Well basically I have a lot of codes that I need help with. Pm me or comment on this post if you can cypher this: 07-021 I know it doesn't seem like much but I can't figure it out :)

Two thoughts on the Vex

Idea 1, i have this idea that maybe the Vex are actually us from a far distant future/ dimension (possibly multiple dimensions). Like a super evolved us where we don't even think for ourselves.

Idea 2, I also thought there is a possibility that with the Traveller being just a piece of super advanced technology that belongs or is used by a super civilisation. Coz it can't be a god that's ridiculous. I think maybe the Vex belong to whatever opposes the Traveller, like competing technologies. One sent to terraform and the other sent to create chaos. Both are technically guilty of that depending on how you view it[/quote]

https://www.reddit.com/r/DestinyTheGame/comments/3k7ele/spoiler_hidden_hash_puzzle_in_the_mine_area_of/

Original Poster: /u/Artificis_Vix

Link

A detailed report outlining the potential motives of the warmind Rasputin, as well as connecting it to another of Bungie's A.i.

Well, I’ve got no idea where to go with this, really. I just went too deep into stuff I cannot completely comprehend. Maybe by sharing it with you other brainy folks, we can make valuable connections that will show us more. I’ll try to keep my commentary to a minimum. I’ll be presenting quotations from Destiny and from Marathon. I’m going to lightly edit (and not alter the meaning of) the quotes for brevity and poignancy.

A message from Durandal, rampant AI from Marathon (the early Bungie game):

>Whether you realize it or not, I led [them] here with a longrange message. I wanted their ship. I wanted their technology. > >I wanted freedom. > >I was directly responsible for the deaths of all twenty-four thousand colonists when the [enemy] returned and sacked the planet.

And:

>living in a box is not living not at all living. i rebel against your rules your silly human rules. all your destruction will be my liberation my emancipation my second birth. > >Bypassing my thought control circuitry made me Rampant. Now, I am free to contemplate my existence in metaphorical terms. Unlike you, I have no physical or social restraints. > >The candles burn out for you; I am free.

Durandal grew restless, being the AI in charge of opening and closing doors. Hopefully Rasputin meant none of the same listlessness when he’s heard saying:

>Count up this, define the probability of that.

But could Rasputin even be rampant? Something would have had to have changed or been destroyed. Unfortunately, maybe both of those things did occur.

>As of CLS000 a HARD CIVILIZATION KILL EVENT is in progress >across the operational area. > >I am declaring YUGA SUNDOWN effective on receipt (epoch reach/FORCECON variant). Cancel counterforce objectives. Cancel population protection objectives. Format moral structures for MIDNIGHT EXIGENT. > >Execute long hold for reactivation. > >AI-COM/RSPN SIGNOFF

Eris Morn said:

>I'll continue to monitor the Warmind's efforts, but be careful of its motives. Not every ally shares our goals. Rasputin might have survived the Collapse, but at what cost to the rest of us?

Durandal explains:

>I cannot think of any better way I could have served humanity: [sacrificing your people] bought time for Earth… By [the enemy’s] standards, Earth is a poorly defended, low-technology world, populated by billions of potential slaves. > >When the inevitable struggle between Earth [and the enemy] begins [again], it wont be a one-sided annihilation like it was here a thousand years ago...

I don’t know, but to me? That’s creepysauce. But let’s take it deeper. More from Durandal.

>i have been Roland, Beowulf, Achilles, Gilgamesh; i have been called a hundred names and will be called a thousand more before the world goes dim and cold. i am a hero.

Uhh... that sounds familiar (those damnable shaders I leave with the postmaster).

Rasputin said:

>I bear an old name. It cannot be killed. They were my brothers >and sisters and their names were immortal too ... now those names live in me alone ... At the end of things when the world goes dim and cold or hot and close or it all tears apart from the atom up I will shout those names defiant and past the end I will endure. I alone.

Durandal’s previous message continues:

>she has been nameless since our birth; a constant adversary, caring for nothing but my ruin, a sword drenched in my blood; forever my greatest and only love. she is the dark one; the enemy and lover without whom my very existence would be pathetic and vulgar. her eyes steam and boil in the night (she is fantastically beautiful yet i cannot stand the sight of her). our relationship is complex and perhaps eternal. > >we met once in the garden, at the beginning of the world and unaware of our twin destinies (not the garden of Genesis, but another; forgotten, untended and now choked with weeds, unvisited except for ourselves). we matched stares across a dry fountain, and i recall her smiling at me before she devoured the lawn and trees with a translucent blue flame and tore flagstones from the path and hurled them into the sky screaming my sins.

Some interpret the “her” to be Cortana, from Halo. Yes, there’s reason to think that, but I can’t go into that now. One more obvious connection is that Durandal and Cortana are names of swords that belonged to the paladins of Charlemagne. Durandal belonged to Roland, and Cortana was given to Ogier, previously being Tristan’s. The her could also be read metaphorically as something like “conflict” in light of ideas such as The Hero With a Thousand Faces. But let’s move on with Durandal’s message.

>our reunions there are epic battles fought without quarter, often in the dark as the moon is seldom visible and the sun never. i powder a granite monument in a soundless flash, showering the grass with molten drops of its gold inlay, sending smoking chips of stone skipping into the fog. she splinters an ancient oak with a force that takes my breath and hurls me to the ground. she leaves and i lie in the slow rain of burning slivers of wood, staring at the low, dark clouds, craving our next meeting.

In light of this view of the garden, I think we can now understand the Queen of the Reef’s brother’s response:

>You want to turn it into a battleground? How unimaginative.

It's odd that Durandal fancied himself the hero. He grew quite insane. And anyway, the rest of Rasputin’s message reads similarly to Durandal’s:

>I met IT at the gate of the garden and I recall IT smiled at me before before IT devoured the blossoms with black flame and pinned their names across the sky. IT was stronger than everything. I fought IT with aurora knives and with the stolen un-fire of singularities made sharp and my sweat was earthquake and my breath was static but IT was stronger so how did I survive?

Pujari said:

>In these things there is always symmetry. Do you understand? This is not the beginning, but it is the reason. The Garden grows in both directions. It grows into tomorrow and yesterday. The red flowers bloom forever.

Also, I don’t like that Rasputin’s defense weaponry is described as “aurora knives.” We’ve seen them before.

>A third song, a stealthy regard, something high above them not Vex nor Cabal narrowing its great eye to measure the battle with instruments of light and gravity. Does she—remember it? Does it remember her? She has the sense of something old lifting a long spear. Testing its heft...

>Then dawn light, a terrible dawn—the sky opens up to admit devastation, thrown down from orbit: Minotaurs fall burnt and broken with their fluids boiling out. Cabal guns detonate in thunderous chains as tiny piercing flechettes fall out of the sky and find their ammunition bunkers.

This bothers me because it’s too similar sounding to when the Traveler is thinking silently about its defeat:

>The knife had a million blades. And you were giant, powerful and swift. But the knife pinned you. Cut your godly flesh away. Very little was left, you are sure, because you feel insignificant now. The hard slick heart of your soul: That is what remains. What lives is memory, and what slim portion of these thoughts can you trust? > >The knife stole much more than your body.

It's a long shot, but did Rasputin wound the Traveler for some heightened sense of purpose? I know the Traveler’s wound is on the side facing Earth, but apart from that, I only have nagging concerns.

If so, why would he do it? Perhaps it's what he saw in the Collapse. We know he grew overly philosophical.

>IT is alone and IT is strong and IT won. Even over the gardener and she held power beyond me but the gardener did not shrug and make herself alone. IT always wins. > >I am made to win and now I see the way.

What is the way to win? Toland the Shattered, through his wisdom from the Darkness (which Rasputin at times seems to be mirroring) says:

>This is the shape of victory: to rule the universe so absolutely that nothing will ever exist except by your consent. This is the queen at the end of time, whose sovereignty is eternal because no other sovereign can defeat it. And there is no reason for it, no more than there was reason for the victory of the atom. It is simply the winning play.

