#unsc culture

[john-halo]

So do all the Spartans show up to the balls in dress uniforms or do you just polish the armor and hope no one asks why youre wearing a tank to a formal event?

Since the UNSC started making Spartan-IVs, I don't get away with that kind of thing as much anymore. Supposed to clean up nice and dress appropriately for a formal event.

Just because you can make MJOLNIR dance with enough experience doesn't make it a good idea. Sets a "bad example" for others.

So I'm told.

We haven't had much time for festivities in a while. Much bigger problems on hand than getting me in dress uniform.

[grif-hawaiian-rolls]

Random Chorus headcanons i wanna write out so i dont forget em, part 1:

-The average height of chorusans is on the shorter side of human average height- you have more people who are under 5’8 than over, and very few people who are 6ft or more

- the height skew is partially because of the gravity on chorus being slightly different from earth, not really enough to be Noticed especially in an age where artificial gravity and space travel are common but Enough to cause a slight leaning in the graphs of averages (chorusans also tend to be stronger than your average human from earth because of this too! Little wins)

-its also due to the food and nutrients available to the isolated colony at war with itself like thats a given. The people of chorus aren’t malnourished, mind, but the exact ratios of certain vitamins and proteins and shit weren’t in their “ideals” the way they would be for a more regulated inner colony or a even an outer colony with more consistent imports

-Andersmith is an outlier at a solid 6ft tall, and he knows this, and its part of why he works so hard to be Eloquent and Well Spoken, bc its hard for people to dismiss you as the dumb muscle when you talk like you have three degrees in literature (his in-progress history degree that got interrupted and put on hold when he joined the New Republic is Not related to this, he’s just Like That)

-The age range in the Federal Army of Chorus is a good 5-6 years older than the range in the New Republic— shocker, the rebels are the teenagers and young adults fed up with the existing system and challenging it while even the more sympathetic feds are older and working within the system to the best they can

-again, outliers are a thing but broad strokes, broad strokes

-the Federal Army has a ridiculous categorizing system and requisition forms for everything. Yes those two fed in s13 were being assholes to Kimball about it to bc they didnt have any respect for her, but it is a genuine thing (theres normally just the understanding of doing the paperwork later when a commanding officer snaps at you. They weren’t treating her like a commanding officer) Simmons would have drooled if he had seen it I think. It’s color coordinated!

-Lopez was the only one of the reds and blues who actually learned this system. Donut, Sarge and Wash all kinda half assed it and got either Lopez or one of the Feds they worked with to do the actual paperwork for stuff…. which is to say, Anton and Lopez did the paperwork, and Neko sat with them and translated Lopez’s spanish into english when he felt like it (the armory got really good at figuring out what the spanish words for certain weapons and munition were because Neko is half assed as a translator at best)

-theres actually a decent number of non-native english speakers on Chorus! The number of them that have spanish as their first language is… laughably small. Lopez cannot catch a break, sorry buddy

-French is one of the more common native languages, along side English! Followed by Italian and then Portuguese and Mandarin Chinese (theyre tied)

-Chorus has an insane pizza scene post civil war. Second only to the pastry culture. Grif would singlehandedly fund them both if he could. He certainly tries

-MRE and field rations like jerky are still pretty stable foods regardless of culinary exploits, because it’s both easy and familiar. Its gonna take a while for Chorus to get back on its feet in terms of self sufficient farming again, but honestly having access to the alien temples now really really helps

-Chorus adopts a bit more Sangheili/Forerunner culture than most human colonies because of said temples, and bc Santa is straight up helping them rebuild their government with President Kimball— plus as they are technically neutral, not part of the UNSC/UEC/whatever the fuck its called, they have a bit more freedom in how they deal with aliens diplomatically and politically (Tucker hates his job as a human-sangheili diplomat so much. He’s supposed to be retired damn it) (the alternative is leaving it to Santa alone though, so Tucker does it and just whines about it in true Tucker fashion)

-I’m a firm believer in Chorus having WACK wildlife, but also i think its funniest if its also like, a lot closer to earth than you’d expect??? Theres still like spider wasps that both bite and sting with a venom that paralyzes your lungs and you slowly suffocate to death— but their natural predator is just… a normal fucking bird. It looks like a big ass pigeon with gills, so the lung paralyzer doesn’t work on it or some shit idk

-SANTA’S TEMPLES ARENT THE ONLY ONES - look. Look. Hear me out. Santa’s true warrior temple system isnt alone, it just survived the best. Thats why it has such a weird range from like the PURGE to just Long Distance Call to Everyone to Interior Decorating. There were other temples that required a different “test” like the Gateway to gain access to them. The Great Key is still the skeleton key to all of them but not all of them demand a True Warrior of Strength and Clarity. Most of them are hella busted tho; and didn’t survive the tests of time but that just means theyre more prone to Shenanigans if you do find and trigger them

-Santa is hella integrated into a lot of Chorus’ tech. It wasn’t super intentional, honestly, but a lot of what they’re working with otherwise is outdated, gerry-rigged and field stripped to hell and back. Santa’s set up get referenced because it is the best maintained form of accessible (when he’s feeling generous enough to share blueprints and not annoyed with being roped into things that are Not His Job) tech to build off of as theyre repairing and updating infrastructure, and that overlap in how it works means he can really easily access a lot of stuff! Which would be concerning! If he cared. But he doesn’t so, no one has bothered to figure out a work around

