1: Xur is very clearly an alien. To be fair, he is Agent of the Nine (whom people are scared stiff about), and is implied to have made some deals in the city that let him set up shop unopposed, but regardless. Guardians seem to also interact with Eliksni without problem if the initial surprise and mistrust does not end in firefight, as is case with House of Judgement.
2: Downright wrong. The original owner of the Last Word directly visits one for once, and it is noted to be inhabited by perfectly normal humans. At least the surrogate son he picked up from there was.
3: Not really much to say here. Need more data regarding Light. Right now it is pretty big plot device.
4: True, but who's to say the god ball did not see the future?
1: xur is made of different parts, he himself says that some of his cells are from earth, plus the city doesn't know how he gets in and how to stop him from getting in.
2: for variks the guardians worked with him because of the queen and the wolves, even then is seems that variks suspects that he's not trusted since he asked you to tell the city how he helped you and that he's got friend so you should put in a good word for him with the other guardians. Also variks is the only case where guardians worked will aliens and that was with Petra as well as the danger of the fallen uniting again, cause and the baroness seem to be them not killing each other until the more obvious threat of the hive was dealt with.
3: I remember right shin malphur also tied to get them to the city but slot of them died on the way but I'm not to clear on that.
4: That is a possibility since I remember that warlocks can have visions that maybe of the future then there's dad's device, there is also the fact that the city is willing to exile those of their own who might compromise the city's safety so I doubt the will have much of a problem barring an alien guardian from the city.
Amanda Holiday and her family are also from outside the city, plus there's an entire Titan Order, the Pilgrim Guard, dedicated to protecting outlying settlements and escorting them to the city.
Humans live three times longer so it could have been100 years since she came as a little girl and the titan order could have disbanded since then or changed objective, but I see your point then again the taken taken would have really damaged or destroyed whatever settlements out there. Speaking of potential settlements why would they choose to stay out in the wilderness where the fallen/hive/taken could kill the instead of the safety of the city?
Hey Warlock, you have a lot of points and I have a lot of answers, a lot of them to questions I've been waiting for someone to bring up so I can talk about them (since there are certain things that don't get brought up in story due to the POV that it takes place in (Garrus, Shepard, and the others don't exactly worry about larger cultural trends and infrastructure issues like say the Vanguard do). Now, a lot of it comes down to interpretations of the lore so if I plain interpret something differently with the same pool of knowledge then there's not much we can do. Now...
1: there is no way a guardian will allow aliens near the city and will most likely kill any guardian that tries to bring them as a traitor who endangered the lives of all the mortals the protect.
This is a good point you've made because I've made a similar, if not so extreme, point. There are xenophobes around, Ashley was one of them when we first met her and she's only beginning to bring herself out of it. A process begun when Garrus sacrificed his life according to Firebreak principles which led Ashley to see that aliens could understand honor and sacrifice, two things central to Ashley's worldview.
Now, if you're wondering why Shepard, and by extension Kaidan, would truck with newly-met aliens, part of it is that Shepard came upon them being attacked by Fallen. Now, Shepard's the sole survivor of a Fallen attack on a small village so she feels the inherent urge to protect people from Fallen warbands, it's one of the reasons she's become a decently well-known Hunter as we'll find out. Shepard's guided a lot of people to the City. Two, Shepard's been alone in the Wilds a lot so she knows the value of the famous equation of "Enemy's enemy is my friend if they aren't just another enemy". If she sees an unknown force fight a known opponent, she will decide to help them until she knows more. Three, this is all helped by the fact that the first of the crew that Shepard met was Tali who was hurt, unarmed, alone in a cave, and already a little adorable due to her blushing and stuttering. So, an overall first good impression that helped lead to other things.
Four, and this is the important one, in Mass Effect terms, this Shepard ranks as pretty Paragon (because that's how I like playing and also for reasons that link into wider themes). She won't just shoot a something without a good reason (considering the situation in Sol, being Fallen/Hive/Vex/Cabal ranks as a good reason). Now, paragon is based a lot on idealism and by extension, hope (which itself is a big theme in Destiny and something I'll talk about again when we start talking about Fallen Guardians). She says as much to Ashley, she hopes that the Citadel races believe in the same things the Light stands for (honor, courage, compassion, law, freedom. "All that is green and good in the world" to quote Lord of the Rings). Because if humanity really is alone in believing those things, then the Dark's already won.
Kaidan decides to help the crew partly because he's super curious about them, typical Warlock, and because Shepard's decided to help them and he's come to trust her judgement. The nomads like anyone who'll fight Fallen (Notice how they come around when Wrex says he killed a Baron. That makes him awesome as hell to them. Its why Shepard brought it up).
Now, that's just the people we've met so far. We haven't hit the City yet and when we do... Well...
Multiple cards dispute this one, mostly Shin's cards and I think small villages, towns, and tribes are mentioned throughout the Grimoire. Now, are there a lot of people outside the City? No, I think its mentioned that the majority of Earth's population lives in the City by the time Destiny starts and more pilgrims arrive every week (Used to be every day but now what used to be a flood is a constant trickle since, again, most of Earth's population lives in the City now.)
I don't think this is odd. People learn to survive in all sorts of tough situations. But, I think the situation is a bit like the one in RWBY (part of the reason I want to write a RWBY/Destiny fusion) where there are small villages dotted all over the place but no one's surprised when one suddenly disappears.
Speaking of potential settlements why would they choose to stay out in the wilderness where the fallen/hive/taken could kill the instead of the safety of the city?
There's a couple of answers to this one. One is that the journey to the City is incredibly dangerous. Now, so is just plain living outside of it but I imagine that its familiar danger. Take the nomads I've introduced. They've lived in the Steppes since before the Collapse and through the Dark Age. Yeah, it's dangerous but they've learned how to weather it like bosses. But, vast amounts of the planet are unknown to these people. They don't have access to the information the City has. The entire planet is "Here there Be Dragons". Now, populations near the City have it relatively easy. But what of the communities farther away. Hell, think of people living across the ocean. How do you make that trek without getting wiped out by the hundreds of things that lay in between you and the City? Makes you just want to stay put. But then something happens. Fallen come. Natural disaster happens. A myriad of awful things. Then you quickly find that the unknown is the only hope you have left.
