Post by gravemind on Nov 2, 2011 17:48:53 GMT -5
Cbox Name: Spartan291
Nicknames: Slate
Main Account: Nicholas
Who else do you play?: Nicholas
How did you find us?: Ad on Through the Gates
Category: Halo Canon
Name: Gravemind
Alias: The Flood
Age: Unknown - several thousand years, if not several hundred thousand.
Ranking: Villain
Physical Appearance:
A grotesque compilation of absorbed flesh and tissue collected by the Flood, the Gravemind's physical body resembles little more than several large, tentacle like masses composed of collected and recycled flesh, bone and other forms of tissue. The central tentacle/column has an opening at the end that serves as a mouth - most of this, however, is a moot point, and Gravemind rarely if ever encounters anything that isn't Flood, preferring to use one of it's thousands of Combat Forms or Pure Forms to communicate should it require it, or if that isn't possible, relying on its powerful telepathic abilities to reach out to those it wishes to communicate with.
Personality: Obscure and everchanging, virtually no one has ever actually spoken to the Gravemind long enough to know of it as anything beyond the driving force behind the parasitic species known as the Flood before being absorbed by it - and why should they have? Thousands of years old at the very least, Gravemind possesses all of the genetic memory of the Flood, including all of the experiences of the Flood and Graveminds before him, although it could be argued that they were merely his past lives; with the memory comes the consciousness, in a way granting Gravemind an immortality that many species dream of but few achieve - as long as a single Flood spore survives, so too does the Gravemind, albeit in a dormant state. This seeming immortality has also granted Gravemind a omniscience of sorts with all of the experience it has, meaning that the Gravemind itself, while driven by an endless hunger and need to consume, is normally quite calm and civil when actually conversed with, if admittedly enigmatic. While calm, though, he has been shown as quick to anger when things go unexpectedly, or when he encounters something that is actually foreign to him, and his arrogance, also a result of his apparent omniscience, generally shows through only when angry or irritated.
Having absorbed so many countless minds into himself over the eons, though, Gravemind is admittedly not without his quirks. Despite his origins the hivemind is surprisingly high cultured, understanding most everything it encounters and a master of psychology, manipulation and deception when needed, which is what makes him the most dangerous stage of the Flood lifecycle. Gravemind himself also has a rather odd liking for poetry, going so far as to speak in trochaic heptameter. When asked before why he spoke in such a manner, Gravemind answered as such: "I have the memories of many poets far beyond your limited human culture. And I have the quickness of intellect to compose all manner of poetic forms as I speak rather than labor over mere words for days."
Powers/Abilities:
"Child of my enemy, why have you come? I offer no forgiveness, a father's sins, passed to his son.": Given his vast knowledge and experience, both actual and absorbed, Gravemind is as close to omniscient as one could get without being a god - thanks to his very nature he is able to feel, see, hear and smell every single thing that every last Flood form can in real time, and given such omniscience he is able to accurately predict what the future will bring and what his enemies and food will do.
"Did you think me defeated?!": Gravemind is, for all intensive purposes, immortal. While his physical body can be destroyed, his consciousness will continue to exist as long as there are enough Flood forms in close enough proximity, and given enough time they will quickly rebuild his body. Even if every single Flood form were to be destroyed or sealed away, with his body and consciousness "destroyed" along with them, so long as a single Flood supercell remains in existance it will be possible for him to return. While theoretically possible to kill him permantly, it is far easier said than done, and no single civilization has managed to accomplish the feat to date.
"There is much talk, and I have listened, through rock and metal and time. Now I shall talk, and you shall listen.": While it's unclear as to whether it is a natural ability or one gained through the absorbtion of a certain species or civilization, Gravemind is a powerful telepath, dwarfing all other psionics and psychics in terms of raw ability. If he so chooses to, Gravemind is perfectly capable of reaching out and communicating with any given individual at will, regardless of relative time or distance - while only hypothetical, such mental strength also likely renders him all but immune to any form or mental attack conceivable.
Equipment: Whatever the Flood can get their numerous little claws/mits/tentacles on.
