#destiny arach jalaal

[ripe-beetle]

A bunch of Destiny NPC's I've been drawing to help practice my portrait skills :] This is the first of a group of 5 (why did I do this to myself)

[theavocadojam]

Arach Jalaal, Dead Orbit

[synnthamonsugar]

ik we talk a lot about Toland and Shin and Asher et. al. when we talk about our odd destiny guys but I think Jalaal needs some love in these conversations. He's a spacer. He's the head of an organization that wants to gtfo from Sol before humanity is done in by like 10 different extinction level threats. He analyzed Truth To Power with Ikora, and philosophized about what Savathun is up to. He rolled up to the aftermath of the Battle of Saturn with the interstellar equivalent of a tow truck and asked to take the scrap. He's a little into the idea of being force-choked by Petra. His aesthetic is kinda goth cryptarch appalachian trail thru-hiker. Why are we sleeping on him?

[zalia]

Truth to Power, Chiasmus, and the Final Shape (or, has anyone else noticed we're playing the story backwards?)

Through a set of circumstances, I ended up getting onto an unhinged rambling session at 3am so thanks to my friend who let me (one time when different time zones was actually useful).

Some of this may be a little bit of a reach, but I think it bears out, and i've put the truly out there thoughts at the end.

Contains spoilers for Season of the Wish finale, and basically of Destiny, including the Final Shape trailers and ViDocs.

Okay, lets talk about Truth to Power and Ikora and Arach Jalaal's discussion of it in the Witch Queen CE.

Truth to Power is a lore book from Forsaken and it is... odd to say the least. It starts out as a message from 'Eris' and then cycles through other characters Eris > Medusa > Quria > Dul Incaru > Savathun, and then back again. It includes a 'choose your own adventure' section, a hidden challenge to defeat Shattered Throne solo at light level 999, a hidden note to data miners, and talks a lot about Ahamkara, the Distributary and the Dreaming City, black holes, and Savathun's (potential) plans regarding it. Especially the idea of moving through worlds contained within worlds via black holes.

In the Hidden Dossier decoded from the Witch Queen CE, Ikora and Arach Jalaal discuss this book, it's many readings, and what it might mean.

One thing that comes up is that the story uses a literary device called 'chiasmus'

REY >> JALAAL Look at the structure of the text. At first, Eris is real. Then we learn Eris's voice is a deception by Medusa. Then we learn Medusa is nested inside Quria. Then we learn Quria is a fiction of Dûl Incaru. And at the center, Savathûn reveals herself to be the parent of it all. We are headed inward, as if moving from parent to child universe. Then we proceed in reverse. Savathûn is revealed to be a fiction of Dûl Incaru. Dûl Incaru a simulation by Quria, and so on. So in the end, Truth to Power moves outwards. Just as Savathûn plans to move. In from our universe and out to the Distributary— Or out from our universe to its parent. JALAAL >> REY Oh. I see. I see! A literary structure like that is called a chiasmus, and chiasmus means "crossing point"! Like a wormhole or a portal! It was hidden in plain sight.

They can also be thought of as ring structures. We end at the beginning.

Which incidentally is the tag line for the Akashic Revelation lore from Season of the Deep about a Guardian trying to enter the portal in the Traveller and getting visions of his original human life!

Which will become relevant i swear.

Lots of people have commented about the finale cutscene from Season of the Wish, and how it mirrors Forsaken - with Crow at Cayde's mercy, vs Cayde at Uldren's mercy. And you can kind of look at Crow's story in general as a reflection of Uldren's. Crow resurrected > Imprisoned by Spider > Manipulated by Savathun > Growing into himself and his freedom as a guardian > Reconciliation with Mara > Jumping through a portal to another facet of reality

vs

Uldren following Mara out of the Distributary > the growing distance between him and Mara > Prince of the Awoken, tricking Guardians, visiting the Black Garden > his growing madness leading to his imprisonment in the Prison of Elders and manipulation by Riven (who was controlled by Savathun) > Death

There's another cycle (there are many cycles) I noticed with Saint and Osiris.

Vanguard Commanders > Separation+Exile > Saint's loss of the Light + death > [Sundial Incident] > Osiris' loss of the Light and imprisonment > [Nezarec Tea Incident] > Recovery+being reunited > Vanguard Commanders

We've also had in the ViDoc the mention of receiving the Khvostov because it's the first weapon we ever use in D1, returning to the freeway we were resurrected at, returning to the beginning.

With me so far?

We've ended Season of the Wish with a redux version of the final fight of D1 Vanilla - the destruction of the Black Heart. Symbolically bringing us back to the start of our journey. But if you look at a lot of the themes of recent seasons... we've been travelling backwards loosely through a reflection of D1's storylines.

