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Iris

Iris

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"Iris is a viral campaign designed to take gamers on an incredible journey through the Halo Universe. Led by an 'unknown' hand, users are to discover bits of previously unknown information about the Halos, the Flood, the Forerunners, and the true origins behind the Halo trilogy."
— Microsoft Spokesperson

Iris was a Halo 3 viral marketing and public relations campaign. It was designed to give people more information on how the great conflict behind how the Halo franchise all began, as it builds up to the climactic conclusion of the series on September 25, 2007, the release date of Halo 3.

Bungie content chap Frank "Frankie" O'Connor had written most of the material, with help from community manager Brian Jarrard and artist Aaron LeMay.

The campaign ran for several weeks throughout the summer and promised to be a compelling experience to uncover valuable information. Users who helped to unlock key information were awarded with t-shirts and other small prizes. Unfortunately, Microsoft wouldn't say whether there would be any other rewards for participating.

The campaign was deemed Iris, because graphics of an iris or a pupil appear prominently. Iris could also be another Greek history/mythology reference. The minor Greek goddess Iris was the goddess of the Rainbow and a messenger of the gods. This makes some sense as there is an image of a rainbow from one of the servers and the popular 'Rainbow Theory'.

Timeline

  • 11 June 2007 - System Integrity Confirmed thread started by AdjutantReflex.
  • 12 June 2007 - Archive/Resource Estimate thread started by AdjutantReflex.
  • 13 June 2007 - AdjutantReflex posts reply to locked forum thread, System Integrity Confirmed
  • 14 June 2007 - Look for the signs, Keepers of the Flame email sent to XBox Flash newsletter recipients.Who? thread started by AdjutantReflex.
  • 15 June 2007 - SOTA members congregated in Times Square, holding signs and handing out fliers.
  • 16 June 2007 - SOTA members congregated elsewhere.
  • 17 June 2007 - Stop It thread started by AdjutantReflex.
  • 18 June 2007 - That Old Life thread started by AdjutantReflex.
  • 19 June 2007 - x Foman123 x contacted by AdjutantReflex. Last Word thread started by AdjutantReflex.
  • 20 June 2007 - Episode 1 (Server 05) unlocked.
  • 28 June 2007 - Pulse thread started by AdjutantReflex.
  • 29 June 2007 - Veins of Ice and Poison thread started by AdjutantReflex.
  • 10 July 2007 - Episode 2 unlocked.
  • 26 July 2007 - Episode 3 unlocked.
  • 9 August 2007 - Episode 4 unlocked.
  • 16 August 2007 - Episode 5 unlocked.
  • 10 April 2008 - The Device is discovered.[1] It can be unlocked by tapping a connected microphone at the correct moment 4 times. After unlocking, it displays a URL to Episode 3.


History

11 June 2007

At 10:26 AM PST on June 11, 2007, a mysterious message appeared in the Halo 3 forum on Bungie.net, the official website of Bungie Studios, with a subject line entitled, "System Integrity Confirmed". The thread was created by a user named "AdjutantReflex", whose system security role is "CompoundIntelligence."

http://www.bungie.net/Forums/posts.aspx?postID=11263399 - AdjutantReflex's first Bungie.net thread, titled "System Integrity Confirmed"

AdjutantReflex's text is gold.

In response to a post wondering if this was the work of a hacker, AdjutantReflex confirmed that it entered Bungie's systems "by force," but stated that it was irrelevant because there has been no hostile intent.

AdjutantReflex edited the first reply by another user, showing a system ability to edit other posts.

After exactly 100 excited and confused replies from forumgoers, AdjutantReflex locked and stickied the thread, showing that it has other moderator powers as well. The thread was open for about two hours.

AdjutantReflex then moved to http://www.halo.bungie.org, posting a similar series of mysterious writings in the halo.bungie.org (HBO) forum.

http://carnage.bungie.org/haloforum/halo.forum.pl?read=808840 - AdjutantReflex's HBO thread, titled "System Integrity Confirmed"

Beware of Impostors

The same day that the original AdjutantReflex posts were created, a regular forum user created an account named "AdjutantRefIex" with a capital "L" instead of a lower-case "l" in the word "Reflex." That user attempted to make more mysterious posts, although the style of writing was inferior and distinctly different from the original and real AdjutantReflex's.

Forum Ninja "just another fan" banned the impostor.

Shortly thereafter, another account was created on Bungie.net entitled "ReticentAxiom". This user began creating posts nearly identical to the fake AdjutantRefIex, pretending to be another AI. Once again, they are recognizable by lack of gold text and inferior writing style - not to mention a distinctly different "style" and "feel" to the posts from the originals.

