lore-and-universe

[steady scaffold]

or unused caskets

[hoary coyote]

So I have a question regarding Halo Wars 2, did the Shipmaster betray the UNSC? I thought that he and most of the other Sangheli were siding with the UNSC against the Covenant, is the Banished Shipmaster a different Sangheli or did he side with Atriox at one point?

[tired terrace]

the elites only had a ceasefire with humanity after halo 3

and it didnt stand for much because the elites were still not very unified after that

[hoary coyote]

So it is the Shipmaster from 2 and 3 then?

[tired terrace]

countless splinter factions, some who still believed in the great journey, and others who opposed the arbiter, the shipmaster in halo wars 2 was attacked by atriox and just surrendered his forces to atriox basically

[hoary coyote]

Ah okay, so it's not the same one then

What about the Arbiter? Is he still alive at the time of Halo Wars 2 or is it a different Arbiter?
Or is it just someone they added in like Forge?

[tired terrace]

shipmaster is a rank

its a little ambiguous in 3 because its the only shipmaster you see in that game

[hoary coyote]

Oh I'm an idiot that makes sense

[unique rune]

Ripa 'Moramee's appearance in Halo Wars 2 doesn't really mean anything canonically, just like how Sgt. Forge, Sgt. Johnson, and Serina also appear as leader picks.

[hoary coyote]

Who's the flame chick? I don't think I ever heard of her

[unique rune]

Kinsano was a new character for HW2.

I don't think she's appeared in any other media so far.

[terse lava]

Yep nothing else, just that she was once a rebel that joined the crew

[hoary coyote]

I've heard of Yip Yap and the events and stuff regarding him, but what about Colony? Just a random group of Lekgolo?

[terse lava]

They are a Mgalekgolo pair that are in charge of all Lekgolo forms on the ark

[unique rune]

Colony appears as the main antagonist of the Operation Spearbreaker DLC as well.

[hoary coyote]

Do you get both DLC in the season pass?

In the store it just says Spearbreaker

[bronze perch]

Mark VII cat ears

[unique rune]

Operation Spearbreaker is included in the season pass, Awakening the Nightmare is not, if I recall correctly.

[hoary coyote]

Ah alright

What makes the Thanolekgolo in Halo Nightfall different from the rest?

[bronze perch]

Will I gain any lore from playing halo 4 and 5 campaigns

[hoary coyote]

In Halo 5 there's data pads around the campaign and I think another source of lore but I can't remember for sure

As for Halo 4 it's been a long time so I couldn't tell you

[bronze perch]

But what about the general story

And how about odst will I learn anything about the odsts

[unique rune]

It's not really specified other than them being particularly sensitive to various waves and fields emitted by tech stuff.

[hoary coyote]

Ah I see, I really don't remember anything from Halo 4 besides the Diadact and Cortana, I'd say they're pretty important. And Halo 5 is pretty much just Cat and Mouse between Locke's team and Blue team

Personally I've enjoyed Halo 5 the most and I enjoyed the campaign, but I didn't feel like there was much story there

[bronze perch]

I hope they add halo 5 to pc

How about odst

[hoary coyote]

Yeah me too, I miss Warzone. I'm pretty disappointed there's no PvE mode in infinite

Uhh, I'm trying to remember

[bronze perch]

I hope they add something like firefight in infinte

I loved that in reach

[hoary coyote]

The only thing I remember about ODST really is that you're trying to save Veronica Dare and she wants to protect this Engineer

[terse lava]

ODST FF is pretty fun, and my friends and I enjoyed custom reach FF games

[hoary coyote]

A little off topic but I will say that Halo 5 had the best custom games by far, and the REQ system was dumb at first but over time I loved it in Warzone FF. That was practically all I played

[terse lava]

Held no interest in it myself

[indigo ingot]

On the halopedia it says thel vadam' was the 18th arbiter

[unique rune]

I'm not seeing anywhere on Halopedia that claims he was the 18th.

[ornate hawk]

the shipmaster in Halo 3 is Rtas ‘Vadam, the shipmaster in HW2 is Let ‘Volir

[untold wasp]

shipmaster is a title

[ornate hawk]

^

[untold wasp]

just like arbiter

[ornate hawk]

and like someone else said, the elites are a heavily divided race, the only thing that unified them was 1) the covenant and the belief in the Great Journey and 2) fighting alongside humanity after they were betrayed by the covenant

after the covenant fell, they became divided again as they had no central goal anymore, which is why there’s now all these different sub factions such as the Swords of Sangheilios, Jul ‘Mdama’s covenant, and the elites who serve in the Banished

[untold wasp]

isn't there more covenant splinters

like jul's

[ornate hawk]

yes, those are just the main ones

[ornate hawk]

i listed jul’s lmao

[untold wasp]

ik

[indigo ingot]

If you look up who was the 18th arbiter Google shows thel 'vadam and it's sources is Halopedia

[ornate hawk]

and the only elites who still see humans as allies are those who fight with the Arbiter, all the others went back to resenting them once they no longer had a common enemy

[unique rune]

And Google clearly has no idea what it's talking about because Halopedia has absolutely no mention of him being the 18th Arbiter.

[ornate hawk]

there’s probably been 18 named arbiters

[unique rune]

Not even that, we've only had like three or four explicitly named, plus another 2-3 who've been identified but never named.

[ornate hawk]

but i doubt that an alien empire that lasted for thousands of years only had 18 of the most prestigious rank that one of its main species can hold

for example a website called giant bomb states there’s been 192 arbiters

just depends on the source you use

[terse lava]

The whole thing was a single "line" of arbiters. For example, Ripa 'Moramee, was the 17th arbiter in the "Line of Immaculate Succession"

Nothing ever states Thel was the 18th however

[near tide]

Arbiters weren’t constantly recruited

They only had someone filling the role sometimes

[ornate hawk]

i know but still

the covenant lasted for 3400 years in halo

there’s no way they only had 18 major events that required an arbiter

after all in the Mausoleum itself we can see 90 caskets

[near tide]

True

[terse lava]

They didn't, as for most of the Covenant's history, the Arbiter was the Commander of the entire army. It was only in the 2100s that it became a rank of shame, and thus likely the origin of the various "Arbiter Lines"

[near tide]

Only being 18 arbiters is sus

[wise bone]

What they probably mean is 18 arbiters the covenant control. Ripa was followed by thel. But thel didnt bacame an arbiter until halo was destoyed in halo ce.

About idk, 25 years difference?

So they could easily have 18 arbiters in the covenant while having thousands of coffins in the hall of the arbiter.

Also the armor is ancient, I think thel was the only arbiter to have energy shields.

[wise bone]

Thel Amediently followed up Ripa, thanks for putting this argument to rest! 👍🏽

[quick slate]

Is YapYap from HW2 canon?

[wise bone]

Yes, he was a deacon unggoy that was participating in the battle of reach to some capacity. He's also mentioned by name by unggoy in halo 3. He had his own update in the MCC.

[quick slate]

Where is he now?

[wise bone]

He rebelled against the banished while on the ark i think. During halo wars 2. He was looking for golden methane that was speaking out to him. Some how he killed more grunts that where stationed with him. He's just a meme character that 343 made after the lines in halo 3.

Should still he on the ark from the looks of it.

[terse lava]

I still imagine his rebellion was him complaining to other Unggoy around a campfire, rather than an actual event

[wise bone]

Just happened by accident 🤣

[indigo ingot]

In the original Halo 2 story boards you were supposed to see MasterCheifs lower face

I wish I could post a picture to show you

[wise bone]

Eh, master chief is gonna be a generic white guy. I hope they never show because no way you can make it look interesting. Just gonna look like a discount agent 47

[indigo ingot]

He basicly looked like bj blazkowiz/doom guy with black hair

And simmer face

Lord hood also spears to look like in his late 40s

With a receding hair line

Basically the captain in Halo 4 that ordered Chris to hand over Cortana

Del rio

Ok so instead of Chris going to the surface after blowing up the covenant carrier he goes on another ship and manually blows up the core fighting a bunch of drones then he drives a ghost out of the hanger and skydives towards earth where a pelican picks him up midair

That's way more cool

And the mission metropolis is before outskirts and they blow up the scarab on outskirts

[near tide]

No

[valid hemlock]

Damn, then i won't tell you about the books and an entire movie that show john's face

[near tide]

Ripa died early in the war. Thel became Arbiter in the last year of the war

[indigo ingot]

R'tas was just spec ops commander and the arbiter was named the dervish

And it doesn't appear there was not a trial

From what I've seen so far

The phantom looked more bug like

Reminds me of the harvester or lich

[terse lava]

@near tide unless you count the Halo Wars board game as canon, Ripa was the last Arbiter before Thel

[near tide]

True

But thel didn't become arbiter right after ripa. It was years later

[terse lava]

Yes

[indigo ingot]

Ok but why is ripa'south so different to other elites

[terse lava]

I took his "immediately" as simply the next immediate Arbiter

[indigo ingot]

Mouth*

[terse lava]

Just different age and looks

[fast falcon]

Prob got hit really hard in the face once and now it droops like that

[unique rune]

Individuals just look different, there's not always necessarily a "why"

[terse lava]

shrug we do know he attempted a couple against his kaidon, and failed. Later got thr crap beaten out of him during a pirision revolt

[fast falcon]

So the answer is either he just looks like that or he just got injured once

[indigo ingot]

There was originally a human version of the scarab

Basically a giant mantis

In Halo 2 that Johnson would get in

No wait it's covenant it just looks human

[sour grotto]

So I have not played all the halos so keep that in mind, but what ever happened to the covenant? I know that they lost the human-covenant war but when did that is even happen. Why and when did they just stop being a belligerent in the war?

[indigo ingot]

Basically the swords of sanggelios leaf by the arbiter killed all the remaining covenant factions afte truth died

[sour grotto]

Ahh

[boreal current]

The prophets picked a terrible time to start a civil war causing the covenant to splinter apart. The arbiters faction took care of the prophets faction for us.

