Canon Fodder - Week 2: The Reach Data Pads

Community Halo Universe
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The Halo Universe has an absolutely dizzying array of story threads that weave their way in and out of a variety of different mediums to tell the larger tale of the fiction. One of my favorite feelings is that moment of realization when you recognize that something you’ve just read or saw connects back and resonates with something you might have seen weeks, months, or even years before. Your Halo Universe Forum Monitors adore the fiction just like you, and absolutely love the life you all give to it with the discussions you create and become involved with.

With this in mind, we created a weekly series of exploring a hidden corner of the fiction. Basically a conversation-starter that will take a look at some of the scattered stories around the Halo Universe. It could be from a short film, a short story, a motion comic, or even an art book entry, but it will all be to discuss how it ties back the the greater tale being told. And hey, even fiction veterans might find something they missed, or perhaps just haven’t revisited in a while, and it will be a great time to get reacquainted with whatever details we present! Also, in case these little discussion events make you curious about where you can find even more avenues to learn more about the Halo story, you can check out this post here for one easy place to see all the spots you can look in.

If you’d like to join in any of our past conversations, please do!

Week 1: Petra

<strong>For Week 2, we’re going to take a look at one of the more strangely-placed and mysterious slices of the Halo fiction, the Data Pads found on Reach in Halo: Reach.</strong>

If you’ve never read the Data Pads before, I encourage you to either check them out for yourself in-game, or at least hit the link above and read through them in their entirety before continuing on any further. It will only take about 20 or so minutes to read them all.

They tell a very intriguing and almost startling story through a dialogue between AI’s (known as “Minds”) who are members of something known as the Assembly. We know little to none about the Assembly’s origin’s or even true purpose and goal, only that it is made up of AI’s created (presumably) by humankind. The Assembly is further self-divided into the “Majority” and “Minority” parties, as well as the “Committee of Minds for Security”, a subgroup specifically charged with protecting human civilization from extra-solar alien hostilities.

What is incredibly interesting is that these Minds have been at work since at least the year 2310! They seem to have guided, both directly and indirectly, some of humanity’s direction of growth and technological evolution throughout the years following and up to the events of the fall of Reach in 2552. Frighteningly, they seem to have had prior knowledge of everything to the Forerunners, the Covenant, Onyx, and even the Flood far prior to humans.

The implications in the Halo universe are certainly great, both in what we know about events past but also in what might lie ahead in its future. If you have read Halsey’s Journal (which we will be exploring in one of these features very soon), you will find a few connective tissues to the story told in the Data Pads as well. What’s also funny is that despite potentially major ramifications to the Halo story, many people either haven’t read or simply don’t know about the Data Pads. We’re here to fix that! So grab a chair, brush up, and join in the discussion!

Much love,
Grim

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The Assembly is an interesting subject.

There have been some theories, and I especially like one about the Assembly being connected to Ancient Humanity. Ancient Humans created the Assembly to oversee future humans, similar to how the Librarian’s geas method is affecting Humanity.

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There isn’t anything more to say that hasn’t already been said due to silentium leaving a lot left out. The assembly shouldn’t even exist.

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And yet, it does. I think that adds to the mystery; how does something like this even exist? What might it mean for the future? I certainly wouldn’t say that we’ve exhausted all the possible avenues of discussion on the matter. You always seem fairly knowledgeable about the fiction, MB, what is your take?

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> The Assembly is an interesting subject.
>
> There have been some theories, and I especially like one about the Assembly being connected to Ancient Humanity. Ancient Humans created the Assembly to oversee future humans, similar to how the Librarian’s geas method is affecting Humanity.

That’s…a pretty interesting theory.

That would explain why they lasted so long.

They kind of reminded me of Metal Gear’s Patriot AIs in a way.

Also, so many of the implications in these data pads (I just recently read them thanks to our dear ol’ Grim ^^^). Some of them were mind boggling and I had jaw gaping, wide eyed expressions reading them all.

The ones that got me the most was how much information the Assembly was keeping from the humans, and how they accidentally sparked the war.

But, I like the theory you mentioned, JSA. That the Assembly was created by Ancient Humans? Thinking back, it makes a whole lot of sense. You never get a whole lot of mention of them in ANY type of fiction but Reach’s data pads, and they’ve stayed in the dark for so long that it doesn’t even seem like they’ve had much contact with their creators.

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> The Assembly is an interesting subject.
>
> There have been some theories, and I especially like one about the Assembly being connected to Ancient Humanity. Ancient Humans created the Assembly to oversee future humans, similar to how the Librarian’s geas method is affecting Humanity.

If they were created by ancient humanity, then they should’ve recognized the Sentinels they detected and discussed in data pad 6.

I suspect, though, that they were somehow covertly manipulated by the Librarian. In Halo 4, she tells Chief that she hid “seeds” that led to his “physical evolution” (SPARTAN-II Program), “combat skin” (MJOLNIR), and “ancilla” (Cortana). If we take her words at face value, then Master Chief is basically Space Jesus… However, I think there is stuff behind the scenes: I think that she may have put something in place that led to the creation of the Assembly and that influenced their decisions, and that she later saw Chief and recognized him as the result of actions planned by her and taken by the Assembly.

