: I don't really think 343i intends to spend much time on the Didact. We pretty
: much wrapped up his tragedy. I suppose he could always come back (and
: perhaps that was deliberately designed that way), but I don't think it's
: in the cards for Halo 5, at least.

I hope that you are right.

: The Librarian, I suspect, definitely has more machinations. I think
: "puppet" is a good word for it because while they've been
: exploring the 'bad' side of the UNSC, I don't think we've really gotten
: much on the downsides of the Librarian's machinations. So far, her plans
: have dovetailed nicely with ours, but I wonder if there's going to be some
: point where that doesn't line up--I don't particularly think any one race
: should dictate the others' ways of life, for instance. And while the UNSC
: might like the "power overwhelming" angle I think they'd be less
: thrilled about the make love not war aspect.

That's pretty much how I see it. I ask myself why I should care about the mantle and I see the human system of government as very unhealthy.

And although I have ethical concerns about using oppression to combat the threats posed by the innies I also have practical concerns about it. Essentially you have to successfully oppress forever and that's quite a mountain to climb.

In addition I have practical concerns, concerns that it just can't work in practice.

IMS Nylund posed the threat of a lunatic with a ship crashing it into a city. His solution was: Spartans.

Spartans assassinating innie leaders lets him write Ender's Game style shenanigans with child super soldiers but it's hard to see how the existence of Spartans could stop the lunatic with a ship. It seems to me that Spartan operations would fuel the problem and lead to more innie sympathizers crashing ships into cities.

I see places like Venezia offering some hope of a way out of the problems that plague the haloverse. Well, it addresses the interspecies problems. It is fairly lawless but has some law. There is crime but the various races are working together. It's a melting pot. There is self interest and mutual self interest.

The Elites have a problem with their infrastructure. They have lost the engineers, they lack the education and inclination to do their own engineering. But their females seem better equipped, have better temperaments for study and cooperation with other races. Humans have the engineering knowledge and the education to help the Elites out, to do the work and to teach the Sangheli. Venezia is a place were the two cultures meet. If the Sangheli had something to trade then mutually beneficial arrangements could be made. How are dispossessed humans to make a living?

The jackals play the angles. They are con men and wheelers and dealers. But con men and business men have lots in common. They are both deal in trust and in interaction with people. Con men are more concerned with exploiting their marks but when faced with repeated interaction with those who are hard to fool - the con man has to start offering deals that give something to both parties. I could see jackals doing well in both crime and business. I can see humans thriving in that environment as well.

The current haloverse is a place where cultures are in flux. There is danger and opportunity. There are multiple races with different agendas. There are multiple individuals in each race with conflicting agendas. There has to be some potential for character driven story. I think that the haloverse could be ripe for a mass Effect style treatment.

It could be a living world that you enter and shape. Play as multiple characters and make meaningful decisions. There are Grand Theft style stories to be told on the streets of Venezia. There are the conflicts between innies and the UNSC. There are internal conflicts to decide the nature of the UNSC. What will be the political future, the cultural makeup of the new Sanghelios?

The haloverse could be as rich and varied as the Mass Effect universe and, although these things are often better explored in other mediums... Mass Effect has shown that they can be addressed in game play.