No wonder Ferial is mad if he has been divided into several parts for nearly a thousand years.
Try thousands and thousands of years.
Has this series been going for that long "Horrified gasp"!!!
Sometimes it seems like it.
Triple Ferial attack!
It's kind of like a Ferialmind.
"All around the mulberry bush, The monkey chased the weasel. The monkey thought 'twas all in fun, Pop! goes the weasel."
I… suppose this comment is relevant…
I think it has to do with how we were following your story around and coming up with theories as to where you were going, and we thought we had some good ideas; then you go and pull this big reveal, and "pop", you surprise us!
Hah, that could be.
as I read this comic today, I cant help but hum along to that eerie childs song…
Hehehe – and the question is, Will the monkeys ever be able to catch the weasel?
Who's the monkey and who's the weasle? : =3 )
That, my friend, should be very self-evident.
Looks like someone went rampant a looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong time ago…
(No time to sign up for ID right now, gotta get some sleep. Maybe in the morning…zzz…zzz…zzz…
Mmm, something like that.
First time posting for me…
Wait, could Ferial be the Originators? (Not sure if that's the right word; the people who came BEFORE the Forerunners) Ferial seems to be older than even the Forerunner, especially if the Flood was created by Ferial. How far back into the history of this Haloverse are we going, Jim?
Welcome!
And that's for me to know and you to find out. But don't let me stop you from speculating!
could the word you be looking for possibly be "Guardian?" To my knowledge the only thing we know about them is sometimes you randomly get killed by them in halo multiplayer! Here is a brilliant (ok not so brilliant) idea!!!!: what if…..Ferial in his split personalities is the GuardianSSSS! omg i think i figured it all out!
Don't think I haven't thought about working the Guardians into this storyline.
Oh, wait. I just remembered the right term for the pre-Forerunner species: the Precursors. Could Ferial be the Precursor? http://halo.wikia.com/wiki/Precursor "The Precursors were mentioned in the Bestiarum as the race preceding and mythologized by the Forerunners, being theoretical "Transsentient" beings, having the ability to travel between galaxies and accelerate the evolution of intelligent life." If you put a devious spin on it, this sounds exactly like Ferial…
I find it unlikely that the Ferial are the Precursor, but if any relation to them they could be an artificially created being, though such little knowlege of the Precursor provides little insight on why they would make "such an evil little bastard". Forgive the term, I just couldn't think of something else. Anyways…The general topic of my post was "maybe Ferial is as Huragok [Engineers] is to Forerunner…or as calvacade is to forerunner maybe?"
Also sounds like the Flood "from a point of view".
Erm… Oh s***. That's not good. And the lag is getting me again too.
Is there a reason that they are holding Magnums?
Ferial has had a magnum in hand from the very first time we met him.
Sent from my iPhone
good comic…lots of big words. i like it, i also like all the bombs that were dropped..
And still we haven't quite made it to the big reveal.
is there no way to get rid of that tag? or do you choose to do it
Sent from my HP Laptop
It was an artifact of my posting while on the go earlier this evening. It's an automatic thing when replying to comments by email from my phone. I can't remove it now, since I'm past the comment editing threshhold.
(And please don't be an arse…)
i was just saying like in the future? i didnt know if it was something nyou noticed or not, so i was bringing it to your attention…my phone does it too and i never knew till my buddy let me know….
Another thought: What is Eternal Refuge? We all know the Forerunners loved to name things with the formula "Fancy Adjective, Noun", ie Guilty Spark, High Charity, Mendicant Bias, etc. Is Eternal Refuge a place, a ship, an AI…? It almost seems as though Ferial's talking about a place of "everlasting sanctuary", as opposed to a Forerunner artifact. Jim, your choice of fonts makes this complicated. Everything is in capitals, so is it Eternal Refuge, or eternal refuge? Arg.
It's Eternal Refuge.
I thought Eternal Refuge was the shatterbox.