[indigo ingot]

The blood years aka the sangheli civil wars were basically the sangheli crusades

2552 to 2559 I believe

[boreal current]

Also due to Oni and friends a whole Bunch of elite covenant factions have been popping up

[indigo ingot]

Did the drones ever make their own covenant?

[boreal current]

The only elite based one left at the moment is Telcams faction which is now led by Jul Mdamas older son. I think they are in Onyx(need to read the related book)

[sour grotto]

Yeah so there was a schism within covenant that just made them way worse as a faction which lead to their demise. That clears it up

[indigo ingot]

Also I'm pretty sure jega rodamnai was on one of. The Halo wars comics when atriox confronted the silent shadow and was impressed and he was probably one of the silent shadow atriox talked to

[unique rune]

The old Covenant empire more or less just fell apart after the events of Halo 3. With significant infighting, the loss of their primary leadership, and the revelation that everything about the Great Journey was nonsense, they just sorta fractured. Various leaders rushed to fill the power vacuum and formed a number of different remnant factions.

[frigid oracle]

yeah no full faction's left

[indigo ingot]

Tbh I'm surprised truth didn't have a compromise like upload his mind to an ai or something

[frigid oracle]

doubt he would ever do that

but his death was cool

keep him like that

[boreal current]

Well the banished are going strong.

[frigid oracle]

not really tbh

||most leaders dead, planet gone and control of ring basically gone||
spoilers^

[sour grotto]

By the way y'all ever think about how confusing the entire invasion of Reach is? Like so many major details were left completely ambiguous. Like the scale of the covenant fleet, how they were even able to get into Reach was never mentioned

[unique rune]

That's... highly unlikely. Jega is specifically noted to be an old friend of Escharum's. I doubt he would've been part of 'Azavayl's Silent Shadow unit.

[near tide]

They tracked a unsc fleet

[near tide]

No

[frigid oracle]

the covenant fleet was 10x what attacked the cairo station

😱

[indigo ingot]

I forgot, the banished want to activate Halo cause they believe everyone need to restart and be sort of cleaned because everything is messed up and stuff

Right?

[boreal current]

Infinite spoilers are for the other channel

[indigo ingot]

Actually 50x

[inner sigil]

Lol just found out what petty act Tartarus did to the elites

[frigid oracle]

yeah forgot

[frigid oracle]

thats why i tagged it

[terse lava]

It wasn't 50 or 10

[frigid oracle]

whatever it was

100?

[boreal current]

Sorry I meant buk

[frigid oracle]

i forgot

[frigid oracle]

oh lel

[terse lava]

The combined fleet that attacked Reach was around 350 ships

[frigid oracle]

im just following what hood said tbh

[terse lava]

Hood is known for hyperbole

[frigid oracle]

315 according to google

[sour grotto]

I know that but it was never stated how they actually got through the UNSC fleet. Like at first the strategy for them was to sneak in with the cloak, but with a fleet that size how would they just sneak through UNSC ships like that

[boreal current]

Was the death of Xytan 'Jar Wattinree a good thing or a bad thing?

[frigid oracle]

probabaly bad

probably*

[indigo ingot]

I'd say good

[terse lava]

@frigid oracle ah thank you

[sullen grotto]

good because he still believed in the great journey

[frigid oracle]

if he would believe arbiter makes the difference

[frigid oracle]

after the oracle exposing them tho

[frigid oracle]

they probably blew everything up

[indigo ingot]

He was as powerful if not more powerful than the prophets and was very religious

[frigid oracle]

and just passed

[sullen grotto]

he still believed in the great journey just hated that he was betrayed

[frigid oracle]

yeah i know

[indigo ingot]

He could definitely activate Halo way easier than truth

[terse lava]

Yeah, Xytan wasn't yet made aware of the truth of halo

[indigo ingot]

Probably with a single fleet

[frigid oracle]

but in the end of H2 its the oracle who proves the journey was fake

so if they told showed him that it would be good

[indigo ingot]

My head Canon is the covenant know they will die but them dying sends them to the transcendent realm just like how cults do mass suicides

[sour grotto]

Makes sense except for them being completely unnoticed on the planet for a while before Noble Squad found the sword elites

[terse lava]

Well thats not the case

They didn't think the halos would kill them

[frigid oracle]

they just say "Ring brings us to better place."

[frigid oracle]

oh very true

it took forever to notice

i guess they all went cloaked

[sour grotto]

Apparently

[frigid oracle]

and secretly deployed

[unique rune]

Well, yes and no. The later combined invasion fleet located the planet after tracking a UNSC ship in the aftermath of Sigma Octanus IV, but the Fleet of Valiant Prudence as seen in the game located the planet independently due to the presence of Forerunner artifacts on Reach.

[indigo ingot]

I kinda want Locke to be back but not Halo 5 Locke

[sour grotto]

It was a vary ambiguous invasion

Is what I'm getting at

[indigo ingot]

I mean h2a locke

And how he was advertised

[unique rune]

It's just muddled due to Bungie wanting to overwrite the novel's version of events with the game.

[terse lava]

Yeah, Bungie wasn't fond of EU stuff

[frigid oracle]

yeah thats why its confusing

book has a story, game has a story

[sour grotto]

Yeah did they ever explicitly say that the novel was cannon or not?

[frigid oracle]

i think it isnt

[terse lava]

The book is canon

[frigid oracle]

and the game isnt

?

[unique rune]

Bungie wanted to effectively decanonize the book, but 343 has worked to do some retconning and handwaving to make them both canon and compatible enough with each other.

[frigid oracle]

ahh

[terse lava]

No, 343 had to kinda mix it together to make it work and keep both canon

[unique rune]

It's not perfect but stuff mostly works out if you don't go poking at it too hard.

[boreal current]

From what I understand one of Thels colleagues stumbled upon Reach. The guy was looking for the Forerunner capital

His name was Rho 'Barutamee

[sour grotto]

Thing that sucks about Reach is that in the overarching story of halo, noble squad's valiant sacrifice was made completely useless in Halo 5 because Cortana wanted to be evil or something

[frigid oracle]

lol

[rough carbon]

Ok so quick question, did the forerunners use the guardians during the flood war?

i feel like it would be effective

[terse lava]

They weren't

[frigid oracle]

nvm

[rough carbon]

why tho

[terse lava]

They were easily capable of being overwhelmed by either the logic plague, or simple enemy warship weaponry

[rough carbon]

huh

[terse lava]

They only are really effective against lower tier civilizations

[sour grotto]

The flood probably would've taken over most of all life so they just decided to reset basically

[rough carbon]

makes sense

[boreal current]

Plus by the time the flood got going they would have been smashed by the star roads

[sour grotto]

I'm so well versed in Halo lore that has to deal with everything before the games, Reach, Infinite and literally nothing else

[boreal current]

The Halo EU is one of the more interesting ones

[terse lava]

It is

[rough carbon]

whats that/

[terse lava]

Though some of the deeper lore does get rather.... convoluted

[near tide]

?

How so

[terse lava]

The expanded halo universe@rough carbon anything not the games

[boreal current]

I mean expanded universe ie novels, comics etc

[rough carbon]

ah

[sour grotto]

The entire point of noble squad's mission was to get Cortana to the pillar of autumn right? And then Cortana would magically turn evil ruining the purpose of their mission and their sacrifice.

[near tide]

She still stopped the flood and the covenant

And saved chief

[terse lava]

Yeah but thats several years later anyway.

[near tide]

So I think their sacrifice wasn’t in vain

[frigid oracle]

she didnt stop the covenant tbf

[near tide]

She saved chief who helped

[sour grotto]

That's does make sense but I think in other ways I think it was too

[frigid oracle]

wait when

i completely forgot

lmao

[near tide]

The Flood

She zapped an infection form that latched on

[terse lava]

Off the top of my head, helping him survive a missile during armor testing, and later she managed to electrocute an infection form that has dug into chief's armor

[near tide]

Without her chief also would have died dozens of times

[frigid oracle]

probably

[unique rune]

She was also pretty instrumental in the whole chain of events that led to the fall of the Covenant.

[indigo ingot]

What do you guya think would happen if humanity never encountered the covenant ubtil at least much later, would there be a bigger flood outbreak, what about the schism etc

[frigid oracle]

arbiter also saved chief 😎

[rough carbon]

arbiter is such a chad

[frigid oracle]

yessss

[sour grotto]

In many ways the covenant were doomed to fail. She definitely helped with the process though

[unique rune]

Without Cortana, the Autumn never would've jumped to Installation 04, Thel never would've lost his position as Supreme Commander and fleetmaster of the Fleet of Particular Justice, the Great Schism probably would've been delayed long enough for the Covenant to actually succeed in their goals, etc.

[frigid oracle]

nah i think prophets always wanted to betray the elites

[terse lava]

Not always, and not all

[frigid oracle]

ok not always

[rough carbon]

nah

[frigid oracle]

not at the beginning for sure

[rough carbon]

i think they just got their hand's forced

[unique rune]

Truth had always planned to replace the Sangheili, but the events at Installation 04 combined with Installation 05 pushed him to move his plans forward.

[frigid oracle]

but i mean not just at the great schism

earlier for sure

[indigo ingot]

I mean it the covenant didn't go to harvest like if there weren't forerunner artifacts on it

[unique rune]

Even just an extra few months of time without literally destroying itself from within probably would have been enough for the Covenant to decisively decimate humanity.

But what happened resulted in infighting and a good chunk of Sangheili allying with humanity to put a stop to the Covenant's end goal.

[frigid oracle]

yeah

i think if all elites stayed with the covenant the humans might have lost idk

[unique rune]

Humanity absolutely would have lost.

[rough carbon]

yep

[terse lava]

Humanity never had a chance

[unique rune]

The Covenant had reached Earth and activated the portal to the Ark even in spite of the Great Schism.

[boreal current]

Would the flood have still been able to take high charity?

[rough carbon]

how did the flood get on hc

[indigo ingot]

Ok but why did lord hoods fleet only shoot the key ship I don't think it had any reclaimers on it given no humans were on truths phantom and were probably relying on prisoners on his fleet

[boreal current]

Via the In Amber Clad. I’m sure the civil war weakened the defences considerably for them

[indigo ingot]

It would be alot smarter to focus your fire on the carriers instead

[terse lava]

The In amber Clad, they captured it as it hovered over the quarantine zone. Then made a slipspace jump directly into the city.

