So apparently there's a debate as to which alien parasite is more powerful, the Flood from Halo or the Tyranids from Warhammer 40,000.
I'm going to suspend my bias against WH40K for this one. Who do you think would win?
26-30, F
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SW-User
The Tyranids. I know nothing about Halo but I haven't seen any other fictional alien species that strips entire planets bare, evolves by eating enemies, and deploys gene stealers to infiltrate and subvert entire planets through the use of mutant cults.
BlueMetalChick · 26-30, F
@SW-User It's odd because for having not known anything of Halo you provided an extremely good description of the Flood.
The short version is, the Flood is a parasitic hive mind created from the corrupted survivors of the ancient and reality-bending "Precursor" species who were so ridiculously and unfathomably advanced that they had the ability to live indefinitely and inhabit multiple consciousnesses. The Flood propagates through a "super cell" that rapidly breaks down and converts any biomass it comes into contact with. Each living thing consumed by the Flood adds that being's memories and knowledge to its hive mind, thus increasing exponentially in both intelligence and cognitive ability. The Flood gathers as much organic matter as it can early into the infection and forms what is called a "Gravemind" which is basically a big serpent-looking thing constructed entirely from biomass converted by the super cell. The Gravemind possesses bizarre esoteric psychic abilities which can even corrupt artificial computer intelligence with something called the "logic plague." The Flood, similar to the Tyranids, can consume and lay waste to entire planets and convert them to what is call "blightland" which is essentially unending wastes of nothing but Flood mass. Once this is done, the Gravemind becomes a planet-sized "keymind" which at that point begins to warp reality based on Precursor principles of "organic physics."
In the Halo story line, the only reason the Flood didn't completely overrun the entire Milky Way galaxy is because the Forerunners fired the Halo Array, a collected of superweapons which wiped out all life in the entire galaxy.
The short version is, the Flood is a parasitic hive mind created from the corrupted survivors of the ancient and reality-bending "Precursor" species who were so ridiculously and unfathomably advanced that they had the ability to live indefinitely and inhabit multiple consciousnesses. The Flood propagates through a "super cell" that rapidly breaks down and converts any biomass it comes into contact with. Each living thing consumed by the Flood adds that being's memories and knowledge to its hive mind, thus increasing exponentially in both intelligence and cognitive ability. The Flood gathers as much organic matter as it can early into the infection and forms what is called a "Gravemind" which is basically a big serpent-looking thing constructed entirely from biomass converted by the super cell. The Gravemind possesses bizarre esoteric psychic abilities which can even corrupt artificial computer intelligence with something called the "logic plague." The Flood, similar to the Tyranids, can consume and lay waste to entire planets and convert them to what is call "blightland" which is essentially unending wastes of nothing but Flood mass. Once this is done, the Gravemind becomes a planet-sized "keymind" which at that point begins to warp reality based on Precursor principles of "organic physics."
In the Halo story line, the only reason the Flood didn't completely overrun the entire Milky Way galaxy is because the Forerunners fired the Halo Array, a collected of superweapons which wiped out all life in the entire galaxy.
SW-User
@BlueMetalChick Sounds pretty cool. I still like 40k though, because it makes everything just slightly worse. In 40k there would never be a weapon that powerful. It's just small stuff like nukes and the Blackstone fortresses. This means there's just unending war.
BlueMetalChick · 26-30, F
SW-User
@BlueMetalChick I like the warp though. It helps to fill in all the gaps in the lore.
BlueMetalChick · 26-30, F
@SW-User I mean I can't really complain about it being over-the-top because that's kind of the point of 40K. Kinda like "Monster Hunter." The fun comes from it just being so totally absurd and oversized.
Although the existence of the aforementioned superweapon in Halo is also a form of being really absurd I suppose.
Although the existence of the aforementioned superweapon in Halo is also a form of being really absurd I suppose.