Second reason is more emotional. Again, take the nomads. The reason Karluk doesn't want to leave is that this is his homeland. If the attack that crippled the tribe hadn't happened they would have just given Shepard some supplies and bikes and let her go. But the Fallen raid did happen. As he says, his people can't survive anymore. And it burns. Its necessary but that doesn't stop the leaders of the tribe from feeling like failures. Especially since this means that the Fallen are one less step away from taking the Steppes for their own. And when its theirs they'll loot the holy places, the graves of your ancestors, etc. Now, that's more dramatic then the usual circumstances but the basic idea is the same. Do you want to fail at protecting the land your ancestors fought and bled for?
The third reason is fear of the City itself. Now, the In-Game sources talk it up a bunch but even the grimoire admits that the City has a bunch of internal problems. Wealth disparity, prejudice, infrastructure problems, among others. I, for one, imagine the homeless population in the City is quite large. Now, this is a lot more specific than the actual people on the ground think of it, but say you're a tribal from a small village in South America. Your tech level is pretty much Fallout 1. Mostly ancient guns with the occasional bits of ancient tech you know how to use but not much else. Your village is destroyed or something else happens and you make it to the City. Now what do you do? City doesn't exactly need people who can stalk a deer for twenty miles. How do pay your bills? How do you get shelter? How do you survive here? Now, there are actually a lot of systems set in place so that pilgrims can be quickly integrated into the City's economic web. Charities exist. Something I will eventually talk about in story is the ethnic makeup of the City and how various nationalities and groups interact with, not only pilgrims, but each other and the situation humanity has found itself in. But people on the outside don't necessarily know that. So again, you live with familiar danger until you have no choice.
3: Not everything has Light witch is why oryx can take even the fallen who were once charges of the traveler, as far as we know only humans (exo/awoken) have been blessed with the light to such a degree that oryx couldn't take them (sylok card mentions that he can sense the light in the awoken though small and books of sorrow XL says that life that understood the sky/dark escape causality which is what taking is in simple terms, a paracausal weapon.)
This is a point where I think our interpretation of the lore is just going to be different. First things first, let's define Light. Now, I do not think that the Traveler is the source of all Light. I believe the Light to be a cosmic force that the Traveler works for who supports enlightenment across the universe. Now, while the Dark is the Light's equal and opposite, that does not mean that the Dark is simply God of Evil. I think its more complex than that but that's a subject for another time. Back to our main point, the Traveler is a servant of the Light, an important servant but still a servant. This comes from the way the Leviathan spoke about the Sky in the Books of Sorrow and I actually believe that the Leviathan is also a servant of the Light equal or at least close to the Traveler.
Now, let's look at the Grimoire for a second. In Thorn 2, during that awesome/disturbing scene when Dredgen Yor straight up mind rapes a dude using only a gun and the words coming out of his mouth, he says these words, "You have no Light except for the spark of your pathetic existence. But a spark is something." This implies some things. Most importantly for this conversation, that the very fact that something is alive gives it Light. Now, it's just sparks but still. This means anything that may count itself as alive (and for the inevitable Geth debate this seems to include Exos) carries a little bit of Light with them. Now, it could be that this "spark of life" is the Destiny universe's expression of "the soul". Its not a unique idea, cultures since the dawn of time have believed that the soul is a "spark" of divine power. It would explain why its so important that we free the trapped Light during King's Fall. Its not just because we need the Light to kill Oryx but we're also saving the souls of those Oryx has killed (which is why I believe that the end of King's Fall is the PC Guardian's ultimate rejection of the Sword Logic after a raid, and maybe a whole DLC, of resentingly playing by its rules).
Now, back to the subject at hand, if all life has Light then what about the enemy factions. Well, I believe the Fallen have Light although the synthetic light that they feed on makes this whole thing a grey area. In fact, I think we're going to see a Fallen Guardian by the time the franchise winds down. I mean, where do you think the Kell of Kells is going to come from? The Cabal? They probably have Light too but not much of it due to reasons I'll get into when the inevitable conversation about the Dark, what it is, and how the Deep Claim comes into it happens. But the thing is...the Cabal have no idea about Light and Dark and paracausality as a whole (and yes, Destiny Lore newbies I'll get to the can of worms that is paracausality in a second). It's actually played for comedy whenever its not played for horror (the opening mission of Taken King *shivers*). They have no clue what any of this weird shit is. Its why, despite being some of the best troops with the best equipment in the galaxy, the campaign in Sol has turned into a fucking quagmire (pardon my french). Now, the Cabal is probably going to get scary real friggin fast when the inevitable Imperial Fleet comes down on our heads but for now their lack of paracausal knowledge makes them a non-entity outside of Mars. (Yes, I know the Psions are something weird but we don't know enough about them to make any good calls.)
Which bring us to the Vex and the Hive. Now, the Hive probably don't have any Light. That's because they've been tied to the Dark so long that they just don't have any of it. But, you say, what about that whole "living gives Light" spiel you had two long-ass paragraphs ago? Well, I don't think the Hive are alive. At least, not in the way we know it. Now, a lot has been made about Hive's similarities to various undead creatures, and while I don't think it's Hive=Zombie, I do think there's merit in that analysis. One of the things Eris Morn says about the Hive is how being a Hive has to be one of the worst experiences in existence. Its easy to see why just looking at it from the surface level but I think there's something deeper to it. The Hive have been one of the primary forces of Darkness for millions upon millions of years. Since then they've been sunk into it from the moment their born (The image I use to visualize the idea is dipping a baby in crude oil). It could be that they've evolved, whether through active or passive evolution, to simply have Dark where Light would be. Think about it. Instead of having a loving spark of divine light inside you have this small chunk of dripping tar in your chest that tells you to be as ruthless as possible or die and makes you think joy and sorrow are the same thing. Sounds horrible to me.
