Phoenix Logs/Flood Lore/The Flood


 * The great devourer.


 * The Flood is a voracious hive-mind parasite that seizes, converts, and controls
 * sentient hosts to perpetuate itself. Infected individuals have their nervous
 * systems suborned by the parasite, turning their bodies into puppets while their
 * memories and flesh are assimilated and exploited to further the infestation.


 * Each infected host is linked to a distributed intelligence, allowing for interstellar
 * coordination and the formation of increasingly sophisticated consciousness
 * nodes. If the Flood is not stopped it will eventually manifest a malevolent meta-
 * intelligence known as Gravemind.


 * Flood are composed of a highly adaptable and resilient neuron-like "super cell"
 * that has no analogous structures with other life in the galaxy. These protean
 * cells are the building blocks of all Flood and can be configured into any shape or
 * pseudo-organ necessary to sustain the biological and organizational growth of
 * the parasite.


 * Encysted Flood cells form spores which can parasitize both sentient and non-
 * sentient species, rapidly consuming the host and transforming their biomass
 * into an incubator for larger, more mobile Flood combat and infection forms.
 * There is no inoculation against infection, no treatment to slow the parasites'
 * growth, no reversal of its transformation. The only effective countermeasure is
 * containment and incineration.