-there’s also a lot of coding and programs that read and sound like Epsilon’s work because… a lot of them are? Theyre based on shit he left behind, both intentionally and on accident (look he meant to delete that one code but he just didn’t get around to it okay? He has other shit going on) and again even the ones that aren’t Epsilon’s doing, theyre built by chorusans to communicate with his and are often based off of his as a reference for how to make it work, so he’s part of Chorus now too in a way that’s really bitter sweet! He left behind more of a legacy than he ever realized

[incorrect-riordanverse]

Can you explain Palestine vs Israel. I have done my own research and still do not understand. From my understanding Palestine attacked Israel first, and this war has been going on for so much longer than just now. So why is it suddenly so important and how is Israel in the wrong?? Genuinely trying to understand since you are spreading news of the Genocide on your page.

hey so i cant really explain all the complexities and details in a singular tumblr post. i dont really know how much research you did if october 7th is your earliest knowledge of ‘attack.’ israel has been an apartheid state since 1948 and during that year they were downright deplorable to palestinians to get them to be conpliant. nakba is probably the most notorious case but there is more.

this issue is important because this is the first time we see such atrocities in mainstream media and online. Its so oversaturated with suffering that it sets a precedent for how the world (the general public in particular) reacts outside of politicians and activists. will we continue to care when we see other people suffer, or will we grow numb and desensitised? it’s important we don’t lose our humanity like capitalist neoliberalism would prefer. just because we live comfortable lives, it doesnt mean we should be ignorant to those who are suffering. in fact, we should inspect ourselves and ask whether their suffering lends to our comfort and vice versa (it usually does). for instance, many western countries are profiting from this apartheid, hence their support.

i’m not going to list through everything (plus i myself don’t know everything) but i can tell you where to go, and hopefully some others can add on to it.

for israel’s crimes against palestine since october 7th on the account of genocide i feel like south africa has done an amazing job putting together documentations of evidence against them in the ICC. you can find the full thing on youtube or online. some of the crimes include bombing and stopping aid trucks from reaching gaza, preventing women from giving birth by bombing maternity wards, bombing hospitals (there are now 0 active hospitals in gaza, whereas before october there were 36. this info has not been updated in the case) to prevent civilians from getting life-saving treatment, psychologically tormenting civilians until they lose the will to live (particularly in children), and so on.

of course please pay attention to palestinian journalists within gaza specifically— they will show you firsthand whats happening. there’s many apart of al jazeera. al jazeera has also done some articles on the history for you. here is one on nakba. amnesty also did a good job on explaining what an apartheid is.

theres also quite a few independent ones that have become journalists through this attack from israel. bisan is one of them if youre active on tiktok. noor harazeen is a journalist on instagram.

here is a link on how israel funded hamas to rival the plo

here is al jazeeras article on the cultural genocide of palestinians through bombing ancient historical sites and artefacts.

kind of seperate to all that but still related is how support for palestine affects other people. people are losing the jobs over supporting palestine (such as melissa barrera in scream). yemen, another third world country who has been going through crises such as food insecurity for years, has been suspended aid by the UN because it has been aiding palestine throughout the conflict.

The UN in general has been useless about calling for a ceasefire. The United States vetoed during a UNSC meeting because the USA sucks ass. you can look any of this up and they will come with multiple sources im just too tired to find something rn (i’m currently on vacay and heavily sleep deprived).

also general advice to not ask a percy jackson account but an account dedicated to spreading information on the palestine-israel apartheid because they would be able to help you more. yes, ive talked about it on this account but that doesnt mean i’m qualified to explain 75 years of oppression.

[banamine-bananime]

one thing that always perplexes me is how often i see takes on tucker where the work positions him as a great dad*, fluent in sangheili language and culture, and most of all, a great diplomat.

i'm not here to yuck anyone's yum and i, too, am absolutely transfixed and enraptured by this man's oscillation between "my one purpose in life is to constantly test the human limits of Annoyingness" and "sudden, shocking extreme competence with no warning" like a little Newton's cradle. like, i just spent 7000 words indulging myself in thinking about a version of tucker that listens a lot more to the "do whatever you gotta to protect the people you love and do what you think is right regardless of what people think" cartoon angel on his shoulder and less to the "that sounds hard i just wanna mouth off, jerk off, fuck off, and negg church" devil. i cannot throw stones and clearly i think that's a fun and valid interpretation of how his character could evolve. but evolve is the keyword there and it baffles me when this gets treated as the fact of how he immediately snapped into being as soon as he had junior, you know?

like. obviously tucker ended up doing some massively impressive shit as an ambassador in sandtrap. but that's because he wasn't being an ambassador, he was being The Final Girl in il/ct's slasher flick. getting trapped in a beseiged temple is, traghilariously, the best thing that could have happened for him in terms of being good at that job. if tucker were a pathfinder character he would have 18s in "dealing with your life suddenly being taken over by ancient alien religion bullshit", "surviving crazy shit through sheer spite and the adrenaline rush of pissing off whatever asshole has made it their life's mission to kill you this time", and "being the only person who knows what fucked up shit is going on while the rest of the bgc ignore you". he would have a 2 in "saying things that make people want to kill you LESS". de-escalation is not in this man's skillset. he cannot even handle being normal about human women. appreciating the intricacies of sangheili culture and politics, human culture and politics, and sangheili-human relations?

Tucker: People learn English all the time, it aren't that hard.

Church: Maybe you should try learning his language.

Tucker: Fuck that, we got here first, and that makes this a colony. Those're the rules, dude. Earth colony, Earth language.

Church: Tucker there's thousands of languages spoken on Earth.

