Cortana Letters Revisited (and then some)

X-Originating-IP: [63.11.146.101]
From: "Jean-Paul L" <knight_premier@hotmail.com>
To: halo@bungie.org
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Subject: Cortana letters
Date: Fri, 22 Jun 2001 18:00:27 -0700
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X-OriginalArrivalTime: 23 Jun 2001 01:00:27.0850 (UTC) FILETIME=[E4727AA0:01C0FB7F]

It looks like I sent it to some Hamish Sinclair guy, i dunno where I was (what site) hmmm sorry for the confuision, here goes. I should edit this to what I know now, but I don't know much more than I did before. I have doubts towards the whole Story page/ Marathon mumbojumbo. From the things I've been reading on these items, everything is interconnected to past events and Stories. I wonder if I'm the only confused one.

Furthermore, I wrote this message not knowing what the hell Cortana was. And looking at the posted message at the Hamish site, I'm not so sure that Cortana is the sender. I wrote this thinking that it was a Covenant message to the Terrans or the PoA.

This is my view/translation on the first Cortana letter, line by line:

I have walked the edge of the Abyss.

I have been to the edge of space. In other words, all ends of the known universe

I have governed the unwilling.

I have been powerful enough to force control over people, despite their wishes

I have witnessed countless empires break before me.

I have battled many wars against many enemies, and have never lost

I have seen the most courageous soldiers fall away in fear.

{Complementary to the previous.} Despite the might, courage, or ambition of an enemy, I prevail.

[I was there with the Angel at the tomb]

(Most interesting line) Angels have Halo's.

In the book "Forever Peace" [Joe Haldeman] an immense particle accelerator is constructed in the orbit of Io [Jupiter's volcanic moon]. The accelerator had the power to mimic the state of the early universe. durring the book, the main characters discover that this will create a chain reaction. The reaction would lead to the creation of a new universe, which would expand outward from the ring with unimaginable speed and power (that of a Big Bang), obliterating our universe in the process.
I think that within the world of Halo resides a similar device. The line also indicates that the speaker survived the devices effect. If you look at it from the "Universe Creation Device" point of view, he was present at the end of one universe (i.e.[tomb]).

The 'Angel' might have been the devices' creators, the device user, or another A.I.. Prehaps the AI witnessed something that happend to the "Angel", the user of Halo.

I have seen your future.

The speaker saw the future of race 'X' (most likely Terrans) in the previous universe.

And I have learned.

The speaker learned from the mistakes made by race 'X' (most likely Covenant) in the previous universe, relative to their dealings with humans.

There will be no more Sadness. No more Anger. No more Envy.

The speaker (or his race as a collective) will never again suffer sadness or anger due to the Terrans. The speaker will not envy the humans.

-->Prehaps the speaker's race were angry and envious at the technological and military victorys achieved by the Terrans (SolCore) in the previous universe.

I HAVE WON.

Important in it's simplicity. I think it means that, this time around, the speaker (or his race, collectively) will emerge victorious over the Terrans (SolCore).

Oh, and your poet Eliot had it all wrong:
THIS is the way the world ends.

I remember a old poem from English IH last year. The poet proclaimed that the universe would end quietly (i.e. no Armageddon event). If the universe creation theory holds true, the universe would certainly NOT end in a whimper. A second 'Big Bang' would not be very quiet, methinks.

a friend of a friend

No relevance to the rest of the poem. Prehaps a friend of a friend who works at Bungie? Someone said that this was Cortana speaking about things another AI learned. I dunno

I would have to speculate quite a bit to fill out the details for a quick summary. This is my best guess:

In the previous universe, Covenant dominated everything and everyone. They were the 'Master Race'. They had utter control over many species, and had withstood the test of time. Even the most brave races fell before them. Then came the Terrans. We were new and unique, compared to the challenges Covenant had fought in the past.. The Terrans progressed through technologies much faster than Covenant would have anticipated. We improvised when we needed and moved on. We were still extremely 'out-gunned' when compared to the power of Covenant, but we had a chance. Covenant tried to dominate the Terrans as it had with the other races. They had many victories, but they had waited too long. The Terrans progressed faster and faster, and began to defeat the Covenant. They were sad at their loss, Angry at our victory, and envious of our ability(s). As a last ditch effort, Covenant activated the proposed device in Halo. They hit the proverbial "Cosmic Reset Button".

A new universe allowed for a second chance. This time they would strike first, before SolCore had progressed to it full power. But, because they had been the loosers in the previous universe, they still had no idea of Earth's location. Even then, it would only be a matter of time before the Covenant completely destroyed the human race. And here the story begins, with the Terran corvette escaping to a uncharted world...

This is only my 'two-cents'.

Ah, there are more letters, how did I miss that...hmmmm, i'll read them and reply in order. {edit: actually, no I won't. The other letters are pretty straight forward}

Oh yes, IF by some incredible stroke of fleeting luck this point of view seems to make sense, I would ask that you check with the Bungie guys. {edit: aren't you the bungie guys?} I would hate to ruin the surprise of a good story. With any luck, I'm waaaaaay off.
=)

P.S. Here's a couple more ideas. I don't know what you intend to do with this, but it's fine if these are placed seperatley according to topic.

Another device concept might be that Halo is a sort of a piece of an imemnse machine. Maybe the moon Basis was meant to 'fly' through Halo towards the Threshold. I wonder about this due to the dot in the center of the O in HALO. It's probably nothing, just using the old Gothic O structure.

About the "He said I send not Peace but a Sword..." quote. Perhaps it is something like:

He said, "I send not Peace, but a Sword to fight your way to It" It being peace.

'When no single human brick lies atop another, then will we be satisfied with your destruction.' This sentance was sent to ALLCH (SC)

It's probably already been said, but I think ALLCH (SC) means All Channels; Sol Core. So that message was basically telling the 'empire' of Terrans that Covenant is pissed, and SolCore is gonna pay for it.

'"These are the tygers of wrath."' -PoA to PoA

This is a comment on the destructiveness of the Covenant, along with their previous messages.

Also, the Cov messages sent to the defending ships seem alot like a calm, calculated, battle- cry.

Gravitational effects on Halo. The gravity from Basis and Threshold would be cancelled out if Halo is holding in a LaGrange point.

Halo itself could have a substantial gravity as long as it was thicker, like a doughnut; rather than being thin like a rubberband. With the added effect of a rotation (which adds night, below) Halo could have a fair amount of gravity, enough to hold an atmosphere.

Do we ever see a marine without a mask? No, so the atmosphere could be a heavy one. It might be toxic to all save plants, but it would not bleed into space very easilly.

As for Night and Day on Halo, If you have the ring rotate (like a car tire) at an angle, the part that is lower and furthest from the star will be in day, while the end that is 'higher' and closer to the star end will be facing away from the light, although it will still recieve quite a bit of ambient reflected light.

There will also be longer day/night effects as Halo orbits Threshhold.

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