The Vex are the ones I've thought least about because their paracausal antics (We're getting there, I promise) preclude their discovery of the Darkness as written in The Books of Sorrow. This mixed with the lack of info we really have about their origins and the lack of anything resembling a culture (outside of their obsession with the Pattern) like the Hive have make this hard to deduce. In my opinion, the Vex work under something similar to the Hive until we find out more.
Now, this brings up the point you made about Taking. So here's my interpretation, Oryx can take things with Light. In fact, Toland's spirit calls the Light Oryx's captured as "Blighted Light" which I interpret as the Light of those Oryx has Taken mixed with that of those he's slain/been tithed. But, you ask, if he can Take beings of Light, why doesn't he Take us? He can't take us because we're paracausal entities.
Okay, time for a "quick" aside to the Destiny newbies who came here for Mass Effect or to learn shit about Destiny without buying the game or otherwise aren't super acquainted with the lore like we are.
Hi there! If you've sat there and read my story and slogged though this essay (because that's what it is by this point) thank you for your continued support. It means a lot to me. I'm making this little message to you because we're about to enter a much talked about and complex topic in the Destiny lore. It is in fact a topic so rife with interpretations, ideas, and theories that I personally consider it the point where one graduates from "Beginner" to "Advanced" in the area of Destiny' lore. This subject is called Paracausality.
What is Paracausality, you ask? Well, Paracausality is the name for phenomena that does not correspond to any law of physics, mathematics, biology, geography, etc. How does Paracausality effect the world of Destiny? Well, its the cornerstone for much of what we see in the world of Destiny. Our guns (well blues and up) for example are, in fact, paracausal weapons, usually forged in the probability kilns of the City's weapons foundry. Probability kiln. Interesting word, huh? I bet all kinds of weird shit happens in there. That's why they have the ability to, among other things, have bullets magically reappear in their chambers or alter a Guardian's capabilities.
Now, how does paracausality interact with the Light? Well, Guardians channel Light in a way that allows them to alter the laws of reality around them. The most familiar of these alterations is seen whenever a Guardian uses their jump skill. How, you ask? Does a Guardian shoot Light out of their feet like Ki in Dragon Ball (No lie, I though that when I first played the game.)? No, what a Guardian does is channel their Light in a way that tells gravity to Fuck Itself.
Well, you ask, who else in Destiny has access to Paracausal abilities? Well, Vex time manipulation is an example of paracausal physics at work. The Hive have access to their own forms of paracausal technology and abilities through their worship of the Darkness. The Fallen have broken remains their own paracausal technology along with whatever they've looted from the ruins of mankind's own paracausality-enabled Golden Age. That's right, students. The Golden Age was a wonderland where scientists, engineers, and many others worked hand-on-white-shell with the Traveler itself to create miracles that allowed humanity to reach heights not seen before or since.
Now, you ask the question, "Are there any rules to Paracausality?" My answer is, there are but they're esoteric. Paracausal physics, like any kind of magic/supernatural system I have a fondness for, follows rules but they're not hardline "Slot A goes into Slot B rules. To make a comparison, a normal mathematician would write something akin to e=mc2 on a chalkboard. A Warlock would write something more like "E=mark of androzani+ hope* dreams of the Promising Dragons/12". And that's when their formulas resemble normal mathematics at all. Its less a system of rules and more a system of symbolism, intent, and willpower.
That has been a brief lesson on paracausality. Now, go out there and wow your friends with your knowledge of Destiny lore!
Okay, that's done. Where was I? Oh ,yeah. Guardians are paracausal entities. Now, that does not mean we use paracausality to acheive goals. In that case, Fallen would count as paracausal entities. I mean, that the very existence of a Guardian is a violation of the natural laws of the causal universe through the use of the Light. In a sane universe, Guardians should not exist. But they do and that has a lot of implications. The most important of which is made clear to us in The Vault of Glass when we seize the Aegis. In one of the more badass moments in the game, the objective bar changes to say, "Guardians make their own Fate". I believe that Guardians are completely free agents. The Vex cannot simulate a Guardian not because they have Light but because what a Guardian may do at any possible moment cannot be predicted. For the same reason, Oryx cannot Take Guardians. Even he lacks the ability to make you do something you don't want to do. He can't make a Guardian less then they are like he can the others factions.
Now, why can't Oryx take Awoken or normal humans. Well, humans inside the City are protected by the Traveler's Light. I feel that the Traveler has the strength to keep Oryx from Taking anything in its vicinity. This protection might even extend to the whole of Earth. Oh, he can send Taken to spread Blight (in fact that might be why he's spreading Blight. He needs to to nullify the Traveler's power) but he can't brute force his way through that protection. The Reef probably has their own form of protection through their own paracausal techniques. Probably the same with the Nine.
So, to sum up, the people of the Citadel Races have their own Light. They just never even knew it existed until the Long-Sight came to Earth.
4: This one I'm not to sure about but based on what ghost said in the khostov mission they are created to find a specific person to be their guardian, in other words it's not random and the corpse must have Light to rekindle like degen yor's mentioned.
I believe that too. That's what happened with the Ghost and Garrus. Now, I can kind of see why you think I said otherwise. If I'm following your logic, you saw the scene and thought "Ghost saw Light in corpse and thus made Guardian". Now, what I think happens, and thus how I made it in story, is "Ghost could see Light in corpse and knew it was her Guardian". That's why Ghosts scan corpses. They're not looking for Light. They're trying to find the one whose Light they can see. Kind of a fine difference but here you go.
Humans live three times longer so it could have been100 years since she came as a little girl and the titan order could have disbanded since then or changed objective
Okay, time to talk about age in Destiny and why its important because its important to the timeline I think Destiny operates on. Now, when the Traveler came to Earth, it used its power to triple human lifespan. Not just through medicine and some such, its implied that humans age on a scale of three hundred instead of the seventy-one-hundred we do now. So, awesome, right? We live three-hundred years now!
Now, think about our current lifespans. We live an average of seventy years in the modern day which is leaps and bounds above what our average fore-bearer lived to. Why? Is it because we age slower? Well, a little since we're a lot less stressed than we used to be but otherwise not that much. So what is the reason we live longer? Simple, medical technology has advanced to the point we reach our maximum age range. If we lost all that tomorrow our lifespans would immediately cut themselves in half if not more.
