Superintendent

The subject of this article is Bungie Lore; one of the many myths, legends, and easter eggs that have been created by Bungie.

The Superintendent was a Bungie-created profile on Bungie.net to use specifically for Halo 3: ODST's alternate reality game (ARG). The Superintendent was also the name of the AI used throughout ODST's campaign through the city of New Mombasa.

History

Origin

The Superintendent made its first appearance on Bungie.net on May 29, 2008 at 5:44 PM PDT in the News Forum, posting in a random thread about Bungie.net's 2008 theme update.

The Superintendent had a profile name of seven vertical bars: |||||||. Viewed in a serif font, these bars are actually four capital I's followed by three lowercase L's. The Superintendent had a green title bar with "Superintendent" for its member title, and posted in green text, the only profile on Bungie.net to ever officially do so. Additionally, its posts could not be reported, indicating it had a website security role. If one were to have checked its forum signature, it said "Keep it clean!" in lowercase.

Posting History and Contact

After its first post, the Superintendent commented in many threads from May 29-June 18 using one of the following phrases, always in uppercase:

• KEEP IT CLEAN
• BE A HERO! REPORT VIOLATORS
• LOOK BOTH WAYS BEFORE CROSSING
• PARDON OUR DUST
• BEACH OPEN FOR WATER CONTACT
• YOUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK
• GOOD CITIZENS CONSERVE FUEL
• WHITE ZONE FOR LOADING ONLY
• CLICK IT OR TICKET - this was a thread that the Superintendent created, posting "KEEP IT CLEAN" in the original post
• PLEASE REMAIN CALM
• RECYCLING: DO YOUR PART!
• SPEED ZONE AHEAD
• VEHICLE MAKES FREQUENT STOPS
• WALKWAY ENDING, PLEASE LOOK DOWN
• OBEY POSTED LIMITS
• ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK

The SI responding to Duardo

On June 18, at 9:52 AM PDT, the Superintendent posted in the Superintendent Discussion thread by stating "PLEASE REMAIN CALM!" Duardo, attempting to contact it, replied with "Why? Is there something wrong?" at 10:58 AM PDT. Duardo then sent the same thing via Private Message to the account. At 11:10 AM PDT, the Superintendent replied to Duardo's private message with "IN CASE OF FIRE, USE STAIRS" but did not respond to other attempts.

The Superintendent then went on hiatus until July 11 when it starting posting again. For the next two days, variations of "KEEP IT CLEAN" were posted but every few posts changed a letter with a number.

• 0EEP IT CLEAN
• K7EP IT CLEAN
• KE1P IT CLEAN
• KEEP IT 1LEAN
• KEEP I8 CLEAN
• KEEP IT CLE0N
• KEEP 0T CLEAN
• KEEP IT C0EAN
• KEEP IT CL3AN
• KEE4 IT CLEAN

One of several phrases on the countdown page

Eventually, the community figured out that it was cryptically posting a date and time, 0714081030, 07/14/08 10:30, which was when Microsoft's slot at E3 2008 was scheduled. On July 14 at 10:30 AM PDT, Bungie.net's homepage was replaced with the Superintendent saying several phrases, along with a countdown of an end date of Wednesday, July 15 at 2:07:07 PM.

Cancellation

When the countdown ended, it said "rebooting..." but nothing happened. At 7 PM, Bungie.net's homepage updated again with an image of a note from then-Bungie President Harold Ryan explaining that they had plans to reveal "something exciting" during the week of E3, but their plans were changed by their publisher (Microsoft). He said that Bungie realizes that many fans would be disappointed, because Bungie was disappointed, but that in the future the announcement would be shared, and he then thanks everyone for their continued support and patience." Fans thought that the announcement was another part of the ARG, calling it fake, but it was confirmed by stosh, Achronos, Luke Smith, and Louis Wu that it wasn't fake. On July 16, Bungie officially announced the cancellation. There was no announcement at E3 either, but Microsoft's Don Mattrick did say that Bungie was working hard on another installment in the Halo series.

Reappearance

Superintendent Returns

On September 19 at 07:07 PM PDT, the campaign started up again with a news story, "KEEP IT CLEAN," posted by the Superintendent. The news story, which was posted in green text, was a future conversation that would take place between the Superintendent AI and an unnamed UNSC Communications Officer on the UNSC Prowler, "Tokyo Rules."