@indigo ingot because Truth was on thekeyship, and they thought they could destroy it and stop him from activating Halo

[frigid oracle]

I mean truth cant activate halo SMH

[terse lava]

No one else knows that

[frigid oracle]

true

that secret will die with the rest

[indigo ingot]

But it wouldn't stop higher ranks from activating it using a reclaimer prisoner to activate it, I mean look at Mr tartar sauce

[terse lava]

As Miranda herself said, everyone assumed the portal was the Ark itself

[frigid oracle]

dum dums

[terse lava]

And activating it, activated halo

Eh hardly

It originally was as Bungie has shown, back when h2 was.met to be thr final game

[frigid oracle]

tartarus cool

[rough carbon]

best brute chieftin

[terse lava]

I guess

[indigo ingot]

Still Cheif and Cortana saw truth launch off so he could report to obi and the shadow of intent destroys truths fleet and abandon truth on the ark knowing there isn't any humans on it

And oni probably knew given Cheif learned in Halo 1 when spark or Cortana told him

[terse lava]

Again, no one really knew you needed a human

[indigo ingot]

Correction reclaimer given humans aren't the only reclaimers

[terse lava]

Nor did anyone know there weren't humans captured on the vessel

[fast falcon]

The Covenant could also find a way around it with some time I imagine. Cortana said Spark himself could find a way to fire the ring eventually, and they’ve been able to access some other Forerunner relics in the past I think

[terse lava]

Not all humans are reclaimers, but all reclaimers are human

[indigo ingot]

I don't think there were given the only people on truths phantom was truth and some honor gaurds

[indigo ingot]

The forerunners and endless interact with forerunner artifacts and even the harbinger has a reclaimer symbol

[terse lava]

Of course its going to work for the Forerunners themselves, as for the Endless, we have nothing showing they can get at higher tier forerunner stuff, such as activating a Halo itself

[indigo ingot]

The harbinger started the rebuilding of zeta Halo and activated the spires

Afgetent resolution, being a monitor, simply monitored the process

[fast falcon]

She also hijacked authorization from the monitor and had the sub monitor helping her

Also rebounding the halo would be something that seems doable without a reclaimer

[ornate hawk]

not quite, delivering Cortana to the Autumn wasnt their mission until after Halsey requisitioned them, before that their mission was defending Reach, same as everyone else on the planet

that and nobody could’ve expected cortana to survive past her rampancy and assume the mantle like she did

[ornate hawk]

so the covenant originally found the location of reach through a forerunner artifact they had that could locate other forerunner artifacts (essentially telling them the location of every human colony), however it wasn’t until they tracked a UNSC ship to Reach that they realized it was a colony and not just any other world

[frigid oracle]

nah but the point of being on reach at the beginning or whatever

[ornate hawk]

that’s when they dispatched the Long Night of Solace and a group of corvettes as it’s escort to the planet, although it’s not explicitly stated how they got past Reach’s defenses, my understanding of previous lore is the covenant can use pinpoint slip space jumps to enter a planet’s system undetected, after that they can cloak themselves by diverting power away from their weapons and shields and proceed slowly to the planet

once they’re planet side they set up the spires that we see so that the fleet can remain cloaked while also having full power to their weapons and shields (hence why after noble team wrecks the first spire, LNOS is able to destroy the UNSC Grafton so quickly after having its present revealed)

[versed helm]

Mostly

Because that would make the most sense how they got past reach defensive

[ornate hawk]

that’s when LNOS fulfills it’s mission of being a scout force and relays to the rest of the covenant that Reach has a significant human presence, and retreats back outside the kill zone of Reach’s ODPs and defense fleet while waiting for the rest of the fleet to arrive (obv they arrived just too late as they drop out of slip space right after LNOS is destroyed, although the fact Reach still fell showed the super carrier being destroyed didn’t matter much)

[terse lava]

The LNOS never made such a report, as Rho was attempting to leave beforenthr main covenant fleet arrived. He knew the Hierarchs would punishment him for failing to handle the humans

When he wasn't even trying to deal with them, only collect the relics, which itself was likely a sin

[boreal current]

Did the Covenant realise they found a major human world or would thel have arrived regardless with his fleet?

[versed helm]

That would explain why reach defense grid gotten multiple slipspace rupture detected after the LNOS was destroyed

[ornate hawk]

they would’ve arrived regardless

like i said they already had Reach’s location as they could locate forerunner artifacts, discovering the planet was a human colony just accelerated their arrival

[terse lava]

@boreal current some in the High Council and Military thought it was the homeworld

[ornate hawk]

LNOS mission was to land an advance invasion force so the covenant already had a foothold on the planet when the rest of the fleet arrived, despite its size it’s unlikely one supercarrier would be able to take on an entire colony with that much of a military presence on its own without suffering extensive damage in the process

[versed helm]

I mean LNOS would have been a prime candidate for use in Operation: RED FLAG. However, with the vessel destroyed, the Navy was forced to wait to enact the operation until the Covenant arrived in force days later.

[tired terrace]

rho was busy committing a little of his own treachery

he sought to claim a significant forerunner artifact from reach in secret for his own plans

his choices were to abandon his own zealots to flee before the invasion force arrived or stay and be interrogated because he really was not supposed to be there and then punished for incompetence

[tired terrace]

it is my opinion that operation red flag would never have been successful to any degree even if they captured some high value target

[terse lava]

@ornate hawk that was not its mission at all, Rho was solely there on his own mission to collect forerunner relics in an effort to find the Forerunner capital. It was the UNSC who thought his fleet a scouting force.

Red Flag was doomed from the start, it never would work

[versed helm]

Yeah the Covenant would’ve never wanted to negotiate

[fast falcon]

Even if they got a Prophet, the others would take the chance to seize power for themselves and try and engineer the kidnapped prophets death

[terse lava]

No..more so the mission couldn't be accomplished. They thought the Covenant capital was a himeworld, not a mobile base surrounded by over one thousand warships.

And what Frost said

[fast falcon]

Ahhh, that as well

In fact red flag couldve led to the death of Mercy or Regret, and make Truth still go through with the changing of the guard

[terse lava]

For example, we are told by Nizat, the Fleetmaster that was tasked with wiping out humanity in the first months of the war, commented that at that time, the high charity defense fleet numbered around 1200 warships

[versed helm]

Even if regret or mercy was dead one of them would’ve been in truth’s way for his master plan if red flag work

[terse lava]

And if Truth was nabbed, he would be replaced

The only way humanity could survive, was with what happened, the Sangheili being betrayed by the Covenant, and forced to find allies

[fast falcon]

Truth being nabbed would be kinda interesting to see play out I guess

[untold wasp]

ya, since truth was the mastermind

[ornate hawk]

yeah red flag wouldnt have worked because 1) truth had a plan to seize absolute power and 2) whenever a hierarch was removed for whatever reason a new san'shyuum would just replace them after receiving the oracle's blessing and being approved by the high council

[untold wasp]

regret and mercy would still carry out the great journey un aware that truth was going to have them both dead

[versed helm]

But the unsc would’ve lost because like Ado said the only way the unsc won was because the great schism happened

[untold wasp]

which got almost half of the covenant against them

[fast falcon]

Would be awesome if Cortana and the Spartans realized Red Flag wouldn’t work after getting to High Charity, and just decided to hijack the key ship or something and wreck the city

[versed helm]

If it didn’t happened then red flag would’ve been a waste of lives and resources

[ornate hawk]

it wouldnt be then they realized red flag wouldnt work

[untold wasp]

high charity is guarded by a pretty big fleet tho

[ornate hawk]

it woulda been after they got a prophet (if the plan suceeded) and the covenant was like "lol okay" and replaced them with a new one

thats when they would realize red flag was a busted plan lmao

[boreal current]

They should make a what if game where Operation Red Flag reached High Charity with it being a survival game ie how long can they survive before being overwhelmed

[untold wasp]

like the final mission for reach

[terse lava]

They'd be zapped within minutes of arrival from the defense fleet

[boreal current]

Yep

[terse lava]

The fleet changed security codes hourly

[fast falcon]

The ultimate Firefight mission

[versed helm]

Yeah but getting out of High Charity with a prophet would’ve been tough with the fleet right outside

[ornate hawk]

well thats why i said if the plan suceeded lol

[terse lava]

Even then, High Chairty is populated by 7.7 billion covenant

[fast falcon]

Not counting lekgolo I imagine

[terse lava]

Counting everyone, civilians and Military

[untold wasp]

no way it would work

[terse lava]

Separate Lekgolo wormsthough, would be no need for that,

[fast falcon]

I kinda wonder what the demographics of High Charity were like tho

[ornate hawk]

the same as the military probably

elites and prophets in the fancier districts

grunts in the slums

[steady scaffold]

is the infinity big enough to have its own sphere of influence for ships to orbit it

[ornate hawk]

jackals and brutes somewhere in the middle

[steady scaffold]

*massive not big

[ornate hawk]

no

[terse lava]

Well, we do know outside the inner shell of High Chairty, floated cities, eacg of which held tens of millions

[ornate hawk]

not even close

[steady scaffold]

can high charity

[untold wasp]

i thought grunts and jackals were together

[steady scaffold]

can stuff orbit high charity

or a halo ring

[terse lava]

They are large enough, yes

[steady scaffold]

not large massive

[untold wasp]

first hand view of their demise

[gilded mason]

That's pedantic

[untold wasp]

if they lighted it

[terse lava]

Was wondering when you'd show up@gilded mason

[steady scaffold]

i assume a halo ring could be orbited by something

[gilded mason]

lol

[steady scaffold]

hence why high charity was able to stick to delta halo for so long

[humble yacht]

High charity had hollow parts so it was likely less massive than its size would suggest