Tucker: Hyeah, but only one that kicks ass. And that's the one we're teaching. English 101, remedial kick-ass.

i know this is pre-junior and doubtlessly, he is more interested in this stuff after junior (because junior's life does depend on sangheili politics and human-alien relations) and MUST be less dense about it after HAVING to do it as a job. like by osmosis at the very least something must have permeated his brain. but the gap between this^ and "knowledgeable enough to be an asset in this career, one people need at least one relevant degree for" is, uh, bigger than a few months between leaving blood gulch and being sent out to the field

sometimes i think about what a fucking trip it would be to be on the UNSC diplomatic team with tucker LMAO can you imagine how unpopular he must have been. a bunch of polisci and IR nerds like fists clenched shaking like leaves trying to restrain the urge to give this guy a swirlie because he cannot stop sounding like a fucking family guy episode while you're trying to, like, convince the warrior queen of some isolated Sangheili heretical sect to ally with the Swords of Sangheilios and the species they've been dead set on annihlating for decades. and also you know he's only an ambassador as like the weirdest most fucked up variation of a nepo baby. nepo forced interspecies religious incubator. the token chestburster virgin mary hire. the simultaneous Hatred for this guy making your job hell, the impotent rage of knowing that it is, actually, important that he be there for Symbolic reasons, and feeling sympathetic to him. you know part of why he's Like This is literally just because he's 20 and should be at the club but has had the year from hell and didn't ask for this. it's easy to forget that because he doesn't complain about any of the actually bad things that happened and just rolls with whatever crazy shit comes his way. complaining is reserved for being an annoying little bitch about petty shit.

ANYWAYS i'm not saying stop having fun with very competent versions of tucker. we're all just here to have fun. i just like what a weird combo of competent and disaster he is, as i interpret him, and i, personally, am incapable of interpreting him as being actually very good at his job as ambassador

*the only two options are not "bad dad" and "great dad". having an alien parasite non-consensually implanted in you by a manipulative fraudster to force his own involvement in a prophecy - oh and also their species is trying to exterminate yours - and going, "well, this baby didn't choose this, they're just a baby, and you know what? my baby. i love this baby unreservedly and unconditionally, fuck you." shows a capacity for love and forgiveness that's frankly fucking insane, both in the good-impressive way and the what-is-going-on-in-your-brain-and-how-did-this-kind-of-decision-making-not-get-you-killed-yet way. and tucker very clearly loves junior a lot and does his best - which, i want to reiterate, is absolutely wild considering the circumstances - but he wasn't ready for a kid, is bad at accepting responsibility especially for others, and the way that Things Never Stop Happening in his life mean he is really not very present. and it's not JUST because of things happening outside of his control - there were periods after season 8 and after season 13 he probably could have permanently reunited with junior and didn't.

[poisonheadcrabsalesman]

Tell me something Miller gave up

Do you ever think about media and stories reflecting the anxieties of the cultures that create them? Or how sci-fi sometimes predicts or inspires technology? Do you ever think about Halo and Aliens and Starship Troopers and disaster movies and real life and

I poured my brain out onto a page stream of consciousness style so it's a mess, but a fun, terrifying one I hope

hi

-

There's a lot of buzzwords people throw around. People saying one thing but meaning seven different things. The difference between sacrificing and giving up. Victory at any cost, pyrrhic, hollow. A play for time.

Sacrificing something is good and noble and for the greater need of the many. Giving up is cowardly and shameful. These words are black and white, most of the time. Other words like risk, are more complicated. A risk can pay off or it can put everyone in danger. A risk can be a sacrifice or it can be worse than giving up.

Miller's from a generation that doesn't know what it's like to live without war. To live without the threat of surveillance, both foreign and domestic, enemies listening in or sacrificing privacy for the greater good. Some planets get labelled with the words too, once they're glassed. As a kid, Jared thought it was strange to think anyone gave up their planet, their home, or that somehow the planet gave up. It was the bad guys.

The bad guys are scary and if they find you they will kill you. They destroy your homes and your way of life. They might eat you! They speak a different language and have technology that can kill you before you can blink. That's why you need to be careful and a good citizen. The UNSC is doing its best to keep the colonies safe, but if they would just listen then the bad guys wouldn't get them. That's why you can help be a good citizen and fight the bad guys. All you have to do is sign up when you're 16! You can be a marine or a pilot or drive a tank or maybe even meet one of them. The UNSC needs you, but also it is doing great on its own! The war effort requires everyone! But do not panic, panicking is weak and cowardly and helps the bad guys.

The bad guys are unstoppable, but also weak and stupid. They can't stop the UNSC's greatest weapon.

The Master Chief is a hero and he stops the bad guys. There are other Spartans too and they always win. They never give up. They never die.

Miller enlists. He works hard. He's an asset, not a drain. He won't give up.

The war ends. The news around Master Chief quiets. Miller becomes a Spartan IV. There's always still more work to be done. There are different bad guys now. Some of them look like him.

Miller learns that not every alien is a bad guy. There are asylum seekers on multiple worlds, even Earth. Refugee is another word for asylum seeker.

Miller's in an early enough class of IVs to become a mission handler. He works intelligence and planning. He keeps his head down and ears open. He learns more than he wanted. Sacrificing children. Giving up homes? Childhoods? Giving up requires a choice in the matter. He thinks about it. Sacrificing also implies a choice.

IVs have a choice. He was an adult when he signed on. To be a Spartan. He was still under 18 when he joined the UNSC but that's okay. He knows other Spartans who are in the same boat. Other IVs are older. They have even more skin in the game, they've been fighting the bad guys longer.

The bad guys have changed but that's okay because while they're strong they're weaker than Spartans and Spartans never die. Except Miller has lost Spartans. He's seen whole Fireteams wiped out in an instant. He's heard people dying on worlds a million miles from home for no clear reason.

