Discuss Anything

Thanks!

A few ideas I had that could make things interesting.

First, regarding the setting. Unlike the Halo 2 Gas Mine in which the Heretics made their stand, I think maybe this mine could be terrestrial, based over a massive canyon on an inhabitable planet. The initial approach to get in would involve ground transport, and punching through the enemy's small vehicular armada, since they have anti-air wraiths on deck. So, right of the bat we'd have some Mad Max action.

Second, the boss. He's referred to by a name that's somewhat incompatible with human language, but translates loosely into bullfighter. Thus, the operation itself could be called something along the lines of "Operation: TOREADOR." Sounds pretty good to me.

His name is Tuk Nitram. He's known for being particularly charismatic and strong, the descendant of a famous sangheili game hunter. Even without all his fucked up upgrades, he's a deft swordsman, and has killed at least four Spartans in single combat with his unusual, unpredictable and potent swordsmanship. He's very large for a Sangheili, and was blessed with sharp reflexes and intelligence. He commanded Jiralhanae and Sangheili alike, and was quite respected.

His fall from grace came when he made an attempt on the Arbiter's life. The Arbiter, aided by Usze 'Taham, was able to subdue him, and ordered him put to death. However, his head never made it to the chopping block. He was rescued by Jul M'dama's forces. Swearing loyalty, he fought on Requiem, where he led a devastatingly effective response team, killing several marines. However, he abandoned Jul's forces with a large following of Sangheili, believing Jul to be incompetent and beneath him.

He waged his own largely futile war against the UNSC, using hit and run strategies, and ducking or eliminating Marine and Spartan squads sent to kill him. He recruited pirates, Jiralhanae raiders, a rogue colony of spacefaring buggers, and eventually performed his greatest feat; he located and killed a San Shyuum who was sitting on a small cache of forerunner artifacts. He modified his armor, and revealing his new, terrible power, he gained the undying loyalty of his soldiers.

He staged a heist on ONI property, kidnapping a human allied Huragok, and took refuge in a Forerunner gas mine, nearby the wreckage of a Covenant Supercarrier of unknown origin.

Nitram is said to have located something of particular interest to the UNSC; a pod containing a single, living UNSC asset. A relic from Operation: UPPERCUT. Jorge-052.

The mission is simple. Eliminate Nitram and his lieutenants, retrieve the Forerunner artifacts installed in his Combat Harness, rescue the kidnapped Engineer, and locate Jorge's cryo pod.

Oh, and kill literally everyone there, if it's possible.

No pressure.

Sounds like House of Wolves' plot a bit. I can dig it. I really wish we could pull off a Destiny Collab, because Halo's kinda lost its appeal to me with all the "INTRUGE!" They try and throw at us. Destiny's universe is nice and open, like they want fan fiction to prosper.

Either way, I managed to get my phone working on the Database now, so I won't miss as much. Especially when I'm at work.

Since it sounds like John's the dungeon master here, I think I'll throw out ideas concerning the actual do of this Collab.

A few things: no planet cracking bombs.
Minimal vehicle usages.
Maybe usual breaks when one or more of us get busy? I can't write from work. I work with water.

A lot of these things stopped us from completing Collabs. May I also suggest a inventory system? With each post, we write in quotes the amount of ammo, ordinance, and other stuff? I don't like it when participants arbitrarily write "I'm out of ammo!" Because their bored or need more involvement from others.

We also need to fucking end it when it's over. A lot of times, I remember, we'd get to extraction, and never finish because it starts to drag on and get boring. We should have a post here or in the chat thing so someone can yell at people to move on.

Also, when I get home tonight, I'mma read all the newer stories and comment. We need more of that around here.

It's Kruger wrote:Sounds like House of Wolves' plot a bit. I can dig it. I really wish we could pull off a Destiny Collab, because Halo's kinda lost its appeal to me with all the "INTRUGE!" They try and throw at us. Destiny's universe is nice and open, like they want fan fiction to prosper.

I agree, but remember, we don't have to accept Karen's egotistical bullshit here. If there are things we don't like about the Plot of Halo, we change that shit. It's what makes this the Database Universe.