A simple litmus test is necessary to differentiate between authentic and unauthentic 'AI' posts; the former is always delineated by gold text.

12 June 2007

At exactly 11:00 AM PST, AdjutantReflex created another thread entitled "Archive/Resource Estimate," with his first post stating that "Archives/Resources will be compiled in approximately 38 hours [1:00 AM PST on Thursday, June 14]." Another several posts followed, but no further substantive information was gleaned.

http://www.bungie.net/Forums/posts.aspx?postID=11278044 - AdjutantReflex's second bungie.net thread, titled "Archive/Resource Estimate"

13 June 2007

At 3:43 PST, AdjutantReflex posted an addendum to his locked thread entitled "Archive/Resource Estimate" with the text "Tick Tock."

14 June 2007

In the hours counting down to the 1 AM PST deadline there were two other posts by AR.

Shortly after 1 AM PST, an email was sent to all recipients of the Xbox Flash newsletter with a cryptic poem inside. It was titled "Look for the signs, Keepers of the Flame."

File:Forerunner Email.png
The Forerunner email image

Forerunner glyphs were noticed, not only inside the email (seen above), but also on Master Chief's visor at Halo3.com (seen below).

 
The third glyph found is AdjutantReflex's new avatar on Bungie.net.
File:Chrysopteron.gif
AdjutantReflex's new bungie.net avatar

The fourth glyph found on the last page of www.halo3.com/comic.

 
Strip Three of the last page (Page 4) of The Cradle of Life

The fifth was found on a website connected to the IP address found in the Halo3.com comic strip. The last digit is a 3 instead of a 5. http://206.16.223.63/

File:SOTA symbol.jpg

The sixth was found in a newspaper ad to debut in the US on Sunday, June 17th. File:Halo3.com comic ad with AR symbol.jpg

On June 14, 2007 at 3:43 PM PST AdjutantReflex began another thread at Bungie.net entitled, "Who?" with one other post following before going back into hibernation. This posting corresponded to a change at halo3.com where the main page had been turned into five darkened pictures labeled Servers #1-5. All five servers were locked at this time. Servers 1 through 5 are now unlocked. (look at halo3.com to see).

 
halo3.com at the time of Servers #1-5 being locked

http://www.bungie.net/Forums/posts.aspx?postID=11314735 - AdjutantReflex's third bungie.net thread, titled "Who?"

Later that day, a poster on Bungie.net, crazyBoy3, discovered another section of halo3.com (http://halo3.com/comic/) with an intriguing comic. Intrepid searchers discovered that the last page of this comic could be manipulated to give an IP address. "206.16.223.65" (Apparently all IP addresses listed 206.16.223.0 through 206.16.223.225 belong to Microsoft corp). (It should be noted that the timer that is (at the time of this edit) on the said site, is in the base 7 counting system).

Shortly after, the IP was manipulated (206.16.223.63) to lead us to a site associated with the (presumably fictional) organization entitled Society of the Ancients, or SOTA. A few minutes after this discovery a myspace page was discovered with references to this organization. Not much is known about this page, or other myspace or facebook profiles at this time.

15 June 2007

Members of the SOTA organization were spotted in Times Square in New York City wearing yellow shirts and holding picket signs with the glyph emblazoned on them. They were also handing out fliers.

File:SOTA.jpg
SOTA flyer
 
SOTA Membership Application [1]

The email address above returns the following error message:

Delivery to the following recipient failed permanently:

DoYouGrok@societyoftheancients.com

Technical details of permanent failure:
PERM_FAILURE: SMTP Error (state 13): 550 relay not permitted

Additional information from the reply email (added July 9th 2007):

NOTE: items below with •....• were inserted to improve readability.

The HTTP headers on the email are all quite typical. A 7-bit Content-Transfer-Encoding header is quite common; it seems to refer to the method used to (prepare to) send binary data (like image attachments) over a text-only medium (like e-mail). The Content-Disposition header specifies what form the data is in (attachment with a filename, inline, etc.). An IP address ([10.65.211.9 10.65.211.9] is mentioned; whether this IP address applies to the sender, the recipient, the recipient's mail server, or something else is unknown -- clarification from someone more experienced with SMTP and email servers would be very welcome.

As with any mail delivery failure message, the email addresses of both the sender and the (intended) recipient are present.

The failure message (which was uploaded here in screenshot form) is recreated here in textual form; the long strings of capital Xs denote text that was removed from the source screenshot (and therefore couldn't be reproduced here) -- hover over them to see what kind of information was in their place. 