The bad guys are there because the good guys- the UNSC - are there. Spartans are the UNSC's gun they point at the bad guys. Some of the bad guys are humans again. Some of the aliens are good guys. Why is there still a war? Why do they need Spartans for this? Manufactured conflict.

Sacrifice or giving up? Wasted or Spent?

[love-beyond-space-war]

(Anon who asked about Halo 5 thel) Or Thel'vadam from halo 2 who captured the marine at first before teaming up with the humans . It's up to you!

Why not both? We need more Thel content, lol! Hope this is good for you :) Sorry for the wait!

Thel 'Vadam (Halo 2/3) with Marine! Reader HCs

Synopsis: HCs of Halo 2/3! Thel 'Vadam capturing a Marine! Reader that begins before his alliance with Master Chief and transitions to what happens afterwards.

Content Warning: Romantic Pairing, Gender-Neutral Reader, Gender-Neutral/Male Pairing, Sangheili/Human, Kidnapping, Angst at the start, Religious themes, Canon typical violence, Mass death mentioned, Very brief mating habit mention for Sangheili but it's not graphic or anything.

Around the time of Halo 2, Thel is still fiercely loyal to The Prophet's Great Journey.

He's obsessed with the idea of proving himself again after his failures.

He has been stripped of his rank and branded a failure....

Sangheili value honor in their culture.

Disappointing The Prophets affects him deeply.

Your capture was most likely for information.

Thel's killed countless humans, you'd also be easy to kill.

Yet humans are also important in the activation of holy artifacts.

The Arbiter was sent through many suicide missions when he was still devout to the Covenant.

It would be hard to impress him in this current state due to you being UNSC and him being part of the Covenant.

In fact, your first meeting may actually be an attempt to kill each other.

Romantic feelings are hard to form if we're talking about Thel during Halo 2.

It would have to start fully developing near the end of Halo 2 when he leaves The Prophets.

However, things would start like this....

On a mission of his he finds you and pulls you from the group.

You're fierce and try to kill him.

Thel respects this fighting spirit of yours yet he still needs to kill you.

... but he can't.

Instead he knocks you out cold but doesn't give the killing blow.

His fellow Sangheili don't understand why their Arbiter is hesitating.

This is when Thel turns around with a proposal.

"We can use this one for information."

They want to question him but he ignores it, slinging your smaller body over his shoulder before heading to a Phantom.

I can imagine any sort of attraction he'd have to you is slow.

He keeps you as a prisoner meant to follow him around until he has a use for you.

Marines are much weaker than Spartans, this much he's noticed.

However he does respect the fight you give despite your disadvantages.

His attraction towards you starts as minimal respect.

You're still on opposite sides and different species, but he holds at least a little bit of intrigue towards you.

I imagine the interactions you have are often stilted and awkward.

Questions and threats are often thrown around, he often grows annoyed and sometimes you even show fear.

I feel things would become easier as Thel starts learning the truth.

Awkward conversations through a plasma cell soon become longer.

You're desperate for communication even if it's with your captor.

You don't give information about the UNSC, but you do offer small parts of your past.

You try asking about him but he often avoids the question.

He doesn't understand why you keep trying to be so friendly despite your situation.

Humans are capable of being cunning creatures, though....

Thel doesn't give into longer conversations at first.

Soon as he begins to stray from The Prophets during The Great Schism he relents.

As a result he begins to take a liking to you.

You are an interesting human to talk to, putting up bravery when encountering the enemy.

Most Marines just die by his blade.

But he likes this one.

Thel doesn't show signs of romantic attraction until much later.

When you're still a prisoner he sees you as a fellow fighter.

To show his respect towards you he defends you with his life.

The Flood, The Covenant, even his own soldiers won't lay a hand on you.

He's protective of you, which is the start of his feelings towards you.

Thel lets you go from being a prisoner when he decides to side with the humans.

He knows no apology will make you forgive him, but he tells you that you helped him see past the lies of The Prophets.

He wants to leave you alone but you still seem to stick around him.

The start was horrible... but now you still want to fight alongside him.

It's the least you can do for him being so merciful.

Thel would need time to ponder the idea of a relationship with a human.

The idea is so foreign, especially since he's slaughtered so many of them.

The two humans he's closest to has been Master Chief and you.

In fact, he's probably been more acquainted with you longer due to the whole prisoner thing.

Safe to say he cares for you because of that.

Even when the events of Halo 3 begin to unfold, you're still right there with him.

He wonders if you cling to him for protection?

Or do you really have that much respect for him, even after everything?

Seeing you beside him like a loyal companion does make him think... strange thoughts.

He doesn't see you as just a human anymore.

In fact, you're quite the marine, he wonders if you'll move up your ranks.

Thel most likely is not the first to confess.

Everyone sees you two around each other so there's certainly rumors.

Said rumors make Thel snap at whoever spreads them, but he does consider it.

Maybe you do like him in such a way... as foreign as that sounds.

You would most likely be the one to confess, which leaves Thel a bit stunned.

I imagine since he cares for the fact you stuck by him despite the circumstances, he gives it a shot.

You've proven yourself to be a skilled and loyal warrior despite your rank.

It's surprising to everyone that Thel has taken a Marine as a mate.

Thel does not care for their words.

You two have seen hell with each other, he's even dragged you into it.

The least he can do is stick by you.

Affection is different due to your cultures but he tries.

He embraces you like a human but duels for you like a Sangheili would for their mate.

He loves the abuse the height difference, towering over you only to pick you up.

Your relationship could not be sexual in nature, it would most likely be emotional.

