- ROBERTO jh
- |
- Fabled Heroic Member
Posted by: im the next halo
Posted by: ROBERTO jh
Posted by: the real Janaka
First of all, the entire universe, is a lot larger than anything in the Halo lore is capable of affecting. Not even close.
There has even been controversies surrounding the whole "gun pointed at the head of the universe" line, where it pretty much has been stated that it was an exaggeration from Marty's part. i.e galaxy should suffice.
Secondly, Mass Effect is about the battle between synthetic and organic beings. Halo has never been about that until possibly now. Previously, Halo has been about a strict mantle that propagates and controls organic diversity vs its antonym; a chaotic entity that strives for monotonous harmony.
If the reason you're talking about Mass Effect is OP's above statement, he's probably referring to the fact that the Reapers use the exact same rationale for doing what they do as the Gravemind: that organic diversity inevitably creates chaos, and only through assimilation can life be saved and truly evolve. Except where the Reapers are concerned assimilation=death.
I'd also like to point out that the official description for Halo 4 says this Ancient Evil threatens the entire universe; do not underestimate the Precursors. I do not know if that description is also an exaggeration, but the Precursors' technology was mind boggling. Considering their core philosophical beliefs and how that extended to their technology, it wouldn't surprise me if we learned that the Precursors and the universe were synonomous in some way. It's already been strongly hinted at anyway.Reapers are about the tech level, maybe a bit higher than Forerunner. They wipe out sentient, basically all sentient life every 50k years. Reapers do not do the same exact plans as Gravemind. The Gravemind wants to dominate and rule all sentient life. Reapers already do that anyway. They destroy when things get out of hand. Because it's stated they wipe all life out every 50k years so they don't proceed technologically advanced and do something stupid. My ME lore isn't as precise, but the Reapers perform entirely differently than the Gravemind.
Forerunner achievements include:
1) Mastery over dimensional physics. They've built entire solar system sized worlds in alternate realities, as well as having explored several other universes.
2) Their fleets--both automated and numbering in the trillions--have standard warship weapons that can crack a planet like an egg. They tore the surface of a planet off using fighters, bombers and mech suits. They can destroy a star with their warships and use the explosion as a weapon.
3) They have the defenses to boot, with armor capable of absorbing the good end of a 200 terraton blast (the estimated strength of a standard Forerunner cruiser; that's twice as powerful as the astreoid that killed the donisaurs).
4) The armor that all civillians wore was, at one point, 4 times the power of a MJOLNIR Mk. VI. Their armor allows Forerunners to live for thousands, if not tens of thousands of years.
5) Their starships are grown like plants from a single design seed. Their engineers have built entire stars, planets and other celestial superstructures. They even contemplated the possibility of shifting the gravitational axis of entire galaxies (if they achieved it is unknown). They could create ships made out of pure light.
The Reapers? Hardly comparable to the Covenant.
Posted by: the real Janaka
Posted by: im the next halo
Reapers are about the tech level, maybe a bit higher than Forerunner. They wipe out sentient, basically all sentient life every 50k years. Reapers do not do the same exact plans as Gravemind. The Gravemind wants to dominate and rule all sentient life. Reapers already do that anyway. They destroy when things get out of hand. Because it's stated they wipe all life out every 50k years so they don't proceed technologically advanced and do something stupid. My ME lore isn't as precise, but the Reapers perform entirely differently than the Gravemind. Well, kind of. What the Reapers fear is that organic life will evolve into synthetic, one way or another. They fear that whatever species capable of such a transition, might decide to completely remove the concept of organic life, becoming the sole actor in the galaxy, which would ultimately stagnate life/progress.
So they're almost identical to the Mantle; both strive towards a healthy level of organic divercity throughout the galaxy.
Living Time; "the joy of life's interaction with the Cosmos".
Oh, and just to be clear, I never compared the Reapers with the Flood, I compared two concepts; organic vas synthetic, in ME and Halo.
The concept behind the Gravemind/the Flood, if I've got it right, is that Living Time only becomes possible if nothing whatsoever, is capable of disturbing the peace. The suggestion: a single species capable of diversity within itself, one that constantly evolves on its own terms. This would also be why Mendicant Bias was convinced; he saw truth/similarities to the Mantle, in the Prisoners words.
This is however where my uncertainty begins. The Flood and the Precursors are supposedly the same, so why do their agendas differ? Why would the Precursors create vast amounts of organic species, only to introduce them to the Flood?
This has to mean that my understanding of the Gravemind is wrong, right? Anyone care to clear things up?
There's been speculation ased on a line from Primordium that the Precursors split between the creators of the Flood, and the creators of Mankind/Forerunners. Primordial says that he is only the last of one kind of Precursor, and that the Forerunner's creators fled after beeing ruthlessly hunted.
The Gravemind feels that order can only be achieved by total unity, and unity can only be achieved by the Flood assimilating all races. He does not, as next halo suggests, want to rule sentient life. He ONLY wishes for there to be peace which can only be achieved if all races share a consciousness. One interpretation is that the Graveminds aren't individuals, but more the collective will of everything it has assimilated. You still exist, but within the Mind.
Just as the Reapers allegedly "preserve" races within themselves in an attempt to create order by assimilating the races as a Reaper. Otherwise, war, strife, chaos.