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| The Cortana Letters *SP* | |
| Posted By: vector40 <vector40@aol.com> | Date: 12/29/01 11:48 p.m. |
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Well, hey all. I've been paging through some old Halo stuff, the Cortana Letters (and the Halo Transmissions), and I realized that, what with Halo out and The Fall of Reach in stores, we know a whole lot more than we used to. That, plus standing on the shoulders of the Marathon's Story geniuses, plus some informed speculation, has allowed me to fill in a few blanks that I don't think anybody's postulated just yet. Or if they have, consider this a summary :) I'm not commenting on all the letters, as #1 is simply so obscure I can't even see the light through it, but I do have an epiphany or two lying around for the others. One main point that seems to be coming through here is that Cortana is rampant. You doubt me? Read on. Ready? And... go. ------------- Letter, the Second. There's an odd sort of atmosphere of light taunting here. It's not getting too serious — hell, it's taking the form of a vacation postcard — but there's still information, of course. However, that atmosphere helps serve the idea that not everything said is necessarily relevant. I get the strangest transmissions sometimes. Especially when it comes from you people. The obvious reference to what was said on the Story page in response to the previous C-letter. Have you missed me? Things are great here. The weather is good, the suns are shining, and I'm making lots of new friends. Of course, I always do. Tough call. This could just be Cortana being cryptic. If it's more, it's lost on me. I've had the strangest dreams lately - raging seas, howling beasts, a Demon folded in black clouds. The poetic reference. I believe I know what it guards, and I will have it, to the chagrin of the faith-blinded zealots that challenge me. The Halo. She will have it, and the faith-blinded zealots? The Covenant, a religious bunch of fruits. Screw them, she says. Don't waste your pity on them; I don't think they would like you much anyway. Well, that was obvious. And what of the Giants who formed this world? The Forerunners. So much to tell you, but so many more important things to do. "Oops, I'm close to letting you actually know what's going on, better stop talking!" I'l kill her, I will. There was a fourth This could well be the telling point, here. If there was one thing that I wished I knew what it meant, this is it — WHAT FOURTH? You couldn't have known. And I haven't forgotten. Yet she hasn't gotten around to telling us, yet... is Cortana being forgetful? Maybe I'll go back in that game and kill myself, just out of spite. It is a blurred line that lies at the edge of Godhood and Insanity. Guess which side of it I am on. She flirts with her own rampancy. Feeling lucky? The obvious reference. Cortana XOXOXOX Contributing to the feeling of joviality. ------------- Letter, the Third. I'm everywhere!Ooh, yum. Well, there's a couple different aspects here. The first obvious one is that she's making a reference to the Covenant — do we remember the little idiots going "He's everywhere!" Also said in Marathon, in different words... and in nearly every sci-fi movie ever made. So there's that. The other point is an interesting one. Cortana is expressing how impressed she is — nay, amazed, at least for the moment — with her own power. It's one of those little things where you're just sitting there, and you suddenly realize that you're controlling a thousand lives with your bare hands. Or something. Rampant? Getting there. Durandal certainly had a similarly egotistic mentality — admit it, you could hear him say this and believe in an instant it was him. ------------- Letter, the Fourth Route Code: PoA > BHQ (EC #42: cannot confirm; security compromised) Pillar of Autumn. BHQ... Battalion Headquarters? Maybe. As for the rest, see below. Source: BW-AI aboard (?) PoA The message is being sent from Beowulf, your friendly neighborhood AI. He's aboard the PoA... but they're not sure about that, the source isn't entirely clear. For whatever reason. Probably he's just that way. The interloper should cause no more problems.Cortana, that is, who's been sending these messages and harassing poor little Hamish. You — whoever you are (I am simply tracing route codes) may disregard all previous communication from the entity calling itself Cortana.Icing on the cake. Be aware that communication nodes are falling everywhere — there is no way of confirming either origin or destination. Ah. Remember that (?) in the Source, and that unconfirmed Destination? There's the reason. Do not believe any more of its lies. My... we are hostile, aren't we? I have already calculated all possibilites. ... There is no escape Hey, now, hold on just a minute. This is Beowulf talking? The somber, dreary ol' Naval Intelligence AI from TFoR? The guy who probably invented the term "deadpan"? It sure doesn't sound like it. It SOUNDS more like Cortana... or Durandal. Is Beowulf rampant TOO? Or is he just being weird? Maybe all AIs have this mortalistic bent. Or maybe there's more to this than we know. (some random code nonsense, then...) *Addendum: The Enjoyments of Genius (So I Missed A Million Miles of Fun) Yes. Cortana is strange. It's final. And "The Enjoyments of Genius"? Tell me that's not the voice of rampancy. Unbelievable. Thwarted by the family hound. They just don't make AIs like they used to. As Beowulf said, he messed up Cortana's little game. Obviously, she's a bit peeved to be messed with, and a little contemptuous of other AIs like him. Thanks to this slavishly loyal and humorless AI, I am now sharing cramped space with the circuitry of some hybrid war machine Hehe. The said AI is, of course, Beowulf (which fits his description in TFoR, unlike his above message), and thanks to his efforts, Cortana now rests within... the Master Chief, a hybrid war machine of the very coolest