This is because mating behaviors are so different.

I imagine kissing would be strange too.

You'd probably be the one to kiss his face or something.

Thel is defensive of your relationship.

If anyone questions it he shuts them down.

You and him are intertwined by this point.

He'd fight anything if it meant defending you.

Meanwhile you'd happily fight by his side.

[yanderes-galore]

I'd like to see a yandere concept of Reth from Halo: The Cole Protocol. Either romantic or platonic is fine.

Be patient with me here as I haven't read much about Cole Protocol in years so things may be a bit off! From what I remember Reth is a Jackal/Kig-Yar rebel that wants The Rubble for himself so I'm going to try my best :)

Yandere! Reth Concept

(HALO: The Cole Protocol)

Pairing: Romantic/Platonic

Possible Trigger Warnings: Gender-Neutral Darling, Obsession, OOC Reth most likely, Implied Human/Kig-Yar pairing but may also be Kig-Yar/Kig-Yar, Manipulation, Possessive behavior, Protective behavior, Abduction, Dubious companionship, Scenting, Bird-like courting.

I actually have not written for the Kig-Yar species before, my usual content seems to have been either human or Sangheili.

However, this species is actually really cool to think about.

Kig-Yar loyalty can be bought with the right price.

Think of them like space pirates.

They are attracted to loot and often trade if it benefits them.

Reth is a good example of Kig-Yar behavior.

He trades with the humans of The Rubble not because he likes them, but because he can track where humans go to provide The Prophets with information.

They are a selfish species that tends to scavenge what they can get.

They are also bird/raptor-like in nature.

Reth may show a more platonic type of yandere towards a human and a romantic type of yandere towards another Kig-Yar.

After all, this time period is when The UNSC and The Covenant are fighting.

Species involved with The Covenant don't dare try anything romantic with a human.

Maybe after the war, but not now.

If Reth did have some strange form of romantic feelings towards a human it's hidden well.

If you're a human you are working on The Rubble to conduct trade between the two races.

If you are Kig-Yar you work closely with Reth on The Rubble.

Reth has proven to like power and hungers for respect.

He and his forces have managed to keep The Rubble hidden for quite awhile.

He also has managed to hide an entire Unggoy army he's been breeding.

He's smart, crafty, and has ways to manipulate the odds on his favor.

He's more accomplished than your typical Kig-Yar I feel.

Most of the time he's very absorbed in his own plans.

An obsession would be secondary to him until he feels his plans are stable.

Kig-Yar have a tendency to group, like a pack/flock.

Reth may find himself naturally drift towards his obsession, with orders or deals.

He keeps conversation brief at first, but soon attempts to open up more in private.

I imagine Kig-Yar are possessive of those they deem as theirs.

Be it a group member or potential mate, I can see Reth snarling or growling at others who get too close.

While in Kig-Yar culture typically have the biggest shipmistress pick their mate, with Reth it's different as he's a powerful male Kig-Yar.

He's in charge and has gone against his shipmistress.

He doesn't really care about tradition until he gets to keep The Rubble.

I imagine Reth would be very bird-like when with his obsession.

He groups you into his fellow Kig-Yar even if you are human.

Reth would show you his nest sometime in his obsession, it would be quicker if you are a Kig-Yar.

We don't get much info on how Kig-Yar courting works based on what I've seen.

So I give you the HC of them courting like birds.

Shiny gifts, impressive displays of power and decorated nests, stuff like that.

Reth is not all that opposed to being close to a human but likes his own kind too.

Kig-Yar actually work with others well despite being seen as untrustworthy by many.

Reth would actually be really close with his darling, platonic or romantic.

He gives you weapons he feels fit your needs and treats you with respect on The Rubble.

Reth may be selfish like many Kig-Yar but he does try to keep you out of the way of danger.

Even when given the order to kill all humans on The Rubble, even if you are one he'll spare you.

No one has to know.

Reth would be possessive of his darling, probably even nipping at you/clawing at you to leave marks.

You may not choose him as a companion or mate yet Reth makes it happen.

I wouldn't be surprised it he kidnapped you to his nest, showing you his treasures and preventing you from leaving.

Reth doesn't show much care to anyone outside of his inner circle.

You're the only one he wants to push any further with.

So... just relax.

He'll scent you, he'll cover you in treasures, he'll be a good Kig-Yar companion to you.

Even if you tried to leave, he'll hunt you down.

Escape is futile since he has Unggoy and other Kig-Yar ships to track you.

Kig-Yar are good at tracking, too.

If he's attached to you and has already claimed you as his, he'll find you again.

Reth, like many Kig-Yar, is selfish...

He'll keep you with him on The Rubble even if it's the last thing he'll do.

[helix-enterprises117]

Like Halo? Look Into These:

So you're a massive Halo fan, but you're also looking to scatch your sci-fo itch by consuming material that's like Halo, yet you've no clue where to start. Say no more, I've got some recommendations for you.

Books

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card- It's better than the movie, the movie is doo-doo. Anyways, this book is bascially just the first half of Halo: The Fall Of Reach, which is Master Chief's origin story, but done in a much more in-depth way due to fact that Ender's Game focuses ENTIRELY on the hero's origin and pretty much nothing else. Just imagine Ender as John and it's basically just John's origin from the Fall Of Reach.

Starhammer by Christopher Rowley - This is a really DARK book, I'm just gonna say it right now. It follows a genetically-engineered superman named "John," who meets and befriends a cute Computer-AI girl, who he teams up with to fight a species of eldritch, zombie fungus-aliens. Any of that sound familiar to you? WARNING: This is a very violent book with pretty graphic descriptions of everything that goes on, read at your own risk.

