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  • Subject: Guide to Reach Canon
Subject: Guide to Reach Canon
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  • Exalted Legendary Member

Some can come away from reading "War and Peace" thinking it a simple adventure story, while others can read the ingredients on a gum wrapper and unlock the secrets of the universe.

INTRODUCTION

Shortly after playing through Halo: Reach it became apparent there were many things that didn't quite add up at first. Some still don't. Many members here on BNET were disappointed or even outraged at this "destruction of canon", and made it their business to find everything and anything wrong with Halo: Reach. Now I will go on the record of being somewhat puzzled on why Bungie went the way they did with Reach, but I twill not recklessly attempt to find flaw in Reachs every aspect. This is a negative and destructive attitude, that resolves nothing. I will however criticize it if will be, and attempt to find logical compromises where I can.

With that, I and several others (noted in the appropriate sections) became interested in the idea of providing a fan made guide to the confusing and contradicting cloud around Reach canon. We discussed some key topics, and came to several conclusions. Note that this is an ongoing project, one designed to be done by the community, for the community.

343 Holds all rights to Halo, and they can make whatever they want "canon". But I believe in light of the Halo Encyclopedia, and Reach that the community can sometimes do better than the powers that be. In the key issues we have already tackled, we demonstrated what we would like to do concerning FoR and Reach. It's a simple guideline that should be used at all times to create the best possible "corrections" of canon.

1. Always first attempt to find a compromise between the books and the game.
2. When no compromise can be made, Games > Books and New > Old


Now what do we mean by "corrections"? There are several canon based issues in Reach, mostly (But not only) inconstancies with the book Fall of Reach. What we did as a few examples, was take a few of such issues and find compromises that could be made to work with the new canon, while altering old canon as little as possible. Of course complete and total corrections in some cases are unavoidable, such as certain dates in FoR. In such cases, we will correct the date to an appropriate one, and post it in the OP under the appropriate section.

The finished product will be a compilation of all the canon inconstancies in Reach, their compromises and explanations, as well as out right text or date corrections in the Books (complete with page number, altered date/quote etc.). We will have a full list of all our fan made edits in FoR, as well as other books if necessary.

When participating members can come to a logical solution to a canon inconsistency it will be added to the OP. I ask only that all discussion remain On-Topic and productive, no endless ranting on how good or bad Halo or Reach is. The purpose of this is to produce something that 343 or Bungie cannot, not to rant about all the things they can't do right.

I will also ask the first responders to this thread to let me use their post to continue the OP if necessary. Feel free to post or PM me whatever Canon problems I left out. To have your explanation featured in the OP, you must write it out in complete detail, subject it to peer review in the thread, and if supported it will be added to the OP. All contributors to the OP will be appropriately credited. Again, the ones below are examples, and they themselves can be altered and changed.

My last request is to simply keep this thread alive and functioning.

Work as one body and one mind, like the Flood. Or Anonymous (<<Semi serious joke).



REACH CANON GUIDE, EDITS, AND CORRECTIONS:
Halsey Communicating with Noble team.
*Reach, FoR, and GoO spoilers*

Status: solved. (Unless met with better explanation)

Main contributors: Agustus

Explanation: Halsey learns of the existence of other Super Soldiers during the events of Halo Reach, which are almost exactly identical to her Spartan IIs. Later on she discovers the "SIII" file in Ackersons database, and goes on to completely know the origins and extent of the Spartan III program in Ghost of Onyx.

Still required: Exact quotes and references from FS, and GoO to prove that Halsey knows of other Spartan like super soldiers in Reach, but simply learns the name and specifics of the Spartan III program after wards, in the books


Pillar of Autumn dry docked.

Status: Solved/Ongoing

Main Contributors: Switch 104 sv, Agustus

Explanation (ongoing):

By Switch 104 sv:

After Action Report of UNSC Pillar of Autumn
Battle of Reach
August 30 2552

0558-0616

Pillar of Autumn launches Spartan teams Blue and Red on their respective missions.

