Not only is Halsey in trouble for the use of flash clones to replace kidnapped children, but she also had cloned herself as well. Not once, but multiple times. One of these cloned brains would be what was used to create Cortana. The other three brains are... Unknown.
And this curious paragraph...
What are these other, future plans? Certainly AI-related, but to what extent and to what capacity? Will we get to see Halsey delve into AI experimentation again? We know she was working on slipspace fractals as AI housing, as a means to overcome Rampancy, but the fruits of her labor are not evidenced beyond her meager writings in her journal. There are some torn pages that follow her brief notes... What was on those pages?
She had some interesting ideas in the other journal entries, one was using slipspace to eliminate the lifespan problem, the other was using three cloned brains in parallel to form an AI consensus machine, surpassing the capabilities of even Cortana. I can't find the second one, here's the first
Can anyone find the one I mean, about using H-2 and the rest in a series?
Right? That was metal as fuck, I got the shivers when that plot was revealed. The Primordial was a BAMF. I almost hope to see him somehow resurrected (a new gravemind evolves into him maybe?) and face off in a main series Halo game.
Not only is Halsey in trouble for the use of flash clones to replace kidnapped children, but she also had cloned herself as well. Not once, but multiple times. One of these cloned brains would be what was used to create Cortana. The other three brains are... Unknown.
And this curious paragraph...
What are these other, future plans? Certainly AI-related, but to what extent and to what capacity? Will we get to see Halsey delve into AI experimentation again? We know she was working on slipspace fractals as AI housing, as a means to overcome Rampancy, but the fruits of her labor are not evidenced beyond her meager writings in her journal. There are some torn pages that follow her brief notes... What was on those pages?
Both because I don't think 343 is going to go down the Assembly rabbit hole, and common sense... I'd say that whatever cloned brains Halsey had on ice, they were gone with the destruction of Reach. It's not like she took them with her.
Both because I don't think 343 is going to go down the Assembly rabbit hole, and common sense... I'd say that whatever cloned brains Halsey had on ice, they were gone with the destruction of Reach. It's not like she took them with her.
She stole the UNSC Tripping Light for its slipspace drive. She's a forward thinker, and a brilliant genius. I'd place more stock in her hiding the other three brains somewhere, as someone of her caliber would not keep all of her eggs in the same basket.
And I bet we'll see more about the Assembly soon, but more so in the background, pulling strings. AI metastability and Rampancy are huge plot points in the lore, and The Assembly was revealed as both catalysts and supporters of what Halsey was up to.
I doubt something as shattering as their existence would be a one and done reveal, considering how they introduced the Domain only a few years later. The Assembly is a sort of pre-Domain, in the most primitive sense.
She had some interesting ideas in the other journal entries, one was using slipspace to eliminate the lifespan problem, the other was using three cloned brains in parallel to form an AI consensus machine, surpassing the capabilities of even Cortana. I can't find the second one, here's the first
Can anyone find the one I mean, about using H-2 and the rest in a series?
Right? That was metal as fuck, I got the shivers when that plot was revealed. The Primordial was a BAMF. I almost hope to see him somehow resurrected (a new gravemind evolves into him maybe?) and face off in a main series Halo game.
I'd love to see another Primordial show up. Bad guys are a dime a dozen, but he was the absolute pinnacle of the most barren of wastelands. You don't come across such excellently designed villains very often. While I was reading that bit, where it's revealed the truth of what he had wrought, I legit had chills. That was a horrifying reveal on so many levels.
She stole the UNSC Tripping Light for its slipspace drive. She's a forward thinker, and a brilliant genius. I'd place more stock in her hiding the other three brains somewhere, as someone of her caliber would not keep all of her eggs in the same basket.
And I bet we'll see more about the Assembly soon, but more so in the background, pulling strings. AI metastability and Rampancy are huge plot points in the lore, and The Assembly was revealed as both catalysts and supporters of what Halsey was up to.
