Flood: Difference between revisions

As a result of the firing of the seven Halo installations, the surviving Flood were successfully contained and eventually died out. The only surviving specimens were contained in state-of-the-art, high-security Forerunner research facilities, such as the Halo installations, certain Shield Worlds, and the [[Threshold gas mine]]. All Precursor artifacts and structures, composed and maintained entirely using Neural Physics were also destroyed and left no trace.{{Ref/Novel|Sil|Page=326}} Many sentient species throughout the galaxy (including humanity) survived the firing of the Halo Array, having been safely relocated beyond the galaxy by the Forerunners on [[Installation 00|the Ark]]. During their expansion throughout the Orion Arm, the [[Covenant]] would find and occasionally release the Flood, employing [[Zealot]]s and their [[Temple Wraith]]s to contain the outbreaks.{{Ref/Game|H5|Detail=[[Temple Wraith]] REQ card description}}

Within, the UNSC forces discovered that the Flood had managed to infest the interior of the shield world as well, though not to as massive of a degree as the surface planet itself. While rescuing Anders, Forge had to save her from three [[Flood infection form]]s and ran into some trouble with Flood forces on his following missions, though not to the massive extent they had been seen on the exterior planet.

====Brief Recurrence====

{{Quote|The only way to stop the Flood is to starve them to death.|[[Cortana]] to [[John 117]] and [[343 Guilty Spark]].}}

[[File:Infection.jpg|230px|thumb|right|A UNSC Marine being infected by the Flood.]]

Though the UNSC kept the Flood's existence concealed from the general population, it did make preparations for the possibility of the Flood's return. The new [[Spartan Operations|Spartan]] branch was designed as a first line of defense against the Flood, with the [[SPARTAN-IV program|SPARTAN-IV]] complement of the {{UNSCShip|Infinity}} running simulations depicting the possible return of the Flood. This is realized through both [[War Games]] [[Flood (gametype)|exercises]] and the interactive [[UNSC Tactical Simulator|TACSIM]].{{Ref/Game|Id=HSA|SA|Detail=[[Halo: Spartan Assault co-op missions|Flood missions]]}} Some Spartans volunteered to join [[Flood containment Fireteams]] dedicated to going up against Flood outbreaks, with several outbreaks occurring following the end of the war and being successfully contained due to their actions.{{Ref/Reuse|OSFM}} Teams were deployed to quarantine any areas of potential Flood contamination during the UNSC's initial forays onto Halo [[Installation 03]],{{Ref/Book|H4EVG|Page=200}} though it is unclear whether the parasite was actually encountered. The UNSC has otherwise seen the development of the [[Hazops Cyclops]] dedicated to fighting the Flood threat, and the "Flood" variant of the [[Visual Intelligence System, Reconnaissance|VISR]] - given to Spartan personnel involved in Flood containment duties.{{Ref/Game|H5|Detail=Flood visor description}} The UNSC includes a briefing on the Flood in the [[Halo: Official Spartan Field Manual|Spartan Field Manual]], wherein it details protocols such as [[Emergency Contact Protocol Upsilon]] and the [[CORRUPTER]] cryptonym - to be declared in the suspected presence of a Flood outbreak and upon infection of a Spartan, respectively.{{Ref/Reuse|OSFM}}

[[File:HW2 FloodTankForm Concept.jpg|right|thumb|250px|A [[Flood tank form]] overwhelms a Warthog.]]

[[File:H2A Tadpole2.png|right|thumb|A Flood tadpole in a tank.]]

[[File:HW2-SeederInfectors.png|right|thumb|A Seeder infector.]]

[[File:HW2-Infestor.png|thumb|right|An Infester form.]]

[[File:HW2-Spawner.png|right|thumb|A Flood Spawner.]]

[[File:HW2-Burster.png|thumb|right|A Flood Burster.]]

[[File:HW2-Abomination Render.jpg|right|thumb|An Abomination.]]

[[File:Flood wall.jpg|thumb|right||150px|A wall covered in heavy Flood biomass: evidence of advanced infestation.]]

Flood combat forms have been sighted crudely operating {{Patterm|Karo'etba|Ghost}}s, [[M12 Warthog|Warthog]]s, [[Zurdo-pattern Wraith|Wraiths]], and [[Scorpion]]s in ground operations, although with slow deliberation and clumsy driving and accuracy. The assimilated crewmen of the [[UNSC frigate]] ''[[UNSC In Amber Clad|In Amber Clad]]'' were also able to initiate a [[Slipspace]] micro-jump for the frigate and perform rudimentary maneuvering of the ''In Amber Clad'', navigating the frigate from the atmosphere of [[Installation 05|Delta Halo]] to ''High Charity'' and then crashing the vessel into a tower, releasing Pelican dropships to rain down upon the Covenant capital.

The Flood is very effective on a psychological level, as its parasitic nature and gruesome appearance alone are a source of horror for most of its enemies and thus serve as powerful demoralizers. It is not uncommon for survivors of Flood encounters to be severely traumatized, often to the point of delirium, after witnessing their comrades get infected or being subsequently forced to kill said infected individuals.{{Ref/Level|CE|[[343 Guilty Spark (level)|343 Guilty Spark]]|Detail=[[Paranoid Marine]])}}{{Ref/Level|H3|[[Floodgate]]|Detail=[[Suicidal Marine]]}}

*Some combat forms derived from Elites still have functional energy shields. However, they never possess active camouflage, as some in ''Halo: Combat Evolved's'' final level did.

*Sticking a carrier form with a {{Pattern|Anskum|plasma grenade}} or [[Spike Grenade]] will kill both the carrier form and the pod infectors it carries. This is also true of a [[Subanese crystal|supercombine explosion]]

[[File:HCE EarliestFlood Concept.jpg|thumb|right|The earliest extant concept art of the Flood, by Robert McLees.]]