Since early May, 2000, the fabled Halo fansite, The Core, has been suffering a bit of a meltdown! Are we witnessing Web Server Rampancy? :) As the site 'degraded' more and more, eventually, on May 6, 2000, its forum suffered a a particular 'malfunction' and we were privy to some very interesting forum posts. Are these for real? Who knows! But it sure is fun to speculate.

The purpose of this page is to preserve these posts. Since a forum, by its nature, will scroll posts offline eventually (or at the very least make it difficult to find), it would be a shame to see these posts suffer such a fate. For the sake of brevity, only posts that come from these two 'fictional' characters Munifican and Ogrier have been preserved here. You can currently read the entire thread which includes 'real' replies at The Core. Some very astute dissecting going on by several folks. Hat's off to B-Sharp for being there first. My simpleton comments appear below.



Here is the entire message thread so far today (5/7/00 1PM EST):

R~: R~qu~st - Munifican
     • R~: R~qu~st - Ogier
     • Marvin Minsky... - B-Sharp
           • R~: Marvin Minsky... - Ogier
                 • If you'r~ r~f~ring to WoT... - B-Sharp
                       • ~rm... - B-Sharp
                             • a littl~ mor~ on Ogi~r t#~ Dan~ - B-Sharp
                                   • R~: a littl~ mor~ on Ogi~r t#~ Dan~ - Ogier
     • R~: R~qu~st - Carbon
           • R~: R~qu~st - B-Sharp




Posted By: Munifican on Saturday, 05.6.00, at 8:36 p.m.

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Received: from phobos.mr (mx7.node.mr [319.591.49.115])
for <ogier@dansk.mr> Mo, 5 May 2208 10:49:34 +0700 (MST DST)

From: "Munifican" <munifican@sauvagins.mr>
To: "Ogier" <ogier@uesc.org>
Subject: Re: Request

You hav%35 outraged too many wise men and pleased too many fools to hide
be%56ind his too-appropriate pseudonym much longer. I know about your plan
and how you risk the lives of those colonists. As if opening the box was
not enough, now you even try to pr%35vent it's closing. I cannot follow
this path and will not create a third for you.

Marvin Minsky wrote in "Machinery of Consciousness" about the usefulness
of consciousness and I think you have understood that too, although I
would have though differently two y%35ars ago, I know see that there was
sense %42ehind this incident and with th…NuDat%20failed!NVmething
frightening. I conclude that it was not an accident, no, it either was a
controlled exp~riment - Well, it got%20out of hand soon, but you did not
care, did you? - or a plan to subvert our autonomy, probably %42oth.

It took two years to realize this and the fact that I made it possible
by creating your little toy did not help much, but now I have the
evid816B064EBA00464E7003choice though. I have heard of a new
project being planned on the government boards and a friend of a friend
mentioned that it mig%56t occur sooner then expected. I will trade my
evidence for a place in this project and even if I sold my soul, I can
finally find piece there. Hopefully.

I hope you keep your promise, becau[error]ou a present. Yes, it is
true, I created a forth. I always thought the one for R. was perfect and
the two for you were not able to top its intellect, but I have proved
myself wrong. I was able to achieve even greater precision with this one
and this tim%35 I did add a control program.

Sincerely,
M~nifican

.





Re: Request
Pomed By: Ogier on Saturday, 05.6.00, at 8:56 p.m.
Response to: Re: Request (Munifican)

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for <munifican@sauvagins.mr> Mo, 5 May 2208 16:32:29 +0700 (MST DST)

From: "Ogier" <ogier@uesc.org>
To: "Munifican" <munifican@sauvagins.mr>
Subject: Re: Request

I never considered you a fool, but I thought the current s%56tuation is
%35vident to you. There is change in order on earth, not now, but soon
and you would have had the possibility to shape a new future.
Nevertheless %56 will grant you%20your wish, despite the need of your
work here on earth. I will make sure that you will be the first on the
list for possible partic%56pants.

Fare well my old friend,
Ogier

PS: You were rig%56t all the time. I hope this satisfies you.

U.E.S.C.



