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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Avateur
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Re: Weekly Update Message 2

Unread post by Avateur »

I absolutely love your post Omega. I wasn't considering some of those points when I was typing up my analysis, and I'm really glad that you took the time to write up your counter-analysis. I think the rest of my theories stand pretty well, but yours here looks to be untouchable. Great stuff! :D
Kiloh Ekim
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Re: Weekly Update Message 2

Unread post by Kiloh Ekim »

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. -Phædrus
Curious indeed, but I've found the naming (and numbering) to share a consistent (x-1). Do you remember the monitor naming scheme?

Why is it that the halos have been set back one digit for their naming scheme and the monitors one installation number for their names? Your answer is as good as mine. But there are a few possibilities that would set the numbers off.

The first would be the presence of the Ark (Installation 00) but I can't find a way to (alphabetically) arrange the numbers so that the the letters shift the right way. Perhaps the installations are not named numerically. but instead named by what physical galactic quadrant they reside in, giving the letters an almost random placement. (This would be someone else's que to jump in and begin cracking the alpha-numerical puzzle)

Another may be the presence of yet another shield world . This could be concidered a completely unknown area because Bungie can add new ones to the universe any time they very well please and if one already exists thast can be placed I don't believe we would have enough info yet.

Or perhaps there is something much much bigger under the surface. More halo rings? Another array? Perhaps something of the precursors?

I have to end speculation here. It's midnight where I am and my bed can't wait. I can't solve this puzzle, just lay it out. I know that isn't where these messages are supposed to be leading us, but perhaps we can tear some more pages from the Halo Bible using the clues we have around us. We may be on the verge of something great.

Either that, or I need sleep. /end
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Ibeechu
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Re: Weekly Update Message 2

Unread post by Ibeechu »

Again, I hope to remind you all that neither the Covenant, Flood, or Monitors refer to either Halos as Alpha or Delta. They must, therefore, be human designations. And, I remind you again that, in math, delta can mean the next in a sequence or a change. As in, Alpha was the first (obviously) and Delta was the next or different Halo. They are not being named one digit ahead. Delta is the fourth Greek letter and designates Installion 05, but Alpha is the first and designates 04. In this case, Installation 04 is called Alpha because it was the first one we saw. Installation 05 is Delta because it's the next one we saw. Get it?
Mr Toadster
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Re: Weekly Update Message 2

Unread post by Mr Toadster »

Ibeechu wrote:Again, I hope to remind you all that neither the Covenant, Flood, or Monitors refer to either Halos as Alpha or Delta. They must, therefore, be human designations. And, I remind you again that, in math, delta can mean the next in a sequence or a change. As in, Alpha was the first (obviously) and Delta was the next or different Halo. They are not being named one digit ahead. Delta is the fourth Greek letter and designates Installion 05, but Alpha is the first and designates 04. In this case, Installation 04 is called Alpha because it was the first one we saw. Installation 05 is Delta because it's the next one we saw. Get it?
Aye, Ibeechu, but it could also mean a lot of things besides maths terminology. I've heard of delta being used to mean "difference" (as in "delta t" or "∆t" for "the change in t"), but i've never heard of it being used to mean "next" - could you maybe give us an example?
What i would have expected was for the UNSC to call them the Alpha and Bravo Halos, to follow the military alphabet. Or at least Alpha and Beta, so as to go in order. Possibly (although this might be stretching it a bit) the Halos are indeed alphabetical, and ONI discovered two more Installations in the interum between the discovery of 04 and 05. It's a bit of a large coverup, but that's exactly what they're good at, and it would explain the naming system rather well. Besides, hasn't Bungie given a hint like "We've never told you exactly who named Substance, Basis, Threshold, Alpha Halo, etc." ?
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Ibeechu
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Re: Weekly Update Message 2

Unread post by Ibeechu »

Oddly, I can't find any Internets references to the "next in a sequence" thing so I'm probably wrong on that, but I could have sworn I've seen it defined as that before. But I also don't remember Bungie saying that they haven't said who named the Halos and extra-Halo objects. If indeed it wasn't the humans, I wonder who it could have been. But if there is some sort of complicated naming scheme vs First = 04, Different = 05, I'd go with the latter. It's simple and makes sense, and we don't have enough evidence for the former. Looking at it purely scientifically, I mean.
yakaman
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Re: Weekly Update Message 2

Unread post by yakaman »

In this case, Installation 04 is called Alpha because it was the first one we saw. Installation 05 is Delta because it's the next one we saw. Get it?
Possibly (although this might be stretching it a bit) the Halos are indeed alphabetical, and ONI discovered two more Installations in the interum between the discovery of 04 and 05. It's a bit of a large coverup, but that's exactly what they're good at, and it would explain the naming system rather well. Besides, hasn't Bungie given a hint like "We've never told you exactly who named Substance, Basis, Threshold, Alpha Halo, etc." ?
I'd always ascribed to this line of thinking as the reason for the naming discrepency Alpha-04 and Delta-05. Up until a few weeks ago, we had never had anyone referring to the Halos as Alpha, Delta, Kappa, etc, except humanity (presumably).

