#destiny 2 io

[adventuresofchip]

A moon of Jupiter, still rife with the energy of the Traveler.

[brontios-helm]

Destiny 2: Asher's Articulation

[vulshokbersrker]

Journey to Io, home of the Pyramidion. Talk to Asher to learn about the dangers of the Vex, while the Vex slowly convert his biology. Or visit the sacred areas of the Warlocks, where the Traveler once laid in the Golden Age.

[telestoapologist]

Positivity time! What are y’all’s top fav Destiny locations? My three go-to’s are

Titan

Riis Reborn, Europa

Neptune/Neomuna

edit: oh! it appears a lot of people are missing the tags! y'all are more than welcome to add more than three if you'd like 💖 i just put three to keep it simple and not make the post too big!

[mechanical-artery]

its MY birthday and and I get to make everyone look at this old guy

[eosofspades]

godddd thinking about the red war first couple missions and going insane . that was so good and for what

[jei-rifni]

Aggie with a friend

More at the bottom (not really jjba specific) some anatomy stuff and Destiny 2 guardians

Im the blue pen and my friend Lau is the black pen

[thefirstknife]

What are the Tones?

Whomst've asked me this. You're fuelling my unending obsession, thank you.

I posted about the tones before! Most of it is listed in this post! But I'd like to add some stuff now that it's been some time since then.

The tones are noises made by the spires on Mercury (Lighthouses). Whenever someone dies, the spires emit a tone. They basically react to death in various ways, depending on how the death happens; there's different tones to dying to Light as well as different tones to a perma-death. This is peculiar because nobody could hear them except Brother Vance.

He made Trials of Osiris to study them (because it's an endless source of Guardians dying over and over). Mara knew about his research (Trials was accessed in the Reef in D1) and warned him to stop because it's dangerous. It's unclear why. Osiris did the same years later. As a matter of fact, Osiris was super dramatic about it:

"What I have discovered…" "…is dangerous enough to destroy every man, woman, and child in existence. You're meddling with forces outside your grasp," Osiris reprimanded.

The tones are interesting because they're still largely unexplained. Mara implied that they symbolise Guardians being attuned to Darkness and being able to wield it, which is true, but Osiris' reaction implies something more. And it has to be more, because Osiris detected the same tones as coming from the anomalies of the missing planets and from the Pyramids. Long post under:

In my previous post I also connected that to the fact that egregore seems to be emitting some sort of sound/frequency attuned to the same thing: anomalies, Pyramids and, obviously, to the source of it all (the Witness). So there's some sort of frequency in Darkness that is audible and comes from all places connected to the Darkness network (and that network manifests physically as egregore). And in this case, anomalies and Pyramids (and ships infested with egregore like Glykon and Leviathan) are fine; it makes sense that they link to the Witness!

But spires on Mercury? Why them? My bestie made a post recently after we went unhinged (again) because the same lore book that deals with the tones also makes a really strong implication that the Vex were deliberately led to Mercury by the Pyramid Fleet in the Collapse. There, the Vex drained Mercury of Light, hollowed out the planet and used its materials to make the spires (and the Infinite Forest, a simulation engine) and then they waited for the Pyramids to return. Which they did, in Arrivals.

To make things more complex, after Titan came back, it was confirmed that the Witness did not take the planets randomly. There was a purpose to each one being stolen. Mars was taken to search through our Golden Age and Collapse database in order to find where the Veil may have been hidden. This could've been just a random coincidence, but then Titan came back and we learned that the Witness wanted Ahsa dead because Ahsa not only knows the origins of the Witness, but also how to get through the portal (and who knows if she has any other potential powers to helps us get in there or help us otherwise).

Io is unclear, but there are many options; it may have been taken for the Pyramidion and Vex stuff which Asher got ahead of. It may have been taken to study the Tree of Silver Wings (the Witness had another seed it gave Calus in Lightfall), or it may have been taken to study the Traveler's past or the Light in general or maybe something else. The point is, there are options that we can understand.

But Mercury? Zero clue. The only thing that may have been of interest is the Infinite Forest, but Vance sealed it so if the Witness took Mercury for that and couldn't get into the Forest, then Mercury would've been useless and probably released sooner unless the Witness is just keeping it out of spite or thought that maybe it would be able to find a way inside. And of course... there's the spires and the tones. Mercury is somehow linked to Darkness and the Witness, it has to be, and we have no clue what the Witness wants with it.

