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On the Development of Graveminds *long*
By:Postmortem
Date: 8/6/13 3:40 pm

Okay, so here's something I've been thinking about. I was going to give this a little more thought/do some more research, but opening this up to other's input couldn't hurt.

We already have a classification system for the Flood's developmental stages:

Feral - they communicate via pheromones and have the instinct to harvest enough calcium to establish a viable Gravemind.
Coordinated - at this point, they are controlled by the Gravemind that was created in the first stage.
Interstellar - the Flood take control of space-faring technology which they use to consume the local star system. Subsequently, they spread throughout the galaxy to infect more hosts.
Intergalactic - a theoretical stage in which the Flood utilizes all captured technology to depart to uninfected galaxies to further replicate. This is further built upon with the knowledge that the Flood originated from Precursors who had traveled outside our galaxy.

This is already established and fits, for the most part. What I find to be interesting is the development of a Gravemind between the Feral and Coordinated stages. All of the Proto-Graveminds we've witnessed so far have come in a variety of forms:






And each one of these Proto-Graveminds has had subtle differences in their appearance and/or mannerisms.

For starters, the first Proto-Gravemind we ever saw (first image above) was relatively small compared to the only Gravemind we've ever seen (Halo 2). It was largely immobile, only moving slightly as its organs (or whatever is the Flood's closest analog) churned inside of it. What is unique about this form was that, right up until the last minute, Captain Keyes was able to fight the Gravemind's assimilation and go so far as to communicate with Master Chief while he was onboard the Truth and Reconciliation. We can assume that this was not Gravemind manipulation (a la Human Weakness) because in the novel The Flood, Keyes is described as thinking his communication to Chief, but being unsure if it was just a thought or an actual vocalization.

The Keyes terminal from Anniversary added two new elements to the mix. One, we can hear the Gravemind communicating directly with Keyes through "thoughts". Internal communication direct from the Gravemind intelligence that, presumably, could not be heard externally. Second, in the terminal when Keyes is remembering the Flood attack (bottom image), he appears to be ordering his men to retreat from a large, Proto-Gravemind like form, which displays quite a lot of movement. It almost appears as if this massive Proto-Gravemind is chasing after the marines, which goes against nearly everything we understand about Proto-Graveminds (save some stylization in stories such as The Last Voyage of the Infinite Succor).

On the subject of internal communication via thoughts, we know from The Flood that the overriding intelligence behind the infection slowly develops its ability to communicate over time. Jenkins starts out specifically observing that there were no thoughts, just a hunger. Yet later in the novel, after the Flood has had time to spread, he begins having very basic conversations with the other presence in his mind. A back and forth dialogue of basic thoughts. This basic evolution of the ability to communicate with a host mirrors near-identically the conversation Keyes has with the developing Gravemind intelligence in the Anniversary terminal. As that conversation goes on, the Gravemind's sentences and thought conveyance gets more and more complex.

The next step of this would be seen in The Last Voyage of the Infinite Succor. In it, we witness a Proto-Gravemind speaking through the mouth of the absorbed Minister of Etiology, communicating verbally and externally to Rtas 'Vadum (Half-Jaw). It's language is certainly minimal, the sentence structure not very advanced, almost like a foreigner learning a new language. However, there is a problem that this external communication presents given the time frame, which I've talked about below.

Lastly, the Proto-Gravemind from Halo Wars. This thing has always been a black sheep to me. It displays abilities that thus far only Coordinated Flood have demonstrated (the formation of infection pods, the massive spread of Flood biomatter, including complex tentacles and portas), specifically in Halo 3. However, it's been stated many times that this is indeed a Feral Flood outbreak, and that the various creatures presented are merely forms of infected wildlife native to the Shield World. Disregarding how interesting it is to consider the capabilities of the original infected creatures when compared to other Flood combat forms, this places the Proto-Gravemind at a certain point in its path to becoming a Gravemind.

Combining all of these, I started working on the following classification systems. First of all, a classification system specifically for initial outbreaks of the Flood. Each outbreak would be categorized by the Flood's introduction to a new area. For example, the outbreak on Alpha Halo would have started with the Covenant unlocking the weapons cache and discovering that it's not what they thought it would be. That would have then continued as the Flood were introduced into new systems on the ring, the individual outbreaks becoming part of the overall collective outbreak. When the Flood reached the Infinite Succor, that would have been another outbreak, even though it was part of the larger outbreak at Installation 04. Same with The Mona Lisa. Etc.

So, I thought it could be broken down like this:

Type 0
If an outbreak occurs from inactive Flood biomatter, e.g. Cryptum. I classified this as Type 0 because it is not the "standard" or "intended" means of conveyance. The powder was merely a means to let the infection develop to the point where it reached its biological "standard".

Type 1
If an outbreak occurs from active Flood biomatter (spores, via air or bite) or if infection form isn’t able to fully sync with host’s central nervous system, e.g. infection from bite in The Mona Lisa or Pvt. Jenkins retaining awareness from The Flood

Type 2
Direct possession and conversion by an infection form. This would be your "standard" means of infection, as witnessed in Halo 3.

Type 3
Direct assimilation into Gravemind or Proto-Gravemind – The Mona Lisa. This would be where the Flood are at a point of critical mass where they no longer need to convert hosts into combat forms, they can simply drag them off and add them to the growing Gravemind. No infection would occur, all possible hosts in the area would just be subdued and transported. Still not sure of this Type, I think an alternative Type 3 should be considered.

