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This topic has moved here: Subject: Halo Cryptum Finalized Cover and Dust Jacket
  • Subject: Halo Cryptum Finalized Cover and Dust Jacket
Subject: Halo Cryptum Finalized Cover and Dust Jacket

From the cover summary it looks like that the focus will be on Forerunner society and culture, not so much on the action.

  • 11.05.2010 1:47 AM PDT

Exact science, is not an exact science.

Got a feeling this will be a good one, the vagueries of Forerunner society hopefully will be brought into line and make for a slightly less frustrating read (than all of those in game easter eggs).

But the danger is that once you lift the vail, that the mystery and mythos is lost. Star Wars is a great example of this Old Bens telling of the days of the old republic and heroic Jedi lost a lot of its creedance once the prequels arrived.

Your imagination can sometimes do a better job. But as said I hope that Mr Bear can maintain the mystery along with delivering decent well rounded charaters and some solid info on the Forerunners legacy.

  • 11.05.2010 3:18 AM PDT

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Posted by: SHOMENUCHI
Got a feeling this will be a good one, the vagueries of Forerunner society hopefully will be brought into line and make for a slightly less frustrating read (than all of those in game easter eggs).

But the danger is that once you lift the vail, that the mystery and mythos is lost. Star Wars is a great example of this Old Bens telling of the days of the old republic and heroic Jedi lost a lot of its creedance once the prequels arrived.

Your imagination can sometimes do a better job. But as said I hope that Mr Bear can maintain the mystery along with delivering decent well rounded charaters and some solid info on the Forerunners legacy.

I'm in the same boat as you. It sounds good but I sure hope that he can keep some of the mystery intact while providing a good story. It will be good to get some more information on the forerunners but I still like not knowing everything about them. Just adds a certain unknown element to the story arc that I feel is necessary in all good stories.

But then again....the Halo universe has plenty more mystery to it than just the forerunners.

  • 11.05.2010 6:58 AM PDT
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"Time was your ally human. But now it has abandoned you. The Forerunners....have returned. And this tomb... is now yours". - The Didact


Posted by: SPARTAN MURRAY 1
Posted by: Ramiel0005

Posted by: SPARTAN MURRAY 1
anybody have anything else to discuss about the novel?


Well, not a whole lot to discuss, but on another note, you seem to be very active on this thread.


Yeah, I just try to reply to everyone's post in order to create conversation and discussion! I also think that there is a lot to discuss, especially with the novel summary. Things are hinted at throughout the summary and there is a lot that is revealed.


True:

"They ruled in peace and met opposition with quick and brutal effectiveness"

MMM,what could this mean?The forerunners would go in war with enemy species?Lol,looks like aren't that peaceful as we thought before

Forerunners FTW

And holy -blam!-,i remember some people in this forum claiming that the Precursors might not exist ,and that they are just a myth but looks like Greg Bear confirmed their existence:

"His reckless passion to seek out marvelous artifacts left behind by the Precursors-long vanished SUPERBEINGS of unknowable power and intent-forces his fathers hand"

I nearly screamed when i read precursor

Hope we get more info on them and i think that Bornstellar and Didact are the same persons

  • 11.05.2010 10:38 AM PDT
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Posted by: echo 1 sniper
Posted by: SHOMENUCHI
Got a feeling this will be a good one, the vagueries of Forerunner society hopefully will be brought into line and make for a slightly less frustrating read (than all of those in game easter eggs).

But the danger is that once you lift the vail, that the mystery and mythos is lost. Star Wars is a great example of this Old Bens telling of the days of the old republic and heroic Jedi lost a lot of its creedance once the prequels arrived.

Your imagination can sometimes do a better job. But as said I hope that Mr Bear can maintain the mystery along with delivering decent well rounded charaters and some solid info on the Forerunners legacy.

I'm in the same boat as you. It sounds good but I sure hope that he can keep some of the mystery intact while providing a good story. It will be good to get some more information on the forerunners but I still like not knowing everything about them. Just adds a certain unknown element to the story arc that I feel is necessary in all good stories.

But then again....the Halo universe has plenty more mystery to it than just the forerunners.


While I think it would be cool to keep some of the mystery of the Forerunners, I believe that since we will find out a lot about their technology, culture and society, the new even more mysterious race we will all speculate about will become the Precursors.

  • 11.05.2010 11:49 AM PDT
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True:

"They ruled in peace and met opposition with quick and brutal effectiveness"

MMM,what could this mean?The forerunners would go in war with enemy species?Lol,looks like aren't that peaceful as we thought before

Forerunners FTW

And holy -blam!-,i remember some people in this forum claiming that the Precursors might not exist ,and that they are just a myth but looks like Greg Bear confirmed their existence:

"His reckless passion to seek out marvelous artifacts left behind by the Precursors-long vanished SUPERBEINGS of unknowable power and intent-forces his fathers hand"

I nearly screamed when i read precursor

Hope we get more info on them and i think that Bornstellar and Didact are the same persons



This is exactly what I am asking people to do. Discuss, speculate, ask questions, because a lot of questions have been raised through the book summary. I too got really excited when I read Precursor. There seems to be more similarities between the Forerunners and the Covenant than previously thought! Forerunners look for Precursor tech and it sounds like they, maybe not worship it, but find it a key to their civilization. Same with the Covenant, they scour the galaxy looking for Forerunner tech and relics left behind.

