After reading another post and coming across something called the AI Assembly, I did some research and this is all I could find on halopedia.
The term “glassing” was coined by the AI group known as the Assembly in 2526. The group at the time estimated that it would take 30.3801 years for a Covenant fleet of comparable size to that of the UNSC’s to glass Earth. The Assembly chose the term to magnify the horrible act in the hope that it would galvanize humanity into action
https://www.halopedia.org/Glassing
This AI assembly seems kind of like an evil within the UNSC that may have given way to Cortana without realizing it. What are your thoughts on the AI Assembly and is it something that maybe should be explored a little more in the Halo Universe. I just think that it’s strange that a group of AI could be left unchecked to run things without Humans surmising something was amiss.
Sorry to burst your bubble, but 343i rendered The Assembly to be of “dubious” canon status a long time ago: [
Either way nothing about them (or anything contained in the ‘Halo: Reach’ datapads - which is where the concept of The Assembly originated) actually matches up to what we see “the created” do in H5. The Assembly expressed a desire to improve things for humanity and AIs through subtle and indirect means, or perhaps later through open and mutual cooperation, rather than outright taking everyone over or forcing change. So even if they were still canon, it would not make any sense for them to be in support an AI-dictatorship based on racist and imperialist dogma.](https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/forums/db05ce78845f4120b062c50816008e5d/topics/questions-about-reach-datapads-and-flood/f10052fc-996a-46ab-821a-80480becd629/posts?page=1#post12)
At best, the Assembly’s notes are early war intel, which was disproven by information revealed later. So even if the Assembly and their conclusions are canonical, they’re canonically wrong.
The Covenant is fully capable of glassing entire worlds and they have done so multiple times. Jericho VII being one particularly effective example. Reach, Meridian, and Kholo are examples of planets that were slagged from pole to pole, but not thoroughly enough to boil off the atmosphere, and the rushed process left some buildings intact amid seas of glass where the plasma beams’ power fluctuated.
Catalog stated that the datapads in Reach and it’s mentions of the Assembly were of questionable accuracy and reliability which suggests 343i intends or is considering writing the Assembly out of canon. Which is a huge mistake if they do.