Canon Fodder: Digsite ‘n’ Discourse

Welcome back to Canon Fodder, your monthly feast for all things fiction!

We’ve got some new Digsite lore, some Q&A, a new Armory Infinitum entry, a hefty round-up of community-created lore content, and more—let’s get right to it…

Last week, we dropped a new Digsite blog (go check out Digsite Deep-Dive!) which showed off what’s arrived with the modding group’s second release. As has become something of a tradition, there are certain aspects of this old cutting room floor content that works its way back into the Halo universe’s core canon.

Technically, this has been seen in a core canon source (namely, as an Easter egg in a single panel in the “Boot Camp” series of the Fall of Reach comic), but we wanted to give it a more formal debut…

The UNSC “shield generator ship” was originally conceived for Halo 2, bearing a similar profile to the Albatross troop carrier but on a larger scale. Here’s a look at a few never-before-seen concept sketches from Halo 2.

ENTERED SERVICE: 2552
MANUFACTURER: Watershed Division (refit)
CREW: 10
LENGTH: 322.5ft (98.3m)

Antaeus was a heavy-lift dropfreighter modified with salvaged Covenant shield generators. It served as an R&D platform to reverse-engineer capital-scale shield generators and methods of integrating alien technology with human power systems and ship architecture. The most significant changes to the ship were the installation of an upgraded fusion power plant and incorporation of four shield generators recovered from Covenant deployment spires.

The ship was ready for service in late 2551, but remained docked at the Concord shipyards located in Sol’s Oort cloud until the end of the war—though it was brought to operational standby during the Covenant siege of Earth. Various simulations tested the ship’s utility in ground combat operations, but the UNSC prioritized completion of the UNSC Infinity over putting more of these vessels into active service.

Every month on the official Halo Discord, there is a “Question of the Month” channel where we give the community prompts to answer. This month, the question is:

Someone who has little to no experience with Halo approaches you and asks, “So what is Halo about, exactly?”

How do you describe the story and the plot? Do you go for the overly simple “The Master Chief saves the day,” or do you get a bit more in-depth about things? What, to you, is the most important thing for someone to know about the Halo story?

Naturally, folks have a lot of different thoughts about topics like this, gravitating towards different aspects of the games and universe which essentially guarantees a variety of different answers.

Built for two or more players, Halo: Flashpoint brings the war games arena to tabletop miniatures, along with a range of classic game modes, troop types, and weapons. Discover an exciting game that’s easy to learn, challenging to master, and rewards cool thinking under fire.

Just the other week, Mantic Games streamed a painting challenge between themselves and the Army Painter to showcase the game and its miniatures. Check out the video below!

Choose whether to fight as Spartans or the Banished and prepare for the ultimate tactical tabletop experience.

We heard that you like Q&As, and while doing them in bulk is more of a rarity we felt that Canon Fodder would be a good venue to answer the occasional query that comes up in the Halo community that pertains to the story and universe—just as some of the issues of old did.

Sometimes these might be considered more “basic” questions simply pointing to where you may be able to find certain answers or elements of Halo’s story, other times they might pertain to deeper lore and be drawn from previous Q&As, but we hope this will be a helpful addition to our monthly feature.

OkYam7295: Which books have a focus on Elite characters?

The Sangheili are some of the most compelling lenses through which to view the Halo universe, and there are plenty of stories told through their eyes. Here are a few recommendations:

Set during the early years of the Covenant and the Great Schism that would shatter the alien empire thousands of years later, a Sangheili rebel group seeks to escape the rule of the Prophets in a Forerunner shield world.

The galaxy falls into peril under the looming shadow of Halo, forcing an uneasy alliance of humans and Sangheili—including Olympia Vale, Usze ‘Taham, and N’tho ‘Sraom—to journey back to the Ark.

The Covenant War is over, and Rtas ‘Vadum has grown weary of conflict—but the vengeful designs of a San’Shyuum Prelate calls the shipmaster to action once more as Sanghelios comes under threat.

