Weekly Update Message Discussion [BWU - 6/6/08]

Discussion of anything and everything that happens within the Iris Alternate Reality Game.

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KingHippp0
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Re: Weekly Update Message 2

Unread post by KingHippp0 »

36419539.25 (days) divided by 365 (days in a year) = 99779.55 (years).
There are 365.25 days in an Earth year (accounting for leap year).

So another estimate of time could be 36419539.25 divided by 365.25 = 99711.26 years.
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Ibeechu
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Re: Weekly Update Message 2

Unread post by Ibeechu »

And yet, another, more accurate average year is 365.2425 days. 36419539.25 / 365.2425 = 99713.3117 (omg 117)
sbear
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Re: Weekly Update Message 2

Unread post by sbear »

you know that you can't directly translate the greek letters into the letters of our alphabet. Zeta is not Z because it's not the last letter of the greek alphabet, Omega is.
If you want a reference, here is the greek alphabet http://www.umassd.edu/studentactivities ... phabet.gif
Therefore, the only letter there that is actually out of place is kappa because it's the only letter not in sequence. However, I wouldn't too much about the naming of the halos...
Civerus
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Re: Weekly Update Message 2

Unread post by Civerus »

I'm pretty sure that "emergency [slip stream space] transportation conduits", means teleportation system.
deadguy
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Re: Weekly Update Message 2

Unread post by deadguy »

This goes along with what I said last week. The slipspace thing is a teleporter reference because to contain the entities last week, they put the "emergency [slipspace] transportation conduit" in recursive mode (pointed the teleporters at themselves).

For those that missed it the ['s are used on the terminals whenever a transmission is translated and a phrase or a few words are undefined. The words appearing in those brackets are intended to be a "closest conceptual match", and aren't to be blantantly trusted as being the missing word or concept.

My only question with this week, is if the system would actually be aware of a breach by outside forces? If Delta hasn't reported, it couldn't say "hey there's been a break-in". It seemed "sure of itself" though, like an automated system would have autoreported the situation if it had ocurred. This suggests an inside entity trying to escape, rather than an outside entity breaking-in. further reinforcing my assertments last week that it would have stated that the breach came from outside the installation.

The order of the rings might have been a reference in the order that they responded in.. perhaps the distance to the Ark made the Kappa tranmission take a little longer to receive.

I agree with the idea that the quadrant reference is a reference to a security system on Delta Halo because of the context in which it is used... It didn't respond, so they "stepped up" and went to Penitent Tangent for answers but again got no responce.

Of course, Medicant Bias was once lured into turning against it's masters by the gravemind.. perhaps due in part to the complexitiy of it's reasoning systems being used against it. Maybe the gravemind talked Penitent into opening the door a crack, and then took over from there.

So in a bid to escape Delta Halo, they got past the guards, but when they went to teleport out of there, other containment systems went into play and put the teleporters in recursive mode.

I think that a lot of this weeks info dump was geared towards helping us get rid of any notions we had about this past weeks information occuring as "system alerts" that ocurred either during Halo 2 or Halo 3.

They're outlining events that occured when gravemind rose to power on Delta Halo. Quite simply, there's no way the containment systems would allow the gravemind to escape the ring itself, but there's also no way they'd allow him to form at that size and be as active as he was in Halo 3. By the time we got there, the gravemind was in full swing, but still unable to leave the ring due to the automated (unthinking) backup security systems.
Samusaaron3
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Re: Weekly Update Message 2

Unread post by Samusaaron3 »

It is my belief that the first message refers to the first activation of the Halos 100,000 years ago by the Forerunners. It explains how something as large as the Gravemind was able to survive the firing of the Halos; he managed, possibly by controlling 2401, to keep Delta Halo from firing, allowing the flood infestation stationed there to live and wait for the next species to unsuspectingly wander in, giving the flood a way off of the Halo.
Phædrus
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Re: Weekly Update Message 2

Unread post by Phædrus »

I'd just like to point out that Gamma is not G, but E, and looks more like a y. Also, the Greek alphabet goes:
α, β, γ, δ, ε, ζ, η, θ, ι, κ, ...
Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon, Zeta, Eta, Theta, Iota, Kappa, ...
And the list in the update was:
Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Epsilon, Zeta, Kappa

