Flood hive: Difference between revisions

A '''Flood Hive'''<ref>''[[Halo 3]]'', ''[[Floodgate]]''</ref> is an important step in the development of the [[The Flood|Flood]] Life-cycle. Once a hive has been established, it serves as a base for Flood assaults as well as housing a Flood [[Gravemind]]. There have been two examples of Flood Hives, ''[[High Charity]]'' and the crashed [[Unidentified Flood-captured battlecruiser|Flood Ship]] in Voi.

Once a useful area has been found, the Flood proceed to attack the hosts present, gathering food and biomass. The Flood attack with a strategy relying primarily on numerical superiority. The parasite then begins to pump spores into the atmosphere <ref>''[[Halo 3]]'', ''[[High Charity (level)|High Charity]]''</ref><ref>''[[Halo: Combat Evolved]]'', ''[[The Library]]'', [[343 Guilty Spark (level)|343 Guilty Spark]]: "Your environment suit will serve you well when the Flood begin to alter the atmosphere. You are a good planner!"</ref>, restricting breathing for the hosts present, causing them to die of asphyxiation, or weakening them in order to make them less resistant to assimilation. Hosts who are infected will add to the Flood's arsenal. Older [[flood combat form|Combat Forms]] will develop into [[Flood carrier form|Carrier Forms]], which generate more Infection Forms, continuing the cycle.

During this time, [[Flood growth pod|Flood Growth Pods]] start to grow on surfaces. Growth pods are constructed from flesh, and grow at an extraordinary rate. It is unknown how they develop, as this has not been observed, but it is reasonable to assume that they grow from spores that root themselves in a spot capable of sustaining them.

Once the Flood has access to enough calcium, they begin to develop a hardened carapace, onto which they add [[LF.Xx.3273 Flood Super Cell|Flood Super Cells]] to form [[Flood pure form|Pure Forms]], a form of independent Flood drone which has no need for a host. As a result of this development, Combat Forms are relegated to defensive positions or are converted into more pure forms. <ref>''[[Halo 3]]''</ref>

The functions of objects, such as doors, are [[the Artifact|replaced]] as growth pods grow over the original architecture. Under the Gravemind's orders, life support systems are sabotaged in order to speed up the demise of the inhabitants. <ref>[[Dialogue Placeholders]] [[Cortana]]: "Flood spores have contaminated the city's life-support infrastructure, the filtration systems are overloading!"</ref> The pouch forms eventually consume most or all of the original area. The growth pods grow large, bubble-like growths, which incubate new infection forms, essentially replacing Carrier Forms and further reducing the Flood's dependence on hosts.

*Flood growth pods can be seen all the time, but the only time one can see the underside of a growth pod is on the downloadable map [[Cold Storage]].

*Interestingly there seems to be less green mist in the later stages of Flood Hive creation. This is easily noticeable from the ''[[Halo 2]]'' level [[High Charity (level)|High Charity]] to ''Halo 3'' level [[Cortana (level)|Cortana]]. It is possible that all the Flood Spores floating in the air settled down and created the Flood Hive.

*The only instance of a [[Porta]] outside of [[Campaign]] is in the ''Halo 3'' level [[Isolation]], suggesting the area was about to become a Hive.

*It's possible that the the Flood area outside of Cold Storage could be part of a Flood Hive.