Season of the Wish/D1 Vanilla

In D1, we are guided to enter the Black Garden and destroy the Black Heart created by the Vex. This is the story where we first encounter Mara and Uldren who send us to get the eye of a Vex Gate Lord to enter the Garden. Which involves us going to the Ishtar Academy on Venus to find out more about the Vex (incidentally this is also where the Vex Citadel is located - something which has been very prominently visible in the Starcrossed Mission).

In Season of the Wish, we are following up work done by Maya Sundaresh and Chioma Esi of the Ishtar Collective on the Veil which was revealed to be what the Black Heart was trying to recreate. We're working with Mara and Crow (and Crow even lampshades the original story in a joke about the eye of a Vex Gate Lord!). Eventually we end up confronting the Vex and destroying a new copy of the Black Heart.

Season of the Witch/The Dark Below

In the Dark Below, we are guided by Eris to stop the resurrection of Crota by disrupting a ritual, and eventually kill him in his Throne World in the Crota's End raid.

In Season of thr Witch, we take part in a ritual to tithe to Eris to help her ascend into becoming the Hive god of vengeance so that she can cut Xivu Arath off from her Throne World

Eris: Crota's soul is banished. You have given me the gift of vengeance. I thank you… - D1

Season of the Deep/The Taken King

I admit that this is out of order and a little more of a stretch, but chiasmus is not necessarily an exact thing and I think the parallels are there.

In The Taken King, we are confronted with Oryx's fleet arriving in the system to get revenge for the killing of Crota. He destroys a large portion of the Awoken Fleet who were there to buy us time, including killing Mara Sov (she had a plan and got better!). We have to pretend to be Ascendant Hive to face him on the Dreadnaught (which is created from the body of one of the Worm Gods) and we take shards of his sword to create our own. Eventually we face him in King's Fall, use his hoarded stolen Light and free it to defeat him.

In Season of the Deep, we have the sudden reappearance of Titan in the system sent by Xivu Arath. We have Sloane who has willingly become half Taken to learn about Xivu's plans and undermine them, and she is supported by Ahsa, one of the proto-worms who is seemingly akin to the Worm Gods (Eris uses her name and the name of her slaughtered family in her ritual in Season of the Witch, alongside the names of the Worm Gods). We save Ahsa, Sloane is possessed briefly by Xivu but recovers. We also enter a pyramid and take a gift of Darkness (Wicked Implement) left to us by Xivu.

Also we have a whole dungeon about the Lucent Hive trying to resurrect Oryx and Xivu's voice memories regarding him and everything about the Hive.

Season of Defiance/House of Wolves

In House of Wolves, Skolas, Kell of Wolves, is freed from his imprisonment by one of the Nine. he declares himself Kell of Kells, frees his followers from the Prison of Elders, attempts to assassinate Mara Sov. Mara, angered by this, gives Guardians the freedom of the Reef to hunt Skolas down as he tries to unite the various houses. He eventually breaks into the Vault of Glass to bring Wolves from the past to aid him. We stop him, capture him, and eventually kill him in the Prison of Elders. This leads to a very slight improvement of relations between the Reef and the City, although the Awoken, barring Petra, are still mainly ambivalent and Mara is absolutely only interested in us as a means to an end.

In Season of Defiance, the Shadow Legion are capturing humans and Eliksni and imprisoning them on the pyramid ships. We are aided in their rescue by Misraaks, once of the House of Wolves (as was his mother) now Kell of Light (and potentially Kell of Kells eventually???), and Mara Sov, who comes to aid us, willingly using her power to let us walk the Ascendant plane in order to rescue our people. It very much solidifies the alliance between the City and the Reef.

So essentially, House of Wolves is former allies of the Reef turning on them to destroy them. Season of Defiance is former enemies banding together to save their people.

Also Taniks is in House of Wolves, and conspicuously mentioned in Season of Defiance.

Lightfall/The Red War

Again, out of order slightly, but the more I think about it, the more I see the parallels.

In the Red War, the Last City is attacked by the Red Legion led by Dominus Ghaul who is obsessed with claiming the Light, and captures the Speaker. The Guardians lose the Light and are driven out of the City. We have to regain our Light abilities from the Shard of the Traveller that we are guided to. The Speaker is killed after admitting the Traveller doesn't speak to him. We go to gather our allies once more, assault the City, fight Ghaul who is then destroyed by the Light when the Traveller awakens. The Black Fleet is shown to activate at the edge of the System.

In Lightfall, we follow Osiris who has had a vision of Neptune. We arrive in Neomuna which is a City under assault from the Shadow Legion led by Calus (who was exiled and deposed by Ghaul). Our Light abilities are suppressed so we have to master Strand which is seemingly a product of the Veil. We gather our allies, including Caiatl who had taken over command after Ghaul's death, and combat the Shadow Legion's assault on Neomuna. We fight and defeat Calus who has been granted Darkness abilities. But the Witness communes with the Veil, damages the Traveller, and most of the Black Fleet leaves the system to enter the Traveller.