  • 11.05.2010 11:53 AM PDT
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Posted by: Spoudge
From the cover summary it looks like that the focus will be on Forerunner society and culture, not so much on the action.


Not necessarily....while it is important that the book gives us info on how their society is run and structured, can you imagine a Halo book without action?! I have no doubt that Greg Bear will write a great Forerunner novel that will keep us on the edges of our seats, with plenty of action, but also includes specific aspects of Forerunner society!

  • 11.05.2010 11:56 AM PDT
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Posted by: Ramiel0005

Posted by: SPARTAN MURRAY 1
Posted by: Ramiel0005

Posted by: SPARTAN MURRAY 1
anybody have anything else to discuss about the novel?


Well, not a whole lot to discuss, but on another note, you seem to be very active on this thread.


Yeah, I just try to reply to everyone's post in order to create conversation and discussion! I also think that there is a lot to discuss, especially with the novel summary. Things are hinted at throughout the summary and there is a lot that is revealed.


Yeah, I guess. There's a lot to speculate about, and who knows what they'll pull on us in this book.


Exactly, this thread allows for a place to speculate, discuss and go into depth about your predictions for the novel. The summary and the cover art make for interesting discussion!

  • 11.05.2010 11:58 AM PDT

"Find where the liar hides, so that I may place my boot between his gums!" - Rtas 'Vadum

Posted by: hotshot revan II
And holy -blam!-,i remember some people in this forum claiming that the Precursors might not exist ,and that they are just a myth but looks like Greg Bear confirmed their existence.

>.>

<.<

Yeah ok, I will admit I was wrong. I am not that big of a d1ck to say otherwise. However, there was indeed no solid evidence to suggest they existed, much less their abilities, given the context of the Bestiarum, but now there is. Sorted. Well, at least on the existence front. ;)

  • 11.05.2010 12:14 PM PDT

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Posted by: privet caboose
I want to read this so badly.


So true. Can't wait for January!

  • 11.05.2010 12:18 PM PDT
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Posted by: anton1792
Posted by: hotshot revan II
And holy -blam!-,i remember some people in this forum claiming that the Precursors might not exist ,and that they are just a myth but looks like Greg Bear confirmed their existence.

>.>

<.<

Yeah ok, I will admit I was wrong. I am not that big of a d1ck to say otherwise. However, there was indeed no solid evidence to suggest they existed, much less their abilities, given the context of the Bestiarum, but now there is. Sorted. Well, at least on the existence front. ;)


Thanks..good sir...but there was actually some evidence of the Precursors besides the Bestiarum. In The Halo Legends episode, the babysitter(i think), you can catch a glimpse of a "forerunner" structure. The odd thing was that it didn't look like forerunner architecture, and when Frank O'Connor was asked about it, he said, "who said it was Forerunner?"! This leads me to believe that it was Precursor because we know what human, covenant, and forerunner architecture looks like, and it was none of them.

  • 11.05.2010 12:22 PM PDT
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Posted by: MATCLAN
Posted by: privet caboose
I want to read this so badly.


So true. Can't wait for January!


Yeah, its cool that this will be the first hard back Halo novel! Just think about the novels we have to look forward to...The Forerunner trilogy and then the Karen Traviss Trilogy! Gonna be awesome!

  • 11.05.2010 3:23 PM PDT

I have a feeling that the Forerunners take steps against anything they deem a threat to their empire; even potential threats. Perhaps if a world seemed close to achieving space-flight then it would be razed 'in the Forerunners' interests.'

It would explain the lack of species in the Galaxy other than the Covenant and humanity. I find it hard to believe that they were the only ones saved by the Forerunners if the above wasn't true.

What probably happened is that the Flood arrived and made the Forerunners realise that all life is precious and not just theirs. It'd tie into the religious analogies quaintly. The sinful Forerunners are swept away by a great Flood and a select few are chosen to lead the other species of the galaxy onto the Ark to weather the Flood.

Maybe I'm just making wild conjecture, but remember this: the Flood-Forerunner war lasted 900 years.

900 years.

That's a long enough time for the sinful and supremacist Forerunners I postulate to undergo an epiphany and become the benevolent beings who built Halo and tried to save as many as possible.

It would certainly make for an interesting plot.

  • 11.05.2010 4:49 PM PDT
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300 years actually.

  • 11.05.2010 5:23 PM PDT

No, 900 years. Granted a few dozen of those years might have been Offensive Bias vs Mendicant Bias but the rest was a war between the Forerunners and Flood.

