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This topic has moved here: Subject: If you've finished Cryptum like me, come here. (MAJOR SPOIL)
  • Subject: If you've finished Cryptum like me, come here. (MAJOR SPOIL)
Subject: If you've finished Cryptum like me, come here. (MAJOR SPOIL)

Mind was blown because of this book...

Now I need to create a new one...damn you Greg Bear...

  • 01.09.2011 12:12 AM PDT

I want more action in the second book. There was literally none in this one, but I still enjoyed it immensely.

[Edited on 01.09.2011 12:14 AM PST]

  • 01.09.2011 12:13 AM PDT

Signatures are for squares.

Posted by: ron burghandy00
I want more action in the second book. There was literally none in this one, but I still enjoyed it immensely.


I'm alright with a bit of a lack of action, but there was literally none in this book. But it was setting up for the big fights to come, I'm sure.

  • 01.09.2011 12:22 AM PDT
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Posted by: Thomsn0w
Posted by: ddd777
I've only just finished Contact Harvest, and now feel like I'll read the rest of the Halo books, does anyone know if it would matter if I skipped straight to Cryptum? Or should I continue reading them in cronological order?

Thanks.

Cryptum is set quite a few years before we were born. Never mind the Chief etc :P


Ah, well then I guess I'll get to amazon and start looking. Cheers.

  • 01.09.2011 2:12 PM PDT

sup if you don't like what I post you can go suck one this is the internet not Grammer class so GTFO Grammer N@ZI's

WHERE DO BUY THISSSSSSSSSSSSSS *dies*

  • 01.09.2011 2:17 PM PDT
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Posted by: privet caboose
Posted by: ron burghandy00
I want more action in the second book. There was literally none in this one, but I still enjoyed it immensely.


I'm alright with a bit of a lack of action, but there was literally none in this book. But it was setting up for the big fights to come, I'm sure.


Technically, there *was* action, remember how the forerunners destroyed the halos? Sent out their fleet to destroy em

  • 01.09.2011 3:19 PM PDT

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Okay, so I just finished the book, and let me get all of this straight in one SPOILER-laden post: I'll leave the things I'm fuzzy on in italics; maybe someone can clarify them for me.

- Ancient Humanity had a space-faring empire that rivaled the Forerunners.

- Humans and Prophets, who were also around at the time, had an alliance.

- Humans were the first to encounter The Flood, then the Prophets.

- Because they were being pushed back into Forerunner-occupied space, the Forerunner and Human-Prophet alliance went to war.

- Humans and Prophets created their own virus to combat The Flood, and succeeded.

- Because of fighting on two fronts, the Humans and Prophets are defeated by the Forerunner, commanded by The Didact. The Prophets strike a deal and are quarantined to two worlds, while the Humans are stubborn and are devolved into several subspecies, then exiled on Earth.

- Having heard of The Flood, but not experiencing it firsthand, several Forerunners, including the Master Builder and Bornstellar's father, propose the Halo Array, which is met with controversy from The Didact and the Warrior-Servant Class.

- The Didact loses a political battle and is exiled, later to have his cryptum relocated to Earth by his wife, The Librarian. From there, the Warrior-Servants, who were once prominent in Forerunner society, lose their status.

- The Forerunners make first-contact with The Flood well before the beginning of the book, but it is not well-known throughout Forerunner society. This is why the Librarian sent the events of the book into motion.

- Bornstellar is sent away to what is essentially a foster family on Mars, for being a pain in the ass to his family.

- The two Humans Bornstellar hooks up with on Earth were imprinted with a geas at birth by The Librarian, which essentially buried the memories of their ancestors within their subconscious. In the final chapter of the book, it is revealed that this was done in order to reveal exactly how the Humans defeated The Flood.

- The Prophets revolted after misunderstanding the Librarian's message, which was really about The Flood.

- The Prophets, as a race, were entirely destroyed after The Master Builder activated a Halo within their quarantine. Only those The Librarian indexed survived.