[steady scaffold]

but i reckon it still would be really really massive

now that i think about it

[ornate hawk]

jackals were above grunts in the covenant hierarchy, jackals had purposes such as their marksmanship and technological skills, and were used as assassins, recon scouts, mechanics, etc.. the grunts were mainly slaves until they rebelled, after that they were allowed to serve in the military, but were mainly used as cannon fodder seeing how they weren't as efficient in combat as jackals and were easier to replace given their large population size

[humble yacht]

For a space station, yea

[steady scaffold]

massive doesnt mean big

massive is the mass of an object not size

[humble yacht]

I know

[terse lava]

We know it was around 100 trillion tons, but that's about it

[untold wasp]

ah ok

[steady scaffold]

i think that would be enough

not a big sphere of influence

but i think it would certainly be enough for it to have its own tiny little sphere

it would certainly make having an escort fleet much easier if you ask me

are the engineers part of the covenant fringe

[terse lava]

No

[steady scaffold]

oh

i thought they maybe could be since they werent really used for combat

[untold wasp]

they were taken in by truth to get to the earth portal i think

[terse lava]

They were just living computers to the Covenant

[steady scaffold]

because they are right

they are like

uh

sentinels

but alive

[ornate hawk]

scientifically there isn’t really a size requirement for something to be able to have things orbit it

the gravitational pull of one body just needs to match the forward motion of another

[steady scaffold]

i wasnt talking about size

but neat

[ornate hawk]

although it is more likely with larger objects, unless high charity meets that requirement and matches something's forward motion than no, nothing will orbit it

[steady scaffold]

i had that thought lying around for a hile

[ornate hawk]

yeah

with that being said tho i do retract my previous statement lol

technically infinity could have something orbit it if it also met that requirement

[steady scaffold]

wouldnt it make sense

for the covenant to implement a gravity field or something around their ships

just so they could have easier escort fleets

[terse lava]

The Covenant were capable of manipulating gravity already

[ornate hawk]

well then that would cause a problem of it a ship needs to be repaired or is sent to chase something (for example thel vadam chasing the autumn) you would have to adjust/open up the gravity field so that those ships could leave

it’s just easier for ships to have free range

[steady scaffold]

i mean not really

the ships could just exit it or something i dont know

because you can leave the sphere of influence of an object

but you are right i guess

it would make it harder for those ships to separate from the main ship

[steel stone]

It really makes me wonder how much intelligence the flood gained when they infected High Charity.

[boreal current]

Was there a reason given as for why Thel decided to send his entire fleet in pursuit of one human ship?

[ornate hawk]

no but there’s a plethora of possible reasons

Reach had already fallen so there was really no purpose for as many ships to be there

maybe the autumn would lead them to another human world

the most obvious/simple one has to be, they were under his command, so wherever he decided the fleet should go they went lol

after all while the fleet that glassed reach was upward of 300-400 ships, that was a combined force, Thel only commanded around 60-100 ships

[digital sparrow]

it could have been for a fear tactic so that when news reaches unsc that nobody made it out it creates sense of fear

[terse lava]

The Covenant didn't seem to really care about creating fear. We see some viewed the war as merely wiping out an infection

[ornate hawk]

that and i think wiping out entire populations and leaving planets to burn did a good enough job at creating fear lmao

[terse lava]

Yeah, and I actually take that back, certain San’Shyuum at least did indeed care about creating fear and suffering

Like the one Fleetmaster Nizat was stuck with

[fast falcon]

Yeah I feel like Thel was willing to gamble on the chance of the ship leading them to something more worthwhile, seeing as at that point Reach had fallen and was in the process of just being cleaned up

[void moon]

That kinda of always made no sense to me. I dont see how they were less proficient when the arbiter of the time had to literally glass a portion of the grunt's homeworld to end the rebellion

Although, Sheer numbers did have something to do with that

[ornate hawk]

yeah

their numbers made them proficient

on their own tho, while still being quite dangerous, a single grunt is nowhere near as lethal as a single jackal, brute, or elite

[void moon]

True, very true. Yet jackals really arent that much higher. They are on about the same level of Grunts in the Hierarchy

Also those sheer numbers did help. But ya gotta consider it wasnt just Grunts vs Jackals in that rebellion. It was grunts vs, Jackals brutes elites and the rest of the covenant. .

If they really were that much proficient, it wouldnt have been That much of a problem. Like the forerunner AI Offensive Bias says, "Overwhelming force does have its disadvantages"

if you combine the rest of the racial species, the grunts were undernumbered in comparison.

[fast falcon]

The grunts also composed a huge amount of the covenant workforce, so by rebelling and shutting down where they operated, they likely crippled all sorts of industries across parts of covenant space

[void moon]

Yeah probably, But thats assuming they just went on peaceful strike. As far as I know they engaged in battle.

[fast falcon]

They’d still be shutting down stuff to gain the advantage if they went to battle tbf

[void moon]

What does the rest of the galaxy have to do with the species just on High Charity, I could be wrong but as far as I know no other engagements happened but on high charity.

Unless the grunts stationed elsewhere also rebelled. Then its a fair point.

[ornate hawk]

yeah it was all throughout the covenant

[void moon]

Okay then im wrong, fair point

[ornate hawk]

high charity, the grunt home world, on board their ships

[untold wasp]

How did Halsey react to Jacob Keyes’ death?

[gilded mason]

Cortana's voice narrated a slideshow of images. Dr. Halsey saw John and the crew of the Pillar of Autumn fight the Covenant on the alien ring artifact, and then witnessed the horrific Flood as it infested human and alien bodies.

She closed her eyes as the assimilated Captain Keyes was destroyed.

"Rest easy, old friend," she whispered.

[bronze perch]

is halo 3 ODST worth playing for lore

[gilded mason]

It has a pretty good story, yes

[unique rune]

You’re gonna have to be more specific what you mean by “lore”.

[bronze perch]

will i learn stuff about the halo story or about odsts

[terse lava]

@gilded mason that last one always felt extra tragic, if only Halsey knew

[bronze perch]

because what are odsts anyways a specefic branch or unit of solider under spartans?

non genetically modfied human or they dont have sprtan armor?

[steady scaffold]

ODSTS are more or less more armoured marines lol

with better training

[gilded mason]

They're basically a sort of special forces group within the marines

[steady scaffold]

partroopers

paratroopers

[unique rune]

I mean, ODST assumes you already know what ODSTs are (i.e. nutjobs who drop from space in metal coffins).

You aren’t really going to learn more about them as an organization as much as you are who these specific ODSTs are and what they’re doing in New Mombasa.

[steady scaffold]

Orbital Drop Shock Troopers basically, they are spec ops marines that drop from orbit

[bronze perch]

right they drop sometime during the halo 2 level

[steady scaffold]

you also see them in 3 and reach

[unique rune]

because what are odsts anyways a specefic branch or unit of solider under spartans?
non genetically modfied human or they dont have sprtan armor?
ODSTs are a volunteer unit within the Marines that take candidates from all UNSC service branches, composed of physically normal humans with a few screws loose up top.

[steady scaffold]

halo 3 ODST's story was not the best by itself but lore-wise its actually pretty cool

around the campaign you will find audio terminals that explain a cool story

thats where all the juicy stuff is at

ODSTs are slightly above marines when it comes to training but dont stand a chance against spartans

have you played halo 4, 5 or infinite by any chance @bronze perch

[bronze perch]

i just played infinite and i played halo 4 campaign whenever that game came out i dont even remember it much

i just played halo ce and halo 2 for the first time ever

and replayed halo 3

now im debating playing odst

for the first time

[steady scaffold]

so you are pretty up to date

[split heron]

Dude i just shut down a spire on the ring and i gasped when i saw it and the first thing that came to my mind was “flood”

[steady scaffold]

i recommend ODST and reach

not so much halo 5 its not that good

[bronze perch]

im just trying to learn the halo story

cause when i p[layed infinite campaign i didnt understand anything

[steady scaffold]

but its probably very good to undesrtand halo infinite

[split heron]

halo 5 was the worst ever

halo 4 second worst

[bronze perch]

im thinking about playing odst and then possibly replaying halo 4

halo 5 is unavailable on pc

as far as i can tell

[split heron]

ODST and 2 are the best 2 for a nostalgia run

[steady scaffold]

yeah halo 5 is unavailable for pc, the story itself isnt that cool and you probably can understand it from a playthrough or some kind of summary of it

[unique rune]

Honestly, time has really kinda mellowed out most of my dislike for 5’s campaign. I do still think it fumbled a lot of things but aside from messing up Cortana’s sacrifice in 4, most of it doesn’t really stick out as especially offensive.

[steady scaffold]

yeah

but its unavalable for pc

he cannot play it

literally

[unique rune]

At the very least I don’t feel like some of its missions are narratively a complete waste of time and effort, which is more than I can say for almost the entire first half of 3.

[gilded mason]

I still hold the same level of distaste for 5 as I always have, myself

[steady scaffold]

3 i think wasnt as strong as halo 2 in narrative however it does posess a special place in my heart because it was the first halo game i ever played

and as a halo fan i am legally obliged to fanboy over every feature in halo 3

against my will

[unique rune]

As a Halo fan I feel no obligation to give free passes to the mess that Halo 3’s campaign is

[gilded mason]

As a Halo fanboy: 3 stinks

[unique rune]

Reach’s campaign is annoying if I try to think of it in the broader context of the Halo universe but I still think it’s… mostly competent as its own thing, even if it has an annoying allergy to campaign environments that aren’t some form of brown-grey cliffs, canyons, and cities.

[steady scaffold]

i think halo 3 and reach are mostly known because of their multiplayer

everyone kinda has the same opinion

story they are not that good but the multiplayer is fantastic

for halo 3 at least

halo reach was kinda meh when it came to multiplayer

customs rocked though

[fast falcon]

I actually really like Halo 3’s campaign

[steady scaffold]

but this is off topic

[steady scaffold]

i do as well

[fast falcon]

It’s just an epic ride to me from start to finish

[steady scaffold]

yeah

the story itself isnt that bad

its pretty good

[fast falcon]

I also admit I played the halos heavily out of order too lol

[steady scaffold]

i dont think its as good as halo 2s

[unique rune]

I enjoy 3’s multiplayer to an extent but I also find it infuriating and dull in part due to Bungie’s consistent inability to balance weapon sandboxes. But I digress.