Conversation

<\\> UNSC OFFICE OF NAVAL INTELLIGENCE

<\\> CLASSIFIED SIGNALS ARCHIVE [ONI.SEC.PRTCL-1A]

<\ OPENED PER OFFICIAL REQUEST [DARE.V.500341(S1)]

\ SOURCE: URBAN INFRASTRUCTURE A.I. [SUPERINTENDENT]

\ RECEPIENT: PROWLER “TOKYO RULES” [COMM.DUTY.OFFICER]
>> NOTATION KEYWORD SEARCH: “EMERGENCY” “DATA” “CORRUPTION”
>> (...) ~ QUERY RUNNING
>> (..)
>> (.) \ VTT TRANSCRIPT AS FOLOWS...

            [SUPERINTENDENT]: “METROPOLITAN EMERGENCY!”
             [SUPERINTENDENT]: “METROPOLITAN EMERGENCY!”
             [SUPERINTENDENT]: “METROPOLITAN EMER--!”
             [COMM.DUTY.OFFICER]: “We know. Personnel are en route. Can you--”
             [SUPERINTENDENT]: “DETOUR! PROCEED WITH CAUTION!”
             [COMM.DUTY.OFFICER]: “--put Kinsler on the line?”
             [SUPERINTENDENT]: [UNITELLIGIBLE > DOG GROWLING(?)]
             [COMM.DUTY.OFFICER]: “Sorry, what?”
             [SUPERINTENDENT]: “BE A HERO! REPORT VIOLATORS!”
             [COMM.DUTY.OFFICER]: “Oh, come on... ”
             [SUPERINTENDENT]: “METROPOLITAN EMER--!”
             [COMM.DUTY.OFFICER]: “Listen. We have a report of core data corruption.”
             [COMM.DUTY.OFFICER]: “I need you to upload your--”
             [SUPERINTENDENT]: “PARDON OUR DUST!”
             [SUPERINTENDENT]: “YOUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK!”
             [COMM.DUTY.OFFICER] “--logs for the last twenty-four hours!”
             [SUPERINTENDENT]: “KEEP IT CLEAN!”
             [SUPERINTENDENT]: “KEEP IT CLEAN!”
             [SUPERINTENDENT]: “KEEP IT CLEAN!”
             [COMM.DUTY.OFFICER]: [UNINTELLIGIBLE > PROFANITY (?)]
             [COMM.DUTY.OFFICER]: “We're sending a team, alright?”
             [COMM.DUTY.OFFICER]: “Until they arrive, all additional comm needs to route through me.”
             [COMM.DUTY.OFFICER]: “Repeat and acknowledge.”
             [SUPERINTENDENT]: “OBEY POSTED LIMITS!”
             [SUPERINTENDENT]: “YIELD TO UPHILL TRAFFIC!”
             [COMM.DUTY.OFFICER]: “I'll take that as a ‘yes’...”
             [SUPERINTENDENT]: “PLEASE REMAIN CALM!”

\ ~ QUERY COMPLETE

\ ARCHIVE CLOSED \>

Three day later on September 22, again at 7:07 PM PDT, a second news story, "PARDON OUR DUST," was posted by the Superintendent. This news story, posted in a normal text color, included a conversation between an unnamed UNSC Admiral and Veronica Dare, a UNSC ODST and who was believed to be the unnamed officer in the first news story.

Conversation

<\\> UNSC OFFICE OF NAVAL INTELLIGENCE
<\\> TAC-OPS LOGISTICS DATABASE [ONI.SEC.PRTCL-1A]

<\ * PRIORITY! * RESOURCE RE-ALLOCATION REQUEST

>> SENT: [DARE.V.500341(S1)]
>> RECEIVED: HEAVY CRUISER “SAY MY NAME” [SMN.ACTUAL]

\ PARTIAL VTT TRANSCRIPT AS FOLLOWS...