It is. Are you properly confused yet?
Only about the 'sent from my iPhone' thing at the bottom of every post sent from your iPhone. Why is that necessary?
Hold the phone, is there more than one shatterbox?
Technically, yes. Each Cavalcada has one, and Eternal Refuge is an empty shatterbox. Whether there are more than that is anyone's guess.
Eternal Refuge is a empty shatterbox, if i remember right
It is, and you do.
I don't think i have ever heard armistice called a plague before, good wording to show their true intention.
I am curious as to what the shatterbox is going to do to help Ferials? Is it the unifying aspect that empowers him? If that is the case would not the Calvacade be much stronger than before now that they are actually being joined? Carry unification with them? I thought the shatterbox was not portable, or at least stayed in one location with out being messed with?
I love how you have show Ferial to be working in the shadows this whole time, very conniving and sneaky. Their ill-begotten children? Are they Gravemindish then? Or does this say that their children are Gravemind, and they are the "Grandfathers" of Flood. So much to think on with this little bombshell.
It's kind of an interesting juxtaposition of terms, isn't it?
Armistice is like a truce, a peaceful meeting, which I'm guessing applies to what the "Ferials" are doing. He also says the shatter box can contain all of himself so maybe Ferial has sort of split himself and he wants the shatterbox so he can reunite the parts. But what I don't get is that how is he getting this shatterbox? And why didn't he steal one from the captured calvacada? And which one is Eternal Refuge? Obviously (just in my opinion) Ferial needs the calvacada for his plans to work otherwise he would have just destroyed them. (It can be done can't it?) I'm hoping that with a few random stabs with each comic I'll hit on a major plot point. But you'll never tell me if I get one will you Jim. As long as you don't lie… oh and great work on the bombshell. This just blasted out a few more routes for theories and destroyed just as many.
I don't reveal my plot points before the due time. And I won't lie, though I'm not opposed to a little creative misdirection.
Hey, Ferial's back! or should say Ferials… or Ferialsis? Anyway, great comic Jim. One thing that has been bugging me is you use wait twice in the same word bubble, but that's just me. Also since when did Ferial become part of a cult.
Hey, Ferial's back! or should say Ferials… or Ferialsis? Anyway, great comic Jim. One thing that has been bugging me is you use wait twice in the same word bubble, but that's just me. Also since when did Ferial become part of a cult?
Wow, Really? Because of the time glitch, my post is now above lekegolokiller's.
That's the way they came to me in my email notification…
I'm sure his was there first.
Well, I'll take your word for it.
Who says he's part of a cult?
You do. : D
If you so choose.
What if Ferial is hallucinating? I really doubt it, but hey, he may be juts as cracked as that calvacada. Age can do that to you. Rampancy or insanity sounds right, but I said that he's a sorta gravemindish guy way back in the monologue. Oh wait never mind. I said the monologue guy was a gravemindish guy, not ferial. These guys are thinking and talking like holy crusaders. And Jim's line "hehehe" often appears in comments, but I never thought I'd see it in one of his comics. I don't think Ferial started popping flood spores out (wow here's a thought: Ferial's a girl!) so he probably either created them or controlled them. I copied this from wikipedia cause I wasn't sure how to explain it and I'm hoping it explains a bit for other readers: The term triumvirate (from Latin, "of three men") is commonly used to describe a political regime dominated by three powerful individuals. The arrangement can be formal or informal, and though the three are usually equal on paper, in reality this is rarely the case. The term can also be used to describe a state with three different military leaders who all claim to be the sole leader of the state. Sorry for the long double posts.
I've no problem with double-posts like these because they're full and informative.
Who says, Ferial has a gender? : )
Who says Ferial has a gender? : )
I do.
yea, I was gonna say that. Someone asked the same question and he answered: oh wait he said ferial was a guy. Ignore that part pf my post. LOL
Huh, I didn't even notice that. Normally I remove stuff like that when I'm replying while on the go.
