Editing Primordial

{{Era|Forerunner}}
{{Flood Species Infobox
|name= The Primordial
|image= 
|height= 15 meters tall, 13 meters wide.
|distinctions= Massive, eurypterid-like head, four arms, barbed tail extending from head.
}}
{{Quote|We meet again, young one. I am the last of those who gave you breath and shape and form, millions of years ago. I am the last of those your kind rose up against and ruthlessly destroyed. I am the last Precursor. And our answer is at hand.|The Primordial speaking to the [[Ur-Didact|Didact]].}}
The '''Primordial''', also called the '''Captive''' or the '''Timeless One''',<ref>[http://halo.xbox.com/en-us/intel/related/text/cryptum-glossary/62e29c59-a3f9-4b63-af76-def71fda5459 '''Halo Waypoint''': ''Halo: Cryptum Glossary'']</ref> and the '''Beast''' by the [[Tudejsa]],<ref name="p67">'''Halo: Primordium''', ''pages 67-68''</ref> was a mysterious being of great power once detained on [[Charum Hakkor]]. Its precise nature remains unclear, but it appears to have been both the last surviving [[Precursor]],<ref name="Cryptum">'''Halo: Cryptum''', ''page 342''</ref> and a [[Gravemind]], a physical embodiment of the [[Flood]]'s collective consciousness.<ref name="prim362">'''Halo: Primordium''', ''pages 362-365''</ref>

==History==
===Origin===
The exact origins of the Primordial remain a mystery. It is known that following [[Forerunner-Precursor war|their defeat]] at the hands of the [[Forerunner]]s circa [[10,000,000 BCE]], many of the remaining Precursors transmuted themselves into organic particles that would re-constitute their original forms—themselves highly variable—at a later time. Over the millions of years that followed the Precursors' fall, this powder degraded and became defective; instead of re-forming the Precursors as they used to be, it instead resulted in misshapen life-forms that ravenously assimilated biomatter they came in contact with - the earliest stages of the Flood parasite.<ref name="s174">'''Halo: Silentium''', ''pages 174''</ref>

Not all Precursors chose this fate; some entered deep suspended animation without reducing themselves as thoroughly.<ref name="s174"/> The Primordial, however, was evidently not a Precursor as they appeared at the time of the Forerunners' campaign against them.<ref>'''Halo: Silentium''', ''page 222'' (''"What were they like-the Precursors-when we sent fleets to hunt them down and destroy them?" -"Unlike the Primordial, unlike the Gravemind on the rogue Halo. Unlike the Flood, almost certainly."'')</ref> It instead appears to have been an artificial being,<ref>'''Halo: Cryptum''', ''page 120'' (''"An ancient construct ... or a captive"'')</ref> perhaps a very early form of [[Gravemind]], created from several creatures; the exact number was never determined, but [[Forthencho]] theorized that there had been at least twelve.<ref>'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 326''</ref> At the same time, Forerunner researchers were unable to conclusively determine whether the entity was truly connected to the Flood,<ref name="p190">'''Halo: Primordium''', ''pages 190-192''</ref> suggesting that it may have represented a considerably different, more primitive form of what would eventually become the Flood.<ref>'''Halo: Silentium''', ''page 224'' (''"The Graveminds suck experience from all sentient history. One of them did everything but absorb me. Saw right through me, understood every strategy I've ever devised. They've advanced far beyond the Primordial."'')</ref> Whatever its actual nature or origin, the Primordial's consciousness was synonymous with that of the later Gravemind.<ref>'''Halo: Silentium''', ''page 167'' (''"This being was not the Primordial I encountered on Charum Hakkor, but something else entirely-though it retained the Primordial's motives and thoughts and memories. It was a Gravemind-the Gravemind, more accurately. It was the Primordial's final act of revenge."'')</ref>

