Flood: Difference between revisions

The '''Flood''', designated as '''[[LF.Xx.3273 Flood Super Cell|LF.Xx.3273]]''' by the [[Forerunner]]s ([[Latin]] '''''Inferi redivivus'''''<ref name="bestiarum">''[[Bestiarum]]''</ref> meaning "the dead reincarnated"<ref>[http://carnage.bungie.org/haloforum/halo.forum.pl?read=865888 ''Halo.Bungie.Org'': Updated and abbreviated list, errors amended]</ref>) and referred to as '''the Parasite'''{{Ref/Level|H2|[[The Heretic]]|Quote=Thel 'Vadamee: ''"Noble Hierarchs, surely you understand that once the parasite attacked-"''}} and '''the infection'''{{Ref/Level|HW|[[Relic Approach]]|Quote=[[Re'gish Wamik]]: ''"What if the infection defiles the [[Relic (location)|relic]]?"''}} by the [[Covenant]], is a species of highly virulent parasitic organisms that reproduce and grow by consuming [[sentience|sentient]] lifeforms of sufficient biomass and cognitive capability. The Flood was responsible for consuming most of the sentient lifeforms in the galaxy - including the vast majority of [[Forerunner]]s - during the [[Forerunner-Flood war]] in ancient past, prompting the [[Great Purification|activation]] of the galaxy-sterilizing [[Halo Array]] in [[97,445 BCE]].{{Ref/Level|CE|[[Two Betrayals]]}}

The Flood, as it is known in modern times, first appeared in the galaxy some time prior to [[107,445 BCE]], after [[Ancient humanity|ancient humans]] came into contact with the Precursor dust. This fine, desiccated powder had been stored in millions of glass cylinders placed aboard automated starships,{{Ref/Novel|Id=origin|Cry|Page=268-270}} bound toward the margins of the Milky Way galaxy from the direction of the [[Path Kethona|Large Magellanic Cloud]].{{Ref/Novel|Id=sil35|Sil|Page=35}} [[Forthencho]] came to believe that the [[Primordial]], despite its hibernating state at the time, may have been responsible for remotely triggering the movement of these ships.{{Ref/Novel|Pri|Page=226}} However, over a span of ten million years, the substance had slowly deteriorated, along with the ships themselves failing.{{Ref/Reuse|origin}}

The crashed remains of these ships were discovered by ancient humans on both inhabited and deserted worlds near the border of [[intergalactic space]], a region of the galaxy to which humans expanded early on in their history. Inside the ships, humanity found the capsules filled with powder, which their tests told them consisted of inert, short-chain organic molecules of unknown purpose.{{Ref/Reuse|origin}} Humanity studied the material and deemed it to be harmless, but noted that it had psychotropic effects on lower animals. Small dosages were [[Drugs|administered]] to [[Pheru]], popular domestic animals among humans and San'Shyuum, which resulted in more docile behavior.{{Ref/Novel|Id=cryptum131|Cry|Page=131}} Unbeknownst to the humans or San'Shyuum at the time, the powder was altering the genetic code of the Pheru, manifesting as improved behavior while slowly changing other aspects of their genome.{{Ref/Reuse|origin}}

After the humans had exposed the Pheru to the powder for several centuries, more disturbing changes appeared. Pheru treated with the powder began exhibiting furry growths and fleshy protrusions, which other Pheru were compelled to consume. Shortly afterward, the Pheru began suffering widespread abortions and genetic deformities, and many were euthanized or released into the wild. Soon afterward, the humans and San'Shyuum who had been in the presence of the altered Pheru began to exhibit some symptoms of the powder-induced "disease". Affected on a psychological level by the strange illness, infected victims began to consume the sick Pheru, and anything they touched became infected while parts of themselves that were discarded, such as tissue and limbs, also became vectors for the disease. The afflicted then moved on to cannibalism and sacrifice of the infected, inducing a sacrificial individual to grow to prodigious size and then forcing uninfected individuals to consume them while they were still alive. During this time, the infection passed from human to San'Shyuum and human to human, but rarely San'Shyuum to human. The infected humans and San'Shyuum proceeded to spread the disease into other systems, which furthered the scope of the Flood outbreak.{{Ref/Reuse|origin}}

The infection quickly spread through both human and Forerunner space. Attempts to quarantine infected worlds and systems failed, leading to the Flood soon infecting hundreds of worlds in fifteen systems.{{Ref/Reuse|origin}} In an effort to halt the Flood's continuing spread, human fleets began destroying Flood-infested Forerunner ships and cleansing Forerunner planets where Flood infestations were detected. [[Forthencho]], the commander of the human fleets, chose not to warn the Forerunners in advance of these actions to prevent giving the Flood time to expand.{{Ref/Game|Id=terminals4|H4|Detail=[[Terminal (Halo 4)|Terminals]]}} In turn, many Forerunners believed that the Flood was a fiction meant to hide humanity's expansionist aims. Ultimately, the Forerunners interpreted humanity's tactics as acts of aggression, leading to the [[Human-Forerunner wars]].{{Ref/Reuse|origin}}