- Mendicant Bias, 43 years before the events of the book, defected to The Flood and hijacked a single Halo installation, which he was tasked with testing at that one planets with Precursor ruins whose name I don't feel like looking up in order to spell correctly.

- During the Master Builder's trial, Mendicant Bias, now rampant, shows up for the first time in 43 years, deactivates whatever it was that oversaw/regulated all AI constructs on the capital planet, takes control of what Halo's he can, and destroys the Forerunner capital.

- The Halos were at the capital for decommission.

- Only one Halo makes it to The Ark intact.

- The Didact was executed by the Master Builder at the Prophet home planet.

- Because he contains The Didact's memories, Bornstellar is now, more or less, The [new] Didact.

- The Captive, which stole away with Mendicant Bias for 43 years, may or may not be the last Precursor and may or may not be the original Gravemind.



[Edited on 01.09.2011 6:24 PM PST]

  • 01.09.2011 6:23 PM PDT

"Only the Fallen are Heroes, while the ones who still stand are villains"

If you think about it now Halo has a new biblical reference added thanks to Cryptum exposing more things to us. Seeing as many think The Precursors created the Forerunners (and possibly Humans as well since Humans are pretty similar in appearance to the Forerunners) When the Forerunners destroyed the precursors (their creators) or were in the process of destroying.

The precursors created "The Flood" (God uses a flood in Noah's Arc to wipe out all of humanity) to wipe out all their creations in the Milky Way but planned it in a way that the Forerunners would cause their own demise by hiding the flood as the powder that humans accidentally found on the derelict ships.

So in similarity-
God created humanity in his image.
Precursors create Forerunners in their image.
Humanity defies god's commandments so he uses a great flood to wipe out all life on Earth.
Forerunners in the process of killing all Precursors. Precursors create the flood to wipe out all life in existence to punish their creation the Forerunners.

Perhaps (haven't read all of Cryptum so bear(get that pun?) with me here) a precursor (or perhaps the captive) tells the forerunners to create "The Ark" in order to start a new. Now this last part is just my speculation.

  • 01.09.2011 10:04 PM PDT
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Posted by: Primo84
All of that is correct. Crap-load of information, eh?

  • 01.09.2011 11:20 PM PDT
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I don't actually think (old) Didact is completely kaput. Off-screen "deaths" usually always result in that character making a reappearance in some form or fashion.

  • 01.10.2011 4:02 AM PDT
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Deva Path


Posted by: DecepticonCobra

We are all going to get banned aren't we?

It annoys me greatly that even in clear writing people don't think the precursor legit, he is.


I belive the precursor created the forerunners as a building race (hence why they are so gifted at it and place that at the top) the forerunners rebelled for whatever and used the precursors tech against them; killing all but one they imprisoned. Before being wiped out they created the flood to destroy the forerunners but for whatever reason the flood didn't appear until eons later. I think the precursors also created the humans seeing how they and the forerunners have alot of genes in common. maybe the humans were a warrior race or some other means to the precursors.


just garrbled thoughts in my head.

  • 01.11.2011 6:35 PM PDT

I wonder if Bornsteller and his father are the two Forerunners who wrote that final Terminal entry?

  • 01.11.2011 7:45 PM PDT
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Question

Did I miss something near the end of the book. Because on page 307 it states that

....along with another, outlying ring, slowly moving to join with the pentagon. It seemed that after forty-three years, the prodigal Halo had returned.

but then on the last page of the book it states

More sophisticated, more devious. More vital. And soon to acquire a new Master, if we did not act quickly - if we did not locate the lost installation and the former captive.

So we are to assume that only 10 of the installations were lost at the Forerunner capital and that MB still had the one Halo while the last one made it back to the Ark? Or is there something in the pages between those two quotes that I missed where something else was stated?

Or is Bornstellar talking about another installation of some sort?

  • 01.16.2011 2:06 AM PDT


Posted by: Primo84
Okay, so I just finished the book, and let me get all of this straight in one SPOILER-laden post: I'll leave the things I'm fuzzy on in italics; maybe someone can clarify them for me.

