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  • Subject: The Forerunners are nurturing humanity? -- a revised theory
Subject: The Forerunners are nurturing humanity? -- a revised theory

By the power of truth, I, while living, have conquered the universe.

NOTE: I'd like to credit Anton for his idea about the Keyship.

This harkens back to a theory I had over a year ago when information on Reach was just a glint in the milkman's eye... I mean community. So let's begin.


It seems that that the Forerunners may have been (indirectly) nurturing humanity for a long time now, there are 2 main things that draw this theory together:
1) The Forerunner Keyship
2) Reach

*

1) Anton came up with the idea that the Forerunners leaving such a powerful tool lying around (the Keyship) may be more than what it seems, especially to a race who are not Reclaimers.

This could cause potential power struggles later on down the line over perceived inheritance (example - the conflict between the San'Shyuum and Sangheili). So I wondered how a Forerunner Keyship made its way onto the Prophets home world.

Crazy idea, but maybe the Forerunners were trying to recreate the conditions, as best they could, under which the Flood cure arose. One of those conditions would be the Human/San-Shyuum alliance. The cure arose when that alliance was still valid. Therefore the Forerunners could be trying to fix things up so that the two races would eventually meet again. How to do this? Well, the Keyship opens the portal, and if I remember rightly from what the Librarian said in the Terminals, she destroyed all of her Keyships on her side of the Maginot Line. This would mean that this is quite possibly the last Keyship left; a ship that can interface with the Ark portal.


(Here's the good bit!)

However, where is the Portal? On Earth, Humanity's home world. Essentially, the San-Shyuum would have the Key but the door is on Humanity's turf. The Forerunner could have been trying to set up a scenario where the two would cooperate to gain access to the Ark, and thus recreating the alliance that the cure was born from. (Not without risk though, as they could equally start fighting over their toys, which is evidently what happened in the end...)

This is clearly supported by the fact that the Forerunners kept samples of the Flood in stasis, Guilty Spark confirms this to be for the purpose of searching for a cure in the CEA Terminals.

*

2) Following on from that, Reach may be an artificial planet, or it may have seen some kind of artificial intervention at the hand of the Forerunners. Yeah, sounds crazy, but let us take a look.

I knew, right off the bat that something was up when I read this:
"For a young planet with an age of less than one billion years, compared to Earth's 4.6 billion year existence, Reach is remarkably geologically stable."

Reach isn't even a billion years old at the time of the trilogy, and even the Forerunners inhabited it 100,000 years ago, and it was stable even then. Now there's something I feel is being built upon on Reach that will prove to be significant for humanity.

- The underground complex housing a slipspace crystal. This was interesting because what I got from Cryptum was that these crystals were almost the norm for Forerunner slipspace travel. The Master Builder had the chief crystal where the others all came from, so why is this particular one getting special treatment and being hidden underground? I'll come to that later.

- The Babd Catha Ice Shelf was the location of a Forerunner data centre, also underground. We never got any information about it, but Halsey states it's a potential "game changer" for humanity, a "latchkey discovery". This poses a lot of questions. Latchkey implies this is unlocking something for humanity, and it's something big.

These two sites will be the primary basis for this theory. To me, it seems the Forerunners altered Reach for humanity in several ways.

So perhaps the reason the Forerunners chose Reach as their site for all this was because it was close to Earth, and by altering the planet to make it stable it would inevitably draw humanity's curiosity when they advanced to the point where they could colonise it.

It is interesting to note that Babd Catha is a goddess of war in Irish mythology. She represented an omen of a coming war which seems like all too much to be a coincidence for that name to be placed at an area with a "latchkey discovery" at it. This "oncoming war" obviously doesn't refer to the Covenant because that's been going on for almost 3 decades, but as we very well know that Halo 4 is a fight against an "ancient threat" that threatens the galaxy. This is where it gets interesting...

Let's say this new ancient threat is the Precursors. We simply know almost nothing about the Forerunner-Precursor war, I find it hard to believe they got wiped out and Greg himself stated Book 2 of the Forerunner Trilogy will explore, "what the Forerunners and Precursors were really up to". So we know something more was going on here.

