Editing Flood hive

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[[Image:Flood wall.jpg|thumb|300px|An example of Flood architecture in a Flood Hive.]]

A '''Flood Hive or Flood Wall'''<ref>''[[Halo 2]]'', level ''[[High Charity (Level)|High Charity]]''</ref><ref>''[[Halo 3]]'', ''[[Floodgate (Level)|Floodgate]]''</ref> is an important step in the development of the [[Flood]] Life-cycle. Once a hive has been established, it serves as a base for Flood assaults as well as housing a Flood [[Gravemind]]. Not much is known of [[Flood]] Hives, as only [[High Charity|one example]] has been observed.

==Background==
The processes that develop a hive begin during the "coordinated stage" of [[Flood]] development, once a viable [[Gravemind]] has been developed and the Flood has access to a sizable population. The Gravemind is a collection of the sentience and knowledge that has been gathered by the victims of the [[Infection Form|Flood Parasite]].

==Creation==
===Early Stages===
In order for a hive to be founded, the Flood must have access to a suitably large populace and an environment capable of sustaining Flood life. The population of the area has to contain high enough calcium deposits to sustain the Flood parasite. 

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 (Level)|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. [[Combat Forms|Hosts who are infected]] will add to the Flood's arsenal. Older [[combat form]]s will develop into [[Carrier Form|Carrier Forms]], which generate more [[Infection Form|infection forms]], continuing the cycle.

During this time, [[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.

===Later Stages===
[[Image:Porta.jpg|thumb|A [[Porta]] as it appears in [[Halo 3]].]]
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 [[Pure Form|Pure Forms]], a form of independent Flood drone which has no need for a host. As a result of this development, [[Combat Form]]s are relegated to defensive positions or are converted into more pure forms. <ref>''[[Halo 3]]''</ref>

The functions of objects, such as doors, are [[Porta|replaced]] as growth pods grow over the original architecture. Under the [[Gravemind|Gravemind's]] orders, life support systems are sabotaged in order to speed up the surrender 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, pustule-like growths, which incubate new infection forms, essentially replacing [[Carrier Form]]s and further reducing the Flood's dependence on hosts.

Once the process is complete, the Flood disposes of almost all need for new biomass, becoming self-sustaining. Despite this, due to the Flood's natural instinct to infect and consume all life, the parasite rarely becomes content at this stage.

==Trivia==
*[[High Charity]] is the only known Flood Hive.
*[[Flood]] Gestation pods can be seen all the time, but the only time one can see the underside of a Gestation pod is on the downloadable map [[Halo 3]] [[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]].
*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.
*If you shoot a Flood Hive's wall, with, say a [[Shotgun]], and then scope in on the area where you shot the wall, you will notice after a while the damaged area is healed.
*In ''[[Halo 3]]'', there are three Flood Hives. [[Cold Storage]], [[High Charity]], and the crashed Flood ship in [[The Storm (Level)|The Storm]].

== Sources ==
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{{Flood}}

[[Category:The Flood]]
[[Category:Halo 2]]
[[Category:Halo 3]]