Now we have Forerunner AI referring to them as such. Thus, human order of discovery, and human naming conventions, go out the window. It seems these installations were referred to as Alpha, Beta, Delta, etc, long before humanity came along.

Why would Alpha be 04? Why would Delta be 05? Maybe it doesn't matter? Maybe humanity simply attempted to interpret and got it wrong?

A couple of other items for consideration:
  • Containment failed 300 years before Halo 2. How long was Gravemind around?
  • If Flood spores escaped, what food source could they find, if any?
  • It seems to me that Gravemind was indeed around for awhile before H2. After all, the Flood in H1 did not create a Gravemind even though they had access to greater biomass. It just seems that they did not have enough time.
  • If the biomass did not come from the outside (no sabotage), what else was kept on Delta? Another species in stasis? Animals?
  • Even if 2401PT was corrupted somehow by the Flood, or went slightly rampant and opened pandora's box, where did the biomass come from?
This is fun. I hope it leads to something more than a map pack (but I wouldn't be disappointed if that's all it was)!
Mr Toadster
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Re: Weekly Update Message 2

Unread post by Mr Toadster »

I still don't think "[delta site]" refers to Delta Halo, or that [kappa site] indicates that there's a Kappa Halo. Look at this:
LOG: QUERIED ADJACENT FACILITIES
LF.Xx.3273 research and containment facility [alpha, beta, gamma, epsilon, zeta, and kappa sites] have all replied [systems normal] within expected constraints. This would tend to signify that the containment failure was purely mechanical in nature; perhaps a manufacturing flaw. As no [outside agent] has accessed [delta site] in the past [874068942 hours, 4 minutes, 46 seconds]—[allowing for a 61360 hour, 54, minute, 2 second margin of error]—sabotage would seem unlikely.
First of all, the other 6 Halos are far from "adjacent" to Delta Halo; they're thousands and thousands of light-years apart. And the conclusions the speaker draws when it hears the other sites are normal wouldn't make sense if it were talking about Halos.
Second, the "sites" are referred to as "facilities", while Halos are usually referred to as "Installations". I think they resemble something more like the research/containment facility where we first saw the Flood in Halo 1.
Third, the beginning of the first Weekly Update message reads:
REPORT: CONTAINMENT FAILURE

LF.Xx.3273 research and containment facility; [delta site] has experienced catastrophic specimen containment failure. All apertures into facility will be locked until further notice. Atmosphere evacuation and [reduction of ambient temperature] protocols have already been enacted. Request maintenance and security detail [at earliest opportunity]. [8 minutes] elapsed since initial containment failure.
Perhaps Delta Halo could reduce its ambient temperature or evacuate its air, but it certainly doesn't have "apertures" that can be locked. The "sites" mentioned are not Halos, but small facilities on or under the surface of Delta Halo. Somewhat confusingly, the Forerunners have assigned each site a Greek letter, while someone (presumably the Humans - ONI?) has named the Halos themselves using the same system.

(I personally am going to be disappointed if this turns out to be nothing more than a promotion for a multiplayer map. This is a lot of fun).
Omega
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Re: Weekly Update Message 2

Unread post by Omega »

I'm surprised I haven't seen this brought up here or at HBO, but does anyone remember the Terminal 3 Legendary text?
REPORT: SECURITY BREACH: 1/3
Heuristic pathology; [alpha site] experienced an impermanent containment failure event on [spurious-data/no_ref.[?]]. The suspect data barrier interchange anomaly was detected precisely [.489 seconds] after its appearance. The epicenter of the disturbance is the partition currently housing a [personality construct array] retrieved from Contender AI 05-032 <+> 0816.

REPORT: SECURITY BREACH: 2/3 Although [adjacent] systems reacted to the disturbance within expected parameters, a more comprehensive investigation was undertaken. A physical search revealed that there was no [corporeal] tampering at the [alpha site].
stavie
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Re: Weekly Update Message 2

Unread post by stavie »

I do not think the installations are in alphabetical order for the reason that the moniter's numbers would be out of order.

