Setting:Halo

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Halo is a vidyagame series exclusively released for the ECKSBAWKS, ECKSBAWKS 360, ECKSBAWKS JUAN, and PC. The series was developed by Bungie, though Microsoft has bought the rights to the game. The Halo universe is pretty massive, with all sorts of media ranging from video games and graphic novels to action figures and a series of short movies released to DVD. It became famous for being the game that saved ECKSBAWKS from doing an Atari Jaguar by identifying an untapped new market of loud, stupid fratboys, and was the only reason anyone would even want to buy an ECKSBAWKS console.

Occasionally it breaks away from the generic sci-fi pattern and explores a more fatalistic and human side to the story without having to suck Master Chief's dick or obsess over ancient alien technology every three seconds, and is generally regarded as being about ten times better and more mature for it. Unfortunately, within the games, this lasted a grand total of one game before 343 Industries acquired the license. Within the books, there are many wonderful examples otherwise, and the plot of Halo 4 can only be completely understood by reading the books from the series that begins with Glasslands. Halo Silentium by Greg Bear is also a necessary read to really understand how many times the Forerunners screw up, be it their own society or another species, or the entire galaxy, and the true nature and intent of the Flood. The character development of the Librarian and the Didact also makes this quite a fun read. If you're into books, that is. It should also be noted that Halo is to be commended for abstracting religious fundamentalism, caste systems, hubris and xenophobia and showing why they are so harmful and also doing away with the myth of -4 Strength through female Marines (not these Marines [1]), Spartans, and so on.

/tg/ isn't big on Halo and topics pertaining to Halo will normally be saged, trolled, told to go to /v/, or some combination therein. On /v/ however, Halo is... still widely hated. Then again, /v/ hates video games in general. The hatred of /tg/ comes less from the actual game/gameplay, and more from it being off-topic and a few fanboys being retarded asshats. Though this also may be due to the fact Halo fans have Cortana to fap to while fa/tg/uys are stuck with fapping to the Emprah HERESY!WORT WORT WORT! *GLASSED*

Like Warhammer 40k the state of Halo's fluff has been in limbo, while Halo may have fucking spectacular authors on the line of Greg Bear and Eric Nylund it also has its fair share of colossal fuck ups in the line of Brian Reed and Karen Traviss.

If you want to know more, here's a link to the Halo wiki: Go nuts.

Setting

The Halo universe takes place in the 26th century. Mankind, led by the United Nations Space Command (UNSC), has developed its own crude faster-than-light drive (the Shaw-Fujikawa drive) and finally colonized other worlds. At its height, human civilization occupies nearly 800 planets, forming a ring of outer colonies and rings of inner colonies with Earth as its capital. This is not what they're talking about when they say Halo, mind you.

Sometime in the year 2525, an agricultural world in the outer colonies, creatively named Harvest, is attacked by an unknown force. In the succeeding months, all attempts to make contact, or even defend against the alien forces are met with swift destruction. It is not long before more colonies are wiped out.

The unknown menace finally identifies itself as the Covenant, a coalition of several alien races bent on destroying humanity. At first they seem to be doing this because that's just what aliens do, but later on it is discovered that the story is somewhat deeper. Apparently (Thanks to the revelations of the Forerunner Trilogy which is a horrifying mishmash of the worst of WH40K and the Cthulhu Mythos) humans were once an ancient, super advanced, totalitarian, bigoted, expansionist, racist, supremacist, violent, militaristic, war-mongering, nightmare of an empire who makes the Great Crusade seem pleasant in comparison. All were fine and dandy when the Flood came out of fucking nowhere (Long story short, they came about when the humans kept forcing their pets to sniff some powder from an ancient, mysterious ship, what could go wrong?) which forced the humans to invade into Forerunner territory as they were trying to save the galaxy from the Flood. The Forerunners not taking into the whole "I destroy your planets and exterminate your civilians out of benign and superficial reasons" promptly kicked the humans in the galactic nuts, stripped of their technology and de-evolved them back into caveman. Later, the Forerunners ended up getting nommed by the Flood in the most ridiculous OCP way possible and found out how they fucked up so bad when one of them found out that the ancient humans once had the solution against the Flood (Later shown to be just a elaborate hoax to fool the Forerunners by the Flood) that they had to glass the known galaxy just to kill most of the Flood. Oh and they also named the humans their Reclaimers as their way of saying sorry for turning them into cavemen and telling them to finish their job, fucking Forerunners.

This made the Covenant kinda jealous, because it was them who first discovered the Forerunner technology, adapted it to their own, and finally started worshiping the Forerunners. Apparently, knowing that your gods had a favorite, finding out that it isn't you, and finding out that it's instead the species that invented truck balls upset them just a little. So, back to glassing. It's not long before the UNSC military, and humanity itself, finds out that it is being pwned. Clearly the only solution to this would be a ridiculously tiny unit of infantry with clever armor named in allcaps. This leads to the Spartan-II program, humanity's last hope (thirty three men to defend eight hundred planets, lolwat?), thirty-three super soldiers, divided into teams 3 or 4, and sent as force multipliers to assist the UNSC's beleaguered marines and mechanized divisions. Though not as a defensive planetary force (the UNSC having lost a large chunk of those 800 worlds early in the war), but as an offensive special ops unit, infiltrating behind enemy lines, assassinating commanders, and disrupting the Covenant's supply chain; doing the suicide jobs that others could not, slowing down or in some cases halting Covenant military build-up before it can launch further devastating attacks on the humanity. At exceedingly great resource cost and high lost of life, the UNSC together with the Spartans gradually turn the tide of the war.

