#elites

[4gifs]

[snip-stein]

Mandible boys :))

[djlechat]

[commonsensecommentary]

“Given how often our nation’s elites today use their power and influence to rob us of our freedom of speech and rights to self-determination—because we are apparently not to be trusted to govern ourselves without their malign interference—we cannot continue to allow our current crop of misguided and deeply un-American leaders to remain in control of our nation and its vital institutions.”

[i-was-today-years-old-when]

i learned about Secessio Plebis which was a form of revolt first introduced in ancient Rome. When the ruling class of Rome would become too corrupt or unjust to the commoners, the commoners would band together, evacuate the entire city and leave the elites to fend for themselves (x)

[vieformidable]

Eitz Castle - Germany

The medieval Eltz Castle located in Wierschem, Germany, and built in the 12th century, has been owned and occupied by the same family for 33 generations (over 850 years).

[cobalt-owl]

So as some of yall know, back when Halo Infinite was first being announced and my scifi drive was in the high skies, I had played with the Idea of bringing the Covenant into Warhammer 40k tabletop by just playing them as reskinned Tau. Honestly I'm getting a bit worryingly close to doing so again!

Despite the fact I have nine necrons, three of which are vehicles, and half an eldar warlock left to paint I'm very hesitant to start a new army.... buuut if I were to start with a combat patrol would that be so bad?

With tau Drones being little more than "tokens" I figured I can remove them as long as I have a representative such as a jackal Sargeant with a Plasma carbine pointing at something to symbolize a marker Drone attached to the Sargeant.

Grunts with plasma pistols are tau with Pulse carbines

Jackals with plasma carbines are tau with pulse rifles (I know the pictures have the wrong guns but I couldn't find right picture and I didn't have the files on hand)

The Missile pod thing for the tau squad is a heavy grunt with a turret

The Etheral is just a Prophet because all they do is float around and tell people what to do

The rest kinda self explanatory, Stealth elites are Stealth suits, fireblade is an Elite Major (might swap that to a minor since he'd still be leading a squad of Grunts/jackals and I don't think the files I'm gonna use has the proper sized elite generals yet)

[holyshonks]

Arbiter and Sangheili render and armor concepts

From The Art of Halo 3

[blackswaneuroparedux]

Noi fummo i Gattopardi, i Leoni; quelli che ci sostituiranno saranno gli sciacalletti, le iene; e tutti quanti gattopardi, sciacalli e pecore, continueremo a crederci il sale della terra.

Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, Il Gattopardo (The Leopard)(1958)

We were the Leopards, the Lions; those who'll take our place will be little jackals, hyenas; and the whole lot of us, leopards, jackals, and sheep, we'll all go on thinking ourselves the salt of the earth.

[halopedia]

Sailing Ship Saturday — Sangheili galley

This ancient Sangheili maritime vessel made use of oars and sails to navigate the treacherous oceans of Sanghelios at some point prior to the species' formation of the Covenant alongside the San'Shyuum.

[spaghettibastard]

sangheili

[halobirthdays]

Happy birthday to Shipmaster Voro Nar 'Mantakree!

Today is his -464th birthday!

'Mantakree was stationed on the Covenant heavy cruiser Incorruptible when the Prophet of Truth abandoned High Charity during the Flood outbreak on the Holy City. Simultaneously, the Great Schism had just begun, with Sangheili and Jiralhanae forces engaging in battle while also beating back the Flood.

The Incorruptible was caught in the midst of the chaos. Its shipmaster, Tano 'Inanraree, was a zealous believer in the Covenant faith, and was overcome by religious fervor. He believed that the Flood were a Forerunner creation, and, as such, were also sacrosanct. He ordered the crew to submit to Flood infection rather than attempt to quell it.

'Mantakree, recognizing his shipmaster’s insanity, slew him. Luckily, the rest of the crew agreed that he did the right thing, and he was elevated to shipmaster of the Incorruptible.

