unforum

[princeofthesword]

[spec/questions] about Servants, interactions

[clamatius]

It's pretty clear that the Servant is the Spider, also known as the Widow. This seems to be fairly accepted at this point AFAIK.

See [URL=http://bees.netninja.com/wiki/index.php?title=Characters]here[/URL] for a list of in-game characters.

[princeofthesword]

Thanks for clearing that up, for some reason I was thinking that there was a mention in the Operator monologue about the Assassin and her servants or something. I could almost swear it but alas, fragile memories.

Yet still, does anyone else concur on a possibility of Dana being a help to contact Melissa? Not the SP, but Melissa? Do we even WANT to contact Melissa? There's just something (hah!) that we're not getting here. I know, but stick with me. Based on the Phase 3 text, perhaps the metal vessel found was the "air tight container" containing the Princess. We've got more AIs in here than we can shake a stick at, but perhaps the Princess is something more than Covenant or human in nature. Forerunner, we Halo fans immediately scream, some ancient AI of their's similar to the Sph't entity we awaken later in Marathon. Perhaps.

Based on the wiki (thanks, Clamatius, I do frequent the wiki though. Mental slip on my part) info I'm starting to feel that maybe the Princess is an AI or the like of a different sort, something from that capsule or whatever. We think Flea could be a Covie virus, or perhaps a defense protocol similar to Spdr, but maybe linked to the metal capsule? Notice Melissa doesn't like the Spdr much, why would the SP like the flea, even if it were her own program? Maybe smart AIs aren't too fond of autonomous programs.

Remember back when SP (?) was talking to us in the Killer text and she mentions "Your revolution comes (?)" or something of that nature when asked what happens the 24th? Why the sudden references in the Phase 3 texts of an Apocolypse? Perhaps the SP didn't have a better word for apocolypse than revolution? There's more to the story behind the capsule, and it might have more present time connections than we think.

Maybe some of our AI pals here are aware of the fact that they are in their past timeline, and that something bad is going to happen soon, completely separate from say a Covie invasion or something. A natural catastrophe or WWIII or who knows. Maybe this capsule was meant to be found, so it could be send the finder back to this time to avert it (too much sci-fi).

Agh, back to my original thought. What do you all think about organizing our mails to Dana and/or Ladybee777 more, rather than just posting "Well, I sent this," or the like. I'm not saying we're disorganized, I think it's great that we're keeping track of so much, I'm just thinking that perhaps we're supposed to help Dana interact with this more, and that we should act more as a "hive" ourselves in this. Throw thoughts around, my friends. Start pooling our mails and interactions, perhaps? I can't get past the feeling that we need Dana involved in this more...

[princeofthesword]

Late night thought, so goodnight everyone here. But first, to keep beating the dead trout, please think about how we could get Dana more involved in this. I'm thinking rather outside the box for the moment, but the pieces just aren't fitting.

Dana is our ONLY known physical human interaction in this. She's alone, scared, and doing her best despite it all. Now, think of it this way. We're at "I Love Bees." Folks, I keep feeling that we're Dana's hive, that she's our Queen bee. I don't know how most ARGs work, we've got puzzles to solve, things to do, etc. I've seen some great minds at work here, and it's really cool. But something "feels" different to me. I'm sorry, bear with me here and trout me if this has all been buzzed about before, it's late.

Now Melissa, she's the Queen. But where's her hive? The story said that her entire Kingdom was enchanted, save for the Manticore, Flea, Princess, and the Widow. She's technically alone. In a "bee" sense, she's a Queen Bee without her hive. I bet, especially if she's a smart AI, she's scared, confused, and pissed at being scared and confused, based on her military personality. Compare her situation to Dana's.

I can't get rid of the feeling that we need to get those two working together. Or at least talking or something. Dana feels alone, frightened. But she's not alone, we're her hive! We're here with her, but we're kinda doing our own thing, following the ARG format, so to speak. Forgive me, I do not in ANY way mean this disrespectfully. I've just been introduced to this type of game recently and it's a remarkable concept. I love what everyone's doing here, and we're analyzing the heck out of every puzzle, both logical and technical, that we've had thrown to us. But what about the emotional aspect of it? (bear with me.)

In Halo, we have a super soldier beating the crap out of the bad guys. He and his kind are our last hope against utter extinction. It's war, it's awful, and we play the game and get a thrill from it. We read the books and are even more involved with the human plight, the emotion. But it's the story of the human will! Bungie has pointed out that it's the drama of it, the human notion of the one against all, of the indominitible human spirit to try no matter what; that's what makes the Halo game/story so intriguing. To me, in this story, I see Dana, I see Melissa, and I see a lot of pain on both parts. If Melissa's a smart AI, she has processes that are akin to human emotion. Dana we darn well know is human.

I'm saying folks, let's be Dana's hive. Yes that's what we're doing, we're working together wonderfully and accomplishing much. It's a game. But perhaps in-game we're leaving out Dana a bit, our "queen." She ran off and left us, sort of, but in the wild when the Queen leaves the hive, the hive follows her to the new nest. (Metaphorically speaking) maybe that's what we need to do, or remember.

She's got a blog (conveniently an in-game set up to communicate with her right off the bat, and it's cluttered to hell with junk posts now) and she's got an email, that we're flooding. The poor girl's in China, scared, lot on her mind, limited resources. We all know we're thinking about her, showing our concern and willingness to help. I suggest we could pool our emails, let a thread decide what we should send, then have a mod or higher up send that to her. Save her time reading, let her know we're working together. Let her know we're her hive. Might give her time (or incentive) to post/mail more. I really think we need more cooperation with her, for her sake, and our own.

Heh, I'm sorry this is so long and melodramatic, it's late and my mind is rambling. There's just this nagging feeling that we're going about this the wrong way somehow. Please, wise and young, elaborate upon thy thoughts.
Humbly spoken: Prince of the Sword

[CoffeeJedi]

ok.... time to read Princeofthesword's novel..................

[sherpa]

princeofthesword:

Interesting and coherent. (If a little long!)

However -- I think Dana's a step ahead of you.

Email today shows she's communicated with the SP and is aware of us helping. (IMHO, at least).

Yes, we are her hive; I can't wait to see what the SP replies with.

(ed: fixed url)

[princeofthesword]

Heh, I am a bit long winded, you should hear me talk! or maybe not. But yeah, she does seem ahead of me, but thanks to all who read my stuff anyway. By the way, before my third post last night, I emailed Dana with nearly the same stuff. Last night, like 2:30 Eastern or something. Then this morning, before I got on here, I find four copies of the email we're all talking about. I'll move on over to the thread and post mine, and Sherpa, I'd be grateful if you can add mine to the wiki. I am just now learning my way around the forum, the wiki'd be a trip in the dark and I'd liable to break some stuff important. Accidentally, of course.

*Hands Coffee Jedi some mo' Java* Thanks!

Prince of the Sword