- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
I suppose I have to explain a few things right now. A lot of people seem to be wondering where exactly some of the developments in today's chapter have stemmed from.
Obviously the biggest change is that the Master Chief has been, well I suppose the easiest way to describe it is to say, "possessed". That doesn't really fit well with me, as you'll see in Chapter 23, that this supposed possession by the First Reclaimer, is not something you couldn't see coming. As for any hints, there's a specific line in the book, Halo: The Flood, that led me to this conclusion, and I'm sure once you guys read it, something will click in your minds.
The Forerunner situation still hasn't cleared up, and I'm going on record to say that it will be explained in Chapter 23. Some of you will have put two and two together before then like Konoka said, and once again there's no restrictions on posting your theories here.
For those wondering how this chapter could have possibly been triple the length, I direct you to that post I made some time ago making the statement that I had originally planned on doing 6 or 7 Forerunner history chapters. This of course was rejected, but I just couldn't let the idea go. There is such rich history in there that I can't help but be compelled to explore it. With that said, when the Master Chief began reliving Cyriacus' memories, lets just say that there was a lot more, a lot. I scrapped the idea after all the damned rewrites I've been forced to do, and that sucks.
Some people were wondering, just how much trouble I had with this chapter over the month and five day period it took to write it. My answer is thus:
I did seven rewrites for the first twelve pages in the first two weeks. Two of those were because I didn't like what I was reading, and the other five were a result of computer troubles/idiotic mistakes on my part. Another problem I encountered was I literally wrote this thing in five different parts. This was a problem, because as I was finishing it up, I realized that the scenes from each part didn't match up so I was forced to go through the whole thing and change a great deal. That is a very exhausting task.
That said, I was incredibly relieved when I finally threw this chapter together and saw that it was complete.
And yes, I'm taking a much needed sabbatical leave. I know its supposed to come every seven years, but after these last few weeks, I figure getting a head start isn't really that bad.
As for the PM's, I'm retiring that system for now. There's just too many pages for me to wade through, and too many people to contact in order to do it. I am literally not exaggerating when I say it can take up to five hours. There's that many people to send them too.
I'll revive the system come the final chapter and for the epilogue, just because it'll be a nice send off.
Now, Mr. Clark is taking some much needed time off. I'll be gone for awhile, so I'm trusting you guys to keep this thread clean.
Oh yes, and pmaster_2001, I'm actually a Montreal Canadiens fan. When I was younger and my father was still in the army, we'd get shipped around every year to a new city, and when I was four years old we were in Quebec City, and one night my father took me to see my first hockey game ever, a Canadiens game. They were playing the Jets I remember. That was a fun night.
Seeing guys like Patrick Roy, J.J Daigneault, Guy Carbonneau, Fredrik Olausson, Teppo Numminen, Bob Essensa, all playing really made an impression on me. If the Jets hadn't folded and became the Coyotes, I'd still be a fan of them as well, but these days I'm still a Canadiens fan. Whenever I get to see them in person it always reminds me of the first time I saw them play when I was four years old and sitting on my father's lap as they played (I was too small to see over people's head).
[Edited on 10/19/2005]