This leads me to believe that their defeat at the hands of the Flood showed them that humanity were the true Reclaimers and had to fight this ancient enemy when they inevitably return. So they left behind "objects of interest" at Reach, a planet that seems to be a bit of an anomaly to humanity because of how stable it is at an early age.

This harkens back to what Nazara says in Mass Effect:
"Your civilisations are based off the technology of the Mass Relays - our technology. By using it, your society develops along the paths we desire."

Now I am not saying Halo is going to follow the same story of ME, but the principle is there. The Forerunners made humanity Reclaimers, they can use Forerunner tech to its fullest potential because they were chosen to inherit it. So in order to advance humanity they leave them a slipspace crystal and a mahoosive data centre containing information of great importance.

However, the AI Assembly do not want humanity using Forerunner technology. They purposefully excluded Onyx from being a colonisation candidate because they learned it was a Forerunner installation and believed humanity needed to make their own technology. Also going back to ME, Legion holds a very similar ideal that the geth were offered technology by Nazara but the "true" geth declined because they believed they had to make their own future.

*

So let's connect this all together:
- Forerunners realise that an ancient threat will return (Flood? Precursors?) and after they fire Halo they make humanity Reclaimers, the Keyship is placed on Janjur Qom for the San'Shyuum to uncover the purpose of and go to earth, meet humanity and ultimately rediscover the cure for the Flood.

- They find Reach, roughly 10.4 light years away from Earth and it's a very young planet. They artificially modify it so it becomes stable and humanity would grow curious when they notice the anomaly. To initiate their plan, the Forerunners hide the crystal and data centre (perhaps more, since Halsey states they never discovered the full extent of the caverns) in order to advance humanity. If the ancient threat was to return before the Forerunners predicted and found Reach, they decided to turn the surface into "a rugged and harsh wilderness filled with towering mountains, deserts and weather-beaten forests" - like the artificial weather on Halo designed to combat the Flood.

- Humanity advances again, but the Assembly think humanity should develop along their own path. The Minority and Majority have different ideas on how to achieve this, culminating in a tribunal for one of the AIs for initiating first contact between humanity and the Covenant.

- The Forerunner plan goes wrong. The crystal is destroyed, a fragment is in the hands of the Covenant and the data centre is destroyed. However, Halsey and Cortana managed to decrypt the data but never found out the true extent of what the Forerunners left for them under Menachite. Perhaps this is what leads humanity to reterraform Reach if it turns out Halsey escaped the Dyson Sphere and told ONI the complex needed to be explored further?

(Given that Halsey does escape the Dyson Sphere, she is subsequently arrested so the human with the most understanding of the Forerunners and their technology is left to rot in a prison cell instead of being used to help humanity further...)

- The Assembly unanimously agrees to initiate direct intervention in humanity's path and work together with them instead of acting as shepherds.

- Mendicant Bias sends John to the Forerunners, the ancient threat returns and humanity has to defeat it.

*

Clearly this is all conjecture just based on information we have received. I'm sure I've missed things you lot can all add in. Hope you've enjoyed my rather long-winded theory which I've probably milked for about a year now, it's quite an abstract idea but I feel that there is evidence to support it.

  • 12.04.2011 4:09 AM PDT
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Do not waste your tears, I was not born to watch the world grow dim. Life is not measured in years, but by the deeds of men.

Posted by: goldhawk
We should know better, because we are better.

I think the Assembly is the key to all of this. They have been acting in the background for far too long and they decide now is the time to act. My bet is that the Assembly knows what is hidden beneath Babd Catha and they don't like it. The war was probably an attempt to push forward our technology (technology always seems to advance quicker in wars) to make us more capable to fight against the ancient evil or an attempt to reunite the Prophets and humanity.

  • 12.04.2011 7:20 AM PDT

This a good theory, I like it. As you said, an abstract one that requires more information, but for what we have now, it's well thought out. I think you missed an oppurtunity here though:


Posted by: ajw34307
NOTE: (Given that Halsey does escape the Dyson Sphere, she is subsequently arrested so the human with the most understanding of the Forerunners and their technology is left to rot in a prison cell instead of being used to help humanity further...)



