 |
The following is a verbatim transcription of an official document for archival reasons. As the original content is transcribed word-for-word, any possible discrepancies and/or errors are included. |
- The great devourer.
- The Flood is a voracious hive-mind parasite that seizes, converts, and controls
- sentient hosts to perpetuate itself. Infected individuals have their nervous
- systems suborned by the parasite, turning their bodies into puppets while their
- memories and flesh are assimilated and exploited to further the infestation.
- Each infected host is linked to a distributed intelligence, allowing for interstellar
- coordination and the formation of increasingly sophisticated consciousness
- nodes. If the Flood is not stopped it will eventually manifest a malevolent meta-
- intelligence known as Gravemind.
- Flood are composed of a highly adaptable and resilient neuron-like "super cell"
- that has no analogous structures with other life in the galaxy. These protean
- cells are the building blocks of all Flood and can be configured into any shape or
- pseudo-organ necessary to sustain the biological and organizational growth of
- the parasite.
- Encysted Flood cells form spores which can parasitize both sentient and non-
- sentient species, rapidly consuming the host and transforming their biomass
- into an incubator for larger, more mobile Flood combat and infection forms.
- There is no inoculation against infection, no treatment to slow the parasites'
- growth, no reversal of its transformation. The only effective countermeasure is
- containment and incineration.