Now, what horrific event happened between the Traveler's arrival and Destiny? The Collapse destroying all of human civilization. Now, humans max age is still three-hundred and we still age slower but otherwise... By and large, humans in Destiny have lost the ability to actually hit max age before dying of illness, infection, or violence (that last one being more typical out in the Wilds) because of the complete loss of the medical infrastructure that made it possible for people to hit three hundred. Now, humanity's clawing its way back and they've rediscovered enough medical tech so that people reliably hit one-hundred in the City but a non-Guardian hitting above two-hundred is considered special and many of the City's myriad cultures honor those who do as venerable elders who carry centuries worth of wisdom and knowledge on their shoulders. Eva Levante is the Tower's local Elder and its one of the reasons why the Vanguard often listen to her when it comes to matters of morale and cultural traditions.
Second half of that, the Pilgrim Guard still exists although it has had its mandate changed slightly. They used to travel the Wilds looking for people to guide to the City but since that job got increasingly taken up by the Hunters they've since cut down their patrols to the territories bordering the City's zone of influence so that they can find people on the last leg and make sure they make it safely while also guarding the Walls (as Titans do) by making sure no Fallen (or another kind of enemy) skulk around that close to the City.
Last and least, the part of the story that we're in takes place before Destiny begins. In my mental timeline for the story, we are about six-eight months before the Hunt for the Black Garden gets underway. The Taken have yet to come to Earth to make it an even worse planet to live on. Also, the Hive on Earth are still in hibernation waiting to get the call to march. I've said this in a previous post but part of why I have Threadmarks up is so that people don't have to scroll through everything to read the story so here's a bit of clarification.
Okay, can't believe I wrote that much in response to a couple of questions. If you made it to the end you are a real trooper and you've earned my respect. Now, I'm going to go lie down.
P.S.: If you saw the word count in your alerts and thought I updated the story, I am very sorry. I hope at least this monstrosity of a post kept you entertained.
Hot damn. Now that's what I call a lore post. Lots of useful stuff in there, hope you don't mind if I steal some of it? I absolutely agree with your point about Guardians being paracausal beings, though I would maybe caveat: individually, a Guardian and a Ghost are both mildly paracausal, 6.5D; together, they are 3D shadows of 7D beings. It's strongly implied that Eris Morn is significantly reduced by the loss of her Ghost, and we find dead Ghosts scattered all over the place, presumably either separated from their Guardian or never having found them.
EDIT: To expand, now that I'm not fending off Morpheus:
I don't think Ghosts are just little dudes who follow you around to revive you when you catch one too many bullets with your face. I think Ghosts are tools and partners, in much the same way the Inuzuka would consider their nindogs or a Pilot would consider their Titan. I think the strong similarity between the skills of the Guardians isn't just a result of a thousand years of research and experimentation, I think the Ghosts themselves carry patterns for the techniques that the Guardians use, and aid in their channeling of the Light. That first time you're revived, your Spark (soul) is irrevocably linked to the Light, since all Sparks return to the Light eventually, yours just got to have a second go-round (and a third, and a fourth, and a...).
Part of what your Ghost does is facilitate that connection, enabling you to get a whole dimension closer to the True Light than anything else in the physical Universe. Your Ghost acts as a...valve, of sorts, keeping the Spark that is your consciousness, your individuality, from joining the collective of the True Light, but also constantly feeding you energy to maintain your presence in the physical plane. The Guardian acts as a vessel, while the Ghost acts as a lens, refracting or focusing the Light being fed to them in a particular pattern (Flame, Lightning, Void; Hunter, Warlock, Titan), and, as they gain experience, that lens is refined so that it can focus or refract the Light in different ways.
When a Sunsinger is channeling Radiance, what's happening is that the Sunsinger's lens is refocusing Light that is usually lost when an ability is used back into their "pool". A Bladedancer's ult temporarily reinforces the lens they refract Light through so that they can crank up their output for a while. When a Defender drops a Ward, the Ghost cranks that valve wide open and lets the lens refract all the excess Light that's now pouring out of the Titan into a semi-physical shield.
This lensing effect is based on the Concept that that Spark most embodies. The Guardian provides Shape and Power, the Ghost provides Focus and Control. Without half of that, you are far less than the sum of your parts. Each Guardian needs her Ghost, and each Ghost needs their Guardian. Each of the pieces of each skill need all the other parts, or it just doesn't work right.
Bringing one's self out of being a xenophob would take a hell of a long time after what humanity has gone through and enemies do that all the time, standing and fighting even when they don't stand a chance, that would change a guardian's worldview.
Protecting aliens simply because they were being attacked by the fallen is something that a recently born guardian would do since all our enemies attack each other. As commander zavala shows the enemy of my enemy is not my friend just something that will try to kill me given the chance. Though what Shepherd did seems light something a new guardian who does not harbor the hatred that the rest of the city has for aliens.
The ideal of destiny seem to be "ideally we can kill anything that threatens us or comes into our system univited". The light also doesn't seem to really stand for honor, courage and law but compassion, freedom and the struggle of life trying to reach new heights without necessarily killing off everything else. Humanity already believes that the darkness has won, well most do, the Dec thinks that the will only be war that we can't win but cannot afford to lose, Dead orbit thinks that the SOL system and traveler is lost and we should be of the run for the rest of humanity's existence the new monarchy wants just wants some kind of absolute ruler to control the city despite the fact that corruption will be more likely and the rest are just counting the days that they are alive though there are a few who the we can win, the recent victories gives credence to that.
The fact that the warlock so easily trust her judgment enough to help get them to the city and the nomads attitude towards wrex is concerning, it makes me thinks that they won't survive long in the destiny universe.
You have a point, there most likely are small settlements hidden on earth.
Your right there are mentions of internal but what I get is that's it was in the early years of the city and that was from the factions trying to gain control, then there are the trinary star cult who the the traveler is responsible for humanity's state, but there might be other problems so I'll give you that. I don't think ethnicity and nationality will be much of a problem considering that they are surrounded by thing that want to kill them and all the have is each other, I would think that every new citizens is a bit more hope that humanity might not end with them.
