So… its 2552…
Humanity has begun to spread across the galaxy thanks to a breakthrough in subspace travel… They have established human colonies on various planets… unfortunately the ran into trouble… \
The covenant a collection of alien races, much more advanced than humans, have determined human beings to be a pestilence and are focused on eliminating them.
The covenant are attacking a planet called Reach, humanities most populous colony… it’s a turning point towards humanities demise as the aliens barrage the surface of the planet with super-heated plasma melting most materials on the surface into charred and cracked glass.
Humanity was not lacking a trump card… in many ways human science was superior to the aliens, who primarily obtained their technology by studying the remnants of an ancient race, the Forerunners. However genetic science and a more resound top to bottom understanding of physics, chemistry, and genetics allowed the humans to engineer super soldier… in homage to the Spartans of Greece these armor clad bio-enhanced trained from early childhood soldiers were called Spartans…
The first wave of Spartans is a mystery in the series… the first game starts out with the player controlling a Spartan II… it’s not just any Spartan II… it’s the Master Chief… the highest ranking and leader of the Spartan IIs.
Out of the original 120+ kids genetically selected and abducted into the program… only about 80 made it through the bone and muscle augmentation and gene therapies… By the time the battle of Reach was occurring the count was down to 64… After the battle of Reach… there might be only 2 or 3 remaining.
With reach a lost cause… remaining human ships were told to initiate the Cole protocol… which meant they’d scramble and erase their ships memory systems and make a random jump out into space. This was for the protection of the location of the Earth. If the covenant found humanity’s home planet… The war would be over in a matter of days and humanity would be extinct.
The Master Chief wasn’t on the surface of Reach where his brethren died. He was in cryo on a ship that had a special mission… something that would have given the humans an upper hand, but the Covenant struck first and this ship the “Pillar of Autumn” was called into battle.
The first game starts right after the Pillar of Autumn initiates the Cole protocol and makes the jump. Of all places the ship arrives in a system with an artificial ring world. It is the first Forerunner artifact that the humans come into contact with.
The covenant had analyses the ships subspace disturbances and tracked its trajectory then, having faster ships, beat it to its destination.
Under an immediate barrage of plasma fire upon exiting warp… the humans are forced to land on the ring world… throughout this process the Master Chief is thawed out and that is where the first game begins.
Pretty cool right @waterway?
The actual game itself is a run and gun with vehicular combat… halo 2 grossed 125 million in its first week. It was very popular…