Halo: Shouldn't Earth Be Dead?

[Soviet Heavy]

This is a nitpick I know, but shouldn't the Earth be annihilated at the end of Halo 3? Cortana says that High Charity is on its way to Earth, and it later shows up traveling through the Portal to the Ark.

Which means it had to enter Earth's atmosphere, and when it came through the portal, parts of it were breaking off like crazy as the thing was barely holding together. Wouldn't some of those spores have fallen off while it was at Earth? Wouldn't the Flood have attacked anyways so that they have a backup in case High Charity was destroyed?

Can any Halo buffs explain this one to me?

 

[scorptatious]

From what I remember, the covenant were glassing the parts where the flood have landed after the first flood level in that game.

 

[AJax_21]

Man it's been years since I finished Halo 3 but from what I remember wasn't Africa the only place totally screwed after all the fighting. I figure the rest of the world is fine but the earth levels that Chief and co. were in must be a goddamn wasteland by now from the flood and convenant glassing.

 

[Saviordd1]

The covenant were burning anything the flood so much as shat on so it'd be fine. Beyond that the food level is really low, as there are only 300,000,000 survivors on Earth. (Which is really small when you come right down to it)

 

[ChupathingyX]

Yeah, I think the areas that got "infected" by the flood were glassed by the separtist fleet.

But I could be wrong.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

The flood ship that hit Voi was glassed, but High Charity was on its way there, and it would have still needed to travel through Earth's atmosphere to hit the Portal.

 

[TheSapphireKnight]

I believe High Charity did a separate slipspace jump to the Ark that was different from the portal. Which was probably the main reason why it was so much more messed up when it arrived.

That is what I understood anyway.

Even if it did go through the portal the gravemind would have had all the time it needed as it was outside the range of the array and could still return throught the portal if it had won.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

I believe High Charity did a separate slipspace jump to the Ark that was different from the portal. Which was probably the main reason why it was so much more messed up when it arrived.

That is what I understood anyway.

Even if it did go through the portal the gravemind would have had all the time it needed as it was outside the range of the array and could still return throught the portal if it had won.

Except that Cortana explicitly said that High Charity was on its way to Earth, and Hood said he would stay behind to hold off the Flood until Chief and Arby found the solution beyond the Portal.

 

[Terminate421]

The flood ship that hit Voi was glassed, but High Charity was on its way there, and it would have still needed to travel through Earth's atmosphere to hit the Portal.

Not if it used slip space to get there

Don't forget that humans were using any method to stop the flood on earth, as well as any covenant separatists, hence there ability to have the war memorial and such after without need for protection.

 

[Tupolev]

Can any Halo buffs explain this one to me?

There are a few theories. Some people interpreted some stuff said in the terminals to suggest that the Flood withdraws and centralizes itself totally without contingency plan whenever severely threatened, but it's a massive stretch, and doesn't really make sense in light of what the Flood is. (And doesn't make sense in light of the fact that they probably should consider Earth a thread to them anyway, since it's not exactly "far away" or friendly when you're through the portal.)

There are several things about Halo 3 that don't really make sense. Here's an even bigger one: why don't the allies actually do much? Why did the marine and elite forces chill outside when you raid the citadel? Why did everyone except the FUD take off after Truth was killed, rather than stick around to defeat the Flood?

 

[Dandark]

I think the elites glassed all of the flood landing sites, as in glassed whatever country they landed in. So im pretty sure that they probably got all of them.

 

[skywolfblue]

The elite separatist fleet wasn't on earth when the High Charity went through the portal. They all went with the Master Chief.

Lord Hood and a few UNSC vessels were still around, but I highly doubt they'd have the firepower to glass Africa AGAIN which is what would be needed after High Charity passed on its way to the portal.

Can any Halo buffs explain this one to me?

There are a few theories. Some people interpreted some stuff said in the terminals to suggest that the Flood withdraws and centralizes itself totally without contingency plan whenever severely threatened, but it's a massive stretch, and doesn't really make sense in light of what the Flood is. (And doesn't make sense in light of the fact that they probably should consider Earth a thread to them anyway, since it's not exactly "far away" or friendly when you're through the portal.)

There are several things about Halo 3 that don't really make sense. Here's an even bigger one: why don't the allies actually do much? Why did the marine and elite forces chill outside when you raid the citadel? Why did everyone except the FUD take off after Truth was killed, rather than stick around to defeat the Flood?

