Things from the Flood

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Concrete banks also increase the amount of runoff flowing to nearby bodies of water. This increases the risk of coastal flooding. Venice, Italy, for instance, is frequently flooded as tides from the Adriatic Sea seep into the heavily developed islands on which the city rests. It was this event that Pitman and Ryan believe could be the flood recorded in the Book of Genesis. The salt water poured through the deepening channel, creating a waterfall 200 times the volume of Niagara Falls (anyone who has ever traveled to the base of the falls on the Maid of the Mist will have a sense of the power involved). In a single day enough water came through the channel to cover Manhattan to a depth at least two times the height of the World Trade Center, and the roar of the cascading water would have been audible at least 100 miles away. Anyone living in the fertile farmlands on the northern rim of the sea would have had the harrowing experience of seeing the boundary of the ocean move inland at the rate of a mile a day. Nils Hintze’s structure for composing and then running Mysteries works well to ensure these principles are followed. That’s important. Things from the Flood wouldn’t feel like the same RPG if it was all weird science and dangerous situations. It needs the contrast of the fantastic with the chores of the mundane.

However, residents were not prepared for the additional flood from an entire lake. Located in nearby mountains, Lake Conemaugh was a reservoir created by the South Fork Dam. The lake was an exclusive retreat for members of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club, which owned the dam. Lake Conemaugh contained 20 million tons of water. The Abomination is a mobile, low-level key mind form capable of combat that coordinates the Flood on a local scale. It fed on intelligent life and, in doing so, became ever more intelligent itself. The Flood was unique; it used their very strength against them." — Cortana on the Forerunners' war against the Flood. Combat forms can also use firearms, and have been seen clutching them in one of their hands (regardless of whether it is one-handed or two-handed). However, combat forms are very inaccurate when using ranged weaponry; it is believed that the neurological and physical effects of Flood infection significantly decrease accuracy.

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The only way to stop the Flood is to starve them to death." — Cortana to John 117 and 343 Guilty Spark. John-117, who had arrived with Commander Miranda Keyes and Sergeant Johnson, met Thel 'Vadamee in the clutches of the Gravemind, the central controlling intelligence of the Flood hive, created from the combined intellect of tens of thousands of assimilated corpses. The Gravemind attempted to convince Thel, against his own beliefs, and through the use of the captured Monitor, 2401 Penitent Tangent, and the semi-revived and consumed Prophet of Regret to not activate the ring. Even though Thel was still unswayed, although in question of his religion, the Gravemind sent him and John-117 to search for the Activation Index to keep the Covenant from "turning" the "key," transporting John-117 to High Charity, and Thel to Delta Halo's Control Room. [38] In August 2010, Pakistan experienced some of the worst floods of the century. The annual monsoon, on which Pakistani farmers and consumers rely, was unusually strong. Tons of water drenched the nation. The Indus River burst its banks. Because the river flows almost directly through the narrow country, almost all of Pakistan was affected by flooding.

If that was not bad enough, many machines started showing weird fleshy growths. This phenomena was dubbed the “machine cancer”, and it resulted in the destruction of a lot of machines. The exact cause of the machine cancer could not be determined, but some point their fingers at KRAFTA, the Swedish corporation who were tasked with cleaning up around the loop and recover any data. Others have even more outlandish ideas, like this being some kind of space virus. No matter the cause though, the machine cancer keeps spreading. The Flood is an anomaly in all known biology; their mode of growth and reproduction would make them incompatible with any natural ecosystem. [3] They are extremely adaptive, and transform hosts to suit the species' current needs. Coastal flooding, also called estuarine flooding, happens when a large storm or tsunami causes the sea to rush inland. Over ten million years before present day, a civilization of supremely advanced beings known as the Precursors thrived in the cosmos. Having assumed the Mantle - the responsibility for the guardianship of all life in the galaxy - they seeded numerous worlds with life, bringing forth a wide range of sentient species across the galaxy. Under their guardianship, numerous intelligent species developed and flourished, including the Forerunners and humanity. The Precursors would eventually choose humanity to be the rightful successors to their Mantle, while judging the Forerunners unworthy. Refusing to accept their creators' judgment, the Forerunners staged a massive rebellion against the Precursors. [8] The rules in Things from the Flood are very light, and easy to teach. Being so light does mean that a GM gets a bit less support from the rules though, and that can for some be overwhelming, as they can’t lean on the rules to making the game exciting, unlike say D&D. If this is a good or a bad thing really comes down to personal preference. There are also no real combat rules to speak of in Things from the Flood, which might seem odd, but helps reinforce that this is not a game about fighting but rather about teenagers solving mysteries. The Characters

Tropes in Things from the flood include:

The Loop is a massive particle accelerator in Sweden (the default setting) or in America (the alternative setting). In this RPG, The Loop has been closed by the government, bought and asset stripped by a private corporation, flooded and finally mothballed. This one-time source of amazement now feels like a lurking danger. It feels like a potential mistake and a problem that the next generation will inherit and have to face. China's Yellow River valley has seen some of the world's worst floods in the past 100 years. The 1931 Yellow River flood is one of the most devastating natural disasters ever recorded—almost a million people drowned, and even more were left homeless. This ultimate Flood form serves as the coordinating hive mind of the Flood. While they vary in size and complexity, at their height Graveminds can engulf entire worlds. The nineties were a weird time to be alive, weren’t they? The radio would jump from the Spice Girls to the Prodigy, grown adults wore parachute pants without any trace of irony and who could forget the way your friends kept stumbling into weird mysteries involving psychotic robots and science gone horribly wrong. No? Okay, maybe that last bit is unique to the teens from Things from the Flood. Modern technology helps researchers predict floods. Doppler radar, for example, shows scientists where a storm is most severe. Doppler uses motion to detect weather patterns and create computerized images of rainfall. Automated gauges placed in rivers measure the height and speed of river currents, and the amount of rain received. Geographic information system (GIS) maps made with this information help scientists warn people if a river will overrun its banks and flood areas nearby.