'Mantakree was one of the thirty shipmasters who spoke to Imperial Admiral Xytan 'Jar 'Wattinree after the dissolution of the Covenant, making him one of the first Sangheili leaders in the Great Schism. Like 'Wattinree, he maintained his faith and distaste for humanity.

Thus, when he intercepted a message from Cortana and learned that a Spartan was responsible for the destruction of a Halo, he was promoted to Fleetmaster and tasked to pursue them to Onyx, which had the dual benefit of ridding 'Wattinree of a potential rival. It was a lucky break: seconds after 'Mantakree left for Onyx, Admiral Whitcomb's NOVA bomb would detonate, killing 'Wattinree and most of his fleet.

Upon arriving at Onyx, the Sentinels became hostile, and 'Mantakree and the ships under his command would face fierce resistance from the shield world's defenses. 'Mantakree pursued the Spartan team with his troops into a Forerunner facility, where he would eventually discover a mortally-wounded Kurt Ambrose.

'Mantakree was about to honorably execute Kurt with his energy sword, but fell into his final trap. When 'Mantakree approached, Kurt remotely activated FENRIS nuclear warheads, saving the remaining Spartans and killing himself, 'Mantakree, and his entire legion.

He is survived by two brothers--Y'zaht and Delo, who currently serve Sali 'Nyon, regarded as the leader of what remains of the Covenant.

[jloisse]

Comment on a fait pour se laisser dominer par un groupe de satanistes pédophile de franc-maçons ?

[commonsensecommentary]

“Having a talent for singing, acting, or dancing is not indicative of either deep thinking or elevated personal values—it is typically, in fact, precisely the opposite. Those who make their livings by being suggestive, outrageous, and flamboyant are very often damaged attention seekers who can be quite entertaining but should very rarely—if ever—be a source of personal inspiration.”

[thevoidable]

I would just like to take a moment to talk about how the Bungie era of Halo games are a fantastic lesson in environmental storytelling. 

Most players will often blast through the campaigns, as the gameplay typically comes first and the abundance of enemies and mission objectives gives the player a sense of urgency, but that’s not a bad thing. Humanity is fighting for its life, after all. However, the games actually reward you for taking your time and paying attention to the world around you, unlocking incredible story details that nine times out of ten will leave you with a chill running up your spine. 

The level 343 Guilty Spark in CE (classic, not anniversary; the new graphics are a sin to that level) is obviously the most famous example of this - the level constantly builds up atmosphere and tension, and it is so cleverly designed that many of the small details are actually difficult to miss.

And then you have other examples (some more subtle than others), like the footprints surrounding the human bodies in the first level of Reach, the Mausoleum of the Arbiter visible in the distance from a room near the end of Cortana in Halo 3 (which is coincidentally where the Arbiter then drops in to help you if you’re playing solo; some nice hidden foreshadowing), and even the factions warring with each other on Gravemind in Halo 2.

However, I’d like to turn your attention to ODST, where the environmental storytelling is arguably at its most abundant.

Recently, I have been replaying through each of the games with the intent of doing the aforementioned: taking my time, exploring the levels, and resisting the urge to rush ahead. While doing so, I’ve noticed many things that consistently evaded me in the past, like neat little conversations between the troops or alternate pathways that lead to unique weapons or enemies, things that just add to the replayability of these games. 

However, on my replaythrough of ODST, I stumbled across a tiny detail that, in the grand scheme of things, is no surprise if you know the plot of Halo 2, but the way it was intergrated in the environment is what made it so impactful and made me appreciate it that much more.

Now, the entire premise of playing as the Rookie IS to explore the environment and find out what happened to your squad via clues left behind, so naturally his levels are filled to the brim with detail. Everything around you from the damaged buildings and vehicles to the various messages left on walls by civillians paints a clear picture of what the carnage in New Mombasa was like - but upon looking closer, you end up discovering a darker side to the conflict, hidden away in shadowed corners and behind walls.

