- Precursors
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- Exalted Legendary Member
"We sleep peaceably in our beds, because rough men stand ready to visit violence upon those that wish to do us harm."
"Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of all those who threaten them."
The Flood, an Experiment?:
The Precursor had the ability to accelerate evolution... what if they accelerated and manipulated the evolution of a parasitic species until they created not a weapon, but a municipal service?
Think about it- the Precursors were trans-sentient beings, deaths among them must be rare. Even so, death probably did occur, and that death would be a finality; everything that Precursor knew was gone, and over the span of its life it likely had revolutionary ideas that could help all of the Precursors, or at least memories or though processes that would be worth accessing. So, over time, Precursor genetic manipulators accelerated and enhanced the evolution of a biological species until they created a self-sustaining storage system that could reclaim the memories of the Precursor even after death. Infection forms roam about the streets of Precursor cities, seeking out the locations of any dead Precursors. When they took over a deceased's body, the information of that dead Precursor was transferred to the central Gravemind (keep that in mind: Grave - Mind. Mind of the grave) and all the other Precursors would be able to access it later. Since the corpses could be used to replenish the Gravemind with necessary flesh or be used to create more infection forms, it was a self-sustaining system. The Precursors would need not ever go without the memories and knowledge of their deceased ever again, and no longer would the dead bodies need to be put anywhere but the self-sustaining Flood memory retrieval system.
The Gravemind was likely not sentient at first, more like the central, living archive of all this information. When he became cognitive and sentient and realized that he was being used, he could have used the accumulated knowledge and forms that he had at his disposal to attack and destroy the Precursor in a massive, destructive surprise attack.
Think about this. If this is true, it means that the first Gravemind did not only possess an abundance of Precursor intelligence, it was created by the Precursor, made out of Precursors, and meant to absorb their intelligence. The Precursor in this situation would not only have made the beasts that killed them, they would have willingly done it, thinking in their arrogance and power that they were infallible. Not only would the Precursor have passed down their mantle to the Forerunner, they would be the very ones who began the cycle that caused the Forerunner and Humanity to be forced to take up that mantle.[/quote]
I really can?t argue with this, with what little can be pieced together about them it doesn?t really contradict anything and their desire to preserve life follows the Mantle. The only reason I?d disagree would be that I think they would have learned to accept death and wouldn?t accept life as a Flood form. I also disagree with your interpretation that each one appears to be incredibly smart yet doesn?t tell others of their ideas? Despite the advancement of their species as a whole I don?t think each one is necessarily amazing and b-blam!- with ideas that will change the world.
Further if the Gravemind was successful in his attack, what happened to all that technology he would have inherited? Why would he just abandon the massive empire he just took control of and throw it all away for a backwater planet at the edge of the Milky Way?
urther Explanations and Side-Theories:
The theory itself has been stated, but there is still much to be considered. In this section we will delve further into what this theory tells us, and what it could mean. Many side-theories and actual in-depth explanations of facets of this theory are to follow. Please, continue reading! Many of these side-theories and explanations are critical to the theory itself, and expand upon it in ways I did not consider possible.
Further Explanations and Considerations:
On Trans-Sentience v. Omnipotence:
It is very important, indeed critical to this theory, to understand that Trans-Sentience is not Omnipotence. Just because a species exists beyond what we can comprehend does not mean that they are God-like or have abilities similar to any divine entity. They very well likely could be killed, or infected, or subjected to almost any physical ailment that we have... if they still have bodies. It is important to be aware that the Precursor were not Gods, they likely simply had a much vaster intellect and a much more efficient way to process it.
On the Gravemind Attaining Sentience:
As far as this theory is concerned, the Gravemind started as the central hub for a memory retrieval system, nothing more. My best correlative example for what he existed as would be a library computer. Most library computers have the hardware to run higher functions, but programming and manual restrictions upon them usually allow for only a catalog system to be run. Although the capacity for higher function exists, it is inhibited.
Similarly, the Gravemind had the ability to attain sentience because it was organic and, indeed, alive. "Programming" restrictions in the very genetics of the Flood, however, stopped him from being able to attain sentience on his own. The Precursor that were being absorbed, though, already had their sentience and their thought processes. The Gravemind, as he absorbed these creatures that could think and had an established thought process, gradually copied that thought process. The very absorption of Precursor was what allowed the Gravemind to break his shackles and become sentient, able to strike out at the unsuspecting Precursor.
That would be a major feat of engineering, but not one I would doubt the Precursor?s capable of achieving.
Living AIs?:
Think further on the above. The Forerunner were the only species that could create fully sentient non-living AIs. It is generally accepted that AIs went rampant not only due to nearing the end of their lives, but due to their extreme desire to actually "live". Could it be that the Precursor wanted, or were indeed close to, a way to make an AI that was immune to rampancy? Was the Gravemind not only a catalog, but a secret experiment to see if the Precursor could create a living AI? And, if so, did it work? Even now, is it possible that the Gravemind fulfilled the Precursor's dreams and attained an AI-like state while living? Is the Gravemind a living AI? Only time and more information will tell.
Is he really artificial though? He?s certainly biological and is regenerating himself, I would assume his form of breeding is a-blam!- in nature, so he would probably produce offspring which would have been biological and natural since their birth, which wouldn?t really make them artificial.
On Pure Forms:
Another important thing to consider is the question of Pure Forms. These forms are created when the calcium level of a flood colony reaches a certain level and they are able to "create" their own particular "pure" Flood forms to do difficult tasks for the colony. This has never before been questioned; what is now being questioned is where these Pure Forms came from.
While on the subject of Gravemind, let us return to the implications of this theory. The Gravemind was a catalog, and the Precursor were a species hell-bent on preserving life, just like the Forerunner. The Forerunner cataloged races, what's to say the Precursor didn't? What if they cataloged these races inside the Gravemind construct, and he is re-creating long-dead races whose blueprints he has stored permanently in memory to serve the collective that exterminated them? It raises questions on just how "personal" infection is. If a single entity is infected, could multiples of that entity's species be created by the Flood all over the universe to serve them?
I would agree that the Pure forms are probably extinct species that the Flood was aware of, but within your theory to me a better argument could be made that each form had an initial civil service point. For instance the tanks would have been cops, range were corrupted, and the stalker would have searched out dead Precursors for infection forms and/or been used for travel. Imagine little Precursors riding on a stalker form!
Side-Theories:
The Precursor are The Flood:
Several people have the idea that the Precursor evolved themselves until they became The Flood, the epitome of evolution. While I personally don't hold to this theory, it's still very plausible and very interesting. If considered, the Flood are fairly advanced, at least inwardly. A collective mind, no inner-species war, no theft. War outside, yes, but that's out of necessity. An intriguing side-theory, to say the least.
The Flood have a separate entry in the beastarium?a lower one at that?why would they have two separate entries for the same species?
In Closing:
First, I'd like to say thank you all for reading. My theories are nothing without those who read them, the users of this site. I appreciate your patience as I ramble on about something that isn't too likely to be proven.
While this is not the likeliest theory that I have ever created, I still believe it to be possible, and it is most definitely my favorite. Because of the lack of information on those times, all that I have to go off of has been brought into play to try to hash out a plausible outcome; if I've missed something, please let me know!
Once again thank you, and I wish you well on your travels of this site and the information it has to offer!
You weren't exaggerating, you do make some great theories. Possibly the best I?ve ever seen.