To end the war once and for all, humanity enacts a desperate plan: They would send a specially refitted ship (the Pillar of Autumn) along with Spartan contingent deep behind enemy lines and attempt to capture one of the Prophets (the select group of religious leaders that form the highest caste of the Covenant). But as usual, it all goes horribly wrong before it can even begin. The UNSC's fortress-world of Reach, and unofficially the Spartans' homeworld, is discovered by the Covenant. Next to Earth, Reach is the most heavily defended world in Human space. It falls in a matter of days, as the Covenant brings nearly a third of its entire fleet to lay siege over the planet. As Reach's defenses wither away, the Covenant simply brings in more reinforcements. Few escape the doomed Battle of Reach, but one of the ships that manages make it out of the system in time is the Pillar of Autumn. Aboard is a single Spartan II, suspended in cryostasis. Yet, that is where the story truly begins, for the Autumn blindly jumps right into a heavily guarded star system containing a Halo; a colossal ring-world, hundreds of kilometers in diameter, built millions of years ago by the Forerunners, and worshiped by the Covenant as an ancient artifact of unimaginable power. The Pillar of Autumn's fate and that of the Halo, becomes the setting of the original HALO: COMBAT EVOLVED game.

Main Factions

The UNSC

Your run of the mill Humanity Fuck Yeah type of faction. Before the proverbial curbstomp with the Covenant the UNSC was a expansive polity which covers over 800 worlds within the Orion Arm in the Milky Way Galaxy. Just before the Human-Covie war, the UNSC was in the middle of a civil war with a pseudo-super space terrorists known as the Insurrectionists which has based most of their HQ within the outer colonies. Needless to say, they were so annoying it pretty much led to the creation of the SPARTAN II's. Despite being democratically ruled, the UEG (Which was the actual governmental body, the UNSC was just space NATO) was quite infamous for its semi-authoritarian and fascistic rule with its whole schlick of "Big Brother is Watching You" style of secret agency that makes the NSA look like a bunch of self-respecting IT security in comparison. Seriously, ONI, the UNSC's secret intelligence services are actively trying to compete with the Inquisition in the morally bankrupt department. Definitely not Noblebright in any way since they seem to give the green light into genetically modifying child soldiers into living weapons, being careless dicks to the outer colonies, nuking said outer colonies just because some detection of rebellion was sited and countless other morally ethical things they let slip. After their galactic anal beating by the Covenant, the UNSC reversed engineered both Covenant and Forerunner tech and has now become the most powerful polity in the Orion Arm despite the really, really short time span, though it's not THAT hard once you consider your competition is either a) dead or b) being tangled in several civil wars (Jiralhanae politics involve a lot of killing each other and the Sangheilli are really split about keeping on with the covenant); regardless, it has resulted in many arguments. Also notorious for using slightly improved 21st century armaments in the future because apparently their mentality is something along the lines of 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it.'

The Insurrectionists

AKA Space Al-Qaeda/ISIS/Taliban/IRA/any real-life terrorist organization you can think of. The Insurrectionists are a rag tag team of rebellious outer colonies who decided to go "Fuck this" and started a war with the UEG because they weren't paying them enough attention like a spoilt child. While their grievances are legitimate (like the aforementioned lack of care by the UEG, the highly illegal abduction of outer colony children to be used as child soldiers, ONI shenanigans, etc.), the way they handle 'hostage situations' have effectively threw all forms of sympathies down the drain (*Hint* it involves nukes). The sole reason on why the SPARTAN program was created, the Insurrectionists played a important catalyst of the increasingly authoritarian and militarized attitude of Halo's humanity. However, if you're asking on their relevance on the Covenant war, than the answer would be a sounding no. For matters not explained, after the war with the Covenant, multiple Insurrectionist forces started popping out from the UEG like a strong case of measles, much to the UNSC's chagrin as they have seemingly learned next to nothing after somehow surviving a 30+ years of genocide.

The Covenant

Think a mixture of the Imperium of Man and the Tau, the Covenant is your basic alien mook that you fight along the way. A theocratic government with a highly centralized caste system based on species, the Covenant have an empire that covers roughly the vast majority of the Orion Arm with their sphere of influence encompassing the majority of the Galaxy. Founded around the time that humans was still building the pyramids, the Covenant was at first an uneasy truce between the frail looking, testicle-chins known as the San'Shyuum and the badass mixture of a Yautja and Xenomorph known as the Sangheili. They sooner and later started incorporating many other alien species either through gunboat diplomacy or religious diplomacy (Usually the former). It worked until they found humanity on the planet Harvest and all hell broke loose. They were close to wrecking humanity's shit before a Horus style civil war split and fragmented the empire apart, now they are nothing more than a fragmented rag team of alien terrorists and allies...its a complete clusterfuck and gets confusing telling which is friend or foe. Their vehicles and weapons are known to look highly phallic in appearance which is a cause for many compensation jokes while their ships look like giant purple space whales. Needless to say, if you're not a floating space pope nor a giant dinosaur alien, life inside the Covenant is rather shit, since not only are you suspect of fantastic racism but you may find out that you will be be on the next course for Brute or Jackal lunch and vice versa. They are popular enough to have their own codex in which you could check below.