So Delta, Eta, Theta, and Iota are missing, as well as everything that follows Kappa. I think Eta, Theta, and Iota were left out for aesthetic reasons, which means that only Delta is missing--Delta Halo. Now this is a little odd. The Halo in the first game was installation 04, while the Halo in the second game was 05--but it was called Delta Halo. Delta is the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet. Logically, installation 04 would be Delta Halo, while 05 would be Epsilon Halo, but that's not the case. Apparently the numerical and Greek designations do not necessarily line up.
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Sir Topham Hat
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Re: Weekly Update Message 2

Unread post by Sir Topham Hat »

Ibeechu wrote:
Avateur wrote:A, B, G, E, Z, K. Awesome. I wonder where Delta fits in there alphabetically. I believe I know where, and I believe I know why they aren't in alphabetical order. Read the next section for the answer to this and more!
I just wanted to point out that, in maths, delta can mean either "the next in a sequence" or "a change." Delta Halo fits both of those. Alpha is the first, delta is a different one.
QFT.
Omega
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Re: Weekly Update Message 2

Unread post by Omega »

I just posted this at HBO and now I'll post it here:

Regarding Chronology:
The context clearly suggests that both sets of messages take place simultaneously (over ~300 years). All of the messages in this week’s WWU are titled LOG and all of the messages in last week’s WWU are titled REPORT. I’m assuming that this week’s messages are personal logs by an unknown author on Delta Halo and last week’s messages were reports filed by the same author to the Ark.

In (rough) chronological order:
REPORT: CONTAINMENT FAILURE (1) *
LOG: QUERIED ADJACENT FACILITIES *
REPORT: CONTAINMENT FAILURE (2) **
LOG: REQUEST UNANSWERED (1) **
REPORT: CONTAINMENT FAILURE (3) **
LOG: REQUEST UNANSWERED (2) **
LOG: UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO FACILITIES †
REPORT: SECURITY BREACH †
REPORT: DERELICTION OF DUTY ‡
LOG: FILED COMPLAINT TO INSTALLATION 00 ‡


* REPORT: CONTAINMENT FAILURE (1) was made 8 minutes after the initial failure, and makes no reference to contact with other installations, so I’m placing it before LOG: QUERIED ADJACENT FACILITIES.

** LOG: REQUEST UNANSWERED 1 could come before or after REPORT: CONTAINMENT FAILURE 2 and/or 3. The only reference for timing is that the request was unanswered, so it must come after REPORT: CONTAINMENT FAILURE (1). LOG: REQUEST UNANSWERED 2 could come before or after REPORT: CONTAINMENT FAILURE 3 (24 hours after initial containment failure), depending on how long it took the atmospheric seals to show signs of stress.

† LOG: UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO FACILITIES states that the “emergency [slip stream space] transportation conduits” (teleportation grid) has been accessed but not used. REPORT: SECURITY BREACH says that the teleportation grid has been used, and must therefore come after the LOG entry.

‡ I’m assuming, again, that the REPORTs from last week were being sent to the Ark. If the assumption is correct, then LOG: FILED COMPLAINT TO INSTALLATION 00 refers directly to REPORT: DERELICTION OF DUTY.

All of the information necessary to place these in the overall timeline is contained within:

LOG: QUERIED ADJACENT FACILITIES says that 874068942 hours, 4 minutes, and 46 seconds have passed since an outside agent accessed Delta Halo. That’s 99713.3117 years (given a 365.2425 day year). REPORT: SECURITY BREACH was sent 2512332 hours, 14 minutes, and 6 seconds after initial containment failure. That’s 286.6055 years (given a 365.2425 day year). 286.6055 + 99713.3117 = 99999.9172 years. I’ll call that 100,000 years for the sake of the simplicity.

Now it’s certain that the initial containment failure occurred in the 2260s and that the security breach occurred in 2552, most likely from the Gravemind transporting the chief to High Charity (the arbiter is teleported within the ring, which I wouldn’t consider a breach of security. LOG: UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO FACILITIES must be the Gravemind taking control of 2401 PT and the teleportation grid, an indefinite period of time before the security breach.

The question I’ll end with is this:
If REPORT: SECURITY BREACH takes place during the events of Halo 2, then does REPORT: DERELICTION OF DUTY coincide with some event from the novels or Halo 3?
Last edited by Omega on Sat Jun 07, 2008 11:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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DHalo
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Re: Weekly Update Message 2

Unread post by DHalo »

Makes perfect sense. 100,000 Year War. :D
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