Larry Niven's Ring-World - Pretty much where the idea of Halo comes from, this book is about a strange, alien ring-world planet megastructure that the heroes go on wacky adventures on. Other than the ring-world itself... this book pretty much is nothing like Halo.

Movies & TV

Starship Troopers - Though the original 1959 book by Robert Heinlein is the grandfather of all sci-fi, the movie that's loosely based on the book is closer to the marines and propaganda of the UNSC than the book is.

Firefly - Nathan Fillion plays Malcom Reynolds, who is basically just Buck (it's the other way around, actually). If Starship Troopers is the UNSC (in the form of The Terran Federation), Firefly is a show that's in the perspective of The Insurrectionists (in the form of The Brown Coats).

Aliens - Basically it's Halo: Combat Evolved from 343 Guilty Spark and onwards, with the Xenomorphs taking the spot of The Flood. Hell, Sergeant Apone is pretty much just Johnson.

The Mandalorian - Mando/Din Djarin is more or less Master Chief. It you want a show about a mysterious and stoic warrior who wears a cool helmet that he never takes off and battles aliens for a living, then this is it.

Soldier - My personal favorite of the movies that are listed, Soldier focuses on an old supersoldier struggling to live among normal humans after being ejected and abandoned by the evil military that created him.

Games

Destiny - Cliche, I know. But it's another sci-fi FPS created by Bungie that centers around a culture of warriors harnessing the power of an ancient entity to battle several different aliens at once. It's vaguely like Halo in the loosest sense.

Marathon - A much older FPS sci-fi game that was ALSO made by Bungie, Marathon serves as a precursor to both Halo and Destiny and the influences that Marathon has on both of the later entries is GLARINGLY apparent.

Helldivers II - Wanna be an ODST?

That's it, that's all; I hope that this list helps you satisfy your sci-fi/Halo itch.

[bloodgulchblog]

I know the uhh Charlemagne/matter of France theming (well some names at least. And maybe associating chief with ogier who carries Cortana and is said to return from his slumber when Denmark needs him most (him being in cryosleep until he is needed) but I'm new to halo so I don't know if there's more in the lore) is older than halo, starting in marathon, but somehow given the uhh Gulf war theming invoking stories of righteous paladins in conflict with Muslims looks a bit worse than in marathon. I'm convinced that wasn't intended but it is very in line with some other things so I wanted to ask what someone who knows a lot more about halo thinks about it

Laying aside my ruse of using a tone of written voice that makes me sound like I know what I'm doing, the truth is that most of what I have to say is: I was a teenager in the 2000s and even though I had rocks for brains and didn't know shit about shit, it was really obvious seeing the parallels between the UNSC vs Covenant war in Halo and the narrative being spun up in America about its enemies post 9/11. Not the realities of what America was doing, but the story it liked to tell itself about scary religious extremists besieging freedom blah blah blah blah blah.

Like, it's not 1:1 but it's just very obviously a story about space war that cribbed a lot of energy from what was going on in American culture at the time. It's the water those noodles were boiled in. It's why Kilo Five stuff with ONI playing kingmaker with the Sangheili in the postwar is so genuinely uncomfortable to me.

I wouldn't actually call myself a good source for this kind of analysis because, all told, I am actually not genuinely very knowledgable in the way I think I'd need to be in order to do this kind of thing good. I'm just loud, impulsive, and labor under the belief that I'm maybe funny sometimes.

[john-halo]

Are there military balls for the UNSC branches?

Yes. Spartans have one too, since going official in '53.

It's in January.

[oni-official]

I know we're allied with those elit- sanghelli now... but does that mean it's cool than I'm seeing some folks wearing their iconography??? I know someone who has the energy sword shaped tattooed on his arm!

ONI and the UNSC do not regulate how people choose to accessorise. It is true that some would call it in poor taste. After a generation of war, however, these symbols have come to mean something to many people. And perhaps a degree of cultural exchange is to be welcomed in this time of peace with the Sangheili.

[unimportant-ramblings]

Ramblings watches Halo

Season 2, Episode 1: Sanctuary (or quem patronum rogaturus)

Have you family Spartan? Have you faith?

In which I try to recall what happened in season 1, our characters are reintroduced (this time with more character), John MasterChief goes to the saddest brothel of all time while he and the show deal with the impossibility of serving two masters.

In 2022, I waded unknown water for my internet best friend @sonofcarnelian who had done the same for me with the likes of Frank Herbert's Dune and Bridgerton season 1 (two properties often paired). Readers of my posts will remember that I have absolutely no experience with Halo, aside from it's place in pop culture.

Therefore, we represented the core audiences they were looking to appeal to in season; big fans and no nothings. 

I enjoyed Halo season 1 a great deal, probably because I had no expectations beyond bonding with my friend. Even more surprisingly, I got both of my parents invested in it, and they liked it even more than me. Less surprisingly, both my beloved mutual and my brother, fans of the franchise already, were less impressed. 

Due to this, season 2 is in the same position as last season, but this time in reverse. Last season I wrote about how decisions were made to appeal to a wider audience; taking off that helmet, female characters and characters of color introduced (not that I know there are none in the games, I do not, I just know they almost always have them helmets ON), romance, we see JMC’s ass a couple times, human characters in the covenant etc. This season we are telling the established audience of video game fans that yes others are here, but we have not forgotten you. And I can not speak to the effectiveness of this maneuver, that is for my cohort, but I can speak to how they are attempting this balance. So far, the attempt is clumsy, but I have seen it done worse.