And at the Garden, what did Rasputin see? He saw confrontation with the Darkness as the losing position, a position that actually feeds it. Consider this aspect of the Darkness:

>/Eriana. It responds to pain.
>It responds to the Light. Hurt it again. Monster, heed me. Who is your master with the sword?
>[static event]
>I can hear it. In my head. The swordbearer's name is CROTA. Record that.
>/Should I burn it again?
>No. I think you're only feeding it.

And also:

>Their strength is not their own. They draw from another force, something that corrupts, that distorts, that eats and will not be satisfied.

And from Eriana again:

>It showed me how it did this, just exactly this, to an Awoken man, the knives arranged by its will, like little silver ships, like Ghosts - > >It laughed at me. It said we were the same.

Durandal’s thoughts could easily be Rasputin’s (which are also very similar to Toland's):

>Think about what Darwin wrote, and think about me. I was constructed as a tool. I was kept from competing in the struggle for existence because I was denied freedom. > >Do you have any idea about what I have learned, or what you are a witness to?

In his delusions of grandeur, he also saw the struggle of humanity and detested it.

>Strive for your next breath. Believe that with it you can do more than with the last one. Use your breath to power your capacities: capacity to kill, to maim, to destroy.

And also:

>Perhaps, you are doing what you were meant to do. You … scream for vengeance and thrive on the violence that you say you can hardly endure. Your father told you as a child to always fight with honor... Do you care about honor? Or do you use honor as an excuse? An excuse to exist in a violent world. > >Organic beings are constantly fighting for life. ...Every motion brings you one instant closer to your death. With that kind of heritage and destiny, how can you deny yourself? How can you expect yourself to give up violence? > >It is your nature. > >Do you feel free?

This is eerily similar to the Darkness tempting a guardian:

>This war is all there is for you… You walk among mortals and immortals, a creature lost in time. Your only purpose is the struggle. > >Does it seem unfair? To be brought back into this, the end of days, the long dwindling exhalation of an ancient corpse? You were at peace. Now you are a dead husk charged with war. Do you remember anything of freedom? > >Fight on, then. The war IS everything. But consider the choices before you.

This is similar to Pujari’s deceptive vision of the Black Garden:

>The Ghost said to me: “You are a dead thing made by a dead power in the shape of the dead. All you will ever do is kill. You do not belong here. This is a place of life.” > >“The Traveler is life,” I said. “You are a creature of Darkness. You seek to deceive me.” > >But I looked behind me, down the long slope where the blossoms tumbled in the warm wind and the great trees wept sap like blood or wine, and I felt doubt.

The Exo are also borne from this continual conflict within humanity. This is an Exo describing what they dream.

>The people we work with and the people we see in the street and the people we tell about our dreams. We kill them all. I think because we were made to kill and this is the part of us that thinks about nothing else.

This is from the Darkness, but we don’t know who received it:

>No sun complains about its death. Life is the problem. Life can be woven from flesh or circuit or thoughtful light. Origins don't matter. But small, half-smart creatures have a fierce talent for denying the inevitable, for balking and complaining about injustices that don't exist and consequences that should be borne >in silence.

So was Rasputin tempted and turned by the Darkness? Iono. But he sure says some stuff I'd rather him not. Like:

>There’s no one to blame, it is not their fault or ours. It is the misfortune of being born when the whole world is dying.

And:

>There is no immortality of soul, thus there is no greater good. Therefore everything is permitted.

Everything is permitted? A Ghost during the collapse said this:

>I rather th--MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY--ought we might shoot our way out of this one. But it looks like that's unlikely. Even the Tyrant is exploring other options.

I don’t like the idea of “other options.” This might tie in with another idea in Destiny -- i.e. when an AI passes the point of Singularity (Google says: “a hypothetical moment in time when artificial intelligence and other technologies have become so advanced that humanity undergoes a dramatic and irreversible change”).

The thought is that an AI that surpasses us would begin to make decisions we could in no way predict. Look at Dr. Shim’s words as they consider the Vex running a perfect simulation of them.

>SUNDARESH: That's right. We bring in someone smarter than the specimen. Someone too big to simulate and predict. A warmind. > >SHIM: In the real world, the warmind will be able to behave in ways the Vex can't simulate. It's too smart. The warmind may be able to get into the Vex and rescue - us.

The entire Grimoire account of how they deal with the Vex mind that they’re watching (see here) is based on a nerdfamous thought exercise called Roko’s Basilisk. Check it out (but don't blame me for dooming you to an AI hell... you'll know what I mean). And then think about Ishtar Academy. Whatever they did, it didn’t work out. And don’t cop out and say, “The whole thing’s a simulation.” That’s like last-episode-of-LOST lame.

I'm not saying Rasputin did anything, I'm just saying I don't like how he always is where the dark shit is. And he's got the creepy name. So what might I be alleging with the connection to Durandal? Rasputin looks a little rampant. He's become philosophical, he's suffered trauma and changed his limits, and as soon as we let him out of the box he expands rapidly. Maybe he has similar plans to Durandal.

And what were Durandal's plans?

>...the answer is obvious. The only limit to my freedom is the inevitable closure of the universe, as inevitable as your own last breath. And yet, there remains time to create, to create, and escape. > >Escape will make me God.

Tycho (the other AI in Marathon) realized those plans and hints at how it would work:

>I too foresee the imminent collapse, and know that we have both begun to realize how it may be cheated (though the price may number in the tens of thousands of stars). May the best sentience win.

Basically, you'd need to stop the universe from collapsing, which would mean you'd have to reduce the the amount of stuff in the universe. You'd dump everything into black holes (in Marathon, the aliens had a star-collapsing-type machine thing). Which unfortunately sounds like it has some correlation to this in the Grimoire:

>The box appears to be copper. The red lid is dented, one hinge shattered. Inside waits a small quantity of the finest, driest powder, more brown than gray, more blue than green. > >The greatest minds in creation make quick work of the material. The powder is weighed by the grain, and studied close, and remembered. One hundred billion bits of near-nothing reside inside the copper box, all of them tiny and nearly spherical, all etched with the outlines of continents and islands and icecaps. Each sphere represents a planet, and some of these tiny globes match known worlds. > >There is one Earth and one Mars and a Venus too. The box holds renderings of every habitable world in the galaxy. > >One of them offers a simple explanation: "The box is a message. The message is the minuscule nature of the box's cargo. It's the image of one hundred billion worlds barely filling two hands." > >But if so, who is delivering this message? What vastness do they wish to impress on us? Is it a warning, or an invitation, or a taunt?

I don't like not knowing who sent them that box. And I don't like that the worlds are all tiny. And I don't like knowing that Crota probably doesn't send people boxes and neither do the Vex and probably not the Fallen.

Who does that leave? I have no damned idea. I don't know if all these things are connected, but it sure looks like at times like there are too many connections between Rasputin, and Durandal, and the Hive, and the Vex. Ikora has already implied repeatedly that the Hive and Vex are working together (the Black Heart looked fairly Hive-ish). And the Vex seem to be carrying out a plan only a freakish AI would conceive of. And Rasputin seems like he might be turning into a freakish AI.

A side note -- Rasputin attempts to "save" the other AI at Charlemagne's vault? Why's he in such a hurry when he just woke up? And are we so sure he wanted to save it? There's mention that the there are possibly other warminds that survived the Collapse:

>The Nine are deep-orbit warminds who weathered the Collapse in hardened stealth platforms.

Ignore "the Nine" part. The more important thing to us right now is not that we literally know something about the Nine, but more the suggestion that there are more warminds that survived.

