Halopedia:Oracle Newsletter/Writing Sample Folder

This is the Writing Sample Folder for prospective applicants of the Oracle Newsletter.

Note to applicants: Please post your own writing samples at the bottom of the folder, but also leave a copy at RelentlessRecusant's talk page. Thank you!

r1e2u3b4e5n6
Smart AI vs Dumb AI

As we know, Crotana is an AI. But do you know that she is a "smart" AI? Let's find out!

Advantage and disadvantages of smart AIs.

Smart AIs like Crotana cost extremely expensive to produce.However, they have a unlimited growing space. That means they can learn new things. Some smart AI are mainly made for special purposes(like crotana for hacking). They can do different tasks(like hacking, pilot warships,pilots). There is a problem, however. With unlimited growing space, they will literally think themselves to death! They only have a lifespan of 7 years, but, absorbing more information (overloading them) will make their life span shorter. They also have a higher chance of rampancy.

Advantage and disadvantages of dumb AIs.

Dumb AIs is "easy" and much cheaper to produce. They can usually only do 1 thing at a time. They also cannot do different tasks.Like warship AI usually can only pilot a ship; a teaching AI(Deja) will teach until it is destroyed. However, they can live very long, like Deja, who is still "alive" in 2550. That's much more longer then 7 years!

In conclusion, AIs aren't that good. But they still play a important part in the UNSC.

2401 PT
I, Cortana

We all know of Cortana. We hear her helpful voice in our ear, telling us of where something was, how to destroy something…and how to stop a 50 megaton Anti-Matter bomb from anilating the last hope for humanity. Cortana has been, no doubt, an invaluable help in the salvation of humanity. But, what happens after she is fed up with us? Would she turn our own guns against us? Would she let the Halos be activated so that she could explore the rings themselves? And what of the other A.I.s she comes across, when Cortana does indeed finally go rampant.

Halo and Marathon knowledge defines Rampancy as when, essentially, the enhanced self-awareness of a computer AI is achieved, causing a progression towards greater mental abilities and destructive impulses. The destructive impulses, however, are primarily caused by being threatened or harassed. Cortana does not necessarily display any of these ideas and lusts for power, but then again, she doesn’t have to. Her tool is Master Chief.

Think about it: the Chief is the one who inserts Cortana into the Halo main grid, where she is able to spread over vast amounts of machinery, and in addition to the amounts of knowledge the Halo stored, she could easily have gotten her first taste of Rampancy while locked in the Control Room for twelve hours. She even tells the Chief of how the “amount of knowledge is glorious” and she even strains to answer the Chief’s questions without aggression in her voice. The Chief is the one who then inserts her into High Charity, the Covenant Mobile Planetoid Capital. Bad move. Now, Cortana was able to acquire even more information, even more room to expand and grow in a new system. Rampancy could have happened here also. Supposedly, Rampancy is a thing most A.I.s greet after a long period of time. Cortana, with help from the Chief, practically had it shoved into her face on a silver platter.

A.I.s, when rampant, usually go about any means necessary in order to achieve their goals. Cortana is the lucky exception. She uses the easily manipulated and somewhat gullible Master Chief in order to obtain what might be her private agenda. She seems all too eager to be inserted into the Halo mainframe, and later seems anxious to get into High Charity. No speculation is necessary: her rampancy has been clearly shown several times, in the games and in the literature. She has done everything from disobeying the Cole Protocol (Halo: Battle of Reach) to risking the elimination of all life in the galaxy for a chance to expand and grow (Halo 2). The question is…

What next?

In the trailer, Cortana appears to be very fragmented and speak in an odd voice. Perhaps Rampancy has driven her to alter herself in ways she sees it. Perhaps, enraged by the limits humanity attempted to apply to her, or blinded by the anger that she is now stuck with the Gravemind, she will bring down the Hammar ( Don’t change that, it’s an inside joke) on humanity. Also, it appears that she has told the Gravemind everything she knows, from her knowledge acquired from the Halos, to all information on Humans, to what she had recently learned during her stay on High Charity. Will she help eradicate all life in the galaxy? Or will she reunite with the Chief to Finish the Fight once and for all? Either way, we have to wait until September 25 to find out. Make the right choice, Cortana.

