How does Halo work?

Wild, speculative theories born from the communications with AdjutantReflex.

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Rainstorm1031
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Re: How does Halo work?

Unread post by Rainstorm1031 »

kulervo wrote:This is being discussed (sort of) overe here viewtopic.php?f=13&t=483&hilit=

1. The Halo's wipe out calcium deposits in life with calcium. So there is no issue with cosmic rays, or sound frequencies that destroy brains. See the halopedia article i link above.

2. The mini-halo from ILB had an effect on slip-space. We need not assume a rate of propagation at Light Speed, we can assume a faster than light rate of propagation.

3. How a faster than light signal wipes out calcium stores is beyond me, and beyond 21st century physics, so just accept it.
I don't trust any information in that section. There is not one citation there about how Halo works that points to anything in-game or in the novels... how can I trust something without seeing it's sources?

Link (to the Halopedia section discussed): http://halo.wikia.com/wiki/The_Halos#Function
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Frogwart
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Re: How does Halo work?

Unread post by Frogwart »

Remember what Cortana says about the Halos in "Two Betrayals."

"Halo doesn't kill flood, it kills their food. Humans, covenant, whatever. We're all equally edible. The only way to stop the flood is to starve them to death. And that's exactly what Halo is designed to do; wipe the galaxy clean of all sentient life."
-from the Halo Story Page @ halo.bungie.org

And this portion of 343GS's reply...
"Technically, this installation's pulse has a maximum effective radius of twenty-five thousand light years. But, once the others follow suit, this galaxy will be quite devoid of life, or at least any life with sufficient biomass to sustain the flood."
-ibid

Obviously the Halos don't "fire" in the sense that we understand the word (like a weapon "fires"). So what is the "pulse" that kills the Flood's food?
Maybe it's something akin to the pulse that Stephen King used in his recent book "Cell," soon to be an Eli Roth movie.
killadro
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Re: How does Halo work?

Unread post by killadro »

maybe it creates something like a black hole in the center, or the opposite of a black hole? No that wouldn't make sense because that would kill ALL life including flood. Maybe it's a futuristic technology that send a shock of energy( a blast maybe) killing all sentient life. Flood must be like Cockroaches they DONT DIE, unless you squash 'em.







I got blacklisted from Bungie- I think this forum is better though
shyataroo
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Re: How does Halo work?

Unread post by shyataroo »

killadro wrote:maybe it creates something like a black hole in the center, or the opposite of a black hole? No that wouldn't make sense because that would kill ALL life including flood. Maybe it's a futuristic technology that send a shock of energy( a blast maybe) killing all sentient life. Flood must be like Cockroaches they DONT DIE, unless you squash 'em.







I got blacklisted from Bungie- I think this forum is better though
the flood could be the results of the forrunners trying to extened their life indefinably, like the Resident evil movie virus. one wrong move and the flood gain conciousnes. (or the gravemind is that thing from the little shop of horrors, except 550 years later :D )
killadro
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Re: How does Halo work?

Unread post by killadro »

Frogwart wrote:Remember what Cortana says about the Halos in "Two Betrayals."

"Halo doesn't kill flood, it kills their food. Humans, covenant, whatever. We're all equally edible. The only way to stop the flood is to starve them to death. And that's exactly what Halo is designed to do; wipe the galaxy clean of all sentient life."
-from the Halo Story Page @ halo.bungie.org

And this portion of 343GS's reply...
"Technically, this installation's pulse has a maximum effective radius of twenty-five thousand light years. But, once the others follow suit, this galaxy will be quite devoid of life, or at least any life with sufficient biomass to sustain the flood."
-ibid

Obviously the Halos don't "fire" in the sense that we understand the word (like a weapon "fires"). So what is the "pulse" that kills the Flood's food?
Maybe it's something akin to the pulse that Stephen King used in his recent book "Cell," soon to be an Eli Roth movie.