[steady scaffold]

but its still pretty cool

[steady scaffold]

i actually really liked halo 3's sandbox

there was a weapon and equipment for every scenario

and it was epic

it was as if it was designed for that

[unique rune]

I despise it because almost every gun is basically worthless except for the Battle Rifle.

[steady scaffold]

not really

they al served their own kind of purpose

[unique rune]

It’s less extreme than Halo 2’s sandbox but it’s still pretty obnoxious.

All of the automatics range from semi-competent to worthless because the BR outperforms them at range and tends to even be competitive in close quarters.

[steady scaffold]

theres like 3 automatic guns in 3

the autos are supposed to be for close range encounters

the br was for long and mid range

[unique rune]

Yeah and the problem is that the BR still can consistently outperform them in close range.

[steady scaffold]

i guess so

the thing with the BR in 3 though

is that its projectile speed was obnoxiously slow

so it was hard to use

unlike the automatics

[sullen grotto]

i just dont like 3s multiplayer really

[unique rune]

Almost everything that isn’t a power weapon is borderline not worth picking up if it isn’t the BR

Anyway

[steady scaffold]

yeah

we are a bit off topic here

[unique rune]

3’s just a combination of things I really don’t enjoy

[steady scaffold]

for me halo 3 was perfect

from story to gameplay

then again i am very biased

[unique rune]

Dull gameplay, bland to awful level design with one good standout, and a story filled with weird decisions, cheap attempts at adding drama, and… one more thing that just slipped my mind but it consistently irks me anyway

[terse lava]

the story was not terribly great thanks to truth going from a smooth chessmaster, to bonkers

[steady scaffold]

it kinda makes sense to me

but i still prefer 2's truth over 3

my headcannon is that because he was the only prophet left, and because he was just so close to completing the great journey, he just went insane

[fast falcon]

I played 3 before 2 and was like shocked by the change in Truth and how interesting he was between games

[steady scaffold]

me too

[sullen grotto]

honestly 3s va i dont like i just dont like how he sounds in 3

[steady scaffold]

yeah

they changed him from the cool evil voice he had to just old man

thats the one thing i fully agree on

even in the spanish dub he is drastically changed and i dont know why

[sullen grotto]

rip truths character

it shall be missed

[fast falcon]

Truth let Mercy die in H2 only to become him in H3 lol

[sullen grotto]

😭

[ornate hawk]

well do you feel like playing all the halo games lol

[terse lava]

There's also halopedia

[ornate hawk]

yeah i enjoyed it too

its probably my favorite campaign behind H2, reach, and infinite

[gilded mason]

Understandable for her.

[pulsar grail]

would you be one too?

[errant tendon]

do you guys think Chief was scared during his encounter with Atriox in Infinity?

[inner sigil]

How much books are there?

I wanna start reading

[gilded mason]

https://www.halopedia.org/Halo_novels

[inner sigil]

Thanks

[near tide]

No

[inner sigil]

34-36 books

[spare storm]

Where did the rest of blue team go-

[cosmic zinc]

there is an audio log that says they left the infinity on a mission from lasky right before the infinity went to zeta halo.

[spare storm]

Ooo

[versed helm]

was earth destroyed in infinite ?

[cosmic zinc]

no

Sydney Australia did.

||And Doisac(?) The brute homeworld were||

[spring lantern]

That was like pre infinite by cortana on her little crusade

[cosmic zinc]

yes but I assume that's what they were referring to

[spring lantern]

yeah was just saying that those were events between h5 and infinite not during infinite

[magic fog]

i want more campaign o.o

They really have a chance to move me if they keep it up in the dlc, like the stuff they'd planned for main campaign but had to cut....just so much opportunity for awesomeness and feels

[low whale]

I think the plan is to use it as a platform for a load more campaigns

which makes sense with the way the campaign is structures, like u can just add new chunks of ring

[versed helm]

btw

why does the banished not attack earth?

[low whale]

watched too closely by the Created and the guardians

[versed helm]

i see

[low whale]

all the UNSC hubs are very guarded/dismantled

[frank finch]

So, is it okay if I share a character study of Atriox and his symbolism, going by what Infinite, HW2 and every other media featuring him showed?
It's a copy of some else's work, but it is very intriguing

[raw moon]

quickish question

do we know if the Condor was in service prior to the Human covenant war?

[void jay]

I don't remember when it was built but if it was around that time it was basically all hands on deck so probably

[frigid oracle]

i think you're allowed

not 100% sure

[unique rune]

Currently unknown. We've never been given a date for when it first entered service with the UNSC, and I don't believe any pre-War media has ever mentioned any models of it.

That said, I wouldn't rule out the possibility of some model of Condor being in service before the war. It's old enough that it saw use alongside Albatross and Darter transport craft, so I'd imagine there might have been some early version of the Condor around prior to the war.

[frigid oracle]

Agreed

[frank finch]

Well, guess I can try

[frigid oracle]

yeah

[frank finch]

||With Halo: Infinite centred around the conflict between Escharum and the Master Chief, it does seem that Atriox had been left on the wayside. Supposedly killed on-screen only to reappear in the end, the story surprising does quite a bit with his character, more so than Halo Wars 2 which served as his introduction. Not only is Atriox's presence felt by every single character in the story, from Escharum mourning his loss and honouring his legacy to the Chief still feeling more than just the physical wounds of their fight, but the few minutes of screentime of the character we have strongly tie in with the game's central theme: mortality and choice.

To start us off, we'll focus on the first line of the game: "If you knew how you were going to die, how would you live your life differently?". When we first hear this line, the immediate impression we have was how this question was directed at the Master Chief, likely as one of the many questions Cortana had pondered with John during their time together. However, at the end of the game we learn that this question was not at all directed at the Chief, but rather to the Banished Warmaster. One final query, a final philosophical question of a machine to help Cortana decide her last act.

I found it rather interesting to pit Atriox against Cortana, as this was a dynamic I had not at all expected to be explored. But Cortana's ultimatum at the events of Halo 5: Guardians was not only directed to humanity and the Sangheili, but all living creatures in the galaxy. Humanity had capitulated, the Sangheili who were on the cusp of being united kicked back into the dirt, the Unggoy gleefully accepting Cortana's offer and for the first time in their history, the Unggoy began to not only survive in a dangerous galaxy, but thrived.

But what about those who refused to accept her offer, and give up their old ways? From everything we've learned of the Banished thus far, the Banished are not the kind of people who would bend the knee to psychotic narcissist. After all, that was one of the core reasons the Banished broke off from the Covenant.||

||The creed the Banished live by is this: "No more Prophets, no more lies. Brothers to the end". Having endured enough from the Covenant and gaining so little in return, the Banished had no reason to accept Cortana's offer.

When Atriox had been confronted by Cortana demanding his surrender, Atriox proclaimed that he will stand with himself and the organisation he had formed with the Banished. An organisation that was more than just a band of mercenaries and killers, but a brotherhood who fight for themselves and each other.||

(putting spoilers just in case some have not finished yet)

||Cortana, in response, delivered upon her promise to unleash her great wrath, that will burn hot and consume those who defied her. But unlike her actions at Laconia Station, where she just killed the Spartans defying her, unlike her attack on the UNSC headquaters that had resulted in the destruction of a city, Cortana decided to take the Jiralhanae homeworld of Doisac and with a snap of her fingers reduced the planet to dust and ash. Billions gone in an instant. And Cortana places the blame for the destruction of his home and the deaths of billions onto the Banished leader.

How does Atriox respond to this? By reflecting Cortana's words back at her. That the actions she chose to undertake will have consequences, and consequences, they had.||

||How does Atriox respond by the loss of his homeworld by the hands of Cortana? By taking away hers. As the Infinity prepares to take the fight to Cortana, the supercarrier is intercepted by Atriox's forces and the warship is besieged. In the heat of battle, the Banished Warmaster confronts the Spartan in single combat. The result of this fight?

"Atriox beat me. Surgically. Precisely. Brutally." - those were the Chief's words to describe the fight. He took down humantiy's greatest warrior with utter ease and with that took away from Cortana the most important thing to her. She couldn't protect John from Atriox's retaliation.

When it comes to the fight between Atriox and the Chief, one thing that I've noticed is how Halo: Infinite manages to do more with the fight than just the fight itself. In Halo Wars 2, the fight between Atriox and Red Team hardly had much impact on the game's overarching narrative. While Atriox's ambush on Red Team did lead to the team becoming separated for a large portion of the game, ultimately the purpose of this fight was to mainly establish Atriox's credentials. This isn't to dismiss the value of this fight, as having this fight was crucial to establishing Atriox as a credible threat who could concievably challenge the Master Chief.||

||In contrast with his fight with Red Team, the fight between Atriox and the Chief had stakes that became more evident as the game progressed, and that the wounds of the fight had yet to heal even after 6 months of floating in space. For Atriox, the fight was nothing but a means to an end, the Spartan nothing but an obstacle in the way. For the Chief however, the fight became the driving force behind his actions throughout Infinite. Because he lost to Atriox, the Infinity was destroyed. Because of Atriox, countless marines and Spartans were brutally hunted down and slaughtered, because he was not there to protect them. Because of Atriox, Cortana died and he was not there to see what happened to her, or who killed her. One moment the Chief is being beaten by Atriox, the next minute the Chief finds out that one of his closest companions, who later betrayed the trust he held for her, is gone. What pushes the Chief throughout the events of the campaign is resolution.

And with Cortana, when she had been locked down by The Weapon, she was expecting the Chief to confront her, only to her surprised that the Banished Warmaster himself is her jailer. That this one seemingly insignificant pirate, who's homeworld she destroyed out of spite, is the one who had outsmarted her. And with that, the empire that Cortana sought to built collapsing, going out with nothing but a whimper.