  • 11.05.2010 5:36 PM PDT

"Find where the liar hides, so that I may place my boot between his gums!" - Rtas 'Vadum

Posted by: Wolverfrog
Perhaps the Covenant and Humanity were not the only ones that were saved. The Covenant Empire is described as covering a 'significant portion of the Orion Arm', which is nothing notable really.

There definitely existed advanced civilisations before the Forerunner (other than Precursors), the encyclopaedia hints at that. So there must of been concurrent advanced civilisations as well. Unless the Forerunner beat them down too. These space faring races at that time would have been quite advanced by 2552, but if they were never allowed to even reach space faring status, then it would explain the absence of these races. I used to think it was just demilitarization that the Forerunners conducted on races, but I never thought they would stem them right down and trap them on their Homeworlds. Sounds quite despotic. And it sounds like they maybe deserved a spanking off of the Flood.

Something else. The Gravemind (and eventually Mendicant) mention in the Halo 3 Terminals that the Forerunner are guilty of hampering the evolution of life in this Galaxy and of preventing the next stages in natures progression (or something to that end). It sounds quite plausible now.

  • 11.05.2010 7:38 PM PDT

I think it's kind of dumb that there's an extinct superinteligent race to an extinct superinteligent race.

  • 11.05.2010 9:17 PM PDT
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Posted by: Wolverfrog
I have a feeling that the Forerunners take steps against anything they deem a threat to their empire; even potential threats. Perhaps if a world seemed close to achieving space-flight then it would be razed 'in the Forerunners' interests.'

It would explain the lack of species in the Galaxy other than the Covenant and humanity. I find it hard to believe that they were the only ones saved by the Forerunners if the above wasn't true.

What probably happened is that the Flood arrived and made the Forerunners realise that all life is precious and not just theirs. It'd tie into the religious analogies quaintly. The sinful Forerunners are swept away by a great Flood and a select few are chosen to lead the other species of the galaxy onto the Ark to weather the Flood.

Maybe I'm just making wild conjecture, but remember this: the Flood-Forerunner war lasted 900 years.

900 years.

That's a long enough time for the sinful and supremacist Forerunners I postulate to undergo an epiphany and become the benevolent beings who built Halo and tried to save as many as possible.

It would certainly make for an interesting plot.


Very interesting....your theory is valid and would most definitely make for an interesting plot. Thanks for taking the time to post your theories and predictions about what may happen in the novel, because I am a huge fan of your threads!

  • 11.05.2010 10:35 PM PDT
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Posted by: Sithslayer50
I think it's kind of dumb that there's an extinct superinteligent race to an extinct superinteligent race.


How is it dumb?!!??!! All it does is add an extra layer of awesome to the Halo universe!!

  • 11.05.2010 10:36 PM PDT
Subject: Halo Cryptum Finalized Cover and Dust Jacket + Novel Summary

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That cover art is inspiring.

Can't wait for the book!

  • 11.05.2010 11:48 PM PDT
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"Time was your ally human. But now it has abandoned you. The Forerunners....have returned. And this tomb... is now yours". - The Didact

Didn't 343 guilty spark hinted in the conversations of the universe that other species landed on the ring before the covies and humans came?

A primitive, hegemonizing swarm calling itself The Covenant has landed on Installation 04. Apparently seeking something specific. Exploring! Meddling! I've seen it all before. They'll record what they see and they'll leave

  • 11.06.2010 4:31 AM PDT
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Posted by: teh ajhallmon
That cover art is inspiring.

Can't wait for the book!


It sure is! What are you looking forward to most about the novel?

  • 11.06.2010 12:23 PM PDT
Subject: Halo Cryptum Finalized Cover and Dust Jacket


Posted by: echo 1 sniper
Posted by: SHOMENUCHI
Got a feeling this will be a good one, the vagueries of Forerunner society hopefully will be brought into line and make for a slightly less frustrating read (than all of those in game easter eggs).

But the danger is that once you lift the vail, that the mystery and mythos is lost. Star Wars is a great example of this Old Bens telling of the days of the old republic and heroic Jedi lost a lot of its creedance once the prequels arrived.

Your imagination can sometimes do a better job. But as said I hope that Mr Bear can maintain the mystery along with delivering decent well rounded charaters and some solid info on the Forerunners legacy.

I'm in the same boat as you. It sounds good but I sure hope that he can keep some of the mystery intact while providing a good story. It will be good to get some more information on the forerunners but I still like not knowing everything about them. Just adds a certain unknown element to the story arc that I feel is necessary in all good stories.

But then again....the Halo universe has plenty more mystery to it than just the forerunners.


Precurors=new Forerunners.

  • 11.06.2010 4:33 PM PDT
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The book sounds really interesting.

  • 11.06.2010 6:34 PM PDT

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It looks very professional don'tcha think?

  • 11.06.2010 6:51 PM PDT