SPARTAN Project

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - Cite This Source

The SPARTAN Project is a fictional government project in the Halo series which produces supersoldiers. The protagonist of the video games Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2, and Halo 3 —the Master Chief— is a Spartan, and he and his compatriots also appear in the Halo novels and comics. The Spartan’s name comes from the elite warriors of ancient Sparta; these future counterparts were designed to be the ultimate tool to use against the United Nations Space Command’s enemies. Possessing superior strength, quick reflexes, battle training and powerful armor, the Spartans inspire equal parts awe and terror in friend and foe alike. With humanity facing extermination by the alien Covenant, the Spartans are seemingly humanity's last hope.

While Master Chief is the only Spartan seen in the video games, the supersoldiers have a much larger role in the expanded universe. Bungie and partners have produced several series of action figures and other promotional materials featuring the Spartans, whose armor (worn by the Master Chief) is the most visible symbol of the franchise. Some hobbyists have even constructed their own armor and helmets, with one inventor being inspired to create his own combat-ready battle armor.

Character design

The design of Master Chief Petty Officer John-117, the first Spartan that appeared in Halo: Combat Evolved was in charge of a group personel working for Bungie Studio, this group consisted of Rob McLees and Marcus Lehto, the development of conceptual art was done by Shi Kai Wang. One of the illustrations drawn by Wang was subsequently selected to be the basis of the character's design. The design that was initially accepted illustrated a silver colored armor. This design was altered following its transclusion into a three dimensional model, when those working in the project decided the character looked excessively slender to the point of looking "almost effeminate". Following this conclusion the character's frame was given more mass and the armor's design underwent several changes. Among these changes were the inclusion of an antenna, later removed during development, and a green exterior.

SPARTAN Is

Also known as the "Orion Project", the project was to test how humans would react on the battlefield when injected with specialized drugs. It was initiated in 2491. Like its successor project, the SPARTAN Is lost many lives due to complications. However, unlike the SPARTAN IIs, the members were entirely military volunteers, rather than kidnapped children.

SPARTAN-IIs

The SPARTAN-II project is the successor to the SPARTAN-I project, known as Project ORION. The Program is headed by Dr. Catherine Elizabeth Halsey, who sought to create a strike team which could keep the UNSC from falling into civil strife. Halsey and her associates scoured human colonies for suitable test subjects. The children who were chosen to be Spartans were "conscripted," a process that involved locating children of a select gene-pool, kidnapping the child in question and replacing him or her with a flash clone. These clones were unstable (due to the process used to clone them not being perfected) and quickly died of what appeared to be natural causes. Meanwhile, the young children were officially conscripted by the UNSC Office of Naval Intelligence and taken to the planet Reach. There, the Spartans learned teamwork, academics, and combat tactics.

At the age of fourteen the SPARTAN-II candidates underwent a series of dramatic augmentations. These included "carbide ceramic ossification" which fused titanium to their skeleton, making their bones almost unbreakable, in addition to enhancements that boosted the Spartans' vision, reaction time, and strength. These modifications were risky, and thirty of the seventy-five candidates died from the process; even more were disabled to the point they could not participate in combat. The remaining children became the elite force in the UNSC, putting down insurgent activity and maintaining calm throughout the colonies.

While the SPARTAN-IIs are intended to remain secret as the UNSC's surgical strike team, events become complicated with the decimation of the colony Harvest by a theocratic coalition of alien races known as the Covenant. Declaring humanity's destruction "the will of the gods", the Covenant utilize their technological advantage over humanity to great effort; colonies are overwhelmed and "glassed", bombarded with plasma until everything is melted and utterly destroyed. In an effort to raise morale, the existence of the SPARTAN Program is disclosed to the general public. The Spartans become heroes and veritable legends; in order to maintain public confidence that the war is going well, Spartans are never listed as killed, only as MIA or Wounded in Action (WIA).