[SMN.ACTUAL]: “The situation on the ground isn’t my concern.”
[DARE.V.500341(S1)]: “I understand, Admiral. But I need --”
[EXPLOSION (4.0098s)]
[SMN.UNKNOWN]:[UNINTELLIGIBLE > PANIC(?)]
[SMN.ACTUAL]: “Empty archer pods six through twelve!”
[SMN.ACTUAL]: “Ready the MAC, and come about!”
[SMN.UNKNOWN]:[UNINTELLIGIBLE > INSUBORDINATION(?)]
[SMN.ACTUAL]: “It may have passed us, Lieutenant, but it’s still in range.”
[SMN.ACTUAL]: “Come about. And shoot it in the ass.”
[EXPLOSION (2.3482s)]
[STATIC (3.8761s)]
[SMN.UNKNOWN]:[UNINTELLIGIBLE > COMPLIANCE(?)]
[DARE.V.500341(S1)]: “Admiral, about my squad?”
[DARE.V.500341(S1)]: “I’ve forwarded their NCO’s name to your --”
[SMN.ACTUAL]: “Enough, Captain!”
[SMN.ACTUAL]: “If I survive this attack..."
[SMN.ACTUAL]: “I will deploy per my orders from Fleet HQ!”
[DARE.V.500341(S1)]: “Sir. I don’t report to Fleet.”
[DARE.V.500341(S1)]: “And the men I want? Now they don’t either.”
[DARE.V.500341(S1)]: “Please. Read my request.”
[STATIC (2.8179s)]
[EXPLOSION (3.0194s)]
[STATIC (7.4501s)]
[SMN.ACTUAL]: “Didn’t think you S1 types ever left your cave.”
[DARE.V.500341(S1)]: “Desperate times...”
[SMN.ACTUAL]: “Alright, Captain. You’ve got your squad.”
[SMN.ACTUAL]: “If I survive the attack."
[EXPLOSION (2.9016s)]
[SMN.ACTUAL]: “And right now? That’ll take a genuine act of God.”
[DARE.V.500341(S1)]: “I’ll see what I can do.”

\ ~ REQUEST COMPLETE

\ DATABASE CLOSED \>

Bungie.net's homepage was updated once again on September 24 at 7:07 PM PST with a reappearance of the countdown that first appeared in July. The countdown would end on September 25 at 7:07 AM PST, the one-year anniversary of Halo 3. When the countdown ended, a teaser trailer for Bungie's next project was released.

Timeline of Events

The timeline was created by Duardo throughout 2008.

May 29

• 05:44 PM - A mysterious user named IIIIlll appears in a thread, telling users to "KEEP IT CLEAN!" He has a custom avatar, a custom title: "Superintendent," and green text/user bar.
• 06:12 PM - The SI then posts in another thread, saying "BE A HERO! REPORT VIOLATORS"

May 30-June 8

• The SI continues to post random saying: "PARDON OUR DUST," "BEACH OPEN FOR WATER CONTACT," "YOUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK," "GOOD CITIZENS CONSERVE FUEL," "WHITE ZONE FOR LOADING ONLY," "ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK," and the always infamous "KEEP IT CLEAN!" and "BE A HERO! REPORT VIOLATORS."

June 9

• 02:49 PM - The Superintendent creates a thread in the Halo 3 Forum with the title "CLICK IT OR TICKET" and post "KEEP IT CLEAN!"

June 9-18

• IIIIlll post numerous times with the same phrases as before, as well as some new ones: "RECYCLING: DO YOUR PART!" "SPEED ZONE AHEAD," "VEHICLE MAKES FREQUENT STOPS," "WALKWAY ENDING, PLEASE LOOK DOWN," and "OBEY POSTED LIMITS."

June 18

• 09:52 AM - The Super posted in a thread asking people to "PLEASE REMAIN CALM."
• 10:58 AM - A member named Duardo tries to communicate with the Super, asking "Why? Is there something wrong?" Duardo then sends the same thing to the SI via PM.
• 11:10 AM - Duardo receives a PM from the Super, saying "IN CASE OF FIRE, USE STAIRS."
• 11:27 AM - Duardo posts his findings, asking for help. A member named Guscon tells him to respond with "Stairway blocked. Please advise." Duardo does. Duardo has not received another PM from IIIIlll since.
• 02:15 PM - The SI responds in a thread saying "ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK."

July 3

• 02:22 PM - A news post on Bungie.net's homepage states that a new ViDOC is available for download. At the very end of the ViDOC, the Si's avatar appears. Then, "KEEP IT CLEAN".
• 04:40 PM - A thread is created by member Helveck stating that he see the Bungie logo at the top of the page "twitching." It says "TRU7H.