I had a feeling it was something like that.
You can change your settings to omit that. I know because I have an iPhone as well.
Ah! So you can! Thanks for the tip.
A question came to me, did the Forerunners even fire the rings, or did everyone just assume they did?
The Eternal Refuge sounds alot like the kind of place that the Spartans entered at the end of “Ghosts Of Onyx”. Perhaps Ferial has located another shield world? or perhaps because this is in a different Haloverse, it is the same one that the Spartans entered?
It's a good thought, certainly one that went through my own mind when I came up with the idea of Eternal Refuge.
this is definitely one of the best comics IVE ever read. even though its set in a "different haloverse", its set up to explain lots of stuff in halo, such as the flood. Great storyline, and ferial is really getting annoying considering he's just, all powerful and and portraiyed as unstoppable. Is he sortof like an AI entity or something? cause he/it says " a shatterbox large enough to contain the whole of myself…"
Nothing is unstoppable, but Ferial's had a long time to prepare and is extremely intelligent.
Not the great reveal, but a sizable one nonetheless. My thoughts are that Eternal Refuge is some kind of ship that functions as a massive shatterbox, rather than another AI or whatnot. This is similar to Sovereign from Mass Effect, though in reverse.
For those who are not familiar with the story in Mass Effect, I'm dropping a spoiler in this paragraph. Sovereign is a massive, extremely powerful ship in Mass Effect that ends up not being a ship at all, but a sentient being.
In this light, Eternal Refuge may or may not be an AI like the Cavalcada, but is also a massive, mobile shatterbox/ship.
However, this does not even deal directly with the REAL question here… Why does the Ferial Triumvirate even need a shatterbox? Obviously, Ferial is a construct just like a Cavalcada, though seemingly much more powerful, and probably much older. But even this does not address the issue of why Ferial needs the Cavalcade reunited…
The only thought I have here is that a fully reunited Cavalcade would need a massive shatterbox, such as Eternal Refuge (perhaps the original location of the Cavalcade before they split). And therefore needs the Cavalcade reunited since it would need to return to/seek out Eternal Refuge, and lead Ferial straight to it. I'm thinking the "insane" Cavalcada has been infected with some kind of tracking program by Ferial, which is causing its (seeming) insanity, and will allow Ferial to follow the Cavalcade to Eternal Refuge once it has been reunited.
Then again, even if I am right, Jim will probably change it all now. Tricky bastard… Great work, Jim. Loving the comic, as always. And you win, I guess, I'll make an account with ID… heavy sigh
Two words, Jim: shock and awe. Well, I shouldn't be shocked at all, since we've already seen multiple Ferials before XP. In regards to the Mass Effect comment (or Sovereign Theory as I refer to it in my thoughts XD) it makes sense. Maybe the Cavalcade combined act as some sort of key?
I'm more curious about this 'Holy Triumvirate's' origins. The Flood were an extra-galactic origin…hmmm…
I doubt the Cavalcade would be used for something as simple as a key, but I do believe they are THE key to Eternal Refuge, if you know what I mean.
Yes, I do know what you mean. Well, at least, I think I know what you mean. RC is doing something that only he can do. Reclaiming. And that's just what Ferial wants.
On the nose, my friend. ;-D
And you would be right in saying that the Cavalcade are the key.
They were and they are, even here in the Reclaimerverse. The question here is how that origin is different in the Reclaimerverse.
I like what you have to say about the Cavacade possibly being the ones to occupy eternal refuge. I don't think that Ferial at present is more powerful than the Calvacade, especially when they are all joined again. There's the rub though, the other two calvacada are missing.
I have a feeling that ferial Triumvirate wants the shatterbox so they can be more powerful in unity
Ah, but how would the shatterbox make the Ferial Triumvirate more powerful? If you recall, a shatterbox is a tool used for AI constructs such as the Cavalcade.