Stryker
Battle of Onyx

The Battle of Onyx began when the Alpha Halo was destroyed by Spartan-117, otherwise known as Master Chief or John. On Onyx Spartan 3s were in a training session when Zone 67 erupted in gigantic earthquakes and dark clouds began to fill the sky. Lieutenant Kurt Ambrose lost signal with the 3 spartan teams in training and proceeded to the armory. He along with his fellow teacher Lucy proceeded to his house and retrieved his spartan 3 SPI armor. He detonated his Mjolnir armor due to the disadvantage it would cause his team as well as not letting the covenant enemies find the secret weapon against them. Saber team, one of the 3 spartan 3 teams. Ash, the leader of the team, found a strange robot floating around. The robot tried attacking his team and he ordered them to split up. The robot went after one of his team mates, who was backed up against a cliff, so Ash got the robots attention and ran off with the robot attracted to him. The robot asked him if he was a reclaimer, he answered no. The robot then came to the conclusion that he was an enemy and was about to destroy Ash with its laser when A rock found its mark on the robot and destroyed it. Ash led his team toward the armory due to his weapons only being training weapons and not having live ammo would led to the death of his team. The team ran into more robots and were almost at the armory, when a robot almost decimated the team. Kurt, Tom, Lucy, and Chief Mendez were there and helped Team Saber to the armory. Shortly after leaving for Zone 67, Dr. Halsey and Kelly landed on Onyx due to their ship having lost almost all sense of navigation. Then Fred, Linda, and Will landed on Onyx to help the spartan 3s. Together the group headed for Zone 67. All right I hope thats good enough. That is all my stuff I didn't look up anything from the actual page but I allmost forgot what the spartan 3 armor was but I remembered right about as I was typing in spartan 3s in the search.

next application:

Keth jumped down from his perch in the tree. He carried his MA5B assault rifle and 2 M-6 pistols. He wore his Red Mjolnir version 6 armor. The Mjolnir project was created by Dr. Catherine Halsey. So far the project had created 6 versions.Keth ran across a field full of grunts. Grunts are part of the alien army named the Covenant. The grunts, who were unaware of a demon running at them they didn’t raise their guns until Keth was 5 meters from them. Keth stopped short of them. He had a little surprise planted beneath them. He pulled out a detonator and said “See you in hell.” At this Keth pushed the trigger and ran away as fast as he could. The explosion of the land mines killed all of the grunts. Keth had set and primed all of the land mines earlier in the day.Keth ran all the way to the tree and climbed into his perch. The perch contained a SRS99C-S2 sniper rifle, communication equipment, and ammo. He had a data crystal for his AI Spike. Spike was waiting and asked for ID and number. “Spartan-010, Keth. Petty officer second class.” Spike asked him for his password and for the retinal scan. Keth typed on the key board spartans never die. Keth pulled off his helmet, he had brown hair cut short for the military limit. The scan was completed and Keth took up his SRS99C-S2 sniper rifle and checked his area for signs of enemies. Nothing came up on the scope but he checked his infrared scanner and saw 6 tall shapes. Keth smiled, he was going to enjoy this.



The elites walked up the hill. At the top sat a tree. The elite leader, Yuzock Kowmungie told his troops to spread out and take the demon as he was flanked. His scouts went toward the left, his rearguard took the demon’s flank, and one of hid bodyguards took the right. His other bodyguard, Uvong stayed in front of Yuzock and together they silently walked toward the tree. Yuzock was surprised when they got to the tree, he had figure the demon would have shot them already. He took the luck and kept going. He was so close to the top he could taste it. Then Uvong stopped, Yuzock asked “What is wrong?” Uvong turned around and replied “it is too quiet, either our fellow elites should be coming up or we should have a message why they haven’t come.” Yuzock checked his message display, the cold blue number 0 stood there staring back. He told Uvong to go and flank him as he waited for the signal he was in position. Uvong jumped down from the tree and slowly jogged to the other side. Yuzock waited for more than 15 minutes. It had been too long. Yuzock climbed over the edge and smelled blood. He held his gun aloft for fearing he was doomed to his brothers’ fate. He looked around then looked up and found himself staring into the tube of a sniper rifle. Keth had placed sensors at the bottom of the tree. None of the elites had arrived at the same time, so Keth easily took the all out with the silencer on his sniper rifle. Yuzock looked down the barrel of the gun and snorted. At least he would go down fighting.