The Primordial was placed in dormancy within an asteroid outside the margins of [[Milky Way|the galaxy]] around [[9,000,000 BCE]]; a million years after the Forerunners wiped out the Precursors.<ref name="s173">'''Halo: Silentium''', ''page 173'' (''"The one the Didact questioned on Charum Hakkor arrived on the margins of our galaxy nine million years before. That one was discovered by humans decades before the end of the war. We are the same."'')</ref> According to the Gravemind, the Primordial "arrived" in this location at this time;<ref name="s173"/> who was responsible for placing the being in stasis is unclear, though it is most likely to have been early Forerunners.<ref>'''Halo: Silentium''', ''pages 181-182'' (''"We were not then powerful enough to erase all evidence of the Precursors, to destroy their star roads and citadels and other artifacts. And so we left at least one Precursor behind, to live out dreams of vengeance and hatred, to lay down plans in cold and darkness at the heart of a lost asteroid-over millions of years."'')</ref>

===Discovery===
Several decades before the end of the [[human-Forerunner wars]], circa [[109,090 BCE]], the creature was discovered by [[Prehistoric human civilization|prehistoric humans]] on a small planetoid near the edge of the galaxy, hibernating inside a [[stasis capsule]] of Precursor origin. [[Yprin Yprikushma]] then transported it to a [[Charum Hakkor arena|vast arena]] on Charum Hakkor, where human researchers found a way to revive the creature. At a later date, the captive's prison was sealed with a [[timelock]] as a further precautionary measure.<ref name="prim236">'''Halo: Primordium''', ''pages 236-238''</ref>

Despite the advanced nature of Precursor technology, Yprikushma and her research team managed to find a way to communicate with the captive for brief periods of time. They came to regard the creature within the cell as an oracle of sorts, asking it questions in the hopes of gaining greater understanding. Most of the time, the prisoner's answers were confused or unintelligible. When asked about the [[Flood]], the answers given to the humans present were so deeply horrifying that many of them committed suicide.<ref>'''Halo: Cryptum''', ''page 270-271''</ref> <ref>'''Halo: Cryptum''', ''page 121''</ref> 

Following the end of the Human-Forerunner War, the [[Ur-Didact|Didact]] and a group of [[Promethean]]s gained access to the prisoner, though only the Didact ultimately faced it in person. Initially, the Didact believed the Primordial to be a hoax - a psychological weapon created by the humans to demoralize the Forerunners.<ref name="sil33">'''Halo: Silentium''', ''page 33''</ref> It was also theorized that the captive may have been preserved as an ultimate weapon of last resort, to be unleashed in case of an imminent defeat of the humans and the San 'Shyuum.<ref>'''Halo: Cryptum''', ''page 250''</ref> However, upon conversing with the creature, the Didact discovered that it was - or claimed to be - the last Precursor, and that the [[Forerunner]]s had [[Forerunner-Precursor war|rebelled against]] the Precursors.<ref name="Cryptum"/> The Didact revealed this information to no one, regarding its potential implications as being too destructive.<ref name="sil33"/>

===Installation 07===
When the {{Class|Contender|artificial intelligence}} [[05-032 Mendicant Bias|Mendicant Bias]] tested [[Installation 07]], one of the original twelve [[Halo Array|Halo rings]], in the [[Charum Hakkor system]], the Halo's energies destroyed every Precursor structure on the planet, freeing the prisoner. The creature was then taken to Mendicant Bias' Halo for study; both the Halo and Mendicant Bias disappeared soon after, not to return for 43 years.<ref>'''Halo: Cryptum''', ''page 326''</ref>

[[Lifeworker]]s in the employ of [[Master Builder]] [[Faber]] initially studied the Primordial for some time, but their research as to its nature proved inconclusive; while some believed it was connected to the Flood, others dismissed this theory. The Master Builder soon withdrew the Lifeworker researchers and assigned Mendicant Bias to interrogate the creature.<ref name="p190"/> The AI conversed with the Primordial, who in turn explained the nature of the Flood, the [[Mantle]], and the eons-long plan of the Precursors. Mendicant Bias was eventually persuaded by the Primordial's arguments, and deliberately succumbed to what the Forerunners referred to as the [[logic plague]], a state comparable to [[rampancy]]. The AI then defected to the Flood, and referred to the Primordial as its master, demonstrating its denial of the Forerunners.

