This Is Your Only Purpose [Destiny] [Alt!Power]

[Ringed in Spears]

VI. The Girl (Eliksni)​

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He knew they should ration the ether. Set limits and try to keep to them, in order to make their reserves last. They didn't know the next time they'd be able to get another attempt at the node, particularly if the sniper won.

But they needed to keep their spirits up. It was more than just flagging morale. They were being crushed by each new obstacle. They needed one moment of peace, denied to them for so long.

Their servitor produced the ether, and they all gladly drank it.

It was lukewarm, but he drank the ether in gulps, barely tasting it. He drank a full two portions, and his shriveled stomach complained. The last one he nursed, taking slow sips. They demanded the story from him, flocking about, energy and hope restored. He told them, weaving the tale. How he waited and waited. What he dreamed about in his fitful sleep, what he hoped for, reaching his claws up to the sky and stars. They laughed. They knew him, and their camaraderie was a balm as they urged him on. It was a foolish, stupid story, and he described how his hands trembled with hunger-sickness, how he almost fell prey to distraction, slack-jawed from ether craving. And now they were full. It was a night of delirious happiness.

They had enough ether for a few days. Weeks, once he'd gone out, taking back what he hadn't been able to carry. It made them lax, to some extent. They watched the spire from afar. There were no more sniper shots. Had the sniper been killed?

Ixis was cautious. There was no reason to believe the new landlords would be any friendlier than the old. A ship flew in from the south regularly, one which he'd never seen before. Perhaps the area had changed hands.

He didn't bother introducing himself.

The fleshlings didn't attack, and that was enough for him.

Then, one day, something fell from the sky.

It was a crate. Lashed to a parachute. He wasn't the first to spot it. "Supplies?" he asked. "Their supplies."

But then the wind blew it off course.

His mind went through possibilities. They could check inside, see what was in store. They could take it. Steal it, make it theirs. Strip it for parts.

He called to investigate. To see where it landed. They went together.

They knew the land, so they made it there quickly. A parachute to slow its fall, likely dropped from some ship or shank even higher up. Iriksis popped the crate open with a knife, quickly and accurately cutting the bolts holding it in place. The lid opened, and their prize was blocks of some substance.

Iriksis shrugged, and cut off a tiny piece, crumbling it between her claws, wafting the smell toward her with her knife-hand. Her eyes squinted in disgust, and she shook her head.

Ixis tilted his head.

"Food for fleshlings," she said. "Smells disgusting."

"Taste it," said Ixis.

"You taste it," said Iriksis, shaking her head. "I would rather chew bark for sap."

Ixis chuckled, and the others chuckled along with him. Even Iriksis, after a long moment of silence.

Then it all went wrong. They'd grown lax. Too comfortable in an unforgiving world.

A fleshling crested the hill, looking down at them with their twin eyes. They wore hulking armor, a mixture of what seemed to be finer craft and metal torn directly from a walker tank. He recognized the curvature, and where portions had been carved away to make space for the fleshling's body and limbs. They were wreathed in red cloths where armor did not protect them. Devils banners, taken from corpses.

They made noises, short clumsy syllables sounding nothing like the chained quick patter of Eliksni.

He drew his knife. Perhaps he could distract them. There was no plan, as panic flowed through him like liquid ice. "Leave me," he said, to his allies, his friends. "Please."

 

[néocorvinus]

Most human/eliksni contacts were with House of Devils, the absolute worst of the Eliksni. It's basically the same thing as if aliens' only contact with humanity was through nazis or the Mongols of the 13th century. In my opinion, the guardian viewing the Fallen as xeno scum to kill is very understandable: the Devils butchered their way across Earth, Saint-14 launched his Crusade once Twilight Gap broke the Fallen offensive.

It is actually very human. The Eliksni stubbornly refusing to stop fighting humans, and continuing a war that seems doomed (most houses collapsed and formed House of Dusk, before it too collapsed) proves that they think and feel likz humans

 

[Uhdnrt]

Iirc, didn't Saint get his murder on because of a slaughtered colony? I thought that was what spurred his hate-boner for Fallen.

And this is interesting. Could we be seeing the start of the house of light early? 'cause this is basically how it started- a guardian who did NOT shoot first and worked with an Eliksni toward a common goal.

 

[Axiomatic]

If my God forsook my entire civilization and it was destroyed as a direct result, and then I followed It across the stars only to see God give Its life to protect a bunch of vicious little shits from a threat that destroyed all I had known and loved and that that God could clearly have saved instead of these people...why, I think I'd be pretty upset with the natives too.

 

[RisenIre]

house of light

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Does this mean Variks can stop asking where Mithrax, the Kell of Light is?
More seriously, seeing that interaction from the perspectuve of those dregs was interesting, and the banners of slain devils was probably disconcerting to see along with the armor torn from the spider tank. The real question is if it has stupidly big shoulder pads.

 

[Stahor]

Do all the good Eliksni need to be brainwashed or put on leashes of their own honor to be good? It gets real sketchy there.

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Variks, is an independent actor and not bound by anything specifically. How "good" he is - question for an observer.

Then having Saint-14 brought back. He's a likable character, and an enjoyable dude. But he's a monster in-lore.