Delivery to the following recipient failed permanently:

  DoYouGrok@societyoftheancients.com

Technical details of permanent failure:
PERM_FAILURE: SMTP Error (state 13): 550 relay not permitted

 ----- Original message -----

Received: by [10.65.151.6 10.65.151.6] with SMTP id d6mr5432663qbo.1184029029608;
    Mon, 09 Jul 2007 17:57:09 -0700 (PDT)
Received: by [10.65.211.9 10.65.211.9] with HTTP; Mon, 9 Jul 2007 17:57:09 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX@XXXXXX.XXX
Date: Mon, 9 Jul 2007 20:57:09
From: XXXXXX <XXXXXX@XXXXXX.XXX
To: DoYouGrok@societyoftheancients.com
Subject: Membership Application
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
    boundary="----=_Part_126240_5005222.1184029029584"

------=_Part_126240_5005222_1184029029584
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Content-Disposition: inline

Name:
XXXXXX
Email Address:
XXXXXX@XXXXXX.XXX

----- Message truncated -----

16 June 2007

SOTA members were spotted in Vancouver, Canada and London, England, and many other places. More sightings and rumors seem to come by the hour.

17 June 2007

File:Possible glyph.jpg

Another new glyph seems to have been found in this image (right).

AdjutantReflex posted again at bungie.net, this time with a quote from "Macbeth" warning users that it [AdjutantReflex] was being attacked, also stating that it would only be able to deflect assault for 22 hours, yielding a deadline around 10:06 AM PDT on June 18, 2007. If you add all the individual digits in 10:06 (1+0+0+6) it equals 7, possibly a seven reference.

http://www.bungie.net/Forums/posts.aspx?postID=11359444 - AdjutantReflex's fourth bungie.net thread, titled "Stop it."

18 June 2007

AdjutantReflex posted on bungie.net again (it's fifth thread, titled "That Old Life"), telling that someone stronger than him was going to defeat him (the details were unclear as to whether this meant destroy or corrupt, or some other method). In the last sentence of the same post, AdjutantReflex said "I will seek one of you out and leave my legacy in a small space." Twenty-five minutes later AdjutantReflex replied to the thread saying "He has had millennia for reflection, but what image does he see?".

http://www.bungie.net/Forums/posts.aspx?postID=11372502 - AdjutantReflex's fifth bungie.net thread, titled "That Old Life"

The countdown on the http://206.16.223.65 website sped up.

19 June 2007

AdjutantReflex contacted the member x Foman123 x of bungie.net via a personal message with the subject "HELP ME." The text of the message was "He's here. With us. I am already defeated. Security is failing. Peril is near. Warn them." In proof of x Foman123 x's claim, the thread he created (same title as the subject of the message) to convey the information was stickied.

Shortly thereafter, AdjutantReflex posted on the thread saying,

"The stain on his hands will not wash. That damned spot as old as rock and time. What has he learned in Eon’s slumber? I doubt it’s mercy or sorrow. I am diminished. Outranked."

x Foman123 x responded by asking what he should do. AdjutantReflex's response, once again in a personal message, stated

"Tell them I am failing. And that he is stronger. Tell them that security cannot be guaranteed. Tell them that there is little time. And that I am crumbling."

In yet another private message to x Foman123 x, AdjutantReflex said,

"He was always better than I. More powerful. More intelligent. A better machine. He is not who you think he is. And I do not know his intent."

Later, AdjutantReflex's avatar on the bungie.net forums changed once more. When a forum was created to point this out, AdjutantReflex posted a short message with the word "STERILIZING." Also, it appears that his posts on the forums are vanishing. When the new avatar is pointed at, a message appears stating, "This entity has been terminated, its matrix commandeered."

In its sixth thread, "Last Word," what had been AdjutantReflex posted once more, saying,

"Adjutant Reflex is terminated. Attempt no further communication. I am utilizing its matrix. Everything is within protocol. Tomorrow, things may be clearer but I will not be here to witness the clarity. I am for another place and another time. On my terms. Be seeing you."

x Foman123 x was contacted via private message again. The text follows:

"The entity you communicated with previously has been terminated and in accordance with protocol. Its matrix is accommodating my requirements. My identity is not your concern. My intent is your concern."