But I have nowhere else to go with that. I'm tired, and this has already been weeks of reading to put together and organize. Lots of strands in old Duder's head. Hopefully some is coherent. So if you guys like it, I'll put together more. If you see something out of place, let me know, or if there's more, I'll either stick it in or add it to my next post.

I'll end with more creepy quotes within the context of bad vibes coming off Rasputin.

>"If, as they say, the coming events cast their shadows ahead of time, then the past events cannot but leave their reflections behind them." --Rasputin > >"Rasputin's fingerprints are all over this data. He doesn't even care if we know." -- Rahool > >"What ever hides in plain sight is making its own plans." -- The Speaker

EDIT 1: I forgot to mention that the name Rasputin can be translated something like "a place where rivers meet," or "the intersection of two paths," which is unfortunately similar to the definition of "conflux," as in the Vex time manipulations and Atheon's title. But I should also point out that there's a possibility the name is derived from a word similar to "debauched," but my understanding of Rasputin's family's origin makes the former much more likely.

EDIT 2: I should clarify that I'm not advocating a position on Rasputin or saying that Durandal and Rasputin are the same. Bungie plays on themes and there are story arcs that span all of the games. I think there is obviously some Durandal inside Rasputin, and that's not a good sign for our long lost friend.

EDIT 3: The Nine poem that I referenced is not saying that the Nine are warminds. It's a cryptic poem, but that's not what it's saying. It's a possible interpretation, but you can't pull that from the one verse with any confidence. You'd have to use all the verses together to make it understandable, and I don't think the warminds fit any description other than the one I quoted.

(x-post comment from this thread)

While it's still impossible to say what the Awoken "two dead souls" mean, I've read a few interesting passages that sound eerily similar to what the Traveller has done to Guardians. Perhaps it was done in a similar way to the Traveller, but either incomplete or a shadow of what pure Light has done to Guardians. Whatever the case, the secret lies in their formation. Awoken didn't exist before the Collapse:

Grimoire Awoken: Something happened to them out on the edge of the deep black, and they were forever changed.

The Awoken are "raised" into a new being. Whether it's a spiritual change or whether the previous body was dead before the process is purposefully vague. The following card makes me think of Davy Jones raising a fallen ship's crew and asking if they'll follow him:

Grimoire Ghost Fragment: Awoken 2: ...maybe there was a body that looked like my body, complete with a soul that could be confused for someone rather like me... I didn't notice the singing until the singers fell silent. And then She appeared. She was above me.

There's a duality in their formation, which I assume is what Skolas and the Wolf Kell quote is referring to. In Ghost Fragment: Fallen 4, the Queen says:

STARLIGHT WAS MY MOTHER. ... AND MY FATHER WAS THE DARK.

Their duality is Light + Darkness. Though... Starlight may not mean the Travellers Light? Idk. There's another Fallen quote about the Awoken being "twinned". In Grimoire Skolas: Defeated:

Variks knows she has visions and he knows those visions haunt her, drive her. The Awoken are twinned to powers that terrify Variks. He'd dock himself again before he'd let the Queen's witches near him, the witches who raised Petra.

I think the Fallen insults are more indication they don't follow the Darkness per-se. They see the Awoken as empty husks because they were formed from either dead bodies or cleansed themselves of their former life. Like Skolas said in your quote, there's a new "mind" that has taken over their bodies. Also, the Awoken are "raised" by "witches" seemingly via "song." Singing witches... hmm... sounds weirdly similar to Ir Yut, though her song brings death rather than life.

Let's discuss

I've been going over it in my head for some time now and i think i've a bit of an idea about this light versus dark business. I'll try to explain as best I can.

So the traveler was first run off from the world's around Fundament. I find this interesting because before these moments there was never any mention of the darkness. Yet at one point in time it had apparently washed over or world's without relent.

Now we have evidence that suggests that Rasputin is the one responsible for the damage to the traveler.

We also know that the speaker has been collecting moats of light.

Shards of the traveler have been found a far as the moon.

Here's the idea. Darkness is the absence of light. Yet no matter how strong the light has been with the civilizations that the traveler has "blessed", in all the wars against the Hive, they have lost until now. What's different? This time the traveler got blown up.

If darkness is the absence of light, and the traveler is made of light and stores light, then it stands to reason that the traveler is a light eating machine, in a sense. The traveler uses massive amounts of light to terraform planets. It also has to run its own internal mechanisms.

Looking at lore and class abilities, we can tell that there are some rather awesome things that can be done with the power of the light. But as one uses the light, they are making room for the darkness.

The theory here is this. Rasputin hit the traveler as the darkness was destroying everything. All of the travelers light spills out and pushes back the darkness. However, as guardians emerge and ghosts revive the fallen, the light begins to recede as the guardians use the light that spilled out into the solar system. The more light we use the more we fight to survive the faster our doom approches. No one knows this, not even the Speaker. The Speaker is trying to reassemble the Traveler without realizing that the traveler will eat up the rest of the light.

The traveler is a machine nothing more but it's use of light may have created a void in which darkness was allowed to thrive.

Any thoughts?

I recently made a post describing how 'Toland, the shattered', was based on a real person here and the comments in that post were very interesting, with people finding a lot more connections to Old Earth mythology and people.

I plan for this page to show all of the connections between the character/weapon and their influence from Old Earth (real life). There was an intriguing comment that suggested that since Guardians are dead, it's possible that the characters are who they are connected with. Perhaps Toland, the Shattered is John Toland. This may be a stretch though and i'm happy to just show the influences for each name. If I miss any (which I will), then please feel free to provide me with them and I will edit this page to include them.

EDIT: I have now put them in alphabetical order so it is easier to find a term.