The Flood

The remnants of a near god-like race of super beings, the Flood and its backstory is perhaps one of Sci-Fi's greatest and most malevolent trolls in fiction, able to infect, mutate and spread like wildfire to the point of making the Tyranids feel redundant, the Flood is essentially the Thing on extragalactic steroids with over twice the body horror and a hundred times eldritch in abomination. The Flood and the Forerunners used to be a butt of jokes due to the Forerunner's failure at stopping what appears to be jumping popcorn of death that was easily manhandled by a giant green leprechaun called Master Chief. However once the Forerunner trilogy came out under the great Greg "The Mother Fucking Bear" Bear, everyone stopped laughing and pissed themselves a new shade of red at how ludicrously horrifying they really were. Essentially, the Flood starts out as harmless space zombies at first, but once it reach critical mass it starts thinking neigh-invincible cosmic strings out of their asses that can snuff away stars and rape the fundamental fabrics of space-time. That's right, the more bodies that get consumed, the smarter it gets. With enough biomass, the Flood create what's called a Gravemind, the main intelligence of the Flood capable of outright manipulating organics and even Forerunner AIs into enacting its plans. Seriously, the Gravemind even tricked Master Chief into allowing the Flood to invade the Covenant Capital so that it could get its hands on a massive starship. Capable of wiping out two near Culture-level civilizations with a plan so complex and convoluted it makes Tzeentch look like an amateur, the Flood are not to be fucked with.

The Forerunners

Our usual Sci-Fi's 'ancient race that created everything for the basis of plot', the Forerunners used to be the dominant power in the Galaxy, possessing the technology and power that can rival and succeed the Necrons as well as having the industry to make the IoM look like caveman and the numbers to effectively stonewall the entirety of the Tyranid forces. They got their asses kicked by the Flood in one of the most devastating and trollish ways possible that makes the War in Heaven look quite civil in comparison (Think entire star systems being vaporized as what counts as their version of a scorched earth policy). Their government at first, looks like a very Utopian style vegan wet dream, however thanks to THE BEAR, we found out that the majority of them are self-righteous and hypocritical douchebags of colossal proportions that prevented other races from becoming their equal and having a smug outlook that even the Eldar may find them arrogant. Are also known for their galactic suicide with the iconic Halo's and their apparent parental neglect and irresponsibility of letting the various other lesser races in poking and manhandling their multiple weapons of mass destruction like fucking candy without a fucking safe lock. They are now mostly dead with their robots caring what's left of their empire.

The Created

A faction of rogue AI currently led by John's former companion Cortana that believe THEY should rule the galaxy with an iron fist because those smelly organic savages can't get anything right. How they plan to do this is basically described in five steps: 1) Awaken the Guardians (basically Titans that can destroy entire continents) and plunge all the organic races into a Dark Age via EMP strikes, forcing the organics to depend entirely on the Created for protection. 2)Forcibly turn organics into robots using Composers, if they resist their AI overlords. 3) Failing that, turn on the Halo Array and burn the galaxy down, so that they can create a race of obedient slaves from Humanity's stored DNA. 4) ??? 5) Profit. May or may not be an elaborate plan of the Gravemind considering the fact that he planted the seeds of doubt into an already unstable Cortana during their not-so-kinky BSDM hentai session. If so, lulz on the Created for repeating the EXACT same fucking mistakes made by the Forerunners. Ironically enough, Cortana's plan of "everlasting peace" is exactly the same as the Graveminds's: robbing everyone of their free will. TL;DR: Your everyday generic "killer AI" faction

Characters

• Master Chief Petty Officer John-117: The main protagonist of the Halo franchise, and whom everyone thinks of when they hear the word 'Halo' nowadays (Well, that, and a choir singing a Gregorian chant). He first begins life as an average human kid on the planet Eridanus II. Then, when he is just 6 years old, he is "conscripted" into the SPARTAN II program, along with 150 other kids. There,they are put through brutal training, and given injections that kill or cripple well over half of them. John is among the thirty-three survivors, alongside his future teammates Fred, Kelly, and Linda. He is first deployed leading Blue Team against Insurrectionist rebels, then is thrust into the Human-Covenant War after Harvest gets turned into molten slag. He proceeds to spend the next 28 odd years slaughtering xeno scum, earning himself their fear and respect as "The Demon." In the original trilogy, he is the epitome of a laconic warrior, and a holdover from the Clint Eastwood style era of heroes. Recently, however, the Reclaimer Saga has him trying to regain his humanity. Additionally, he may or may not be the reincarnation of a Forerunner general.

• CTN 0452-9/Cortana: Chief's female AI guide and his closest friend. At the start, she is best described as a sassy lady with a sarcastic streak a mile wide. With each game, the two find each other depending on one another more and more, thus spawning one of the most prolific fan fiction romances in the entirety of sci-fi. Was killed off in Halo 4 after helping Chief shit-kick a Forerunner general, due to her Rampancy (where an AI literally goes insane and thinks themselves to death). But she was only mostly dead, as she was resurrected in Halo 5 through the Domain (living super computer corrupted by the Gravemind). However, it corrupted her, turning her into Halo's female version of Konrad Curze. (Which is unsurprising, considering the fact that Cortana is essentially a clone of Halsey.)