Not only that, but there's another curious thing about Mercury, or rather, the anomaly of it. It was mentioned in Duality dungeon, by Calus. When Calus tried talking to the Witness on the Glykon, the Witness eventually responded and it told Calus to come to the anomaly of Mercury:

Through the Crown of Sorrow, the Voice in the Darkness called out to me, beckoning me to the absence of Mercury. At first, I feared the Leviathan would not survive the journey, as the Glykon had been rent asunder by a similar journey. By my Leviathan, it is strong. Its heart beats anew, and as it pierced the veil of creation... the Voice greeted me. There were such sights to behold.

So when Calus disappeared off the Glykon, he went back to the Leviathan and bolted straight for the Mercury anomaly in which he was able to communicate with the Witness. Why Mercury? Glykon went into the Mars anomaly. Why couldn't the Witness speak to Calus in there? Or in any of the other anomalies? Why specifically Mercury? This is driving me insane.

But if Mercury is somehow connected to the Darkness network through the spires, is it possible that it serves as some sort of a communications hub? Maybe that's why the Witness is still keeping it? And it still is! We can see it in Root of Nightmares, in the Witness' room. Titan is still obviously there as well because it came out before Titan returned, but Mercury and Io are still trapped. This is also confirmed by the tiny excerpt we can see from the TFS Collector's Edition which I talked about in here.

Or the reason for Mercury is something completely different. We have no clue why Mercury was taken and what's going on there and why the Witness called Calus there and why the tones happened and why are they the same tones that can also be heard from anomalies and Pyramids.

To fuel me even more, they decided to drop two lore pieces in Season of the Deep that relate to Mercury and the tones tangentially. I know literally everyone and their grandma thinks that Targeted Redaction is just there to be funny (and so did I at first), but I genuinely can't accept that as being just a joke. The gist of it is that Osiris has no clue who Vance is and that is, to put it simply, impossible.

Obviously Osiris did not like the Cult and they were annoying to him, but he knew Vance. He spoke to him only once, but Vance is the one who told him to "plant the seed," a message that Mara gave him years before. This literally sets up the entire Season of Arrivals. Not only that, but Vance told Osiris about the tones and Osiris was deeply troubled about them. He's the one who continued the research and went around the solar system after planets disappeared, investigating anomalies and discovering that they emit the same tones. He mentions Vance, by name, twice in Immolant:

"Do you hear that?" Osiris asks, turning to Sagira. He turns the ship's scanning array toward the anomaly. "Like the tones Vance described. From the spires, and then the Pyramids. It was coming from the anomaly that replaced Io as well."

"We could use the Crucible right now. Your trials. This will be very helpful. You mean to stay, yes?" "I will. Long enough to show you how to implement the simulation; but tonight, I must disembark," Osiris says. "So soon?" Osiris tenses his jaw in forced silence. He twiddles with code. "I'm worried about what Vance found."

At the same time, Osiris also sends us the seasonal artifact from Hunt, Fang of Xivu Arath. In it, he mentions:

The zealots that followed me to Mercury have proved themselves useful… twice now, actually. They possessed an artifact in their stores: a Hive fang.

The zealots being useful "twice" refers to Vance telling him about the seed and having this artifact kept safely in the Lighthouse (technically, it's three times: in Curse of Osiris, Vance told us where to find the machine to bring Sagira back and it was being kept by the Cult, but it's unclear if we told Osiris the details). Osiris, again, specifically mentions Vance when he recounts where he got it from, in Immolant:

Sagira had chided him for storming the Lighthouse and ransacking Vance's possessions. "They're my relics," he said to silence her protests.

I know Osiris has been through a lot, but his memories are completely and perfectly intact... Except for Vance. That's bizarre to me, given that there's several important points that tie them together, like planting the seed on Io (something he wouldn't have known to do without Vance relaying Mara's message) and research of the tones, something that Osiris spent a lot of time doing and was explicitly worried about; so worried, in fact, that he was willing to part ways with Saint just to continue that research.

In my old post I also mentioned how Osiris even went to Ana to tell her to ask Rasputin if he heard any tones in the Collapse, but Rasputin wasn't up yet. And when Rasputin was finally up, we had much bigger problems to deal with so I assumed that Osiris never asked because the priority was to find what's on Neptune. But now I think that Osiris didn't ask because he doesn't remember. Because the memory of Vance and tones and whatever they mean was deliberately removed from him while Savathun had him imprisoned. Or, perhaps, the Nezarec tea messed with it. After all, Darkness is memory.

This would obviously imply that the tones are something so important and dangerous that Savathun (or someone else) wanted Osiris' knowledge of it removed so that maybe she could have leverage or to know something we don't or perhaps for some other purpose by some other actor. This was such a big point that the entirety of Immolant part 1 is almost exclusively dedicated to Osiris inquiring into the tones.