Engages and destroys three Covenant ships at Reach Station Gamma as well as the Covenant "sniper" capital ship.

0637

Blue Team return to PoA

0647

PoA prepares to leave Reach. Arrival of another UNSC battlegroup at Reach. Orders to regroup and buy time for evacuations.

1547

Priority transmission received. Orders: Primary Objective: Land at Aszod shipyards. Pick up tier 1 asset. (Cortana's updated other half)

Secondary Orders: Evacuate UNSC personnel.

(Note: The PoA would have to land in atmosphere itself due to the Heavy Covenant forces swarming the surface. Any Pelicans or alternate form of transport would be to risky for a tier 1 asset)

1652

Captain Keyes picks up package. PoA flees reach.


OK, now to clarify the details in this explanation. Our fan-made retcons begin at 0647. Everything up until this point is per The Fall of Reach. However, instead of leaving Reach and jumping off to Halo at this time, another UNSC battlegroup arrives in-system. In the opening cutscene of Long Night of Solace Dot explains that 60% of the UNSC fleet were en route and the first battlegroup would arrive in 48 hours. This is obviously the case as the ships are arriving from different systems, some being further away than others. This explains why this last battlegroup were so late arriving i.e further away at the time of recall. FleetCom order all remaining ships to regroup and reinforce orbital defences, buying time for the still ongoing evacuation process.

Cpt. Keyes later receives orders from Fleetcom High Command/ONI Section 3 to pick up a vital tier 1 asset. This works much the same way Noble Team were snatched up for the delivery: "You belong to ONI now". Orders are orders.

The Pillar of Autumn lands at Aszod shipyards, where a huge evacuation process is taking place as the Covenant have destroyed all other evac points on the continent. (Dot states this) After collecting Cortana(2), the PoA flees Reach making a "random" jump to Halo.

Still required: Specific page numbers, quotes, and dates if possible.

Length of the Battle of Reach.

Status: unsolved

Main contributors: Agustus

Still required: Over all explanation.

Possible explanation (requires dates and time from For and Reach). Early strike/reconnaissance team slipped in orbital defense grid, and was a precursor to the assault force spoken of in The FoR? Said assault force is that which appears halfway through Reach, directly after Super Carrier is destroyed. The amount of time the Battle of Reach lasted as stated in the book, begins from the arrival of that fleet. All Covenant encounters regarding the Super Carrier are not included.

News of these encounters were highly regulated by ONI, who did not wish to spread panic throughout the planet. By the time the Super Carrier unveiled itself, and rose into low orbit the incoming Covenant Fleet was detected as per FoR. Of course extensive quotes and time checks are required to make this fly.

How the Covenant found Reach

Status: solved/ongoing

Major Contributors: Kippa, Switch 104 sv

Explanation: At the Battle of SOIV The Covenant located the starmap that lead to both Halo and Reach. They were able to gain and transmit information on the Reach location, prior to the interception of the signal beam and destruction of the Covenant Stealth Ship. A Zealot lead Super Carrier was dispatched to Reachs coordinates to investigate artifacts, and deal with potential Human forces. Upon discovering it was a Human stronghold much better protected than anything the Covenant had yet encountered, the ship went dark in order to capture artifacts (priority), and lay the groundwork for an Assault force.

Simultaneously the probe which had attached itself to the Iroquois sent a communication to the Covenant, confirming the findings.

Still required: Page numbers and exact dates.

  • 11.16.2010 4:29 PM PDT
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Some can come away from reading "War and Peace" thinking it a simple adventure story, while others can read the ingredients on a gum wrapper and unlock the secrets of the universe.

Cole Protocol ignored

According to the Cole Protocol, if any Covenant Forces are detected, then all NAV bases and ships should purge their computers of information to protect Earth and the inner colonies.

Proof:If Covenant are detected on Reach on July 23rd, how is it that a month later, there are still computers with information to Earth still active? If ONI hadn't taken more than a month, than Blue team wouldn't have been deployed to the Circumference, and James wouldn't have died, and Linda wouldn't have been in a coma. Infact, they would have been on Reach with Red team.