In Halo 2, your most prominent enemy fighting through the streets of Old & New Mombasa are the Elites - they appear in every single encounter either commanding ground troops or piloting vehicles. They’re everywhere, and there’s not a single Brute in sight.

But as soon as you drop into ODST, it’s the exact opposite: the Brutes are the ones leading the charge and doing the heavy lifting, and there’s not a single Elite to be seen fighting alongside them. So, what happened to them? Where did they go?

While travelling to a supply cache, I noticed an interactable door that I didn’t recall entering before, and inside was a familiar sight: a dark interior with scattered bodies of both human and Covenant, an expected battle zone. Upon reaching the other end of the building, I discovered another door, one that led out into a courtyard, something else that wasn’t unfamiliar to me. However, I was immediately greeted by this sight:

Two Huragok floating in the vicinity, but strangely by themselves. Instinctively I retreated back through the door so I could check the map for the placements of the other enemies - except there were no other red pings. Confused and on guard, I inched back into the courtyard to scout it out myself, certain that this would be some kind of ambush and the enemies would spawn after the Huragok spotted me...but nothing came. Seeing as the Huragok weren’t doing anything to me, I let them be and got a better look at what they were circling: a ring of stone monoliths covered in glowing glyphs.

Now, anyone who has played the game will notice these glyphs popping up very frequently, often as markers to help guide the player to important places, and they are accompanied by symbols in each third.

Anyone who knows anything about Huragoks will know that these symbols are a part of their language, designed to tell “stories”. 

But, upon first inspection of the glyphs on these monoliths, they were devoid of any symbols, and it felt eerily...empty.

And then I got closer, and I saw the first body.

At first, I almost brushed it off, because Covenant bodies are not exactly rare. But then I stopped, and remembered that I hadn’t seen a single Elite this whole time. And if the first one I’ve found is already dead, what about the others?

Well, remember how I said “first” body?

The other was lying not too far away, also accompanied by the empty glyphs. 

In the quiet ambience, things started to click for me. It was easy enough to deduce that the empty symbols must mean death, or at least something related to it, but why for some random Elites? What about the thousands of other bodies that littered the city? At first, it didn’t seem like I would get an answer, but then I noticed something odd on the stone above the second Elite.

Snaking up the monolith was a rather brutal breadcrumb trail, and behind it, the only symbol present in the entire courtyard.

Sometimes, it’s easy to forget that large-scale events are happening elsewhere in the galaxy. ODST takes place several hours after the Prophet of Regret flees Earth through the slipspace portal, and with the knowledge of Halo 2′s story progression in mind, ODST gives us a glimpse into just how early the Great Schism was actually planned by Truth. With Regret gone, it wouldn’t have been long before Truth gave the order to the Brutes to kill all the remaining Elites on Earth.

The Huragoks, slaves to the Covenant, witnessed this betrayal first-hand, and were subjected to even worse treatment now that the Brutes were in charge.

So, they gathered around the fallen Elites...and gave them a memorial. These deaths were not accidents, they were not collateral damage; they had meaning, a story, one that deserved to be seen and remembered. So the Huragok would mourn them - including Virgil, whose symbol is the one we see on the monolith. This memorial is a message.

A message to the humans that they are not the only victims of the Covenant.

And this isn’t the only Elite memorial site either - it wasn’t long after stumbling across that one that I found another:

This one shows that it was ALL Elites that suffered, not some random minors who didn’t have the skill to defend themselves. There’s a major and an ultra lying amongst these bodies, and I’m sure there are other sites like this hidden throughout the map too.

Like I mentioned before, the Elites being betrayed are no surprise, we been knew about this since Halo 2, but the way this is revealed in ODST does an exceptional job of making you feel for these Elites all over again, and Arbiter’s presence wasn’t even required. It just goes to show how talented Bungie is at doing so much with so little.

Anyway, this ended up being much longer than I expected, but I really just wanted to gush about how much I fucking love the detail in these games and the experiences they give.