Your right the deep/darkness is not a god of evil, its more likt a god of extreme Darwinism, neither it nor the light is strictly evil/good. The Leviathan is a disciple of the traveler, they were both pacifist until levy god killed and eaten and the traveler met us.
I don't think something being alive gives one light just the potential for it to be blessed by the light or it's servants who have the necessary power and control, like the traveler and maybe warlocks since they study it so much. I think your was referring to the fact that the man did not have the light like he did since later in the thorn cards yor speaks to his ghost in a way that makes me think he wanted to be special. There is an artifact that say that the glow that comes from some kind of object is the manifestation of bound dying souls, so the light might no be the soul but connected it in some way which explains why ghost can bring back a guardian after so long and Exo were humans that were put into a robot body according to cayde's journals, it also say that what makes him 'himself' is in a little box inside the body. Light is acausal like the darkness but those who is it are paracausal since the can never fully understand them but that's just my opinion. The Cabal also has some idea that something off is going on with the guardian and hive as well as there is some kind of force at work is some locations that inhibit a guardian's ghost. The fallen I don't think can be guardians since they turn to the dark, they believe that something that they cannot steal from is something that they should aspire to be like.
The vex might have had light in the past since the floating continents on fundament are just the debris from planets that collided and the only way such weak creatures like the krill could have live on that little piece of hell was for the traveler to do it's space magic, they lost it when they accepted the worms though. The hive are alive though since if the were dead that would mean they did not deserve to live, they just have ways of circumventing death, hiding their death(oversoul) and needing to meet certain requirements to die, guardians were dead before which might explain why the darkness dislikes us dispite the fact that we kill everything that comes into our system.
The vex themselves aren't really paracausal except inside the vault of glass where the use what the learned from the hive and worms, they are just using advanced tech to take advantage of the law of physics in ways we don't understand.
The blighted light is light that oryx captured to devour and offer to the worm gods he can't actually take it, he can only take living being, I see that as beings with a will of their own not just organic or intelligent.
Guardian paracausalality is also what I think keeps the vex from going back in time to wipe them out, in the secret mission when you go to rescue preadyth the vex portal sends you to the future that the vex cannot escape in which they have been taken and yet it cannot happen since oryx is dead which means that the guardians are to bound by linear time so erasing humanity in the pass will no erase guardians in the present and will only make it so that they no longer have to keep forces on earth to protect the city and will be free to disrupt vex operations.
I still believe that the traveler did something more to humanity then it did for others since according to Rasputin the darkness was pissed when it arrived and maybe that something is what is protecting non guardians from oryx.
I think humanity's life was extended by the traveler's light with seem to enhance their intelligence which gave birth to the golden age since it stated that humanity built and developed the golden age. Speaking of, do you think that in the moon card that the trusted few that was mention could be the guardians?
*Shrugs* I've said my piece. If you don't see my point of view then there's not much else to do. The only thing I can say is that I believe the ultimate ideal of Destiny is, "Mankind's capacity for hope will help us get through anything." A theme that was mentioned back when the game was still in development.
For that last bit, I'm not sure which moon card you're talking about. Can you be more specific?
That's fine, the way the grimoire is allows different degrees of interpretation, that why I love it.
The moon card I was talking g about is actually the dreams of alpha lupi :
The best voices - voices that truly matter - never allow themselves be heard. This lesson is worth learning again and again.
Forever.
Your voice moves as a whisper, murmuring inside larger winds. Only the trusted few can absorb what is necessary. Wise and sly and perfect, your instructions drop, leaving nothing but the hard sweet rime of enlightenment.
The path is set. Your voice is unleashed.
Okay, I hate to do this after not updating last week but my personal affairs have gotten...heated during the past few days. And between me operating with simmering anger and the typical troubles that come with writing anything I don't think I'll get this done tonight. I'll have it up tomorrow night. Saturday at the latest. I'll answer Warlock's question right before.
Okay, I hate to do this after not updating last week but my personal affairs have gotten...heated during the past few days. And between me operating with simmering anger and the typical troubles that come with writing anything I don't think I'll get this done tonight. I'll have it up tomorrow night. Saturday at the latest. I'll answer Warlock's question right before.
"Well, look at this," Riksis said in a booming voice, "I hear Light-Stealer has come to steal from my Cosmodrome." Riksis took a step towards Garrus. "At first, I think it is one of the corpses on the road." He took another step.
Garrus stared at Riksis as he came closer. He looked around. Where was his gun? He caught sight of it near the wall where he'd been ambushed. He must have dropped it while being strangled. He tried to channel another grenade into his hand but the Light inside was taking too long to travel into his hand. His knife was buried in the Riksis' wrist but if it seemed to bother him he didn't show it. Eyes darting around the room, Garrus began to scoot himself backwards.
"But then I think. The little abominations have come here before but no Light-Stealers rise. Then a false-spark comes and a new Light-Stealer rises." Riksis reached a hand to the knife embedded into his wrist and, with a small grunt, yanked it out. Garrus' eyes widened as Riksis used his other pair of hands to wrap a bandage over his wrist with the casualness of someone scratching a bug bite. "I think, 'What is different? What has changed since then?" Riksis pointed at Garrus with the knife, "Then I remember you."
Garrus began to look around at the workstations he was sliding by. There had to be something there he could use. Something he… On the workstation above him he saw a flash of silver. It was his omnitool. He was certain it must have been destroyed when he detonated his grenade. It looked incredibly damaged but… Beneath his helmet, he smiled. He supposed two miracles in one day wasn't too much to ask.
He brought his eyes back to Riksis. Hanging by his side was the largest Shrapnel Launcher Garrus had seen since coming to Earth. His gaze moved back and forth between Riksis and the omnitool.
