🡀 HURAGOK • SPECIES • FORERUNNERS 🡂
Important Events
Evo-014's Summary
OTHER NAME: Parasite
HOMEWORLD: Faun Hakkor
POPULATION: Unknown, likely millions of spores
Ah, the formidable entity known as the Flood, a parasitic organism with a singular purpose – the assimilation of biomass into its collective whole. Those unfortunate souls who fall victim to the Flood's grasp undergo a harrowing transformation, becoming willing or unwitting tools in service of the Flood's multifaceted objectives, which may encompass the acquisition of knowledge or participation in military endeavors. These transformed beings, referred to as Flood forms, operate under the centralized intelligence known as a Gravemind. What's particularly intriguing is that the gravemind appears to possess boundless reach, with no discernible limits on the number of forms it can control or the distance over which it can exert its influence.
Ancient History
The Flood stands as one of the most distinctive species within the Halo universe. While its origins remain shrouded in mystery, it is believed to have originated from the ancient Precursors, who sought refuge from the wrath of the Forerunners at the culmination of the Forerunner-Precursor War. Millennia after the Precursors vanished from the galaxy, ancient humanity stumbled upon abandoned vessels at the galactic fringe. These vessels contained a seemingly unremarkable desiccated powder. Curiously, the humans brought this powder to their home on Faun Hakkor, where it was unwittingly consumed by their pets, the Pheru, mutating them into ferocious, feral creatures. This mutation eventually spread to the human population, leading to a catastrophic outbreak. The malevolent entity, known then as the Shaping Sickness, was born.
The Shaping Sickness, or the Flood as it came to be known, rapidly proliferated among human colony worlds, compelling ancient humanity into a harrowing retreat. This retreat forced them into Forerunner-controlled space, igniting the Human-Forerunner Wars. For a portion of this conflict, ancient humanity faced the daunting challenge of combating both the Forerunners and the Flood on two fronts. However, at some juncture, the Flood inexplicably withdrew from the Milky Way galaxy. While the reason for this retreat remained a mystery, the Forerunners used it as evidence to suggest that humanity held the key to a cure for the Flood parasite.
Following humanity's defeat in the war with the Forerunners, they teetered on the brink of extinction. It was only the perceived knowledge of a cure for the Flood that convinced Forerunner leadership to devolve humanity and preserve the species, rather than exterminate them entirely. Over thousands of years, the Forerunners prepared for the inevitable return of the Flood through various means. Humanity continued to be scrutinized in search of a cure, while two distinct construction projects were initiated: the defensive shield worlds, championed by the Didact, and the offensive Halo Array, supported by the Master Builder.
Around 97,745 BCE, the Flood returned to the galaxy with unrelenting fury, rapidly conquering numerous Forerunner colony worlds and placing the Forerunners on the defensive. Despite the completion of the lesser Senescent Halo Array at that time, the Forerunners' ability to employ it against the Flood was swiftly compromised by the Flood's corruption of the array's ancilla, Mendicant Bias, with the insidious logic plague. While it remains uncertain whether the Forerunners could have halted the Flood's advance even at full strength, this corruption significantly hastened the demise of the Forerunner civilization.
Ultimately, after fighting the Flood for approximately three centuries, the Forerunners found themselves pushed back to the Greater Ark. Here, the last remnants of the Forerunner military and known population made their valiant last stand, but the Flood swiftly overran and obliterated them through the utilization of Precursor star roads. Only a small handful of Forerunners managed to escape this catastrophic battle, seeking refuge at the Lesser Ark. There, they seized control of the galaxy-destroying Neoteric Halo Array. The Flood made a desperate attempt to thwart them from activating the array, but the Forerunners ultimately succeeded in firing the rings, eradicating the Flood and all sapient life from the galaxy.
Modern History
Following the reseeding of the galaxy and the subsequent allowance for civilizations to flourish over the course of the next 100,000 years, a grim resurgence occurred with the reappearance of the Flood during the harrowing Human-Covenant War. Throughout the war, the insidious menace of the Flood manifested on at least three distinct occasions. Notably, the Gravemind managed to seize control of High Charity and nearly wrought devastation upon Earth in the fateful year of 2552. However, resolute efforts led to the successful containment and eventual eradication of this dire threat.
Although the Flood has not reared its malevolent presence in a significant capacity since the war's conclusion, the looming specter of the Flood is presumed to persist somewhere within the vast expanse of the Milky Way.
Notable Flood
The central intellect of the Flood, known as the Gravemind, maintains a profound connection with an ancient Precursor entity known as the Primordial. This enigmatic Precursor harbored a chilling ambition to extinguish all life throughout the cosmos. While the specifics remain shrouded in ambiguity, there exists a belief that the Gravemind of the 26th century shares identical memories and aspirations with the Gravemind from the era of the Forerunners. This connection endures despite the staggering expanse of time, spanning 100,000 years and the cataclysmic firing of the Halo Array.