Season of the Seraph/Rise of Iron

In Rise of Iron, we're called by Saladin Forge, the last of the Iron Lords, to stop the Eliksni House of Devils from taking control of SIVA, the nanomachine plague which killed the other Iron Lords when they went to seek it to save humanity, because Rasputin got mad that the Traveller resurrected his son as Felwinter. We fight the SIVA animated corpses of some of the Iron Lords and destroy the replication chamber. We fight the Devil Splicers who have been augmented by SIVA.

In Season of the Seraph, we are working to recover a damaged Rasputin and stop Xivu Arath from taking control of Rasputin's Warsat network and weapons. We enter bunkers to recover his data, including returning to Felwinter Peak to recover Felwinter's memories which leads to Rasputin sacrificing himself to save humanity, where before he had sacrificed the Iron Lords for his own selfishness. We also fight Witness animated corpses of Eliksni (the Scorn) and Eliksni Wrathborn infected by Xivu Arath's cryptoliths (which can also infect computer systems). Eramis, once a Baron of the House of Devils has to see and grieve her friends and comrades turned into mindless puppets, as Saladin once had to see the Iron Lords turned into puppets by SIVA.

I think there's also a note to be had about how we're doing these repeats. In D1 the vast majority of the time, we are alone. We are not yet the Young Wolf, the Godslayer, the hero. We are just one random Guardian.

In D1 vanilla, there's no real mission control. You have Elsie Bray tell you to follow a signal and give you some info, but then you are on your own. Mara and Uldren are quite relaxed about potentially getting you killed. In Season of the Wish, we are guided by Osiris and Mara, aided by Crow. We have people with us every step of the way. At this point in D1, Petra was more or less exiled from the Reef. In Season of the Wish, she is one of Mara's greatest supports, and you can hear how much Mara cares about her.

The Dark Below has you guided by an Eris who is alone, untrusted and seen as crazy at best, or a genuine threat to the City at worst. She has nothing in her life but vengeance. In Season of the Witch, we have an Eris who has Ikora and Drifter and Mara there to support her and who trust her. The worry is mostly for her rather than about her.

We have gone from the Last City being a last bastion of humanity with the whole universe against us, to one of two cities, filled with those we had once called enemies.

Conclusion

So yeah, a theory that we're travelling back through our story, a chiasmus (there may well be other parallels in previous seasons too) which is taking us right back to the start of our story.

Except here's the thing... Elsie Bray is the one who starts things off by having us destroy the Black Heart. It's implied to be the major event that changed things. But Elsie's timeloops are stated to always take her back way before our resurrection, to the moment when Cayde becomes Hunter Vanguard.

Well, we're just about to get Cayde back.

So what happens when you reach the beginning/end of the story and yet it continues? We're outside the boundaries of this story now! Off the path we've been following!

But unlike when we were resurrected, alone save for Ghost, when we go into the Pale Heart, we will not be going alone. We've come through the chiasmus and we've done things better, built alliances, made friends, united the Light and the Darkness.

So when we step beyond the boundaries of the storyI would suggest one thing – Guardians make their own fates.

The actual unhinged theorising

So, there was one connection my mind made at like 7am when I briefly woke up after going to bed at 4am. A Chismus is kind of like a labyrinth.

In English, Labyrinth is often synonymous to maze, and it can be! However maze and labyrinth are also used as specialised terms - a maze is a multicursal puzzle with many branching paths, while a labyrinth is unicursal, and has only one winding path to the centre and out again.

You can see them in lots of places, including places of worship where they can represent symbols of pilgrimage, or a path to enlightment/salvation. Walking them can be used as a form of meditation. And historically they've also had sometimes been used as a way to trap evil spirits, or turn away evil.

So a Chiasmus is a ring structure, and you follow it from start to finish then back to start, and a labyrinth is a unicursal winding path that takes you to the centre and then back out again, and the story of Destiny is (loosely) following that structure.

There is one specific labyrinth I think it's worth looking at.

This is a labyrinth carved into the portico of Lucca Cathedral in Italy. The inscription is Latin and translated reads "This is the labyrinth built by Dedalus of Crete; all who entered therein were lost, save Theseus, thanks to Ariadne's thread"

This is the seal for Season of Arrivals... oh hey that... that looks familiar.

This is from the Live Action Witch Queen trailer showing the Cradle on Mars with... oh wait... is that... the same fucking labyrinth?

It crops up in a lot of places in Destiny. You will see it everywhere.

Where am I going with this?

Look at the inscription for the Lucca Cathedral labyrinth: "This is the labyrinth built by Dedalus of Crete; all who entered therein were lost, save Theseus, thanks to Ariadne's thread"

We know the story of Thesus and the Minotaur. He was able to find his way through thanks to a spool of thread given to him by Ariadne (oh hey, guess what subclass we just got in the last expansion...).

Well, Ariadne's Thread is the name for a method of solving puzzles by an exhaustive application of logic to all available routes. Wikipedia says about this method:

At any moment that there is a choice to be made, make one arbitrarily from those not already marked as failures, and follow it logically as far as possible.