Agreed.

 

[Trivun]

This is a nitpick I know, but shouldn't the Earth be annihilated at the end of Halo 3? Cortana says that High Charity is on its way to Earth, and it later shows up traveling through the Portal to the Ark.

Which means it had to enter Earth's atmosphere, and when it came through the portal, parts of it were breaking off like crazy as the thing was barely holding together. Wouldn't some of those spores have fallen off while it was at Earth? Wouldn't the Flood have attacked anyways so that they have a backup in case High Charity was destroyed?

Can any Halo buffs explain this one to me?

Here's the established canon, which can be checked through Halo 3, ODST, and the novels and comics Uprising, Glasslands, and certain short stories from Evolutions.

- The Flood took over High Charity, as a result the San Shyuum (that is, Prophets) have been reduced from a population of billions to mere thousands (those who were off-world at the time of the games).

- High Charity crashed on the Ark, now inaccessible thanks to the closing of the Portal at the Mombasa Installation.

- The Ark is located a massive distance outside the Milky Way galaxy.

- Some Flood spores did fall from the crashed city-world, on Earth, however because of where High Charity exited slipspace and entered Earth's atmosphere this was limited to parts of Africa, nowhere else.

- Sangheili (Elite) ships tracked and destroyed the fragments and glassed parts of Africa where the Flood were located.

- Therefore, there are no remnants of the Flood on Earth. However, the Sangheili were chastised for the lives lost due to their glassing, but it was accepted that those lives and more would be lost anyway if the Flood had escaped the purge.

- The Flood on the Ark were all wiped out by the firing of the incomplete Installation 4A (the replacement for the one destroyed at the end of the first game). This also destroyed the ring itself, due to its instability.

- That blast didn't affect anywhere else, since being outside the galaxy (thus in the great intragalactic void) meant the range was too small.

- Regarding Earth, most of the planet was attacked by Covenant, but not glassed, because the Covenant didn't know where to find the Ark until the events of Halo 3, and after that were then unable to attack anywhere outside Africa due to increased human-Sangheili resistance.

- The USA was mostly safe from glassing because of a clever dupe by one Admiral Jame Ackerson to protect his brother in Cleveland - this also saved millions of lives from the Covenant.

- Scotland was also safe, as shown by the Halo Evolutions story "From the Office of Arthur William Iqbal".

- Sydney and other parts of Australia were badly hit, but had relatively few losses, as detailed by the opening chapters of Halo Glasslands. UNSC HIGHCOM (their chief HQ, in Sydney) was safe due to being mostly underground.

Also, a little tidbit of info - rather amazingly, in the Halo Expanded Universe, the USA is nowhere near as powerful as it is in the real world. Reason being that it and the other current superpowers were all forced to diminish their world presence over time due to various conflicts and whatnot, while Australia stayed mainly on the outskirts (as it kind of does today), and thus it managed to consolidate more power years later without the sheer number of enemies countries like Russia or the USA have. Thus, the United Earth Government (UEG) is sited in Sydney, as is the UNSC Hign Command (HIGHCOM) - yes, Australia is the most important and powerful country in all human-controlled space in Halo. Pretty awesome, eh? (I say that as a Brit, but it's always nice to see the USA get taken down a peg or dozen - especially in established canon! Just see Glasslands...).

EDIT: Oh, and the memorial at the end of Halo 3? On the African hillside, where Lord Hood tells Thel 'Vadam (the Arbiter) that he can't forgive what the Elites did to humanity, but that they can move on? That seems to take place very shortly after the events of the game, but it also gets revisited in Halo Glasslands, and is revealed to have been several months (at least four months, in fact) after the game ended. We actually see the scene wher Lord Hood invites the Arbiter and his entourage to Earth to remember John (the Master Chief), as a sign of friendship and the precursor to an official discussion regarding a peace treaty...

Yes, I do know far more about Halo than any sane person should. That is, anyone sane not working for Bungie or 343 Industries.

 

[Trivun]

Also, weirdly enough, I'm replaying the game now anyway... along with the entire series, including Halo Wars. Doing the Xbox 360 Halo Legendary Challenge, and doing pretty well with it so far too!

The flood ship that hit Voi was glassed, but High Charity was on its way there, and it would have still needed to travel through Earth's atmosphere to hit the Portal.