- Ancient Humanity had a space-faring empire that rivaled the Forerunners.

- Humans and Prophets, who were also around at the time, had an alliance.

- Humans were the first to encounter The Flood, then the Prophets.

- Because they were being pushed back into Forerunner-occupied space, the Forerunner and Human-Prophet alliance went to war.

- Humans and Prophets created their own virus to combat The Flood, and succeeded.

- Because of fighting on two fronts, the Humans and Prophets are defeated by the Forerunner, commanded by The Didact. The Prophets strike a deal and are quarantined to two worlds, while the Humans are stubborn and are devolved into several subspecies, then exiled on Earth.

- Having heard of The Flood, but not experiencing it firsthand, several Forerunners, including the Master Builder and Bornstellar's father, propose the Halo Array, which is met with controversy from The Didact and the Warrior-Servant Class.

- The Didact loses a political battle and is exiled, later to have his cryptum relocated to Earth by his wife, The Librarian. From there, the Warrior-Servants, who were once prominent in Forerunner society, lose their status.

- The Forerunners make first-contact with The Flood well before the beginning of the book, but it is not well-known throughout Forerunner society. This is why the Librarian sent the events of the book into motion.

- Bornstellar is sent away to what is essentially a foster family on Mars, for being a pain in the ass to his family.

- The two Humans Bornstellar hooks up with on Earth were imprinted with a geas at birth by The Librarian, which essentially buried the memories of their ancestors within their subconscious. In the final chapter of the book, it is revealed that this was done in order to reveal exactly how the Humans defeated The Flood.

- The Prophets revolted after misunderstanding the Librarian's message, which was really about The Flood.

- The Prophets, as a race, were entirely destroyed after The Master Builder activated a Halo within their quarantine. Only those The Librarian indexed survived.

- Mendicant Bias, 43 years before the events of the book, defected to The Flood and hijacked a single Halo installation, which he was tasked with testing at that one planets with Precursor ruins whose name I don't feel like looking up in order to spell correctly.

- During the Master Builder's trial, Mendicant Bias, now rampant, shows up for the first time in 43 years, deactivates whatever it was that oversaw/regulated all AI constructs on the capital planet, takes control of what Halo's he can, and destroys the Forerunner capital.

- The Halos were at the capital for decommission.

- Only one Halo makes it to The Ark intact.

- The Didact was executed by the Master Builder at the Prophet home planet.

- Because he contains The Didact's memories, Bornstellar is now, more or less, The [new] Didact.

- The Captive, which stole away with Mendicant Bias for 43 years, may or may not be the last Precursor and may or may not be the original Gravemind.


This set things streight for me...
my mind was asploded until i read this.
but one thing i still don't get, if there was 12 halos ( or however many mentioned in the book), why are there only 7 displayed in the ark citadel, and no " turned off" holograms for more?

  • 01.16.2011 9:19 AM PDT
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I can understand the want for action. Reading a scene from FoR would have me heart racing. In Cryptum, I'd just have a "eureka!" kind of moment which passes quite quickly.

  • 01.16.2011 10:24 AM PDT


Posted by: Wolverfrog
Posted by: FloodForum Ruler
In fact, Mendicant Bias took a Halo into slip space, but never returned. The Didact was also exiled for a thousands years at one point. If I am remembering correctly, there have been 12 Halos or so.

Quote: "The flood first arrived from one of the Magellanic clouds of stars that drift just outside of our galaxy. Its precise origin unknown. Its first effects upon human systems in the far reaches if our arm of the galaxy were subtle, even benign- so it seemed."

Also, this part is hard to explain, but some Flood came from powder found on ancient star ships. The powder was used on some pets, and improved their domestic behavior. Then they were mutated by it. The plague happened first to humans, then San'Shyuum.


Wait, the San'Shyuum? The Prophets? They were interstellar 100,000 years ago too?

The humans and the San'Shyuum were allies when they were at war with the forerunners

  • 01.16.2011 12:33 PM PDT


Posted by: philipnash19

Posted by: Wolverfrog
Posted by: FloodForum Ruler
In fact, Mendicant Bias took a Halo into slip space, but never returned. The Didact was also exiled for a thousands years at one point. If I am remembering correctly, there have been 12 Halos or so.