I mean, Blaine becomes the next Lord after Hood. That would NEVER happen in Canon, a Spartan running the entire military of the UNSC? People wouldn't stand for it, especially with the whole thing against S-II's now.

Besides, if all goes well with this, I will gladly DM a Destiny Collab. We just need to get this out of the way first.

A few things: no planet cracking bombs.
Minimal vehicle usages.
Maybe usual breaks when one or more of us get busy? I can't write from work. I work with water.

A lot of these things stopped us from completing Collabs.

1- Love those Planet Cracking bombs, especially when they get dropped on a team in the middle of exfil. God I love it when my Military decides they can't wait to press the big red button!

2- I agree, any and all vehicle usage would likely be from support characters. Perhaps if Air Support is needed, I can have Josh/Phil/Morgan piloting a Pelican/Falcon/Hornet for added Support.

3- Breaks will always be a must, however, we need to dedicate some time to this. Week long breaks are what have killed previous attempts at Collabs.

I'd also like to add an idea that may help the progression of this whole project. One of us, perhaps the most active on the site, should act as the 'DM'. I know the individual may not write the characters in a way that is correct, but if we break for too long, the DM should step in and narrate for another person's character to keep the flow going.

That way, the turn moves on to the next person, but one character isn't magically drifting a month behind everyone else. I'm eager to hear your thoughts

.May I also suggest a inventory system? With each post, we write in quotes the amount of ammo, ordinance, and other stuff? I don't like it when participants arbitrarily write "I'm out of ammo!" Because their bored or need more involvement from others.

We also need to fucking end it when it's over. A lot of times, I remember, we'd get to extraction, and never finish because it starts to drag on and get boring. We should have a post here or in the chat thing so someone can yell at people to move on.

I agree with this.

I'm not DMing, I was just presenting that as an idea for a plot. I'm kinda burnt out on DMing.

I could take the role if you want. I'm usually on the database anyways.

Yee. Morgan, you do it.

It's Kruger wrote:May I also suggest a inventory system? With each post, we write in quotes the amount of ammo, ordinance, and other stuff? I don't like it when participants arbitrarily write "I'm out of ammo!" Because their bored or need more involvement from others.

We did that before, I believe. Or at least I did, along with, like, maybe two other people present? There were enough of us doing it that it was a thing, I know that.

Anyway, I'm putting together a small thing. A sort of Diary written by Dr. Bailey from the time she was selected to assist with the Headhunter program as a medical professional, R&D specialist, and handler, to now. It'll set in stone how my characters lived, and it'll be interesting to explore Bailey's brain and write from her perspective as she slowly changes from a yuppie who's good with medicine and a stylus, into something close to a mother.

It's shaping up kinda like that thing I did with Famine a while back.

So, look forward to that. Or don't.

Someone get Manny on the horn.

He hasn't said anything during this whole thing. He could be busy, but I'd hate for him to get left out just because we didn't inform him what was going down.

Sounds alright. In terms of writing, I'm sort of unsure what I want to do anymore in the Halo universe... Assuming I want to keep writing in it. Although I kinda like some of Karen's stuff. The Elites and Humans being all buddy buddy immediately after the war never made sense to me. Tensions should still be high by all means.

Anyeays, if I join, it'll probably be as some vanilla Spartan IV. Just a heads up.

You know, my retcon only really affected my particular characters, people. I didn't white out the Legion or anything. o_o

I was hoping you'd throw Manny into the mix. This could be the start of recultivating all that good stuff. Especially since the mission brings good 'ol Jorge back into the mix.

Hell, the tensions between ONI's goons, Del Rio's influence, and the Spartan IIs could put War in a pretty sinister position to start recruiting Spartans. That ol' dog loves to capitalize on fear and loathing.

Actually, I had a realization a while back. I focused too much on Manny having some sort of Face-Turn, when to be honest, he's way more interesting when he's evil. Lol.

I'm aware that if I want the Legion to exist, then it will. No worries there John.

The question I've been pondering for a long time is whether or not I want to keep doing Halo stuff altogether.

