{"id":422,"date":"2008-09-03T22:16:11","date_gmt":"2008-09-04T02:16:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.ascendantjustice.com\/?p=422"},"modified":"2023-06-23T23:34:28","modified_gmt":"2023-06-24T03:34:28","slug":"seattle-in-reign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.ascendantjustice.com\/2008\/09\/03\/seattle-in-reign\/","title":{"rendered":"Seattle in Reign"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Admittedly, this was not the first time I had visited the West Coast.<\/p>\n

My previous trip to this side of the country took me to Los Angeles, helping write a low-budget film for a friend. But even with that reckless abandon of all responsibility, it was not preceded by anywhere near the anticipation and glee which accompanied my trip just this last weekend. So, after a pair of mechanical failures, two hours sitting in a hot airplane while watching the first half of the psychological horror\/romantic comedy known as Fool\u2019s Gold<\/em> and finally six additional hours of travel, I arrived in downtown Seattle for PAX ’08.<\/p>\n

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Although there were a handful of other draws, for the most part, I was here for Assembly.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, Frank O\u2019Connor began describing \u201cPurple Reign,\u201d what was at the time depicted as a midsize symmetrical map with walkways and, presumably, the color purple. Some time later, Luke Smith provided further details, hinting at a variety of Covenant-centric aesthetics and charting the map’s revisions.<\/p>\n

By the time I arrived on PAX’s exhibit floor, I had no real concrete understanding of what this new map, now called Assembly, would entail. As I write this now in an East Coast-bound airbus of a rickety 737, I struggle to capture the map and all that it held in written words. Suffice it to say, however, it is easily one of the most complex multiplayer maps in all of Halo 3. This should be taken, not as a count against the map at all, but rather as a compliment \u2013 as it is also easily one of my favorites thus far.<\/p>\n

Fused together by map and mission designer Dan Miller, Assembly is entirely symmetrical and its size falls somewhere in between Halo 2\u2019s Sanctuary\/Desolation and the illustrious Pious Inquisitor<\/em>, better known to fans as Midship. And alongside the latter, there are several very distinctive similarities which exist. Apart from the obvious visual styling which is Covenant in nature, both Midship and Assembly have a round shape with two bases opposite of each other in a bowl-like arena. For both, the remaining environments are composed of strategic walkways, curved ramps, smooth platforms and stunted corridors which make for interesting transitional sections and choke points.<\/p>\n

Scarab, In Vitro<\/strong><\/p>\n

The fiction behind any multiplayer map is arguably one of the most compelling elements for fans of the story and here, Assembly is no slouch. The bulk of the map\u2019s history is found in the dramatic and enormous skybox. The map itself is essentially a platform adjoined to an energy wench with tubes conversely rising from each base upward like serpentine armatures. The traversable area of the map appears to simply be the control station for a conveyor-like assembly line through which Covenant Scarabs are born.<\/p>\n

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This is only one of two enormous foundry stations which hang far away from the map itself, despite constantly and impressively interacting with it.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The term \u201cborn\u201d is intentional here, as we now have canonical validation of the organic comparison between the interior patchwork of the Scarab tanks and the same species which represent the Hunters. Both are simple slug-like creatures with their material embodiment found in the fusion of their biology with Covenant technology. As was depicted by Joseph Staten in Contact Harvest<\/em>, the Lekgolo were used to clean and maintain the massive Forerunner relic known as the Dreadnought. Here we see that the Covenant felt no different about the care and potency needed to power their walking assault platforms, as various parts of Assembly house the tenuous matter and fluid which make up the Lekgolo.<\/p>\n

In this skybox, the Scarab\u2019s carapace emerges from a gargantuan facility into what appears to be the immense bowels of High Charity. Against the brightly lit sea of coolant, the vehicle\u2019s chassis is transported across a familiar looking gravity bridge to a conductor just above the map itself. It is here where the Scarab is first powered, lighting up as though it has been brought to life. It is then carried down the conveyor to the far side of the chasm and into a separate housing facility, presumably to be finished and sent into battle.<\/p>\n

The fiction, of course, doesn\u2019t stop with the skybox or any overhanging and distant geometry. Throughout Assembly, there are various flickering Covenant symbols and surging energy conduits which play into the map\u2019s role witnessed high above. For the quick-eyed fan or two, some may have even spotted a twin dial control station similar to the one we first discovered in Halo: Combat Evolved\u2019s Truth and Reconciliation<\/em> bridge \u2013 clearly the Covenant operator station for this integral part of the assembly line.<\/p>\n

The Five<\/strong><\/p>\n

From above, the map looks interestingly like the steering wheel of a slick, feature-heavy Covenant sports car. In written word, however, Assembly is best understood in sections and layers. Essentially, the map has five specific locations which are central to Assembly\u2019s flow and function.<\/p>\n