I would say it's a distinct possibility that Ferial is more powerful than the Cavalcade, after all he is split into only three parts, rather than the seven the Cavalcade was split into, and he's been able to manipulate everyone, even the Cavalcade, to his own ends. Power is not necessarily brute force, but rather it is what you make it, and Ferial's cunning gives him tremendous power.
Remember, the Calvacada weren't split. They were 7 different entities that worked in unity before the Forerunner realized that they were becoming too powerful and they agreed to let themselves be split. Ferial may either be three separate entities (unlikely) or one entity that split itself. This is more likely and the reason he wants the shatterbox so he can recombine himself thus making himself more powerful. I might be way off on this but thats what I reckon. Oh and that the calavacada are the key to unlocking "eternal refuge". Actually, Jim, what happens to the shatterbox once the calvacada member has been uploaded to RC? Is it just left there? If it is, once RC retrieves Eternal Refuge, then the shatterbox will be ripe for ferials taking. Would I be right in assuming that the most recent calvacada, as some sort of leader, is Eternal Refuge? So it has the biggest shatterbox?
I think you just summarized what I was trying to say, lol.
Consider a shatterbox to be a software system, for simplicity. So, when a Cavalcada transfers to a new system, the shatterbox goes with it. (There's also a physical aspect to it, but that's a minor spoiler that will be expounded upon at greater length later.)
Eternal Refuge is an empty shatterbox, so there is no AI associated with it. I'll give you this, though – Eternal Refuge is the only shatterbox with its own name.
To be clear, the Cavalcade were always seven distinct entities that simply functioned as a single unit. The question is – is Ferial similar in construction or something else entirely?
I do understand that, sorry if my post was not clear on that particular point… I wrote it while watching a movie. =P
I don't always change things when readers guess too close to my original ideas. Usually when I do change things, they're minor plot points. The major ones stay the same.
To be clear, though, each of the Cavalcada have their own shatterbox, so they don't need Eternal Refuge.
So what was the last calvacada's name? Anyway, it's monologue was like a rule/destroy the galaxy type and in one of the first comics, Ferial was having a good old chat with it. I think that the calvacada is using ferial, whos using RC and RC is just getting his ass kicked. Viper is another pawn of Ferial and they're getting their ass kicked as well. Maybe Viper and RC will sorta team up for a while to beat Ferial. That'd be a bit of a twist. And whats with this slipspace thing?
I actually haven't revealed that one's name yet (partly because I've been lazy and haven't actually come up with the name yet).
WARNING!!! WALL OF TEXT! ANYONE WITH READING DISABILITIES SHOULD LOOK AWAY NOW! Sorry everyone! I'm very sure you realised that you dodged the question about the slipspace. 100 comics, that's a new record? So when the calvacada are downloaded to RC, the shatterboxes go with them (in a sense?) So this Eternal Refuge is obviously (at least now) the main sort of point for the comic. And I'm sure I've said this but it looks like the calvacade have an agenda as well and it doesn't sound like they want to plant roses in everyone's gardens. And Ferial said this shatterbox is large enough to store his entire consciousness. How big is his consciousness (how much is ego lol)? So Ferial is using the RC to recover the calvacada because they are the key to accessing this shatterbox. The calvacada must be important otherwise ferial would have destroyed them. But if he needs them, why is he using Viper to slow them down? Viper knew what Archimedes was, but the virus that took them over, they didn't know about that. A little surprise from the last calvacada member? When are we gonna find out his name? Is it important to the story? The virus is draining power and putting that into the slipspace thing. If this was created by the calvacada, then it could be part of the way to get to this Eternal Refuge. I know Jim probably won't answer any of my questions, but there's some food for thought for the rest of the readers.
Perhaps Ferial was split into parts by aTodash jump? A type 7?
Or maybe he was split up by the cavalcada deliberately to stop him from reforming. Which does beg the question – was Eternal Refuge his old shatterbox?
Eternal Refuge has always been empty. What it is, and why it's always been empty is a topic for a future plot point.