Not if it used slip space to get there

Don't forget that humans were using any method to stop the flood on earth, as well as any covenant separatists, hence there ability to have the war memorial and such after without need for protection.

I don't think the Portal used slipspace transit anyway, remember that in the Forerunner Trilogy (particularly Cryptum - not sure if you've read them though, so here's a bit of new info if you haven't) it's revealed that while humans know of slipspace, the Forerunners knew about a wide range of other dimensions they could use to travel in, including slipspace. Thus, they were able to build portals capable of transit over massive distances in a tiny amount of time. Recall that the Ark itself is located outside the Milky Way - therefore using slipspace would still take years of travel, and even travelling to the nearest star system can take several hours in slipspace, confirmed by the books. Thus the Portal literally has to use a much faster inter-dimensional mode of transit, otherwise the series timing is obscenely out of the window...

If you were talking about High Charity using slipspace instead (much more likely, I guess), then that is addressed in the game. We actually see the city-world come out of slipspace in Earth's atmosphere and head straight for the Mombasa Portal. Admittedly, given its size, it's fairly high up above the ground, and it does have pieces breaking off, but that was covered in my earlier post...

The elite separatist fleet wasn't on earth when the High Charity went through the portal. They all went with the Master Chief.

Lord Hood and a few UNSC vessels were still around, but I highly doubt they'd have the firepower to glass Africa AGAIN which is what would be needed after High Charity passed on its way to the portal.

Not every Separatist ship went, some had to stay behind anyway to help defend Earth alongside Hood's fleet. Remember they still had Covenant, particularly Loyalist Jiralhanae (Brutes) attacking the planet. And most of the High Charity pieces were dealt with before the fleet entered the Portal, making the job a lot easier for the remaining ships anyway. It would have taken a few minutes to reach the Portal and have every ship travel through, at any rate - it seems sped up in-game, but that's just for cinematic purposes. Bear in mind the logistics of ships that size travelling from a hover/standstill and the air resistance they would face (yes, I am being pedantic, but still a valid point...).

Can any Halo buffs explain this one to me?

There are a few theories. Some people interpreted some stuff said in the terminals to suggest that the Flood withdraws and centralizes itself totally without contingency plan whenever severely threatened, but it's a massive stretch, and doesn't really make sense in light of what the Flood is. (And doesn't make sense in light of the fact that they probably should consider Earth a thread to them anyway, since it's not exactly "far away" or friendly when you're through the portal.)

There are several things about Halo 3 that don't really make sense. Here's an even bigger one: why don't the allies actually do much? Why did the marine and elite forces chill outside when you raid the citadel? Why did everyone except the FUD take off after Truth was killed, rather than stick around to defeat the Flood?

I don't agree with that first theory, but then again my view is above anyway. Regarding the allies, mostly it's a case of what TV Tropes calls (if I remember correctly) Gameplay/Story Segregation. That is, it's not meant to make sense, it's just to drive the game along. If pushed, I could probably find bullshit excuses, like they were there to guard the rear in case of enemy flanking maneuvers or an ambush or something. That being said, with the Forward Unto Dawn thing I can explain slightly, possibly (not sure if this was Bungie's idea, but it's certainly my own).

After Truth was killed, it was clear that the Flood would overwhelm the Ark, but because of its remoteness to any pther space it wouldn't matter if they survived here or not, thus the other ships felt it would be best to get the hell out before the Portal closed and stranded them there. Some felt that the Master Chief and the Arbiter could handle it (basically thinking like massive dicks ). Thus they too left. The only ones left alive on the FUD were John, Johnson, and Thel, since Miranda was dead and everyone else was on a different ship. So they went to deal with the Flood themselves, not because they had to but because they were the only ones who realised that the Flood needed to be stopped now while relatively weak or risk another great war much further in the future. Otherwise, the more ships that stayed to help, the more chances of a ship being captured/infiltrated and returning the Flood to Earth .

Kind of a bullshit theory there too, but ah well...

 

[Soviet Heavy]

Uber Snip

That works for me. I had always assumed that the entire separatist fleet had traveled with the Shadow of Intent, but it makes sense for several to remain behind and hunt down the Brutes still attacking Earth. They need all the help they can get, especially considering the Loyalists still vastly outnumber them, and the civil war lasted at least another six years after Halo 3, with the Loyalists looking for more Forerunner tech.