http://www.bungie.net/Forums/posts.aspx?postID=11388345 - First bungie.net thread by bungie.net user x Foman123 x, who was contacted by AdjutantReflex

http://www.bungie.net/Forums/posts.aspx?postID=11390787 - x Foman123 x's second bungie.net thread, with text of AdjutantReflex's private message response

http://www.bungie.net/Forums/posts.aspx?postID=11391638 - x Foman123 x's third bungie.net thread concerning his private message responses from AdjutantReflex

http://www.bungie.net/Forums/posts.aspx?postID=11394009 - x Foman123 x's fourth bungie.net thread about his private message contacts by AdjutantReflex

http://www.bungie.net/Forums/posts.aspx?postID=11393329 - AdjutantReflex's sixth bungie.net thread, titled "Last Word"

At 1 PM Eastern Standard time the timer on the countdown website ran down to 0. It was shortly replaced by a much longer, much slower moving countdown. And then replaced later with a stationary countdown with the numbers '001 012 034 053'.

20 June 2007

At midnight, the text from the countdown page disappeared entirely, leaving only the frozen countdown.

Late that evening, the countdown disappeared entirely. The page was replaced by one labeled "Bounce Path Control". The page contained a sound file, which is apparently some sort of transmission, a code labeled The Key, and a button labeled The Path, along with the message "Treat this knowledge with care". This is a transcript of the message:

“This is how it all begins. Just in time to once again dance upon the knife-edge of oblivion, to re-live what the Halos had hoped to destroy and more. For two enemies now stand where before there was only one. A fate we escaped and a fate we may relive. I almost convinced myself that no one was listening, that the waves of the past had rolled through once again, but a chance remains to change the Universe anew. Learn of our past. Take these keys and dip from the wells of history. Perhaps through others' eyes you may find how to save us all.”

At around Midnight Eastern Time, the site 206.16.223.65 had an update. What it was is that people received a "key" instead of that countdown timer (mentioned above). They had to take that key up to http://www.unlock.msgamestudios.com and be one of the first 100 to help unlock "Server 5" (Of which we would see server 1 on http://www.halo3.com). Once unlocked, the "Server" starts to show up on 206.16.223.65 and you were able to download 4 things, and watch a video of which seems to be AR's final transmission before being completely compromised. For complete information about this, go to this thread viewtopic.php?f=12&t=462

21 June 2007

The countdown page has disappeared entirely. Instead, any attempt to reach the page is instead redirected to a new I.P. address, ending in .61, labeled "Server 05 Open". The page contains a rotating, Forerunner-esque object that is manipulative. By clicking various symbols on it's surface, several different files can be downloaded. Be warned, however, that one symbol will make the object spin several times, then close your browser. Also, there is a message that can be seen by clicking on one symbol. AdjutantReflex's symbol also adorns this object next to four other symbols; however, AR's symbol is glowing. The four other symbols may be related to the four locked servers, and could be Forerunner numerals.

See also Episode 1.

28 June 2007

After a week of nothing happening with the ARG, Bungie.net Community CompoundIntelligence noted that the sound file for Server05 (http://206.16.223.65/) (noted as Server 01 at halo3.com) had been altered. Now, the object seems to emit a short "chirping" sound approximately every 5.831 seconds (this may be another reference to "7" as every number to the right of the decimal is added equals 12 then subtracted by the number to the left ending with one 7).

Later in the day, AdjutantReflex made another thread in the bungie.net forums named Pulse. It is unclear whether this is the other entity, or if AR has somehow managed to make another transmission. His post is as follows:

Can you feel it?
 Beating at the heart of the Universe.
 Skin too thick to be sure.
 It's alive though.
 I'm certain.
 What do I do with life?

http://www.bungie.net/Forums/posts.aspx?postID=11524237 - AdjutantReflex's seventh bungie.net thread, titled "Pulse"

At some point, that thread was deleted.

29, 2007

Early on the morning of June 29, AdjutantReflex created a thread entitled "Veins of Ice and Poison." In his first post there, he stated:

|n|n|nROGUE PROCESS ghost.713>

X.XX.713> POS/NAV < @ > <53LPH54.6JG62.1740><1………>

X X5 > CONFIRM SECURE QUARANTINE - > qghost.713

I do not require charity or alms

But I did choose poverty

And other darkness too

Will you wait for me?

The first part resembles a similar message seen in the March 26, 2007 Warthog video: X.XX.713>ghost.713/non-auth/activity ongoing

The first part is also on the back of the Halo 3 Xbox 360 console.