Quote: "The flood first arrived from one of the Magellanic clouds of stars that drift just outside of our galaxy. Its precise origin unknown. Its first effects upon human systems in the far reaches if our arm of the galaxy were subtle, even benign- so it seemed."

Also, this part is hard to explain, but some Flood came from powder found on ancient star ships. The powder was used on some pets, and improved their domestic behavior. Then they were mutated by it. The plague happened first to humans, then San'Shyuum.


Wait, the San'Shyuum? The Prophets? They were interstellar 100,000 years ago too?

The humans and the San'Shyuum were allies when they were at war with the forerunners

kinda ironic really: the prophets were allied with the humans to attack their gods, and then decide on genocide for humans, the only race that properly stopped the flood, which they promptly released, in defense of the gods they were at war with. hypocrites.

[Edited on 01.16.2011 12:37 PM PST]

  • 01.16.2011 12:36 PM PDT
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Posted by: decman1117

Posted by: philipnash19

Posted by: Wolverfrog
Posted by: FloodForum Ruler
In fact, Mendicant Bias took a Halo into slip space, but never returned. The Didact was also exiled for a thousands years at one point. If I am remembering correctly, there have been 12 Halos or so.

Quote: "The flood first arrived from one of the Magellanic clouds of stars that drift just outside of our galaxy. Its precise origin unknown. Its first effects upon human systems in the far reaches if our arm of the galaxy were subtle, even benign- so it seemed."

Also, this part is hard to explain, but some Flood came from powder found on ancient star ships. The powder was used on some pets, and improved their domestic behavior. Then they were mutated by it. The plague happened first to humans, then San'Shyuum.


Wait, the San'Shyuum? The Prophets? They were interstellar 100,000 years ago too?

The humans and the San'Shyuum were allies when they were at war with the forerunners

kinda ironic really: the prophets were allied with the humans to attack their gods, and then decide on genocide for humans, the only race that properly stopped the flood, which they promptly released, in defense of the gods they were at war with. hypocrites.


lol, I see what you did there.

  • 01.18.2011 4:06 PM PDT

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Posted by: Wolverfrog
Posted by: FloodForum Ruler
In fact, Mendicant Bias took a Halo into slip space, but never returned. The Didact was also exiled for a thousands years at one point. If I am remembering correctly, there have been 12 Halos or so.

Quote: "The flood first arrived from one of the Magellanic clouds of stars that drift just outside of our galaxy. Its precise origin unknown. Its first effects upon human systems in the far reaches if our arm of the galaxy were subtle, even benign- so it seemed."

Also, this part is hard to explain, but some Flood came from powder found on ancient star ships. The powder was used on some pets, and improved their domestic behavior. Then they were mutated by it. The plague happened first to humans, then San'Shyuum.


Wait, the San'Shyuum? The Prophets? They were interstellar 100,000 years ago too?
that and they were allied with the humans who at one point were so advanced they beat the flood WHILE FIGHTING the Forerunners. they also rivaled the forerunners technologically

  • 01.18.2011 4:57 PM PDT

"Of all the Sciences cultivated by mankind, Astronomy is acknowledged to be, and undoubtedly is, the most sublime, the most interesting, and the most useful." -John Taylor, Pittsburgh Academy

I kind of thought there might have been some romance between Bornstellar and Glory for a moment, but then it had to end with Bornstellar effectively "becoming" the Didact, with even the Librarian accepting him as such.