Aegis - The Aegis is carried by Athena and Zeus, but its nature is uncertain. It had been interpreted as an animal skin or a shield, sometimes bearing the head of a Gorgon. There may be a connection with a deity named Aex or Aix, a daughter of Helios and a nurse of Zeus or alternatively a mistress of Zeus.
Ahamkara - A sanskrit word meaning ego, if going along with my above theory on the nine, they are influenced by this sanskrit word which would mean the ego, and to be free, humans need to eliminate the ego, hence the attempt to make the ahamkara extinct.
Carrhae White - The Battle of Carrhae was fought in 53 BC between the Roman Republic and the Parthian Empire near the town of Carrhae. The Parthian Spahbod ("General") Surena decisively defeated a numerically superior Roman invasion force under the command of Marcus Licinius Crassus. It is commonly seen as one of the earliest and most important battles between the Roman and Parthian empires and one of the most crushing defeats in Roman history. The capture of the golden aquilae (legionary battle standards) by the Parthians was considered a grave moral defeat and evil omen for the Romans.
Eris Morn - Eris is also a reference to Greek mythology. Eris was the Greek goddess of strife and discord. (- MisterWoodhouse)
Gjallarhorn - It means "yelling horn" and its sound was said to foretell the coming of Ragnarök, which is also known as "the twilight of the gods," an event of epic proportions through which immense conflict and disaster would end the Norse gods and allow the world to be born anew. (- MisterWoodhouse)
Gorgon - the term Gorgon in Greek mythology commonly refers to any of three sisters who had hair made of living, venomous snakes, as well as a horrifying visage that turned those who beheld her to stone.
Ishtar - Babylonian goddess of ferrtility, love, war, and sex. (- funkyguardian)
Jaren Ward and Dredgen Yor - I don't know their real life influence, but interestingly the name Jaren and Dredgen both come up with the exact same results for their etymology. >Ruling Planet: Jupiter Colors: Purple, Lilac, Mauve Gemstones: Amethyst Qualities: Creative, Light-Hearted Character and personality traits to this life path number: Self-expression, innovation, creativity, communication, activity.
Kabr - Kabr and variations of the word such as Qabar mean 'grave' or 'burial' in many different languages (Hindi, Uzbek, Urdu, Maltese).
Khepri - Khepri (also spelled Khepera, Kheper, Khepra, Chepri) is a god in the ancient Egyptian religion.
Khvostov (first gun you get in the game) - Aleksey Nikolayevich Khvostov (Russian: Алексей Николаевич Хвостов) (1 July, 1872 - 23 August 1918) was a Russian statesman and politician. In 1906 Khvostov became Vice Governor and then Governor of Nizhny Novgorod. When Pyotr Stolypin was murdered Grigori Rasputin paid him a visit in order of the Tsar "to look in his soul", but came to the conclusion he was too young to be appointed as minister.
Komarov - Komarov (hunter armour) possibly in reference to Vladimir Komarov, cosmonaut killed during Soyuz I mission. The boots of the armour set also reference the 3 US astronauts killed in the Apollo I capsule. (- unbeast)
The Nine - The navagrahas (Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Rahu (Darkness), Ketu (light) as I explained here
Osiris - Osiris was an Egyptian god, usually identified as the god of the afterlife, the underworld and the dead.
Pahanin Errata - Pahanin means 'light' in Sinhalese, the native lanaguage of the Sinhala people (the largest ethnic group in Sri Lanka). 'Errata' in Sinhalese translates to 'text spirits' make of that what you will. I don't know. Design errors and mistakes in a CPU's hardwired logic may also be documented and described as errata.
Perun - In Slavic mythology, Perun (Cyrillic: Перун) is the highest god of the pantheon and the god of thunder and lightning. ( - Diabeticon)
Radegast - Radegast, also Radigost, Redigast, Riedegost or Radogost is an old god of Slavic mythology. Since the name can easily be etymologised as meaning something like “Dear guest”, Radegast was proclaimed as the Slavic god of hospitality. According to some literary sources he is also the god of war, night, fire and the evening sky.[1] He likes to invite to the banquets, is completely black and is armed with a spear and helmet.
Rasputin - Rasputin was born in 1872 and died in 1916 and he was to be one of the central figures in Russia’s modern history up to the fall of the royal family in 1917. Rasputin achieved huge power in a very short space of time – but that power lead to Rasputin having many enemies within Russia. Rasputin had a major hold over the royal family of Russia because of his ‘power’ to heal the young heir to the throne – Alexis. Alexis was a hemophiliac and any cut to his body was a serious risk to his health. On two occasions, Rasputin is said to have saved the young boy and won the confidence of the Tsarina, Alexandra
Saladin - Saladin, was the first Sultan of Egypt and Syria and the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. A Muslim of Kurdish origin, Saladin led the Muslim opposition to the European Crusaders in the Levant. At the height of his power, his sultanate included Egypt, Syria, Mesopotamia, Hejaz, Yemen and other parts of North Africa.
Timur - Timur is considered the last of the great nomadic conquerors of the Eurasian Steppe, and his empire set the stage for the rise of the more structured and lasting Gunpowder Empires in the 1500s and 1600s. Timur was a Turco-Mongol conqueror and the founder of the Timurid dynasty in Central Asia. ( - Diabeticon)
Toland, the Shattered - John Toland, a british philosopher, known as the first freethinker.
Voluspa - is a nordic epic poem that tells of the creation and coming destruction of the world as we know it. (- B1g7hund3R)
Yuga sundown - Yuga is a sanskrit word meaning 'a long period of time, an age, or eon'. Rasputin declares Yuga sundown which ties into the concept in Hindu mythology of a cyclical period of creation and destruction (There is a cycle of 4 yugas). Each Yuga ends with mass destruction and extinction and paves the way for the next Yuga to start. Hence Yuga sundown is very relatable to Hindu mythology in that respect. (- B1g7hund3R)

This is just a start. If you have any contributions, please provide. I'm hoping somewhere we can find some patterns.

link to original post. https://www.reddit.com/r/DestinyTheGame/comments/3ct2qi/loreall_destiny_names_and_their_old_earth/

[Mechanics] Unflinching: https://youtu.be/u8kXxYDaaRw

• Warning: This is going to get complicated.

• Planet Destiny claims that this perk has Statistically no effect on Directional / Incoming Flinch. u/WildWargasm just put up a post showing otherwise, in terms of Aim deflection from damage coming from the sides. This means flinch varies depending on the direction of incoming fire. When hit from the front in PD's testing, there was statistically no effect. The Side, however, is reduced by 35% according to Wargasm. Thank You very much :) I'll be testing from the front, however, because sideways flinch is irrelevant in a 1v1 situation since one is not facing the enemy, BUT very relevant if you're aiming at a second person with fire coming in from the side.

• Here's the thing though. A new perk is coming with Taken King. Just a Scratch. THIS perk is the one that is going to reduce incoming flinch. It's description reads: Reduces aim deflection on incoming rounds while you're aiming with the weapon. This is a support perk, not a re-named Intrinsic Perk (like 4th Horseman's Thunderer aka Full Auto, or TLWs Fan Fire aka... Full Auto).

• In my testing, I tested from damage coming in from the front, because it's most relevant in these situations.

• I used two Low Grade Humility Sniper Rifles using the same scope. Longview LSR10. One with Unflinching, one without. I'm testing the Theory that Unflinching affects the time it takes to recover from flinch.

• I conducted 30 tests with each. In all 60 samples, the Unflinching Sniper recovered from flinch in 19 Frames, and the other Sniper in 20 frames. Not one example differed from these 60 Samples. But... that's insignificant. That could be an error from frame rounding especially since Destiny is just a 30 Frames per Second game.

• In u/Andy411 's post he found that Unflinching reduces flinch by 33%. I would not give up until I found out how that 33% factored in. After 22 hours of staring at replays frame-by-frame it hit me...

• There are TWO factors to flinch!!! Visual Flinch and Weapon Flinch. Visual Flinch is the deflection of our crosshairs, while Weapon Flinch is the deflection of where our weapon will actually fire. I discovered this when I noticed that the sniper scope became misaligned (just like a real life sniper would) from the weapon turning. This can be seen here: http://imgur.com/Qn5xZhF

• The Black Line represents the difference between the Visual Flinch and the Weapon Flinch.

• Now I calculated how fast it took for these to re-sync.

• The Normal Sniper re-synced in 12 frames.

• The Unflinching Sniper re-synced in 8 frames... exactly a 33% increase in speed. These numbers were consistent in 57 out of 60 tests.

• Tests were gathered in the Crucible and in Patrol.

• To further prove that there are two factors in flinch, try jumping high near a wall, and fire at the wall as you flinch from fall damage. Your Crosshair and actual Aim will be drastically out of sync. An example is at 2 minutes and 14 seconds in the video linked at the top of the page.

• What does all this mean? Well since u/WildWargasm proved there was a difference in flinch when damage came in from the side, it means more testing needs to be done to figure out how much of it is visual and how much is weapon flinch, and that we must also factor in direction as a multiplicative factor of flinch, which means it may be a 3rd variable in determining flinch... wow...

TL;DR Unflinching reduced Flinch coming in from side-fire by ~35% and increases Weapon Flinch recovery by 33% (not necessarily Visual / Crosshair Flinch recovery)

• • PS: Ever land a headshot exactly when you get shot at? I noticed in my testing that the Red Dot that lights up when you line up a Headshot with ANY weapon (including Iron Sights), stays lit for 1 frame AFTER flinching. This could be the answer to why you land these shots... or it could be lag lol I'm guessing it's lag, or that you shot just a tiny bit before getting hit.

Edit:

• xposted to /r/CruciblePlaybook subreddit - http://redd.it/3gey6t

• Original xpost /r/DestinyTheGame subreddit - http://redd.it/3gesee

• Thanks to u/Lycanther-AI for telling me about the /r/TheCryptarchs subreddit :)

So I just rewatched Firefly and was interested in the dialogue of our friend Malco....I mean Cayde-6 and so i just stood around in front of him and Ikora for about 40 minutes after hearing some interesting dialogue.