Thanks for the information. Halo 3 is always where the story got blurry for me, what with Onyx, the South American attacks, Chief in Space and Johnson making it to Earth first all happening within a few days of each other.

 

[Trivun]

Uber Snip

That works for me. I had always assumed that the entire separatist fleet had traveled with the Shadow of Intent, but it makes sense for several to remain behind and hunt down the Brutes still attacking Earth. They need all the help they can get, especially considering the Loyalists still vastly outnumber them, and the civil war lasted at least another six years after Halo 3, with the Loyalists looking for more Forerunner tech.

Thanks for the information. Halo 3 is always where the story got blurry for me, what with Onyx, the South American attacks, Chief in Space and Johnson making it to Earth first all happening within a few days of each other.

Well, South America was happening during the events of Halo 2 - that's the sole reason we don't see more Spartan-IIs other than John in that game (and of course the lack of presence in the following games are explained by Ghosts of Onyx ). Further timing discrepancies are explained by the timing issues from a slipspace Dyson Sphere (Onyx) and Glasslands, and the Battle of Earth lasting for several weeks during Truth's occupation of Delta Halo and subsequently the Mombasa ruins. And then, as I say, the type of transit the Ark Portal used. That being said, slipspace travel was quicker for the humans in the games anyway because they tended to be following Truth's ship, and thus riding the wave through slipspace, as it were, thus resulting in much faster travel than human ships were normally capable of in that dimension. It does all work out, you just need to think about the fact that verything takes place over several weeks, not days (Uprising does a decent job of covering the gap between Halo 2 and 3 anyway ).

Also, where do you get six years from? The only knowledge of events after the games end come from Glasslands, Halo Legends, and possibly the very end of Primordium. Glasslands and Primordium's end chapter take place within a few months of the end of Halo 3, and the times mentioned by Cortana in Legends can be considered (according to Bungie/343) false because bear in mind she's already near rampancy, confused, and stranded deep in space drifting towards an unknown planet. And 343 confirmed that Halo 4 will take place sometime in 2553, so less than a year after Halo 3 ended. I'm just curious to see where you got that number of years from, is all

[small]EDIT: Just saying, my understanding is that the civil war in the Covenant ended pretty much as soon as, or soon after, the events on Earth were made known to the rest of human and Covenant space. The San Shyuum were almost wiped out, the Jiralhanae either turned coat and joined the Sangheili (as seen in Glasslands) or slunk away to their own worlds, the Unggoy and Lekgolo (Grunts and Hunters) never wanted to be in the Covenant anyway so went back to their own things, and the Kig-Yar (Jackals) were really just scavengers and pirates anyway and couldn't have given any fewer fucks. The Drones and Engineers were all but neutral anyway, aside from the Drones actually being fighters, so again, no fewer fucks could have been given [/small]

 

[Soviet Heavy]

Also, where do you get six years from? The only knowledge of events after the games end come from Glasslands, Halo Legends, and possibly the very end of Primordium. Glasslands and Primordium's end chapter take place within a few months of the end of Halo 3, and the times mentioned by Cortana in Legends can be considered (according to Bungie/343) false because bear in mind she's already near rampancy, confused, and stranded deep in space drifting towards an unknown planet. And 343 confirmed that Halo 4 will take place sometime in 2553, so less than a year after Halo 3 ended. I'm just curious to see where you got that number of years from, is all

The comic titled "The Return" focuses on a Sangheili Shipmaster who was haunted by his actions during the Human Covenant War. He returns to a Human colony that he glassed several years earlier to try and find absolution for the massacre, and find a meaning for his existence. Pieces of information in the comic state that several years have passed since Halo 3, and the Separatists are pushing into Loyalist territory, but they are slowly losing the war due to attrition.

While on the glassed planet, the Shipmaster comes across a human excavation team being harassed by loyalist Kig Yar raiders. Curious to what the Humans wanted, he kills the Jackals and manages to save one of the humans, discovering that they found evidence of Forerunner tech. The comic ends with the Shipmaster calling down a medical team so he can interrogate the human for information on the Forerunner tech.