SPARTAN-IIIs

Despite their enormous successes, the SPARTAN-IIs were seen as too expensive to maintain. In Halo: Ghosts of Onyx, Colonel James Ackerson convinces the UNSC to establish a new SPARTAN program, this one focusing on cheaper, more "disposable" supersoldiers. These new soldiers are instructed by the SPARTAN-IIs' trainer, Franklin Mendez, as well as the former Spartan Kurt-051. Despite the SPARTAN-IIIs meeting with field success, these missions are marked with grievous casualties; the first two companies of SPARTAN-IIIs received almost 100% casualties. Unlike the SPARTAN-IIs, the SPARTAN-IIIs are composed of volunteering vengeful orphans from fallen colonies like Harvest, Jericho VII, and Biko. While additional SPARTAN-IIIs are to be trained, in 2552 the program's base of operations on the planet Onyx falls under attack by activated Forerunner Sentinels after Delta Halo was put on standby status and the entire planet is ripped apart by an explosion.

Armor

Spartans utilize numerous weapons and equipment, but their most distinctive feature is their armor. In Halo: The Fall of Reach, the SPARTAN-IIs were originally equipped with fairly standard armor, but were later equipped with the latest revisions of the MJOLNIR armor system. By the end of the novel, the Spartans are clad in the MJOLNIR Mark V armor, which has a personal shield equal to the Covenant's own technology. In addition, the Mark V allows the Spartans to house an artificial intelligence; the Master Chief was paired with the AI Cortana. The visor of a Spartan provides a real time HUD (head-up display, allowing the Spartans to keep track of their ammo and shield integrity.) In Halo 2, the Master Chief's armor was replaced with the Mark VI. This version contains a supply of "biofoam", which automatically seals wounds the soldier receives. Spartans are the only humans who are strong enough to wear the heavy MJOLNIR armor. Additionally, the suit moves at the speed of the wearer's thoughts; in testing early versions of the armor, ordinary soldiers unintentionally shattered their bones with the slightest movement. However, the Spartans, having undergone a series of physical and mental augmentations, are able to utilize this feature to its fullest without consequence. SPARTAN-IIIs wear a stripped down version of the MJOLNIR armor, which offers less protection but allows the wearer to blend in with his or her surroundings.

In Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2 and Halo 3 multiplayer games, players can modify their Spartan's armor color and emblems. Halo 3 also introduced new variants of the MJOLNIR armor which are used by Spartans in various combat situations. Players can mix and match portions of different armor sets to create a custom Spartan.

Cultural impact

Merchandise

Bungie has allowed several action figure series of the Master Chief and generic Spartans to be produced. Those for Halo 2 were created by Joyride Studios; for Halo 3, the task was given to McFarlane toys. Spartans were also included as collectible figures in the Halo ActionClix board game that served as promotional before the release of Halo 3.

MJOLNIR Replicas

Inspired by the Halo video game series, Troy Hurtubise developed a real counterpart for the MJOLNIR battle. The suit is functional and its capabilities were inspired by those present in the video games versions of the armor. The armor's features include a system that purifies air powered by solar panels located in the helmet, equipment for weapon transportation, a recording system, emergency illumination and a transponder that can be consumed if the wearer is in serious jeopardy. The armor offers protection against attacks with knives, blunt objects and small explosions and is bulletproof. Hurtubise expressed that he is able to improve this design for use in the military for a price of 2,000 dollars per piece. Non-functional replicas of the MJOLNIR armor have also been created by hobbyists; a Spike TV pre-Halo 3 special profiled some of these dedicated fans.

References

External links

• SPARTAN-II Roster (pre-Ghosts of Onyx)

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia © 2001-2006 Wikipedia contributors (Disclaimer)
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Last updated on Tuesday March 11, 2008 at 07:24:39 PDT (GMT -0700)
View this article at Wikipedia.org - Edit this article at Wikipedia.org - Donate to the Wikimedia Foundation