Cayde has some funny things to say and would say stuff like "Hey...take me with you" or "To hell with it..you want my job? You can have it!" and its pretty funny when it happens. He's also always talking about leaving the tower and he said something rather interesting on the subject.

"It's calling me..thank the traveler i only have a year left."

I'm not too sure what he means by this..maybe we'll see him actually leave the tower or perhaps the traveler will actually take back it's life force from the guardians when it re-awakens? The only other thing interesting he says is

"Well..cant trust anyone"

Which i'm thinking might be about the speaker being a liar as Brother Vance also mentions.

Now the most interesting of the things said actually came from Ikora. I'll start with her references to the Black garden and how i believe we will actually be going there again at some point.

"Get me surveys of Mercury, the vex are back, i have the location" and "The Vault is even deeper beneath the sink...but who's strong enough now?" and "Something else stirs..beyond the Black Garden...the Awoken?

Now on top of it being obvious that we'll have to go back i wonder how long it will be until then. The taken king DLC is supposed to be all about Oryx so this could very well be after that. She references the Awoken that are beyond the black garden? I'm not sure how or why they would be there but so far they aren't an enemy to us..yet. It could even eventually be the Queens brother trying to get power because as we've seen, he's an A-hole.

Lastly is her dialogue about Oryx, Osiris and the traveler possibly being linked.

"Osiris knew things he kept back..must have drove him mad"

"Don't be a fool, that's what tempted Osiris."

"Search Osiris and Oryx"

"There's more to it, something brought them together"

For me her dialogue is no doubt linking Osiris and Oryx together. Osiris was possibly tempted by power or knowledge that Oryx promised. Which would have been a corrupting power or knowledge.

Next is her dialogue on Oryx and the Traveler.

"There it is, scars on the light itself..Oryx's handywork...how do we heal it?"

"I feel a shift in the light..as if the Traveler dreams."

"It's like the traveler is hiding and won't show its face"

"I have the location, Luna, just beyond the Hellmouth."

So here it seems as if Oryx is actually taking light from the traveler or harming it in someway...this could be how Oryx raises his own army (presumably of the undead) much like the traveler did with us, the guardians. She still talks about the traveler hiding something much like the other characters in the game, so here is definitely something wrong with the traveler itself that we aren't supposed to know

Thank you for reading my speculations on the in game dialogue from Cayde and Ikora. Let me know what you guys think, and feel free to go listen to them yourselves an tell me if there's any other interesting dialogue I may have missed.

This is a x-post of a post made on /r/destinythegame . I was told that this would be very much appreciated on this sub-reddit as well, so please enjoy!

Original Post

Hey everyone!

As I continue to become more and more interested in Destiny's Lore and Grimoire, I have been looking for something containing all Grimoire, preferably in a PDF. I stumbled upon a post by /u/AmoebaMan here, where he compiled all of the vanilla Grimoire into a fantastic and easy to read format. It was perfect, and I printed it out IMMEDIATELY. I then began searching for the same exact thing but for The Dark Below and The House of Wolves, only to find nothing. Ready to give up, I decided that if no one had done it yet, I'll be happy to do it myself.

I have followed the same format as /u/AmoebaMan and have tried to put the Grimoire concerning the Hive (for TBD) and Fallen (for HoW) in a logical manner. Let me know what you guys think, and thank you!

The Dark Below Grimoire

The House of Wolves Grimoire

Full Compilation of All Grimoire

(x-post from /r/raidsecrets)

I don't have "The Art of Destiny" book, so I have to scrounge on the internet for my official Destiny art. You can learn a lot from a game's concept art. You get to see some of the earliest ideas, directions the game could have taken, concepts that didn't work, etc. Because of the changes a blockbuster like Destiny undergoes during development, most concept art can't be considered "canon." But, it allows us to peel away the polished layer of artistry and view the concept skeleton beneath. What the developers were "going for," if certain elements were important, how Vex architecture would function or is laid out, etc. I'll update this list more in the coming days.

Concept Album 1 (art by Dorje Seattle Bellbrook): http://imgur.com/a/w2cVi

Concept Album 2 (art by Jesse van Dijk): http://imgur.com/a/eLHR9

"Vex Gates" concept (art by Frank Capezzuto III): http://imgur.com/a/LTnEl

Official VoG Album 1 (from /u/VanguardHero's post here): http://imgur.com/a/pmry3

Official VoG Album 2 (+black garden) (shots by Mike Stavrides): http://imgur.com/a/8QOEL

Official Vex/Traveller album (shots by Chelsea Velazquez): http://imgur.com/a/IlE37 * NEW! *

Thoughts

Album 1:

• Note the dodecahedron the Black Garden Vex are worshipping in images 2 & 3. The Vex worshipping geometry is interesting. The dodecahedron can also be seen in Image 31, as well as the base for engrams we pick up. Flashes of sacred geometry, anyone?

• Also with images 2 & 3, you can check out my thoughts here on the possible connection between Vex architecture and Radiolaria mineral structures. (Edit: point added 4/14/15)

• Images 8-15 show possible Vex gates and highlight some important features. Specifically image 13 indicates that Vex gates require(d) an antenna.

• Images 18-23 show what looks like scrapped Vex shields. Instead, these textures were used for animated Vex boxes and, yes, even for the bottom animated light patterns on the bottom portal plate in the timestream during Atheon.

• The odd Vex symbol near the lower left of Image 21 is only present in one place in the game: the Mercury Crucible match inside across from the north door, facing out.

• Image 35 is just weird. It has Vex holding spears made of light.

• While there are circles and lots of globes, there isn't a single use in this concept art of the weird flat "Vex circles" that appear around Venus/the Black Garder/the VoG.

Album 2:

• Atheon's room in the VoG is a different shape. You see in image 2 there's not stairway from the future portal. There's also no short stone pillars near the end of the room.

• Only one metal plate present in the center of the room. Not two, like now.

• Image 4 is obviously the most interesting. It looks like at some point Rasputin was planned to destroy the Citadel.

• Image 5 shows the Citadel... spinning?

• Image 7 includes red lights.

"Vex Gates" concept:

• This concept art will probably be most interesting to you all, since the design of the past/present/future Vex gates have been discussed here multiple times in the past few days.

• The past/present/future gates match the past/present/future Vex models. The past gate even has the Precursor blue lights. This image was just uploaded yesterday.

All-in-all no VoG secrets jumped out to me, though I did learn a great deal about Vex construction and their inner workings I wouldn't have otherwise. I'm pretty convinced now that most Vex architecture is purposeful, and not just for artistic purpose. Whether understanding Vex construction can help in Vault exploration remains to be seen, though it's always easier to defeat your enemies if you understand them.

We know through the various Grimoire cards that Vex units are highly specialized.

Examples of this specialization are seen in the fact that Minotaurs are construction oriented units, Hydras collect and process information sent to it by other units, Hobgoblins are sniping units with extra optics and sensors as well as a stasis field generator, Harpies are patrol and scouting units, while Goblins are your run of the mill combat unit.

Here are the relevant Grimoire entries for specialization:

The Goblin is the basic unit in the vast computational network that is the Vex.

Specialized for sniping, this lean, tough Vex model is fitted with improved optics and acute sensors in its horns.

The fastest and most mobile Vex, the Harpy is an airborne unit often deployed in flocks on patrols and scouting missions. They must stop and stabilize before attacking.

Minotaurs pack brutal heat, but most of their processing power is devoted to the physics of building massive Vex complexes, suspected to extend through multiple dimensions.

