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November 21, 2003

Chris Barrett (chrisb_developer@hotmail.com) writes:

After thoroughly reading the story section, I was somewhat surprised by the belief that the Forerunner were a benevolent race that maintained a living Flood culture, possibly out of regret for nearly eradicating them. However, the very nature of everything we are presented whilst treading on Halo depicts a frighteningly contradictory image.

First off, we have the Sentinels and 343 GS. Why would a race so intent on the survival of the Flood (GS: "...their survival as a race was dependent on it. I am glad some of them have survived to reproduce", assuming that's the stance you take) focus on producing defense systems optimized for the purging of Flood Rangers, the most defenseless Flood form? This seems somewhat against commonly accepted Forerunner ethos. While I accept they probably used only in the event of an outbreak, aren't the Flood supposed to be maintained in a stasis-like state? The only possible cause of an outbreak would be the introduction of foreign vectors into the environment, something that was clearly not intended to happen (furthermore, the Sentinels are all but worthless against other forms of Flood. Why combat the Flood with weapons that are ineffective against their dangerous forms?). Furthermore, the Forerunner submit the complete authority and control over Halo and the Sentinels to an unstable and psychotic AI. Surely the Forerunner with their god-like technologies had experience with AIs, and could have anticipated 343 GS' erratic and dangerous behavior. Why allow a 'rampant' AI such a degree of control? What is concerning is if 343 Guilty Spark is in fact based on a Forerunner behavioral pattern, much like how Cortana et al are procured from human brains. A perplexing race indeed, particularly if most have a similar disposition to insanity as 343 GS.

An entire race of 343 Guilty Sparks. The mind reels.

This does bring up an interesting point about the Forerunner, though. The Covenant obviously worship them, and there is a perception that Forerunner technology is far superior, but GS is not the most stellar of examples, is he? Or, is he?

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