Major Contributors: Switch 104 sv, Agustus

Explanation: When the Super Carrier first appeared, Covenant forces were so localized widespread Cole Protocol was not enacted on high priority ships (ex. Evacuation shuttles), that included the ONI ship "Circumference". Of the high priority ships, the only ones which would have to enact Cole protocol are those directly engaged by Covenant forces.

When the main fleet arrives widespread Cole Protocol is enacted. Because the Circumference was a top secret vessel, it was not listed in any public manifest or ship logs. Some of the only copies would have been located in CASTLE base (and other ONI facilities) which were almost immediately hit hard by the first wave of ground forces. In the ensuing panic and destruction of computer files, the logs registering the Circumference were missed as per Fall of Reach, and full system wipe was not initiated. This error was not discovered until it was much too late.

[Edited on 11.16.2010 5:08 PM PST]

  • 11.16.2010 4:30 PM PDT
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  • Exalted Legendary Member

Some can come away from reading "War and Peace" thinking it a simple adventure story, while others can read the ingredients on a gum wrapper and unlock the secrets of the universe.

-Reserved for OP-

  • 11.16.2010 4:34 PM PDT
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Some can come away from reading "War and Peace" thinking it a simple adventure story, while others can read the ingredients on a gum wrapper and unlock the secrets of the universe.

-Reserved for OP-

  • 11.16.2010 4:39 PM PDT

Very nice but what about Red teams mission its obvious they were deployed prior to blue waaaay before. In the mission New Alexandria Kat and Jun ask about Echo, Gaunlet, and Red team which would then throw all of First Strike into question +on the Spire Radio conversation you can hear Red teams engagement with the covenant to defend an ODG involving 30+ Wraiths plus ground troops... all this would in turn skew GoO care to shed some light amigo?

  • 11.16.2010 4:40 PM PDT

Signatures are for squares.

Care to solve a few of these?

  • 11.16.2010 4:43 PM PDT
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Some can come away from reading "War and Peace" thinking it a simple adventure story, while others can read the ingredients on a gum wrapper and unlock the secrets of the universe.


Posted by: ThE ReD3mPti0n
Very nice but what about Red teams mission its obvious they were deployed prior to blue waaaay before. In the mission New Alexandria Kat and Jun ask about Echo, Gaunlet, and Red team which would then throw all of First Strike into question +on the Spire Radio conversation you can hear Red teams engagement with the covenant to defend an ODG involving 30+ Wraiths plus ground troops... all this would in turn skew GoO care to shed some light amigo?


That is something to look into. Of curse, it may be an entirely different Red Team entirely, made of Spartan IIIs. But by New Alexandria the main Covenant fleet has arrived so Red team being deployed by then would add up with what's in Fall of Reach. You'll have to find direct dates to verify.

@Caboose: The first with when the battle started is simple enough. The 24th is leading up from the Super Carrier conflicts, while the 30th is when the main fleet arrives, which is marked in the book as when the battle begins For a small retcon, we can say the 30th is simply when the "true" battle for Reach begins.. Verify that dates for that though.

As for the rest of the thread we shall take it bits at a time.

EDIT: The second seems at least already partially addressed in the OP.

[Edited on 11.16.2010 4:57 PM PST]

  • 11.16.2010 4:56 PM PDT

I'd be happy to help provide any sort of help to aid in this grand quest, Agustus, just give me a nudge on where you need more info and I'll do my best.

All in all this thread is great, and I award you +10 internets for having such a noble goal and creating such a thread, I hope to see some great stuff here.

  • 11.16.2010 8:45 PM PDT
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My best thread evar!

Where does Legends fit in?

  • 11.16.2010 8:54 PM PDT


Posted by: C SEC Agent
Where does Legends fit in?
I'm positive Privet Caboose made a huge thread about how everything fit in. If you look past the artistic freedom there actually isn't really anything to get upset over except the four added spartans.