Another possibility is also that Osiris' memory of Vance was messed with because of Io and the seed and Tree (and then as a consequence, obviously, he would also forget about the tones).

There's also a possibility that Savathun is literally right now messing with me and she did it for no reason at all just to generate imbaru or mess with Osiris or maybe she even wanted to do one nice thing for him and remove the memory of the weird Cult and the tones aren't important at all.

But I don't know. The fact that they're the same thing that the whole Darkness network uses and that ultimately leads to the Witness seems like something that should be important. However, I don't think Mercury will return before TFS, especially since TFS CE has Eido writing about how Mercury is still in the Witness' grasp. But, consider also that we don't know the timeline of when Eido's writing is set. It has to be set after Ahsa's reveal about the Witness' origins, but before TFS. We don't have enough information to tell more. There's also Vex shenanigans to consider, something that will certainly be a plot point post-TFS and Mercury is a prime location for that.

Either way, there's something going on here, added also with the second lore tab release in Season of the Deep that tangentially ties to Mercury, which is Unexpected Resurgence. In it, Shayura is approached by Sister Faora, an incredibly niche character who was leading the Cult of Osiris before Vance. She's shown still wearing the insignia of the Cult. We never learned why she stopped leading them and why Vance took over; she just kinda disappears from the lore book (Trials and Tribulations, the one about the tones). But apparently she's in the City and she's still wearing the Cult robes and she's back in the story... for some reason??

It honestly feels like some sort of a setup for something in the future, something that might deal with Mercury's return. I need to stress just how small she is as a character: she only actually appears in three lore tabs before Unexpected Resurgence, all in the same lore book. The rest of her stuff is just flavour text on the Kairos Function armour pieces from Curse of Osiris. That's it. Why return her in Season of the Deep? Mind boggling.

This whole thing about the tones and Mercury consumes me every day and night. The fact that Deep mentioned Vance in a way easily dismissed as a joke (but also, note the name of the weapon: targeted redaction) as well as Faora coming back is just too wild to me to be a random throwback or a just a joke. Not when it's beyond clear that Osiris should remember Vance, the Cult, the tones and the rest of it. It's even unclear at this point if he remembers that he planted the seed on Io.

So what are the tones? What are they indeed. They're music from the spires of Mercury that reacts to death and uses the same frequency as the entire Darkness network with the Witness at the top. What is their purpose and what is the purpose of Mercury and why did the Witness take it and what is this plotline and when will it be resolved? Summary:

[baede-6]

"I think I could beat Cayde in The Crucible."

A few days later...

Him:"Aaaaaaand apparently I'm against Cayde...Not gonna lie though. I do like my odds here." 😏

Me:"Never bet against me."

The results:

Now,this score normally wouldn't be anything to write home Tumblr about,but the situation in and of itself is (to me. I think this is hilarious and wanted to share.)

Technically,his score is lower than that because two of those defeats were because of my own hubris. I got cocky and was bounding around the map and bounded off of the ledge twice,which,if you think about it,was pretty on brand.

He spent the majority of the second half of the round hiding in his little bubble repeatedly asking where I was. My answer?

"I'm with you, kiddo. Your Light,is my Light. You're my favorite... don't ever forget that." promptly followed by me absolutely smoking him and winning the game.

I strike fear into this Titan's heart and the best part is,he forgets that fear the second we step out of the Crucible.

[angelof-thevoid]

Memorable Moments / Wisdom

Io remained the same in spite of everything else that’s happened. Ikora came to the Jovian moon expecting it to be changed as well, but found the only thing different was her. As a person. Doubtful. Hopeless, and stripped of the light. What was once the steady presence of a background hum is now a gaping void of silence. Emotions that had been long-time strangers now rise back to the surface to force their re-acquaintance if she lingers too long on that thought.

The traveler was caged and the last safe city was no longer safe, overrun with red legion troops making a mess of what humanity had re-built. She scans the horizon, eyes dragged to the focal point of the cradle, a strange series of geometric risings carved out of the yellow sulfur infused ground. Like the beginnings of a project once started but left unfinished and abandoned. 

Like how she abandoned the city. Ikora draws in steady breath as she turns around to face the area commonly dubbed the lost oasis. Lost, like I am. It’s hard for her to reach for the usual faith she holds in the light as Ikora stands by watching idly the taken in the distance near tear shiver and teleport in that unnatural way. She feels powerless. She hates this feeling. 

