Halo Contributions/Miscellaneous
Examination of Zeta Halo's Rotational Period
Banished Symbology
I've been examining the Banished symbology as presented in Halo: Infinite. With a few data points from the game files, patterns emerged in their numbering system. The Jiralhanae seem to count in a base-4 system. This is likely due to the Jiralhanae four-digit hand.
With canon data showing glyphs that represent numbers 1, 2, 3, and 4, it can be seen that 1–3 use one style of glyph and that #4 starts a new glyph. The glyphs for #1 and #4 can iteratively build until there are 3 glyphs each. At this point it, numbers rise to 15 and suggest a new glyph is needed. There is another glyph style seen among Banished numbers and that number represents #16. So after three of the same glyph we get a new style with #4 and when that maxes at 3 copies of that glyph, another new one emerges at 4x4 (16). It would then stand to reason there would be another glyph change needed again at 4x4x4 (64). You can see from the patterns below that maximizing three each of the three different glyphs allows the Jiralhanae to count from #1 to #63. At this point a new glyph would be needed to represent #64 but it has not been provided in Halo Infinite. Counting to #25, for example, in the Jirahanae language amounts to translating each quantity of the unique symbol glyphs into their individual numbers and adding them. So, #25 is 16+4+4+1.
The canon data sources of some numbers were gleaned from examining some of the game objects/files. Those were numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 19, and 31. The rest of the pattern was filled in from there. I ran my findings by 343 Industries' Ken Peters and a 'cheat sheet' he had handy that showed the first 30 glyphs confirmed my pattern was good.
That said, there are two errors I discovered that may have been typos when naming the objects/files in the game. The symbols that must be #22 and #36 have official file names of number 33 and N33.
The Banished alphabet is a harder case to crack. From a few canon labels in the objects/files, it seems to indicate that rather than glyphs having definite alphabetical representations, it seems each unique glyph represents a sound made in the growling nature of Jiralhanae language.
Most of the unique glyphs follow a pattern of enough repetitive shapes that it allowed me to composite all unique glyphs into one full glyph. From this it was easy to make the individual alphabetic glyphs by turning the appropriate shapes on and off in my illustration program.
The Dreadnought and the Banished outposts on the surface of Zeta Halo use combinations of alphabetical glyphs with number glyphs to represent each facility or geographic area of interest. (Most often the numbers are displayed after the letter-sounds but some instances have the numbers shown first.)
Interestingly, most of the Banished bases also have a code word that may have been a game-development remnant left in the files. Bases were mostly named for primate types. There's not likely any deep meaning to these...just an interesting find.
Some glyphs in the game are shown reversed. Some seem intentional and the few that do have the same file name for their game objects so no new translation for the letter/sound seems warranted...they mean the same thing. But most of the revered ones (including numbers) are usually due to their application in mirrored geometry in a game's level and should probably be ignored. The ones presented here are by far the more prevalent orientation.
The glyphs shown here are only a sample of letter/number variations that can be found throughout Halo Infinite...this was not meant to be an exhaustive collection, just an illustration of how the letters and numbers look together.
There are other glyphs displayed on various pieces of Banished tech and buildings that do not conform to the patterns above of the letter-sounds or numbering system but are nevertheless distinctly Banished in their look. I've made some guesses as to their possible meanings based on them being shown in some consistent ways or used in the same manner. While it may not be a direct word-to-word translation they seem to convey the meaning of the glyph.
Halo Astronomy
HALO ASTRONOMY 101 The following sets of images represent work I've done over several years attempting to make a map of known UNSC/Halo fictional space in the galaxy. It was originally presented to 343 Industries in 2014 to show them a possible method of reconciling some canon data points from various sources along with highlighting a few fictional faux pas they did and how to overcome them. This was originally a PowerPoint slideshow I put together for them. The second slideshow was a derivative of the first showing how I came about my notion of the UNSC sector system. These are both my own speculative pieces based on canon info and has not been endorsed in whole by 343 Industries.
HALO SECTOR SYSTEM This was derived from the previous slideshow to describe in more detail how I came about the sector system and why I think it works. I had many iterations before landing on this one but this best fit the data.