Psychological Flaws:
"I...... HAVE BEATEN FLEETS OF THOUSANDS! CONSUMED A GALAXY OF FLESH AND MIND AND BONE!": While Gravemind usually presents himself in a calm, cool and collected manner, there are a handful of things that will set him off - the first being presented with something he doesn understand or hinting at the idea that you might know something of consequence that he actually doesn't for a change, and the second being presented with something unexpected, a wrench in the works. The first is a product of arrogance, plain and simple - the second, the idea that his omniscience is not infallible, and that he doesn't have nearly as much control or understanding as he believes and prides himself upon. It is when forced to confront either of these ideas that the Gravemind's careful facade of cultured calmness evaporates, revealing his much more primal, beastial nature. Another problem stemming from his arrogance is the weakness of overconfidence - as soon as he believes that he's won, Gravemind can be quite quick to gloat with apparent smugness, although the degree of gloating can vary from merely speaking in a smug tone of voice to outright maniacal laughter.
"Resignation is my virtue; like water I ebb, and flow. Defeat is simply the addition of time to a sentence I never deserved... but you imposed.": Likely the one and only psychological blind spot that Gravemind has is that he honestly does not believe that what he does is wrong - to him it is only natural that he should absorb other forms of life and grow in the process. He does not comprehend why his victims resist, nor the possibility that they may fight back hard enough to destroy him - a flaw that has cost him dearly on three ocassions, resulting in one species evading his grasp the first time and the complete and utter destruction of himself, his Flood and every other thinking being in the galaxy the second time and the destruction of himself and the Flood on the third ocassion.
Physical Flaws:
Little Shop of Horrors Reject: While Gravemind is massive and all but immune to small arms fire, it is also a big flaw - unless he breaks down his body and rebuilds it elsewhere, or builds it on a mobile platform such as a ship or a space station, Gravemind's physical body isn't going anywhere, although he can generate tentacles from Flood biomatter wherever there is a Flood infestation present. Like Pure Forms, Gravemind's body is also likely vulnerable to fire and extreme cold, although his flamability is likely mitigated by his usually damp surroundings.
Other Flaws: None I can immediately think of? A vast array of planet sized superweapons designed to wipe out all forms of life in a given galaxy?
Brief History:
Reason for being on AM: Alternate reality version? The Flood's origins were never fully explained beyond being of extragalactic origin, and likely engineered by a race rather than having naturally evolved - there's nothing to say they couldn't have been created in another reality as well, or have had a spore or two leak over through the Ark's slipspace portal when it prematurely collapsed.
Sample RP:
Theme Songs:
Nicknames: Slate
Main Account: Nicholas
Who else do you play?: Nicholas
How did you find us?: Ad on Through the Gates
Category: Halo Canon
Name: Gravemind
Alias: The Flood
Age: Unknown - several thousand years, if not several hundred thousand.
Ranking: Villain
Physical Appearance:
A grotesque compilation of absorbed flesh and tissue collected by the Flood, the Gravemind's physical body resembles little more than several large, tentacle like masses composed of collected and recycled flesh, bone and other forms of tissue. The central tentacle/column has an opening at the end that serves as a mouth - most of this, however, is a moot point, and Gravemind rarely if ever encounters anything that isn't Flood, preferring to use one of it's thousands of Combat Forms or Pure Forms to communicate should it require it, or if that isn't possible, relying on its powerful telepathic abilities to reach out to those it wishes to communicate with.
Personality: Obscure and everchanging, virtually no one has ever actually spoken to the Gravemind long enough to know of it as anything beyond the driving force behind the parasitic species known as the Flood before being absorbed by it - and why should they have? Thousands of years old at the very least, Gravemind possesses all of the genetic memory of the Flood, including all of the experiences of the Flood and Graveminds before him, although it could be argued that they were merely his past lives; with the memory comes the consciousness, in a way granting Gravemind an immortality that many species dream of but few achieve - as long as a single Flood spore survives, so too does the Gravemind, albeit in a dormant state. This seeming immortality has also granted Gravemind a omniscience of sorts with all of the experience it has, meaning that the Gravemind itself, while driven by an endless hunger and need to consume, is normally quite calm and civil when actually conversed with, if admittedly enigmatic. While calm, though, he has been shown as quick to anger when things go unexpectedly, or when he encounters something that is actually foreign to him, and his arrogance, also a result of his apparent omniscience, generally shows through only when angry or irritated.
Having absorbed so many countless minds into himself over the eons, though, Gravemind is admittedly not without his quirks. Despite his origins the hivemind is surprisingly high cultured, understanding most everything it encounters and a master of psychology, manipulation and deception when needed, which is what makes him the most dangerous stage of the Flood lifecycle. Gravemind himself also has a rather odd liking for poetry, going so far as to speak in trochaic heptameter. When asked before why he spoke in such a manner, Gravemind answered as such: "I have the memories of many poets far beyond your limited human culture. And I have the quickness of intellect to compose all manner of poetic forms as I speak rather than labor over mere words for days."
