Each Mjolnir armor permutation is approached in same manner as writing an artifact entry or vignette in a pen-and-paper roleplaying game, with care taken to both make each one have some sort of cool ‘story hook’ as well as place it within a broader fictional context. However, the reality is that each REQ description is limited to about 240 characters once we account for localization and UI readability. Some armor sets require furrowed brows and multiple revisions to tell a story in this limited wordcount, while others practically write themselves. Instantly iconic designs such as the Achilles are examples of the latter!
Furthermore, some REQ items have extensive backstories created that are then summarized/distilled for the game description (the story of the River of Light is an example of this). This extra material is – initially at least - apocrypha (not canon), but can still be a useful source of inspiration or inform the description of a later item. For example, I have a whole library of skeletal descriptive strings and cool names that didn’t work for one item, map, or character but can be revisited and revamped at a later date. The Achilles is an example of an entry that has an unusually deep background and story created for it, some of which is explored here, and the rest of which remains in notes that are not yet part of the Halo corpus.
There is not enough room here to discuss the full context used to write Halo fiction strings, but critical background story threads that Halo 5: Guardians’ Mjolnir armor descriptions expand and explore include:
- The diffusion and maturation of Mjolnir technology and standards. With little oversight and the promise of massive profits, even small industrial design firms and military subcontractors have begun exploring new directions and markets, using the common GEN2 Mjolnir software and exoskeleton as a springboard for their own innovations. For example, RKD Group designed the MIRMILLON-class armor, but contracted actual production with Korolev Heavy Industries and licensed the suit’s BIOS from Applied Heuristics. Even established, vertically integrated military-industrial concerns such as Beweglichkeitsrüstungsysteme no longer control all aspects of their suits’ tactical packages and software. - Normalization of neural interfaces in the population. Expensive and requiring complicated surgery when first introduced, neural interfaces and their mediating computing systems can be fitted in a simple outpatient clinical procedure by 2557. High-bandwidth interfaces can be paired with advanced expert systems to augment – and even bypass – the human motor system, reducing the physiological stress of high-performance combat exoskeletons to levels that do not require extensive skeletal reinforcement. This innovation, initially a secondary line of research during Project: MJOLNIR’s early days, was crucial for SPARTAN-III and SPARTAN-IV-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ok so the above text can be found in the Universe section here on waypoint.
I have a very simple set of questions, it’s not loaded or meant to bash 343i, but I think it needs to be asked.
Why in the hell is there so much backstory for essentially every single REQ? Every armor piece, gun, you name it. Tons of history being created, tons of data about neural interfaces and civilian populations on planets that we will probably never play on? Why is this here? I mean sure, having backstory is important but from what I gather here, there’s like a short story written for every single item/place related to Halo.
And yet the story of the latest game is so vague and disconnected from the lore? How can the writing be so extensively researched, written and re-written, approved, etc, for the guns and then the main game’s story doesn’t get the same thought out process? Am I the only one who thinks the quality of the backstory should be replicated in the main games?
I guess, to me, I’m just confused about why they would sit down and really pin these weapons and armor’s stories down and then produce such a disappointing main storyline in H5. It reminds me of Destiny, where one gun had more character and backstory than nearly any of the actual main characters.