As we all know, Red vs Blue is a machinima set within the world of the blockbuster sci-fi action video game Halo. And as we all should know, Halo is about a race of aliens called the Covenant trying to wipe out humanity, believeing their Gods demand so. And RvB is set sometime during those events, in the background of all the chaos (imagine two trains going the same way, but one is more attention-grabbing than the other one, and then the second train gets its own webseries and everyone is like: "Wow, this is cool, I had no idea this was here before!"). Yeah.
But, my point here is that RvB is supposed to tie-into the events of Halo, but there are several plot-holes in it. For instance, the Covenant in Halo worship a long-dead alien race called the Forerunners, who apparently made a bunch of weapons of mass destruction. In RvB, they mention and present a lot of Forerunner relics, but the only alien race available is the Covenant Elites, claiming to bring peace. I understand this is because of limits within the Halo engine, but I would like to try and conjecture a more complete explanation for the RvB continuity with a simple timeline.
Note: I am assuming this does, indeed, take place in the 2500's, as that is when the Human-Covenant war happens.
Unknown time, pre-2525: The race of aliens called the Elites worship Forerunner technology on their home planet, Sanghelios. Sometime, a race called the Prophets arrive and, after a brief war over religious differences, join with the Elites to form the Covenant and use Forerunner tech to create weapons. I believe the Elites segregate into two factions: The ones we all fight in Halo, and the ones seen in RvB. They are few, so they are spread across the galaxy and nearly destroyed. Using what tech they have, they colonize hundreds of worlds by building massive temples designed for different purposes. (On the planet Chorus, these purposes include interior decorating, communication, and bountiful harvest.) They deactivate the towers (as they do not see their faction living that long) and create hundreds of energy-based keys to reactivate them (should they be claimed by a warrior worthy enough). Onue such key is hidden on a far-flung planet, on a far-flung island, where an industrial factory builds around it. It is later abandoned.
2525: Humanity makes contact with the fully-formed Covenant and goes to war with them. Multiple secret military projects are put in motion to defeat the advanced aliens, including PROJECT: SPARTAN and PROJECT: FREELANCER.
2552: After 27 years of war, the UNSC (the human military) finally defeats the Covenant and becomes allies with the Elites. The long-lost religious faction is re-discovered and resurges, attempting to re-discover its artifacts. The Freelancer Program breaks up due to the corrupt leaders heading it, and the former agents become stateless bounty hunters or recovery units for the UNSC. I think a Freelancer Agent, Wyoming, and his AI, Gamma, discovered an alien text demonstrating their religion and their so-called "Great Destroyer" (which might have been the Covenant, or another deity entirely, the truth was lost to time). Wyoming and Gamma, both enjoying mischief, and hoping to get back at the Covenant for killing billions of Humans, decide to try and take over the religious sect. Gamma, using a special time-warp device from Project: Freelancer, travels back in time and tries to manipulate the aliens. However, he finds none. He is about to return to the present when a man named Church appears from his era. Gamma remembers reading about the Prophecy of the Great destroyer and, being built for deceit, fabricates a tale about being a "guardian of the Great Weapon", making up the word Shisno to call Church... well, something gross. Church begins rambling, and they spend 1000 years trying to re-activate Gamma's time unit (how Church survived this long is uncertain, but it might be a side-effect of time travel). When the device re-activates, Church is sent into the future. Then another of him arrives trying to re-write his own re-write of time (I'll get back to this later).
2553: The Humans and Elites officially sign a peace treaty. However, to ensure the Covenant does not return, and to train elite soldiers and to maintain control of the remaining Freelancers, the UNSC establishes several remote outposts in the galaxy and selects recruits based on low test scores to man them. One of these outposts is Blood Gulch. The Red and Blue Teams each believe they are better than the other and a min-war begins, hence Red Vs Blue. The AI Alpha, crippled during Project Freelancer, is relocated to Sidewinder base for manipulation to become the soldier, Leonard L. Church. However, an outlawed Agent Texas tries to find Church and learn more about her forgotten origins, but Church is too damaged to recognize her. This does, however, spark a memory that Church and Tex used to date. They have contact later, but remain somewhat bitter towards each other. After Tex's escape and murder of several of Church's friends, he is relocated to Blood Gulch along with Private Tucker and Captain Flowers (who is really Freelancer Agent Florida in disguise, assigned to look after him).