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I'm pretty sure that Young Wolf by this point done more damage to Fallen then Saint-14, save wiping off civilians.
This is important, because we are explicitly saving refugees to Earth by working with Variks, and evidently everyone involved are okay with it.
I'm under impression that there are not much love between Houses. And there are no any actual unity between Eliksni, and so parts of one splinter are not all that invested in what happened to others. And multiple "Kell of Kells" attempts are perceived as, basically, attempts at dictatorship instead of unification.
Because of that, even if Rose for some reason creates House of Weavers, it won't change anything on global scale, just Last City, at most, will be bit more like Reef.

 

[Ridiculously Average Guy]

I said it before, but to elaborate a bit, Taylor/Rose getting a faction of Eliksni with her would be fine because this is the sort of thing she does.

Unlike (presumably) 99.9% of Guardians, she's got the echo of spending the hardest parts of her life working with/alongside other monsters and people lashing out, as well as experience working/living in worlds falling apart because nobody seemed to work together, and just overall a mentality of being willing to accept any tool/person no matter the origin as long as it stops the bleeding.

On top of that, since Rising she's seen a whole of a lot of death and had bitter moments when taking down some warlord/monster contrasted with how much better things are when people are actually working together, and also had to deal with other Risen as her most common enemy.

She's basically primed to push for diplomacy with the Eliksni, the only question is whether they successfully push her away or not.

 

[VampirelordX]

Second, do recall that in addition to all of Riis's heroic and selfless leaders dying to defend Riis, the survivors bear a religious hatred for humanity, believing, in some form or abother, that Golden Age humanity was responsible for The Traveler abandoning them, and thus responsible for The Whirlwind. That's a pretty compelling reason for good people to do awful things. Saint-14 was compelled to do his crusade through similar, uneducated, ill-informed beliefs. "The Fallen must be expelled from Sol, they eat children for Traveler's sake! I bet they were involved in The Collapse too! What other instrument could the Darkness have used? There's no other hostile xeno presence in the system but the Vex!" Not knowing, of course, about how present the Hive were, or that the Dark didn't need any help to bring about The Collapse.

And this brings me to my third point, while the Broke idea of the Eliksni being a "xeno bad" faction that must be fought without thought is indeed Broke, and the Woke idea of the Eliksni being unfairly vilified and genocides is indeed Woke, there is a third, Bespoke level of though on the Eliksni: humanity and Eliksni are mirrors of each other, their history, development, and hatred of the other is uncannily similar.

Like yeah, there's the obvious stuff of having the Traveller as sugar-momma, then getting their shit wrecked by the Dark and all, but in addition to being roughly equally "fallen" and amoral in the dark age, like I explained in point one, their development onward mirrors the other: the same time the Iron Lords start consolidating power and protecting the lightless, (while genociding Eliksni) the major Fallen houses start consolidating power, adopting a less explicitly cruel caste system that is mirrored by the City's Factions, and ya know, start going out of their way to genocide humans. Even in the City Age their development is similar, we just didn't notice it until recently: Riis-Reborn is roughly the same size as The City, and I'd bet money it held a similar population and took just as long to build. For The City Age Eliksni and Humanity only really (violently) interacted with the fringes of the other; at the same time Guardians were securing the City's surroundings without truly kicking Eliksni off Earth, Eliksni were probably securing Riis-Reborn's surrounding without managing to truly kick Clovis Bray frames and the occasional Guardian off Europa. Meanwhile humans and Eliksni were having somewhat more peaceful interactions in The Reef, the 'buffer zone' between the human kinda-dominated inner planets and the Eliksni kinda-dominated outer planets. It's only in the Ages of Triumph and our current one, (Twilight? Darkness?) that the two societies have really come into full contact.

Which brings me to my final point, that while Bungo probably did write themselves into a corner with contradictory Eliksni lore, they're starting to write themselves out of it in Beyond Light. And you could make the argument that Saint-14 and Misraaks are better and more deserving of clemency for their many crimes than say, Taniks or Eramis, because once their ignorance was revealed, they were willing to make amends and bury the hatchet, as opposed to Taniks and Eramis who created new reasons to hate

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i believe that you my friend have hit the nail on the head. I believe that the mirror statement IS what Bungie wanted in the Fallen. Saints rampage was ultimately done in Ignorance to the fact that Fallen were encountering The Hive, the Cabal, and the Vex and there is humanity, who are easier to pray Upon then the previously mentioned factions, so of course there gonna hit the Squishy easily killed folk for easy gains. At the same time the Kell's of the Fallen Houses were encouraging the belief that the traveler leaving them and the fall of Riis was humanities fault in some way; adding that religious aspect to the humans backs. Of course this is all happening as the Houses fight amount themselves for resources as much as they kill lightless and risen, and hive, and Cabal, and Vex. Also the age we are in is the Age of Loss. (Or was that just till the start of Beyond Light?)

What lore are you looking at? From Marasenna, The Black Armory Papers, and The Last Days On Kraken Mare, it's pretty clear the Dark waged a full on war against humanity, using gravitational superweapons, eldritch monsters, and other tools of invasion to break human civilization over it's knee.