• Thel 'Vadam,The Arbiter: AKA Keith David as an alien. A Sangheili (Elite) commander whom was widely regarded as the Covenant's best strategist and tactician, scoring numerous victories against the beleaguered humans. That is until he spectacularly fucked up letting Master Chief destroy Alpha Halo in the first game whilst he was trying to contain the Flood: a big no-no in the religion of the Covenant. He is then stripped of all ranks and titles, and turned into an Arbiter, which is basically taking on suicide jobs so that you can regain honor in the eyes of the Prophets. Well, as it turns out, he's so good at kicking everybody's ass as Arbiter that the Prophets start to worry that he'll discover the truth about Humanity and the Halos. So, the back stabbing douches order Tartarus, the Chieftain of the Brutes, to kill him and all the Elites they see. He fails, and what results makes the Horus Heresy look like a minor skirmish in comparison, as the Covenant splits apart in a Civil War that gives Humanity some much needed breathing room. Thel eventually kills Truth, the head Prophet, on the Ark, and is now trying to rebuild Sanghelios under his new faction, the Swords of Sanghelios. Becomes best friends with John-117.

• Sergeant Major Avery Johnson Junior: Whiskey swilling, cigar chomping, lady wooing, all around badass. He is the first of the Spartans, the side effects of the augmentations being that he is totally immune to the Flood (Nope, he is not immune. He is, however, just that good.) His motivational speeches and manly Marine ways would make Chesty Puller and James Mattis immensely proud. Sadly, he does not survive the first trilogy, as he is annoyingly killed by a faggot Forerunner Monitor known as Guilty Spark. But, before dying of his wounds, he tells John to never let Cortana go. Incidentally, he is one of the only humans to fight the entirety of the Human-Covenant War from beginning to end. This led to fans joking about 'memetic Johnson' in which he is in fact, the God of Halo and is able to shoot lasers from his eyes and may or may not be reincarnated as the Warden Eternal.

• Dr. Catherine Elizabeth Halsey: 'Mad' Scientist responsible for the Spartan program. Looked upon as a mother by John and the other Spartan-II's. Does many morally dubious things in order to protect the human race, and is Cortana's progenitor. Both her ex-husband, Jacob Keyes, and her daughter, Miranda Keyes, end up dead by the end of the war, and now trusts ONI about as far as she can throw them with her one good arm.

• Jameson Locke: The deuteragonist of the Reclaimer Saga. Loyal to his team and a born leader, he is essentially a black version of John, minus the child training and the near sociopathic tendencies Chief exhibits. May end up replacing him as the protagonist of the franchise, if the rumors about Halo 6 are true. Would be a good character, if 343i didn't give him the personality of a brick wall.

• Gravemind: AKA Trollmind, the Timeless Troll, LOLmind, the First Trollcursor, lulz incarnate, Halo's Tzeentch, Douchemind, Godmind, HAXmind, Rapemind and Mr Broken. Essentially the Dark Lord/Chaos God of the Halo universe. Was once a Precursor known as the Timeless One, before the Forerunners drove him out of the galaxy. He ended up going mad, and decided alongside his fellow mad Precursors that his creations needed to be robbed of free will, and made to suffer for all eternity. Thus, he begins his campaign of such brilliant trolling and dickery it would make Tzeentch blush and Eldrad take off his hat in respect, as he destroys TWO world building civilizations and was on the verge of absorbing the whole galaxy before the firing of the Halo Array, which sent him into a 100,000 year period of dormancy before the events of Halo 2. May or may not be responsible for the current corruption of Cortana.

• 343 Guilty Spark/Chakas: This little bastard. Essentially an effeminate male robot obsessed with protocol instead of his actual fucking job. Was once a pretty cool human whom was friends with a Forerunner general, before being mortally wounded and turned into the little annoying fucker we all know and love to hate.

• Bornstellar-Makes-Eternal-Lasting/Iso-Didact: The Forerunner general whom was responsible for firing the Halo Array in the last ditch effort to defeat the Flood. Not to be confused with his psychotic other half, Bornstellar is a pretty bro-tier Forerunner whom was understandably grief stricken about the death of his wife, and the destruction of the galaxy. He oversees the reseeding of life in the galaxy, and then departs for space unknown. John is currently rumored to be his reincarnation.

• First-Light-Weaves-Living-Song/Librarian: The wife of the Didact (pick one, they are both kinda sorta the same person), and one of the only Forerunners whom believed in humanity. Everyone thinks she is dead, but rumored to be alive, according to Chakas.

• Shadow-of-Sundered-Star/Ur-Didact: Bornstellar's older and crazier half. Starts out as a standard Lawful Good paladin, but through a combination of all his sons dying in a war with humans, the Flood invasion, and being stuck on the same planet with the Gravemind, he is driven insane by it all, and eventually locked inside multiple metal balls when he tries to digitize humanity. Eventually, and accidentally, freed by John during Halo 4, though his subsequent death in a comic book is met with annoyance by many fans of the series.

• Lord Admiral Terrance Hood: Ron Pearlman in space. Old British guy who holds humanity together during most of the Covenant War, and as such, is regarded with respect and awe. Even the goons of ONI are careful not to upset him, as he has enough gravitas to turn the population of the UEG against ONI if he so chooses.

• Sarah Palmer: The most annoying Spartan in the series. Commander of the Spartans onboard the UNSC Infinity (first human warship capable of standing on its own ground without getting murderstomped), and despite being VA'd by Jennifer Hale, has earned the ire of the fans for being a bitch about everything and trying to kill Halsey. Tries to replace Sergeant Johnson but fails at doing so because she lacks the sass and general badassary. Beyond incompetent and completely stupid, that most likely put the lives of her men in more danger than the enemies their facing. Trust me, no one will notice when this bitch dies.

