#sathona

[eiramew]

Dreaming in Hive

[vfordii]

salvation lies in the deep...end of the pool

[nynehells]

The Endling

Had a lot of feels about Savathun & Riven during the Season of the Wish, a queen pulling strings while working with the (formerly) last ahamkara.

[sun-singer]

Inktober day 15: dream, featuring Oryx, Xivu Arath, Savathun, and the Osmium King

“So I start eating my dad. I bite huge pieces out of him and I claw him up. I eat his legs and I eat his arms and I eat his goggles and his eyes and he says, good, good, this is majestic and true.

But my sisters are still tearing up the road so I don’t know how to get back.”

[savior-of-the-ink]

Continuing to read the Books of Sorrow, reached chapter 6

@flowers-of-io am I doing this right?

[flowers-of-io]

“The Deep”

A redraw of one of my favourite pieces by Salvador Dalí, “The Sleep”, and my part of a collab with @synnthamonsugar for this year’s Spring Media Zine organised by @d2artevents! You can check the whole work and Otter’s pieces here, and the full zine here <3

[aghostsdestiny]

'Whether by chance encounter or not, if It sees fit to pursue you, no road is safe for you to be on.'

@finalityzine

[lillian-1st-maskarran-insol]

It’s so funny to me the big hive gods started out as little fragile things, with mortal emotions and whims.

Xi’Ro: You ever cracked open someone’s head?

Sathona: Have you ever even cracked open a book???

Aurash, on the other side of the ship: Y’all ever done crack?

[torobatl]

Do you think the Uluran had weed??????

[archentrope]

The sharp, Sharp, harsh hunger of a Worm. Scraping against the very soul. Aiat.

[onethousxndvoices]

we will say: young sathona, the end is coming.

[screenshot study]

commissions | shop | tos

[the-light-finds-its-way]

Savathun and Sauron: a wild comparison

So I am, besides a huge Destiny nerd, a very devoted LOTR fan all the same. And when I was looking at photos tonight of Sauron from the films, I noticed there were a LOT of eerie similarities to their respective designs.

Both of them have a very tall, sort of crowned spike helmet, and the positioning of these spikes is also quite similar to one another, only Savathun's connect with another half ring at the back.

Additionally they also have similar shoulder plating with a somewhat similar shape, and also it's spiked for both. You can see it somewhat better in the next pic.

Even with Sauron doing the powerful hand gesture with his ring, and Savathun doing similar motions to let Immaru hover near her? That strikes some uncanny resemblance to me.

Their overall body language is immensely similar in many ways, the fact that both move in such inhuman patterns that defy nature.

Sauron is a beast of undeath who cannot be killed so easily as long as the One Ring exists.

And Savathun cannot be killed so long as her Worm exists, and or her Ghost.

Adding in the lore of both, Savathun began as Sathona. She and her siblings were promised a great power of immortality by merging with and hosting the Worm Gods. They believed this power was the future of their homeworld Fundament, and the people which were the Krill.

Those Worms were shared with the masses, but any and all who denied them were slaughtered. But merging with and hosting the Worms who granted the Krill power and made them into the Hive?

It corrupted them. It made them monstrous.

Yes it kept Savathun immortal, and her siblings.

But they became monsters of death and murder and destruction.

During this, Sathona became Savathun, but also later achieved many names including The Witch Queen. A liar of pure deceit and manipulation.

Sauron, similarly, was known by many names. He was Annatar, Mairon, Aulendil, many many things.

And he was created as a god of sorts. The Ainur were made by a higher being, but they themselves were immortal, with inhuman power, and considered holy beings in the way gods are seen.

Sauron was a liar all the same. He was called The Sorcerer and The Deceiver and The Dark Lord.

Countless trusted Sauron who held influence through his connection. He promised gifts in the form of the rings which he gave all races. And with the gift of these rings, Sauron promised great power to all who bore them, unity even, to Middle Earth, and yet all they did was tear Middle Earth asunder with war and destruction.

The Dark Lord manipulated, lied, and deceived the races of Middle Earth into trusting him. The Men to whom the 9 rings were granted became undead, mindless servants forever chasing down the One Ring at the behest of Sauron. They had no choice but to follow this pursuit.