If a contradiction results, back up to the last decision made, mark it as a failure, and try another decision at the same point. If no other options exist there, back up to the last place in the record that does have options, mark the failure at that level, and proceed onward.

That sounds kind of Vex-like huh? Or even more specifically... sounds almost like what Elsie Bray has been doing. She is reset each time to the last set point (Cayde becoming Hunter Vanguard), and in each loop she tests paths up until destruction. It's how she comes to realise that she has to be the person who finds stasis first.

Each loop cuts off a branch of the maze, a set of possibilities that do not lead to the right outcome. And cutting off each branch until there is only one path turns it into a labyrinth.

I've thought for a while that it feels like something is iterating, working through every option until all the pieces align and there is only one path. Making sure the chiasmus works.

Piecing together a perfectly constructed bomb to take on the sword, which will detonate into the exact kind of chaos that Guardians are good at.

I apologise for the extreme longness of this post. I really hope it is semi-coherent at least?

[speaker-of-the-void-cats]

Chiasmus

There's something that's been knocking around my head for a couple years now about Destiny's general narrative structure, and this entry brought it to mind and made me think. Bungie is keeping secrets, not deep in the files but in things unsaid. In the telling of the story, below the event horizon. In the shape of it.

"Do you know how to make a strong password?" he asked. "I don't know if I do," I said. "Tell yourself a story," he said. "Use that one good story you'll never forget, that you can carry forever. Let your story take odd turns and wear a few surprising marks, make sure it belongs to you, so you can keep it secret."

This echoes something I believe said by Savathun that the greatest form of encryption is secrets, because they can only be unlocked by true understanding. When I think about stories like Truth to Power, there is such deliberate structure and subtext to them despite being confusing and intentionally obscured, and that structure is seen elsewhere in Destiny. We've even seen Ikora and Arach Jallal discuss the narrative structure, called "chiasmus."

REY >> JALAAL

We are headed inward, as if moving from parent to child universe.

Then we proceed in reverse. Savathûn is revealed to be a fiction of Dûl Incaru. Dûl Incaru a simulation by Quria, and so on.

So in the end, Truth to Power moves outwards.

Just as Savathûn plans to move. In from our universe and out to the Distributary—

Or out from our universe to its parent.

JALAAL >> REY

Oh. I see. I see! A literary structure like that is called a chiasmus, and chiasmus means "crossing point"! Like a wormhole or a portal! It was hidden in plain sight.

Chiasmus is a sort of chiral structure defined as a "reversal of grammatical structures in successive phrases or clauses – but no repetition of words", and this achieves a fascinating effect; it leads you down a path of understanding, and sometimes does so by leaving your understanding up to the inferrence of the structure itself rather than stating the point directly and then leading you there

This is a scalable and somewhat flexible technique that can be used in sentences, paragraphs, or whole texts to convey very particular meaning. It's even used in the national anthem of the Netherlands, the oldest living national anthem (this one is interesting because it bounces back and forth—verse 1 mirrors verse 15, 2-14, 3-13, and so on until they meet at 8). I believe something like this is the basis for the entirety of Destiny's story; start with two presupposed points set in stone, set one as the start and one as the end, hide the end, and then slowly build from there. Bungie gets a lot of guff for perceived retcons, but in the broad strokes, and thematically, when it comes down to it, they know their stuff and have always seemed to have a long view in mind.

Chiasmus derives its effectiveness from its symmetrical structure. The structural symmetry of the chiasmus imposes the impression upon the reader or listener that the entire argument has been accounted for. In other words, chiasmus creates only two sides of an argument or idea for the listener to consider, and then leads the listener to favor one side of the argument.

We begin with resurrection in D1, new life. There's hints of Darkness, but it's buried in the lore and is explicitly taboo. It's confusing, but we slowly learn to see the world from an all-Light perspective. Year 2 we learn about the basics of Darkness via the Sword Logic, the Hive, and the Taken. Then, we press on and lose everything in year 4. We begin to learn more and more until year 5, Forsaken. Year 6 we get the Luna Pyramid, Unveiling, and the arrival. Then, in year 7, we get to *use* the Darkness. In Year 8, we begin to learn about it and seeing the unseen from Savathun via Deepsight, before learning about the Witness. This is also when we see one of our enemies go the other way, crossing our path by going from Dark to Light. Year 9, we learn about the Veil and a new perspective on Darkness, and year 10 we return to the center to defeat the First Knife and are left with only echoes of its victims and the Darkness that bound it

What is the main plan in Forsaken, year 5? For Uldren to enter the Watchtower with the Shard and the Darkness within him, where he unleashes the Voice of Riven, who acts as proxy. Riven enacts the curse upon her defeat, which is maintained inside Elusinia by Dûl Incaru, Eternal Return. Light and Dark to enter a hidden realm where a being in a tower creates a curse which is unleashed upon their defeat, and beyond which another being in a further nested realm maintains said curse. This is strikingly similar to the Witness: it enters the Pale Heart via the Traveler and the essence of the Veil, where it builds a tower and tries to make a sort of curse which infests the Heart. And when we defeated it, the energy from that process was released.