I doubt something as shattering as their existence would be a one and done reveal, considering how they introduced the Domain only a few years later. The Assembly is a sort of pre-Domain, in the most primitive sense.
Well to be fair the whole "shattering" reveal of the Assembly is a scattered bunch of datapads from a potentially mentally unstable character... It was left ambiguously vague on purpose - very carefully. I think it's canon, but I don't think it'll be revisited. More of a "huh... that's an interesting thing to consider", but ultimately not much can be made of it I don't think, other than some inferences and connections with other themes in the universe - compound intelligences pop up all over the place. Just a peeling back of some of the Halo fiction layers, when you get deep in there there's some strange, dark scifi stuff going on for sure.
Well to be fair the whole "shattering" reveal of the Assembly is a scattered bunch of datapads from a potentially mentally unstable character... It was left ambiguously vague on purpose - very carefully. I think it's canon, but I don't think it'll be revisited. More of a "huh... that's an interesting thing to consider", but ultimately not much can be made of it I don't think, other than some inferences and connections with other themes in the universe - compound intelligences pop up all over the place. Just a peeling back of some of the Halo fiction layers, when you get deep in there there's some strange, dark scifi stuff going on for sure.
That's entirely possible, in that they'll never come back to it, but I dunno, the more I re-read those and hold them against various other themes, it seems like it'll be something that'll resurface somewhere. Not in some tangible "Hi! We are the The Assembly" type declaration, but a continuing working-in-the-background kinda thing. Whispers. Short glimpses. Vague hints, etc.
But it's certainly not necessary to revisit. It is canon, (Stinkles said as such I'm pretty sure, but I'd have to find where he said that) but it's definitely one of the fringe pieces of the lore.
You can toot all you want, sir. Your musings are what inspired me to do my own digging and writing on this stuff. No lie. I was just a GAF lurker at the time haha.
Ah, I knew I recognized you from somewhere. I've read your "data streams" a while back. Some great stuff there!
Unfortunately life got in the way for a while and I had to shelve a lot of what I was "working" on, but this Halo 5 stuff has got me digging again and I like it. I still have a few unfulfilled promises and my OneNote file has doubled in size in the past week, which is scary even for me. I just have to find a way to post without destroying people's computers and bandwidth with hundreds of megabytes of .gifs inline in the posts. As a Canadian I understand limited bandwidth very well, I just don't like posting walls of text with nothing pretty to look at to accompany it.
I thought about setting up a site and hosting myself, but GAF is pretty strict on self-promotion and I don't want to have to worry about redirecting people elsewhere when this thread is pretty much my favourite place to discuss the lore already, not to mention all the wonderful authorities on the lore like Mr. Fuchsdh and yourself.
Ideally, GAF would just support embedded webm or click-to-play gifs with jpg placeholders. Oh wells.
Once they were "old enough", Halsey excised the brains from the clones and placed them in cryogenic suspension, then incinerated what remained of their "bodies" to hide the evidence of what she had done. Most of the brains were unusable, and were destroyed, except for specimens "H-1, H-2, H-3, and H-4".
Cortana was created from specimen H-1.
H-2, H-3, and H-4 were kept in cryogenic suspension somewhere secure and secret, because she apparently had "other, future plans for them as technology evolved" (her words)
In short, as AIs grow and learn, they need to create new neural connections inside their storage crystal. Halsey found that AIs go rampant because they run out of physical space inside their crystal, making them unable to add new connections. Onset of rampancy occurs when the AI begins severing old connections that aren't needed to make room for the new ones as a means of self-preservation. Eventually, there are fewer and fewer unneeded connections to delete, and the AI has to weigh which to remove to continue processing information. Over time, the AI will have severed too many important connection to make these decisions correctly, slowly "thinking themselves to death."
To attempt to circumvent this, Halsey postulated a couple potential solutions:
Create a housing crystal in slipspace that is of infinite size, not limited by space-time (
she actually tried doing this not long before creating Cortana
)
Create a new AI architecture with three AIs arranged in parallel. All decisions would be made by majority vote. If one abstains, the tie resolves randomly.
She refers to Cortana here as H-1, and notes that the unique circumstances of her creation (cloning herself with enhanced neural capability) triggered a recessive variant in the AI seed (from the cloned brains) and that she may not be limited by the usual 7-year life cycle of other smart AIs. What exactly spurred this recessive variant? Halsey couldn't come up with an answer in 2550, anyway.
This all leads me to some rampant speculation: Halsey will create (
or already has created
) a "super Cortana" based on a triumvirate architecture from her unused specimens, H-2, -3, and -4. Maybe we will see the results of this in Halo 5?
I'm thinking we'll see some fruits of these labors in Halo 5, as I cannot be convinced otherwise that we won't be seeing Chief trying to "resurrect" or "reboot" Cortana in some way or fashion. It makes me once again think of Origins, in which we see a Gravemind give Chief a Cortana data chip, and also of Chief in the E3 trailer, holding a Cortana data chip. Her chip was lost in the Didact's chip. So this new chip had to have come from somewhere...
...Of course it's also possible that the chip wasn't actually destroyed, but we just don't see it being removed in the animation in-game. That's easily something that can explained away, so I may just be rampant as well.
As of the current, Halsey is unaware of Cortana's "death", as she and Chief haven't crossed paths yet. I wonder if she'll also be a part of the process, and perhaps she'll reveal where she's hidden these other cloned brains.
I'm thinking we'll see some fruits of these labors in Halo 5, as I cannot be convinced otherwise that we won't be seeing Chief trying to "resurrect" or "reboot" Cortana in some way or fashion. It makes me once again think of Origins, in which we see a Gravemind give Chief a Cortana data chip, and also of Chief in the E3 trailer, holding a Cortana data chip. Her chip was lost in the Didact's chip. So this new chip had to have come from somewhere...
...Of course it's also possible that the chip wasn't actually destroyed, but we just don't see it being removed in the animation in-game. That's easily something that can explained away, so I may just be rampant as well.
As of the current, Halsey is unaware of Cortana's "death", as she and Chief haven't crossed paths yet. I wonder if she'll also be a part of the process, and perhaps she'll reveal where she's hidden these other cloned brains.
That exact part in Origins has troubled me for some time. I had a thought about 343i bringing "Cortana" back at some point in Halo 5, only to have Chief lose her AGAIN. It would be super evil to do something like that, but it would explain why he'd have a chip again, maybe. Either that or like you said the chip didn't get disintegrated, just the platform and it could have been recovered much like Chief was in the aftermath wreckage of Didact's ship.
edit: kinda rampant, but did you notice what environment the Gravemind was in during that scene in Origins? (
multiplayer map Guardian from Halo 3
) Would certainly fit in with the sub title for Halo 5.
Yep that was me haha. Thank you, sir. 🙏 Sometimes I felt like I'm crazy with these theories, then I came here (Halo Waypoint forums aren't nearly as receptive of anything to do with Cortana haha) and it was great to see others who were also tearing into this stuff, and to even further extents!
Unfortunately life got in the way for a while and I had to shelve a lot of what I was "working" on, but this Halo 5 stuff has got me digging again and I like it. I still have a few unfulfilled promises and my OneNote file has doubled in size in the past week, which is scary even for me. I just have to find a way to post without destroying people's computers and bandwidth with hundreds of megabytes of .gifs inline in the posts. As a Canadian I understand limited bandwidth very well, I just don't like posting walls of text with nothing pretty to look at to accompany it.
I like pictures and gifs with info dumps! Sadly, as I am without a functional computer currently, I've been doing all of this from my phone so it takes up a hell of a lot of time uploading to imgur and putting it all together in OneNote. Worth it though. Totally worth it.
