Terminals.

[shadowkhas]

Didn't see a topic about this (just searched topic names in first two pages), and I want to get some good talking going on this subject.
What theories do you have about the terminals and what they all say?

I'm going to add what I gathered from it... (by the way, I'm reading off of a transcript from http://halo.wikia.com/wiki/Terminals

Terminal 1
Ground action and the central government building...it first sounded to me like a Covenant attacking Humanity thing, but looking at the statistics at the end of that section, it sounds like a Forerunner/Flood war. If 1,318,797 civilian/42,669 military citizens make up 0.0006 of the population...that's DEFINITELY not Earth, by any stretch of the imagination (buildings aren't each 50-leveled [from what we've seen], there's still open space, etc, etc).
The 7 fragments of the conversation between the Librarian and Didact (L and D) are also definitely Forerunner. In this first section, the Librarian is scooting around the galaxy, finding every sentient species he can, "Indexing" it, and sending it through to the Ark by way of the "Maginot" line. Time to touch on a few terms here. "Indexing?" Could there be a possibility that the Indexes on the Halos be holding archived information of species that are within the range of that one Halo, and it's a backup copy of the actual species that are being sent through to the Ark? Also, the "Maginot" line. This was a defensive line in France built between WWI and WWII to protect from the Germans. This is also used in the fragment that shows under the segment you get when you activate the terminal on Legendary. "Maginot sphere." The wording of this is crucial, I think...the "line" could refer to a literal line portal, possibly rectangular, that is somewhere in the galaxy. The "sphere" is the Ark-side transporter, as evidenced by the line of the writer: "I left the [Maginot] sphere and entered contested space." Contested space seems to mean Flooded space, and the writer says that they're everywhere.

Terminal 2
The first part talks about Flood tactics, but the interesting thing is the sheer number of Flood. The forces are in the billions...imagine that.
Fragment 2 of the Librarian dialog. The Librarian says that he/she is as finished with indexing species as they can hope for, and begs Didact to activate the Halos (the "Array"). One interesting thing I saw when reading through these is that the Librarian refers to them as Guardians. So, "killed by the Guardians," or "killed by the Forerunners?"
This section's Legendary-only snippet is a conversation between MB.05-032. and LF.Xx.3273.. MB is Mendicant Bias, and the 05-*** code most likely means he came from the 5th ring, which is the one seen in Halo 2. This theory comes from the next terminal...

Terminal 3
A discussion between the 343 Guilty Spark and an unnamed entity, presumably a security AI. The parts in brackets refer to, in the case of "[Alexandria before the Fire]," the entity talking being a lighthouse, or a beacon of sorts. Then, it says that the Ark "also contains [bellows, crucible, castings]," which refers to a Foundry, that makes the Halos in the event of destruction of one.
Now there's fragment 3 of the Librarian's conversation. Didact says that the Mendicant Bias has been built. It's "a contender-class [AI] unlike anything we've[the Forerunner] ever achieved." The plan of the Forerunners is to attack the Flood, while the Mendicant Bias attacks Gravemind itself. Didact wants to run this plan of attack rather than to use the Halos, but the Librarian still says that the Halos are the best option, because it's a sure-fire victory. Then, the next section goes on about an AI (Mendicant Bias) transferring itself and messing with some computer systems, if I understand correctly. The last part is a conversation between Mendicant Bias and LF.Xx.3273. again, and it's too hard for me to understand it because of the breaks in the conversation.

I'm frankly tired of writing. I'll add the other 4 at a later time.

[GametagAeonFlux]

Planet Earth was the last planet to be investigated for sentient life by Librarian (a Forerunner). Upon investigation he did discover sentient life. He indexed them, and in his final hour he quickly constructed a portal to the Ark, and sent them there (Librarian had spent hundreds of years indexing every living being in the universe).

After that was done, he buried the portal without any sign that it had ever been there, in order to hide it from the Flood. Finally, he terraformed the Earth, so that when the Flood was gone, and his fellow Forerunners completed the Great Journey (read: repopulating the universe with the indexed lifeforms), they could return to that Eden (as he called it himself).

The Forerunners established a defensive line in space against the Flood, Librarian crossed this line when he went on his quest to index everything. The Flood just kept growing, spiraling outward, the most logical thing to do: expanding. Librarian's friend, 'Didact', was concerned about his safety, and kept begging him to come home (Ark), but Librarian remained strong and pursued his near-impossible quest to safe life.

Eventually, Didact couldn't stand to remain idle any longer, and went after Librarian with a fleet. Feeling sympathetic for Librarian and his ideals, he sought for a plan to defeat the Flood without firing the Halos, so life would be spared and Librarian's quest could be ended, forcing him to come home.

Didact then created an absolute super AI: Mendicant Bias. This AI would assist him greatly in battle against the Flood, the strategy was to lure the Flood masses into battle, while Mendicant Bias, with his super intelligence, would engage a mass of Flood forces, but also coordinate a sneak attack straight at the Flood core: the Gravemind.

Unfortunately, this plan could never succeed, as Librarian pointed out the 'thing' would simply retract and muster it's forces, it would do everything for self-preservation. Didact then used this 'retraction behaviour' to buy time, so he could go and retrieve Librarian and take him home. But Mendicant Bias, the AI, betrayed him. He returned with the Flood, and destroyed the waiting rescue party, separating Didact from Librarian. Didact was then forced to retreat.

Librarian then witnessed a disturbing behaviour from the Flood; they were no longer spiraling outwards. They moving in a stright line. Headed for the Maginot Line (Forerunner defensive line), going straight for the Ark. In his betrayal, Mendicat Bias had told the Gravemind of the Forerunner's plans, which would be successful in eraditcating the Flood.

To counter Mendicant Bias, Didact quickly constructed 'Offensive Bias' to hold him off.

When the fleet had returned, Librarian remotely blew up their Keyships (ships that were able to gain access to the Ark through distortion of time and space), effectively locking him out from the Ark, but the Flood also.

Librarian remained at the terraformed Earth, saying to Didact he had found a nice mountain where he could spent his final seconds, after that he had to stop communicating with Didact as the Flood had found every comm channel, and laughed at him.

Begging him to fire the Array (Halos), Didact finally did. And he had to go on the Great Journey without his beloved friend.

After the Great Journey, the Forerunners returned to Earth (the planet terraformed by Librarian), and remained there, giving birth to the humans that now populate it. They did not pass on their knowledge to them, because they felt it was their time to 'give in'. They had been an irresistible force in the universe for too long. As Didact said himself: "Nothing in the universe is unstoppable. As long as you push hard enough, everything gives". This no longer applied to the Forerunners, so it was their time to 'go'.

Credit goes to some dude from GameFAQs.

[shadowkhas]

Phooey.

[G.I.R.]

Skull Locations
Terminal Locations

:\

[GametagAeonFlux]

Skull Locations
Terminal Locations

:\

Neither of those have anything to do with this topic. We don't care about the locations of either, this thread is about the story told by the terminals.

[G.I.R.]

<_<
>_>
[/should have read through shadowkhas' post]