Guess what the mission where Crow entered the portal with the 15th Wish was called? Chiasmus.

Bungie loves secrets, but datamining makes them hard to pull off. They even put a reference to this in an unnamed entryegg in the API for Truth to Power:

O you wonderful curious things. Do you believe you're the only ones with the power to see what should not be seen? Did you believe you can use such power blithely? For your trespass, I would ruin your luck, wreak havoc on your drops, poison your engrams, and fill your lines with static. Thus I would curse you and dissipate the bond that ties you to your tasks. How frail you Guardians can be! How many millions have fallen silent, never to return, because the bond did not hold them strongly enough? But you have already cursed yourselves. You have walked the Anathematic Arc and glimpsed creation from below. You will never forget the tenuous, provisional framework you found here. You will never forgive the mortality and fallibility that underlies a world you thought was everything. Those who use this power to seek unearned knowledge will see more than they ever desired. There is a price for glimpsing the Cord. You will pay it.

This episode, we're learning about Maya, who has a direct link to the Veil, Vex, and Darkness via Clarity ("Take me to the garden’s seed. Take me. Take me. Take me. Take me. Take me. Take me. Take me. Take me—"), and now this strange Pyramid in act 3 of Echoes. Next, we have Fikrul, the Scorn (Dark Ether), and Mithtrax (Curse of Nezarec). And then we're ending on the Dreadnaught with Savathun, who hid the Veil, and Xivu Arath, who wants to emulate Oryx, the First Navigator with the implication that we will become Navigators. We reached the end of the line in defeating the Witness, but now we're beyond it. I think we're about to come full circle and see secrets beyond even the Veil.

Something else I like about this idea on a narrative and meta level; if the beginning and end of this leg of the story is already decided by its inherent structure, like life, then anything we do is futile. We will wind up there eventually, as everything does in the end. The only difference is the path we walk to get there

I. Guardians make their own fate. But what if the process by which they decide upon their own fate could be understood and manipulated?

But we are transcendent now; we walk a path as yet unimagined by both Light and Dark. What we do now— unshackled from HOPE—that is who we are; because only in the end are we free.

I.VII The cutting word is a doorway—the first syllable of hated salvation.

Better make sure you've got a strong password, wouldn't want to spoil the unveiling.

"What are you thinking about?" I asked. "When I was a little boy," Father said. "During the Before," I said. "Yes." He reached down to brush my hair. "I was recalling how very smart I used to be. When I was your age, I was a genius." "You're smart now," I said. He laughed hard. "Look around," he said. I always look around. "Miss nothing," he told me. Father was standing beside a big gray building. "This is what I want you to see," he said. The building had no doors or windows. "Do you know how to make a strong password?" he asked. "I don't know if I do," I said. "Tell yourself a story," he said. "Use that one good story you'll never forget, that you can carry forever. Let your story take odd turns and wear a few surprising marks, make sure it belongs to you, so you can keep it secret." Father kneeled, putting our faces close... "I want to show you something special," he said. "Something rare." I tried to imagine what that might be. "No," he warned. "You can't guess." Inside the gray building was a diamond wall...A projected sky floated above us. It wasn't our sky, alive with metal and light. Nothing about the grayness was wet and nothing looked alive. I had never seen a sadder piece of ground. "This was our world," Father said. "When I was your age." I touched the diamond wall. He watched my hand jump back. "Hot," I said. He laughed quietly. I shook my burnt hand, and it felt better. "Our world was this. The entire planet was a furnace. Acidic. Dead in so many ways. And I was your age." I was bored with the dead world. I looked at Father's face, asking, "Can we leave?" He started to reach for my hair again but decided not to. I was bored with everything. "When I was your age, people thought they knew almost everything. We had scientific laws and human truths, even a model of the universe. People carried pictures of the past and tried to have a clear vision of their difficult future. I didn't know everything, of course. But when I was a boy, I had every expectation of living a smart short life and learning quite a lot more. "Then the Before was finished. "You know why. "That's when everybody, particularly the smartest of us, learned that we knew nothing. We were children and our little ideas were toys, and the universe was cut apart with great ideas and magnificent, immeasurable potentials." Father stopped talking. I stepped away from the hot diamond wall. "Do you know what I wanted to show you?" Father asked. "Dead rock," I said. "Guess again." He wasn't happy with me. We stepped back into the real sun, the real world. I blinked and looked around, surprised by how green and bright everything was. How happy everything was. Even the saddest face was happy. "I know what you want me to see," I said. "Don't tell me," he said. I didn't tell him.