"Tell me, alien. Have you ever heard of The Great Machine?" Garrus answered with defiant silence. To his surprise, however, Risksis began to chuckle. His gait began to change as his steps became harder. His posture slid into a stoop. One pair of his hands turned into fists as another pair looked like they wanted to strangle someone. The chuckle turned into a growl as Riksis spoke. "You have it inside you." He said, "The blessed Light of the Machine. And you do not know of its glory. Of its wonder." Garrus watched as Riksis began to reach for shrapnel launcher. Garrus kept still. He had to wait for the right moment. "First the humans keep the Great Machine from us. Keep it locked away in their Thief-City. Steal the Light from us. The Light that was ours by right." Hate dripped into every word coming out of Riksis' mouth, "And now you come and steal our Light as well." Riksis shook his head, "No. You die today for this insult." His hands wrapped around the shrapnel launcher and Garrus leapt upwards.
He swung a fist at Riksis only for him grab Garrus' arm. He slammed the cannon into Garrus' side as one of his free hands grabbed him by the face. He growled and shoved him down. Garrus twisted his body and sprawled himself over the workstation. Behind him, he heard a long beep from the shrapnel launcher, "Any last words, alien?"
The world turned to slow motion as Garrus spun around. The orange glow of his omnitool flickered as it forced itself to work in spite of the damage it had sustained. On the top of his hand formed an orange blade. He thrust forward and dug the blade into Riksis' shoulder. The Archon yowled and one of his hands reached for Garrus. Garrus slammed his other hand into Riksis' face as he tried to wretch the Omniblade from Riksis' armor. The force of the blow sent Riksis reeling and the blade slid out with a sickening squelch.
As Riksis laid a hand on the hole in his shoulder, Garrus sprinted for his gun. He heard a long whirring noise behind him and instinctually ducked into a roll. Feeling the heat above him, he grabbed his rifle and rose out of the roll pointing his rifle at Riksis. He fired a few short bursts. A blue sheen surrounded Riksis as the rounds disintegrated against his shield. In a flash of blue, he shifted behind a one of the workstations. Garrus ceased firing, grabbed his knife, and bounded behind another one of the workstations.
"Welp," his Ghost said, "I have bad news." Garrus growled to himself as the Ghost continued, "I just got kicked out of the battle-net."
Garrus stuck his head out of cover and fired a short burst. "That sounds about right," he said, "do you have any ideas?"
"No, you?"
Garrus fired another burst. Riksis was going from cover to cover. He was trying to get closer, Garrus thought, Riksis had the advantage in close range combat. "We have to get out of this room. Find a better place to fight."
"But," The Ghost said, "what about destroying the lab?"
Garrus fired one last burst before scrambling to reload his rifle. She was right. He still had an objective to fulfill. But how could he do that fighting something that was essentially a special ops agent and an anti-infantry vehicle wrapped into one hostile. Shrapnel launcher rounds began to fly over the workstation. What could he do? What could he…
"Ghost," Garrus yelled, "do you have any architectural plans of the building?"
"Uh," The Ghost began before saying, "not official ones but I just need to examine the layout of the rooms we've been through to get a basic idea. What do you need?" The shrapnel launcher barrage ended and Garrus burst out from cover, suppressive fire raining from his gun as he ran for the lab's exit.
"I need a support pillar. Or a weak point. Something." He ran out the lab and made a hard left, which he knew would take him further into the building. There had to be something further in. Behind him, he heard the heavy clanging footsteps of Riksis. Behind him he heard large bang and he quickly dodged to the side. A small explosion of sparks shot out from the right of him before Garrus jumped to the other side. Another eruption of sparks came from the other side. A third noise whirred and Garrus ducked into a side hallway.
"Ok! Ok! I got something." The Ghost said. "There's a support beam just a few meters from here. Due to entropic damage, it's the only pillar left holding up this entire side of the building up." Garrus smiled. Finally, there was something. "Don't get too excited. It's probably reinforced. We're going to need something big to make it break."
Garrus turned another corner and said, "I think I have another idea."
"But?"
"But, it's really going to hurt."
"Just," The Ghost began with fear permeating her voice, "please don't die." At the end of the hallway, Garrus kicked open the door.
"I won't."
The room was like many others in the Cosmodrome: Concrete floors, cracked walls, a general sense that things were staying up by momentum than anything else. Garrus heard Riksis behind him. He hid behind the pillar. Riksis entered the room and Garrus could hear his footsteps go from a mad dash to a skulk. He began to get closer to the pillar and Garrus stayed still. Finally, once Riksis came to stand in front of the pillar, Garrus struck. He looped around the pillar and slammed a fist into the side of Riksis's face. Garrus went in for another hit when Riksis grabbed him by the wrist. Another arm grabbed Garrus' waist. Garrus was pulled into the air and pain filled him as he was slammed into the ground. Another explosion of pain ripped through Garrus' chest as Riksis did it again before he tossed Garrus towards the door.
Garrus smiled and a glowing orange orb was in his hand. It was bright. He'd stuffed as much of his Light into it as he could. He let it cook in his hands before he threw it. HE only wished he could see Riksis' face when it blew. When Garrus looked up, the pillar was missing its entire middle section and on the other side he could see Riksis struggling to get up. Garrus laughed to himself as a deep rumble began to pervade the air. Force of fully charge fusion grenade+ Weight of flying Fallen priest = destroyed building.
Garrus launched onto his feet and ran through the halls. Behind him he could hear the crashing of concrete, brick and steel. His sight began to be occluded by dust and dirt flying into the air but he couldn't slow down. He just had to run. Soon, he saw sunlight at the other end of a long hallway. It was going to be close. He ran towards the door but he could see that the frame of the door was beginning to give. In a moment of instinct he leapt.
When he opened his eyes, it was to an empty courtyard with rusted cars and heaps of scrap. Garrus closed his eyes and rested his head on the soft grass. He didn't feel physically tired but he still wanted to sleep for a week.
As the rumbling faded into silence, Garrus climbed to his feet. Okay, now…now he just had to… He heard a deep reverberation come from the pile of rubble that used to be the Fallen lab. He turned and felt his mouth drop open as he saw Riksis emerge from the rubble, holding his shrapnel launcher by his side. His armor was dented in several areas and there was a deranged mania to his movements but he still stood tall and strong. Riksis stared at him and began to cackle but soon the cackling turned into a roar of rage.