 

[Trivun]

Also, where do you get six years from? The only knowledge of events after the games end come from Glasslands, Halo Legends, and possibly the very end of Primordium. Glasslands and Primordium's end chapter take place within a few months of the end of Halo 3, and the times mentioned by Cortana in Legends can be considered (according to Bungie/343) false because bear in mind she's already near rampancy, confused, and stranded deep in space drifting towards an unknown planet. And 343 confirmed that Halo 4 will take place sometime in 2553, so less than a year after Halo 3 ended. I'm just curious to see where you got that number of years from, is all

The comic titled "The Return" focuses on a Sangheili Shipmaster who was haunted by his actions during the Human Covenant War. He returns to a Human colony that he glassed several years earlier to try and find absolution for the massacre, and find a meaning for his existence. Pieces of information in the comic state that several years have passed since Halo 3, and the Separatists are pushing into Loyalist territory, but they are slowly losing the war due to attrition.

While on the glassed planet, the Shipmaster comes across a human excavation team being harassed by loyalist Kig Yar raiders. Curious to what the Humans wanted, he kills the Jackals and manages to save one of the humans, discovering that they found evidence of Forerunner tech. The comic ends with the Shipmaster calling down a medical team so he can interrogate the human for information on the Forerunner tech.

Ah, yes, I remember it now. Not strictly a comic, though it was done as an animated comic for Halo Waypoint alongside several others, it was an Evolutions short story originally. Looking it up, it seems that my earlier points still stand, but the Jiralhanae didn't go into hiding as I thought, they split themselves into various factions that led a weakened and fractured Loyalist force in several parts. Though much weaker, they were still strong despite fighting amongst themselves in an attempt to gain more power. Again, the other races couldn't care less, but the Jiralhanae were able to strongarm some factions from each race allowing them to maintain that power, and that's why the Sangheili were unable to secure an outright victory as I thought they did. It's unknown whether humans were involved in this fight, though arguably likely...

 

[Soviet Heavy]

Also, where do you get six years from? The only knowledge of events after the games end come from Glasslands, Halo Legends, and possibly the very end of Primordium. Glasslands and Primordium's end chapter take place within a few months of the end of Halo 3, and the times mentioned by Cortana in Legends can be considered (according to Bungie/343) false because bear in mind she's already near rampancy, confused, and stranded deep in space drifting towards an unknown planet. And 343 confirmed that Halo 4 will take place sometime in 2553, so less than a year after Halo 3 ended. I'm just curious to see where you got that number of years from, is all

The comic titled "The Return" focuses on a Sangheili Shipmaster who was haunted by his actions during the Human Covenant War. He returns to a Human colony that he glassed several years earlier to try and find absolution for the massacre, and find a meaning for his existence. Pieces of information in the comic state that several years have passed since Halo 3, and the Separatists are pushing into Loyalist territory, but they are slowly losing the war due to attrition.

While on the glassed planet, the Shipmaster comes across a human excavation team being harassed by loyalist Kig Yar raiders. Curious to what the Humans wanted, he kills the Jackals and manages to save one of the humans, discovering that they found evidence of Forerunner tech. The comic ends with the Shipmaster calling down a medical team so he can interrogate the human for information on the Forerunner tech.

Ah, yes, I remember it now. Not strictly a comic, though it was done as an animated comic for Halo Waypoint alongside several others, it was an Evolutions short story originally. Looking it up, it seems that my earlier points still stand, but the Jiralhanae didn't go into hiding as I thought, they split themselves into various factions that led a weakened and fractured Loyalist force in several parts. Though much weaker, they were still strong despite fighting amongst themselves in an attempt to gain more power. Again, the other races couldn't care less, but the Jiralhanae were able to strongarm some factions from each race allowing them to maintain that power, and that's why the Sangheili were unable to secure an outright victory as I thought they did. It's unknown whether humans were involved in this fight, though arguably likely...

The Humans and Sangheili stayed on friendly terms, but Humanity just doesn't have the manpower to mount an offensive against the Loyalists anymore. With every single colony annihilated, and three hundred million people left on earth, they need to focus on rebuilding.

Its one of the reasons I'm so skeptical about Halo 4. If it does take place in 2553, then why the hell are the Spartan 4s fighting each other? The Spartan 3 project was a failure, with only a handful surviving their first missions before being reassigned to smaller groups like Noble Team or the Onyx mission. The Spartan 2s have next to no survivors in any active state, either being missing (John), or trapped in the Dyson Sphere. So why start a new supersoldier program that suddenly gets into a civil war when your species is on the brink of extinction? It makes no sense.

