Important Events
The Battle of the Etran Harborage was a battle between the UNSC Spirit of Fire and Covenant forces lead by Arbiter Ripa 'Moramee on Shield World 0459, also known as the Etran Harborage.
The Battle of Installation 04 was an engagement between the UNSC Pillar of Autumn and the Covenant Fleet of Particular Justice on and around the Forerunner megastructure known as Installation 04, or Alpha Halo, in the Soell system.
The Battle for Earth was a large-scale space, air, and ground battle between the invading Covenant forces and the UNSC Home Fleet on and around Earth at the end of 2552.
The Skirmish on Mona Lisa was a minor conflict that occurred in the debris field of Installation 04 in the Soell system aboard the prison ship Mona Lisa between UNSC forces and an outbreak of the Flood on October 25th, 2552.
The Battle of Installation 05 was an engagement between the Covenant forces, including those that fled the Battle for Earth, High Charity, and the Second Fleet of Homogeneous Clarity, and the UNSC-allied forces, including the UNSC In Amber Clad led by Miranda Keyes, and the Fleet of Retribution led by the Arbiter Thel 'Vadam.
The Battle of Installation 00 was a major conflict between the forces stationed aboard the UNSC Forward Unto Dawn and Arbiter Thel 'Vadam's Fleet of Retribution, and the Covenant fleet loyal to the Prophet of Truth.
The Second Ark Conflict was a battle between the UNSC forces aboard the Spirit of Fire and the Banished forces under command of Atriox on Installation 00 in 2559.
The Outbreak on Installation 00 was a brief encounter between Banished forces and the Flood on the surface of the Ark in and around the wreckage of the Covenant holy city High Charity.
Important Events
The Battle of the Etran Harborage was a battle between the UNSC Spirit of Fire and Covenant forces lead by Arbiter Ripa 'Moramee on Shield World 0459, also known as the Etran Harborage.
The Battle of Installation 04 was an engagement between the UNSC Pillar of Autumn and the Covenant Fleet of Particular Justice on and around the Forerunner megastructure known as Installation 04, or Alpha Halo, in the Soell system.
The Battle for Earth was a large-scale space, air, and ground battle between the invading Covenant forces and the UNSC Home Fleet on and around Earth at the end of 2552.
The Skirmish on Mona Lisa was a minor conflict that occurred in the debris field of Installation 04 in the Soell system aboard the prison ship Mona Lisa between UNSC forces and an outbreak of the Flood on October 25th, 2552.
The Battle of Installation 05 was an engagement between the Covenant forces, including those that fled the Battle for Earth, High Charity, and the Second Fleet of Homogeneous Clarity, and the UNSC-allied forces, including the UNSC In Amber Clad led by Miranda Keyes, and the Fleet of Retribution led by the Arbiter Thel 'Vadam.
The Battle of Installation 00 was a major conflict between the forces stationed aboard the UNSC Forward Unto Dawn and Arbiter Thel 'Vadam's Fleet of Retribution, and the Covenant fleet loyal to the Prophet of Truth.
The Second Ark Conflict was a battle between the UNSC forces aboard the Spirit of Fire and the Banished forces under command of Atriox on Installation 00 in 2559.
The Outbreak on Installation 00 was a brief encounter between Banished forces and the Flood on the surface of the Ark in and around the wreckage of the Covenant holy city High Charity.
Evo-014's Summary
OTHER NAME: Parasite
HOMEWORLD: Faun Hakkor
POPULATION: Unknown, likely millions of spores
Ah, the formidable entity known as the Flood, a parasitic organism with a singular purpose – the assimilation of biomass into its collective whole. Those unfortunate souls who fall victim to the Flood's grasp undergo a harrowing transformation, becoming willing or unwitting tools in service of the Flood's multifaceted objectives, which may encompass the acquisition of knowledge or participation in military endeavors. These transformed beings, referred to as Flood forms, operate under the centralized intelligence known as a Gravemind. What's particularly intriguing is that the gravemind appears to possess boundless reach, with no discernible limits on the number of forms it can control or the distance over which it can exert its influence.