At this stage, Cortana realises the consequences of her actions. That her actions to protect the galaxy has only led to death and suffering of those she claimed to protect. More than that, she realised that Atriox now had control of a gun pointed at the head of the universe, ready to reveal the secrets that the Forerunners had desperately tried to keep hidden and that he had nothing left to lose... because of her. Cortana realises that to stop Atriox from using the Halo, to stop him from realising this dangerous threat lurking deep within the ring, she needs to sacrifice herself to destroy the ring and Atriox along with it. But before she takes that final course of Atriox, she poses to Atriox one last question. A question that asks the Jiralhanae warrior if he had any regrets, made any mistakes that he would take back if he had the power to do so.

Atriox's response to this question is a stark contrast to every other character in the story. Every other character in this story is driven by loss. The Chief constantly reminisces on the events of Halo 5: Guardians, stating that he could have prevented everything, from the struggles humanity had endured to the destruction of the Jiralhanae homeworld, if he had not failed in protecting Cortana, if he had just reasoned with her. Escharum became lost and alone upon the death of the Banished leader and is now in a position where he, a dying Jiralhanae warrior, is the only one preventing the Banished to descending into anarchy and is forced to further reflect upon the choices he has made as he stares death in the face each and every single day. Cortana, upon watching everything crumble around her and forced to reflect upon the consequences of her own actions, begins to second guess herself. But Atriox?

"I would change nothing".||

||He does not hesitate to say those words. That everything he had endured, the actions he had taken that led to the suffering of not only others but also himself, he would still choose to walk the path that he had taken. As admirable as that may be, that has also made him one of the most dangerous characters in the setting. At the same time, that response was enough to convince, or rather reassure Cortana that the choice she is about to make is the correct one.

And with that, Cortana sacrifices herself to protect the galaxy once more. She shatters Zeta Halo, teleports it to the middle of nowhere far away from everything else in the galaxy and took Atriox out in the process. Unfortunately, Atriox proves to be far more stubborn that she gave him credit for, as we see in the post-credits scene of the game.

When it comes to the post-credits scene, I think one of the most surprising things from Halo: Infinite is how this is actually the first time we ever view Atriox from his own point of view. Everything we know of Atriox is through second hand accounts. His very introduction demonstrates his physical prowess through the perspective of Red Team. His backstory recounted by Isabel, who herself would've learned about Atriox's history through the raving of Atriox's followers like Decimus. The Rise of Atriox series are all framed from the perspective of observers of Atriox's legend, from a UNSC Sergeant who ended up being one of the Brute's victims to his would he executioner to one of his eventual followers. In-universe, a target dossier with Captain Cutter reviewing UNSC footage and accounts that are linked to the Banished Warmaster.

But none of this had actually gave us his own perspective - how he views his own actions, or his innermost thoughts. And what is the first thing we see from Atriox's perspective?||

||The first thing we see from Atriox's perspective is arguably one of his most identifiable characteristics that had allowed us to first identify this character as Atriox: his right hand. The same right hand that had crushed the symbols of almost all the key factions in the setting: a Spartan helmet, a Covenant energy sword and a Flood infection form.||

||There has been much speculation as to why Atriox chose to release the Endless. Power, strength, dominance. But there is possibly one other reason for the release of the Endless, and not one that is solely driven by what is practical.

From what little we know of the Endless, the Forerunners had imprisoned the Xalanyn not just because of the threst they poss, but to protect their own power and their "truth". That the Forerunners were afraid "of a master who would become a slave". From the perspective of Atriox, this makes the Forerunner no better than the Prophets, who sacrificed billions for a lie and protect their own position of power. So for Atriox, the release of the Endless may not only be simply due to the desire of power and strength, but may also be because Atriox, as someone who values freedom and brotherhood, that if you were to die, you should sacrifce for something you truly believe in, would have viewed the Xalanyn as victims who had not say in the judgement the Forerunners passed on them.

If Atriox was merely looking for an army he can control, that's one thing. But we know that Atriox is not looking for an army that follows his orders to the letter. When offerred an army of Yanme'e and the means to control their every action, his response was to destroy the control device.||

||This isn't to say that Atriox values the values of "muh freedom" of all species in the galaxy no matter what - after all, he most certainly recognises the Flood as a major threat in Awakening the Nightmare. Though that raises the question: if Atriox was vehemently against releasing The Flood (for very obvious reasons), why is he willing to release The Endless, who are supposedly worse than The Flood?

Then comes the last shot of the game, where we see what has become of Atriox.||

||"My name is Atriox. And I am the last face you will ever see." - he wasn't lying. Atriox was the last face we see on the game.

This final shot of Atriox is an important one, as we not only see Atriox look remarkably different from how he typically looks, now lacking any face paint and a large scar running across the side of hisbface, but even the expression on his face is a stark contrast from how it typically is. Throughout Halo Wars 2 and the beginning of Halo: Infinite, Atriox is smiling with glee as he puts down the threat of the UNSC's legendaey Spartans. We see him in a state of contemplation as he looks upon the corpse of the Proto-Gravemind in Awakening the Nightmare, and frustrations at Pavium and Voridus for disobeying his commands. But we haven't seen anything as close to what we see right now: rage.

This is one very, very pissed of Jiralhanae, and the look in his eyes tell you one clear thing: that his rage would engulf the entire galaxy if left unchecked.||

Hope you all have a nice read

As said, spoilered for those that haven't finished Infinite's campaign yet

All credit goes to this madman of a genius
https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/the-halo-thread-posting-spoilers-will-see-you-get-forever-hugged-by-the-gravemind.815009/post-81174631

[void jay]

God the mother of wall of text gimme a bit

[valid hemlock]

Jesus

This man tried to make a halo ring out of pure text

[strange verge]

yup

[hardy light]

To say that text is a wall is an understatement

[inner sigil]

Do halo novels appear in hard covers?

[valid hemlock]

??

Like as a variant or you mean like, all of the copies are hard covers?

[inner sigil]

Variant

I'm mainly worried about Fall of Reach, the flood, and firsts strike

Pls someone answer

[abstract inlet]

I just really think that we should’ve played during the infinity assault atriox should’ve been a boss fight that’s unbeatable and then once you’re thrown into space it pauses chiefs story and you play as Spartan Griffin and see your fire team get hunted build so much character development for the Spartan killers and dead Spartans then half way through the game “6 months later you start as chief.

Maybe 2000 credit DLC later

[pale zenith]

forge ai will make that real lol

[abstract inlet]

Prob sell us forge too

[pale zenith]

💢

[unique rune]

I’m glad they didn’t try to make Atriox a boss fight. Unwinnable boss fights are more just annoying than anything and it wouldn’t make for anything interesting gameplay-wise.

Would also make for a pretty boring scene considering it’d just be running an assault rifle dry until Atriox gets up close and mashes your face in.

[pale zenith]

infinity shud be a future firefight map

[near tide]

For what? Reach? ODST?

[sour grotto]

What happened to Locke and his squad

[near tide]

Busy on missions or operations

[tired terrace]

hyperius has locke's helmet and chestplate decorating his armor, but theres no clues as to what happened to locke after that

[sour grotto]

Lame

Honestly I never even really cared about them

[fiery chasm]

Oof

[terse lava]

Didn't care about them much myself, just felt like one note characters just like boring Reach

[ornate hawk]

Locke lived

if you turn on the IWHBYD skull Hyperius says he didn’t want to kill Locke, he just wanted to make an example out of one of the UNSC’s best spartans

there’s also an audio log saying Osiris was sent on a mission before Infinity jumped to Zeta Halo

[obsidian thistle]

Hyperius never says that lol

Source: Me the guy who spent 24 hours triggering all his and his brother dialogue with the skull on.

[near tide]

He says he didn’t kill Locke

[obsidian thistle]

He legit never says it. I tried to trigger the supposed dialogue for hours.

With the skull on.

[gilded mason]

Yup

[obsidian thistle]

I was actually hoping it was real

Cause it would of been quite the dialogue for the wiki.

I even experimented. Seeing if Hyperius taunted John it as random dialogue. But nah

[near tide]

So a lot of people lied about the line?

[obsidian thistle]

That or they mistook Audio-log stuff and a few other stuff.

[wise bone]

Original trilogy? Idk. Anything past ghosts of onxy has some hardcovers

[obsidian thistle]

The Fall of Reach has a very rare original hardcover

Its what I dub one of the rarest items as no one sells them

[wise bone]

I didn't wanna say anything about that because i vaguely remember it, happy to see it's not a fever dream

[near tide]

So do you think Locke is dead?

[wise bone]

Locke got locked up.

[obsidian thistle]

I go by Sci-Fi logic. Do we see a body

[lone spade]

[wise bone]

It's in the name, y'all are over thinking it

[near tide]

The armor from him on Hyperius is older mjolnir, so it could be Locke went down awhile ago or 343 messed up

[obsidian thistle]

Well its fiction logic. If there is zero proof someone is dead. Well... you cant say they are.

A lotta mystery books lean into that lol.

[wise bone]

Gen 3 was rolled out between halo5 and infinite right?

[obsidian thistle]

Yup

[near tide]

I think

[gilded mason]

Yes

[wise bone]

Hmmm halo 5 had gen 2,

But gen 3 was shown to be at the battle of london during halo 3 (trailer 4 infinite). And master chief was given beta armor so its not unreasonable to think locke really liked his armor to keep it till he got slapped.

[near tide]

I doubt Locke would turn down better armor

[wise bone]

No need to replace what dont need fixing. His armor was keeping him alive.

[near tide]

The new armor would be stronger and better

Locke isn’t stupid

[wise bone]

He fought master chief 1v1

[near tide]

And chief tried to fight Atriox

With that logic chief is stupid

[sullen grotto]

i mean Fireteam osiris could've helped but they literally just stood there 😭 😭 😭

[wise bone]

He was fire team leader, could have dished out some orders.

Lol and master cheif didn't pick a fight remember?

[near tide]

He still tried to fight atriox

[wise bone]

One more think, there could also be armor variations for new gen platforms. His armor could have jusr been updated internally.

More like chief defended himself against atriox. You don't say you "Tried" to fight a drunk man that crashed your car and beat you up.