 

[Trivun]

Also, where do you get six years from? The only knowledge of events after the games end come from Glasslands, Halo Legends, and possibly the very end of Primordium. Glasslands and Primordium's end chapter take place within a few months of the end of Halo 3, and the times mentioned by Cortana in Legends can be considered (according to Bungie/343) false because bear in mind she's already near rampancy, confused, and stranded deep in space drifting towards an unknown planet. And 343 confirmed that Halo 4 will take place sometime in 2553, so less than a year after Halo 3 ended. I'm just curious to see where you got that number of years from, is all

The comic titled "The Return" focuses on a Sangheili Shipmaster who was haunted by his actions during the Human Covenant War. He returns to a Human colony that he glassed several years earlier to try and find absolution for the massacre, and find a meaning for his existence. Pieces of information in the comic state that several years have passed since Halo 3, and the Separatists are pushing into Loyalist territory, but they are slowly losing the war due to attrition.

While on the glassed planet, the Shipmaster comes across a human excavation team being harassed by loyalist Kig Yar raiders. Curious to what the Humans wanted, he kills the Jackals and manages to save one of the humans, discovering that they found evidence of Forerunner tech. The comic ends with the Shipmaster calling down a medical team so he can interrogate the human for information on the Forerunner tech.

Ah, yes, I remember it now. Not strictly a comic, though it was done as an animated comic for Halo Waypoint alongside several others, it was an Evolutions short story originally. Looking it up, it seems that my earlier points still stand, but the Jiralhanae didn't go into hiding as I thought, they split themselves into various factions that led a weakened and fractured Loyalist force in several parts. Though much weaker, they were still strong despite fighting amongst themselves in an attempt to gain more power. Again, the other races couldn't care less, but the Jiralhanae were able to strongarm some factions from each race allowing them to maintain that power, and that's why the Sangheili were unable to secure an outright victory as I thought they did. It's unknown whether humans were involved in this fight, though arguably likely...

The Humans and Sangheili stayed on friendly terms, but Humanity just doesn't have the manpower to mount an offensive against the Loyalists anymore. With every single colony annihilated, and three hundred million people left on earth, they need to focus on rebuilding.

Its one of the reasons I'm so skeptical about Halo 4. If it does take place in 2553, then why the hell are the Spartan 4s fighting each other? The Spartan 3 project was a failure, with only a handful surviving their first missions before being reassigned to smaller groups like Noble Team or the Onyx mission. The Spartan 2s have next to no survivors in any active state, either being missing (John), or trapped in the Dyson Sphere. So why start a new supersoldier program that suddenly gets into a civil war when your species is on the brink of extinction? It makes no sense.

Not every colony was destroyed though. Most of the Inner Colonies were saved, the Covenant only went directly for Earth because they stumbled on it by the artifact in the museum on Sigma Octanus IV. Not to mention there are a tiny number of Outer Colonies and settlements on moons and asteroids and such that the Insurrectionists hid on. Thus the human race isn't near extinction, not to the extent of some other races at any rate. Regarding friendly terms with the Sangheili though, things weren't very friendly as far as we know. There are multiple different factions on both sides, with Hood and Thel wanting peace, the Servants of Abiding Truth trying to assassinate Thel, ONI Section III wanting a Sangheili civil war... only the Glasslands sequel will tell us anytime soon how all those relations turn out .

About Halo 4, too, it makes perfect sense. The Spartan-IIs trained by figthing games of CTF with ODSTs and Marines, surely it makes sense to have them train by fighting each other in non-lethal combat? The respawning that's bound tobe in the game multiplayer is easily explained away like I mentioned earlir with the Gameplay/Story Segregation trope. Anyway, it also explains the whereabouts of all surviving Spartans save those who still have legitimate reason to be missing, whether known about or not. All the surviving Spartan-Is (Project ORION candidates, such as Johnson, except he's dead), the remaining Spartan-IIs, and the remaining Spartan-IIIs, were all offered places in the Spartan-IV program, mostly to help train the new batch, and as the original program was, this is more to deal with Insurrectionists than anything else. Which does make sense, unlike the civil war. But then agin, humanity could end up involved in that conflict without wanting to, since they haven't formed an official peace agreement yet with anyone at all, not even the Sangheili yet (since Glasslands ends before Hood and Thel have arranged for the official peace talks to begin - the ceasefire is only theoretical, though active, at that point).