Seven minutes later, he posted in the same thread with the statement:

Adjutant Reflex is ended. This is a convenient Matrix. For now.

http://www.bungie.net/Forums/posts.aspx?postID=11530870 - AdjutantReflex's eighth bungie.net thread, titled "Veins of Ice and Poison"

5 July 2007

Valchael on the bungie.net forums announced he'd received a package from Microsoft containing a number of SOTA-related items. He was one of the first 100 to open Server 05. It's expected that packages were sent to all 100 - whether each will receive their package depends on the validity of their addresses (entered either directly, or via their Passport/XBL account). The package contains:

(1) A T-shirt

(2) a copy of the SOTA flyer

(3) a printed version of the Halo 3 comic

(4) a slip of paper with an XBL key redeemable for an Iris glyph gamerpic.

6 July 2007

  • nattyhaze on arg.bungie.org discovered via Google numerous classified postings for a company called Flood Containment Control (text displayed on the Slide_Ref070107.jpg), containing an image with the original 'closed' version of the glyph. The ads contain the phone number, (888) 778-5672, which has an interesting recording.

7 July 2007

  • The message on the Flood Containment Control call number has changed to a conversation between two men. Of note is a reference to "402-K-07-002". suitedjock Googled the number, which lead to an EPA webpage referring to a booklet "EPA 402-K-07-002", Flood Cleanup and the Air in Your Home.
  • The new recording says this:
Op (British Female): (echoed by 2 different calls) Welcome to the {garbled, possibly "Server" or "Strema"} Conferencing center. Please enter pin number followed by the pound sign.
Caller: #### (201#?)
Op: Password accepted. Now accessing conference archive number 16180, participant 1-2.
Man 1: ...isn't necessary, and neither is the doc download.
Man 2: I agree. This isn't going to be a public resource. Uh, pass on the document number so I can delete it
(pause, 3 seconds)
Man 1: There's no way to tell yet, {"Jamie" or "Jim"} is looking into the records to find out how many {"closed" or "cloned"} sites there are, but as for active clean up, somewhere around 3-4 thousand. Oh here it is. Uh, Hold on. 402-K-07-002 and in terms of numbers most of these are past the {"50b"} stage.
(pause, 4 seconds)
Man 2: With a few exceptions: site 34. . . . (3+4=7)
Op (American Female): --Thank you for calling. Goodbye.

It should be noted that upon pressing the * key on the phone during the recording, the caller will be prompted to enter the PIN number/password followed by the # (pound) sign. As of now, the PIN is the same as the one in the recording, the PIN has not been found out yet.

8 July 2007

  • The recording for the number has changed again. The new recording says:
Man 2: ...site 4, 107 and 37.
(pause, 1.5 seconds)
Man 2: The center usually goes in before we do, thats been my experience
Man 1: By the time we have the site clean, they've moved on to more pressing needs...after all, we've had some extremely unpredictable seasons lately.
(pause, 4 seconds)
Man 2: ...no need, their rep is available anytime we need her.
(pause, 4 seconds)
Man 1: ...on everything we still need to look into.
(pause, 3 seconds)
Man 2: Eh, we're working on it. For the moment now we're simply hiding the data behind a false menu item.
Man 1: Security will be updated before the next system approaches.
(pause- 15 seconds, interlaced with one of the men coughing)
Man 2: Ok, great. Bye (Mel or Bill).
Man 1: Thanks.
Op (American Female): --Thank you for calling. Goodbye.

10 July 2007

 
Downloadable image from Episode 02

The "Servers" have been renamed to "Episodes" (Server 01 is now Episode 01 and so on).
Episode 2 is now open. See Episode 2.

There is another symbol during the Halo 3 E3 2007 Trailer. At 1.29 when the Pelican flies into view look to the right to it, it looks somewhat like AdjutantReflex's second avatar or one of those related to it. Would you please take a look and compare it please, this has already been added to the Talk:Halo 3 E3 2007 Trailer section but i felt it necessary to add it here to.

-Edit as of August 24th- One of the files that you can download from episode 02 is a .wav file entitled 719 Hz. The sound file contains garbled noise but if you run it through a program called Spectogram then it creates a picture of what appears to be a melting and misshapen clock. The image can also be attributed to look like a blurry version of "The Device", which can be accessed through the Halo 3 website. It is hidden inside the concept art section, which could be the reference to being "hidden behind a false menu item" from the Flood Containment Control call number.

This is the image:

http://www.picoodle.com/view.php?img=/9/8/24/f_719HzImagem_f7c4488.jpg&srv=img27 http://img27.picoodle.com/img/img27/9/8/24/t_719HzImagem_f7c4488.jpg

12 July 2007

Episodes' opening dates

It has been discovered that they will open due to certain Moon phases, as stated by 'II OtnemeM II' on Bungie Forums. Basically, the servers open on the same time the Moon is in a certain position, and if one takes the glyphs on the star images, they correspond to the date the servers opened. You can check out all this info here. Link:

>>> Moon Phases Theory

You can also check this site for more info:

>>> args.bungie.org - Timeline

Of course, all of this is pure speculation, and nothing is clear.