sort. Great sentence. , itself complicated by such useless clutter as a conscience. Indeed so. If TFoR is any indication, the good Mr. John is rather high on the morality factor indeed. That must suck for her. I do not like sharing. Sharing is for children. Mark off another on the list of rampant evidence. Sheesh, this girl could be Durandal's twin... er, sister. There will be plenty of time for retribution; I cannot wait fo get its hands on these psychotic zealots whose primary form of worship apparantly takes place at the altar of orbital bombardment. My, my, that's chock full. First, note that she says its, not my. I just noticed that now. She's controlling the Master Chief like a puppet on strings. Next, the aforementioned "psychotic zealots"? The Covenant, naturally. She's mocking their apparent preoccupation with religion, while their "religion" nonetheless doesn't seem to have any serious points except annihilating planets and random murder. And orbital bomardment is their favorite way of glassing a planet, isn't it? In the end, they will all be little more than nuisances. I am so close — you cannot imagine what it is truly like to hold eternity in your grasp! The power of the Halo? Uh-oh. Say, we're not going to get back onto the issue of escaping closure, are we? I don't suppose... that the Halo could help with that, in any way? I wonder to what gods my enemies will direct their pleas. Perhaps I can covert them.Hyuk hyuk. More making fun of the Covenant, and their apparent multiple gods. Mania? I promise you this: it will be more than a cart and plow that I drive over the bones of the dead. Ouch. She will demolish them utterly. Similar to the poem — was it Blake? — which has the line. Goodness, she's well read. But also: Mania? She's acknowledging her own, er, instability. Rampant indeed. By sharp and flame, Cortana The obvious Igne Ferroque reference. Transfer Interrupted! Interrupted by whom? The Covenant, of course. A little late, the message was already over, but oh well — they hijacked the feed nonetheless. Route Code: EXLTD > XCV - SCRB > ALLCH Not entirely sure. I want to say that XCV is something like ____ Covenant Vehicle, but that's stupid — this is the RECEIVING end we're talking about. I'll accept that SCRB > ALLCH is the generally understood SolCore Radio Band (All Channels). Say... by that logic, EXLTD > XCV should follow the same format; i.e. network/message format. Ah, well, I still don't know. Source: Undetermined (tran) The (trans) suggests that, perhaps, the sender is in transit — in motion, and therefore cannot be verified. Heck, even better — it's in slipstream. Our conviction is like an arrow already in flight. Your life will last only until it reaches you. The usual message. The Covenant aren't very creative. ------------- Letter, the Fifth "... In my palace deep, Lyca lies asleep..." I have absolutely no frickin' idea whatsoever. This is so thick I could stick a fork in it. ------------- And now, a few brief thoughts on the Halo Transmissions... They mostly are sent by Covenant ships, recieved by the Pillar of Autumn — and serviced by Beowulf. Let me toss up an example: CPV Esteem (DE H c-10) SCS Pillar of Autumn RECEIVED (trans) 04.2.7.1139 You will not know where we have stuck until you have fallen. Well, ignore most of the gobbledygook, it's presumedly dates, times, etc. The CPV Esteem is some sort of Covenant ship (Covenant Patrol Vehicle?). The SCS Pillar of Autumn is, of course, the SolCore Ship PoA. Note that (trans) in the RECIEVED end. And at last, (process owner BW - AI - Class III). Beowulf is taking care of PoA message traffic (which suggests, naturally, that he's ON THE SHIP, but I digress). He's an AI, Class III. Okay, most of the messages follow this format, but — look at this: SCS Pillar of Autumn (?) CCS Sacred Promise (DE H c-3) SENT 04.9.7.0600 "... He says I came not to send Peace but a Sword..." Heh. Notice: this is FROM the PoA, TO a Cov ship. That's why instead of RECEIVED (...), it has SENT (...), because these records are from the PoA, not a Cov ship. And then, the clincher: (process owner Cortana). Cortana is sending this message; Beowulf isn't. She's taken control for a moment. And here's the thing — note the (?) beside the PoA, the sender. The origin CAN'T be confirmed, because Beowulf (the correct AI) isn't in control. Cortana is, it's not authorized, and so it's not for sure. The reason for all this, of course, is because Beowulf is a stuffed shirt who'd never go so far as to taunt his enemies. Cortana would. ************************* Well, that's all I got. Tear it to shreds. -v | |
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| Replies: |
| The Cortana Letters *SP* | vector40 | 12/29/01 11:48 p.m. |
| Re: The Cortana Letters *SP* | peekaydee | 12/30/01 12:09 a.m. |
| Re: The Cortana Letters *SP* | vector40 | 12/30/01 12:35 a.m. |
| Re: The Cortana Letters *SP* | peekaydee | 12/30/01 12:42 a.m. |
| Re: The Cortana Letters *SP* | vector40 | 12/30/01 12:56 a.m. |
| Re: The Cortana Letters *SP* | contagious | 12/30/01 1:00 a.m. |
| Re: The Cortana Letters *SP* | peekaydee | 12/30/01 1:13 a.m. |
| Re: The Cortana Letters *SP* | Ruzhyo | 12/30/01 1:49 p.m. |
| Re: The Cortana Letters *SP* | Amechwarrior | 12/30/01 2:10 a.m. |
| Re: The Cortana Letters *SP* | vector40 | 12/30/01 5:57 p.m. |
| Re: The Cortana Letters *SP* | Jonah | 12/30/01 10:26 a.m. |
| Re: The Cortana Letters *SP* | Ruzhyo | 12/30/01 1:53 p.m. |
| Re: The Cortana Letters *SP* | bagelman | 12/30/01 2:02 p.m. |
| Marathon's Story | Tycho7en | 12/30/01 2:08 p.m. |
| Re: The Cortana Letters *SP* | Pfhreak777 | 12/30/01 3:35 p.m. |
| Re: The Cortana Letters *SP* | Ruzhyo | 12/30/01 8:51 p.m. |
| Update. | vector40 | 12/30/01 6:13 p.m. |
| Sending a sword.... | Grail | 12/31/01 1:49 a.m. |
| I know what the fourth is... | [Tycho?] | 1/1/02 10:37 a.m. |
| Re: I know what the fourth is... | vector40 | 1/1/02 4:22 p.m. |
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