Keth sat back in his seat on the Falcon’s Air waiting for the commander to summon him to the bridge. On the planet of Coral, Keth had beaten many covenant troops from invading for about 2 weeks. He was growing impatient. “Spartan-010 to the bridge please, Spartan-010 to the bridge” said the intercom. Keth jumped up and ran to the nearest staircase. As he walked, Keth thought about what he was having to do just to get back to his team. He thought about how killing all the covenant troops had been the easy part, now came the debriefing. Keth stopped at the top corridor and stepped inside the room. “Welcome to the bridge spartan” said a warm voice. Commander Fluff was a tall man with traces of red hair coming from his balding head. He had a rather chubby build and always had a great attitude. “Spartan-010, reporting as per your orders Sir” Keth reported. Fluff smiled he was always happy when Keth came onto the bridge. “At ease spartan.” Keth took his at ease position and listened to his debriefing. “Your new assignment is on Earth.” Fluff said. He wasn’t smiling any more so meant something bad was happening. Keth was surprised, why send him to earth? John was protecting earth and the surrounding areas. Fluff then told Keth about how the UNSC was losing and the secret spartan 3 project. Keth took it all in and smiled, he knew that the UNSC would need more spartans eventually. “Spartan 4s are the issue now. Earth is taking anyone to be spartans. We have about 10,000 troops ready to sign up and about 1,500 troops in training” said Fluff. He was all business now. Keth had a surprised look on his face; he hadn’t thought so many people would want to sign up. Fluff looked up from his roaming glance around the room. “The Falcon’s Air is at your disposal like always.” Keth went from his at ease position to attention. “With the commanders permission I would like to take the ship to earth.” The crew looked at him with a look of pride and determination. They all needed a break and going home would be the perfect time to get some r and r. “It would be our pleasure to assist a fellow officer” Fluff said with a grin on his face. Keth gave a small grin back realizing that he had left out the last part of his mission. Lieutenant Keth are you ready for your final mission before rejoining your team?” Keth took off his helmet and replied. “Lieutenant Junior grade, Spartan-010, ready for duty.”

Swearingmonk
Warthogs Through The Ages

Warthogs have taken many shapes and sizes, from the rare rocket Warthog to the stylish Civilian warthog they have certainly filled many roles. Instead of going through every single variant individually I will go through each game.

HALO: COMBAT EVOLVED

Back then the warthog was a slippery beast, the brakes didn’t work very well and there was no horn, but this made it all the more fun, the gun seemed to deplete shields much more quickly but it was married with a slightly slower rate of fire, it’s a shame that you couldn’t use it very much because the AI then was too primitive to drive you around (they seemed to like ghosts though).

HALO: PC

Halo PC introduced a new Warthog, the rocket warthog! Instead of having a machine gun it had a triple barrelled rocket launcher identical to the one hold able by the player. In theory it would be kickass but on the battlefield (multiplayer only) it was virtually useless, the gun was hard to aim and you had to wait an inexcusable reload time. If they were clever (Halo perspective) they would of made each barrel reload individually as soon as they were fired so as the cycle finishes, it would already be prepared to fire. The Rocket Warthog is a rare variant; there is no doubt as to why.

HALO: CUSTOM EDITION

Halo Custom Edition was madness, you could pilot anything from Tachikomas (small bug-like vehicles with a Mortar and a machine gun) to Longswords, The Tiny-in comparison Warthog seemed underpowered in almost every aspect. Some inventive user-created variants evolved such as; the Flamethrower Warthog, the Snow Warthog, and even the guided missile Warthog. Whilst these were very cleverly made, against the giants in this game they were pathetic.

HALO 2

The Halo 2 Warthog had much more realistic and controlled handling. The gun seemed to have lost its shield crushing powers and was focused more on raw flesh piercing, it had a higher rate of fire and seemed in a way less permanent. The Warthog was now completely destructible rather than staying pristine until it blew up. There was a new gun, the Gauss cannon, magnetically propelled and deadly against other vehicles. The Warthog also got an evil twin, the Spectre, it was the covie version and was practically a cosmetic change except there were two passenger seats and a dodgy plasma cannon on top, I didn’t like it very much but the boost function was very useful. In Halo 2 the passenger seat view had changed from first to third person which quite frankly, ruined all the fun. Aside from a few stat changes the Halo 2 Warthog was virtually unchanged.

HALO 3 BETA

In the Beta the Warthog behaved extremely close to the Halo 2 one (in my arrogant opinion it was much prettier though). I have noticed in fire fights the machine gun on the ‘Hog is more efficient than the hand-held minigun, winning almost every fire fight. There are bound to be more variants preparing to leap out at us. (Missile pod Warthog anyone?) The future is bound to be bright.

Spartytime
SPARTAN-IIIs vs. SPARTAN-IIs

For some time now, people have debated as to which is better Spartan-II or Spartan-III. Which has the better training regime? Which has the better equipment? Which one will survive? The dominant MJOLNIR is powerful, shielded, but can still be seen, while the SPI armor of the S-III's was built for stealth and short term use. Some say it's better to overpower your foe, others say why fight when no one can see you? All valid arguments.