They became akin to the Taken. Corrupted husks of their former beings, mindless and relentless in their pursuit of their master and maker, though for the Taken it was Oryx who made them, not Savathun.

But Sauron pulled whatever trickery necessary to achieve his dark goal, even commanding the destruction of Isengard through his servant Saurman.

He held many forms. A vampire. An Elf. A Man.

And Savathun, too, had many forms. She possessed Osiris, pretending to be him. She was a Krill named Sathona. She became the Witch Queen, the goddess of lies and wizardry.

And both served the command of a darkness beyond their own power, and spread that darkness. Sauron's master was Morgoth. Savathun's was the Witness.

But what strikes me most?

Savathun is The Witch Queen.

And Sauron's greatest commander was The Witch King.

So yeah! Food for thought!

[phthalology]

Let me tell you, little thrall, the reason why the Witness revealed itself to humanity at Mare Imbrium. 

It begins, as all things do, with the Hive. You may feel some shred of questioning shed on your arm. Did your wizard not just say this was a story of the Witness? Is the Witness not older than the Hive, and strange to us? Nevertheless, you are in our tunnels. The universe is full of emerald and onyx. Peel the shred of questioning off. 

Now, Savathûn did not know of the existence of the Witness, but she suspected. It was uncouth to say that something was pulling the strings of the Hive, being as the Hive were all-eating and left nothing but themselves behind. Still, Savathûn investigated secrets and unspoken things, and thought that the sword logic might be creating a throne just to harness the energy of an eternal vacancy.

Around this time, Crota’s brood took Earth’s Moon without even most of the fleet behind them, Sol’s citizenry running as low on their hoonish little spaceships as they did. 

Crota had ambition and bite and a certain blind devotion which Savathûn knew well.

After all, she had done so much good work faking it. 

Oryx was deep in the galactic center, finding treasures; Xivu Arath was in forever war with the Cabal Empire; Savathûn had been to Sol before and accompanied her brother’s brood as Crota took the Moon. And meanwhile, she had her own experiments, her own black-slab projects. Savathûn’s cunning arts untangled the DNA of the worms. It was heretical to slice those little gods apart, but she did it, and Nokris helped. Through this, she became fond of her nephew’s penchant for soul fire and pickling vats. Through this, she learned enough to ask the worm gods who their gods were.

They answered Rhulk, and the glaive with which he killed his father. 

This meeting of Rhulk and Savathûn before Crota’s brood had hardly scratched furrows in the Moon is the topic of another story. Finally, a victim higher up the chain answered My Witness. 

With this confession, that watcher turned a few of its eyes to the Hive. 

With a discerning eye for the sorts of injustices which caused both material and morale harm, the Witness set its sights on Savathûn’s pet project, Earth.

The child who had once been Sathona felt the universe coiling around her in static-fuzzed black tendrils of fear as she stood on a grand tombship at L2. Nokris skulked behind her.

And so did the Witness raze the Moon, upon which had formerly crawled Crota’s nearly-newborn brood, and upon which happened to be a few Guardian fireteams. The Witness began to enact the Final Shape upon the Moon for revenge against Savathûn, who had dared to investigate it and to lie to it, as she was wont. 

Come here, little thrall. This story is a secret. Did you know that? I am a confidant of Savathûn and I must practice my stories, practice my histories. I must test them in different situations and for different people, so that I get the words just right. But the Queen of Lies suffers few truth-tellers. No, don’t scuttle away. A Guardian or a Tormentor would have gotten you eventually. It’s statistically likely. Look. That hurts. Don’t bite. There --There. 

(This is a Destiny ten-year anniversary project. Context here.)

[synnthamonsugar]

Merry Krillmas Written for @wonderwafles as a part of a small yearly exchange. Also on AO3

"If we can survive this, we can survive anything," said young Xi Ro as she and her siblings strolled dark passages illuminated in blue glow lamplight. They'd ventured deep enough that the architecture of the Osmium Palace had given way to untouched stone, heavy carved columns replaced with stalagmites, the decorative vaulted ceilings replaced with sharp outlines of stalactites. "At least that's what Father says."