I think that the "Ferials" are just tools. Like there is just one ferial, but he is using the bodies of some elites to contain himself, and until he can get a shatterbox big enough to old his full self he is not as powerful when split into 3(or more), and perhaps the "Replicate" thing was ferial taking adding himself a marine to the mix, and the "virus" is ferial taking over vipers?
interesting,m having read all the different theories one thing seemed to stand out. obviousely the whole thing about the shatterbox with no ai and im liking the mass erffect style theory but one things seems to be sticking
the cavalcada are seperate entities that allowed themselves to be seperated because the forerunner saw them as becoming too powerfull, yet not long after they seperated along came the flood and forced them to activate the halo grid.
that point is whats sticking, was it the fact that the forerunners asked the cavalada to split that cause them to be surprised by the flood and get left with no other option, perhaps with the cavalcada still intact as a single unit the firing of the ring may not have been required.
OR
perhaps the cavalcada are the reason for the flood attack in the first place, just because they are extragalactical does not mean that they couldnt have been created and controlled by something in this galaxy.
perhaps the biggest plot twist is to come in that ferial is not actually the one(s) that is playing everyone but the cavalcada are.
[all that said i could just be clutching at random straws, i allways figured ferial as being more then one entity linked by perhaps some common cause, not exactly 3 beings as one type of thing but it doesn't surprise me as such, however the shatter box is kinda new, but it had crossed my mind as to whether he/they were some form of AI]
I could be dead wrong, but if your second option is what Jim is planning, then I will really be shocked. He has always shown the calvacade as trying to thwart evil plans. Yes the Calvacade are arrogant, even the best heroes tend to be arrogant.
Also Ferial always seems to be associated with Flood and attempting to take over the galaxy to their design of "peace." Sounds more like Hitler wanting to bring "peace" to the world
i wouldn't put it past him, it's his sort of thing to pull something out of the hat that hardly anyone had seen coming.
It seems I've developed a reputation for being unpredictable.
Sometimes the ones you least expect it are the ones who plan it all. It would be a pretty twisted twist, yes, but not one that is totally impossible. Maybe the Cavalcade isn't trying the thwart "evil" plans but plans that don't fit their agenda? Granted, this isn't what I'm thinking of what's actually going on, just putting out "maybe"s that popped into mind when reading nomis78's post and Bearded Phantom's reply.
Granted, I kind of thought that Ferial was working for an even greater power (or at the least cooperating), especially considering comic 124's title (yes, I'm returning to that :3). Either A) Ferial is working for some unseen character (which doesn't seem too likely when considering Ferial as a character—he's a veritable chess master, granted that would be great for drawing attention away from the true threat) or B) Ferial combined (creates Captain Planet!!...sorry, just woke up) creates some sort of new entity. Especially considering that he's calling himself…themselves…itself(?) the Holy Triumvirate. But, just my thoughts…
This is actually a topic for a potential Reclaimer prequel, but the separation of the Cavalcade was a part of what left the Forerunners unprepared for the Flood. There were at least a couple of other factors that played into it in the Reclaimerverse, one of which is covered in the Haloverse (the de-weaponization of Forerunner culture).
dern liberals taking all their guns away, tsk tsk
I believe the Halo 3 Terminals revealed that it was, indeed, the Forerunners who fired the rings. (Someone correct me if I'm wrong.)
This is on Epitaph is it not? Did you purposely have it take place on the same map as the very first comics?
It is, and I did.
Man now i have lots to think about
You really do give more questions than answers, dont you Jim?
I read through the comics once the series hit about the 100th issue, and just decided I should start posting some comments.
In my opinion, your comics far surpass any I have read. You are definitely a master of manipulating the plot of your comic.
I like to raise lots of questions, as I'm sure you can see. I've always loved plots that keep you guessing.
Um…. how do I create a…. "profile"?
at the bottom click the words "Intense Debate"
100 Posts!! JS, NBD
Ah, there we are. Thanks for the help.