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yeah, this shit makes me scared and excited to see what the "Veiled" have in store for us. But yeah, the collapse was completely the Darkness doing its thing. We survived sure, but it was a total loss for humanity. Hell it's an even worse fall the warhammer 40k fall because while in 40k humanity may have lost A lot of what it had, it still had living humans on planets all accross the galaxy. Humanity in Destiny got reduced to scattered settlements accross the earth and only recently got coordinated enough to build The Last Safe City on Humanities Cradle.

 

[thelordofmango]

Makes me think about an AU where Humans and Eliksni are swapped.

Also, is there an estimate for the population of humanity at the peak of the golden age? And the Reef is in the asteroid belt, right?

 

[Ringed in Spears]

Couple points, first I don't think you should be concerned about this becoming a HFY story with Rose saving the Eliksni, because Destiny's lore is very clear, and your doing a great job with expressing this, that Humanity is the one needing saving in the dark age. The Eliksni are more organized, with more established tech, institutions and infrastructure, and both humanity and the Eliksni are about equal in evil-ness, with a similar war-crimes-per-second.

As you're writing now, it's clearly not "the better, enlightened humans saving the fallen Eliksni", but two tiny factions desperately trying to survive with clean consciences in a world where both their peoples' gave given in to their darkest temptations.

Second, do recall that in addition to all of Riis's heroic and selfless leaders dying to defend Riis, the survivors bear a religious hatred for humanity, believing, in some form or abother, that Golden Age humanity was responsible for The Traveler abandoning them, and thus responsible for The Whirlwind. That's a pretty compelling reason for good people to do awful things. Saint-14 was compelled to do his crusade through similar, uneducated, ill-informed beliefs. "The Fallen must be expelled from Sol, they eat children for Traveler's sake! I bet they were involved in The Collapse too! What other instrument could the Darkness have used? There's no other hostile xeno presence in the system but the Vex!" Not knowing, of course, about how present the Hive were, or that the Dark didn't need any help to bring about The Collapse.

And this brings me to my third point, while the Broke idea of the Eliksni being a "xeno bad" faction that must be fought without thought is indeed Broke, and the Woke idea of the Eliksni being unfairly vilified and genocides is indeed Woke, there is a third, Bespoke level of though on the Eliksni: humanity and Eliksni are mirrors of each other, their history, development, and hatred of the other is uncannily similar.

Like yeah, there's the obvious stuff of having the Traveller as sugar-momma, then getting their shit wrecked by the Dark and all, but in addition to being roughly equally "fallen" and amoral in the dark age, like I explained in point one, their development onward mirrors the other: the same time the Iron Lords start consolidating power and protecting the lightless, (while genociding Eliksni) the major Fallen houses start consolidating power, adopting a less explicitly cruel caste system that is mirrored by the City's Factions, and ya know, start going out of their way to genocide humans. Even in the City Age their development is similar, we just didn't notice it until recently: Riis-Reborn is roughly the same size as The City, and I'd bet money it held a similar population and took just as long to build. For The City Age Eliksni and Humanity only really (violently) interacted with the fringes of the other; at the same time Guardians were securing the City's surroundings without truly kicking Eliksni off Earth, Eliksni were probably securing Riis-Reborn's surrounding without managing to truly kick Clovis Bray frames and the occasional Guardian off Europa. Meanwhile humans and Eliksni were having somewhat more peaceful interactions in The Reef, the 'buffer zone' between the human kinda-dominated inner planets and the Eliksni kinda-dominated outer planets. It's only in the Ages of Triumph and our current one, (Twilight? Darkness?) that the two societies have really come into full contact.

Which brings me to my final point, that while Bungo probably did write themselves into a corner with contradictory Eliksni lore, they're starting to write themselves out of it in Beyond Light. And you could make the argument that Saint-14 and Misraaks are better and more deserving of clemency for their many crimes than say, Taniks or Eramis, because once their ignorance was revealed, they were willing to make amends and bury the hatchet, as opposed to Taniks and Eramis who created new reasons to hate.




What lore are you looking at? From Marasenna, The Black Armory Papers, and The Last Days On Kraken Mare, it's pretty clear the Dark waged a full on war against humanity, using gravitational superweapons, eldritch monsters, and other tools of invasion to break human civilization over it's knee.

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Thanks, doing my best regarding it. I'm aware of the mirrored circumstances, and I'm looking to address it as time goes on. Regarding Riis Reborn, it wasn't built until well after Post-Forsaken, and at least after Season of the Drifter. Eramis's lorebook implies but does not confirm it takes place Post-Shadowkeep before she heads off to Europa to build Riis Reborn. And unlike the City, it was deliberately meant to be a place where they could invoke the Darkness. It's a bit of storytelling I dislike, because I prefer the narrative of Eramis having intentions of putting past behind her akin to your proposal of Misraaks/Saint-14 but being corrupted by the allure of Darkness bringing old memories to the fore. Consolidating power and pushing for aggression instead of building toward a hopeful future.