Fundament had entered its Long Winter, a time when axial tilt combined with orbital irregularities plunged the world into a particularly bitter period of cold and darkness. The conjugation occurred infrequently enough that many krill lived without experiencing it.

It was a time when the Osmium Court battened hatches and external life waned, thoughts turned from external threats inward to stockpiles and crops that flourished in fertile cavern soil. The castle was permeable, built into the porous rock of the alien continental shelf. Instead of fishermen braving ice encrusted seas, they dove into twisting natural tunnels to the deep unfrozen ocean to cast their nets on the schools of arthropods who flocked around the light of their eyes, and fish lured away from rough seas into the safety of the crags beneath the castle.

With the cold and the dark came celebration too. Each new moon, a feast marked the passage of time, the largest happening on the nadir of their journey. It was this celebration the princesses had snuck away from — while the court was lost in the revelries of good food, strong drink, and conviviality, the workers drawn from the tunnels to the celebration and the guards consolidated to the main hall, they disappeared out a utility hallway into the undercroft. Royal finery had been cast off for waterproof skins and insulating furs, a stolen hand torch — and the traverse-line planted by navigators — guided them through the darkness.

Aurash was thrilled to explore parts of the castle that children were banned from, while Xi Ro was excited to see what monsters lurked below. Sathona felt a pang of annoyance missing the party, but the opportunity for mischief compelled her to join. Besides, three was the luckiest number, forming an indivisible whole. To split would invite disaster.

"Taox says living through it is auspicious," Aurash added, looking back at her sisters from the lead. "Anyone who does is destined for greatness."

"It's a trial," Sathona offered. "A time when new champions for krillkind are chosen by the old . . .”

Xi Ro tilted her head, urging her sister to continue.

Sathona's eyes narrowed in a mischievous smile. "I can't tell you. You will be frightened by the stories."

Xi Ro flared with indignity. "I will not! Tell me, sister!"

"You know she's winding you up," sighed Aurash. "Don't give her what she wants."

"Tell me!" Xi Ro scuttled for her older sister's back, throwing her off balance for a step until she adjusted to the new equilibrium. She clung tight to Sathona's neck, face against the hood of her cloak. "I'll make you carry me until you do!"

"That sounds good to me," Sathona played along, locking her forearms under Xi Ro's legs for support. "You overestimate your might, little sister. I could carry you to the end of the tunnels and back without getting winded."

Xi Ro made a frustrated noise, legs kicking to and fro in agitation. "You're so mean!"

"Mean? Me?" She intoned in mock hurt, "I'm giving you a sedan ride worthy of the King’s procession. We only lack the servants to carry your parasols and fans, not that we need them down here . . ."

Xi Ro slid petulantly down her elder sister's back, making herself as inconvenient as possible to carry.

"Fine, I'll tell you." Sathona dropped her, Xi Ro scrambling to her feet effortlessly. "But you can't blame me if you get nightmares."

The trio came to rest next to one of the openings in the cave floor, the kind that would be bustling with divers during work hours. Atmospheric pressure kept the water from flooding in, forming a perfectly still, dark mirror.

“The fall of the Osmium homeworld into the seas of Fundament marked the first of the Long Winters. The krill who survived found themselves beset not only by an inhospitable environment, but the slavering jaws of every creature on this world. Emboldened by darkness and frenzied by scarcity, beast and barbarian alike crept forth from the far north, throats parched for the ichor of the krill."

Xi Ro watched, transfixed, hanging off her sister’s every word. Aurash looked less impressed, but nonetheless held her tongue for her little sister's sake.

“It was a time of complete darkness,” she continued, extinguishing the torch so that they were plunged instantly into pitch black. Xi Ro jumped and Sathona chuckled low to herself. “Of despair. But not total hopelessness, for a champion arose.”

Slowly their eyes acclimated. As they did, detail emerged around them. The gentle bioluminescence of the lichens that covered the slick cave walls, and the mats of moss crowned with glistening dew. In the moon pool, the outlines of schools of fish — as delicately frilled as the lepidoptera who fluttered around the hanging gardens under hazy summer skies, surfacing to pick at the algae growing on the smooth stone. Sathona thought it more beautiful than the phosphor chandeliers of the palace or the auroras that hung perpetual in the dark skies, the gentle lapping of water and rock settling more enchanting than all the song and revelry of the great hall.