  • 11.16.2010 9:03 PM PDT
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you're naut cookin'

Posted by: ThE ReD3mPti0n
Very nice but what about Red teams mission its obvious they were deployed prior to blue waaaay before. In the mission New Alexandria Kat and Jun ask about Echo, Gaunlet, and Red team which would then throw all of First Strike into question +on the Spire Radio conversation you can hear Red teams engagement with the covenant to defend an ODG involving 30+ Wraiths plus ground troops... all this would in turn skew GoO care to shed some light amigo?


I had always thought that the "Red Team" Noble Team referred to were SIIIs.
Although the SII program was made public to boost morale years before the attack on Reach, it doesn't neccessarily mean that Noble Team would know the inner workings of SIIs, such as their designated squad names (Red, Blue, Green etc). Who is in those teams is constantly subject to change, and on a mission to mission basis, the names of those squads are almost arbitrary.

You could claim that Kat was able to 'hack the mainframe' and get access to that information, but it changes so often that she would have to sit there and hit F5.

Also, and this is just interpretation, but they way Red Team is referred to seems inclusive. I don't think it would have been grouped together with Gauntlet and Echo unless they were of the same class.
It's like saying "Yeah Jimmy the cool kid and I hang out all the time" when you really haven't ever met Jimmy.

EDIT: Save this thread! It helps to keep it up the top.

[Edited on 11.17.2010 3:17 AM PST]

  • 11.17.2010 3:14 AM PDT

Halsey Communicating with Noble team.
*Reach, FoR, and GoO spoilers*

Status: solved. (Unless met with better explanation)

Main contributors: Agustus

Explanation: Halsey learns of the existence of other Super Soldiers during the events of Halo Reach, which are almost exactly identical to her Spartan IIs. Later on she discovers the "SIII" file in Ackersons database, and goes on to completely know the origins and extent of the Spartan III program in Ghost of Onyx.

Still required: Exact quotes and references from FS, and GoO to prove that Halsey knows of other Spartan like super soldiers in Reach, but simply learns the name and specifics of the Spartan III program after wards, in the books


Actually, she knows they aren't her Spartans, it says so in the Journal, this is the quote:

And I finally confirmed my suspicions about NOBLE itself, as incomprehensible as this news is. They are Spartans - and with one exception, they're clearly not mine.

So she knows they aren't hers by the time she first meets them. Then she finds out about the rest of the Spartans in First Strike and GoO.

  • 11.17.2010 4:33 AM PDT
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  • Exalted Legendary Member

Some can come away from reading "War and Peace" thinking it a simple adventure story, while others can read the ingredients on a gum wrapper and unlock the secrets of the universe.


Posted by: Ultramarine 360
Halsey Communicating with Noble team.
*Reach, FoR, and GoO spoilers*

Status: solved. (Unless met with better explanation)

Main contributors: Agustus

Explanation: Halsey learns of the existence of other Super Soldiers during the events of Halo Reach, which are almost exactly identical to her Spartan IIs. Later on she discovers the "SIII" file in Ackersons database, and goes on to completely know the origins and extent of the Spartan III program in Ghost of Onyx.

Still required: Exact quotes and references from FS, and GoO to prove that Halsey knows of other Spartan like super soldiers in Reach, but simply learns the name and specifics of the Spartan III program after wards, in the books


Actually, she knows they aren't her Spartans, it says so in the Journal, this is the quote:

And I finally confirmed my suspicions about NOBLE itself, as incomprehensible as this news is. They are Spartans - and with one exception, they're clearly not mine.

So she knows they aren't hers by the time she first meets them. Then she finds out about the rest of the Spartans in First Strike and GoO.


Excellent, I'll be adding that to the OP with full credit to you for finding that quote.

Right now I'm focused on perfecting the topics already in the OP, then I'll move on to adding new ones. Any and all help appreciated.

  • 11.17.2010 12:31 PM PDT