(For anyone asking, the cars are metaphors for the shipramming)

[sullen grotto]

i mean locke wasnt dumb it was just horrid writing and choreography

[spring lantern]

For campaign DLC im praying we get an ODST DLC, HiddenXperia has a great video on that idea and more since infinite will be the next halo for 10 years if they follow their plan

[lone spade]

Red Team >>>>>> Osiris Team

[bitter gorge]

Bang

[pale zenith]

as in a firefight map for infinite,

[agile lotus]

Has it ever been determined what the average capability of an Elite is compared to an average Spartan?

[boreal current]

I would say the average elite in no match for a spartan but the particularly skilled/talented ones should be able to at least put up a fight. Thats how it tends to be portrayed. The same also applies to the brutes and even the grunts(there is actually one who beat a spartan 2 in a fist fight)

[near tide]

Which grunt beat a spartan 2 in melee?

[boreal current]

His name is Ranger Stolt. Actually it wasnt in melee but he still forced the spartan to retreat and he can apparently overpower brutes in melee(i think i mixed the two together). It gave him a huge reputation boost and is respected by his elite colleagues and in charge of his ranger contigent

He's one of Rtas subordinates

[near tide]

From shadow of intent?

The book

[boreal current]

Yes apparently

I found out about him by looking over the tropes pages so some of the info may be inaccurate

[scarlet quiver]

So uh, infinite trailer/intro question-
how long was chief floating in space after atriox threw him out the airlock?
As suits dont keep a person alive in space for six months....

[cosmic zinc]

Mjolnir suits arent just modern space suits. He was floating for 6 months and his suit put him in suspended animation. He basically was asleep for 6 months while his suit took his heart beat super low etc.

[twilit herald]

Sort of how he was between halo 3 and 4, right?

[cosmic zinc]

His suit could absolutely have kept him alive for that long per lore.

[cosmic zinc]

that was he was in a cryo pod. Those can sustain you for a super long time. SOF crew was asleep for 22 years. But yeah Chiefs suit basically put him in low level cryo sleep

[twilit herald]

Okay, thanks

[cosmic zinc]

yeah

[fringe glade]

Question, why is their a war between humans and the aliens in the first place?

[agile lotus]

So basically, at first there was a misunderstanding due to an accidental shot being fired from a Grunt, but not long after, the Prophets learned that Humanity were the true Reclaimers. So then, the Prophets deemed Humanity heretical to everything that the Covenant stood for.

[fringe glade]

So they just wanted power? Or something

[cosmic zinc]

Basically the prophets were threatened by humanity's existence

[fringe glade]

So that started a massive war 💀

[waxen trellis]

Did you know there was a human forerunner war?

[fringe glade]

Nah haven’t looked into any lore of halo tbh

Except for ODST lore

[ornate hawk]

the Prophets learned that humanity were the new carriers of the mantle of responsibility/reclaimers, had that fact been learned by the rest of the Covenant it would have proven the Great Journey was a lie, so rather than offering membership into the Covenant like they did with other new races they encountered, the Prophets deemed humanity a threat to the Great Journey with the only fix being total extinction of the race

[waxen trellis]

Humans were on the same level of tech as forerunners but the forerunners devolved humanity

[fringe glade]

Quite sad tbh

Imagine if the halo war would happen in real life

[waxen trellis]

And forerunners took the title from the precursors, the precursors were going to give the male to humanity

[ornate hawk]

there were even some Elites at first who sympathized with the humans and pleaded to/tried to persuade the Prophets to allow them to join the covenant, obviously those attempts fell on deaf ears as the Hierarchs continued to sell humans as a threat to the covenant religion

[gilded mason]

There was even an Elite group that figured out humans were Reclaimers and started a cult about them.

Truth put a stop to that, eventually.

[tired terrace]

Maccabeus, tartarus' uncle, came across the planet Harvest, and the forerunner luminary they had with them seemingly detected millions of "relics" on the planet with a glyph they translated as "reclamation". They met with the UNSC on the planet but the brutes were only interested in claiming these relics, and a firefight broke out between both sides. Afterwards, they learned that they had incorrectly translated the glyph, and it actually meant "reclaimer" referring to the humans on the planet, not relics. That is how the prophets learned the truth about the forerunners, which if exposed would break apart everything the covenant was founded on. So they resorted to complete genocide of humanity to keep it a secret.

Truth's title is actually the high prophet of truth because of this fact and the truth he can never reveal

[ornate hawk]

all the Hierarch’s names are ironic

Truth spread lies to the Covenant

Regret was over zealous and never regretted any of his actions

Mercy showed no mercy to his enemies, and was eventually shown no Mercy by Truth when Tartarus tried to save him

[split flax]

This is sorta true, however Medicant Bias is who also told the prophets the humans where the reclaimers, which is the reason for the war.

[tired terrace]

I opted not to go into that detail because it’s likely the person who asked doesn’t know who mendicant bias is

[tacit charm]

prophets

[sour grotto]

Woah did you compare Halo 5 characters to Noble Squad?

[sour grotto]

I think at this point I think 343 is just trying to erase Halo 5 from our memory and I don't blame them

[terse lava]

@sour grotto yes, I did

[sour grotto]

I'm insulted

[terse lava]

shrug I wasn't fond of either team, and didn't feel that bad with each noble death.

[sour grotto]

Did you just not pick up on any of the small interactions that made them feel like a team, their actual characters, how they were attached to each other? Noble Squad is nowhere near as 1 dimensional as The one Halo 5 squad. I don't even remember their name

They were that bad

[terse lava]

Oh I noticed the little details sure, didn't change thr fact they felt boring to me

[sour grotto]

They even made little funny remarks about each other😥

[wheat barn]

Master chief suit jerks him off

[fast falcon]

I actually think that Osiris individually weren’t all that bad. What Noble had going for it the whole time was the sense of tragedy going on during their journey that made them stand out much more

[tacit charm]

indeed

[fast falcon]

Saying that as someone who loves Reach and even started with it

[tacit charm]

my guy horhey could have survived if the unsc had just lured that cso to be in range of an odp

*horhey = jorge btw

i just like calling jorge by that pronunciation

[terse lava]

@sour grotto some of it was nice sure, but I've never been a big spartan fan anyway

[sour grotto]

[tacit charm]

🥖 🥛

[sour grotto]

It's fine I just have a really hard time dealing with Reach criticism. I grew up with that game and its one of my favorites.

[terse lava]

Understandable, everyone has their favorite halo game

[sour grotto]

Your's?

[fast falcon]

I’d actually say Osiris may have had more character than Noble team solely because they had Buck on it lol

Love me some Nathan Fillion

[terse lava]

@sour grotto halo 2

[sour grotto]

Hell yeah

[terse lava]

I enjoy the narrative of the story with Thel's whole redemption arc we see throughout the game

[fast falcon]

Honestly I find it hard to choose a single favourite game. I think my personal fav might be between 3 and 4 though

[sour grotto]

Also introduced one of the best Halo sidekicks of all time

[ornate hawk]

well that’s easier said then done given the covenant was 100% aware of the UNSC’s defense platforms lmao

[fast falcon]

Yeah it is

[ornate hawk]

even then a CSO is 5 times the size of a CAS, and Reach only had 20 ODPs, that supercarrier could very well smash all 20 of them and still be operational afterwards lol

[sour grotto]

Damn I remember that death

[ornate hawk]

yeah, it’s a fragment of Cortana that Halsey kept in her lab to help her complete the last bit of her research before evacuating

[tacit charm]

ye ik it's a bit weird considering witcomb was on reach and this is the same guy who basically did what i just said though with the unyielding hierophant not an odp idk, the unsc could have at least tried to do something similar to that

[tacit charm]

not really i do have some evidence both in game and scaling/expanded lore that just one of the reach odp can tear a round through a cso

[near tide]

I love tragic heroes so I loved noble team

[terse lava]

I mean, is it really that tragic if you know how its going to end?

[spring acorn]

wee

[valid hemlock]

But nothing beats the ironic deaths

[sour grotto]

That's on you for already knowing before playing the game though

[terse lava]

@sour grotto no I mean, the game's thing is "from the beginning, you know the end." You see N6's helmet with a hole in it at thr start

[gilded mason]

The tagline for the game is "From the beginning, you know the end."

lol jinx

[terse lava]

Ha

[sour grotto]

Ohhhhh

Gotcha

I mean yeah kinda

Because at that point you only know Noble 6 will eventually die, but then you meet the rest of the squad and see how the tables are so quickly turned against the UNSC

[terse lava]

But again, we know whats going to happen to the UNSC, just from thr novel, Fall of Reach

Kinda hard to get invested in a character when you know it's all kinda falling flat

[near tide]

Spartans are dope

What do you mean

[terse lava]

Exactly what I said

[gilded mason]

Spartans are pretty boring to me

[terse lava]

I find them boring

[fast falcon]

Especially when most characters in it are basically defined by one trait

[unique rune]

They just like them hinge-heads better

[gilded mason]

You know it. ;)

[near tide]

Some of the elites are cool

But they’re nerds

[terse lava]

I got my "future human soldier" fix from the 2003 clone wars series

[near tide]

That’s not even future

[terse lava]

So had no reason to invest any in chief

Futuristic

[near tide]

I like the silent shadow because they’re actually scary/competent

[tired terrace]

The competent part I wouldn’t necessarily agree with because are other elites not competent

[valid hemlock]

Ayo, just finished contact harvest

The book is so goood

[terse lava]

It was a good book, liked how they revealed the reason for the war

[valid hemlock]

Indeed, also liked the origin of the prophets

[terse lava]

Oh yeah

[junior knot]

Is there any lore in halo or is it just multiplayer

[fast falcon]

Yeah there’s a bit of lore

Just a little

[edgy depot]

As someone who never read the books, learning that Sgt. Johnson was part of the first generation of Spartans is mind boggling.

[junior knot]

Whos sgt Jonson

[edgy depot]

Sgt. Johnson was a major character that appears in Halo 1-3.

[junior knot]

i thought halo infinite was the first ever halo

[hardy light]

He was a marine, who was close to chief and cortana

[edgy depot]

Nope. Halo Infinite is the 6th main installment in the Halo series. Not including spin-offs, of course.