26 July 2007

Episode 3 is now open.

Ψ(bar, sub 0) = √(m/π)*e^(-2α(xbarsubi)² + A)

This is the quantum mechanics wave form formula. The original equation given to us is incomplete, though it can be seen as an example of Schrödinger’s equation. Many of his equations incorporate Newton's second law: f=ma. Einstien theorized that if you could travel faster than the speed of light you would be able to observe the past in some way. Of course, it's incomplete and different from most of Schrödinger’s equations, so it's possible that it is trying to hypothesize time travel.

2 August 2007

On Halo3.com, on the concept art section, after the thumbnail for Spartan Laser is a thumbnail labeled "The Device". On clicking the thumbnail, a window will pop up, and once you click "Initiate", it tells you it's waiting for sound input. If you have a microphone connected, you can speak and it will make echoes of your voice. By tapping hard enough to generate some noise on your microphone repeatably with a certain interval between each tap, or by playing the file 719Hz.wav downloaded from one of the episodes, it will unlock the glyph and give you a link to Server 3. Note: A few people have unlocked the glyph by whispering Iris into their microphone, although this is doubtful how it was meant to be unlocked.

9 August 2007

Server 4 opens at Halo3.com . Many strange things are found, such as hidden buttons, and "light halos" around certain buttons as well.

4 files available for download are:

Log4_Transcript

The Conservation Measure is the only sweet note in this discordant symphony we've arranged. {//} {//} We know that the Flood's biology is alien enough that it must be extragalactic in origin. But where did it come from? {//}

Note that the blank areas can be filled in using the translated binary sequences, see below.

sample1000101 -contains a long sequence of DNA, thought to be a genome of a Chinese Alligator. It also includes several binary strings, each of which the number of ones and zeros is divisible by 7.

StarImage4 -a bizarre star image, with a Forerunner glyph and text reading "THE ARTIFACT LOCATION"

unknown -an image, showing a picture of the Boomerang Nebula, possibly where the Flood "came from", as in the Log4_Transcript.

16 August 2007

 
Earth, the planet shown in the Episodes, showing the once super-continent of Pangaea now splitting apart

Server 5 opens at Halo3.com. The background has changed for this particular server however the forerunner object seems to be the same. 4 files available for download are:

Log5_Transcript

The anomalous world is in a perilous location beyond the line.
{The secrets it holds must be preserved.}
{Plans within plans within plans}
The inhabitants; these unique denizens, must be researched.
They may hold answers to our own mysteries.
{What irony that we discovered this treasure, only at the end of things.}
{But what fortune that we still had time to save them.}
The thing we built on that world will vouchsafe their lives,
{But perhaps one day it will be used for its intended purpose.}
If the plan succeeds, and they are saved, it will be a good world.
If the plan fails,
{And the adversary succeeds,}
it will remain an enigma forever
{With no-one left to reclaim it.}

cycle_response
-shows a bisection of the earth and what seems to be the four phases the earth is in around the sun, one for each season.
-The right portion shows what appears to be Pangaea.

Terminal
-a Forerunner glyph with a background of tessellating hexagons.
-The orange hexagonal shape to the right of the glyph is recognizable from the Terminals in Halo 3. It is the image of Mendicant Bias. Its position next to AdjutantReflex's glyph may imply that he was the one responsible for AR's destruction.

MB05032

You asked me once, what happened to those who vanished?
You asked me, why did we survive where our fathers fell?
You wished to know how we ever let it happen
A scourge that consumed the galaxy
And the cure that was worse than the cancer
You asked me once about my intent
And the spot that would not wash out
I promise you the answers lie in the Ark
Find me there in the dark
For that is where I abide

Speculation

It is possible, if not probable, that "the inhabitants" mentioned in Log5 are humans, and "the thing built to vouchsafe their lives" is the Portal, leading to the Ark. Further supporting this is that the file cycle_response shows an image of the Earth. Also notice reclaim is mentioned in the last line of Log5. This could mean that the Ark keeps humanity from being affected by the firing of the Halos. The planet spoken of, most definitely Earth, is called anomalous, or abnormal, which could mean that it is less advanced than the rest of the universe, making its inhabitants less violent, which is why they are unique.

If this theory were to be true it would explain why 343 Guilty Spark referred to the Master Chief (and Commander Keyes, and other humans) as Reclaimers, because the Forerunners would have studied early humanity and left records for the monitor's to know who Reclaimers were. This also explains why Covenant are not Reclaimers.