"Her name is lost to time. She is called Ûtun — The Indomitable, in the old language. The exception that proves the Timid Truth. It's not unusual to find a krill who is formidable, or courageous," she looked first to Aurash, then Xi Ro, whose eyes brightened, ". . . or smart. We live and die by these traits. But no one who has lived since has exemplified all three to such great degree . . . "

Sathona went on to describe (with a child's fancifully gorey embellishment) how in the first of the Long Winters, Ûtun single-handedly fought a rampaging icewyrm who threatened the nascent settlement that grew into the Osmium Court. She recounted the legend of her second Winter, a thrilling war caper involving a months-long siege of the Osmium Palace against the cannibal Helium Drinkers, and her army's eventual triumph against the invaders. Sathona especially brightened when she recounted the third story — Ûtun using her wisdom, wits and charm to survive the inhospitable wilderness, delivering supplies to a distant outpost cut off by endless blizzard.

"What happened to her?" Xi Ro asked, when Sathona got to the end of the third tale, and paused for a long while.

"Well, she lived longer than a krill ought to, much longer. Rumors swirled that she was deathless. Others said she was mortal, but bound to this world by her mission. Whatever the case, one day she was gone. Disappeared without a trace. Everyone feared for the next time of darkness, without her strength, her courage, her intelligence.

"But when the sun set on the last day, and krill retreated to these very tunnels, three loyal disciples beseeched her for protection. For guidance. They looked into the dark waters, and called out to her."

Sathona rested on her belly, gazing into the moon pool. Xi Ro excitedly followed, while Aurash paused before rearranging herself to mimic her sisters.

"It's true that no one will ever match her. This is why she chooses a trio to carry her mantle. One for strength. One for courage. One for wits."

"I wish she would choose faster," Aurash groused, out of patience for Sathona's antics. "We came here to explore."

"You can't hurry Ûtun," Sathona sighed matter-of-factly. "She appears when she's needed, and only then."

"What happened next?" pleaded Xi Ro.

"From the water she came to them. She deemed them worthy, and commanded them to prove themselves as her champions. And with their combined powers they were able to keep the krill safe for another cycle. When they met their end, she chose a new set of exemplars. And this is why the krill will always survive the Long Winter, no matter how harsh."

Xi Ro leaned so close that the tips of her mandibles almost broke the still water. Aurash fidgeted. Sathona smiled.

". . . can we leave now?" Aurash asked.

"No!" Xi Ro objected. "We have to wait for Ûtun."

Aurash groaned. "We're going to be here for a long time, then. Little sister . . . do you really believe all this?"

"There's no need to 'believe'," Sathona lied, "it's all true."

"It is not —"

" — It is! I swear on my third eye!"

"It's another of your stories —"

Xi Ro screeched, scrabbling for both her sisters' arms. At once, the elder siblings looked down and jumped nearly out of their shells at the sight of a fourth set of eyes set in the dark outline of a crested head. Aurash startled so violently that she slipped face-first into the pool before recovering her balance, while a split-second roil of panic welled in Sathona —

"Princesses."

Taox's voice was as cool and hard as the stone below. All three scrambled to their feet, facing their tutor — still wearing a partygoer's ceremonial mantle and sashes and jewels upon her horns and neck — with stiff backs and guilty consciences.

"This area is not safe, no matter how good you are at escaping the consequences of your mischief. Come along now, children, before your Father sobers enough to notice your absence."

All three knew better than to argue with the Taox, especially when she was saving them from the ire of the King. They fell in line behind her like three hatchlings following a mother bird, setting forth to the surface.

[sun-singer]

Inktober day 6: dive, featuring Xi ro, sathuna, aurash, the leviathan, and a needle

And the Leviathan loomed over them, its brow as huge all the continents of their childhood, its great array-fins crackling with the lightning of its life. Booming into the hull of the needle ship in a microwave voice:

[savior-of-the-ink]

The Witness talking to Sathona through the familiar worm really be like: Wouldn't you like a taste of the power? Wouldn't you like to use more than words? Deep in the night, the fight lasts for hours: you can be hurt or you can beat her—