I understand the Eliksni had an ideological reason to dislike Humanity as a whole, but this doesn't necessarily immediately lead to an active attempt from all factions to exterminate Humanity. Bungie does a great job designing the factions, but their design lacks nuance. It's inflexible and when they want to move into a more mature narrative, it snaps rather than bends a lot of the time from my perspective. Most of the Eliksni who are good being ones who were forced or ones who are despised by other Eliksni for causing the torture and death of their own kind. (Variks and the Prison of Elders, for instance, which is talked about in Beyond Light campaign.) There are very few expressly decent or even neutral Eliksni in-story. If there was an entire House Judgment who had aligned with humanity for instance rather than Variks alone. But instead, he is the last. Or if a House had fought against the radicalized hatred but been extinguished and broken. Anything to show these factions and other pieces of the Eliksni did exist and they weren't all just murderers. We get some information about Athrys and her relationship with Eramis. We don't learn what happened to her, other than she's probably dead. We don't get much about how the more gentle members worked through a dangerous new world. It's an angle sorely underlooked and is why it irks me.

The issue with the Reef is we almost never see any of this and the Reef is essentially a hive of scum and villainy. We couldn't go into a peaceful Ether Tank, which I think would have been a much better idea. The Eliksni on the Reef by large majority still fight us. I feel like the environmental storytelling could have helped a great deal here. Also Spider is being portrayed as a horrific spiteful monster as well.

The implication in my read is the Dark was a hostile environmental threat, and helped to exacerbate other threats. Similar to how a syzygy in the Krill formed the world-ending wave, which formed the Hive. Outside threats forced selfishness, pushing a struggle to the top. Furthermore, there was a threat was from within, as we invited the Darkness in and took from the plenty. It caused the issues we faced. Between K1 and Clovis Bray and other such colossal fuckups. In the Black Armory Papers, the identity of the attackers is left deliberately vague. They may have Darkness powers. Shaw Han says stasis killed many during the fall but we don't know how it came to be.

In Marasenna, the Darkness is openly hostile, but it's the Traveler's intervention against the Darkness which causes the formation of the Awoken. It's left unclear again exactly what the Darkness would have done. Probably killed them, given what Mara says, but it's prevented by Traveler intervention. The planets taken by the Darkness are mysteriously gone. We don't know if they're dead or not. We assume so. We need more information.

My sources are:

While I was dead, I had another vision.

I was with Clovis II's mother. She was a wolf, and one of her eyes was a star. I was also a wolf, and I knew that I was the alpha—the false alpha, the pack leader who fights for dominance and rulership. A misconception created by bad research. In the wild, wolf packs are families, and "alpha" simply means "parent." Wilhelmina told me that.

She was the true alpha. She was the mother. I was not the true alpha, because I was not a true father.

I panted at her. My muzzle dripped blood. She looked down sadly at the mess between us.

And I realized that in my raging need to prove my dominion, I had savaged our cubs. I had killed little Clovis II. I had killed Alton and Wilhelmina and Anastasia. I had killed Elisabeth.

I whined in dismay. The alpha wolf stared at me with one sad wolf eye and one bright eye that dimmed and grew with the exact flux of a variable star.

"What did I do?" I asked her. "Why did I do this?"

She lay her head down in the bloody snow and looked up at me. She seemed weary. She had seen this happen many times before. She had seen many of her pups murdered by wolves like me.

The voice of Clovis II's mother came from her jaws. "You did the same thing someone always does. You saw that there was plenty, and gathered it to yourself, to make yourself one above all others. And when others threatened your plenty, you struck them down to keep your own station."

"You grow the enemy in my garden and eat of its bitter fruit. Each time, I hope it will be different. Each time, I lose a little of myself as the bitter fruit blossoms. Now that fruit will flower in you, and in all your people. I do not want it to happen. I want anything else. But the choice is not mine."

"Why didn't you stop me?" I tasted blood on my long tongue. "Why would you let me do this?"

She blinked sadly at me. She had been trying. I hadn't listened.

"You never said a thing to me," I snarled. "Not once. You never told me I was doing wrong. At least Clarity sends me dreams—the exobody and the eel. At least it shows me what I can become."

"You think Clarity sent those dreams? Why would it speak to you, when you are dead and furthest from its influence?"

"Liar." I howled. "You never did a thing to help me. Not when my son died. Not when my granddaughter fell ill. I had to do it all myself. You never even spoke."

"The best voices," she said, with infinite grief and unending hope, "never let themselves be heard at all. This lesson is worth teaching again and again. The choice is never mine. It is always yours."

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Now I am hiding the truth even from my own friend. I do not want to make them distrust the Vanguard. But I am sure that this warning is genuine… and that it points to a threat in our own ranks. There are inflections to this logograph that speak of a killer hidden in plain sight.

I must not become paranoid, as Kuang Xuan did—but I think the warning is for me. I think the enemy wants me safe from my own kind, so that I will continue to receive its messages. (And share them with my friend? Is that my true purpose? Am I only a conduit for their corruption?)

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Another threat of imminent disaster. You declared a new Golden Age, and our enemy declares a second Collapse. They imply it is already in motion. Alarming.

[Personal notes, scored in Hive leather with a knife.]

Free fall is indistinguishable from a stable orbit until you strike the ground. Are we already falling? Is our doom fixed? Have I missed the signs this time?

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Ghost: Annihilation brought about by you. You communed with the Darkness. You built the portal that brought the Vex.
Clovis: Darkness already watched our every move. The Vex had already been to our system. I - I may have facilitated, but I didn't instigate. And frankly, I'd do it all over again as long as it meant preserving the Bray legacy. Who knows, perhaps I will get the chance again someday.