[drowsy karma]

Nope, that was Halo: Combat Evolved, released in 2001

[tropic hare]

Is noble 6 rookie from odst?

[vernal notch]

No???

What makes you say that?

[unique rune]

Noble Six dies before ODST even takes place, so, uh. Yeah. Not sure where you’d get that.

You mean like the grey-black armor plate that’s available for a lot of the Reach helmets?
That’s just an uparmor (UA) attachment. Meant to add a bit of extra protection.

[jagged plover]

Noble Six lives forever! He was in a cave! He was captured and tortured for years!

[glacial oracle]

Not another one... Someone call for standard wiping procedure. Another one somehow found out the truth

[drowsy karma]

No, Noble Team was from Reach.

[quick slate]

What happened to Gray Team?

[gilded mason]

Last update we know of is still that they're now part of a joint UNSC-SoS team.

[errant tendon]

You did realize that Noble 6 died in Reach which is like months before Halo 2/3 ODST

[orchid kettle]

No Rookie is Six from Reach after becoming a ghost and possessing a poor innocent odst lad

[quick slate]

I heard this one thing about then from a source and id like someone to confirm, did Gray Team or a member of the group kill over millions of Sangheli?

[gilded mason]

Gray Team detonated a NOVA bomb on Glyke, destroying the planet. Unbeknownst to the team, the war had already ended a few months ago when they did it. And the act of killing all those people basically screwed them up mentally, to the point that they were going to disband the team.

(NOVAs are still incredibly dumb, and shouldn't have been a thing)

[quick slate]

how many Sangheli were killed?

[gilded mason]

Billions

[quick slate]

My god

[near tide]

Imagine if they hit sanghelios

[tired terrace]

im sure oni still gave them a pat on the back for that one

[drowsy karma]

There is no punishment great enough for wiping out an entire planet's life. But yes, ONI are creeps.

[near tide]

I like them but it’s kinda lame that the Joyous Exultation fleet, including Xytan Jar watinree got annihilated by lne

[gilded mason]

I think they're way too powerful for Halo's current setting, especially for something the UNSC made. And the way they're described to work doesn't make sense.

[near tide]

They don’t have to completely make sense

[gilded mason]

The former point still stands, at least.

[low whale]

"I am Vice Admiral Danforth Whitcomb, temporarily in command of the UNSC military base Reach. To the Covenant uglies that might be listening, you have a few seconds to pray to your d*mned heathen gods. " is still a banger quote though (also I got a flag for that??)

they do sound pretty overpowered but do make sense in lore?

is there a banned word list somewhere bc I got flagged for some rlly lame stuff over the last couple of days

[near tide]

The halos are too powerful for Halo’s current setting

[fast falcon]

Weird that humanity can access planet busters but ||it took like ten Guardians in Infinite to crack Doisac||

[gilded mason]

Halos are at least an ancient relic of a long-dead ultra-powerful civilization.

[gilded mason]

I've always hated that quote, lmao. (Especially after seeing so many people quote it all the time)

[low whale]

aw really haha

I love that bit of the book with the engineer putting the message back together

[near tide]

It’s a great quote

[low whale]

might even be a grunt?

[near tide]

A grunt was with the engineers

[low whale]

I need to read back through

ohhh yeah

[gilded mason]

but do make sense in lore?
Nah, not really.

[astral mason]

I genuinely love the flood’s entrance in h2

the abruptness of it makes you feel like an elite witnessing the horrors

[split moon]

GUYS!!!?!?!?!? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNn8HCls9w8

slipspace!!!

[astral mason]

Ayo?

[low whale]

closer to an alcubierre drive

warping physical space not using other dimensions

[astral mason]

Holy crap

[split moon]

who cares!

were close!

[low whale]

but yeah still super cool haha

[astral mason]

holy mother of jesus we’re gonna create slipspace

this is so dope

[split moon]

more like bubble space but ya

basically

[astral mason]

We’re not so far off from halo’s universe if we think about it

[split moon]

it could push us forward 269 years before the halo universe does it.

[astral mason]

Reach’s resemblance to Earth in 200-250 years is gonna be uncanny

Without any aliens

[split moon]

oh yea we're making up for the dark ages!

[astral mason]

https://tenor.com/view/halo-halo3-masterchief-gif-19798434

So crazy

[low whale]

more equivalent to star trek warp still

[split moon]

if they do it with in my life time i wanna retire in the orion system

maybe the middle of orions belt

cant choose

[low whale]

the middle of the belt is a nebula

not a star

[split moon]

oh?

[low whale]

I'm pretty sure?

oh maybe that's the sword 1 sec

[split moon]

i think it was the sword

[low whale]

oop yeah sorry the sword has a nebula,

the belt is Mintaka, Alnilam, Alnitak

[split moon]

in that order?

[low whale]

yup

[tacit charm]

💪

[tacit charm]

apparently a fleet of forerunner ship can take out a star. i say apparently because i still have no idea how they actually take detonate a star to go supernova well im lying, i have some ideas how but they're all just speculations with little to back it up so ye

[last anchor]

Presumably they can inject iron into it so that the stars core becomes unstable, then implodes and detonates

[low whale]

in the forerunner trilogy of books I think it describes them extinguishing and detonating stars to try and slow the flood?

[tacit charm]

maybe

[terse lava]

@last anchor a unique idea, could see a singularity being used as well

[last anchor]

Thats true

[low whale]

like the neutronium alchemist

[astral mason]

Arbiter

[low whale]

yeah

[boreal current]

Would it be correct to call Intrepid Eye the opposite of post domain Cortana? Both are AIs made by races who once warred against each other, have built empires out of the assets of the race that created the other and take extreme measures relating to the mantle. Cortana is trying/||tried|| to claim the mantle for herself while Intrepid Eye is trying/||tried|| to prepare humanity to claim it

[clever cargo]

Don't know if this has already been asked but with the lashback from H5 and them tweaking the story for Infinite. Was the Harbinger originally supposed to be Cortana? I feel like it would have fit really well. With the Domain/Precursor/Gravemind/Logic Plague influence it would make sense that she was being manipulated to bring back the Precursors. Plus the Harbingers attacks and presence just feel like it would have been a good fit for a corrupted Cortana. 🤷‍♂️ Just curious if that was their original intent

[valid hemlock]

(most) Precursors died long ago, don't see how in this scenerio cortana would make that

[unique salmon]

https://youtu.be/zTfrZnvYTg8https://youtu.be/zTfrZnvYTg8

[versed helm]

could someone explain the role the prophets play in halo?

[clever cargo]

Maybe bringing back their memories and essentially their soul through the Domain?

[fast falcon]

Spiritual/political leaders of the covenant, as well as overseeing most of their technological advancements and research of Forerunner artifacts

[versed helm]

Ok thanks

[valid hemlock]

Not seeing the point of making them return, sorry

[toxic gulch]

Is it just grunts and elites for team Sanghelios

I thought in halo 2 hunters were working with the elites

[fast falcon]

The Swords of Sanghelios are likely allied with a variety of different groups that have different races, a few of them likely being groups of Hunters

[toxic gulch]

I was thinking the same for Jackles maby..... idk

Imagine drones being part of Sanghelios

[fast falcon]

Jackals as a race are more prone to piracy, and are more affiliated with groups that pay them, rather than for ideological reasons

[toxic gulch]

Reasonable

[fast falcon]

And drones have a hive mentality and are centred around their Queen and dictated by her interests

Since they’re no longer forced to be a part of the covenant, they’ve seemingly withdrawn from galactic affairs

[toxic gulch]

Yes, I was just wondering about hunters, then I got off task by stating strange things

[lavish scaffold]

the drone queen looks wierd

WHY IS IT SO THICC

[toxic gulch]

I doubt brutes are in swords of Sanghelios

Idk

For sure

[fast falcon]

Hunters are basically hive minds too, but I’m not certain how communication with them works. Even to the rest of the covenant they’re very withdrawn

But as a race they don’t seem any more united towards a common goal than the other races

[terse lava]

The communicate by vibrating, which echos through the ground

[fast falcon]

Ah yeah, fair

They are worms

[lavish scaffold]

I feel like hunters are wholesome

idk why

[low whale]

yeah they're just vibing in their colonies

[terse lava]

It's even said by a Sangheili in Ghosts of Onyx, that the Mgalekgolo speech is more "felt, than heard"

[fast falcon]

Ironically prob one of the least wholesome races because of certain aspects but I get what you mean

[untold wasp]

the worms look like mealworms

[toxic gulch]

Ha.

[lavish scaffold]

submissive mealworms

nvm

no

I regret speaking

[fast falcon]

Honestly tho I’d love a Stellaris type game but specifically with Covenant races

Just cause each race is so unique and cool and I’d love to see them on a larger scale

[untold wasp]

what else are the worms used for, i know that they are used for scarabs and hunters

[low whale]

they're used to explore forerunner tech, like the keyship

[untold wasp]

don't think they would invite the species that kill most of their people like 10(?) years prior

[drowsy karma]

They keep the masses brainwashed and frothing with superstitious madness.

[terse lava]

We know Thel was in peace talks with a Jiralhanae Chieftain named Lydus

[frigid oracle]

barriers

they aren't in SoS

[fast falcon]

Yeah the group I don’t think tries to be race specific in recruitment, same with the Banished. So long as the group is earnestly willing to work towards peace, the Swords will likely want to work with them

[frigid oracle]

brutes are actually used as "slaves" at some point in SoS

not really slaves but similar

[terse lava]

Those ones served Jul 'Mdama's keep

Not the SoS

[frigid oracle]

the other thingy

Avu Med telcom

telcam

nvm not sos

didnt think of that

[terse lava]

Yeah, that was a single pack that served the..Servants

[frigid oracle]

yeah

kinda weird

[fast falcon]

Thel is actually really open minded for an Elite and the Swords reflects that

[terse lava]

A bit

[frigid oracle]

servants have servants

yay

[frigid oracle]

most elites dont wanna be allies with humans anyways

so that's already being open minded over most elites

[terse lava]

There was a growing trend at least among thr youth

[drowsy karma]

I'm debating with myself what the most human-friendly species would be🤔