Re: Marvin Minsky...
Pomed By: Ogier on Saturday, 05.6.00, at 9:30 p.m.
Response to: Marvin Minsky... (B-Sharp)

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I have to admit that this message was never supposed to hit any public
boards, also I can only guess about the source of the l%35ak, but I may
just blame the system instability of the Core. The consequences of this
information being public now, though I doubt any person of this time
could understand, may have an impact on future events, which I am unable
to predict.



: Marvin Minsky - http://www.ai.mit.edu/people/minsky/minsky.html

Marvin Minsky is a very wise man and if it was n~t for his work, I might
not be where talking to you.

: Munifican - http://www.bibliomania.com/Reference/PhraseAndFable/data/1195.html
:(interesting link to Durandal and possibly Cortana [Courtain?] explains the
:message, one way or another.)

I too use an obvious pseudonym, but I can assure you that it has nothing
to do with[error], or the weapon of Edward the Confessor,%20but you have
an interesting resource listed there, but the answer is not there. You
may want to use another source or read some books which are more
appropriate, but currently some people track my node time, so I find
myself unable to give you pr%35cise data.

Regards,
Ogier

U.E.S.C.



Re: a little more on Ogier the Dane
Pomed By: Ogier on Sunday, 05.7.00, at 6:56 a.m.
Response to: a little more on Ogier the Dane (B-Sharp)

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You get closer every minute, but you think in the wrong direction. I
also have to state that I am neither Ferrex, nor Noctavis. Coming back
to the subject of quotes and names, I have an obvious connection to
Munifican, just as he has to Roland and given that we picked our
pseudonyms on purpose you can expect to find more ties (you already
did), but you think in the wrong direction.

Also I think it is worth noting that good old Munifican is no longer
among us and that he had read Orson Card... He was much in stories of
the early 21st / end 20th century, just like I am. The quote he made I found
particular funny, since it represented my position on earth, I have the
chance to stand up and lose my face doing so, or I can stay behind and
direct a plot leading to global domination almost like Locke did. For me
the answer is obvious, though I do not think we should be discussing
political issues, this situation here is all but political, it is very simple
and easy to solve. Well, it will solve itself soon, but I think that I will stay
and watch what will happen.

Regards,
Ogier

[end of posts]

Taking the obvious hints, and adding what I noticed at a site B-Sharp mentions: http://www.bibliomania.com/Reference/PhraseAndFable/data/1195.html

That particular page contains a list of Famous Sword Owners and the name of their Sword(s). Cut and paste time:

--- SNIP ---

[...]

(16) EDWARD THE CONFESSOR'S was called Curtana (the cutter), a blunt sword of state carried before the sovereigns of England at their coronation, emblematical of mercy.

(17) ENGLISH KINGS' (the ancient) was called Curtana.

[...]

(27) OGIER THE DANE'S, Courtain and Sauvagine, both made by Munifican. "He [Ogier] drew Courtain, his sword, out of its sheath."- Morris: Earthly Paradise, 634.

[...]

--- SNIP ---

So I put the obvious stuff together and declare: The entity known as Munifican in these emails is the creator of Cortana and Durandal... or Cortana/Durandal like things... Ogier is the the 'wielder' of this weapon/thing. And they are not happy with each other :) M threatens to expose O, blackmailing him in exchange for a guaranteed position in some new project. O agrees, giving him preferential treatment. Now notice the time and date of these postings WITHIN the Core forum itself. Heh, the Core's meltdown is causing a rip in the fabric of time and allowing us to communicate with folks 200 years in the future! :) Anyone seen the movie Frequency that just opened here in the states? Hehe, eerily similar. As proof you'll notice that Ogier's reply to B-Sharp's inquiry seems normal enough... except that Ogrier does mention TIME alot. I give you select snippets of his first correspondence with B-Sharp, with the important phrases in bold:


[...] The consequences of this
information being public now, though I doubt any person of this time
could understand, may have an impact on future events, which I am unable
to predict.

Marvin Minsky is a very wise man and if it was n~t for his work, I might
not be where talking to you.
Slight spelling goof there? Did he mean to say "when" or "here"?

[...] You
may want to use another source or read some books which are more
appropriate, but currently some people track my node time, so I find
myself unable to give you pr%35cise data.

There's alot more to be gleaned from these posts, but I'll let the real experts now chime in and take a stab at them :)

- Mig