Advantages and Disadvantages of SPARTAN-IIIs.

Since they were much cheaper than the original SPARTANS, they were able to widen the range of acceptable "volunteers" and not Dr. Halsey's specific genetic markers and can be used as "expendable heroes". An example of this is during the battle to destroy the Covenant refinery very close to UNSC space which is essentially a suicide mission. The 300 SPARTANS (possibly a reference to the ancient Spartans) are all massacred either by Covenant or in the explosion of the core except for 2. They were also given illegal changes to their nervous system to keep them fighting well past when they should have died, though this can give them nervous breakdowns.

Armor Systems

They have the advantage of camouflage but their SPI armor is terribly weak compared to to MJOLNIR and were not meant for extended use, making the wearer very hot and occasionally forced the occupant to remove his or her helmet. The armor was not shielded and the camouflage was not perfect. They are much younger being put in combat at the mere age of twelve.

Advantages and Disadvantages of SPARTAN-IIs.

They are much more experienced leaders and tacticians than the young S-IIIs. The reason their numbers were so few was because Dr. Halsey looked for specific genetic markers to ensure that they were the "cream of the crop." Specific markers for intelligence, eyesight, and hearing. Their main disadvantage is that they have been giving hopeless missions such as on Reach to defend the MAC generators which has whittled down their numbers to almost nothing, but.

Armor Systems

They have incredible MJOLNIR armor which is nearly unbeatable and also has the advantage of putting an AI such as Cortana to penetrate enemy systems and communications and is also shielded using similar technology to the Covenant's. The armor can stand up to several minutes of sustained fire from the enemy before the shield must recharge. Also, aside from giving the wearer superhuman strength, agility, and response time, the armor is also meant for long term sustained use thanks to internal temperature control.

Spartan-091
Orbital Drop Shock Troopers

Ever read Halo: The Flood? You know, the official novel that ties in with Halo: CE? If you have, continue reading, please. If you haven't, go read something else. Okay, now that we've gotten rid of the normal people, let's continue. I'm here to write about the ODSTs on Halo. You may be asking (if you haven't read the book and are still here): "Huh? There are ODSTs in Halo 1?" The answer to this question is yes. And now you may be saying, "091, you are lying! There's no dudes in black armor in H1!" Well, no, there aren't. But there are ODSTs. They are commanded by the cold Colonel Silva, the beautiful Lieutenant Melissa McKay, and the brave Sergeant Parker. Among their numbers are the infamous Private Jenkins and the hard-nosed Sergeant Avery Johnson. Now, why aren't they in black armor? Well, there could be several reasons. I will list a few:

1. The Pillar of Autumn had no ODST armor

2. The ODSTs' trademark armor is still in R & D at the time

3. Flying demon mokeys ran away with all of that shiny black stuff

4. The ODSTs were mixed with other Marines, and are actually never seen in the game

5. Those Bungie weirdos came up with the whole "black armor" thing after Halo 1

Well, either of these ways, ODSTs still rock. For more info on these elite Marines, head to the ODST page, or buy Halo: The Flood. (Okay, fine, borrow it from someone if Halo is a sort of secret fetish) This has been Spartan-091, for the Oracle News Network. Goodnight, Gracie!

HaloDude
Expanded Universe: Action Figures

This week's Expanded Universe article features the Action Figures produced by Joyride Studios. Figures were made for the first Halo game, and, after some popularity, also became available for the Halo 2 game as well. Figures included many of the characters from the Halo games. The Halo range included figures of The Master Chief, Sgt. Johnson, and other life forms such as Elites (in different rank colours), Grunts and Humans. The Halo 2 range featured the upgraded version of the Master Chief, The Arbiter, Flood forms, Jackals, etc. There were also Multiplayer versions of SPARTANS and Elites. All figures come with weapons and accsessories, including guns, grenades, and with multiplayer models, oddballs.