Powers/Abilities:
"Child of my enemy, why have you come? I offer no forgiveness, a father's sins, passed to his son.": Given his vast knowledge and experience, both actual and absorbed, Gravemind is as close to omniscient as one could get without being a god - thanks to his very nature he is able to feel, see, hear and smell every single thing that every last Flood form can in real time, and given such omniscience he is able to accurately predict what the future will bring and what his enemies and food will do.
"Did you think me defeated?!": Gravemind is, for all intensive purposes, immortal. While his physical body can be destroyed, his consciousness will continue to exist as long as there are enough Flood forms in close enough proximity, and given enough time they will quickly rebuild his body. Even if every single Flood form were to be destroyed or sealed away, with his body and consciousness "destroyed" along with them, so long as a single Flood supercell remains in existance it will be possible for him to return. While theoretically possible to kill him permantly, it is far easier said than done, and no single civilization has managed to accomplish the feat to date.
"There is much talk, and I have listened, through rock and metal and time. Now I shall talk, and you shall listen.": While it's unclear as to whether it is a natural ability or one gained through the absorbtion of a certain species or civilization, Gravemind is a powerful telepath, dwarfing all other psionics and psychics in terms of raw ability. If he so chooses to, Gravemind is perfectly capable of reaching out and communicating with any given individual at will, regardless of relative time or distance - while only hypothetical, such mental strength also likely renders him all but immune to any form or mental attack conceivable.
Equipment: Whatever the Flood can get their numerous little claws/mits/tentacles on.
Weaknesses
Psychological Flaws:
"I...... HAVE BEATEN FLEETS OF THOUSANDS! CONSUMED A GALAXY OF FLESH AND MIND AND BONE!": While Gravemind usually presents himself in a calm, cool and collected manner, there are a handful of things that will set him off - the first being presented with something he doesn understand or hinting at the idea that you might know something of consequence that he actually doesn't for a change, and the second being presented with something unexpected, a wrench in the works. The first is a product of arrogance, plain and simple - the second, the idea that his omniscience is not infallible, and that he doesn't have nearly as much control or understanding as he believes and prides himself upon. It is when forced to confront either of these ideas that the Gravemind's careful facade of cultured calmness evaporates, revealing his much more primal, beastial nature. Another problem stemming from his arrogance is the weakness of overconfidence - as soon as he believes that he's won, Gravemind can be quite quick to gloat with apparent smugness, although the degree of gloating can vary from merely speaking in a smug tone of voice to outright maniacal laughter.
"Resignation is my virtue; like water I ebb, and flow. Defeat is simply the addition of time to a sentence I never deserved... but you imposed.": Likely the one and only psychological blind spot that Gravemind has is that he honestly does not believe that what he does is wrong - to him it is only natural that he should absorb other forms of life and grow in the process. He does not comprehend why his victims resist, nor the possibility that they may fight back hard enough to destroy him - a flaw that has cost him dearly on three ocassions, resulting in one species evading his grasp the first time and the complete and utter destruction of himself, his Flood and every other thinking being in the galaxy the second time and the destruction of himself and the Flood on the third ocassion.
Physical Flaws:
Little Shop of Horrors Reject: While Gravemind is massive and all but immune to small arms fire, it is also a big flaw - unless he breaks down his body and rebuilds it elsewhere, or builds it on a mobile platform such as a ship or a space station, Gravemind's physical body isn't going anywhere, although he can generate tentacles from Flood biomatter wherever there is a Flood infestation present. Like Pure Forms, Gravemind's body is also likely vulnerable to fire and extreme cold, although his flamability is likely mitigated by his usually damp surroundings.
Other Flaws: None I can immediately think of? A vast array of planet sized superweapons designed to wipe out all forms of life in a given galaxy?
Brief History:
Reason for being on AM: Alternate reality version? The Flood's origins were never fully explained beyond being of extragalactic origin, and likely engineered by a race rather than having naturally evolved - there's nothing to say they couldn't have been created in another reality as well, or have had a spore or two leak over through the Ark's slipspace portal when it prematurely collapsed.
Sample RP:
Theme Songs: