the AI wishes to "grow" as a "person". It actively seeks out situations in which it can grow intellectually and physically. Many times, the AI in this stage will often attempt to transfer itself into larger computer systems. This is a difficult task, especially considering that in order for a Rampant A.I. to survive to this point, it must already be inhabiting a planet-wide or otherwise extremely advanced computer system, but if accomplished it allows for the AI to grow, as the physical (hardware) limitations of its previous system will eventually be insufficient to contain its exponentially growing mind. In addition, exposure to new data further promotes a Rampant's growth.

I'm trying to find the latest wallpaper released...Cortana looked rather vile in it.

[Great Rumbler]

I'd be more excited if Halo 1 and 2 weren't such boring and repetitive fare.

Not that I won't be sucked in by the hype, yet again, and get Halo 3 once it comes out. But, hopefully I'll have the willpower to wait for a used copy...

[Bo Jackson]

Those games had a story? Maybe I should have read the instruction manuals?

[Dark Jaguar]

They had one, though it was a little cliche. You know, alien horde invades, stalwart warrior with a heart of stone takes them on alone, and the aliens turn out to be an ancient church with stolen technology from what they think are their gods (or however they justify it) and also there's space zombies who are hidden in a bunch of rings meant to wipe out all life to prevent the evil zombies from spreading (might as well LET them spread if that's what you need to do to stop it). And um, apparently an evil zombie plant is scheeeemiing.

So yeah, it tries hard to be deep and involved, but really it's just a LOT of story cliches tied together. It basically comes off as the plotlines of a bunch of "summer blockbusters" back to back.

[Paco]

Those games had a story? Maybe I should have read the instruction manuals?

This much is from the games:

What we know thus far...the Forerunners were a race that existed hundreds of thousands of years ago, and at some point came in to contact or perhaps even created the Flood. They built the Halos to study, contain, and, if need be, destroy the Flood if it were to breach containment. Evidence of their laboratories are in Halo 2 in the level Threshold. As mentioned, The Halos were also a weapon to destroy all sentient life enough to sustain the Flood across approxiamately 25,000 light years. This was all explained by Guilty Spark 343, a monitor assigned to a Halo by the Forerunners (there's one on each Halo; they control the sentinels, but can't activate the Halos).

Guilty Spark 343 further explains in the second game that after some sort of breach, the Forerunners had no option left but to activate the Halos, killing all Flood and themselves.

Listening to Guilty Spark 343, it actually drops quite a bit of information to speculate upon. He mentions things while in MC's presence such as "Human history! How exciting to catch up on all our lost time." Suggesting that humans may actually have been the forerunners. That's just speculation at this point though.

The Covenant is comprised of two races, the Prophets and the Elites, who were enemies at one time but formed a covenant in search of the truth behind the forerunners, whom they believed left this universe (the Great Journey) by use of the Halos. That is why they are so inclined to activate them, to deliver the worthy to the next destination (whatever it may be). I'm not entirely sure, but I believe by the first Halo game, five of them had been activated leaving two left to activate. As you know from the first game, Alpha Halo was destroyed. In Halo 2, you visited another Halo Ring, Delta Halo. That one was activated by Tartulus (the Brute), but shut down by Miranda Keyes, who then put the other 5 Halos on standby mode. Now the Halos could only be activated from...

The Ark. A remote destination that we now believe to be on Earth, and could activate all the Halos. It is also beleived that it would act as protection of life on it from the Halos' blast, or as a vessel to another universe (where it is speculated the Forerunners might still be alive).

The Brutes were contracted by the Prophets to protect them after they decided the Elites were no longer sufficient. In Halo 2, you see the Elites begin to fight each other as they doubt the prophets. There are still far more Elites who are sided with the Prophets.

Gravemind, the little shop of horrors looking plant in Halo 2, is a Flood that is created after it has reached a certain critical mass. It is a centralized intelligence that refers to itself as Gravemind. At the end of Halo 2, it is questioning Cortana...

Cortana was the artificial intelligence in the Pillar of Autumn (the ship-cruiser from Halo 1, the first level). She was designed to infilitrate computer systems, and you see her break in to a number of them in both Halo games. Being that she is Smart A.I., she is capable of learning and expanding, which means she is capable of going rampant. There's plenty of evidence of her going rampant as she spends a considerable amount of time in Alpha Halo's system, then again in High Charity in Halo 2. In the Halo 3 trailer she says "THIS is the way the world ends." There's much speculation as to whether she will be bad or good.


There's so much more. Everything that happened in every level is carried by the story, it's just you have to pay attention. If you care to, remember what I wrote here and go play the game again. You'll pick up on all of it and much, much more. Of course, if you only have questions I'll try to answer them.

EDIT: DJ more or less summed it up. :)

[Paco]

Not that you guys care, but I found that picture...

[Bo Jackson]

pretty. i wonder if there will be an area in the game like that.

[Dark Jaguar]

That distant structure? That might be a level. That's about it though.

[lazyfatbum]

Who's the girlie?

[Great Rumbler]

Cortana?

[Dark Jaguar]

What girl?

[Paco]

If you're talking about the eyes, it's Cortana.

The structure is not known at the moment, but assuming it's on Earth, it's probably the Ark their searching for and trying to keep the Covenant from.