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The Darkness was in the solar system before the Fall, and people fell prey to it long before the actual Fall itself. The artifacts we found helped push us over the precipice, as temptation turned into greed, implied in P53 of Unveiling. The reading I took from this is when there is a Golden Age, it is already failing because it has people who are willing to latch onto power and allow Darkness in. The Darkness offered humanity power and converted/subverted it.

Most human/eliksni contacts were with House of Devils, the absolute worst of the Eliksni. It's basically the same thing as if aliens' only contact with humanity was through nazis or the Mongols of the 13th century. In my opinion, the guardian viewing the Fallen as xeno scum to kill is very understandable: the Devils butchered their way across Earth, Saint-14 launched his Crusade once Twilight Gap broke the Fallen offensive.

It is actually very human. The Eliksni stubbornly refusing to stop fighting humans, and continuing a war that seems doomed (most houses collapsed and formed House of Dusk, before it too collapsed) proves that they think and feel likz humans

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In-universe, Saint-14's Crusade took place chronologically before Twilight Gap. It's possible it might have even forced the issue, although that's complete conjecture or even lore conflicting against other lore.

Sekris inspired Taniks after he went on his world-burning crusade, and Taniks was at Twilight Gap.

From this point I'll be replying a lot less if at all because it's literally slowing down my writing to do so. I have a limited amount of time and I can only do so much in it. If you disagree with me, I apologize. I'd prefer to continue writing, and I hope I've made my point of view on the matter clear enough. Thank you for your comments and engagement with this story, and I hope you continue to read.

 

[ChaoticSky]

What I said was I'm afraid of having the narrative become extremely condescending to the world she's currently participating in or being condescending to the culture/eliksni because Destiny has an issue of humanity (with awoken being a subset of humanity albeit removed) being colonialist/downright horrifying. This is a trend in Isekai, and you can see me respond to someone about Shaxx and the Girl beating him. My point is when the world is turned into a toy, it becomes disrespectful at best, treating the inhabitants as unthinking and simplifying complex issues instead of attempting to treat them with any sense of gravitas. GATE is an alt-right colonialist nationalist propaganda piece. It's a frightening look at what I would like to avoid. It takes on entirely more horrific levels when what Japan has done in the past comes to the fore, along with denial in this regard. I digress.

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Exactly so! And sort of my point. Gate being what it is was no accident, it was very much what its creator intended when he made it. Takumi Yanai didnt accidentally a horrifying example of nationalism driven colonial conquest. But rather wrote a story to glorify his deeply held notions. Its why i was so confused that you were worried about doing it by accident. I dont see you tripping over your keyboard one day and ending up with Gate 2: Destiny Boogaloo.

So i guess what im saying is you should have more confidence in yourself as a writer.

Example being Saint-14's Xenocide Crusade, killing civilians as well as enemy eliksni, radicalizing the remnants and turning them against humanity. Then having Saint-14 brought back. He's a likable character, and an enjoyable dude. But he's a monster in-lore.

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I mean i dont disagree with anything youve said about the Eliksni, i know how they are potrayed in the lore. And i have noted Saint-14 in this thread as basically being Hitler as far as the Fallen are concerned.

The canon relationship between the Eliksni and Humanity is basically genocide pingpong.

But i still lament what could have been if they and humanity had joined hands instead of trying to maul each other constantly. XD

 

[Ridiculously Average Guy]

Another Destiny thread brought up the interesting idea that (at least on the human end) part of the problem is that the Guardians are immortal/unaging, so when one learns to hate the Eliksni that hate lasts for centuries. There's little room for things to cool down except for people out in the edges and newbie arisen (so, again, out in the edges).

Edit: That isn't to say some Elliksni don't live long, but the entire group isn't made of salty immortals.

 

[Delta Prime]

That isn't to say some Elliksni don't live long, but the entire group isn't made of salty immortals.

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True enough, there are only 2 known ones after all. Taniks, the Eliksni that won't stay dead, and the infamous Randal the Vandal.

 

[Stahor]

Some Guardians/Risen are stronger and more capable.

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Sorry about getting back to it, but i remembered one thing.
In Exo Challenge - Agility, Clovis says that (first two) stages was specifically programmed for Elsie.
While she had best exo body money can't buy, she clearly was able to clear them before Light empowerment was a thing for anyone.
Task is trivial for Young Wolf, and presumably was quite hard for Elsie at the time.
But, it shows what could be done with just tech, so i'd expect baseline Risen being at least at the level of top-tier exo body.

 

[Ridiculously Average Guy]

I wonder if Rose is going to transition between different 'classes' over the years? Like, right now she's solidly Titan, but might be she spends some time as a Hunter or Warlock as she changes methodology and approach towards the Light. Perhaps she ends up tying different mindsets to different approaches to combat. Something like:
Void - Titan
Solar - Warlock
Arc - Hunter

She's struggling to use Solar as a Titan, for example, but perhaps it might work for her with a change in methodology? IDK, just trying to create some discussion.

 

[ChaoticSky]

I wonder if Rose is going to transition between different 'classes' over the years? Like, right now she's solidly Titan, but might be she spends some time as a Hunter or Warlock as she changes methodology and approach towards the Light. Perhaps she ends up tying different mindsets to different approaches to combat. Something like:
Void - Titan
Solar - Warlock
Arc - Hunter

She's struggling to use Solar as a Titan, for example, but perhaps it might work for her with a change in methodology? IDK, just trying to create some discussion.