Ancient History
The Flood stands as one of the most distinctive species within the Halo universe. While its origins remain shrouded in mystery, it is believed to have originated from the ancient Precursors, who sought refuge from the wrath of the Forerunners at the culmination of the Forerunner-Precursor War. Millennia after the Precursors vanished from the galaxy, ancient humanity stumbled upon abandoned vessels at the galactic fringe. These vessels contained a seemingly unremarkable desiccated powder. Curiously, the humans brought this powder to their home on Faun Hakkor, where it was unwittingly consumed by their pets, the Pheru, mutating them into ferocious, feral creatures. This mutation eventually spread to the human population, leading to a catastrophic outbreak. The malevolent entity, known then as the Shaping Sickness, was born.
The Shaping Sickness, or the Flood as it came to be known, rapidly proliferated among human colony worlds, compelling ancient humanity into a harrowing retreat. This retreat forced them into Forerunner-controlled space, igniting the Human-Forerunner Wars. For a portion of this conflict, ancient humanity faced the daunting challenge of combating both the Forerunners and the Flood on two fronts. However, at some juncture, the Flood inexplicably withdrew from the Milky Way galaxy. While the reason for this retreat remained a mystery, the Forerunners used it as evidence to suggest that humanity held the key to a cure for the Flood parasite.
Following humanity's defeat in the war with the Forerunners, they teetered on the brink of extinction. It was only the perceived knowledge of a cure for the Flood that convinced Forerunner leadership to devolve humanity and preserve the species, rather than exterminate them entirely. Over thousands of years, the Forerunners prepared for the inevitable return of the Flood through various means. Humanity continued to be scrutinized in search of a cure, while two distinct construction projects were initiated: the defensive shield worlds, championed by the Didact, and the offensive Halo Array, supported by the Master Builder.
Around 97,745 BCE, the Flood returned to the galaxy with unrelenting fury, rapidly conquering numerous Forerunner colony worlds and placing the Forerunners on the defensive. Despite the completion of the lesser Senescent Halo Array at that time, the Forerunners' ability to employ it against the Flood was swiftly compromised by the Flood's corruption of the array's ancilla, Mendicant Bias, with the insidious logic plague. While it remains uncertain whether the Forerunners could have halted the Flood's advance even at full strength, this corruption significantly hastened the demise of the Forerunner civilization.
Ultimately, after fighting the Flood for approximately three centuries, the Forerunners found themselves pushed back to the Greater Ark. Here, the last remnants of the Forerunner military and known population made their valiant last stand, but the Flood swiftly overran and obliterated them through the utilization of Precursor star roads. Only a small handful of Forerunners managed to escape this catastrophic battle, seeking refuge at the Lesser Ark. There, they seized control of the galaxy-destroying Neoteric Halo Array. The Flood made a desperate attempt to thwart them from activating the array, but the Forerunners ultimately succeeded in firing the rings, eradicating the Flood and all sapient life from the galaxy.
~107,445 BCE
The birth of the Flood is actually a series of events that can be traced to a time period around 10,000 years prior to the firing of the Halo Array in 97,445 BCE.
~106,538 BCE
Sometime prior to the end of the Human-Forerunner Wars, ancient humans discovered a Precursor stasis chamber containing a creature they called the Primordial. The creature, along with the stasis chamber, was taken to Charum Hakkor where is was interrogated, teaching the humans on the origins of the Flood.
~97,745 BCE
Around 97,745 BCE, nearly nine-thousand years since the Flood disappeared from the galaxy during the Human-Forerunner Wars and three-hundred years before the Great Purification, the Flood were first observed at the edges of the galaxy on the planet Seaward, a Forerunner colony world.
