- GhostRyderCA941
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- Exalted Heroic Member
"It is done. By my hands. The pyrrhic solution is ignited. All I have left is the quiet of space to lull me to sleep.
I will dream of you." - The Didact
First off, Caution. Wall of text.
I need to confirm with multiple users, that HAVE the Bestiarum BOOKLET (not the CD), that the following excerpt is indeed valid and exists. I cannot find a transcript anywhere in the internet nor does the booklet have a designated ISBN number.
This confirmation is needed to prove that the following excerpt is a usable source for an argument in the comments for Lord Snakie's theory The Precursor, The Flood, and the Acceleration of Evolution: V2.7
Flood
The Flood is the deadliest threat to life or more specifically, biodiversity in the galaxy. It is a virulent, parasitic life form. Flood biomass is composed of an undifferentiatedcelltypethathasbeenlabeled [marker[?]] >LF.Xx.3273_Flood_Super_Cell. The Flood Super Cell (FSC) can be loosely described as [thinking muscle[?]], and it closely resembles neurons or glial cells in structure. It has been verified on multiple occasions that the Flood have the ability to arrange these FSCs to mimic any organ they might need.
Every Flood outbreak goes through several distinct Stages: Feral, Coordinated, and Interstellar. During the Feral Stage, the Flood has only ever utilized four forms: the infection form, the combat form, the carrier form, and the [proto-gravemind]. Once the Flood establishes a viable [gravemind], they enter the Coordinated stage and the number of forms available to them begins to grow rapidly. The Flood's Interstellar stage has more to do with access to captured technology than an evolutionary change. Theoretically there is at least one other stage that it enters beyond Interstellar: [Transgalactic[?]].
The pure form does not become available until a coordinated group has secured sufficient reserves of calcium from host life forms. The Flood uses those calcium resources to construct an [adaptable] framework upon which the FSC is attached, creating a [fearsome engine]. Initially the pure form's primary function (i.e., to aid the infection forms with securing hosts and secure biomass and complex neurosystems to strengthen the local Gravemind) tends to overlap that of the combat form, but once the pure-form population reaches [equilibrium[?]] all extant combat forms are either relegated to a purely defensive role or added to the Flood's available biomass/calcium reserves.
The Flood have no culture as such, as they should be considered a single macroorganism instead of a group of individuals or even a group of subsentient individuals controlled by a single, or a group of, [transsentient[?]] being(s). Their society if it may be called that most closely resembles a [utopian socialist ideal], as there is no wealth, no poverty, no want, no crime, and no disease; every individual works for the advancement of the Flood as a whole. It is unfortunate that their one overriding goal is to [butcher and consume] every other life form in the galaxy.
[Edited on 01.03.2011 2:37 PM PST]