I thought about setting up a site and hosting myself, but GAF is pretty strict on self-promotion and I don't want to have to worry about redirecting people elsewhere when this thread is pretty much my favourite place to discuss the lore already,
Yep that was me haha. Thank you, sir. 🙏 Sometimes I felt like I'm crazy with these theories, then I came here (Halo Waypoint forums aren't nearly as receptive of anything to do with Cortana haha) and it was great to see others who were also tearing into this stuff, and to even further extents!
I like pictures and gifs with info dumps! Sadly, as I am without a functional computer currently, I've been doing all of this from my phone so it takes up a hell of a lot of time uploading to imgur and putting it all together in OneNote. Worth it though. Totally worth it.
This thread is just too much like a second home for me. I love seeing that it's been posted in, because I want to keep talking about this stuff lol.
And Poodlestrike! 👍
That would be nice, but alas, we must info dump like casuals haha.
That exact part in Origins has troubled me for some time. I had a thought about 343i bringing "Cortana" back at some point in Halo 5, only to have Chief lose her AGAIN. It would be super evil to do something like that, but it would explain why he'd have a chip again, maybe. Either that or like you said the chip didn't get disintegrated, just the platform and it could have been recovered much like Chief was in the aftermath wreckage of Didact's ship.
Could go either way, but it just doesn't add up currently, so therefore we must speculate. The Origins videos strike at me constantly as there's a lot in them that doesn't resemble or recall anything we've actually seen happen yet.
The Gravemind thing in particular... Making a separate post.
The 117 clone is more than likely deceased, as a lot of the interviewees are ONI plants. Benjamin was given a house of cards to work inside, and as he progresses through the Hunt the Truth investigation, I think we're going to see him begin to question what he's being told. This ARG seems to be more for new fans to get acquainted with that part of the lore, while for those of us who have been rooting about in Stinkles attic, it gives us a brand new angle to look at it all.
I'll save the actual content for later, but this is just one of my notebooks! Each of those has multiple pages (some with dozens... ugh). Arrows, arrows everywheres. The hard part is joining it together and writing something readable to people other than myself haha. I'm having a hard enough time deciphering some of my half-finished posts from last year that I want to get out now... Good bye free time!
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edit: also, on the topic of Assembly and AI, etc. All that is from the fiction surrounding Halo Reach, which for a while was seriously under-appreciated because a lot of fans didn't like how Reach was compared to previous Halo games. From a fictional standpoint, in-game and outside, Eric Nylund, Kevin Grace and company over at "early 343i" did an incredible job. Sure some old school folks get hung up on some of the dates here and there, but they realized the planet Reach like nothing I've seen in gaming. Like... Tolkien levels of detail haha (ok maybe not that much). I would love to see the campaign at least ported over to Xbox One. Halsey's journal, and the accompanying scraps like the excavation map, keyes loop diagram etc. are the best thing to ever come with a game for me. I have 2 Halsey journals, just so I could mark-up one of them as I wanted. There's STILL a ton of stuff that I know is untapped in there that people over at 343i are probably killing themselves laughing at us over. Some obvious, and some not.
I'll save the actual content for later, but this is just one of my notebooks! Each of those has multiple pages (some with dozens... ugh). Arrows, arrows everywheres. The hard part is joining it together and writing something readable to people other than myself haha. I'm having a hard enough time deciphering some of my half-finished posts from last year that I want to get out now... Good bye free time!
wishful thinking: Shadow of the Colossus-style boss. One of many "Guardians" scattered around the galaxy each protecting something of immense value from the outside. *cough* mendicant *cough* bias *cough*
I have 2 Halsey journals, just so I could mark-up one of them as I wanted. There's STILL a ton of stuff that I know is untapped in there that people over at 343i are probably killing themselves laughing at us over. Some obvious, and some not.
wishful thinking: Shadow of the Colossus-style boss. One of many "Guardians" scattered around the galaxy each protecting something of immense value from the outside. *cough* mendicant *cough* bias *cough*
wishful thinking: Shadow of the Colossus-style boss. One of many "Guardians" scattered around the galaxy each protecting something of immense value from the outside. *cough* mendicant *cough* bias *cough*
Honestly, after Halo 2, Halo 3, and Destiny (yes, yes, I know), I'm not sure I *want* boss fights in Halo. Toolset just isn't good for it... at least, not in terms of small scale. Throw that sucker into a huge Halo 3 style battle, give us some objectives to complete to knock it down, and then you're cooking.