"I am going to kill you! And once I do I will stomp on your chest until it is nothing but slop! Then I WILL RIP YOUR HEAD OFF OF YOUR NECK AS YOU SCREAM."
He pointed the cannon at Garrus who gripped the hilt of his knife. He had one shot at this. He slid it out of his holster as he began to run sideways. He saw the barrels of Riksis' cannon glow a deep orange and leapt. Four large rounds burst from the cannon and Garrus threw his knife. Garrus watched the knife fly as scalding heat ripped through his side. Pain robbed him of his awareness until he felt his body collide with the ground.
In that, moment, Garrus took a painful breath and pushed himself off the ground. Looking up, he saw his knife embedded in Riksis' face mask, light seeping out around the blade. The Archon was on his knees grasping at his mask and making panicked grasps at the hilt. Garrus began to get up. This was his chance. Before he knew it, he was running towards Riksis at full speed. He leapt and caught him in a flying tackle. Almost immediately, he found himself pinning Riksis onto the ground. Riksis swung a fist upwards but came nowhere close to hitting him. Garrus brought his elbow down on his face before gripping the hilt of his knife. He pulled with all his strength and wretched the knife free before plunging it into Riksis' forehead.
He didn't stop there. Garrus couldn't tell if it was fear or pragmatism that told him to keep stabbing but in the end it didn't really matter. By the time he was done…Well, Riksis, high priest of Devils, was dead. Garrus rolled off him and laid a hand on his face. His side burned and when he looked down there was a large hole in the side of his suit with scorched plate beneath it. As he stared at it he felt a strange twinge occur all across his body. It was with a shocked numbness that he saw the burns begin to fade away. A relieving pain ran through him. Like muscles finally getting to rest after a long day. He felt it all over his body as his ribs knit themselves back together and the various bruises and wounds disappeared. Garrus smiled. He could get used to this.
His Ghost materialized and bounced in the air. Garrus wondered if she was trying to dance. "You did it! We did it! We killed an Archon!"
"What do you mean 'we'?" Garrus said, completely unable to keep a smile off his face.
"Oh, shush you." His Ghost replied, "You couldn't have…" Suddenly, a series of loud roars echoed through the air. Garrus sat upwards immediately. "Uh," the Ghost said, her enthusiasm replaced by panic, "I think we just kicked the hornet's nest!"
"I have no idea what a hornet is, but okay." Garrus said while scrambling to his feet. The aches and pains in his body had faded away and Garrus knew it was time to run. "Which way to the hangar?"
"Give me a second," The Ghost said. She disappeared back into his helmet before speaking again. "Okay," she said, "I've gotten back into the Fallen battle-net and…Oh no."
"We can't get into the hangar." Garrus said in a flat tone.
"Not without at least two more Guardians or a tank."
Garrus grumbled to himself as he tried to think of an idea. "Well," he said, "if we can't get a ship then is there a way to get out of the Cosmodrome on foot?"
"Oh, we can get out," the Ghost said, "but they'll just catch up to us on the Steppe. We need…" She trailed off before saying, "Wait! I have an idea!" Garrus' HUD lit up with a small map of the Cosmodrome leading to a… Ah. Garrus touched the side of his armor. The scorched hole was gone, replaced by steel. Garrus sighed to himself. It was time to move. He was beginning to move away from the ruined lab when his Ghost shouted, "Wait!"
"What?" Garrus said, wondering what would be so important that his Ghost would stop him.
"Grab Riksis' cape."
Garrus raised his arms to his chest, "So we can't bring my guns but we can bring a dead Fallen's cape."
"The Ghost groaned. "Riksis had a huge bounty," she said, "When we get back to the City with proof, you'll be able to buy all the guns you want."
Garrus thought about it. It was tempting. He huffed and said, "Fine, but if we run into more Fallen cause we wasted time doing this, I blame you.
-----
"I blame you!" Garrus yelled over the sound of gunfire.
"Oh, calm down," his Ghost said, "There's not even that many."
Garrus threw a grenade and a loud boom echoed through the air as it blew up in an orange flash and Garrus leapt over the repair table he'd used as cover. He looked around the garage. There were numerous holes in the walls from all the explosives that had been tossed about and the floors were practically black with scorch marks and there were Fallen corpses everywhere. But, Garrus thought, it had been a rather clean and quick firefight by the standards of the day he'd been having.
"Nothing on the movement sensors," His Ghost said before materializing. Following her movement, he saw what they had been looking for. Bikes, rows upon rows of grav-bikes. Some were the Fallen pikes that he'd had personal experience before. When he asked about them the Ghost said no and explained, "Pikes are hunks of junk. They tend to fall apart after five hours of continuous riding. We need something long-range." Garrus looked past the pikes and his eyes widened.
"I think we have something."
The Ghost turned around and made a small squeal. It looked like a similar make to the bike Shepard had with numerous small differences. Unlike Shepard's purple with flames paint job, this bike as painted a deep tan with numerous markings that didn't resemble any of the Fallen ones he'd seen since entering the Cosmodrome. The design also seemed barer.
"I take it that one's good." Garrus said.
"It's a Steppe bike. I know it don't look like much, but the Steppe tribes have some of the best bikes on the planet. The Fallen must have stolen this during a raid." In the distance, Garrus heard the sound of footsteps and chittering.
"Guess I'll have to take your word for it." Garrus said as he hopped on. It shouldn't be much trouble, he thought. Not much different from riding a pike and…
OKAY. MUCH FASTER THAN EXPECTED. Garrus made a hard right before he careened into the Cosmodrome wall. Well, he'd reached that sooner than he'd expected. A little messing with the handling later, Garrus felt he had gotten the basics down enough to go. Even if it had taken a few run over dregs.
"Ghost," he said, "where's the nearest point we can get out." The HUD lit up with directions and Garrus began to accelerate.
"Uh," the Ghost said, "you have control of this right?"
"Of course I do," Garrus said.