2553-onward: The events of the Blood Gulch Chronicles, influenced by Church returning from his timewarp and evading his past self, but causing a whole lot of mischief. The Red Team leader, Sarge, plans to use secret UNSC files to create a weather-controlling device and install it in his droid, Lopez, to combat the Blues. However, it is never activated because Sarge cannot find AA batteries. Meanwhile, Agent Texas' AI, Omega, begins losing tolerance for organic beings and wants to take over the Universe, claiming all will "Taste Oblivion!". He begins infecting random hosts, ending with Medical Officer Frank Dufresne, and becoming O'Malley. After warping through several (malfunctioning and experimental) teleporters, a showdown at Sidewinder causes the weather device to short-circuit and activate a bomb hidden in Church's robotic body (because he is an AI. Oh, and the robotic body was meant to simulate real-life organic processes, so he never knew he was a robot. Even when Sarge built him a new body as part of a deal, Church thought he was a Ghost, so it didn't matter). The weather device and bomb destroy part of Sidewinder, forming a scorching desert plain, and activating a teleporter that sends Church back in time to Gamma in the temple and everyone into the future (not hundreds of years, but more like a few hours... or weeks). Desperate for victory, O'Malley discovers the old island industrial complex (built around an alien key relic) and begins work. However, Tucker finds the key first and interrupts the quest of a religious alien to re-activate his old technology. With O'Malley in retreat, the alien leads Tucker to an old relic site to reactivate an old Elite warship, which is destroyed by Wyoming, who has a bounty on Tucker, placed by UNSC command to keep up the charade of a Red vs Blue war. (You with me so far? Good, try to keep up a bit longer.) The alien, in case it didn't live longer, impregnates Tucker with an alien embryo. Tucker later gives birth to an alien son, Junior. Next, O'Malley learns of Wyoming's hunt and decides to join forces with him to try and dominate the alien religious sect and take over the universe. They enlist the help of a new alien henchman. Soon after, Gamma returns to Wyoming and helps in the final battle at Blood Gulch. Wyoming is killed and Gamma trapped in a doomed starship (piloted to Blood Gulch by Sister, who was sent in when Sarge called for help to defeat the Blues). Another Church, sent through time by Gamma, is warped to Sidewinder by Wyoming's time unit and helps other time-lost Churches defeat O'Malley before the weather device and bomb detonate. Tex, willing to sacrifice the galaxy to stop O'Malley, takes him and Wyoming's helmet (full of the evil plans and coordinates for the Elite religous sect headquarters or something) and launches. However, a bomb placed by Sarge (Andy, who was brought to life by a voice chip and a corrupt data chip, provided by Tex) detonates and activates the time-unit, sending the ship one year in the future, where it crashes in Valhalla. Church, distraught at Tex's "death", returns to base, and Sarge allows them to retreat for one day. A few days later, the Reds and Blues recieve orders to relocate, due to the Alpha's location being compromised. Church is sent to live alone at deserted outpost 48-A. Tucker, because he wields the key, is sent to be an alien ambassador (Even if he sucks at it).
BGC plus one year: The ship crashes at Valhalla, where Junior is found alive and reunited with Tucker. He is supposedly sent to school afterwards (which is why, in season 13, Tucker has a picture of 5th-grade Junior and his basketball team). When the UNSC tries to recover the crash site, rouge agent Maine (The Meta, driven mad by his collection of Freelancer equipment and AIs) kills them all and takes Gamma, O'Malley, and Tex (who is the Beta AI, as she found out from the Alpha before he was relocated).
An old rebel faction, forgotten due to the Covenant war, unites with the religious aliens to excavate a Forerunner temple, searching for an Oracle, which is a Forerunner monitor (the thing Epsilon is placed in in season 7). Later, enraged by the rebel's defilement of their gods' relics, seal their fate and rebel against the rebels.
And, if you've watched the rest of the series, you know the rest.
So, I hope you were able to follow that. If you were, please tell me what you think! Thank you!
-Nova Spartan 038.