~97,745 BCE - 97,445 BCE
The Forerunner-Flood War was a military engagement between the Forerunner species and the Flood that took place over approximately three-hundred years from 97,745 BCE until 97,445 BCE.
~97,495 BCE
The release of the Primordial was an unintended consequence of the test-firing of a Senescent Halo, Installation 07, by the Master Builder and Mendicant Bias in the Charum Hakkor system during the Forerunner-Flood War, approximately fifty years prior to the end of the war and the Great Purification.
~97,450 BCE
After the Master Builder captured the Didact over Janjur Qom, he decided to dispose of the Didact on a derelict Forerunner ship with a handful of other political prisoners in an area of Flood-controlled space known as a Burn.
~97,445 BCE
The Battle of the Greater Ark was one of the final battles of the Forerunner-Flood War and saw the decimation of almost all remaining Forerunner forces just prior to the firing of the Halo Array during the Great Purification in 97,445 BCE.
~97,445 BCE
The Great Purification was the final event of the Forerunner-Flood War, purging the entire Milky Way galaxy of all sentient life, including Forerunners, the Flood, and any other species that may have survived the Flood infestation.
Modern History
Following the reseeding of the galaxy and the subsequent allowance for civilizations to flourish over the course of the next 100,000 years, a grim resurgence occurred with the reappearance of the Flood during the harrowing Human-Covenant War. Throughout the war, the insidious menace of the Flood manifested on at least three distinct occasions. Notably, the Gravemind managed to seize control of High Charity and nearly wrought devastation upon Earth in the fateful year of 2552. However, resolute efforts led to the successful containment and eventual eradication of this dire threat.
Although the Flood has not reared its malevolent presence in a significant capacity since the war's conclusion, the looming specter of the Flood is presumed to persist somewhere within the vast expanse of the Milky Way.
The Battle of the Etran Harborage was a battle between the UNSC Spirit of Fire and Covenant forces lead by Arbiter Ripa 'Moramee on Shield World 0459, also known as the Etran Harborage.
The Battle of Installation 04 was an engagement between the UNSC Pillar of Autumn and the Covenant Fleet of Particular Justice on and around the Forerunner megastructure known as Installation 04, or Alpha Halo, in the Soell system.
The Battle for Earth was a large-scale space, air, and ground battle between the invading Covenant forces and the UNSC Home Fleet on and around Earth at the end of 2552.
The Skirmish on Mona Lisa was a minor conflict that occurred in the debris field of Installation 04 in the Soell system aboard the prison ship Mona Lisa between UNSC forces and an outbreak of the Flood on October 25th, 2552.
The Battle of Installation 05 was an engagement between the Covenant forces, including those that fled the Battle for Earth, High Charity, and the Second Fleet of Homogeneous Clarity, and the UNSC-allied forces, including the UNSC In Amber Clad led by Miranda Keyes, and the Fleet of Retribution led by the Arbiter Thel 'Vadam.
The Battle of Installation 00 was a major conflict between the forces stationed aboard the UNSC Forward Unto Dawn and Arbiter Thel 'Vadam's Fleet of Retribution, and the Covenant fleet loyal to the Prophet of Truth.
The Second Ark Conflict was a battle between the UNSC forces aboard the Spirit of Fire and the Banished forces under command of Atriox on Installation 00 in 2559.
The Outbreak on Installation 00 was a brief encounter between Banished forces and the Flood on the surface of the Ark in and around the wreckage of the Covenant holy city High Charity.
Notable Flood
The central intellect of the Flood, known as the Gravemind, maintains a profound connection with an ancient Precursor entity known as the Primordial. This enigmatic Precursor harbored a chilling ambition to extinguish all life throughout the cosmos. While the specifics remain shrouded in ambiguity, there exists a belief that the Gravemind of the 26th century shares identical memories and aspirations with the Gravemind from the era of the Forerunners. This connection endures despite the staggering expanse of time, spanning 100,000 years and the cataclysmic firing of the Halo Array.