She's being imprisoned in the sense that she has no rights beyond her work, which continues under the hawk-like stare of Parangosky and ONI, but where before Halsey basically had a blank check and free reign. She also now probably lives in a cell.

Now though, ONI has jurisdiction over a wealth of knowledge in the form of Halsey who has no choice but to divulge said knowledge. Just because she's a prisoner in almost every sense, does not mean she will be of no use.

  • 12.04.2011 7:38 AM PDT

I acknowledge my user name is stupid. However, I promise I'm not.

Disclaimer: The latter is a lie.

Eeeeeek! :o

Good job, OP.

  • 12.04.2011 7:43 AM PDT

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

Mendicant Bias causes issues with my idea. I completely forgot about him. It is possible that he went dormant and undetected, and so the Forerunners never found him when they left the Keyship there.

It could just be a coincidence, but it is a big one. Why a Keyship, of all things? Why not another kind of vessel? And why on the San-Shyuum home world - Of all places given their past history - rather than some lifeless rock somewhere?

  • 12.04.2011 8:00 AM PDT
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Five exclamations marks are a good signifier of an insane mind. As is trying to hide from Death in an airtight room. Silly wizard.

thats a really good theory OP. does anyone have a link to the datapads transcript so that I can read them?

  • 12.04.2011 11:52 AM PDT

By the power of truth, I, while living, have conquered the universe.


Posted by: MAC Blast
thats a really good theory OP. does anyone have a link to the datapads transcript so that I can read them?


Thanks. :)

The best I can give you is the Halopedian transcripts.

  • 12.04.2011 11:53 AM PDT
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Five exclamations marks are a good signifier of an insane mind. As is trying to hide from Death in an airtight room. Silly wizard.


Posted by: ajw34307

Posted by: MAC Blast
thats a really good theory OP. does anyone have a link to the datapads transcript so that I can read them?


Thanks. :)

The best I can give you is the Halopedian transcripts.

the datapads were the best thing reach brought to the table canon wise.

  • 12.04.2011 12:00 PM PDT

My honor student can beat up your honor student.

I had never thought of that; great theory OP. That would explain why they didn't kill off all specimens of Flood and why they left millions of artifacts with-in easy reach of the Prophets and the Elites.

It wouldn't surprise me if this is partially true when Halo 4 comes out.

  • 12.04.2011 12:04 PM PDT
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Deva Path


Posted by: DecepticonCobra

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

The assembly puzzles me; They didn't want humans finding Onyx due to the forerunner technology yet they were ok with them being on reach.

  • 12.04.2011 2:28 PM PDT
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Don't be stupid like I was! Check to see what that Forum Ninja is saying to you!

"I may not like what you say, but I will defend your right to the death to say it!"

"Tolerance is a virtue, and virtue builds character."
-Onyx81

ajw, you really set the stage for Halo 4. You pulled together sources from all over the Halo universe and even other Sci-Fi universes.

Easily one of the most enjoyable and probable theories i've read. Thread Saved. Good job.

  • 12.04.2011 2:50 PM PDT
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Don't be stupid like I was! Check to see what that Forum Ninja is saying to you!

"I may not like what you say, but I will defend your right to the death to say it!"

"Tolerance is a virtue, and virtue builds character."
-Onyx81


Posted by: grey101
The assembly puzzles me; They didn't want humans finding Onyx due to the forerunner technology yet they were ok with them being on reach.
Perhaps the Forerunners hid the technology on Reach so no other civilization would be attracted to reach other than humanity. Onyx can easily be determined to be forerunner by a simple seismic scan.

Then again, maybe Reach was so close to earth, the Assembly was afraid that if they denied humanity the right to fully colonize Reach, people might get suspicious.

[Edited on 12.04.2011 2:54 PM PST]

  • 12.04.2011 2:53 PM PDT
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Do not waste your tears, I was not born to watch the world grow dim. Life is not measured in years, but by the deeds of men.

Posted by: goldhawk
We should know better, because we are better.


Posted by: grey101
The assembly puzzles me; They didn't want humans finding Onyx due to the forerunner technology yet they were ok with them being on reach.

