- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
This may have already been commented on, and if it has been....o well.....
Im a pretty big fan of the BLIZZARD games, and I tend to focus on the back stories of games. I came across a little bit of the story from Starcraft, and felt it has some odd similarities to halo.
Starcraft speaks of an ancient race much like the Forerunners, known as the Xel Naga.
Although only fragmented documentation remains, ancient Protoss texts speak of a highly advanced race that ruled over thousands of worlds in the galaxy, tens of millions of years ago. This enigmatic race, often called the Xel'Naga, or "wanderers from afar", was rumored to have seeded and cultivated thousands of various species on the cold and barren worlds within their domain. Protoss traditions hold that the Xel'Naga were a peaceful and benevolent race, utterly consumed with the study and propagation of sentient evolution within the universe. Nothing is known of the origin of the Xel'Naga, save that they were not native to the galaxy over which they held sway. Obsessed with fashioning the perfect life-form, the Xel'Naga labored to create a creature that would be defined by a distinct purity of form. For thousands of years they carefully steered the delicate evolutionary processes of their budding species. Although their protracted experiments produced many intriguing deviants and mutation, the races that the Xel'Naga cultivated always fell short of their enormous expectations. Despairing at last, the Xel'Naga focused their frustrated efforts on the most promising of their engineered worlds. Aiur, a massive jungle world on the galaxy's fringe, had borne a race of highly advanced beings. These beings were incredibly adaptable to harsh natural conditions and climates. Their strength and speed were unparalleled amongst the other races known to the Xel'Naga. The race had even developed a rudimentary tribal society based upon group-hunting and warrior rule. However, their most distinct aspect was that they communicated with each other through a very complex method of instinctive telepathy, allowing them to operate communally with striking efficiency. The Xel'Naga were pleased with the progress of their latest creation and conceded that the new race was the first of all their experiments to evolve beyond the feral constraints of baser life-forms. To signify their ascension in the galactic order, the Xel'Naga gave the new race the name of Protoss, or 'the First Born'. The early Protoss lived in harmony and seclusion upon the world of Aiur for hundreds of generations, never knowing of the Xel'Naga who watched over them from afar. Although the Protoss were the most advanced species to arise, the Xel'Naga were still unsatisfied with their slow progress and saw fit to drive the Protoss' evolution even further. The Xel'Naga spent yet another millennium subtly guiding the steps of their children, eventually succeeding in leading the Protoss to the state of total sentience and awareness. The First Born gradually became highly intellectual and introspective, achieving great heights in not only their cultural advancements, but personal, individualistic advancements as well. Exhilarated by their seeming success, the Xel'Naga finally made themselves known to the Protoss, never suspecting the chaos that was to come.
The Protoss seem to be most like the covenant, worshiping the Xel Naga (like the covs worship the forerunner.)
The Xel'Naga were more successful with their second venture than they could have imagined. They labored to advance the evolution of the most insignificant life form on Zerus, a race of miniature insectoids known as the Zerg. Through Xel'Naga proto-genetic manipulations, the Zerg survived the torrential firestorms of their world and thrived. Although extremely small, worm-like, and possessing no ability to manipulate their physical surroundings, the Zerg adapted to survive. They developed the ability to burrow into the flesh of the less vulnerable species indigenous to Zerus. Feeding off the nutrients contained within the spinal fluids of their hosts, the Zerg learned to parasitically merge with their host creatures. Once they became capable of controlling the metabolic and anatomical processes of their hosts, the Zerg used their new bodies to manipulate their surroundings.
As the Zerg incorporated more and more host creatures into their fold, they began to assimilate their various genetic strains and processes. Zerg chemistry began to mutate and adapt according to the volume of new genetic material being processed. However, as diverse as the range of host creatures became, there was always the undeviating drive to consume only the most evolutionarily advanced species encountered. The Zerg were innately selective as to which species they consumed, ensuring that at every stage of their development they were at the top of the proverbial food chain. Any race that the Zerg came across that was deemed unworthy of assimilation was eradicated to further purify the strains.
The Xel'Naga soon made an alarming discovery. The original races assimilated by the Zerg were hardly recognizable after only a few generations of their inception. Somehow the Zerg had developed the ability to supercharge and steer the latent evolutionary processes within their host creatures. The host creatures fell prey to the effects of gradual physical mutations that caused all of the various strains to grow armor piercing spines, razor-sharp limbs, and ultra dense carapaces. Over a surprisingly short amount of time, the strains grew to resemble a terrifyingly ravenous and unified race.
(the above starcraft info is taken from http://www.blizzarduniverse.net)
The Zerg then proceded to destroy their creators, not with advanced technology, but with overwhelming numbers. This made me connect them with the flood. My theory is that the forerunner built halo to mutate a new species (the flood) but their curiosity was their downfall, having no way to stop the flood. Perhaps the forerunners simply fled, or were all slaughtered by the flood.
Thats enough connecting for me now...I just felt that the stories shared some similarities