The Flood: Natural or Artificial?

Wild, speculative theories born from the communications with AdjutantReflex.

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uncle_trubble
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Re: The Flood: Natural or Artificial?

Unread post by uncle_trubble »

The flood IS a virus. It produces no cells of its own, simply latching on to others' and mutating them.
System Failure
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Re: The Flood: Natural or Artificial?

Unread post by System Failure »

So then the qoute about the "anthesis" of life should apply to the flood. The viruses we know are a natural side affect of life, most likley branching of when the casings around DNA molusules became more and more complex, the virus served as a check for what we know know as bacteria. Therefore if we could extend our vision into the future, the more complex life as a whole the more complex its regulator as a whole has to be to be able to affect all of it. The infection forms do look extremely like a generic virus "cell". The whole universal ideas that are trying to be defined by us cannot be answered, because we are both to small to understand, and all we can understand is our feeble attepmts to rationalize what happens around us. When it said he has done this before, there is no limit to how long something can last, so the gravemind could be almost as old as the universe its self.
Maimbot 9000
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Re: The Flood: Natural or Artificial?

Unread post by Maimbot 9000 »

If I understand what you're saying, System, I think I agree. Let's say the Flood have always existed, but in a very simple form--like any common virus here on Earth, but unique in that it shared a common consciousness, a genetic memory. It was small and primarily latched onto bacteria and other extremely simple organisms.

Then the Forerunner come along. They're incredibly advanced, technologically speaking. They've discovered slipspace, teleportation. They're capable of building enormous structures in space. They've mastered the sciences, basically. Except for one thing. They still die. They haven't mastered death.

So they set their sights on eradicating disease. But the Flood virus, in response to these measures, adapts, very rapidly. Eventually it adapts to the point that it becomes multicellular, then bigger and bigger, always growing more complicated in response to the Forerunners' repeated attempts to destroy it. Eventually it gets so big that it gets a voice. And with that voice it tells the Forerunner that it has always existed, and always will. And that it's finally big enough to fight back.

This, I think, covers everything--the Flood are both natural and artificial, in a way. The Forerunner discovered the Flood and then, through their tampering, turned it into the huge threat it is now. That's why the voices we've heard when the servers open talk about the limits of progress and so forth. The Forerunner tried to fly too high, to live forever, and in doing so doomed themselves.
Lurono
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Re: The Flood: Natural or Artificial?

Unread post by Lurono »

I like the idea that the Flood started out naturally and then someone/thing came along and changed them in some way to make them into the Flood we know today.

But here's an idea for you-- What if it wasn't the Forerunner that changed the Flood, but some other group of advanced aliens? I remember the structures described in the books (the stuff on Reach, for example) were SIMILAR to Forerunner structures, but had some differences. I know that I've seen some threads on the HBO forums that had theories that they were made by other aliens, but I doubt I could find them easily. Anyways, what if this other group of aliens was at war with the Forerunner? What if they were the ones who "created" the Flood and unleashed it on the Forerunner. To explain why they disappeared as well, we could assume that the Flood attacked them as well...

Just a new idea to add to the list =)

Edit: This theory could also answer the question in this thread -- viewtopic.php?f=13&t=954. Perhaps that wasn't a Forerunner lab ;) Or, better yet, it was a Forerunner lab and it was infiltrated by the evil Forerunner-hating aliens...
Echelon Three
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Re: The Flood: Natural or Artificial?

Unread post by Echelon Three »

Lurono wrote:I like the idea that the Flood started out naturally and then someone/thing came along and changed them in some way to make them into the Flood we know today.

But here's an idea for you-- What if it wasn't the Forerunner that changed the Flood, but some other group of advanced aliens? I remember the structures described in the books (the stuff on Reach, for example) were SIMILAR to Forerunner structures, but had some differences. I know that I've seen some threads on the HBO forums that had theories that they were made by other aliens, but I doubt I could find them easily. Anyways, what if this other group of aliens was at war with the Forerunner? What if they were the ones who "created" the Flood and unleashed it on the Forerunner. To explain why they disappeared as well, we could assume that the Flood attacked them as well...