Presumably because Reach was the first colony Humanity founded and the fact that most Forerunner stuff was hidden in areas relatively out of the way. The Assembly couldn't just say that Reach was a no-go.

  • 12.04.2011 2:54 PM PDT

To be honest, when I first saw all this in the weekly update I thought 2 things.
#1- there is an actual legendary ending but,
#2- No matter what anyone does,(kill all the bobs, hit all switches etc) that until the "time" mentioned in "There'll be another time..." is reached there won't be a legendary ending.

The weekly update by bungie has slowed my hardcore search for what unlocks the legendary ending.


Posted by: grey101
The assembly puzzles me; They didn't want humans finding Onyx due to the forerunner technology yet they were ok with them being on reach.
A bunch of hypocrites.

  • 12.04.2011 2:57 PM PDT
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Deva Path


Posted by: DecepticonCobra

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

Not to be a dick but "The Forerunners" didn't leave anything for us nor did they care for us. "Forerunners" are didact and his wife from the way the Forerunner trilogy is going. Remember that the librarian had to Fight in order to get a "life support" fall back for the rings, the forerunners didn't do that naturally.


Just thought i should remind everybody about that.

  • 12.04.2011 2:57 PM PDT

I like it, nice one. Except the part where you cited Sovereign as 'Nazara.' Let's be honest, Legion can -blam!- off with his silly idioms -- he's Sovereign, the massive ship with an epic voice who we blow up at the end of ME1.

:P

I'd also imagine that Forerunner Geas would play a heavy role in this. For example, bit convenient that we just happened to build a mega-city right on top of the portal and effectively conceal it until the time was right, eh?

Not to be a dick but "The Forerunners" didn't leave anything for us nor did they care for us.

That's absolute bull-blam!-. You're basing this all from the perspective of a couple of Forerunners pre-900 year war. The Forerunners left us everything to reclaim. Even Mendicant Bias says this. So many things do. Why else do you think we alone can interface with their technology? Why are we called Reclaimers?

Why are you spitting against the wind?

[Edited on 12.04.2011 3:00 PM PST]

  • 12.04.2011 2:57 PM PDT
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Deva Path


Posted by: DecepticonCobra

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


Posted by: Wolverfrog

I'd also imagine that Forerunner Geas would play a heavy role in this. For example, bit convenient that we just happened to build a mega-city right on top of the portal and effectively conceal it until the time was right, eh?


Ofcourse Gea come into this; Though i don't see Africa and the timing to add up seeing how the humans weren't ready given the conditions of that finding.

  • 12.04.2011 3:00 PM PDT


Posted by: grey101

Posted by: Wolverfrog

I'd also imagine that Forerunner Geas would play a heavy role in this. For example, bit convenient that we just happened to build a mega-city right on top of the portal and effectively conceal it until the time was right, eh?


Ofcourse Gea come into this; Though i don't see Africa and the timing to add up seeing how the humans weren't ready given the conditions of that finding.


The conditions are irrelevant. All that matters is that humans built a city atop the portal which kept it from being discovered until it was needed to stop the Flood.

That it happened in the middle of a full-scale, genocidal invasion doesn't matter; the Forerunners couldn't have predicted that. But the end result was roughly the same.

[Edited on 12.04.2011 3:03 PM PST]

  • 12.04.2011 3:03 PM PDT
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Do not waste your tears, I was not born to watch the world grow dim. Life is not measured in years, but by the deeds of men.

Posted by: goldhawk
We should know better, because we are better.


Posted by: Wolverfrog

I'd also imagine that Forerunner Geas would play a heavy role in this. For example, bit convenient that we just happened to build a mega-city right on top of the portal and effectively conceal it until the time was right, eh?

I thought that it was under a lake and the Covenant vaporized the lake and uncovered the Portal? That would explain the boats and such. Maybe the Geas directed Humanity to Reach and Onyx?

  • 12.04.2011 3:03 PM PDT

"I will show you how a true Prussian officer fights!"

"And i will show you where the iron crosses grow..."

- "Cross of Iron"

Very interesting. Good read!