If I do, I decided a long time ago that Manuel would more or less have not gotten to know anyone outside the Legion until the events of Halo 4. So a radical change in character relations there.

I'll be perfectly honest, in the newest iteration of Blaine's story, he actually never met Manuel until about Halo 4 era. So that works out well for me.

I also hear you loud and clear Manny, the Universe is pretty dead considering what's been done to it. But also remember that we have the power of creative license to mold the Universe to what we want. Just cause the Elites/Humans are pretty buddy buddy in canon and in Blaine's canon, doesn't mean that has to be the case for this collab.

In fact, Blaine could mention that he had a hell of a time convincing the Arbiter to give him details on this villain we've been concepting. Anything is possible, all we need is to try stuff. Hell, I was actually thinking of having Autumn take a part in this, I dunno just yet.

Whoops. I completely misread what you said, Manny.

I agree with your sentiment and Morgan's. My original thought was that this would be the first time the group worked together anyway. More than likely, John has only seen Blaine in passing, and has spent the majority of his career working with his small unit of Spartans pulled from Beta Company.

Precisely what John said, it's a new group coming together. Blaine, having shot up the ranks as much as he has, has unfortunately not had as much time to meet with other Spartans. John was likely passed in the Infinity.

Any interaction between the both of them has been pretty limited. In fact, I believe he's only had interactions with his small group *being Josh, Phil, Darryl, Morgan, Autumn*, and the Spartan IVs he trained. If you are interested in this, Manny, I'll start up the discussion/planning topic.

There you can decide who you want to bring in, if it's someone new, you can post a bit about him/her.

Go ahead and make the topic whenever you can, dawg, so we can start organizing.

Not to imply that Manny's consent isn't central to this endeavor, but I'd like to get a few things set and ready to go!

Go for it mang.

I'll help you guys out with this one way or another. The only question is what character I'm going to use (i.e. Manny or a generic Spartan IV).

Two side notes.

1) I don't think Halo is dead per say. It's just that I've been out of touch with all the new lore coming out. Maybe if I get back into I'll find that spark again. The reason I don't do much with Destiny is because Destiny's lore is pretty barebones. So perhaps if I find something to sink my teeth into with the new Halo development, I'll be more motivated.

2) John, do you write anywhere else? I miss just sitting down and reading your stuff, no matter the content. I'd like to follow your work, regardless of where it is.

Huh. I never mentioned this? I write a bit on Fanfiction.net. Here's a link.

https://www.fanfiction.net/~badjohn

Haven't done much with it lately, but if I ever finish "Halo: Invective," I'll bring it over here. For now, fret not. I'mma be making short drabbles to carve out the Database Specific canon. :P

As for lore, I'm not a fan of Karen Traviss's stuff, but there has been a lot of cool stuff to arise from the lore as well. The comics, and the new book Hunters in the Dark come to mind.

Usze 'Taham is a fucking badass. I always wondered what happened to that guy. I love The Arbiter's elites.

Well, John. The Mantle of creating a database cannon has always rested on your shoulders.

When will this be set. Time wise? Because I have a whole write up of the plots for Vance's new story done (finally) and just after the events of Halo 4, Vance and John work together. It's a rewrite of that old story I had a year or so back when John, Vance, and Collin beat the shit outta those A.I.

So, since Vance will never really meet people outside his own circles, other than John he won't know anyone of y'alls really anyways.

I leave your characters absent outta love. I never feel that I can represent them well.

Either way, Vance will be there. He'll be an ass, defy orders he finds lame, and lose SO many pieces of armor. (Jk)

I'm starting to get a better grip on chronology in the Halo universe. Let's say it takes place around 2559, several months after the Requiem Campaign. Not sure when Halo 5 takes place, but that seems like a safe time.

Actually, I just looked it up. Blue Team's story in Halo 5 begins about eight months after the Requiem campaign, so we'll say early 2559.

Alright sweet.

Doesn't Halo 4 take place 4 years after Halo 3? So if the Human Covenant war was over in 2552/3, then shouldn't Halo 4 be in 2556/7?

Spartan Ops was apparently 6 months after Halo 4's campaign. So 8 months after that would maybe put us in mid to late 2558?