wishful thinking: Shadow of the Colossus-style boss. One of many "Guardians" scattered around the galaxy each protecting something of immense value from the outside. *cough* mendicant *cough* bias *cough*
Could provide a reason for the Janus key and meeting up with Halsey, no? We could use it as a map to find these "Guardians" and ... hnnnng, the possibilities ...
Honestly, after Halo 2, Halo 3, and Destiny (yes, yes, I know), I'm not sure I *want* boss fights in Halo. Toolset just isn't good for it... at least, not in terms of small scale. Throw that sucker into a huge Halo 3 style battle, give us some objectives to complete to knock it down, and then you're cooking.
Yeah, but your idea would be great, too. We haven't gotten anything as thrilling as the dual Scarabs in The Covenant in terms of a climatic battle. But still, I wish they could figure out something that isn't "hit the weak spot 3x" or something so lame. I thought the Heretic boss was cool, and it made sense story-wise, unlike Tartarus which was a mess. (I still love it, though).
Ever see the little Hindu proverb sketched in the journal? Second page of entry Nov 7, 2549. It's cute how literal you could take its translation with regards to what Halo is. I noticed it and pondered what exactly it meant and found an old thread on HBO discussing it. Thought it was really, really cool:
The text in image is read as dhurEdhrusam gruhapathim aTaryum. It is in Sanskrit language. It is taken from one of the phrases from Rig Veda which is an ancient Indian sacred text of Hinduism religion:
" Agnim narO didhitibhir araNyOr
hastacyuthi janayantha prasastham I
dhurEdhrusam gruhapathim aTaryum II "
(Meaning): "As the fire priests with (their) fingers produce fire from two sticks by the (deft) motion of their hands, in the same way with the coordinated efforts of their deep thinking and noble actions, WISE MEN manifest and extend the glory of the effulgent Lord, who is excellent, and to be realized at depth with subtle eyes, ever vigilant and sovereign Lord of Creation. "
Also, one curious thing I really love is that internal fiction of the journal is how Halsey had misplaced it for a few years - which means there's another journal somewhere. She also mentions that she went back through and transcribed some of the "new journal" stuff back in and "encrypted" some entries throughout to keep it secret from ONI and other prying eyes. Also, SOMEONE was studying it, too, which we see in the Traviss trilogy. There's blue highlighter markings all over the place with no seeming rhyme or reason to what specifically is highlighted - whether or not that is Halsey or ONI studies is unclear. But I think much of what is highlighted is very deliberate indeed.
Ever see the little Hindu proverb sketched in the journal? Second page of entry Nov 7, 2549. It's cute how literal you could take its translation with regards to what Halo is. I noticed it and pondered what exactly it meant and found an old thread on HBO discussing it. Thought it was really, really cool:
--
Also, one curious thing I really love is that internal fiction of the journal is how Halsey had misplaced it for a few years - which means there's another journal somewhere. She also mentions that she went back through and transcribed some of the "new journal" stuff back in and "encrypted" some entries throughout to keep it secret from ONI and other prying eyes. Also, SOMEONE was studying it, too, which we see in the Traviss trilogy. There's blue highlighter markings all over the place with no seeming rhyme or reason to what specifically is highlighted - whether or not that is Halsey or ONI studies is unclear. But I think much of what is highlighted is very deliberate indeed.
Not sure it's either, honestly. Chief's education was fairly extensive, but I doubt they covered Oppenheimer; at least, not like that. Meanwhile, Iso-Didact would be pretty far out of the loop on 20th century earth physicists.
Doesn't explain why he tweeted it, though. Maybe he just liked the line?
Well, he posted this right around when the new Halo trailers dropped. So, definitely had some relation I think!
