Daniel Black

General Daniel Black was a flag officer of the UNSC Marine Corps. Black served as the superintendent of Corbulo Academy of Military Science during the later years of the Insurrection and during the Covenant's invasion of the Outer Colonies in 2526.[3][4][5]

Early career
Prior to taking a position at Corbulo Academy, Black had served as a committed and dedicated Marine officer, earning his stripes through his involvement in Operation: TREBUCHET.[6] Strongly patriotic and pro-UEG, he earned numerous decorations in his career and by 2526 he had achieved the rank of General.[7]

Corbulo
Upon noticing the amount of Outer Colony youth joining Insurrectionist factions, he decided that an extremely regimented pro-UEG education would be the key to winning the Insurrection. As such, sometime prior to 2526, Black was appointed superintendent of the Corbulo Academy of Military Science.[6]

Black regularly made rounds of the campus, personally overseeing the performance of the class of 2529.[8] He frequently monitored Hastati Squad, particularly Cadets Chyler Silva and Thomas Lasky. Silva's parents had been killed in action against Insurrectionists, and the general respected their sacrifice and their daughter performed admirably in his eyes. Lasky's mother was a well-renowned colonel, while his brother, Cadmon, had been one of the finest cadets in the academy's history. In contrast to Silva, Black often berated Thomas for failing to live up to his family members' reputations.[9][10]

Battle of Circinius IV
As of 2526, ONI Section Two kept the Covenant's existence a closely guarded secret. Despite most of the academy's personnel being unaware of the burgeoning Human-Covenant War, Black was informed and posted Marine garrisons at key areas around the facility.[9] He also authorized limited communications blackouts under the guise of routine maintenance procedures.[10]

During the Covenant attack on Circinius IV, Black ordered the evacuation of Corbulo's cadets. However, the destruction of the Academy's space elevator killed many of the the cadets and staff, hindering the evacuation operation.[11] Shortly afterwards, Black, along with most of Circinius IV's population, was killed in the Covenant ground assault. His corpse was later found in the driver seat of his Warthog by the four surviving CAMS cadets as well as John-117, who used his Warthog to escape the Academy.[12]

Personality and traits
Black had a very gruff, no-nonsense personality and little tolerance for second-rate performance. Though he respected those who conducted themselves well in exercises and in actual service, he did not refrain from belittling those whom he felt did not give their all.[10] He has a habit of smoking cigars, probably Sweet Williams.[9]

Black adamantly believed in Earth's dominance over humanity's colonies, maintaining that the UNSC was solely responsible for humanity's survival and well-being. He strongly condemned the insurrectionists, who in his view endangered countless human lives as well as what he saw as mankind's safe and harmonious coexistence under the auspices of the Unified Earth Government.[13] He was very vocal with these views, making his stance known not only among the cadets in the lectures and speeches he frequently held, but also in the school's advertisements.[2]

Production notes
General Black is portrayed by Canadian actor Mike Dopud,[5] who voiced the protagonist in iD Software's Doom. By appearing in Forward Unto Dawn, he has acted in both the most influential early first-person shooter and in one of the mainstay franchises of the modern FPS genre.