"Well, you did almost just crash into a wall…
"And I know what I did wrong." Garrus was beginning to get that feeling again. Something was on the end of his consciousness just out of his mind's grasp. Spirits, he hoped it wasn't something to do with the Cosmodrome. He was pretty sure he couldn't go back through the dug-in army of pissed off pirates. He saw a large structure in the wall ahead of him that he realized was a massive gate.
He saw a band of vandals surrounding it aiming their guns at him. He ducked his head and began to weave the bike back and forth. The crack of whizzing bullets rang around his head but he ignored it as he focused on his objective. A deep whir rang through the air as the gate's massive metal frame began to slide close. He turned slightly to the right as a wire round zoomed toward him and missed. His exit point shrank by the moment and Garrus shot his bike right towards it. Two vandals jumped out of the way as Garrus sped by. Metal mere inches beside him, Garrus burst through the gate. Behind him he heard a resounding thud. The grassy plains of the Steppes all around him, Garrus felt such a great upwelling of relief and excitement within him that he began to shout in loud woops.
"We did it! We're on our way to the City."
Garrus smiled. "I couldn't do it without you."
"That's cause you'd still be stinking up the highway." The Ghost's joy was infectious and Garrus couldn't help but smile. "I can't believe I did it. I finally found my Guardian. And he's such an ass-kicker."
Garrus kept smiling. She was so happy with him for just existing. It wasn't like any form of affection he'd ever received. He began to frown. The Ghost was showing him affection. Why was that so…
"Wait," he exclaimed as all the Ghost's little exclamations, reactions, and over all emotions ran through his head, "YOU'RE AN S.I.!?"
****
Hooray, after two weeks of work, this chapter is finally finished. Well, finished-ish. I might add in another scene that was originally supposed to go here or put it in a different chapter. I don't know. Okay, one, I hope this was a good fight scene. As I said at the start of this project, I'm writing this a practice for a lot of things but writing fight scenes is something I want to work on. So if any of you have constructive criticism I'll be glad to hear it. Two, I hope I made Riksis an intimidating force in this fight. I really didn't want any Badass Decay for what is essentially this story's first bossfight. So, how did I manage with that?
Beyond that, I hope you enjoy this snippet. Have a Happy New Year and I hope to see you next week.
Also, answer to Warlock's previous question: I don't think its talking about Guardians because, in my opinion, The Dreams of Alpha Lupi cards are about the Travelers terraforming efforts in the Solar System. So it'd be too early in the timeline for that. Besides that, I have no idea. The Alpha Lupi cards are extraordinarily esoteric and oblique. Hell, I've heard different theories on who the narrator is? Is it the Traveler? Is it someone having visions regarding the Traveler? I have no clue.
K. Oh and I'm sorry but Garrus becoming a guardian and the city letting in unknown aliens and a bunch of other stuff strays way to far from Destiny for my liking so I'm gonna drop this story, again sorry.
Still find it a little hard to believe that Garrus would be able to take down an Archon as a newly minted Guardian with little in the way of proper weapons or armor, but considering the Archon just had a building fall on him makes it more believable.
One thing, in Garrus's last line.
"Wait," he exclaimed as all the Ghost's little exclamations, reactions, and over all emotions ran through his head, "YOU'RE AN S.I.!?"
The races in Mass Effect use the term SI (Synthetic Intelligence) rather than AI (Artificial Intelligence). This is because the term "artificial" means "made or developed by human beings" while synthetic means "made or developed in general". To round out Mass Effect terms, VI (Virtual Intelligence) means a developed intelligence that, while sophisticated, is not self-aware and thus not considered true A/SI. This is going to be important because, while VIs are common and accepted in all societies, Synthetic Intelligence is outlawed and greatly feared by the Citadel races.
Still find it a little hard to believe that Garrus would be able to take down an Archon as a newly minted Guardian with little in the way of proper weapons or armor, but considering the Archon just had a building fall on him makes it more believable.
It's funny how some people are having trouble remembering how bad ass Garry's was back when he was a baseline Turian. As a freshly minted Guardian I can definitely see him taking out Riksis.
Is Riksis' use of a Scorch Cannon an intentional change? Because in the game, he used a Shrapnel Launcher, and the Scorch Cannons didn't make an appearance until the House of Wolves' DLC.
...Oh godammit! You're right! Okay, honest to god, I thought the shrapnel launcher was Called a scorch cannon. For the love of... I'm going to have to go back though and change it in the morning...
...Oh godammit! You're right! Okay, honest to god, I thought the shrapnel launcher was Called a scorch cannon. For the love of... I'm going to have to go back though and change it in the morning...
Have it be a prototype Scorch Cannon. Thus why it's bigger/bulkier, and have the ghost mention a 'rumors of a new Fallen weapon', while Riksis gloats that he gets to be the first to test the next 'Scorch Cannon', thus giving it its name.
Then you not only have Riksis' cape to bring back, but valuable weapons Intel as well.
Have it be a prototype Scorch Cannon. Thus why it's bigger/bulkier, and have the ghost mention a 'rumors of a new Fallen weapon', while Riksis gloats that he gets to be the first to test the next 'Scorch Cannon', thus giving it its name.
Then you not only have Riksis' cape to bring back, but valuable weapons Intel as well.
...that actually would be plausible, given that the House of Devils, per the Rise of Iron DLC, have use of not only Scorch Cannons, but Shock Cannons AND Null Cannons as well.
Ok, finally got around to fixing the Scorch Cannon/Shrapnel Launcher debacle. Now, I thought about Sakuya's Butler's idea and while its actually a pretty good one I decided not to spend the time needed to make it work. I might go through with it when the times comes to publish this on an actual site.
Just got caught up with this, and it made me pick up destiny again which is always a good thing. I'm really enjoying this fic. And I'm enjoying the better explanations of Destiny's lore.
Hi there! If you've sat there and read my story and slogged though this essay (because that's what it is by this point) thank you for your continued support. It means a lot to me. I'm making this little message to you because we're about to enter a much talked about and complex topic in the Destiny lore. It is in fact a topic so rife with interpretations, ideas, and theories that I personally consider it the point where one graduates from "Beginner" to "Advanced" in the area of Destiny' lore. This subject is called Paracausality.