1
1x7=7
7x7=49
49x7=343 (Guilty Spark - Alpha Halo)
343x7=2401 (Penitant Tangent - Delta Halo)
2401x7=16807
16807x7=117649
Strife17O7
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Re: Weekly Update Message 2

Unread post by Strife17O7 »

Mr Toadster wrote:I still don't think "[delta site]" refers to Delta Halo, or that [kappa site] indicates that there's a Kappa Halo.
REPORT: CONTAINMENT FAILURE

LF.Xx.3273 research and containment facility; [delta site] has experienced catastrophic specimen containment failure. All apertures into facility will be locked until further notice. Atmosphere evacuation and [reduction of ambient temperature] protocols have already been enacted. Request maintenance and security detail [at earliest opportunity]. [8 minutes] elapsed since initial containment failure.
Perhaps Delta Halo could reduce its ambient temperature or evacuate its air, but it certainly doesn't have "apertures" that can be locked. The "sites" mentioned are not Halos, but small facilities on or under the surface of Delta Halo. Somewhat confusingly, the Forerunners have assigned each site a Greek letter, while someone (presumably the Humans - ONI?) has named the Halos themselves using the same system.

(I personally am going to be disappointed if this turns out to be nothing more than a promotion for a multiplayer map. This is a lot of fun).
I've been observing for a while now, and I think I've formed my conclusions regarding the two messages.

Firstly, I'm inclined to agree with Mr Toadster in that "facilities" is not synonymous with "Installations" in this instance.
It seems to make some sense to me.

Regarding a timetable, primarily based on previous posts, I've pretty much decided what -I- think about that. What follows is a summary of what I believe from the submitted theories.
Approximately 300 years prior to the events witnessed in Halo:CE->3, a "catastrophic containment failure" occurred at the Delta facility on Installation 05.
In response, that facility's basic autonomous containment procedures are enacted. Temperatures are lowered and atmosphere in the area is evacuated after all "apertures(i.e. doors, hatches, misc corporeal means of access)" are sealed. Perhaps it's just me, but couldn't such a procedure result
Here's where there's some more speculation. For a time, these measures were apparently effective enough. I would assume that the Delta facility was held at the same temperature and atmosphere for at least most of the next 300 years while requests for maintenance and security detail went unanswered. However, in that interim, a number of other failures apparently occurred. Delta facility's localized maintenance/security hubs fail to respond to commands. A fair amount of time later(250-300 years?), the initial countermeasures of atmospheric evacuation and temperature reduction are also fail, "as atmospheric seals[to the rest of Installation 05?] were showing signs of stress". The atmosphere begins to equalize with the rest of the Installation's facilities and the formerly contained becomes even less so.
At this point, the situation is referred higher up to [Quadrant oversight.](quadrant=a broad area/groups of facilities?), which also fails to respond.
Now apparently, the protocol dictates the situation be referred to 2401 Penitent Tangent who has been inconveniently absent throughout.
So a report is sent to Installation 00 detailing the extent of the security/containment failure.
At roughly the same time, LF.Xx.3273 let's call it, triggers another breach in security by utilizing Installation 05's emergency [slip stream space] transportation conduits from within Delta facility to send two lifeforms to two different locations in-system, resulting in the transportation conduits being automatically placed into recursive mode to lock out any further unauthorized usage. Take a note here that LF.Xx.3273's access of that system was unauthorized. Meaning it likely wasn't accessed securely through 2401 Penitent Tangent. If it were, a security breach would've likely been avoided. That said, I'm not sure that 2401 Penitent Tangent was necessarily malfunctioning as much as simply being held hostage so as to prevent additional security measures from being taken. In order to do that, LF.Xx.3273 would've also had to lock 2401 out of the transportation system in some way. Perhaps that was one of the "gifts" given by Mendicant Bias in his betrayal about 100,000 years ago? It apparently is do-able, it managed to trap up Cortana effectively enough.
Now just what exactly caused the initial breach is mostly unknown I believe. Whatever it was, it was apparently just the opportunity LF.Xx.3273 had been waiting through "...rock and metal and time" for. In a grave designed just for it, after being defeated in a war it was left there to die. Almost. That is, until said opportunity arose.
Once it had breached security in Delta containment facility, all it needed then was a means of escaping the grave. A food source. It would apparently have to wait another 300 years for that. And when it arrived, it was quite welcome. "This is not your Grave....but you are welcome in it..."
And, right or wrong, there we have the "present" situation. Detailed all the way from an initial security breach of security occurring about 300 years ago.

About the messages themselves then. The ones in the first update seem to be a vague outline of the details at the start of these events and of those near or at the end, with little detail in the mean time. The second update more or less seems to fill in a few of those blanks. As if LOG: QUERIED ADJACENT FACILITIES ->LOG: UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO FACILITIES could be effectively inserted in between the first REPORT: CONTAINMENT FAILURE and REPORT: SECURITY BREACH in order to form a more complete timeline.


NOW then....is that a fair assessment?
How wrong am I? Without studying exact timing anyways.
I don't know. Pick it apart and trample on it if you wish, that's all I have for now. :geek:
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