And yes, reporting a comment comes back to me, not someone over at IDC.
I've gone back and read a few of the earlier comics to check for some plot hints (I know, I have no life except to try and figure Jim out). In the second comic, Ferial talks as though he knows RC (which we found out in the flashback) but also talks about leaving an obvious trail for RC to find. Have we ever delved into that? In the third, RC knows that Ferial has killed a lot of people but how. At the time, we believed that that was their first meeting until the flashbacks, but Ferial still didn't kill anyone in RC's presence, so how does he know? Ferial is actually asking RC for help in preventing another war. I wouldn't put it past Ferial to lie, but just some thought juices. Who was it that began the Viper program? Ferial doesn't seem to know. And happy birthday Reclaimercomic for November! One year yay! Sorry anyway… what is vipers weakness that Jim was talking about? Once Viper went AWOL, Ferial took them over. In the 8th comic Ferial says that will will always find a way: all it needs is a catalyst. Sound familiar to a recent title? Jim than says that Viper possesses the ability to exterminate all human life, and RC is the only one who can stop it and has proven that he is a match for Ferial (when?) Anyway I've gotta go now, but I'll delve into the mysteries of earlier comics. Oh and Jim nice work. You've found you niche. The earlier comics just didn't have the same effect as the ones now.
I haven't decided yet how I want to cover Ferial's acts of genocide. This story kind of took on a life of its own and moved away from some of the hints of the earlier comics. They're still relevant insofar as character development goes, but some of them have become less relevant to this particular story arc.
Ferial does know who started the Viper program – and so does the Reclaimer. It was the same UNSC officials who started the Reclaimer program. This was actually covered in the very first few comics.
Everything else there should become abundantly clear as we move close to the conlusion of this storyline.
i smell another RC contest
Ferial keeps getting cloned … wonder how
Ah, but it is really cloning?
what do you mean? Evil triplet? Quartet? Maybe he has lots of computerised versions of himself?
And if I answered those questions, I'd be giving away some very important plot points, wouldn't I?
Your mean. Why cant you tellllll usssssssssss =-( .... wait. Mabye… you wont tell me because i got it right !!!!!
Also, why does ferial use the term "all of myself"? And why do they even need to talk? Surely they can guess what the other is thinking?
Well, the phrase 'all of myself' has significance to be fully revealed at a later date. And they talk because they can't communicate telepathically.
I just like to reiterate that point periodically, for everyone's sake. It's actually a very important point to the Reclaimer story line.
Makes sense, and yes – it's something I'll be aware of in the future.
How far ahead? Will we be returning to that soon? So you're gonna reveal what this slipspace thing is and the virus or whatever in the next big reveal? And you bothered to read all of that? I was pretty sure no one would because it's just a lot of my speculation and questions that you won't answer. So thanks!
Oh, I read everything – I just don't necessarily respond to everything.
I can't answer how far ahead those reveals are going to be because I honestly don't know. This story essentially tells itself, so those points will come up when they're ready.
Yeah, I dodged it because that reveal is yet to arrive in the storyline.
Not really. I wouldn't tell you even if you'd gotten it wrong. I play things very close to the vest with regard to this storyline. I give nothing away before its due time.
Aw. Anyway, what armor does ferial have? I was looking at elite armors and i cant work out which one it is.
It's the straight Combat set. Pretty simple. When I started this series, I only had the two default Elite armor permutations unlocked, and I liked the way the Combat armor looked the best.
Where then, is the shatterbox for all the others apart from the one on isolation and the one on standoff for the one ferial-wierdo speaks to? Or are those containment sheilds?
On the 127 episode you said: I dont know how this will end up. Do you know how you will finish it off?
I just meant that I wasn't sure how this little mini-arc with Rulebook would end up. I've known how this entire arc will end for quite some time now.
Each one has its own shatterbox that is literally built into its software core.
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