- - -

With that in mind, I came up with the following classification system for developing Graveminds (again, still a WIP):

Tier 1
Addition of hosts as Flood progresses towards consciousness

Tier 2
Development of consciousness
Ability to communicate internally

Tier 3
Growth to prodigious size
Spread of biomass over significant area
Ability to incubate Infection forms

Tier 4
Ability to communicate externally

- - -

The two problems we run into are these:

1) The Proto-Gravemind from The Last Voyage of the Infinite Succor goes from having just begun its development to full communication in a very short time frame. When Rtas is communicating with the Minister of Etiology, he tells his crew to head back to the hangar, explaining to the Prophet that it will take five minutes to reach the ship. He also orders the crew to wait only five additional minutes for him before departing and ordering the fleet to destroy the Infinite Succor. If this is to be taken literally, we know that the remainder of the comic takes place within that ten minute window, because he is seen departing on his squad's phantom at the end. The problem this creates is that from the time the Minister of Etiology is with Rtas, explaining that a compound mind has begun to form, to the time that Rtas escapes the ship, the Minister of Etiology has already been absorbed into the Proto-Gravemind (third image from the top) and that the Gravemind has developed the ability to communicate externally through his form.

The simplest explanation for this one is just that the time estimations given are wrong, either because Rtas was making rough assumptions, or because his squad decided to remain behind longer to allow his escape. Regardless, there's a lot of possible variables here that could change the equation, it's just difficult to narrow them down. And it definitely doesn't help that this particular comic is so difficult to read. Did Rtas murder the Prophet, causing him to be assimilated into the Flood? Or did he just throw him off his chair, and the Prophet's assimilation came later? It's hard to tell.

2) The Proto-Gravemind we encounter on the Flood-Controlled Shield World in Halo Wars is massive, appearing to be closer in size to the Gravemind from Halo 2 than the Proto-Gravemind from Halo 1. It also shows signs of growing through a vast majority of the Forerunner installation. We can assume that all of the Flood growths we witness are part of this Proto-Gravemind, or at least all those in its vicinity (there are most likely other Proto-Graveminds on the Shield World). Yet it displays no signs of external communication.

This may be explained by the fact that, prior to the Covenant and Spirit of Fire's arrival at the Shield World, the Flood did not have access to any life forms of significant sentience. As a result, they could expand physically through the consumption of more lifeforms over hundreds or thousands of years, but not mentally, leaving this Gravemind in a mentally stunted status. This explains why the Flood on the Shield World have still been classified in the Feral stage.

If this is the case, then the preliminary classification system for Gravemind development that I started to work on above is most definitely wrong. Assuming that the above fact about the Halo Wars Proto-Gravemind is true, this means that Gravemind development should be broken into two categories for mental growth and for physical growth. Theoretically, you would need a certain amount of minds (and therefore, hosts) to allow a Gravemind to form. Determining approximately what that number might be would help, because then you could determine a minimum size. The only problem with that is that in the Halo universe, sentient life forms can come in all sizes, so I guess it would be an obsolete exercise. But it's interesting to consider, if you can have a Proto-Gravemind the size of a large building in Halo Wars, couldn't you theoretically have a full Gravemind the size of a small room? It would really just depend on the minds involved. And I guess whether being a Gravemind and assuming control of the local Flood entails the development of specialized organs of a certain size... and etc. At this point this whole thought process might lead me to start rambling even more than I already am, so I'll just cut it there.

Anyways, that's where I'm at now in my general thought process. Was going to go back through the Forerunner trilogy to see what I could dig up, but I may not get to it anytime soon. Wonder what everyone else thinks? I wonder if anyone else cares as much about figuring out the Flood as I do?


Messages In This Thread

On the Development of Graveminds *long*Postmortem8/6/13 3:40 pm
     I don't even know where to begin giving my opinionZackDark8/6/13 5:21 pm
     Re: On the Development of Graveminds *long*davidfuchs8/6/13 6:23 pm
           Re: On the Development of Graveminds *long*Postmortem8/6/13 6:35 pm
                 Re: On the Development of Graveminds *long*davidfuchs8/6/13 6:43 pm
     Re: On the Development of Graveminds *long*Quirel8/6/13 7:49 pm
           Is that yours?ZackDark8/6/13 8:02 pm
                 Re: Is that yours?Grimmire8/7/13 2:11 am
                 Yes.Quirel8/7/13 2:29 am
           Re: On the Development of Graveminds *long*Quirel8/7/13 2:16 am
                 Re: On the Development of Graveminds *long*thebruce08/8/13 9:24 am
                       Re: On the Development of Graveminds *long*Quirel8/9/13 1:25 am
                 Re: On the Development of Graveminds *long*Quirel8/10/13 2:31 am
                       Re: On the Development of Graveminds *long*General Vagueness8/15/13 1:42 pm
                             Re: On the Development of Graveminds *long*Quirel8/15/13 3:44 pm
     Re: On the Development of Graveminds *long*General Vagueness8/15/13 1:41 pm
           Re: On the Development of Graveminds *long*Postmortem8/19/13 12:06 pm
                 Re: On the Development of Graveminds *long*General Vagueness8/21/13 9:13 pm
                       Re: On the Development of Graveminds *long*Postmortem8/21/13 11:40 pm
                             Re: On the Development of Graveminds *long*General Vagueness8/23/13 3:25 pm
     Re: On the Development of Graveminds *long*Quirel8/19/13 12:45 am
           Re: On the Development of Graveminds *long*Postmortem8/19/13 12:24 pm
                 Re: On the Development of Graveminds *long*Quirel8/20/13 12:39 am
                       Re: On the Development of Graveminds *long*Postmortem8/20/13 1:43 pm

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