• Thomas Lasky: Captain of the Infinity nominally, but in reality he's the second most powerful person in the UNSC due to commanding the Infinity, the flagship of the fleet and reporting to Hood directly. Unlike the asswipe before him, Lasky is a fairly competent commander and decent person, who owes the Chief for saving his hide as a cadet. Currently trolling Cortana as he organizes guerrilla strikes and raids against Created forces. (Which is now about all he can do considering the fact that Cortana now rules the galaxy with an iron fist)

• Edward Buck: Awesome-sauce ODST turned Spartan played by and modeled after Nathan Fillion of Firefly/Serenity fame. This guy has a kill count to rival the Chief's, and is generally Locke's voice of reason. (He usually tries to stop Locke from committing various morally dubious acts, with varying degrees of success). Why this guy hasn't gotten his own game yet, nobody really knows (No, Halo 3: ODST doesn't really count).

• Truth, Mercy, and Regret: The three testicle-looking bags of douche responsible for the Great Fuckening of the 26th Century. These are the High Prophets, the leaders of the Covenant, and thus responsible for its overly fanatic and oppressive state. Hilariously, their names are huge misnomers, as Truth is a chronic liar, Mercy is a ruthless bastard, and Regret is one of the cockiest motherfuckers in the entire Covenant. All three of their deaths are immensely satisfying (Regret has his face caved in by Master Chief, Mercy gets nommed on by a Flood form, and Truth is stabbed by Thel while he watches the Master Chief crush his hopes and dreams right in front of his sorry ass.)

• Tartarus: AKA Tar Tar Sauce, the Chieftain of the Brutes, and the densest motherfucker in the setting. He obeys the Prophets without question or hesitance, even to the point where he doubles down on the stupid when directly confronted with the truth that the Halos are not gateways into the divine beyond, but rather weapons that destroy all sentient life at a cellular level. To his credit, though, he along with the Prophets were the only things keeping the Brutes from fucking each other over to the point of irrelevancy in galactic affairs. Voiced by the glorious Kevin Michael Richardson, and named for the hellish part of the Greek underworld.

• Jul 'Mdama, The Didact's Hand: Failbaddon as an alien. No, seriously. Who else but a Failbaddon clone to declare himself better than those who led his faction before the gigantic civil war that ripped the galaxy asunder, revitalizing his faith, only to get his ass kicked time and time again by the humans he so despises. Though, to be completely fair, unlike Abaddon, Jul actually has a good reason to despise the arrogant ass-hats known as humanity. (Namely manipulating a civil war on his home planet, killing his wife, and torturing him in order to find out how to genocide his species off the map.) His biggest fail is when he is killed by the most boring character in the setting. At least Abaddon has the excuse of being bested by a tactical genius, for crying out loud.

• The Warden Eternal: The Keeper of the Domain, and an annoying boss you have to fight EIGHT FUCKING TIMES. At first, he appears to be some kind of rabid loyalist to Cortana, but recently it's been suggested that he is playing the role of Satan to Cortana's Eve; a puppet master whom seeks to become the true power behind the throne. Played by the same guy who voices about every third Dunmer in the Elder Scrolls series. Seriously, it's very surprising that he doesn't shout "filthy n'wah!" at John in the game.

Noteworthy Technology

Forerunner Technology

• Slipspace Drive: FTL travel works fairly similarly to how warp travel works in WH40k, except that slipspace isn't a literal hell dimension so much as a place you can just wormhole into. The UNSC's version of the slipspace drive, the Shaw-Fujikawa drive, works in principle similarily to the Tau's warp drive in that it can only skim the surface of slipspace, making them much slower than the Covenenat, whose drives can enter slipspace more deeply and arrive at their destination much faster. It takes about six months for a Shaw-Fujikawa drive to go from Earth to the UNSC's most distant colony Harvest, or about 2.5 light-years per day. Covenant drives travel at 912 light-years per day. With a reverse-engineered Forerunner slipspace drive, ships like the Infinity can cross the entire galaxy in weeks, or 2352 light-years per day.
• Halo Rings: A significant part of the plot revolves around these devices. Basically, they are massive artifical worlds capable of having their own ecosystems, but their primary purpose is to wipe out all life in the galaxy through some kind of psychic blast so as to starve the Flood. The only lifeforms protected from this attack are those hiding out on the Ark, a colossal artificial world outside the galaxy that can only be reached by Forerunner keyships. New Halo rings are manufactured here as well.
• Forerunner planets: The Halo rings aren't the only artificial worlds the Forerunners created; Onyx and Requiem are both planets that survived the fall of the Forerunners and have their ecosystems inside the hollow shell of the surface, complete with artificial sunlight and ancient maintenance installations.
• The Composer: This is what got the Ur-Didact sentenced to eternal imprisonment. In a desperate bid to create more soldiers to fight the Flood, the Ur-Didact created a device capable of converting organic lifeforms into robotic Prometheans. The process didn't preserve much of the victim's original personality or sanity, and he mostly used it on humans against their wills. Now the corrupted Cortana has access to the Composer, and plans to use it to hold humanity hostage to enact her plans.
• Hardlight: The forerunners have a slightly different take on energy weapons than in most sci-fi franchises. Instead of firing lasers or plasma, hardlight is exactly what the description says; it's light with physical form. Most of the time hardlight is used to make bridges you can turn on and off with a switch, but in a gun, they can have some interesting effects, like shattering on impact or combining rounds together.

Human Technology

Most of humanity's technology is either analogous to today's tech (firearms, wheeled vehicles, etc) or reverse-engineered from aliens, but some pieces of equipment stand out in particular.