OUTCASTS
Author: Troy Denning
Release: 2022

Arbiter Thel ‘Vadam and Spartan Olympia Vale attempt to recover an alleged weapon from the hostile world of Netherop that could turn the tide against Cortana’s tyrannical rule.

Gamestrider09: How did the Flood get aboard the UNSC In Amber Clad?

Upon arrival at Delta Halo around the mid-point of Halo 2, the Master Chief was deployed to take out the Prophet of Regret while Commander Miranda Keyes headed to the installation’s Library to secure the Index—the device that would allow the Covenant to active the ring.

Delta Halo’s Library, however, also happened to be where a quarantine zone had been established to contain a major Flood outbreak. Indeed, the UNSC In Amber Clad can be seen in the skybox during the mission Quarantine Zone in relative proximity to the gondolas that lead to the Library.

Upon securing the Index, Keyes is incapacitated by Tartarus and brought to High Charity—along with Sergeant Avery Johnson. From there, we can turn to what the 2022 edition of the Halo Encyclopedia tells us to fill in the rest.

“What remained of the ship’s crew valiantly defended it against the emerging threat of the Flood, but they ultimately failed. During the bitter engagement, the Clad was captured by the parasite and eventually used to infiltrate High Charity, ultimately proving to be a significant yet costly factor in the Covenant’s demise.”

Halo Encyclopedia (2022), p. 122

The Elutuzem-pattern long shooter—more commonly known as the stalker rifle—was a new weapon added to the sandbox of Halo Infinite. You’ve no doubt become quite proficient at using it over the last few years with aiming skills to match a Kig-Yar on Legendary difficulty.

Upon encountering the high value target known as Barroth, a Kig-Yar marksman, you can acquire the Stalker Rifle Ultra special weapon variant.

From his vantage point atop a clustered stack of alloyed pillars, Arch Khordat Barroth had a complete view of the surrounding terrain.

Barroth had been stationed in the vicinity of Riven Gate, an outpost that had been built to serve as a key control point for this local area of Oth Koronn, effectively locking in the remaining human troops that had scattered after the fall of their frigate that had become Outpost Tremonius.

Next to Riven Gate lay a great fissure, a trench that appeared to be a connection point for a series of struts which served as a “spine” for the ring’s reforming landmasses. And beyond, on the other side of the trench, lay a small island where one of the UNSC’s forward operating bases—designated “FOB November”—was now occupied by Banished forces. It was surrounded by a small lake which led up to a Forerunner beacon tower which continued to emit pulses of energy at regular intervals.

But as Barroth sighted through the scope of his stalker rifle, enhancing the magnification with his linked ocular headgear, he noticed something new…

The dirt track “road” was kicking up sand and mud in the wake of a human vehicle, within which he spotted a complement of five human troops and, in the driver’s seat, the unmistakable sight of a Spartan.

Though Barroth boasted an impressive kill record as a marksman, his skill and proficiency having granted him an initiation into the ranks of the Bloodstars, his sights had been firmly set on a coveted position within the Hand of Atriox, directly serving War Chief Escharum himself. For that, he needed to kill a Spartan.

“Prepare ambush!” He squawked through his native-link communications. “New prey, greatest human prize of all in vicinity!”

The Spartan would undoubtedly retake the UNSC base and Barroth would not interfere. This was an opportunity to observe the human warrior in action and hopefully see the accompanying lesser soldiers cut down in the firefight that was about to ensue. After that, there was no doubt that it would head back this way. He could alert Riven Gate… but why risk losing the glory of the kill?

Barroth once more sighted down his modified stalker rifle and waited for his moment to come.

We’ve got a plethora of amazing community lore-centirc content for you to check out this month!

That’s a wrap on this month’s issue! Be sure to check out all the awesome community content linked above, have your say on the Halo Discord’s question of the month, and get the latest Digsite release downloaded in MCC to try out all the restored content.

We’ll catch you again next month!