[crow-posting]

Destiny NPCs according to: RZ-3

*note: this is not indicative of the author's personal opinions so if you feel like jumping to the comments / tags to defend [insert character here], save your energy.

- - -

"This is my favoritest person in the whooolee world":

Ada-1

Crow

"I'd kill for you":

Caiatl

Colonel 🐓

Devrim

Eva Levante

Fynch

"Ghost" = Ori

Glint

Jolyon

Misraaks

Nimbus

Quinn Laghari

Saint-14 ("Uncle Saint")

Shin Malphur

Shiro-4

Shuro Chi

Sjur Eido

the Starcats 🐱✨

Taranis

Viragni "Sid" D'Sydney

"I call you [familial title] bc it's funny and also I secretly believe it":

Zavala ("Dad")

Ikora ("Mom")

Lord Saladin ("Uncle Sal")

Rasputin (старик)

"You're weird but I like you":

Asher

Banshee-44

Benedict 99-40

Cayde-6

Drifter

Eris

Failsafe

Lord Shaxx ("Uncle Shaxx")

Sagira

Starhorse

Xivu Arath

Xûr

"You're okay":

Ahsa

Alis [Alice] Li

Amanda

Ana Bray

Arcite 99-40

the Corsairs

Eido

The Emissary

Fenchurch

Kadi 55-30

Kalli

Lady Efrideet

Petra

Rohan

Sedia

Shaw Han

Sloane

Suraya

Tyra Karn

"Customer service voice activated":

Amrita Vae

Lakshmi-2

Master Ives

Master Rahool

Tess Everis

"I tolerate you at a distance. Come any closer and I'll bite your fingers off.":

also Drifter :)

Arach Jalaal

Aunor

Eramis

Sam Moleyn

Savathûn

The Speaker

The Traveler

Variks

"F**k off":

also Xivu Arath

Brakion

Calus

Dominus Ghaul

Dûl Incaru

Elsie Bray

Executor Hideo

The Fanatic

Jisu Calerondo

The Nine

Oryx

Riven

Taniks

Toland

see also: dungeon/raid bosses

"You're lucky you have diplomatic immunity":

Mara

Osiris

"Murder is illegal. I might kill you anyway.":

Clovis Bray

Immaru

Spider

Uldren [RIP]

"Whomst?":

Brother Vance

The Witness

[voluminous-violet]

>You know between all the Dead Orbit stuff being left in an abandoned moldy room to rot, and Shaxx saying that he never liked them and how the best part was that they left, we fully expect to find Arach Jalaal to dead in a ditch somewhere in the future. We also congratulate Dox for their new job as a writer at Bungie. /s

I HAVEN'T HEARD THOSE LINES WHAT THE FUCK SHAXX I TRUSTED YOU.

But I'm honestly really angry about Destiny 2 right now because I'm so glad you can freely edit your guardians appearance now and I'm actually having fun with it again. There's some stuff I'm still upset about but I'm actually having fun with it again.

[changingourdestiny]

Coronation Part 4: Too Good to be True...

Summary:

With the Vanguard now briefed on the Taken's new...change of management, it initially seems that things have taken a turn for the better. But an observation from Ikora reveals that things may be too good to be true.