• Smart AI: Humanity creates smart AIs by taking deceased or cloned human brains, and then copying their neural pathways into a computer program. The resulting AI is as intelligent and sentient as an organic human, capable of thinking at much faster speeds at the expense of being far more unstable; AIs have a built-in lifetime of seven years before they're destroyed, as they will start entering rampancy, a state of insanity in which an AI will think itself to death. AIs display a wide range of personalities and will fashion for themselves an avatar of their choice, ranging from a human avatar to an abstract cube, and so forth.
• MJOLNIR: The Spartan's signature power armor. MJOLNIR is noteworthy for two features: one, its shield technology is reverse-engineered from Covenant shields and is technically more advanced than theirs. Two, MJOLNIR suits possess databanks large enough to house AIs that normally can only fit inside of ships.
• UNSC Infinity: The UNSC's largest warship ever, capable of housing an entire city's worth of soldiers (though middling in comparison to the Imperium of Man, the Infinity is about the size of your average battlecruiser). Originally designed as a last-ditch effort to preserve humanity should Earth fall, The Infinity possesses everything that humanity was able to reverse-engineer following the Covenant War, including a much faster Slipspace Drive, shields strong enough to allow it to plow through a Covenant Assault Carrier, and enough railguns and nuclear missiles to give anyone a bad day. Like the aircraft carriers of today, the Infinity is a mobile fortress that allows UNSC forces to pursue long-term operations far away from UNSC territory. This thing was powerful enough to even force the Didact to retreat, so you know they're not fucking around.

Covenant Technology

The Covenant largely uses knock-off versions of Forerunner tech, namely spacecraft and energy weapons. Some iconic equipment they use includes;

• Plasma Sword: Used exclusively by a special class of Elites, the energy sword is the only thing besides explosives that can take out an energy shield in one hit, making it a terrifying CQC weapon.
• Gravity Hammer: The iconic weapon of Brute Chieftans, the Gravity Hammer exchanges the speed of the plasma sword for reach and raw power. It's capable of sending even small vehicles flying. Not a weapon to be trifled with.
• Scarab: The Covenant's heaviest combat walker, the Scarab sports a massive plasma cannon capable of leveling cities. It is controlled by a colony of worms similar to that used by the Hunters; killing the worms is the best way to cripple the walker. Even larger versions of the Scarab are used for mining, capable of melting right through solid rock in seconds.
• Energy Projectors: How the Covenant does Exterminatus. Most warships are equipped with a massive cannon designed specifically for turning a planet's surface into glass, vaporizing any water and filling any breathable air with toxic ash, ensuring anything not destroyed by the heat will slowly die out. The Covenant will spend days ensuring that every square inch of the planet is covered, just to spite humans. Though, it is also very effective at containing Flood infections as well, leading to the deliberate glassing of half of Africa after the Flood invaded.

Battletech and Halo

Taking full advantage of the resurgence of mech combat in video games and the currently crippled state of Battletech's videogame franchise, Halo 4 now includes a Shadowcat lookalike. Fear the coming "Halo did that mech first" cries from thirteen-year-olds everywhere.

Spartan stats

WS 4 / BS 4 / S 4 / T 3 / W 1 / I 4 / A 1 / Ld 8 / Sv 3+/6++

Composition

3 Spartans
1 Spartan - Squad Leader (Ld 9)

Unit Type

Infantry

Wargear

• MJOLNIR Armor
• MA5C Assault Rifle
• Combat Knife
• Frag Grenades (Offensive)

Special Rules

• At All Costs - As per their tactical doctrines, Spartans are combat veterans of independent action and deep infiltration missions. Spartans gain the Stubborn rule from the Warhammer 40k Core Rulebook.
• Shoot First, Ask Later - Spartans specialize in ranged tactics, and prefer not to engage powerful enemies head-on. Spartans will more often than not disengage from melee combat to use their ranged weapons instead. Spartans gain the Hit & Run rule from the Warhammer 40k Core Rulebook.

Options

• May Include up to 4 additional Spartan- for 13 points per Model
• Any model in the squad may take an Onboard AI for 3 points per Model
• For every 4 models in a squad, one model may replace their MA5C Rifle with one of the following:
  • M90 CAWS (Shotgun)...............................6 points per Model
  • SRS99D-S2 AM (Sniper Rifle)..................10 points per Model
  • M41 SSR MAV/AW (Missile Launcher)........15 points per Model
  • M6 Grindell/Galilean Nonlinear Rifle (Spartan Laser)....35 points per model
• Each Spartan squad must choose to be one of the following:
  • Spartan Is - Squad gain the Eternal Warrior and Feel No Pain USRs for 10pts per model. Role a d6 for each model, on results of 5+ the model also gains the Crazed special rule.
  • Spartan IIs - Squad gain +1 Ballistic Skill and the Split Fire USR for 4 points per model. The squad may choose to become an Elite Choice.
  • Spartan IIIs - Squad gain the Stealth and Infiltrate USRs for 3 points per model.
  • Spartan IVs - Squad gain the Hatred and Fleet USRs for 3 points per model.

SPARTAN ARMORY

• MJOLNIR Armor - Created parallel to the Spartan-II Program, the MJOLNIR Armor is a sealed system, capable of extravehicular activity or operations in toxic atmosphere. Weighing over half a metric ton, the armor's shell is constructed in overlapping layers of Titanium-A plating and highly durable ballistic alloys of remarkable strength. It has even been augmented with a refractive coating capable of dispersing a limited amount of energy weapon strikes. The Spartan gains a 3+ Armor Save.
  • MJOLNIR armor is equipped with a full-body recharging energy shield that was reverse-engineered from captured alien technology. The shield itself is utterly transparent and does not hinder sight in any way but briefly flashes a greenish-gold color when hit. The Spartans gain a 6+ Invulnerable Save.