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Not really how it works in Destiny.

 

[Shikimalord]

As I understand it, in game the classes are just how they tend to fight and use their powers. In theory a Guardian could use any of the elements at any time, no "switching". Presumably most focus on learning and practicing with whatever element they feel closest to. In Roses' case she seems to have some kind of psychological issue preventing her from using Solar.

 

[VampirelordX]

Shaw Han says stasis killed many during the fall but we don't know how it came to be.

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I wouldn't be using Shaw Han As a source of info. The darkness (or if you want to get into semantics, the pyramid ships and that which inhabits them) killed many during the fall (they literally moved the core of Titan using gravity manipulation). He sees Stasis as the Darkness, not and aspect of the Darkness which it is. Stasis is the weaponized philosophy of the Winnower. To be honest I think we should be calling the Doom Doritos, The Veiled to differentiate them from the Darkness. The Veiled caused the Collapse on command of The Winnower; the Darkness is a Fundamental and necessary force in the current Destiny universe. Remember what the Nine showed The Drifter of a universe made solely of Light and Darkness. One had truly Immortal beings Begging for death, the other had only death.

 

[Ringed in Spears]

Sorry about getting back to it, but i remembered one thing.
In Exo Challenge - Agility, Clovis says that (first two) stages was specifically programmed for Elsie.
While she had best exo body money can't buy, she clearly was able to clear them before Light empowerment was a thing for anyone.
Task is trivial for Young Wolf, and presumably was quite hard for Elsie at the time.
But, it shows what could be done with just tech, so i'd expect baseline Risen being at least at the level of top-tier exo body.

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Article:

so now lets assume that it takes about 5-6 seconds for the elevator to reach the orbital satellite based off the in-game animation that equates to 8113368mph or 73970gs

our guardians would be pancakes in the bottom of those elevators

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/DestinyTheGame/comments/k0bdxy/the_speed_of_a_space_elevator/gdhco60/

QED Our Guardians should be able to tank rocket launchers to the face, along with railguns and reentry.

I wouldn't be using Shaw Han As a source of info. The darkness (or if you want to get into semantics, the pyramid ships and that which inhabits them) killed many during the fall (they literally moved the core of Titan using gravity manipulation). He sees Stasis as the Darkness, not and aspect of the Darkness which it is. Stasis is the weaponized philosophy of the Winnower. To be honest I think we should be calling the Doom Doritos, The Veiled to differentiate them from the Darkness. The Veiled caused the Collapse on command of The Winnower; the Darkness is a Fundamental and necessary force in the current Destiny universe. Remember what the Nine showed The Drifter of a universe made solely of Light and Darkness. One had truly Immortal beings Begging for death, the other had only death.

Click to shrink...

The Awoken were made in conflict, she reminded me. All her people volunteered to return from heaven to fight and die in the cosmic war. They are by nature and by doom drawn to that edge, that place of tension. And she has her own prejudices: she has made terrible, ruthless choices in the name of salvation from Darkness, so she cannot dismiss its power without in a way dismissing herself.

All that said, she told me, "I believe in balance. But to seek balance is not to seek equity. A sea half of water and half of poison is not in balance. A body half alive and half dead is not in balance. Given the choice to live in any world, any world at all… we would need a little Darkness in it, I think, to keep the balance true. But not so much as we would need the Light…

Click to shrink...

Source required for Veiled existence beyond dubious leaks.

 

[Ringed in Spears]

Lucky as a Servitor ​

---

They installed the last parts into the servitor away from the shantytown, in case it turned on them. The purple light in its center flickered to life, and it floated into the air, hovering. It didn't move, or attack. It didn't seem to recognize them as threats or otherwise, taking no action at all.

"I expected it to run," the girl said. "Run away, I mean. Did we miss something?"

Missy prodded it. The servitor moved slightly, but didn't respond. "Must be something wrong with the software or hardware," she said. "Or maybe it's in a wait-state. Ghost?"

Her ghost hovered around the servitor, blue streams of Light jetting out into the servitor's surface. "If there's something wrong with it, I can't tell what it is. It's possible we could take it to the Fallen in this state, and they'd know what to do,"

"That's a shame," the girl said. "Can you get any data from it?"

"It might have wiped itself to prevent that," Missy's ghost said. "I've got some data fragments here. Could be a star map?"

"Did it pilot the ship?" the girl asked. "A portable autopilot of sorts?"

"Might have been," Missy said. "Or an auxiliary replacement for a more complex one. Interesting. Wonder what system they came from. What sort of technological steps encouraged this. Do they lose ships often, and are servitors prized above ships? Was it delegated to servitors because they share the likeness of the Traveler?"

"Every servitor must be extremely valuable," the girl murmured to herself. "Shields for allies, a living computer capable of piloting ships, and who knows what else."

"Yes," Missy said. She hummed to herself. "How's your Fallen language coming along?"

"I know like thirty words," the girl said. "That's generous. I know some words, and some syllables those words are made out of. I sound like an idiot attempting to cobble these together in the hope they make something recognizable."

"Good enough," said Missy. "Take the servitor with you. I got the bullet holes repaired too."