  • 12.04.2011 3:03 PM PDT


Posted by: Xd00999

Posted by: Wolverfrog

I'd also imagine that Forerunner Geas would play a heavy role in this. For example, bit convenient that we just happened to build a mega-city right on top of the portal and effectively conceal it until the time was right, eh?

I thought that it was under a lake and the Covenant vaporized the lake and uncovered the Portal? That would explain the boats and such. Maybe the Geas directed Humanity to Reach and Onyx?


I suppose.

But that body of water would have been artificially built over; coastal defences, efficiency and all that malarkey.

  • 12.04.2011 3:05 PM PDT
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Posted by: DecepticonCobra

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


Posted by: Wolverfrog

Not to be a dick but "The Forerunners" didn't leave anything for us nor did they care for us.

That's absolute bull-blam!-. You're basing this all from the perspective of a couple of Forerunners pre-900 year war. The Forerunners left us everything to reclaim. Even Mendicant Bias says this. So many things do.
Why are you spitting against the wind?



Um the fact they Had a Hatred for us spanning eons, De-evolved us, and teach their children that we are brainless savages says otherwise. Didact and his wife left us everything and had a plan for us. You cannot say that Trillions of forerunners stopped hating us over night especially the way you talk about Glasslands being correct in the political climate.
There was some sort of revelation that happened to the couple that made them leave everything. Or it was just guilt and the technology was left behind so humanity could reclaim their former glory and find a cure for the flood.

And what "900 year war' are you talking about? The F-F war was 300 years and the F-H war was 100 years. 50 years of probing forerunner space and 50 years of fighting.

  • 12.04.2011 3:06 PM PDT

To be honest, when I first saw all this in the weekly update I thought 2 things.
#1- there is an actual legendary ending but,
#2- No matter what anyone does,(kill all the bobs, hit all switches etc) that until the "time" mentioned in "There'll be another time..." is reached there won't be a legendary ending.

The weekly update by bungie has slowed my hardcore search for what unlocks the legendary ending.


Posted by: Xd00999

Posted by: Wolverfrog

I'd also imagine that Forerunner Geas would play a heavy role in this. For example, bit convenient that we just happened to build a mega-city right on top of the portal and effectively conceal it until the time was right, eh?

I thought that it was under a lake and the Covenant vaporized the lake and uncovered the Portal? That would explain the boats and such. Maybe the Geas directed Humanity to Reach and Onyx?
Pimps at sea XD

Anyways, there was a lake originally,but when the covies began the glassing process, the water was evaporated/boiled away. Might also explain why there was that HUGE Hurricane above the portal device.

  • 12.04.2011 3:06 PM PDT
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Five exclamations marks are a good signifier of an insane mind. As is trying to hide from Death in an airtight room. Silly wizard.


Posted by: Wolverfrog

Posted by: Xd00999

Posted by: Wolverfrog

I'd also imagine that Forerunner Geas would play a heavy role in this. For example, bit convenient that we just happened to build a mega-city right on top of the portal and effectively conceal it until the time was right, eh?

I thought that it was under a lake and the Covenant vaporized the lake and uncovered the Portal? That would explain the boats and such. Maybe the Geas directed Humanity to Reach and Onyx?


I suppose.

But that body of water would have been artificially built over; coastal defences, efficiency and all that malarkey.

There are plenty of boats washed up on the side of the map in Halo 3. It was probably buried deep beneath the surface and then uncovered by glassing.

  • 12.04.2011 3:08 PM PDT
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Posted by: DecepticonCobra

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


Posted by: Wolverfrog

Posted by: grey101

Posted by: Wolverfrog

I'd also imagine that Forerunner Geas would play a heavy role in this. For example, bit convenient that we just happened to build a mega-city right on top of the portal and effectively conceal it until the time was right, eh?


Ofcourse Gea come into this; Though i don't see Africa and the timing to add up seeing how the humans weren't ready given the conditions of that finding.


The conditions are irrelevant.


No they aren't, the only reason the portal was found is because Regret knew it was there and did a slipspace jump. Had that not have happened humanity wouldn't have known about it thus they weren't ready for it. If they found it by themselves and excavated it alone then they would have been ready since they had the technology, and knowledge to do so; Which was coming close according to ODST.

  • 12.04.2011 3:09 PM PDT