Having swayed Mendicant Bias to its cause, the Primordial began to oversee and redirect activities on Installation 07. Through the use of Lifeworker beacons located across the Halo, it and Mendicant Bias broadcast signals that affected the ''geas'' of the ring's transplanted human population, causing them to migrate ''en masse'' to [[Flood research facility|Flood research facilities]] on the installation. During this time, it used a large levitating platform to travel around the ring.<ref name="p67"/>

===Destruction===
{{Quote|It is your task to kill this servant. That another may be freed.|The Primordial speaking to the Didact.}}

After reclaiming Installation 07, the [[IsoDidact]] imprisoned the Primordial within a reverse-stasis chamber, and alongside the wounded [[Chakas]], interrogated the entity. During the course of their conversation, they came to realize that the Primordial was not what they initially thought it was. Even as it was being broken down by the reversed stasis chamber, the Primordial claimed that the Flood and the Precursors were synonymous, though despite the Didact's queries, it did not disclose the precise nature of their relationship. The Primordial provided further clarification on the subject of the Mantle, the purpose of the Flood, and the role of the humans in its ancient plan: the Forerunners were never meant to inherit the Mantle, and that humanity would succeed them in order to be tested for inheriting the Mantle.<ref name="prim362"/>

It also implied that there is no true cure for the Flood, but that it could choose whether or not a victim was infected. Once this conversation was complete, the Didact, enraged about the revelation, fully activated the reverse stasis chamber, forcing an artificial decay process equivalent to a billion years to transpire over the course of several seconds, killing the Primordial, and breaking its body down to a state of complete physical entropy.<ref> '''Halo: Primordium''', ''pages 364-367''</ref> However, as the consciousness of the being was shared by individual Graveminds, the Primordial effectively lived on in the form of the Flood compound mind.<ref>'''Halo: Silentium''', ''page 167''</ref>

==Appearance==   
The Primordial was massive in size; the mold encapsulating the being on Charum Hakkor outlined a being approximately fifteen meters tall and eleven meters wide. When first witnessed by the Didact on Charum Hakkor, the creature was described as possessing an insectoid head, four arms, and two degenerate legs. A long, segmented "tail" was attached to the base of the skull, tipped with a two meter-long barb.<ref>'''Halo: Cryptum''', ''page 277''</ref> Each hand had three fingers and a central opposable thumb.<ref>'''Halo: Cryptum''', ''page 119''</ref><ref name="c277">'''Halo: Cryptum''', ''page 277''</ref> The face of the Captive has been likened to that of a [[Wikipedia:eurypterid|eurypterid]], or "sea scorpion," a creature that the Precursors had allegedly seeded on a number of planets. Its head was flattened, with oval compound eyes and insect-like mouthparts.<ref name="c277"/>

Later, aboard Installation 07, the creature was described as having a large number of legs which it held in a curled-up position similar to a spider.<ref name="p108">'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 108-109''</ref> The creature's torso was described as "grossly fat," and its skin was covered in a glassy, crystalline coating; a fine powder often fell from its body, perhaps Flood spores or the same powder responsible for the original Flood outbreak. As a Gravemind, the Primordial was capable of shifting its physical form to an extent, such as rearranging its limbs.<ref>'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 363''</ref>

==List of appearances==
*''[[Halo 3]]''
**''[[Terminals]]'' {{C|As [[Flood Super Cell|"LF.Xx.3273"]]}} 
*''[[Halo: Cryptum]]'' {{1st}} 
*''[[Halo: Primordium]]''
*''[[Halo: Silentium]]'' {{mo}}
*''[[Halo: Rebirth]]'' {{Mo}}

==Sources==
<references/>
[[Category:Precursor]]