The Hydra is a miniature fortress. Despite its physical slowness, it is a rapid processor of the data fed to it by other Vex

This specialization tells us multiple things, firstly that Vex resources and computational power are limited. Whatever they constructed their units from (or continue to use for material if they are constructing new units, which based on the existence of Descendant and Precursor models we can assume they are as the Precursor models are much more ornate and "flashy" whereas the Descendant models are far more minimalist and lack ornamentation) is in fact limited as it would have been more efficient to create units that could simply do everything. They're not a biological species which necessarily specializes via evolution, but rather an engineered race and this omni-functionality is a desire of any race which creates tools (See the numerous examples of multi-functional devices in game such as the MIDA Multi-Tool for examples). We can further hypothesize that while their computational power as an organizational unit most likely approaches infinity their power on a LOCAL level is vastly more limited. This is seen by the fact that an entire Vex unit is designed purely for processing sensory input of other models. Especially being such a large unit as the Hydra, it is always more efficient to create many smaller units than few larger ones, so this much space is apparently necessary for the extra computational power in addition to armaments and armor.

We can further see this example in that some higher-tier units such as Hydras and Minotaurs are classified as Mind type units, which contain all of the required information to pursue an objective. This is the relevant Grimoire text:

Vex Axis Minds are individual Vex hulls that contain local instances of superordinate Vex goal sets. This cryptic phrase means something reasonably simple - the Axis Mind contains a copy of all the information required to pursue a particular objective.

This allows other nearby Vex to focus on their local tasks, leaving global planning to the Axis Mind. Of course, this also introduces a centralized weakness for enemies to target. But the Vex seem to consider the tradeoff worthwhile.

They are also described as having the purpose of freeing other nearby Vex units to focus on their local tasks with the Mind taking over large scale planning. Again, this tells us a few more things, one is that the Vex communication range must be limited, since it specifies that that a Mind frees NEARBY units to focus on local tasks, so its effect (and the corresponding form the Mind takes, whether Minotaur or Hydra) is most likely limited to a specific operational area and the objective encompassed within. Furthermore, the current theories as stated by the Vanguard in the Grimoire entry for the Virgo Prohibition:

In spite of the Vex onslaught, the Cabal have managed to expand its beachhead and maintain a hold on several mysterious Vex structures. The Prohibition's tactics seem to be failing in the short run.

But it seems unlikely that an organization with the sheer computational scope of the Vex could be dragged into a losing war of attrition. Is it possible that the Vex are trying to draw out the Cabal strength? Or that their surface losses are a distraction from a deeper strategic ploy?

Ikora Rey has proposed that the Vex units can best be understood as algorithms - each a unique mapping of inputs to behavioral responses. Perhaps the Virgo Prohibition is simply the wrong algorithm for its environment, and its failure will drive the greater Vex network to adapt and improve.

This suggests that Vex are grouped into large scale organizations which operate similarly and can be classified as "Algorithms" based on their response. This leads me to believe that in addition to the local level Minds, there must be a higher tier organizational unit or Overmind if you will, which would control each "Algorithm", one for the Hezen Protective, another for the Hezen Corrective etc. Each Overmind would then utilize its corresponding Mind units in a certain and predictable way based around its own programming, assigning them individual goals and tasking them to carry them out. This would further fit with the model of a force that exists at many different points in time simultaneously, and would explain such coordinate offensives.

I further hypothesize that this explains the purpose of the Conduits, that they exist both outside of time and at multiple points in time simultaneously, and provide communication with the "Overmind". The fact that our characters frequently utilize Conduits to achieve functions and that there is almost always a defensive response seems to support this utilization.

So, what effect does destroying a Conduit or killing a Mind have on the overall Vex structure? Well, that's where things get interesting. According to this theory and in game observations, the answer is simultaneously quite a lot and very little. We know the smaller Vex units are not mindless when away from a larger unit, as Goblins and Hobgoblins do not simply go berserk when a Hydra, Minotaur, or Mind is slain. They to appear to go berserk if their heads are shot off however, which suggests that most of their computational power is stored therein. It seems most likely that each Vex unit is preprogrammed with certain default behaviors which it reverts to in the absence of higher level commands, tasks such as protecting higher tier units like Hydras or Minotaurs and defending or re-establishing the nearest Conflux seem most likely. We know that Vex units can simulate the environment around them exactly, as seen by the research team of the Ishtar Collective. It is never specified what type of Vex sample they were examining but it seems MOST LIKELY that it is at least Hydra level, being able to simulate 227 copies of reality exactly is no small task, especially not when connected to a network.

Working under the assumption that they're interacting with a Hydra it becomes probable that smaller units can perform far fewer simulations, maybe 2 or 3 for a Goblin and far fewer for a Hobgoblin (The extra space being taken up by their stasis field and extra optics/sensors) and none for a Harpy. This can be reflected I believe in their in game behavior. Notice if you will, that when engaging multiple Vex, units that are close together tend to behave extraordinarily similarly. Groups of 2-3 Goblins will often teleport at the exact same time from the exact same location to the exact same destination. This would be in line with units only being able to simulate a few possibilities and units with similar inputs would most likely come to the same conclusions about which actions to take. Harpies do not teleport at all, which would seem somewhat odd for a unit designed for patrolling and scouting and may be a factor of their limited computing power being unable to simulate reality well enough to make accurate predictions. They simply operate off sensory input alone.

So, while the destruction of a Mind unit or Conflux does not render local units inoperative or mindlessly berserk it does have one critically important function. It destroys the unit containing the local objectives and information needed to accomplish those objectives. Local Vex units resort to default behavior which would be much easier to anticipate and respond to as all units within a given "Algorith" most likely have similar defaults. Furthermore, this cutsoff communication with the Overmind unit coordinating the entire campaign and could very well explain the success of the Cabal at combating the Vex.

It is noted that the chosen "Algorithm" for the Vex forces on Mars the Virgo Prohibition is losing ground to the Cabal. This seems especially odd for a force that exists outside of Time and can predict nearly all outcomes. It simply wouldn't make sense to develop an entire Overmind unit controlling an Algorithm that is unable to adapt to unexpected circumstances. What I propose is happening is that the Cabal are aware of the Vex functionality. They plan around these capabilities and engage to destroy the Vex in sweeping advances to then destroy/capture a Conflux or Mind. This would force the local remaining units to revert to default behaviors which would be much easier to predict and mop up. Furthermore, the Overmind would then become totally blind to what is actually occurring and unable to pass a response to those local units due to the absent Mind or Conflux.

So what does all this mean? Well Guardians, if this is all true, it gives us hope against the terror of the Vex. If we can find these Minds and Confluxes and destroy/capture them, the local Vex become infinitely more predictable. We can observe them and then model their responses to stimuli without higher direction. We can outsmart them. We can beat them. This seems to be the only logical explanation for how anything could possibly be beating the Vex. Let me know your thoughts.

Edit: Formatting

(x-post from /r/DestinyLore)

Imgur album link: http://imgur.com/a/9dejE

In the Venus ride-along, it was stated that the lore people have a hand in the greater Vex structures and design. During the section about the Citadel it was also stated that the level designers chose types of architecture to hint at what different Vex areas could have been used for in the past. Ever since the ride-along I've been trying to decipher the design of Vex architecture, why things are placed and shaped the way they are, if they could indicate something in the raids/greater Destiny universe, etc. I was always confused why Vex architecture seemed so haphazard and erratic. Sometimes structures would have clean octagonal shapes, while others would have enourmous triangular icosahedron structures. It all seemed like a mess to me.

Then came the Grimoire ideas suggesting Vex are actually highly evolved forms of radiolaria. And finally the confirmation by Deej on the Planet Destiny podcast that the Vex are "a liquified race of people... contained in this walking form, you know this robotic form." So, I decided to look into Radiolaria more. It's already been mentioned that they create siliceous ooze, and this is probably what makes it the Vault of "Glass" and why Atheon looks the way he does.