Although, I'm somewhat confused with the timeline of the Forerunner-Flood war. The terminals tell us that the Didact, or a research team lead by him or that he was a part of, developed Mendicant Bias as a means to interact with the Compound Intelligence, the Flood's central mind (the Gravemind). From cryptum we can infer the plan was to have MB take a Halo with him and fire it next to the Mind, destroying it. The problem is, MB is present in Cryptum, and in Cryptum there doesn't seem to be any evidence the the Forerunners are engaged in a terrible, costly war with the Flood. MB was constructed near the end of the war, which means that one of these sources has the wrong information.
Granted, the terminals reliability is spurious at best, but the series of events in Cryptum should at least somewhat line up with the terminals in some way. Besides, I think the terminals tell a better story than Cryptum (not that Cryptum was bad, I just think the terminal's version of events was better). But if the Games trump Books in terms of canon, and the terminals are in the game, does that mean the terminals override Cryptum?

  • 01.18.2011 7:13 PM PDT

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Posted by: Ark of Covenant
I kind of thought there might have been some romance between Bornstellar and Glory for a moment, but then it had to end with Bornstellar effectively "becoming" the Didact, with even the Librarian accepting him as such.

Although, I'm somewhat confused with the timeline of the Forerunner-Flood war. The terminals tell us that the Didact, or a research team lead by him or that he was a part of, developed Mendicant Bias as a means to interact with the Compound Intelligence, the Flood's central mind (the Gravemind). From cryptum we can infer the plan was to have MB take a Halo with him and fire it next to the Mind, destroying it. The problem is, MB is present in Cryptum, and in Cryptum there doesn't seem to be any evidence the the Forerunners are engaged in a terrible, costly war with the Flood. MB was constructed near the end of the war, which means that one of these sources has the wrong information.
Granted, the terminals reliability is spurious at best, but the series of events in Cryptum should at least somewhat line up with the terminals in some way. Besides, I think the terminals tell a better story than Cryptum (not that Cryptum was bad, I just think the terminal's version of events was better). But if the Games trump Books in terms of canon, and the terminals are in the game, does that mean the terminals override Cryptum?



As a general rule of thumb, new canon always over rules old canon. No matter how attached we may be to the old. :'(

  • 01.18.2011 7:27 PM PDT

"Of all the Sciences cultivated by mankind, Astronomy is acknowledged to be, and undoubtedly is, the most sublime, the most interesting, and the most useful." -John Taylor, Pittsburgh Academy

Posted by: zash208
As a general rule of thumb, new canon always over rules old canon. No matter how attached we may be to the old. :'(


Oh, right. That rule...
How hard is it really to ensure that one has consistency in storytelling? The info is all there! It wouldn't take that long to get everything straight if they simply paid attention to what they've done before.

  • 01.18.2011 7:39 PM PDT

"Shall we let the Flood consume our holy city? Turn High Charity into another of their wretched hives? No enemy has ever withstood our might. The Flood, too, shall fail."

-Prophet of Truth.

The reason the Precursors lost so easily because they lived in stars. The Forerunners blew up these stars, and in the process almost destroying theirselves.

Sorry, just had to throw that in there.

I'm confused however. Didn't the Didact activate the rings? And if he did I'm assuming the "Didact" responsible for the activation is Bornstellar???

Also, where did it say MB spend 43 years with The Captive? Does this mean that MB spent 86 years total? 43 with the gravemind and 43 with The Captive?

Also, 8+6 is 14, divide by 2 because there are two numbers/creatures, and you get 7 :)

[Edited on 01.18.2011 9:50 PM PST]

  • 01.18.2011 9:49 PM PDT

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I seriously need to get this damned book! >.<

  • 01.18.2011 10:12 PM PDT

"Of all the Sciences cultivated by mankind, Astronomy is acknowledged to be, and undoubtedly is, the most sublime, the most interesting, and the most useful." -John Taylor, Pittsburgh Academy

Posted by: TallestSpark
The reason the Precursors lost so easily because they lived in stars. The Forerunners blew up these stars, and in the process almost destroying themselves.


Where was this in Cryptum? Isn't that just a theory? Proof?


Posted by: TallestSparkAlso, 8+6 is 14, divide by 2 because there are two numbers/creatures, and you get 7 :)

That gave me some goosebumps. But he was missing for only 43 years total. If he spent 43 years with Gravemind and 43 years with the Captive, I think they would have said he was missing for 86 years.

  • 01.19.2011 3:34 AM PDT