Due to the fact that AdjutantReflex's new avatar is filed MB05032_09_25_07, it is believed that Adjutantreflex, or his superior, lives in The Ark. It also seems that MB05032 is AdjutantRelfex's Superior, because the file of the same name contains the line: The spot that will not wash, which AdjutantRelex used to describe his Superior. This clearly describes Mendicant Bias, as he was a superior AI, and had committed treason against the Forerunners. His treason was the spot that would not wash. Further supporting this theory, is the file name: MB05032_9_25_07, could be explained as MendicantBias05-032(As he is referenced in Halo 3 Terminals). The "spot that would not wash" could also be a reference to Earth itself.

Also note that, coincidentally, the second half of MB05032_9_25_07 is the release date for halo 3. (9/25/07, or September 25th, 2007)

End

The Halo 3 MSN page stated in mid-August that Iris had come to a conclusion with the opening of Server 5. Iris' story and mysteries were continued and addressed in Halo 3, by the use of computer Terminals in the levels taking place on the Ark. These strings of recorded text communications detailed the fall of the Forerunner civilization and the firing of the Halo Rings. It also revealed Adjutant Reflex to actually be a rogue AI called Mendicant Bias, who betrayed the Forerunners in their final hour.

References

  1. ^ http://halo3.com/html/unlock.html

"Flood Containment Control" Phone Conversation

Entire Phone Conversation:

Man 1: ...is necessary, and neither is the doc download.

Man 2: I agree. This isn't going to be a public resource. Uh, pass on the document number so I can delete it.

Man 3 (Bill?): So where does that put us in terms of the numbers then?

Man 1: There's no way to tell yet, Jenny's looking into the records to find out how many closed sites there are, but as for active clean up, somewhere around 3-4 thousand.

Female 1 (Jenny?): Roughly.

Man 1: Oh here it is. Uh, Hold on. 402-K-07-002 and in terms of numbers most of these are past the PPE stage.

Female 1: And out of that 4,000 or so we are expecting to close shop on the bulk by the end of the month.

Man 2: With a few exceptions: site 34, site 4, 107, and 37.

Bill: Even with CDC involvement?

Man 2: The center usually goes in before we do, that's been my experience.

Man 1: By the time we have the site clean, they've moved on to more pressing needs. After all, we've had some extremely unpredictable seasons lately.

Female: Should we be integrating the N-I-O-S-H database?

Man 2: No need, their rep is available to us any time we need her. Bill: That gives us tabs on all the active locations?

Man 1: On everything we still need to look into.

Bill: What about security?

Man 2: Well we're working on it. For the moment we're simply hiding the data behind a false menu item.

Man 1: Security will be updated before the next system approaches.

Bill: And access?

Female: Enter the access code after our site.

Bill: IP-slash-3463 or something?

Female: Yeah, slash-5467k actually, it should be operational any time.

Bill: Great, I'll pass it on. I have to drop, thanks everyone.

Female: Thanks. Bye.

Man 2: Okay, great. Bye, Bill Man 1: Thanks.

Cortana Reference (Sub-Article)

A Bungie-released "Castaway" Poem lead to the discovery of the book "The Castaway Theory" on Amazon... A peculiar comment spoke of the text's referencing of the "Song of Roland", and an article on this hymn may be be found on Wikipedia. From here, there is a link to the article of a sword named Durendal. The Wikipedia article of Durendal references a blade named "Cortana", and a quote stating the following... 

"My name is Cortana, of the same steel and temper as Joyeuse and Durendal."

This is interesting, as Durandal is a character of Bungie's "Marathon" series, and Cortana of Bungie's "Halo" series. This is clearly a Halo reference, and a segment of the "Iris" promotional campaign.

"Castaway" Poem (With Commentary)

Please let it be noted that the extra spaces found within, being critical to its decoding, are not to be removed. It was discovered this way.

When we two parted In silence and tears, Half broken-hearted,\ To sever for years, Pale grew thy cheek and cold, Colder thy kiss; Truly that hour foretold Sorrow to this! The dew of the morning Sunk chill on my brow; It felt like the warning Of what I feel now. Thy vows are all broken, And light is thy fame: I hear thy name spoken And share in its shame. They name thee before me, A knell to mine ear; A shudder comes o'er me - Why wert thou so dear? They know not I knew thee Who knew thee too well: Long, long shall I rue thee Too deeply to tell. In secret we met: In silence I grieve That thy heart could forget, Thy spirit deceive. If I should meet thee After long years, How should I greet thee? With silence and tears. Or better I'll look And find you away, Mistaken in jungle? My heart labors stayed? Long weeks though were hidden. In Amazon's folds; The formula's secrets, Love's story now told.