Previous Part: Here

Next Part: Here

“Let me ensure I have heard this correctly.” Zavala glanced between Cayde and Rae who were awkwardly standing there, sharing nervous glances with each other as the Titan Vanguard continued, “You went on an unsanctioned mission to the Dreadnaught with the Drifter and Marcia – which was brought on by a ‘hunch’ she had – and left with Marcia becoming the new ruler of the Taken.” “Yep. That’s pretty much the gist of it.” Rae chuckled nervously. Zavala sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose before speaking, “Are any other Guardians aware of this situation?” “Nope.” Cayde replied, “We told Marcia to keep it on the downlow until we told you-” Cayde was interrupted by a knock on the meeting room door as a member of Dead Orbit entered, “Sorry to interrupt, Vanguard, but Arach Jalaal requested your presence at the Hanger. Something about a ‘Taken Conga Line’.” “Oh no.” Rae and Cayde said in unison as they rushed out of the room, followed by Ikora and Zavala. The Vanguard quickly arrived at the Hanger entrance where Jalaal was leaning against the entrance. “Jalaal, what’s going on?” Rae asked. “You may want to see for yourself, Vanguard Rae.” Jalaal motioned to the Hanger. Rae entered the Hangar and her face went pale as she muttered, “Oh Traveller, why?” A conga line of many different Taken – ranging from Dregs to Goblins – were parading through the Hangar with Marcia leading the dance party. Amanda was watching from her post with an expression of confusion and concern on her face. “What has this Tower become…?” Rae heard Saint say from his ship. Adam was standing a few feet away with his face in his hands as he slowly shook his head while muttering, “Why do the crazy things always happen to us…?” Cayde, Ikora and Zavala entered behind Rae and just stared at the sight in front of them. “I dunno whether to find this hilarious or downright weird.” Cayde whispered as he swore he saw a Thrall holding maracas in the conga line. Rae was snapped out of her shocked stupor when she saw Blaze at the caboose of the line. “Wh- Blaze! I told you to make sure Marcia kept this on the downlow! Why are you encouraging her?!” “I couldn’t help myself!” Blaze yelled back, “The power of Taken Conga compels me!” Upon hearing Blaze yell, Marcia took notice of the Vanguard standing in the Hangar. “Ah! You’re here!” Marcia exclaimed as she clapped her hands twice, “Alright, guys, fun’s over. Head back to the Dreadnaught and we’ll do some Gambit training later. Your Queen loves ya!” Marcia watched as the Taken disappeared before addressing the Vanguard, “Who knew Taken knew how to party, eh?” “You had one job: keep the whole Taken Queen thing quiet until we got it sorted out with Zavala and Ikora.” Rae exclaimed, “And you decide to parade the Taken throughout the entire Hangar?!” “Not just the Hangar. She was in the Courtyard and the Bazaar.” Jalaal added as he walked back to his post. Rae glared at Marcia. The rogue just shrugged, “I got bored! Besides, it’s not like we were doing any harm.” Rae looked closely at Marcia. She noticed that Marcia looked a little tired – like she hadn’t gotten a lot of sleep or had been fighting a lot. “Are you okay? You seem tired.” Rae asked. “Nah, I’m good.” Marcia smirked, “Just partied a lil’ too hard. You missed out big time!” Rae sighed, “Just meet us in the meeting room. We need to discuss this new alliance with the Taken and the City.” “You the boss.” Marcia grinned as she walked out of the Hangar with Zavala, Cayde, Adam and Blaze. Rae went to follow them when she noticed Ikora was lost in thought, a look of concern on her face. “Ikora? Is something wrong?” Rae asked. “I’m not sure…” Ikora began, “Something doesn’t sit right with me about this whole ordeal.” “What do you mean? I thought you’d be happy about the Taken being on our side.” “It’s not that.” Ikora shook her head, “The Taken feed on Light. It’s how they survive. So if the Taken are now allied with Guardians – if they’re no longer seeking out Light – how are they surviving? What Light are they feeding off of?” “I’ll look into it.” Rae reassured. Ikora nodded as she left the Hangar, Rae trailing not far behind. ‘She’s right though…’ Rae thought to herself, ‘If the Taken aren’t feeding off the Light of Guardians, what Light are they feeding off of? Or worse… …whose?’ ——————————————————————— A few days later… The Tower library was quiet – as libraries should be – with the only sounds being the odd page turning and the footsteps of Warlocks as they browsed the shelves. Rae and Ikora sat at a table, surrounded by books on the Taken and Oryx. “Anything…?” Rae whispered. “Nothing.” Ikora sighed. “Well this is frustrating.” Rae closed the book she was reading and placed it in a pile, “Hmm…maybe it’s a Paragon thing? I mean, Marcia said it was Paragon that called her to the Dreadnaught and gave her the power to Take.” “Maybe…it’s hard to say for sure since.” Ikora replied, “After all, there’s no written sources of Paragon or her descendant tribes.” “Psst! Hey, Rae! Over here!” Rae looked over to the library entrance where Blaze was waving her over with Adam beside her. “I never thought I’d see a Hunter in a library.” Ikora gave a small smirk. Rae gave a quiet chuckle before excusing herself and heading over to her teammates. “What’s up?” Rae asked as they exited the library. “Alright, just to be clear, I don’t really care about what Marcia does in her spare time. She can do whatever she wants.” Blaze began as her expression turned to worry, “But something isn’t right with her.” “What do you mean?” Rae asked as Adam spoke up, “Marcia’s been…off. She hasn’t been in Gambit and some days she doesn’t even leave the Dreadnaught.” “Drifter’s been worried about her too.” Blaze added, “He’s been up to the Dreadnaught to check on her and he says she looks more and more tired each time he sees her.” “That’s not like her…” Rae muttered, “She’s always quite energetic. The only times I’ve ever seen her tired is…” Rae cut herself off as her confused expression slowly turned to one of realisation and fear, “Oh no…no, no, no…” “What? What’s wrong?” Blaze asked, a trace of panic in her voice. “Ikora said the Taken feed on Light to survive. I thought maybe their being kept alive by Paragon or something, but I don’t think that’s it anymore…” Rae glanced between Blaze and Adam with fear in her eyes, “They’re not feeding off Paragon’s Light…they’re feeding off Marcia’s.” Adam and Blaze looked at each other with horror as Rae continued, “We need to tell Marcia. If the Taken drain all of her Light, who knows what will happen!” Blaze and Adam nodded in agreement before following Rae to the Hangar. ——————————————————————— “Marcia! Traveller, why is this ship so damn big?” Rae cursed under her breath as she called out, “Marcia, where are you?” Blaze and Adam followed Rae through the Dreadnaught. Blaze spotted a Taken Wizard float by and whistled to get its attention, “Hey, uh, do you know where Mar- er, Queen Marcia is?” The Taken Wizard just pointed to a hallway that lead to the Hall of Souls. “Thanks!” Blaze gave a thumbs up as she, Rae and Adam made their way through the hallway. They arrived at the altar where Marcia was sleeping against the portal frame that once lead to Oryx’s throne world, snoring lightly. “Marcia!” Rae shook Marcia awake, “Hey! Wake up!” “Huh- wha- yep! I’m awake!” Marcia jolted awake as she rubbed her eyes and sat up straight. Rae was able to get a better look at Marcia now. She looked even worse than Blaze did after her time in the Tangled Shore. She had bags under her eyes, her skin was pale and her Paragonialan markings, which only a few of them were corrupted, were now nearly all a sickly tealish colour. “Paragon above, Marcia, you look awful!” Rae gasped. “Gee, thanks.” Marcia replied sarcastically, “Every girl wants to hear THAT first thing in the morning.” “It’s noon.” Blaze corrected. “Is it?” Marcia seemed surprised, “Huh…guess I’ve slept in.” “Yeah! For the 5th time this week!” Blaze added. “And we think we’ve figured out why.” Rae finished, “Marcia, the Taken feed off Light to survive. I think they’ve been feeding off yours!” “What?” Marcia raised an eyebrow, still half-asleep, “Nah, nah. Paragon…Paragon wouldn’t give me this power if it’d put me in danger…right?” “Marcia, look at yourself. You’ve been getting weaker every day.” Rae began, “If this is affecting you this badly, you need to talk to Paragon.” Marcia seemed to think for a moment before giving a tired sigh, “Alright…alright…head back to the Tower. I’ll talk to Paragon and send word when I’ve gotten this mess sorted out.” “Okay.” Rae nodded as the trio of Guardians went to leave. “And Marcia?” Rae began as she turned back to her before leaving, “Please be careful.” “I got it.” Marcia nodded. Rae left with her Fireteam as Marcia stood up and gave a frustrated sigh before calling out, “Paragon! I know you can hear me!” The Taken dome from before appeared around her. There was a flash of light as Paragon appeared before her. “I think I know what this is about…” Paragon sighed. Marcia gave her a tired glare. “We need to talk.” To Be Continued...