Echelon3
The Making of A Leader

Most people think that MCPO John-117 was always an extremely good leader and was always able to inspire morale in people. Unfortunately, that is not so. He was not chosen at the age of six for his leadership qualities, but for genetic markers, much like all of the other chosen children. Even when then-Lieutenant Keyes and Dr. Catherine Halsey observed John on Eridanus Two, one might suspect that he wasn't much of a leader. When they came upon the playground John was at he was playing a game of King of the Hill, keeping the hill very effectively, but shoving all the other kids down the hill rather forcefully. On his very first team-based mission, you can see how little leadership he has, and even how selfish he is. Their goal, as a team, was to ring a bell at the top of a pole by going through an obstacle course that had about 10 different ways of getting through. The first teams that rang the bell, all 3 people, would get dinner. The last team to have all 3 people ring the bell would go without dinner. John was the very first to ring the bell but his teammates, Sam and Kelly, ended up being last because John had abandoned them. Needless to say, none of the 3 got dinner. Once he realized that there was no way to get through boot camp without the help of his teammates, the 3 became friends and John really began to shine when he took leadership for the whole platoon in a mission where they were dropped around a mountain seperately with seperate pieces of a map that leads to the Extraction Zone. He took control and came up with an on the spot plan when he realized that the "guards" that were around the Pelican were not in uniform, and they attempted to hurt one of his squadmates, Kelly, whom he'd sent out as a "rabbit", military term for bait. At that, he organized a split-second attack, having his teammates throw rocks at them and subsequently pummel them. After Deja, their AI teacher, helped him pilot the Pelican back, CPO Mendez brought him back for what Mendez had thought would be punishment for ruthlessly attacking his guards. But after Dr.Halsey had heard the mission report and what he and his teammates had said, when CPO Mendez asked her what he should do about him, she stated, "Isn't it obvious? Make him a Squad Leader." The rest, as they say, is history.

Grievous797
I, Soldier

0952 hours

July 19th, 2010

Home of Vladimir Volkov

Los Angeles, Califonia

Vladimir Volkov, a now aging Russian scientist who during the Cold War worked with the Soviet Union, sat at his solid oak desk and began to look through his various files he had just procured from his vault.He was looking for one particular file however, one entitled "Project Gemini" which he worked on for researching.Volkov never knew what was inside the document for when he looked up from his files with victory for finding it, found his face in front of a shotgun barrel.Vladimir looked at the shadow holding it and saw someone familiar

Vladimir:You...

The person pulled back the pump of the weapon and fired.The "chink" of the shotgun shell as it clattered on the floor resonated throughout the office of the now dead scientist.The murderer took the file from Volkov's hand and placed it gingerly inside his briefcase and walked out the door of the office.The man stepped down the oak stairs that was now stained with the blood on the man's shoes, rounded the banister and walked out the front door.The man looked to his watch, made a adjustment triggering a mass of C4 charges and destroying the house and presumably any evidence of a murder.The assassin looked at the now smoldering ruins of the mansion and drove away.

***

01219 hours

July 19th, 2010

Home of Vladimir Volkov - Declared Crime Scene

Los Angeles, Califonia

Marcus Frederick stared at the charred fragment of wood that lay in his latex gloved hand.

Marcus:What happened to you?...

Marcus' boss John Shaffer sprinted up the debries ridden asphalt driveway and ran up to Marcus breathless.

John:What...The...Hell...Happened...Here...

John panted and regained his breath.He smoothed the wrinkled in his suit.

John:This don't look like arson, maybe a gas explosion?

Marcus pointed with his free hand to the piece of charred wood in his other hand.

Marcus:This wood was flash burned.A gas explosion wouldn't have done that.There had to be explosives involved.

John stared at the wood.

John:Mark, call CTU.Tell them to send a agent out here.NOW, we may have a terrorist threat on our hands.

Marcus whips out his cell phone from his right coat pocket and dialed the security code to CTU.

Marcus:Rick?Yeah,send a agent out to 617 Evergreen Hill.

***

CTU agent "Grievous" sat with his legs on his desk with his arm across his face.He was trying to get sleep,after all the night before was utter hell.12 kidnappings.Son of a bitch.He turned in his desk chair trying to get to sleep.Today was completly quiet no major crimes.The desk phone rang loudly.

Grievous:Dammit,they always get me when im asleep.

Grievous picked up the reciever.

Grievous:What the hell is it?

He listens.

Grievous:Oh...I'll be right there.

***

The room was engulfed in darkness,the only light the room had was from a cigar in a man's mouth whom was setting at a desk.The door at the end of the room opened with a creak and in came a man,in this particular man's hand was a document.The man strode in and tossed the document on the smoking mans desk, in a brief instant the words were illuminated in the glow of a cigar which read Project:Gemini. The man then spoke with a thick Russian accent.

Cigar Smoking Man:It is finished then,Sergei?

Sergei:Indeed.Where is my reward?

The Smoking Man pulled out a drawer and a gun was silently pulled out.The man held it under the desk.

Cigar Smoking Man:This is your reward.

The cigar smoking man swiftly pulled out a Ruger with a silvery sheen and cleanly shot Sergei in the forehead,leaving a smooth hole.Sergei collapsed to the floor.