July 6

• 03:10 PM - Another news post is created on Bungie.net's front page. When the Theme and Gamerpics were downloaded however, there was an extra gamerpic, and the SI appeared in the actual theme.

July 11

• 10:40 PM - IIIIlll reappears after a brief hiatus. He uses his infamous catchphrase, "KEEP IT CLEAN," however, the 'K' has been replaced by the number '0.'

July 11-July 15

• The Super has posted numerous times using his catchphrase "KEEP IT CLEAN," however, he keeps replacing certain letters with numbers. 0, 7, 1, 8, 3, and 4 are used.

July 12

• 08:06 PM - Another thread is created by member Dukoo stating that he sees the SI appearing at the top in the Bungie logo, replacing "TRU7H."

July 14

• 08:58 AM - A topic was created in the Halo 3 Forum by member Helveck. He apparently saw an ad on the website. Member odmichael created a topic in the Bungie.net Community Forum claiming that if you click the ad, it gives you a wallpaper. The topic was mysteriously deleted.
• 10:30 AM - Bungie.net's main page was replaced with this, a countdown timer that ends on 7/16/2008 2:07:07 PM, and the following text: "PROCEED WITH CAUTION," "FINAL NOTICE: BILL PAST DUE," "KEEP IT CLEAN," "EMERGENCY LIGHTS ACTIVE," "NO PUBLIC ACCESS," and "SERVICES WILL RESUME." Bungie's title bar has been changed to: "Bungie.net: Service will resume momentarily" When the timer ends, it says "rebooting..."
• 04:29 PM - Member SpartanL127 posted a link to a picture of the Sad Superintendent appearing in the Halo 3 menu. There are numbers that appear below him: 12:05:37:14. Whether it is a countdown is currently unknown.

July 15

• 01:13 PM - Member alontorres created a thread, telling everyone that there are seven different Superintendent wallpapers (possibly more). The images are included below.
  1. no public access
  2. take it to make it
  3. Yellow means yield
  4. Please remain calm
  5. Hitchhikers may be escaping inmates
  6. Obey posted limits
  7. Mind the gap
• 07:00 PM - Bungie.net's home page is updated with this. The countdown has stopped at exactly 00:12:00:00.
• 7:12 PM - stosh confirms delay by stating "It's not fake."
• 7:24 PM - Achronos confirms the delay by stating "It isn't fake"
• Luke Smith confirms delay on NeoGAF by stating "Nope. Not our style. We already are deeply disappointed with how things unfolded to this point without getting our fans to the intended payoff."
• Louis Wu over at HBO confirms delay.

July 16

• Bungie.net's regular homepage returns.
• 11:01 AM - Bungie officially announces delay of announcement.

July 23

• 1:40 PM - Member Squadron 266 posts a url saying that 29 seconds into the video someone has an SI sticker on their Tshirt.

July 24

• 8:20 PM - Member CrypticGuardian posts his videos and pictures from Comic Con. In the last video, you can see Joseph Staten take a call and the SI appears on his cell phone.

July-August

• The Superintendent logo appears multiple times on the Webcams.

August 7

• 6:49 PM - Member luckykil7er notices that the phrase "KEEP IT CLEAN!" and the SI logo appear in this G4 video in which Bungie thanks G4.

August 11

• 3:05 PM - ElectrickZebra creates a thread that shows another video of Bungie thanking Edge. The SI appears at the very end of the video.

September 19

• 7:07 PM - After a long absence, the SI returns saying to "KEEP IT CLEAN" and that "SERVICES WILL RESUME."

September 22

• 7:07 PM - IIIIlll tells us this time to "PARDEN OUR DUST and that "SERVICES WILL RESUME."

September 25

• 7:07 AM - Bungie post a Teaser Trailer of their current project.

Multiple Superintendents

There were seven Superintendent Bungie.net profiles. Each profile had a different face variation of the original Superintendent avatar, and each of their names were made up of multiple upper case "i"s and lower case "L"s.

The other Superintendents were found by Bungie.net members and former forum ninjas TOM T, who found several after using combinations of I's and L's, and Skibur, who discovered a few when trying different member IDs in the profile web addresses. One profile didn't have a custom avatar or profile background, so it was dubbed the "Broken Superintendent." Based on the various faces the SI uses throughout Halo 3: ODST, it's probable that the eyes on the avatar's face should have been two slits, like (- -).