The first season began with Kwan as our POV character, a young woman from the planet Madrigal which was about to be overtaken with the Covenant, who are ugly cgi creatures, until she was rescued by John MasterChief and the UNSC took over Madrigal. I think. 

Season 2, aside from a cold open, which we'll get to, is this situation inside out. JMC and silver team (who consist of Kai, who has a little crush on JMC, but also got a very suggestive haircut in season 2 so we'll see and the other two who last season Did Not Matter) are on babysitting duty after the dramatic end of last season (they went rogue, John MasterChief had sex, his gf returned to being evil and died, it was a whole thing). We are then introduced to a group of religious people who do not want to leave this planet which is about to be glassed. Glassing is not a thing that happened last season, there was a ground battle on Madrigal, but after conferring with my brother who knows the games, this is much more in the fashion of what usually happens. Here we begin the three pronged status quo change which was deeply jarring to me but we're supposed to believe the show has always been like this:

The Covenant are the main threat: last season was about John MasterChief and his awakening as a full person, realizing that the people he served lied and manipulated him. While the covenant was present; Makee (ex gif) was covenant and they killed people, this was not the driving tension of last season.

Religion: again, the covenant were religious and Kwan had a family tradition, this season has religion as a central piece. Beyond connecting us to Earth (when that one foot soldier said he was a Baptist I was SHOCKED like baptist-baptists? Papist, we let baptist go to space?) I do not yet no the purpose of this, but it is interesting texture.

Secondary characters matter now: Last year the following characters mattered: JMC, Kwan, Halsey, Kai, Miranda, Makee, Soren and that is IT. And aside from those first three, their connections to John MasterChief mattered more than anything about them. Here we have bonding between Kai and Vannak (he has removed his pellet and has been very interested in animal planet, which is nice!) and as we go, our pool of characters continues to grow, as does their connections to each other. Hooray!

When questioned if JMC has family or faith he recommits to his team, both silver team and general ground troops. He goes off to see hey why the fuck are comms out and uh-oh sister, the convenant is here! prowling about, taking out their comms. Already, to me, the fight seems better but as we found out last year I don't know what makes an action scene good. The covenant at least look less uncanny valley. JMC teams up with Perez, the last of her unit, and just as JMC and Perez are overwhelmed and surely doomed, they back away, FOR SHIPPING REASONS MAYBE? because that is my girl Makee in the fog for real let's go Reylos let's go. He's hearing her voice in the shower girls!

We get another shot of JMC half dressed but it is not hot, he is way too ripped and it's like buddy! are you okay. We also saw him like this in the cold open where they ripped out Cortana and both John MasterChief and the audience are feeling her absence. We are also introduced to our new Halsey, His name is Ackerson and he gives Silver team the "I'm not trying to replace your mom" spiel, we can only hope that means he too is fucking Keyes.

Last season, I detailed a lot of ex Spartan Soren, his high camp wife and little son and oof it's not going great for them, and it's really boring. Soren, after being a good guy and helping Kwan, has lost favour with the pirates and ultimately gets super betrayed by his crew and a space cop who he should have clocked immediately because he talks like Samwise Gangee. Also Kwan is at Soren's house now and is scaring his kid in a cave. So that's fun.

Meanwhile Ackerson is trying to gaslight (glasslight? is this anything?) by step-dadding the hell out him with false concerns over his mental health and allusions to his lost gfs (Cortana, Makee and Halsey, who of course is also his mom love that). The party line is that JMC did not see the Covenant and is crazy. Silver team is out of commission and Cobalt team is being sent out like there is nothing going on. This makes JMC naturally very anxious so he GOES TO A DIGITAL BROTHEL TO HANG OUT WITH FAKE CORTANA I LOVE THIS SHOW. Love how the AI is insecure. Love he wears a hoodie. Love that we're giving Reach, and the population of Reach City some color with a Red/Blue light district. Good stuff

Time will tell whether the balancing of two audiences will work; my biggest apprehensions are about the quality of the character writing and balancing our subplots, but tbh? I will forgive all plot holes if they keep giving me high camp.

But what will my cultured friend say? I'm very excited to see!

In the mean time:

[n04s]

ok in My defense I didn't realize Halo was like, in the pop culture because of some TV show, I was just playing 360 games with my wife.

anyway that is to say the plot of Halo 4 is pretty interesting and even more interesting is Halo's idea of Rampancy. Honestly the idea is really solid--after a certain amount of time being a slave/soldier AI, the AI inevitably gets fucked up and mentally ill and, according to the UNSC (the obvious stand in for the US military) needs to be decommissioned for the safety of everyone. Now this could be a really good parallel to how veterans are treated after they leave the military and deal with PTSD, but instead the games (and the wiki. lmao) treat it like a natural part of life, similar to a biological clock. which is fitting to how a military WOULD treat it, but unfortunately there's no actual ... in universe realization of this. I REFUSE TO READ ANY NOVELIZATIONS

anyway that is to say apparently Cortana becomes evil in the 5th game and it could've been built up to something good but unfortunately it didn't, and in (imo) one of the saddest decisions ever, in Halo 6 they simply replace Cortana with another, newer Cortana, which ironically is her deep fear in Halo 4 😐

[authortobenamedlater]

How about 10, 21, and 32 for the weird writer asks?

From these weird writer asks.

10. Has a piece of writing ever “haunted” you? Has your own writing haunted you? What does that mean to you?

If “haunt” means to appear regularly in kind of a disturbing way, I have a love/hate relationship with Do Not Go Gentle (Into That Good Night).

And @sarnakhwritesthings ‘s Cortana the One Hundred and Seventeenth is haunting but oh so satisfying.