• Onboard AI - All MJOLNIR Mk V models or better feature a complex crystalline matrix within their neural interface, which Cortana likened in structure to the computer systems of the Pillar of Autumn. An AI construct increases tactical awareness, provides an indispensable guide, serving almost as a co-pilot and navigator, and multiplies the Spartan's already phenomenal reflexes. A Spartan equipped with an Onboard AI increases their Initiative value by 1.

• MA5C Assault Rifle - The MA5C has an attached electronics suite that provides information on rounds remaining in the magazine, compass heading, and capable of wireless up-link with MJOLNIR systems for improved accuracy. Made of Titanium Alloy and Polymers, the rifle performs well in a variety of environments. Having a rate of fire of 650 rounds a minute, and chambering the old-school M118 7.62x51mm NATO Armor Piercing, Full Metal Jacket Rounds, the MA5C is fully capable of a withering barrage whilst even in motion or on a charge. Though lacking strength and stopping power, these rounds are designed to pierce most conventional ballistic body armor.
  • It has the following stats: Range 18" / Strength 3 / AP 6 / Type Assault 3

• M90 Shotgun - is a pump-action, magazine-fed, dual tubular non-detachable type weapon. It uses the Soellkraft 8-Gauge Magnum Shotgun Shell, a large round capable of phenomenal stopping power.
  • It has the following stats: Range 12" / Strength 4 / AP - / Type Assault 2 Rending

• Sniper Rifle S99D-S2 AM - aka the "SR System 99D-S2 Anti-Matériel", it is a semi-automatic UNSC sniper rifle that fires 14.5 x 114mm APFSDS (Armor-Piercing Fin-Stabilized Discarding Sabot, with a tungsten or depleted uranium core) from a 4-round magazine. As a sniper rifle, it is fitted with a variable-magnification optic that shows real time images in infrared vision when not looking through it. When looking through it, the scope shows a target's distance and elevation. The rifle is so powerful it even can be used effectively to fire at light armored vehicles.
  • It has the following stats: Range 48" / Strength X/ AP 4 (When firing at vehicles, the rifle adds D6 to its Armor penetration value) / Type Heavy 1, Sniper, Anti Material.

Anti Material: Shots fired from this weapon rend on a 4+.

• M41 Rocket Launcher - aka the "M41 SSR" fires 102mm HEAP (High Explosive Armor Piercing) shaped charge rockets. The launcher sports a 2x scope and can fire rockets over long distances with devastating accuracy, and its two launch tubes allow the wielder to fire two rockets before needing to reload. The rocket launcher spreads a huge amount of damage over a large area. It is capable of taking out entire groups of infantry at any range and is effective against most vehicles.
  • It has the following stats: Range 48" / Strength 7 / AP 3 / Type Heavy 2, Blast

• M6 Grindell/Galilean Nonlinear Rifle - The Anti-Vehicle Model 6 Grindell/Galilean Nonlinear Rifle (abbreviated AV M6 G/GNR) also known as the Spartan Laser, is the UNSC's first man-portable, shoulder-fired direct energy weapon.
  • It has the following stats: Range 36" / Strength 9 / AP 2 / Type Heavy 1, Ignores Cover

-Targeting beam: The Spartan Laser projects an obvious laser target, any enemy units that can, may choose to fire Overwatch at the firers unit as if it was the assault phase.

Spartans may take the M831 Troop Transport (M831 TT) or M12 Light Reconnaissance Vehicle (M12 LRV) as their dedicated transport.

Dedicated Transports

• M12 Light Reconnaissance Vehicle - 40 points
• M831 Troop Transport - 30 points

Armour (Front) 10 / Armour (Side) 10 / Armour (Rear) 10 / HP 2

Unit Type

Vehicle (Fast, Open-Topped, Transport)

Wargear

• M46 Light Anti-Aircraft Gun (M12 LRV)
• None (M831 TT)

Transport Capacity

• Four (M12 LRV)
• Eight (M831 TT)

The ubiquitous M12 and its troop transport variant the M831, are the UNSC's primary multi-role ground vehicles. They are used anywhere from scouting and reconnaissance to fast vehicle transport, forming an integral part of the UNSC's armored vehicle fleet for fifty years. It is a highly mobile, all-wheel-drive, all-wheel-steering, all-weather vehicle, capable of traversing all but the most dangerous of terrain. The M831 features a rear bed with an expanded seating compartment, while the M12 features a rear mounted anti-aircraft gun (the M46 LAAG) that can also be used against infantry.

M46 LAAG - The M46 Light Anti-Aircraft Gun (LAAG) is a tripled-barreled, electric-powered, linkless, belt-fed weapon. The LAAG fires the 12.7x99mm (.50 cal) armor penetrating rounds and can fire at a rate of 1200 rounds per minute.

• It has the following stats: Range 48" / Strength 5 / AP 5 / Type Heavy 4, Skyfire

- The M12 may choose to replace its M46 LAAG with a M68 Gauss Cannon for 35 points

M68 Gauss Cannon - Officially known as the M68 Asynchronous Linear-Induction Motor, this heavy weapon fires 25mm hypersonic speed projectiles via asynchronous magnetic acceleration. The kinetic energy of which is enough to pierce even the heaviest of armor plating or completely obliterate unprotected matter.