Avatar	Name	Spelling	Notes
	IIIIlll	IIIIlll	AKA The Super, SI, or Surprised Face 66 Forum Posts Profile ID: 4742737
	IIIIIII	IIIIIII	AKA Sad Face Never posted Changed to main SI avatar on June 9, 2008 Profile ID: 4742702
	IIIIIIl	IIIIIIl	AKA Tired or Annoyed Face Never posted Changed to main SI avatar on June 9, 2008 Profile ID: 4742715
	lllllll	lllllll	AKA Happy Face Never posted Changed to main SI avatar on June 9, 2008 Profile ID: 4742721
	IIIllll	IIIllll	AKA Angry Face Never posted Changed to main SI avatar on June 9, 2008 Profile ID: 4742730
	llllllI	llllllI	AKA Skeptic or Winking Face Never posted Changed to main SI avatar on June 9, 2008 Profile ID: 4742747
	lIIIIII	lIIIIII	AKA Broken Superintendent No custom avatar found Based on faces used in ODST, it should've been (- -) No custom profile background Never posted Profile ID: 4742753

On June 10, 2009, all alternate Superintendent accounts were deleted due to inactivity. The main Superintendent account was deleted due to inactivity later in the year.

Other Appearances

• In Halo 3: ODST throughout the city of New Mombasa.
• A sticker appeared on the Bungie Webcam on May 9, 2008, and throughout May-July.
• On several Bungie employees, including Frank O'Connor (Frankie) next to "Aaron" from the May 16, 2008, Bungie Weekly Update, and Luke Smith on June 15, 2008, at a MLG tournament in San Diego, California.
• On an unknown man during the E3 demonstration of Halo Wars.
• Bungie started a "Recon Road Trip" contest on July 3, 2008, where fans who found an anonymous Bungie employee wearing a Bungie or Superintendent T-shirt would win recon armor in Halo 3, but they had to be carrying their copy of Halo 3 when they found the employee.
• On July 3, the default Superintendent avatar was spotted in Bungie's "And on the Seven7h Day.." ViDoc.
• For Bungie Day 2008, Bungie released an Xbox 360 dashboard theme. The Superintendent appeared on the "Games" blade.
• In Halo 3 on April 1, 2009, for April Fools Day, when the population of Europe was changed to resemble to SI's face.
• In the "G-Phoria GOTY Acceptance Speech" video and the "Thank You, Edge" video.
• On the Halo: Reach multiplayer map, Breakneck.
• In Halo 2: Anniversary on a billboard.
• Halo Infinite as an AI voiced by Joseph Staten.

Gallery

"Aaron" with Frankie from a May 2008 Bungie Weekly Update

Luke Smith with CrypticGuardian at an MLG Tournament

All faces of the Superintendent found in Halo 3: ODST

The Superintendent's first post on Bungie.net

The SI's Bungie Profile page

Sticker on May 9, 2008 Bungie Webcam

Sticker on June 10, 2008 Bungie Webcam

Sticker on June 15, 2008 Bungie Webcam

Sticker on July 13, 2008 Bungie Webcam

Stickers on July 15, 2008 Bungie Webcam

The SI responding to Duardo

One of several phrases on the countdown page

Harold Ryan's announcement of cancellation

The SI appearing in Halo 3 on April Fools Day 2009

Ad on Bungie.net that led to an SI wallpaper

The Superintendent returns

The Games blade on the Bungie Day Xbox 360 dashboard theme

Xbox 360 Gamerpic for Bungie Day

PLEASE REMAIN CALM official wallpaper

MIND THE GAP official wallpaper

TAKE IT TO MAKE IT official wallpaper

NO PUBLIC ACCESS official wallpaper

HITCHHIKERS MAY BE ESCAPING INMATES official wallpaper

YELLOW MEANS YIELD official wallpaper

OBEY POSTED LIMITS official wallpaper

The SI appearing in the Halo: Reach map, Breakneck

The SI appearing in the Halo: Reach map, Breakneck

The SI appearing in Halo 2: Anniversary

The Superintendent AI as an unlockable in Halo Infinite