[notes]

We know that the Assembly influenced humanity’s decision-making in a manner that made it look like humanity were making the decisions (data pad 3). We know that they were aware of the Carver Findings, and most probably had a hand in renewing the ORION project (which became the SPARTAN Project), influencing Halsey’s work (data pads 5 and 7) without expecting the specific results (data pad 9)… Yet it’s implied that the secret behind Cortana and Chief’s link has been kept by some members of the Assembly since the body was formed (data pad 18), so it’s possible that the SPARTAN-II project was expected by some of them.

[/notes]

So I wonder if the Librarian put some agent in place that was able to infiltrate the Assembly, directing some of the AIs to create the technology she knew would be needed. These thrall AIs used the Assembly’s influence to subtly direct humanity’s technological advances, leading more-or-less directly to Chief and Cortana’s creation.

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> > I suspect, though, that they were somehow covertly manipulated by the Librarian. <mark>In Halo 4, she tells Chief that she hid “seeds” that led to his “physical evolution” (SPARTAN-II Program), “combat skin” (MJOLNIR), and “ancilla” (Cortana).</mark> If we take her words at face value, then Master Chief is basically Space Jesus… However, I think there is stuff behind the scenes: I think that she may have put something in place that led to the creation of the Assembly and that influenced their decisions, and that she later saw Chief and recognized him as the result of actions planned by her and taken by the Assembly.
>
> I really believe this is the case because that quoye was sort of vague when she spoke it but considering the Assembly’s power over Humanities decisions and how those decisions led to Chief and Cortana could mean she either created them for that purpose or even assimilated an Ancient Human created Assembly to do her bidding

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Have any found a way by whosoever their creators are/were, or by their own means,found ways to access human bodies temporarily? I always thought Margaret was a drone, lol. Or that -Yoink- who was interrogating Halsey? I dont know, no one really knows but even if the industry did get in over their heads expanding the mythology in so many vast radiant directions and have spread thin. Anybody want to hear more significance of i believe it was called ‘‘The Knowing’’? Its up to fans like us to give them ideas on how to aid in creating one of the most daring sci-fi epics of all time. Feedback much appreciated,
Spartan-J187 out.

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[I actually just read across the Knowing again the other day when rereading Bloodline. It’s definitely a very interesting piece of the puzzle. I remember being excited about Wreckage being set on a Line Instillation for similar reasons.

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Not sure if there are any Fringe fans here, but they always reminded me a little bit of the Observers on the show. There are some bid differences obviously, but that’s kind of how I viewed them.

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yah actually huge fringe fan!

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> There isn’t anything more to say that hasn’t already been said due to silentium leaving a lot left out. The assembly shouldn’t even exist.

I think I see what you’re saying here (that the Assembly was something Bungie was tinkering around with, and that 343 chose a different path) but if I’m wrong in that assumption, can you elaborate?

That’s also the way I saw it - I’m just wondering about your opinion.

I also hoped there would be more conversation on this topic… it seems so interesting to me, and obviously the ending is foreshadowing heavily IF 343 hasn’t abandoned the concept (just not brought it up again yet.) Because if they do stick with this - it seems that over the next few Halo games, AIs will evolve heavily.

I mean consider the implications of this being canon. Smart AIs last for 7 years. Yet the assembly has lasted much longer. If the assembly wants to further integrate with Humanity, then it is likely that humans will get AIs which last much longer than those 7 years… Starting to become more advanced like Forerunners and Ancient Humans were…

(Which reminds me - I know most people don’t want more than a few more Halo games but I disagree. I hope this a Universe which gets fleshed out throughout 15-20 more years and many more games and books. Can’t say I hope for Chief’s story to continue for more than 6 or 7 total games though. I’ve just been playing/reading Halo since I was like 12 and hope it continues.)

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I found these as early as I could (i loved replaying reach’s campaign over and over again!!!) And anxiously awaited bungie to announce what they were for however as it transferred to 343i and i couldnt wait for halo 4 i almost forgot about these. Yes I felt like they were AI left over from the original humans and have been playing in the bacground the entire time not sure for whom though. But it seems as if someone would have seen them or atleast noticed their influence over the millenias…

So please enlighten me what the eff is going on!!

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> I also had this thought why coudlnt there be a television series based off some of the far far side cannon almost star trek-ist with any of the infinite other story’s you guys have?

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I wonder how the Assembly was able to learn about the Flood that the Spirit of Fire encountered if the Spirit of Fire was never found. Since in Data pad 15 they speak of the Flood and the date is 2531, the same year that the Spirit of Fire encountered the Flood.

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> If they were created by ancient humanity, then they should’ve recognized the Sentinels they detected and discussed in data pad 6.

While I too think it would be interesting if the Assembly was created by Ancient Humanity as their own safeguard for the human race, if you follow the line of thinking above it seems unlikely. Especially if you expand that logic to the Assembly’s seeming lack of knowledge/awareness of the Flood until 2531 in Data Pad 15. Surely if the Assembly was created by Ancient Humanity for the purpose of ensuring the continuation and safety of the human race they would have allowed some sort of knowledge of the Flood, arguably the greatest threat to the galaxy and humanity continued existence. However the Assembly’s lack of knowledge is apparent in the aforementioned Data Pad, when they refer to the Flood as a ‘third participant’. They only become aware of the ‘new variable’ thanks to an intercepted communication from the Covenant battle net.

Although they seem cautious of the Flood (evidence of this can be seem by the calling of an emergency meeting) it does not seem as though this is because of some sort of prior or engrained knowledge about it.

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Let us hope the concept was not abandoned, and with a little luck perhaps. Were its so easy.