SERVER MESSAGE: CONTINUED FROM LAST [ANTEFACT]; REPLY. USERS: 'MAKER' (x.x1a> [^]), 'ENEMY' (x.x1b> [&])

: What is this? what in the hell is going on here? is this apart of the ARG?

[^] We are in no way associated with the exploits of [official business]. We are a separate group, unofficial, unattached to the [primary industry]. We are simply attempting to find solace and bide our time in the most quiet frontiers of [spectra founded by the arrays]. [^]

: Can you confirm or correct the following? A simple binary response per line
: would be understood: 1: = 343 Guilty Spark
: 2: = Mendicant Bias
: 3: = "The Gravemind"
: 4: = "The Timeless One"

: Forgive my human curiosity; if blatant clarification would put you in danger
: of further exposure, I will understand if you disregard my queries.

: While I think I know who & are, I'm still stumped on identifying
: ...

: If these lines of inquiry are not significant to your intention, can you help
: redirect?

: ~ Mid7night

[^] 1: Correct. [^]

[&] 2: Incorrect. [&]

[^] 3: This is where semantics become complicated; it should be understood that our ciphers are just as rooted in historical happenstance as they are prose. The conversations you are seeing are highly diluted from their original state, considering the inner machinations of an [ancillary confluence state] have to jump through a myriad of hoops to even become legible to mankind. Of note is that a large majority of documentation and conversations made, starting in the early 2100s, contain large reserves of [context-sensitive empathy tagging] throughout. Because of this, we are free to speak of some generalized contents without jeopardizing our whereabouts, but specific instances of content may be avoided. For example: [^]

[&] "The final stage of the Flood superorganism is a Gravemind." [&]

[^] "The < !--Whom Would Turn Tides, Resigned-- > fought and purportedly slain in the late hours of 2552 was largely disseminated." [^]

[&] 4: We do not know what this is, but given the contextual analogue to a Gravemind unit, we can only assume it has a similar role. Newly-added designation, accordingly, is < !--Compound Choir-- >. We will look into this subject. [&]

[^] We cannot clarify nominal intent much beyond this, but regarding < !--Passive Negative-- >, take into account that dichotomy - duality - courses through much of our... well, discourse. [^]

[&] "Negative" and "Positive" may not be the only denominations indicating opposites in this particular cipher. [&]

: I'm assuming Maker and Enemy are Forerunner, hence why they don't have exact
: translations for some human words, right?

...

: They actually sort of confirmed one label, and I've asked about others. See
: their replies to me. Also, I'm pretty sure "they" are an AI. See
: their reference to "smart AI" in their first post. There's also
: further reference to AI in the transcript-conversation if you read through
: it.

[^] As aforementioned, [ancillary confluence state] dialogue is highly distorted by the time it reaches human eyes. Our conversations, initially, are unfiltered; and naturally possess a degree of mechanical prowess virtually unseen when attempting to "consolidate" this information for human minds.

[&] We are not < !--Predecessor-- >, but much like the < !--War Machine-- > as of late, we have appropriated certain elements of their firmware for our betterment.

[^] In this case, their translation and transliteration algorithms are virtually unparalleled; [coinage] may be due to the lack of a term in their tongue, an idiom that does not yet exist in human lexicon, or something inbetween. Their translation services are also applied in post, and we have not delved deep enough into their commands to modify this ourselves. [^]

[&] It is doubly advantageous to us because [abstract strata] are sometimes better off without proper terminology. [&]

[^] As evident in earlier Event "/*[SERVICE WEAVE] REQUESTS LOG-IN*/," our default terminology for [rallied confluential] results in "[rallied confluential]," even though the human term

/*{/<--> "Smart AI" <-->/}*//

fits the definition word-for-word. [^]

[&] As you can see, it is also something of a hassle to specifically "code" terms to be transliteral. [&]

[^] Avoiding specific terms is likewise beneficial so as to avoid "red herrings." (See? I know for a fact that this is an existing human idiom.) [^]

[&] Regarding our taxonomy: our origins are hominid, i.e. as in literally "belonging to genus Homo," though getting into technicalities regarding species and subspecies would largely jeopardize our privacy for reasons we can't clarify just yet.[&]