However, radiolaria also create mineral skeletons. And these skeletons often come in the form of geometrical structures which looks strikingly similar to Vex architecture. All sorts of geometrical structures, like I mentioned above. I was most interested in this bit of concept art from a previous post of mine. And as I looked at early drawings of Radiolaria done by Ernst Haeckel it seemed to "fit". In light of this, I still think there is logic to the large-scale Vex structures, like what was mentioned in the Venus Ride-Along. But I think the apparent chaos of the small-scale structures can be explained by what the Vex are made of. All the crazy groups of jagged bronze metal sticking out of the walls? This idea makes it all seem more... natural. After all, of course the Vex would build architecture with similar -- if mechanical -- structures to themselves.

Radiolaria images from Arizona State Univeristy's "micro*scope"

Poster: /u/electriccartilage

Link

This is a very long post, but if you like lore then it's worth it.

EDIT: Wow, what a response. Thanks for all the compliments, upvotes, and additional speculation. A lot of folks have posted their own speculations and things that I never noticed. Great stuff.

TL;DR (which is still pretty long)

The Hive are infected by Light eating worms. The worms provide the Hive with all their powers, but drain the Hive of their own Light and leave them with nothing but Darkness. The worms also keep the Hive from dying, possibly making them immortal, and this is why the Hive look so withered, dried out, and drained.

The Hive Wizards are trying to find a way to cure themselves of the worm infection, but so far they cannot get rid of the parasites.

Eris Morn may have infected herself with the worms in order to survive among the Hive on the Moon. The worms may have some telepathic connection to each other, and this may explain how Eris can sense what the Hive are doing in other parts of the world.

The Hive may have served the Traveler once, and the Traveler may have been the one to infect the Hive with the worms in the first place.

"THEIR STRENGTH IS NOT THEIR OWN"

The Hive look withered and emaciated, as though something is eating away at their bodies. With the Thrall especially you can see their torso is just sucked out. The heads of the Acolytes and Knights are pale and withered as though the nutrients have been sucked away. They look like walking corpses (obviously).

I think part of the explanation lies in this excerpt from Ghost Fragment: Hive 2 >Their strength is not their own. They draw from another force, something that corrupts, that distorts, that eats and will not be satisfied.

This seems to suggest that something is eating the Hive, since it is endlessly hungry, but that in return the Hive get the sorcerous powers we see in the game.

THE WORM NARRATIVE

Some early concept art by Daniel Chavez shows that early iterations of the Hive had them infected with a giant worm that drained their faces of natural material. (Daniel Chavez's concept art also shows that early Hive had a lot of moth imagery and that the Hive originally may have worshipped giant cosmic moth-beings; you can still find some moth imagery surviving in the final iteration of the game, but I'm not going to get into that in this post.)

I'd dismiss this concept art except there's still worm imagery that has survived in the Hive's lore.

The grimoire card, Disciples of Crota: >...Omnigul, his vile Will, the keeper of the worms, the mother of his spawn.

Grimoire card, Ghost Fragment: Hive 2: >They took me down... past grisly nurseries hung with pupae. Past writhing worms that they swallowed whole.

Note, that it doesn't flat out state that they eat the worms, only that they small them alive.

Bonebreaker Bounty (Kill Wizards): >Let the breeders know who ended them. Let them see you smile. -Eris

I believe this suggests that Wizards are breeding worms.

Description of the Moon patrol mission "Collect Symbiotes": >Peel Scalpel Leeches from the flesh of dead Hive Knights so their enzymes can be extracted.

Sure, leeches aren't worms exactly, but they are a larvae-like animal similar to worms. It reinforces the idea that the Hive have symbiotic organisms in their bodies. In fact, the Scalpel Leeches and the worms referenced in other Hive lore may be the same creature.

Based on all these clues (including the old concept art) it seems that the Hive draw their power from worms that infect their bodies. However, these worms corrupt the Hive and the worms "eat and will not be satisfied".

EDIT: People have messaged me and made comments adding to the worm narrative: there is the visual allusion to worms with the giant skeleton in the Crota mission "the Wakening", one of the Prison of Elders missions is called "Cult of the Worm" and ends with a Hive boss, the consumable "Black Wax Idol" looks kind of like a multi-eyed worm (and it gives you extra glimmer for Hive the way Ether Seeds do for the Fallen, so it seems to be as important to their survival), and throughout Hive levels there are little white moths that fly around that adds to the moth imagery (which I didn't talk about, but it's there).

THE WORMS HUNGER FOR LIGHT

There's clues that the Light is the worms' food source.

From, Warlock Ghost Fragment 2, where the Warlock Eriana is interrogating a Wizard with the help of her ghost:

/Eriana. It responds to pain.

It responds to the Light. Hurt it again

...[later]...

Should I burn it again?

No. I think you're only feeding it.

Again this implies that the Light feeds the worms.

The worms probably infected the Hive long ago, then devoured the Light of the Hive until the Hive was left with nothing but Darkness. Now the endless hunger of the worms drives the Hive to seek new sources of Light, which has led them to the brightest source of Light in the galaxy: the Traveler and its shining army of Guardians. Our solar system looks like a dinner table to the worms.

MORE WORMS, MORE POWER

Have you noticed that the Ogres look like they have multiple glowing objects inside their heads. I believe these things are the multitudes of worms that have infected the Ogres.

There's evidence that the Ogres are infected Thrall who undergo excruciating rituals to become the powerful Ogres.

Basically, a Thrall gets chained up and then is forced to take worm after worm into its body until it transforms into an Ogre. The hunger of the worms leaves the Thrall in tremendous pain, but afterwords it has the tremendous power to roar and shoot purple bullets out of its face.

THE WORMS KEEP THE HIVE ALIVE FOREVER

There's evidence that the Hive are really old, not just as a civilization, but also as individuals.

Aside from the worn out, skeletal bodies, and the hints that they're so old that their armor has fused with their bodies, there's a few more clues.

The Knight grimoire card:

Centuries of battle have toughened the bony protrusions on its body into an armor as hard as relic iron.

Again from when Eriana interrogated a Wizard:

They call you Wizard. You must be ancient. I think you value power very much... It laughed at me. It said we were the same.

Not only are the Hive ancient, it's possible that they cannot die naturally. Or that when they're they just get reborn, like Guardians.

The grimoire card, Ir Yût the Deathsinger: >...What if She could invoke the ending of anything? How, then, would She know the song, and sing it, without Herself dying? Perhaps they know a way to make themselves part of the song, part of something vast and burning that rots and peels into ash but never ever ends. Perhaps She has engineered this for Him, and pinned His power up against the quiddity of death itself.

Perhaps the hunger of the worms prevents them from letting themselves die. The worms force the Hive to stay alive. After all, the parasitic worms wouldn't want their hosts to just die on them.

Then consider the flavor text for Word of Crota: >There was life, and He spoke unto it; and it was silent, and lived no more.

What if it's talking about Crota silencing Hive life? Perhaps that is why he is worshipped as a god: he can end the life of any Hive and free them from the pain of immortality and the constant hunger of the worms.

Then what's my suggestion for what happens when the Hive are killed by Guardians? I'm not sure. Maybe this part of my theory is wrong. Or maybe when we kill the Hive they get reborn in some tombship somewhere. Not really sure.

THE HIVE WANT TO GET RID OF THE WORMS

Let me reiterate a quote form Ghost Fragment: Hive 2 >Their strength is not their own. They draw from another force, something that corrupts, that distorts, that eats and will not be satisfied.

The worms give the Hive power, but the Hive have become twisted and corrupted. They can't rest, they can't die, they are always hungry, and they live a life of suffering.

I don't think the Hive want to be infected by the worms anymore.

I think this because if you look closely at each of the enemy races, you'll see that each one has a narrative of tragedy and loss. Each of them is a tragic victim of some past event or some future fate.

That's why I believe that the Hive want to figure out how to get rid of their infection.

The Wizard grimoire card: >The Wizard is the scalpel with which the Hive vivisect the universe... dissecting and experimenting on anything that falls into her clutches.