The girl looked the servitor over. "This'll either go extremely well, or it'll go extremely poorly," she said, letting out a sigh.

---

Ixis had been waiting, seated in the usual spot. They looked up to see her, gently pushing the servitor along. They looked confused, as much as a Fallen could appear to be confused. Their jaw shifted, and they stood, moving up the hill to the servitor.

The girl backed off. She didn't want to give any indication she'd done anything wrong. Even worse would have been to imply she'd broken the servitor in the first place.

Ixis paced around the servitor, looking at marks on it, then glancing over to the girl. She noticed the lower set of arms showed some level of growth. She'd have to mention it to Missy. Ixis approached her, and reached a trembling hand toward her shoulder, tugging at one of the red cloths there. Ixis gestured at the cloth, then swept their hand toward the servitor.

"The Devil's servitor?" she asked. "Eia. Yes. I think. We took it from them."

"Roze," Ixis said, then pointed toward the servitor, then their body. "Gift?"

She nodded, pointing toward the servitor, then to him. "Eia," she said. "It's yours, if you want it. I don't know what they're for."

Ixis made a clicking, chittering noise, moving back to the servitor, tapping it, examining it, then took tools from belt pouches, beginning to take pieces off it, looking through its innards before putting it back together. Words followed, in a quick stream she couldn't keep up with. Ixis didn't sound annoyed, on the contrary, the rumble almost sounded enthused, and the Fallen's body language was animated, moving around the servitor before stopping and looking back at the girl, seeming to realize she was still there.

"Ixis," Ixis said, pointing carefully at their body, then pointing away. "Meliksni." It was followed by a stream of words she couldn't keep up with.

"Rose," said the girl, pointing at herself, struggling to follow. "Meliksni?"

Ixis let out a chittered sigh, making what seemed like an annoyed gesture. "Nama. No." Then, the Fallen gestured to her, then to the ground, and sat, indicating she should do the same.

After she did so, Ixis patted her on the shoulder and left.

The girl waited, confused.

---

Two Fallen came down the hill. One was Ixis, the other was slightly different, but wore a similar uniform.

"Iriksis," said the other Fallen, in a trilling growl. They moved toward the servitor, skirting around the girl. Iriksis took components from their belt, beginning to carefully remove panels once more from the servitor, and then proceeded to tinker with the core, removing brilliant circuitry and replacing it with a series of circular panels and lenses. The servitor flickered to life, letting out soft noises, swiveling as it peered around. Iriksis spoke to it softly, and it followed the Fallen away.

Ixis remained, and gestured, indicating the girl should follow.

They came across a contraption of Fallen make, which unfolded outward into a beam, punching into the earth. Ixis waited, and eventually blue crystals came from the earth. The Fallen picked up one of the crystals, and pantomimed offering it.

Not to the girl, but to someone or something else.

Ixis placed the glimmer crystal on the ground and sketched out a sphere in the air, the size of the servitor.

"You offer the glimmer to the servitor," the girl said. "Eia, I understand."

Ixis mimed taking a cup from the servitor, and drinking.

"They make food?" the girl asked. "And you need the glimmer to process it. So this glimmer will allow you and your friends to eat." She mimed the process, trying to indicate she understood. "Interesting. Why take me here?"

Ixis stepped around the machine, pointing at the distant spire, then at the girl.

"You're afraid of other humans? Of the people who used to be at the sniper's skyscraper?" the girl pinched the bridge of her nose, hating how little she seemed to understand when any real complexity was introduced. A game of charades where the language barrier grew exponentially, and it was difficult to confirm whether or not she truly understood. She could have nodded and blankly smiled, and it might have been just as effective as her frustrated attempts to understand.

Ixis moved around the machine, then held their hands up, pushing away from their body.

"You want the people from the skyscraper not to come," she said. "You're asking me so you can continue helping your friends. Family? Ghost, is this thing hurting anyone?"

Her ghost emerged, and Ixis stared at her as she played scanning Light over the contraption. "No," her ghost said. "It appears to be a glimmer mining drill. Goes for underground nodes. Not much else."

"You're telling me all this time we could have been digging for glimmer?" the girl asked.

"Not like it would have helped find relic iron for your obsession," her ghost said.

"True," the girl said, and then nodded to Ixis. "Eia, Ixis. I'll tell others to stay away."

"A gesture of trust," mused her ghost, before decompiling. "Trust for trust."

"I just want to stop saying yes and no this often," said the girl, as Ixis seemed to accept the resolution of their attempts at negotiation. "I feel like pointing and saying yes or no while we struggle to identify what we're discussing is a large part of… this."

"You're learning their language," whispered her ghost. "It's often slow, and difficult. We found out more information about them today, and it'll allow us to better communicate in the long run. Small steps."

"Voice of encouraging moderation," the girl said.

She parted ways with Ixis, returning back to the shantytown and sharing her finds with Missy.

"They packed servitors full of surprises," said Missy, stalking around a projected diagram and footage of the glimmer drill. "So they feed servitors glimmer, and the servitors process it into some sort of drink they require. Doubt it's a luxury if they're going this close to human territory for it. Interesting. So if someone were to kill or deprive them of their servitors, they would die."

