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I finished Halo Cryptum recently and felt compelled to share what I believe are the major points of the novel. This book broadly touches upon the intent of life from a human perspective while devolving the human condition completely. It's an incredible work that takes the Halo universe to a new plateau devoid of run and gun Master Chiefs'. But on to my points...
-The Geas: Throughout Cryptum, the geas is a major contributor to the early plotline. From what I can determine, the geas is a history of a lifeform across time and space that manifests itself differently among species. For humans, it manifests in dreams. Apparently, Forerunners have the ability to place the geas into a species stored in the Mantle; allowing and omitting historical information as they see fit. Its also of note that Forerunners do not sleep/dream.
Forerunners learned that humans had somehow turned back the Flood. So, their geas became appealing and Humanity was given placement within the Mantle when originally Humans were deemed too violent a species to file. Humanity's geas was only permitted to allow Forerunners to research it hoping to find an answer to the Flood threat.
-Mutations: The Forerunner race undergoes multiple mutations in a lifetime. Each one planned and expected according to the class of Forerunner a member is born into. I believe its this ability that allows a Forerunner to live for thousands of years. Mutation seems to be a feature unique to Forerunners. (It is unknown if Precursors have such an ability.) A mutation involves a younger Forerunner and his/her mentor. It is a joining of their personal consciousness'. The primary result of a mutation is the acquisition of each Forerunners knowledge, experiences, and feelings. As an example, the Master Builder Forerunner is said to have undergone 5+ mutations in his lifetime to achieve a rank higher than all other Forerunners.
-The Flood: For a novel that does not engage the Flood directly as a pseudo-character(s); its the fear of that drives the Forerunner story arc. Several paragraphs (entirely too small) were devoted to the creation of the Flood involving canisters of Flood cells, lemurs as cell hosts, and evolution across vast time. The Floods' creation isn't as hastily immediate as I had hoped. But, no more deadly and of concern for the Forerunners.
Cryptum closes with the last Precursor implying 'this is our final answer.' Which leads me to believe the Flood was a Precursor manufactured lifeform. Its only purpose is to destroy the Forerunners with all other life in a galaxy hanging in the balance.
-The Halo's: 12 ring worlds of Forerunner technology that preserved parts of the Mantle and doubled as a effective weapon against the Flood. The idea of creating the Halo's caused a rift among Forerunners. Cryptum details an epic attack on the Forerunner homeworld by other Forerunners. This group wanted all the Halos' destroyed at all costs. Of the 12, 1 fired on the hoemworld,5 escaped the onslaught and returned to the Ark for repairs.
-Precursor Vendetta: In the novel, it is being alluded that the Precursor's vendetta is being carried out by the Flood. Long ago, The Forerunners destroyed the Precursor race. So, the Flood was created by Precursors to destroy the Forerunners with all other life being of no consequence. Forerunners acknowledged this threat and began...
-The Mantle: A collection of trillions+ of species across all known galaxies to be preserved and restored in the future by Reclaimers. The Forerunners felt the threat of the Flood would require an ultimate sterilization and built the Halos to enact this course of action.
These are just what I gathered from Halo Cryptum. I may be way off-base, so please correct me. I thoroughly enjoyed Cryptum! I will probabaly reread it!