Just a new idea to add to the list =)

Edit: This theory could also answer the question in this thread -- viewtopic.php?f=13&t=954. Perhaps that wasn't a Forerunner lab ;) Or, better yet, it was a Forerunner lab and it was infiltrated by the evil Forerunner-hating aliens...
To add a shred of possible backup to the dueling ancient alien races theory, I seem to remember Joe Staten or somebody mentioning "architecture and ruins left behind from a 900,000 year old conflict" somewhere. I wish I knew where that quote was, but it's in the HSP somewhere. All I know is 900,000 years is about 800 millennia too far away from the Forerunner-Flood conflict. In any case, I'm just trying to stir up the pot a bit.
VectorScalar
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Re: The Flood: Natural or Artificial?

Unread post by VectorScalar »

Hmmmm......The Flood as a weaponized virus.....interesting....

In this case, it would almost certainly be a weapon of last resort (assuming it was meant to be as virulent as it appears). Virulence could only take a virus so far; making the Flood intelligent (via the Gravemind entity or entities) would allow the Flood to get around normal quarantines. I think of it like this-the Flood were able to get to High Charity using a covenant ship, something that would not be possible for a non-sentient virus.

I think that Gravemind's '...Monument to all your sins...' statement could support this. Whether the Flood were created/modified by the Forerunners, or by some other civilization for use in war against the Forerunners, the statement still makes sense.
Scelus
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Re: The Flood: Natural or Artificial?

Unread post by Scelus »

But, unless you accept that humans are the successors to Forerunners, and are, indeed, Forerunners themselves, him saying "I am a monument to all your sins", would not support that theory.

And, yeah, The Flood are sentient, as they have thoughts and can retain the knowledge from their hosts.
kudo43
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Re: The Flood: Natural or Artificial?

Unread post by kudo43 »

I find myself stuck between two conclusions about the flood. The first is that it highly resembles a virus in how it acts. The second is that it also seems to resemble a parasitic and resilient bacterium. I can't really decide which one I'd say it was.

It functions much like a virus upon entering its prey's bloodstream, yet having the ability to be controlled or control (gravemind) seems to make it seem more like a bacteria. Viruses only live to reproduce (but then viruses are also not technically alive) and don't explain the radical transformation that happens to occur upon infected individuals. Also it would be more likely, assuming the flood was a virus, that it would (after millions of years of evolution) also be able to be spread through absorbing airborne particles which it doesnt seem to be able to do... then again, HIV, one of our worst viruses, is mostly blood/blood (which isnt too affective either... unless you're bleeding)... I dunno, i think you could take it both ways. Virus b/c of how it acts, Bacterium b/c it can create a creature like the Gravemind...


But then, it's a game so not worth the extra effort to really pin it down! ;) So mostly natural is my conclusion.


Interesting side note though... What if the flood was the forerunners wild attempt at defeating death? They were able to create AI but they were never able to save themselves from death. If they tampered with biology to create a virus/bacteria that would infect and prolong life. A pseudo symbiotic relationship that would benefit both species...? Albeit, if this were true, the flood would be an early attempt at this bioengineering, one that escaped. Maybe they made a mistake, maybe someone got contaminated and the flood was released into the general population. Iunno, im tired from work, and this was just food for thought.
Echelon Three
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Re: The Flood: Natural or Artificial?

Unread post by Echelon Three »

The Flood are sentient, as they have thoughts and can retain the knowledge from their hosts.
Okay, new twist on the "monument to all your sins" line. As we know the Flood are adept at absorbing and retaining the knowledge of its victims. Arguably the victims the Flood has been absorbing have been, well, affected by human nature (or alien, semantics blah, you know what I mean). Human nature is to sin, make mistakes, and so forth. So what if this is what Gravemind means by this; that the monument to all our sins are the genetic memory of billions and billions of peoples' sins? Certainly killing is considered a sin, and soldiers kill; some of these soldiers have been brought into the Flood obviously.
Lurono
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Re: The Flood: Natural or Artificial?

Unread post by Lurono »

kudo43 wrote:Interesting side note though... What if the flood was the forerunners wild attempt at defeating death? They were able to create AI but they were never able to save themselves from death. If they tampered with biology to create a virus/bacteria that would infect and prolong life. A pseudo symbiotic relationship that would benefit both species...? Albeit, if this were true, the flood would be an early attempt at this bioengineering, one that escaped. Maybe they made a mistake, maybe someone got contaminated and the flood was released into the general population. Iunno, im tired from work, and this was just food for thought.
Hmm... To take it a step further, perhaps the experiment didn't go wrong on accident...
If no one's noticed yet, I really like the idea of some ancient war or inner conflict in the Forunner... Offers the best possibilities for a good story imo.
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