"Are their servitors in short supply?" the girl asked. "We saw a few on the battlefield at the SIVA spire."

"No, but it's a strategy we could use to deprive them of resources," Missy said. "Or we could deny them access to glimmer nodes. Either would work, although they're likely to have stores of both. Just food for thought when dealing with the Devils."

The girl nodded. "They're priority targets anyway, if they can shield allies with Void."

"Yes," Missy said. "Wish we could get a few of our own."

"Let me know if there's any willing to join our cause," said the girl with a smirk. "I'd be happy to accept them. They seem useful. Bet it would be real annoying for enemies to fight against. Shield me, and I shield it."

Missy let out a chuckle.

---

The girl ended up on the pier again, looking out at the night sea. It was dark, but she could hear the sound of the waves below, crashing against stone. "Everyone around me has a name," she said.

"You don't need one if you don't want one," said her ghost.

"Thanks," she said. "I'm indecisive."

"I hadn't noticed," her ghost said dryly. "You hide it so well."

"I do," the girl said. "At least when I'm charging into fights. It all seems so clear there. There's a solution to the fight, and I have to find it or die. Protect friends. Deal with, or kill those trying to kill us."

"Macabre but true," her ghost said.

"This should be simple," said the girl.

"Are you sure you just don't want it because Mynah foisted it on you?" her ghost asked.

"Ha," the girl said, then paused. "Maybe. I do know she'd never let me live it down. I'm stubborn. Contrarian, maybe?"

"I hadn't noticed that either," said her ghost. Her synthesized voice radiated smugness, as she fluttered her shell in a dismissive fashion.

"My ghost doesn't see very well, but she's very kind," said the girl.

"I do my best," said her ghost. "Sorry for overlooking some of your flaws. I'll be sure to loudly call them out in the future."

"In combat too, I hope," the girl said.

"Of course. I'll be as specifically helpful as I can, and nitpick everything," said her ghost.

"This sounds awful," said the girl, settling back and looking up at the moon as it sank behind clouds. The stars stood out in the sky.

"I do my best," said her ghost. "I heard we wouldn't have been able to see the stars with this level of clarity if this was the Golden Age. Too many lights on earth blocking out the stars."

"And now, nothing," the girl said, looking for patterns in the lights overhead.

"Well," her ghost said. "I'd like to see humanity seen from space again, with little Lights showing the way."

"You're such an idealist," the girl said, pushing her ghost.

"Wouldn't it be nice?" her ghost asked. "To be out there in the stars, and have Light guiding you home? To have a place we can return to and be safe in?"

"Yeah," the girl said, looking out at the stars, as the moon slipped back out, casting a pale light into the dark waters. "Yeah, I guess it would."

 

[Poratoe]

Really exited to see how the relationship between these fallen and humaity develop further.

 

[Ridiculously Average Guy]

This has to be such a spot of hope for these Eliksni, which makes me suspect things will devolve at some point.

As I understand it, in game the classes are just how they tend to fight and use their powers. In theory a Guardian could use any of the elements at any time, no "switching". Presumably most focus on learning and practicing with whatever element they feel closest to. In Roses' case she seems to have some kind of psychological issue preventing her from using Solar.

Click to shrink...

I'm saying that, because of said psychological issue, I wonder if she might not try different mindsets and manners of fighting so as to properly access Solar and stuff.

I understand the classes are artificial limitations, but they are the rough deliniations of 'schools of thought' for how Guardians fight and stuff.

 

[MyrddinTheMad]

I understand the classes are artificial limitations, but they are the rough deliniations of 'schools of thought' for how Guardians fight and stuff.

Click to shrink...

Even with the artificial limitations, there's a fair amount of cross pollination. The bladedancer hunters learned to Blink from warlocks, different classes of the same light type often have similar grenade options, at least one iron lord was learning different types of mele attacks from others. Hell, it was a Sunbreaker titan that knew how Sunsingers/Saw blade abilities worked that made the Sunbreaker/Sunbracer gauntlets and the Sunshot hand cannon.

 

[ChaoticSky]

This has to be such a spot of hope for these Eliksni, which makes me suspect things will devolve at some point.

I'm saying that, because of said psychological issue, I wonder if she might not try different mindsets and manners of fighting so as to properly access Solar and stuff.

I understand the classes are artificial limitations, but they are the rough deliniations of 'schools of thought' for how Guardians fight and stuff.

Click to shrink...

Its less a 'school of thought' and more a natural expression of how they use and connect with the Light. Titans are defenders, Hunters are explorers, Warlocks are scholars. This allows them to naturally express their light in certain ways, shaped by their talents, personality and way of thinking. Not taking the path of least resistance doesnt actually change anything though. The Light is potential, after all.

If a Titan threw on a cape and learned a Hunter super, melee and grenade ability... they would still be a Titan, just using their light in a unconventional way. Theres no way for a Titan to become a Hunter or a Warlock. Its... not what you do, its what you are.

 

[Uhdnrt]

The classes also represent the three primary schools of thought in regards to how the light is used: physical enhancement, energy projection, and sensory effects. Pwhile all three classes use all three categories to a greater or lesser extent, you can see the theme of abilities with Titans and their physical enhancements, warlocks and their direct energy manipulation, and hunters with all of the sensory and passive abilities that are built into various skills.