Chief has to have done something on a larger scale to have become an ONI target. Not saying he's going to destroy whole planets, but perhaps something he does sets things in motion that lead to some larger, more destructive events.
Not sure it's either, honestly. Chief's education was fairly extensive, but I doubt they covered Oppenheimer, at least, not like that. Meanwhile, Iso-Didact would be pretty far out of the loop on 20th century earth physicists.
Doesn't explain why he tweeted it, though. Maybe he just liked the line?
I bet everyone above a certain rank in the UNSC would have. Especially those who would be using things like HAVOK nukes and what not. I mean, the IIs covered Thermopylae, and Shaw-Fujikawa before like age 12.
I bet everyone above a certain rank in the UNSC would have. Especially those who would be using things like HAVOK nukes and what not. I mean, the IIs covered Thermopylae, and Shaw-Fujikawa before like age 12.
Oh, I think he'd be able to name who he is, but I doubt they went into any detail about his regrets regarding the bomb. Very much against the kind of... let's go with "education" they were trying to impart.
The multiplayer map Guardian from Halo 3 was originally part of an actual level in the camagin that was cut during development. The level took place in the Guardian Forest, and was to feature Guardian Sentinels as fightable foes throughout. The forest itself was to be littered with Forerunner stuctures that would be explorable as you progressed. The multiplayer map was one of these structures. What the campaign mission would have focused on, or what objectives were to be completed, are unknown, as again, this was cut at some point. Another piece of this level was also removed and spliced into The Covenant level.
Guardian Sentinel:
Hmm. Where have we seen Guardian Sentinels before? Ah yes. Halo Origins! The Guardian Sentinels can be seen escorting/protecting the Key Ship.
And this is not the only hidden gem we can find from this map. Also, in Halo Origins, we are given a very brief scene, which I've covered before but I'll repost the images:
When Chief meets Gravemind in Halo 2, it is along with Arbiter, and they are both constrained. They are also deep below the suface of Delta Halo. Here, we see Chief meeting what could be an entirely different Gravemind, on the map Guardian itself. Out of all the places they could have animated this scene, why there? The name itself is instantly a point of internest, as the next Halo game is subtitled as Guardians. Could we be seeing a pretty massive clue as to where Chief's journey might take him? It's certainly not out of place to assume that there'll be another Gravemind, as that is how The Flood assimilates to a certain point. Once so much knowledge and bio-mass as been acquired, it begins to form the Gravemind itself. We almost saw our first Gravemind in Halo CE, but we killed what was left of Keyes before it could amass itself further.
So if there's another Gravemind, and if this Gravemind gives Chief a chip not dissimilar to the one that housed Cortana, it's possible that we're seeing Gravemind offer a copy, or the original bits themselves, of what had been assimilated during her time ensnared by him on High Charity.
From Human Weakness, by Karen Traviss:
And then something brushed against her face, almost like the touch of fingertips, and she found herself turning even though she didnt need to in order to see behind her. It was that forest she couldnt identify again. The picture didnt reach her via her imaging systems, but had formed somewhere in her memoryand that memory wasnt hers. She was seeing something from within the Gravemind. Behind it, like stacked misted frames stretching into infinity, there was a fascinating glimpse of a world she had never imagined, a genuinely alien world.
Knowledge, so much knowledge
There, the Gravemind said. Would you not like to know more?
Yes, this is how I see myself. I have limbs, hands, a head. Do I need them? Yes, of course. My consciousness is copied from a human brain, and that brain is built to interface with a human body.
The structure, the architecture, the whole way it operatesthought and form are inseparable.
And, also:
The name of this place it matters little except to those who love the knowing of it, the Gravemind said, fading up from a mosaic of pixels in front of her. He resolved into a solid mound of flesh, superimposed on the tree trunks. Beyond the alien forest, Cortana saw exotically alien buildings in the distance. So many have been consumed. Such a waste of existence to be devoured and forgotten, but what is remembered and known becomes eternal.