All the wisdom Ikora possessed seemed outside her reach at this moment, feeling untethered to an integral part of who she was and her belief system. Holding the highest crucible record meant nothing if that bravado was only backed by the strength of her light, who is she outside of that capability? Another cowering mortal, waiting out the oncoming days, seeing which day might be the last?

Who did she want to be was the real question. Her hands tightened for a moment behind her back before deciding to get down in a kneeled position, choosing to meditate on the dilemma. Ikora shuts her eyes and sets her breathing into an even pace as her mind flickers between images of what used to matter to her, what matters now and what always had. 

The pursuit of knowledge. Proving herself and her strength. Learning to study and grow from other’s teachings. Knowing her identity separated from that and knowing when to walk away. Ikora inhales, then exhales.

Her fire team. Zavala. Cayde. Her Hidden. The rest of the guardians and the mortal civilians of the last city. Everyone who is still there, doing their best to survive this current crisis like many others. But this was different, this threat brought right to their doorstep, right on top of their home and safe haven. Ikora clenches her fists in her lap again. How dare they. Taking the traveler and their home. 

Ikora continues her meditation with her evened breathing to prevent herself from feeling overwhelmed, when she hears the tell-tale sound of a jump ship flying overhead. She looks up and sees what she believes to be the guardian’s ship, now hovering to settle in low orbit as they transmat out of the vehicle.

She rises and looks back out toward the cradle, feeling a sort of kinship to it out here half undone and lonely on its own. Ikora hears the guardian’s footsteps behind her with what seems like misplaced confidence, all things considered, and she feels… Wait. She feels the presence of the guardian as she always had, including their light.

The guardian’s light? How? Ghaul cut off the traveler! Ikora kept her surprise inward as she argued internally over this. The guardian had proven to be quite extraordinary, maybe they were somehow unaffected? But there was footage of them falling from high up, like a puppet cut from its strings along with their ghost being spotted searching for them. 

Even so, if it’s possible to have the light returned and the guardian found a way, not all was lost then. If they have that knowledge then that could mean there’s still a chance to turn all of this around. A spark of hope ignites within her chest as Ikora basks in the familiar sense of that background hum of light coming off the guardian, although a part of it seems a little… Changed. 

What that could mean she doesn’t know nor have the wisdom at this present moment to determine. But what it did mean was in her mind a turning point as Ikora addresses the guardian, confiding in them her concerns while still sticking to the wisdom of their faith in the light. And she considers the reappearance of the guardian before her as a sign of that wisdom being true.

[savyir-genesizz-the-wizard]

Part 2 of Cogito stuff I've done lately bc. You guys like him??? I feel honored

Featuring @flowers-of-io's Ór, Osiris and Fenchurch

(also tagging @littleguysdaily bc I used their template)

[aceofdumbass]

Protip: if your best friend/roommate/Izzy/underline not applying doesn't partake in your interests (ie. shipping yaoi), consider adding chitin and insectoid features (to aftermentioned yaoi). Beware of unexpected side effects (old man yaoi specialisation).

[archivists-trove]

Shadows over IO - Photographed before the disappearance of IO on the shores of the Lost Oasis.

[kimberprime]

Io had some really fun OOBs to explore, giving some nice views.

[theclaravita]

Our end begins.

Enjoy this screengrab from the Lightfall trailer. >:D

[chimerabytes]

I still very fondly, on occasion, think about my favorite D2 characters though.

Saint and Osiris are so awesome. I love what they have with each other, I adore them both as individual characters and together as a couple. They prove that Destiny is a story about hope and love in the face of despair and hopeless entropy. Also, their designs are so fuckin cool :]

Drifter is, like, I want to cry so hard about him. You mention him anywhere near me and I'll just go "Hey, wanna see how hard I can cry?" before I go gushing a damn river of tears. He's a silly scrunkly but also deeply traumatized and I just really want to be there for him, and give him all the things ever in the entire world.

Xûr is my little scrunkly. There are MANY other things I could say about him, but I'd just be here for five gazillion years. Just know that I love him, maybe a little too much for my own good. But he deserves a hug I think. I also still regularly think about that one quest where he asks the Guardian at the end of it how it feels to be loved. (Paraphrasing here I think, I don't actually remember it all that well. But I swear it's real. I don't really think its meant to be taken in a romantic light, but my gay ass has run with it as such)

Saladin... I love him! He's gotten some shit for being a pretty stern guy, but he has his reasons for being the way he is. He's definitely changed and evolved as a person too. I want to make him proud in Iron Banner, even though I have the social constitution of the world's scaredest animal ever invented.