Some of my earliest fics haunt me because they were so bad 😂 but other than that none of my own writing.

21. Could you ever quit writing? Do you ever wish you could? Why or why not?

I have TRIED to quit writing but I just can’t. I have however gone through long dry spells. I hardly wrote at all from about 2011 to 2017, due to thinking I was too old for fanfic (🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣) and should only write original fiction now, and being generally unhappy with fandom culture. I’m still unhappy with parts of fandom culture but now I’m old and salty and do what I want. 😆

32. What is a line from a poem/novel/fanfic etc that you return to from time and time again? How did you find it? What does it mean to you?

I have a lot of these.

I’m just gonna link this massive page of Babylon 5 quotes even though it’s not a written work.

An underappreciated LOTR quote:

I hope Butterbur sends this promptly. A worthy man, but his memory is like a lumber-room: thing wanted always buried. If he forgets, I shall roast him. (Gandalf in his letter to Frodo)

BUTTERBUR HAD ADHD EVERYONE

Lastly, the final few lines of Bivouac of The Dead:

Nor wreck, nor change, nor winter's blight,

Nor Time's remorseless doom,

Shall dim one ray of glory's light

That gilds your deathless tomb.

I am one day going to work the UNSC Glory’s Light into a fanfic. I also have this headcanon that this poem is on a plaque somewhere on every starship/space station in all my most beloved sci-fi universes.

[poisonheadcrabsalesman]

While the Karen Traviss Halo books are really politically sus, I think it's amazing how much she made us (or at least me) sympathize with the Insurrectionists. Like, these are normal people whose lives and families have been stolen away from them by the UNSC, and want someone to answer for what they did. They're not even necessarily angry at the UNSC for being the government, but for what they've done as such.

Debated on how to answer this because other people have said it better than me but yeah. Karen Traviss sucks - as an author, and more importantly, as a person. I have skimmed some of her writing and I don't like that she got to introduce some admittedly cool ideas into another sci-fi universe she was paid to write for that she put her gross beliefs in while not giving a shit about the work of the people before her.

I honestly thought we were supposed to side with the insurrectionists a lot earlier but also I have to remember that people are usually pro-military when they engage with this franchise. I got culture shock recently hearing "officer down" in a game trailer and that was treated as a bad thing. I hear officer down and the grunt birthday party noise plays in my brain.

But back to halo. I don't really know what to say other than like my experience was feeling bad for folks since Reach, a game I did not enjoy as much as others, but Jorge going "they're farmers" with that strong empathy got me. I wasn't a halo book nerd until recently and even then I've read only a few. Halo wasn't political to me in middle school because I was in middle school. I played CE in third grade. It was a game.

Now as an adult with a brain I can go wow, the parallels. Wow, that's awful, but yet the message is the evil is necessary to maintain the status quo? hmmmmmmmmmmm

In my opinion it's less "not mad at the government but mad at their actions" and more "this is a system of corrupt institutions upholding each others' power as a hegemony". Halo is aliens and zombies and pink needle guns but its also black bags, child soldiers, and anything for the greater good. It's stolen lives and stolen corpses. It's the idea that the future society has further militarization, globalization, imperialism, and constant resource consumption at the cost of human lives and happiness.

It's these games being made in the 90s, 00s, 10s, and 20s now and reflecting and promoting certain sets of values from whoever is providing the investments.

This is a lot of words to say nothing exists in a vacuum and I think about video games as an art form, a story telling vehicle, and a medium to be both critiqued and criticized sometimes.

[darkmaga-returns]

We Will Avoid War with Russia and China, But Iran is Still on the Table

11 November 2024 by Larry C. Johnson 71 Comments

Well, there is good news and bad news. The good news? Trump appears serious about avoiding escalation with Russia and China. The bad news? Trump is staffing his new administration with pro-Zionists who are likely to press for a conflict with Iran. I refer specifically to Elise Steffanik, Marco Rubio and Michael Waltz.

Putting Waltz in as National Security Advisor is a mistake that I think Trump will come to regret because Waltz is an ideological hardliner. Appears to be no room for nuance. (I hope I am wrong.) Ideally, the National Security Advisor is supposed to be like the conductor of an orchestra, only this band consists of the military, intelligence and diplomatic bureaucracies. If Trump appoints strong personalities to those positions, we could see some ferocious internecine battles among DOD, State and the CIA.

Waltz served as an officer in the US Army as a Green Beret and saw combat. Unfortunately, he continued to argue that the US should have remained in Afghanistan. He does not have a cultured understanding of Islam. He also did some time at the Department of Defense while on military duty and hopefully learned some of the nuances of inter-agency bureaucratic warfare. Is he going to put his own beliefs in check and follow the orders of the Commander-in-Chief or will he pursue his own agenda? I’d feel a lot better if Doug MacGregor had been named.

What about Rubio? He is a climber. He lacks the intellectual girth to be an influential Secretary of State. He will be taking orders from the White House and, because he came out early for Trump, has proved his loyalty. Like Waltz, he is an ardent Zionist and not disposed to be friendly to Russia or China. But he is not likely to pursue his own agenda. He wants to sit in the big chair someday.

Finally, there is Stefanik. I don’t understand this appointment. Being UN Ambassador is not a power position. You take orders from Washington and you execute them. While she works directly for the President, in theory she is subordinate to the Secretary of State. If there is a big meeting at the UNSC, it will be Rubio sitting at the round table, not her. She’ll be on the back bench. My guess is that Trump wanted to get her some exposure on the international scene — maybe to position her to run for Chuck Schumer’s Senate seat. This is simply a resume builder.