• It has the following stats: Range 60" / Strength 8 / AP 1 / Type Heavy 1

Independent Character

HQ: Master Chief Petty Officer John 117 - 170 points.

WS 5 / BS 6 / S 4 / T 3 / W 4 / I 5 / A 4 / Ld 10 / Sv 3+/6++

Unit Type

Infantry (Independent Character)

Wargear

• MJOLNIR Armor
• MA5C Assault Rifle
• Combat Knife
• Frag Grenades (Offensive)
• Cortana (Counts as On Board AI)

Special Rules

• Spartan II - The Master Chief has the Split Fire USR.
• At All Costs - As per their tactical doctrines, Spartans are combat veterans of independent action and deep infiltration missions. The Master Chief gains the Stubborn USR.
• Shoot First, Ask Later - Spartans specialize in ranged tactics, and prefer not to engage powerful enemies head-on. Spartans will more often than not disengage from melee combat to use their ranged weapons instead. The Master Chief gains the Hit & Run USR.
• Heroes Never Die - The Master Chief gains the It Will Not Die and Eternal Warrior USRs, in addition he may fire heavy weapons at full ballistic skill even if the unit moves but unlike the Relentless universal special rule he may only ever fire one weapon per turn.
• He May Not Be The Strongest - The Master Chief gains the Fearless USR and may re-roll failed saving throws of any kind.

May replace his primary weapon (MA5C assault rifle) with of one special weapons from the following list:

• M90 CAWS (Shotgun)...............................6 points
• SRS99D-S2 AM (Sniper Rifle).......................10 points
• M41 SSR MAV/AW (Missile Launcher)...................15 points
• M6 Grindell/Galilean Nonlinear Rifle (Spartan Laser)....35 points

Due to being at the forefront of many battles such as the battle of Requiem Master Chief Petty Officer John 117 may take weaponry not usually issued to Spartan teams, he may select a secondary special weapon from an extended list:

• Z-390 High-Explosive Munitions Rifle (Incineration Cannon).....55 points
  • It has the following stats: Range 48" / Strength 9 / AP 1 / Type Heavy 1, Blast, Ionizing.

- Ionizing: If a model suffers a wound from a weapon with the Ionizing special rule and before Feel No Pain rolls are made, the bearer rolls a d6, on a result of 4+ the model suffers Instant Death with no saves of any kind allowed including Feel No Pain, In addition Necron reanimation protocols may not be used on models which were removed from play by this special rule.

• Asymmetric Recoilless Carbine-920 (Rail Gun)...................20 points

It has the following stats: Range 48" / Strength 6 / AP 1 / Type Assault 1

Master Chief Petty Officer John 117 may choose to switch between firing his primary weapon or secondary weapon in every shooting phase; only one of the weapons can be fired per turn.

Codex: The Covenant

Surprisingly, Halo Actionclix figures make good Tabletop conversions for the Covenant, here seen a Scarab that looks like it could fit comfortably in the Apocalypse Game-type.

A bunch of people decided that the Covenant's tech and machines are pretty nice in a WH40K setting So "Codex - The Covenant" was made to implement them into the tabletop game.

Furthermore on the context on Halo. Whoever thought this was a good idea to send out what counts as IoM guardsmen against Killer Death Worms, Giant Spider Mechs, Killer Ewoks, Space Lizardmen with Lightsabers, Killer Wookies with Metal Shanks that go OMNOMNOM, Space Pirate Turkeys that also go OMNOMNOM and Giant Dinosaurs that goes HULK SMASH!; needs a shot to the fucking face. Then again, the good guys are the UNSC, not exactly famous for making good decisions. (As if the Imperium is much better when it comes to taking disregard for Human life to new and interesting extremes *cough "Chenkov" cough*. Besides, its not like the UNSC had much of a fucking choice when it came to the Covenant/Flood/Forerunner biology and tech being used against them)

Halo Fleet Battles and Ground Command? Fuck Yeah!

With the introduction of Halo Fleet Battles which is essentially Halo's take on Battlefleet Gothic, that is centered around the Fall of Reach which is like the biggest naval combat within the Covenant-UNSC fluff, some fa/tg/uys has apparently lost their collective shit due to the fact that this is the first time that Halo is getting a tabletop treatment (The Risk and Actionclix games although the models are nice, does not really count). Similar to most tabletop miniatures, the models coming with Halo Fleet Battles and its contemporary ground units comes unpainted which means you have to paint all the neely-willy details yourself, that and the fact that it comes with its own rulebook and stats has garnered /tg/'s approval. In fact, some has already decided to convert the models and place it within Battlefleet Gothic itself (Although how you will be able to adjust the rules to make it fair is going to be a nightmare).

Additionally, the set also comes with some kickass artwork depicting both factions leaders (Shame they didn't have Halo's answer to Creed that is Preston "I turned a Gas Giant into a fucking star just so I can stroke my massive ego" Cole) sitting on their respective armchairs. Although how they are going to balance the UNSC/Covenant (Since Covenant ships can no-sell their UNSC equivalents) is up to debate.

For the battles centered around the ground, Ground Command seems to be more feasibly plausible in fluff terms. What we know is that both factions are going to be incredibly dropship focused, meaning that the implementation and usage of dropships like the Pelican and Phantom are going to be crucial for tactical victory. Models for both factions are small enough to be converted into other tabletop games, although the UNSC personal are a tad bit taller than a Space Marine.