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Re: Makes me wonder...
Posted By: Postmortem <postmortem@forwarduntodawn.com>	Date: 11/8/11 2:22 p.m.
In Response To: Makes me wonder... (Mid7night) : ... How different are the Flood from the Huragok? Aside from their opposing : talents of destruction and repair. : Maybe this has been discussed - wouldn't be the first time I thought of : something everyone else has already dismissed - but it just occurred to : me; the Huragok are like the total antithesis of the Flood; they're both : "engineered" life-forms (depending on what conjecture you make : about the origins of that "Flood powder" we learned about in : Cryptum), and they both make more of themselves from themselves in some : way, but they have completely opposite purposes. : Compare and Contrast: Flood: Originally (as far as we know) was a powder : discovered on a drifting spacecraft, likely engineered and created by the : Precursors as deadly revenge on the Forerunners. It consumes all viable : life, makes more of itself from that consumption, and is generally focused : on the destruction of anything that hinders its consumption. : Bottom line: Flood=Engineered Biological Machines of Death. : Huragok, aka "Engineers": "Biological computers" created : by the Forerunners, presumably to maintain, repair and improve pretty much : anything and everything. Almost all mechanical, electrical, and perhaps : even biological problems are within their capabilities. They are generally : focused on the improvement of everything around them. : Bottom line: Huragok=Engineered Biological Machines of Life. : Has this already been explored? What say you? : ~ M7 Interesting idea. Firstly, I don't necessarily like using the word "engineered" for the creation of the Flood. I understand that it's an accurate term, but in my mind it just leads me to think about building a machine, or even biologically engineering a creature in a lab, and I think the Precursors were so far beyond that. I'm not saying they're living gods. They didn't "will" anything into existence, but I think there needs to be a more accurate term that describes a process that's somewhere in the middle. That's all conjecture of course until we see more about the Precursors in Primordium. But to me, the bottom line is that the Engineers were (ha) engineered. The Flood was created or brought into being through some other unknown process, something that I imagine as being much more biological... perhaps a hyper-accelerated evolution in a controlled environment until the right organism is created. That's the distinction in my mind. The Huragok is at its core a computer, that outwardly resembles an organic creature. The Flood is at its core a collection of infectious spores or inert organic compounds. One's biological, the other is definitely machine. As for purpose, that's a tough point to talk about... because so much of the Flood's purpose is debatable. To me, the Flood's purpose probably isn't far off from what the Gravemind has told us. To save the galaxy from its inevitable end by preserving all memories and intelligences in one never ending life form. Literally, everyone who gets absorbed into the Flood never loses themselves. They'll always be there as part of the collective consciousness. The simple problem with that is the homogeneity. When all minds are part of one macro-organism, or your really yourself still? That's a philosophical debate that likely can't be answered. But my point is, I have a hard time believing someone intentionally created the Flood to "destroy all life". I doubt anyone with that much power would be so malicious as to loose something like that on the galaxy. It's part of what makes the Flood so interesting, because its purpose is so shrouded in mystery, but there has to be more to its origin than just the intention to destroy all life. When you compare something as complex as that, to a machine that (while impressively designed) was simply made to repair and assist in the running of other machines and systems, it's a little hard to say that one is similar to the other. I think the only interesting dichotomy between the Flood and the Huragok is the fact that the Flood can't infect the Huragok. But there's nothing impressive there, since we know the Hunters can't be either. To be clear, when something or someone in the Halo universe states that one organism can't be absorbed by the Flood, I think that only applies to its conversion into combat forms. All organic matter can be broken down and used by the Flood to attain more biomass. Saying that something can't be infected by the Flood is like saying that if the Flood took control of Earth and turned it into a hive, more than half of the species on the planet would just walk free. Nope. They'd be digested and repurposed into more Flood growth just as quickly as anyone else. They just wouldn't be converted into combat forms first due to their size. That's the reason Hunters don't have infection forms, and that's why Huragok don't. Because the individual "organisms" that make up the whole are by themselves too small to convert. They'd just be killed and absorbed directly. I think that's the only real reason behind the Engineer's immunity to the Flood. While you raise an interesting point that is most certainly worth exploring more, I personally don't think there's much more to the connection and parallels than what I explained above. I kinda went on a rant there. I hope it covered the points you made. :P

Forward Unto Dawn

Message Index

Floodgate	scarab	11/8/11 6:33 a.m.
Re: Floodgate	GrimBrother One	11/8/11 9:00 a.m.
Re: Floodgate	davidfuchs	11/8/11 9:16 a.m.
Re: Floodgate	Revenant1988	11/8/11 9:41 a.m.
Makes me wonder...	Mid7night	11/8/11 10:17 a.m.
Re: Makes me wonder...	scarab	11/8/11 10:57 a.m.
Re: Makes me wonder...	yakaman	11/8/11 1:08 p.m.
Re: Makes me wonder...	Quirel	11/8/11 11:40 p.m.
Re: Makes me wonder...	Postmortem	11/8/11 2:22 p.m.
Re: Makes me wonder...	Mid7night	11/8/11 4:32 p.m.
Woah...	Postmortem	11/8/11 4:39 p.m.
Re: Woah...	Mid7night	11/8/11 5:01 p.m.
Re: Woah...	Postmortem	11/8/11 6:35 p.m.
Re: Makes me wonder...	General Vagueness	11/13/11 4:12 p.m.
Re: Makes me wonder...	Archilen	11/13/11 11:06 p.m.
Re: Makes me wonder...	General Vagueness	11/14/11 6:23 p.m.