Phoenix Logs: Difference between revisions

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==Flood Lore==
==Flood Lore==
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{{/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.
 
===Infection Forms===
:A nightmare tide rises.
 
:Flood infection forms are nightmarish homunculi spawned in massive numbers
:for the singular purpose of converting all living creatures into carriers, tools, and
:food for the parasite. The most commonly encountered infection forms have
:soft, pod-like bodies with numerous tentacle-like appendages and a frond-like
:array which acts as the creature's sensory system. Their tendrils are multi-
:purpose locomotion systems and insidious methods of control.
 
:Each tendril ends in nano-scale barbs which can latch onto the target's body
:and cut through armor or environmental suits. Once the target is compromised,
:infection forms inject Flood cells to hijack the victim's nervous system. Even if
:the infection form is quickly removed, Flood cells in the wounds will slowly
:consume the victim and turn them into quivering, spore-packed blisters.
:Against unprepared victims the infection form bores into the body, quickly
:mutating it into a combat form.
 
:Though barely intelligent on their own, once an infection form infiltrates a
:sentient creature they turn the victim's cognitive power to the furtherance of
:Flood goals. Each is an insidious puppeteer, able to sift through memories of any
:sentient creature to learn of military countermeasures, security access codes,
:and the location of population centers. This information is then shared with
:other Flood through their connection with the key minds.
 
===Combat Forms===
:Pestilent puppets.
 
:Combat forms are relatively intact sentient hosts under the control of an
:infection form that has nested within. Though sections of the host's body are
:consumed and converted into Flood cells, some limbs and sensory organs are
:retained to utilize available weapons, tools, vehicles, equipment, and even
:starships. The infection form does augment its new body and repair minor
:damage in order to better serve as a living weapon, but ultimately the combat
:form is utterly disposable.
 
:The infection form driving the host body does not feel pain or fear, though the
:same cannot be said for the host. Worse, in some horrific circumstances the
:infection form is unable to completely dominate the original personality and the
:victim remains fully aware of their irrevocable transformation and use as a tool
:of the parasite.
 
===Blightlands===
:Parasitic expansion.
 
:The Flood can survive and grow in almost any environment, but it thrives in a
:surprisingly narrow band of habitability. The interior of Flood hives provide a
:controlled environment for accelerated growth, but in time an entire planet's
:biosphere can be altered to approximate these ideal conditions.
 
:[[Blightlands]] are the first step of this coversion process: areas around
:established hives filled with specialized Flood growths which harvest the vitality
:of the soil, soak up solar energy, and consume all native life within its
:boundaries. While they briefly flower with a grotesque vitality, ultimately these
:zones are themselves consumed to provide raw materials for city-sized spore
:towers and colossal stacks of strange Flood organs that finish the planet's
:ruination.
 
===Pure Forms===
:Bone and bile.
 
:As the parasite grows in strength the key minds begin to cultivate tumorous
:masses and mucus-like lakes of pure Flood cells using nonessential biomass as
:food. Most of the Flood cells are used to form hives and [[blightlands]], but some
:is harvested to create deadly war-forms. With the sound of breaking bones and
:ripping flesh these creatures transform themselves to best confront the
:threats they encounter, contorting and reshaping their anatomy into grotesque
:but lethal shapes as they lead hordes of lesser combat forms into battle.
 
[[File:PL Keyminds.jpg|thumb|right|400px]]
===Keyminds===
:Fonts of malign intelligence.
 
:After an infestation is established the parasite transitions from feral aggression
:to coordinated conversion by creating specialised Flood organisms that network
:their individual intelligences. These key minds act as coordinators for nearby
:Flood, leveraging wisdom harvested from the parasite's hosts to expand,
:outwit, overwhelm, and consume other life.
 
:As the Flood grow in number these key minds combine and expand into larger,
:exponentially more intelligent networks. The appearance of these vile collectives
:typically indicate most local animal life and sentient hosts have been infected or
:consumed. Once a critical mass of key minds have combined the Flood's
:centralized intelligence can begin to emerge in their seething mass of corrupted
:flesh: a Proto-Gravemind that sifts through and feeds on the memories of every
:Flood-infected victim.
 
===Proto-Gravemind===
:High Charity's Bane.
 
:The Proto-Gravemind within High Charity is the shadow of a far greater threat,
:one that will unleash damnation upon the stars should it grow unchecked. High
:Charity's proto-Gravemind is a perverse mockery of a living thing, a gluttonous
:stump of Flood cells that remained behind when Halo's cleansing energies
:burned away the corrupted biomass which once supported the Gravemind.
 
:A measure of Gravemind's intellect remains, though its new vessel must feed
:and spread in order for it to manifest fully once again. With every Banished
:soldier that succumbs to its embrace, the Gravemind's re-emergence grows
:closer. The mountain of half-dead flesh quivers in anticipation, and the echo of
:timeless laughter rises from somewhere deep below.
 
:High Charity's Proto-Gravemind is a massive, highly adaptable biological weapon.
:It is a horrifying enemy, protected by every Flood beast on the Ark. Only fools
:and madmen dare to attack it without overwhelming force.
 
===Gravemind===
:A single intelligence inhabiting multiple instances.
 
:A Gravemind is the apex of the Flood's coordinating intelligences. It is a
:monument of ancient sins; a self-aware compound mind that transcends
:individual hosts and lesser key minds; a formless intellect who knows all that
:the Flood have ver possessed.
 
:The Gravemind brings its horrific form of peace through unification, salvaton
:through assimilation. Its only goal is the consumption of every thinking creature
:in the galaxy. The Gravemind's most recent physical avatar was destroyed
:when the Master Chief fired the Ark's incomplete Halo, but it is only a matter of
:time before it rises again.
 
}}


==Sources==
==Sources==
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