I'm a lead farmer, mother lover!
Don't "hump" or "bump" your own thread blatantly...this is known information that for better or worse has been ingrained in everyones heads from weeks of arguments/forum discussion about this. Bungie has said its a prequel, and as the other poster said, Halopedia details this (its not an encyclopedias worth of information...just the bare bones of what we know. Look at it and you'd understand before saying that.)