[zappadoodlecat]

Jalaal not getting on Petra’s case about Sophia haunts me tbh. To be fair, Jalaal probably doesn’t KNOW about the Sophia- or most of these crimes. We’re just using him here as a vehicle to make some meta commentary. (I really want him to find out about Sophia and get on Petra’s case though.)

[spartanlocke]

Can’t wait for The Witch Queen

[k-l-bryan]

I wonder how Jalaal told Lakshmi and Hideo to go fuck themselves when they raised their plan about replacing the Vanguard?  I would have loved to have seen that conversation.  I might put on my Dead Orbit ornaments today, proud in the knowledge that I chose the right faction. :D

[flowers-of-io]

I'm kinda sad the story of the Factions ended as it did, I would've very much loved to see Jalaal, Hideo and Lakshmi huddled together over some cheap beer in a Tower cantina if only but once. There's something in the concept of political rivals by day hanging out by night that's appealing to me, and I wish we could have seen them having at least some casual interactions between one another.

[thgreenlight]

Girlboss

Gaslight

Gatekeep

[evilroachindustrial]

Sorry did i miss something with dead orbit this season? The only mention i saw was in Beneath an Endless Night, but in entry 8 lakshmi and hideo seem to make it make it pretty clear jalaal said no to being involved

Honestly, if you've read all the Beneath the Endless Night lore and kept up with the seasonal content, I don't think you have?

Arach Jalaal and Dead Orbit just kind of...disappear from the Splicer story after that lore tab where Lakshmi propose the idea to him then we never hear from Jalaal or Dead Orbit again.

The Conspirators entry itself is written fairly vaguely to where Jalaal doesn't actually give Lakshmi an answer and by the time he's mentioned again in GILDED KNIVES, Hideo's quickly says that Jalaal & DO aren't involved, which did feel like Hideo was hiding something from Saint in that moment but again, Jalaal had basically disappeared from the story at that point so...

Like, retroactively, we now clearly know that, yes, Jalaal and Dead Orbit were apparently involved to SOME degree in Lakshmi's conspiracy to overthrow the Vanguard but what exactly anyone except FWC did is anybody's guess.

In general, it's just another one of my minor nitpicks about the writing this season is that it seems it was, at times, too subtle for its own good.

It's a similar reason I have issues with this big theory about Osiris and Savathun. If it's true, the writing team has buried the lede too deeply which is making it hard to believe that something is actually amiss.

[synnthamonsugar]

This season’s made me love Arach Jalaal even more.

[syutaatara]

просто потому, что я могу