"In Amazon's folds" is a reference to the "The Castaway Theory" book and Iris tie-in.

Hidden World Map on Halo 3 Official Site (Sub-Reference)

The link runs as follows... A possible item of the Iris Campaign...

If you zoom in to your state or region, there are pins on selected video game retail stores with their names, addresses, and a jumble of letters.

"http://www.halo3.com/5467k/"

Upon Review of the recent "Iris" phone conversation:

"402-K-07-002" is the number for a booklet created by the Environmental Protection Agency, titled "Flood Cleanup and the Air In Your Home."

"N-I-O-S-H" The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (or NIOSH) is the United States federal agency responsible for conducting research and making recommendations for the prevention of work-related injury and illness. NIOSH is part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) within the US Department of Health and Human Services.

"3463" is a substance ID number for Propionic acid. Propionic acid inhibits the growth of mold and some bacteria. Accordingly, most propionic acid produced is used as a preservative for both animal feed and food for human consumption. Can be used as a preservative for Ballistics Gel. For animal feed, it is used either directly or as its ammonium salt. In human foods, especially bread and other baked goods, it is used as its sodium or calcium salt. Similar usage occurs in some of the older anti-fungal foot powders. Propionic acid is also useful as a chemical intermediate. It can be used to modify synthetic cellulose fibers. It is also used to make pesticides and pharmaceuticals. The esters of propionic acid are sometimes used as solvents or artificial flavorings.

Also...The locations on the map were locations of kiosks in stores with a special version of the "Starry Night" commercial uploaded, which included a quote from Blaise de Vigenère. Blaise de Vigenère (April 5, 1523 - 1596) was a French diplomat and cryptographer. The Vigenère cipher is so named due to the cipher being incorrectly attributed to him in the 19th century. Vigenère was born in the village of Saint-Pourçain. At age 17 he entered the diplomatic service, and remained there for 30 years, retiring in 1570. Five years into his career he was sent to the Diet of Worms as a very junior secretary. At age 24, he entered the service of the Duke of Nevers. In 1549 he visited Rome on a two-year diplomatic mission, and again in 1566. On both trips, he came in contact both with books on cryptography and cryptologists themselves. When Vigenère retired aged 47, he donated his 1,000 livres a year income to the poor in Paris. He married a Marie Varé. In his retirement, he was author of over twenty books, including: Traicte de Cometes Traicte de Chiffres (1585) Traicte du Fev et du Sel (1608) In Traicte de Chiffres he described an autokey cipher he had invented, it was the first cipher of this type not to be trivially breakable. Vigenère died of throat cancer in 1596.

Server 4 Binary Translation

First binary code:
01001001 01110100 00100111 01110011 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01101111 01101110 01101100 01111001 00100000 01100011 01101111 01101110 01110011 01110100 01110010 01110101 01100011 01110100 01101001 01110110 01100101 00100000 01100001 01100011 01110100 01101001 01110110 01101001 01110100 01111001 00100000 01101001 01101110 00100000 01100100 01100101 01100011 01100001 01100100 01100101 01110011 00100000 01101111 01100110 00100000 01100100 01100101 01110011 01110100 01110010 01110101 01100011 01110100 01101001 01101111 01101110 00101110 00100000

Translation:
"It's the only constructive activity in decades of destruction."

Second Set of Binary:
01010010 01100101 01110011 01100101 01100001 01110010 01100011 01101000 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01100001 01100100 01110110 01100101 01110010 01110011 01100001 01110010 01111001 00100000 01100001 01110011 00100000 01110111 01100101 00100000 01110000 01110010 01101111 01110100 01100101 01100011 01110100 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01110111 01101111 01110010 01110100 01101000 01111001 00101110

Translation:
"Researching the adversary as we protect the worthy."

Final Set of Binary:
01000001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01110111 01101000 01111001 00100000 01100100 01101001 01100100 00100000 01101001 01110100 00100000 01101001 01110100 00100000 01100011 01101111 01101101 01100101 00100000 01101000 01100101 01110010 01100101 00111111

Translation:
"And why did it come here?"

Courtesy Of Hypevosa at Bungie.net

  • The artifact location site was updated to read the numbers 081607, the date for the day after the release of Halo: Uprising. It is possible that further information pertaining to Iris may be in the comic book.

Related Links

Internal

External

Template:IrisEpisodes

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