Wouldn't it suck if Cortana and 343 were just lying because the Halos actually destroyed all AI and/or technology................................... and flood LOL
RogueDemonHunter
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Re: How does Halo work?

Unread post by RogueDemonHunter »

With enough radiation everything but some bacteria will die... of radiation poisoning, not a good way to go but some bacteria, plants and animals would survive. Just not anything "with sufficient biomass"
c2h6o
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Re: How does Halo work?

Unread post by c2h6o »

kulervo wrote:This is being discussed (sort of) overe here viewtopic.php?f=13&t=483&hilit=

1. The Halo's wipe out calcium deposits in life with calcium. So there is no issue with cosmic rays, or sound frequencies that destroy brains. See the halopedia article i link above.

2. The mini-halo from ILB had an effect on slip-space. We need not assume a rate of propagation at Light Speed, we can assume a faster than light rate of propagation.

3. How a faster than light signal wipes out calcium stores is beyond me, and beyond 21st century physics, so just accept it.
I really like the calcium theory, but theres one problem with the idea: wouldn't there be little to no calcium throughout the galaxy after the firing? Calcium was formed in stars, as are all other elements, but this would not be enough to "refill" the entire galaxy in 100,000 years.

The only way would be if the firing could discriminate whether it is part of a dead/living organism. And if the Forerunners could pull that off, they need a good pat on the back. :ugeek:
Pak
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Re: How does Halo work?

Unread post by Pak »

Even if it travelled at the speed of light, it wouldn't take 100,000 years, it would take 25,000. The light would only have to travel the distance of one Halo's radius to cover the entire galaxy assuming all the halos fire simultaneously, which seems to be a safe assumption. Besides, as has been brought up already, slipspace exists in 26th century physics making near instantaneous destruction possible. Honestly, with what we know of 26th century physics, the only feasible conjecture involves a halo weapon that manipulates slipspace to somehow eliminate specific lifeforms. One possibility is the manipulation of the 'latex' 'snapping back' as per Staten's previous analogy in the HBO HSP.
c2h6o
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Re: How does Halo work?

Unread post by c2h6o »

Pak wrote:Even if it travelled at the speed of light, it wouldn't take 100,000 years, it would take 25,000. The light would only have to travel the distance of one Halo's radius to cover the entire galaxy assuming all the halos fire simultaneously, which seems to be a safe assumption. Besides, as has been brought up already, slipspace exists in 26th century physics making near instantaneous destruction possible. Honestly, with what we know of 26th century physics, the only feasible conjecture involves a halo weapon that manipulates slipspace to somehow eliminate specific lifeforms. One possibility is the manipulation of the 'latex' 'snapping back' as per Staten's previous analogy in the HBO HSP.
So it travels through slipspace while destroying sentient life. It enters a completely different timespace continuum and destroys what is in a completely different continuum. Whatever. Makes no sense, so I'll take Bungie's word that it works.
Pak
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Re: How does Halo work?

Unread post by Pak »

c2h6o wrote:
Pak wrote:Even if it travelled at the speed of light, it wouldn't take 100,000 years, it would take 25,000. The light would only have to travel the distance of one Halo's radius to cover the entire galaxy assuming all the halos fire simultaneously, which seems to be a safe assumption. Besides, as has been brought up already, slipspace exists in 26th century physics making near instantaneous destruction possible. Honestly, with what we know of 26th century physics, the only feasible conjecture involves a halo weapon that manipulates slipspace to somehow eliminate specific lifeforms. One possibility is the manipulation of the 'latex' 'snapping back' as per Staten's previous analogy in the HBO HSP.
So it travels through slipspace while destroying sentient life. It enters a completely different timespace continuum and destroys what is in a completely different continuum. Whatever. Makes no sense, so I'll take Bungie's word that it works.
It wouldn't have to travel through slipspace, it could be slipspace. Slipspace is another dimension, not just a means of travel. We've already seen the effects of our dimension snapping back (regret's jump in mombassa), the relationship between slipspace and realspace could be manipulated to create a very destructive weapon.
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