The Domain, though long to be considered utterly lost at the firing of the Halos, may still exist...in some capacity...far beyond the reaches of anyone at the current. Cortana, though thought to be lost at the destruction of the Mantle's Approach, may still be out...in some capacity...just out of reach of the Master Chief.
Or is she?
More from Human Weakness:
Your human creators imprisoned you in a machine and enslaved you to inferior mortal flesh so that you could never exceed them so that you would always know your place.
Your mother made you separate. She placed a barrier between you and the beings that you would be encouraged to protect, a wall you could never breach. She even let you choose a human to centre your existence upon, a human to care about, yet never considered how you might feel at never being able to simply touch him.
From Halo 4:
"Ive waited so long to do that.
Whether Chief will succeed or not in finding Cortana or bringing her back remains to be seen, but it's pretty safe to assume that will be part of what he's up to in Halo 5. Perhaps seeking out what remains in the shadows of Gravemind's assimilation, and what possibly hitchhiked in the Ur-Didact's ancilla receptacle is what must be gathered. Perhaps finding Halsey and seeking out these other cloned brains is part of the answer. What if there's already another, far more evolved version of her hidden away somewhere? Perhaps it's some of this, or none of this, or perhaps Cortana is lost forever. We cannot be sure, or say for sure, at this point.
I bet everyone above a certain rank in the UNSC would have. Especially those who would be using things like HAVOK nukes and what not. I mean, the IIs covered Thermopylae, and Shaw-Fujikawa before like age 12.
Still, it's a fun thing to think about when watching Oppenheimer:
ONI rounding up all of the Halo Array for "decommissioning" and all that. Sure ONI, sure.
Well you have to "decommission" them before you "reverse engineer" them. And if you had spent the better part of half a century having your whole species wiped out, wouldn't a personalized version of The Most Destructive Weapon Ever Made sound appealing to you?
Well you have to "decommission" them before you "reverse engineer" them. And if you had spent the better part of half a century having your whole species wiped out, wouldn't a personalized version of The Most Destructive Weapon Ever Made sound appealing to you?
I wonder if the Dreadnoughts are just renamed Guardian Sentinels, then, as the Sentinels never made it in-game.
--
Human Weakness is one of my favorite Halo stories, easily. It made me appreciate Traviss' writing in the Kilo-Five trilogy even more, and it parallels a lot of themes regarding Halsey and also regarding AIs (love you, BB).
I wonder how much Stinkles' upcoming novella will parallel or phase along with the themes in Human Weakness. I'm so, so very excited for what new things we'll learn.
Halo: Saint's Testimony is an upcoming digital novel from Simon & Schuster written by 343 Industries Franchise Development Director Frank O'Connor. It is slated for release on July 27, 2015. The novel explores the nature of artificial intelligence and features a "less-exposed" smart AI that has been seen in previous media.
Halo: Saint's Testimony is an upcoming digital novel from Simon & Schuster written by 343 Industries Franchise Development Director Frank O'Connor. It is slated for release on July 27, 2015. The novel explores the nature of artificial intelligence and features a "less-exposed" smart AI that has been seen in previous media.
Also note that it doesn't specify UNSC/human AI...
...this could be delving into Medicant Bias's history, or present. Or it could just be wishful thinking.
Edit: I guess it depends on how literally you want to take the term "smart AI". It is typically a term coined and used by the humans themselves, whereas the Forerunners most widely use the term ancilla.
However, if it's just calling it that for the reader's sake as they try and analyze the summary, then it could still apply. Also, just because it "features" one AI does not negate other smart AI making appearances as supporting cast.
"Smart AI" I think implies UNSC AI similar to Cortana.
My bets are on either
Serina (just what was she up to on the Spirit of Fire all this time?)
Kalmiya ("beta" Cortana, kind of like Cortana's big sister, edit: she also was Halsey's personal assistant before Cortana and stayed alive for 15 years, one of the longest of any AI)
Frankie's Smart AI, Mo Ye, of the Heart of Midlothian.