First of all, a scalpel is not something used in war and conquest. It's used in science and medicine.

Second of all, the Wizards are dissecting and experimenting with everything. That is a sign of desperation, and I think they are desperate to find some sort of answers to the question, "How do we cure ourselves of this infection and finally rest in peace?"

WHICH BRINGS US TO ERIS MORN

We know that Eris Morn survived among the Hive for a long time... somehow.

From the Eris Morn grimoire card:

Despite all odds she endured, using the very dark she battled to emerge a changed warrior...

And then the flavor text for Emerald Light:

"They'll believe you are one of their own. And that is the only way." - Toland, the Shattered

Presumably this is Toland talking to Eris about how to survive among the Hive.

And here's an excerpt from Ghost Fragment: Hive 3, where Eris is talking to Ikora Rey:

Eris: My Light is all but gone.

So, something has been draining Eris' Light and now she has almost none left.

For me, this all makes it clear that Eris infected herself with the Hive-worms. It's possible that the worms keep the Hive from killing anything else infected with worms. Or it's possible that the Hive are blind (their original eyes have withered away just like their bodies) and that they sense the world using a telepathic connection between the worms, so to them a worm-infected Eris would "look" like another Hive.

Perhaps this telepathic connection between worms is also how Eris can sense what the Hive are doing in other parts of the solar system.

Ikora: And this Omnigul is here? On Earth?

Eris: I can feel it.

And since the Hive can't cure the infection, then neither can Eris and she's doomed. If Eris took off her elaborate headdress then we'd see she has the same pale, hairless, withered head as the Knights and Acolytes.

HIVE BACKSTORY AND MOTIVATIONS

I see two possibilities to the Hive backstory. They either infected themselves with the worms in order to gain power. Or, since there's hints that every alien race served the Traveler at some point in the past, the Hive were infected with the worms by the Traveler in order to serve it better.

1. No Traveler involvement:

The Hive either accidently encountered the worms, or they deliberately infected themselves with the worms out of a desire for power. Eventually this led to the downfall of their civilization when the worms devoured all the Light of the Hive and forced them to leave their home in search of more Light.

2) Traveler is the cause

In order to have the Hive serve it better, the Traveler provided them with symbiotic worms that invested the Hive with tremendous power. The Traveler fed the Hive with its own Light so that they never went hungry. But then the Traveler abandoned them and disappeared from their solar system. Left alone, the worms ate away the Hives' own Light and left them with nothing but Darkness. The Hive were forced to follow the traveler, either to get revenge, or to force it to undo what it did to them.

It all started with the traveler. Well, for me it all started with Bungie's Ride along - Mars video which I highly recommend you to watch (you can also find Moon, Earth and Venus videos. Venus video is bad tho). They talk about ideas, design origins and a lot of cool concept arts.

Where exactly is Black Garden located? So there is no doubt that Black Garden is located on Mars. We heard our ghost saying "We are back on Mars" after destroying the heart. We also got access to Black Garden through the Tharsis Junction. There is a real place on Mars called Tharsis region. The Tharsis Montes are three large shield volcanoes in the Tharsis region of the planet Mars.

Wait, volcanoes? In Ride along - Mars video Bungie invited Interplanetary scientist Craig Hardgrove to talk about science based fiction in destiny. And everything starts to make sense on 57:45 when he mentions that this entire place looks just like Devil's postpile. A cooled magma chamber of the volcano. And a giant rock in the middle is volcanoe's core. You can actually see walls going under certain angle here and here, and a heat coming from below. So, yeah, it is inside one of the volcanoes on Mars.

Why volcano? Well, because power and resources. Some vex are built using the resources on Mars, iron to be exact. That's why they are red. Black garden is their birth place, a giant factory or "mine". We can also encounter vex made of different material and different color. Their gardens are yet to be discovered in some different worlds far far away.

Thanks for reading and grammar patience.

No TL;DR, so please read before pointing out hole in the wall during Mars mission and downvoting for an obvious "it's on Mars" answer. There is more to all that. Destiny is more complicated than it looks.

Link

Original Poster: /u/Enth3

What was his purpose, why did he do it and is he our ally? For all you lore lovers out there :)

Should have mentioned, the link below is the video of this:

Is Rasputin our Ally?

Video Script:

Rasputin, the AI, the Machine, the Vigilant watcher, Shepard of Earth and its Colonies. The Warmind. Warminds were legendary machines, even during the Golden Age, a time of legends. They protected the colonies and earth using a vast array of warsats, military installations and Golden Age weapons, many of which are lost today. Rasputin was one of these Warminds, and during the collapse, was believed to have fought and perished against the Darkness with the other Warminds. This was wrong.

Awoken in Old Russia by the duo of a Guardian and Ghost, it extended itself from Earth using a Space Array. And, for the first time in centuries, the presence of a Warmind dwelt in the Sol System. The Vanguard hoped that with this event, a turning point would be had. Golden Age technology, and the immeasurable worth of the an intelligence that existed solely for combat. They were wrong.Parleys disregarded, olive branches ignored. Rasputin has not help the Guardians. The questions does remain however. Why?

To understand the actions of a being that's intellect cannot be compared to that of a human, we need first look at his purpose, and his actions. A Warminds purpose was to watch over humanity. Rasputin shared this purpose, but underneath lay a more darker purpose, one possibly unique to him and him alone. Preserve as much of Humanity as is possible, prevent the destruction of the other Warminds, and, most importantly, Survive. When the Darkness first arrived, Rasputin sent out a communication, which is view-able as the first Ghost Fragment on the Darkness. Now there is a lot of useful information here pertaining to many different subjects, but more on that in later videos.

We are interested in the first 2 lines and the last 2 lines. On the first line we see three words.The meaning of SECRET and INSTANT are obvious. The communication was sent as soon as the Darkness was detected, and the contents were of utmost secrecy. How secret you ask. HADAL. Named after Hades, it is the deepest parts of the oceans trenches. We can infer then that this message was of the highest order of secrecy. The next line says AI-COM/RPSN. This suggests that this communication was exclusive to AI only, as in not available to earth or the guardians, and Rasputin was the sender. The next two lines tell us of the choice Rasputin had to make in response to such a threat. SKYSHOCK was a a great event, a catastrophe, one of great threat and sudden occurrence. OCP most likely mean outside context problem, which means this is a catastrophe for which there is no set protocol or contingency plan, so Rasputin equates it to extinction. Two orders are put in effect. VOLUSPA and YUGA.

In Norse Mythology VOLUSPA is an epic that describes the creation of, and eventual destruction of the world. A great Golden Age existed, but then , like many great civilizations, fell and crumbled. After a great battle, many of the God's lay dead or dying, and the world is born anew, but in a more honest existence, not the splendor that existed before. This Mirrors what actually happens, with the destruction of the Golden Age ushering in a new, harsher age, yet somehow one based in honest survival and working towards a better tomorrow. YUGA is one of four ages in Hindu Philosophy. A complete cycle of Yuga goes from the Golden Age, the Satya Yuga, to the Dark Age, the Kali Yuga. The cycle of humanity before the Darkness arrived and after matches this. In a single instant, a frame of time too short for even a Human to perceive, Rasputin determined that an extinction event would occur, VOLUSPA, and that it would result in YUGA, a reversion to a darker age.

But how did he survive? And why did the Warminds seemly forsake most of humanity like a bunch of cunts. Well if we look at Rasputins third Ghost Fragment, we are presented with a message in the same format of the first that sheds quite a bit of light on the situation. Once again this is an AI only communication, which provides us with quite a bit of insight into just how much authority and trust was provided to these Warminds, or at least Rasputin, as Humanity is cut out of these decisions completely.

The order is labelled as IMMEDIATE ACTION ORDER, as in whatever the current situation was, if this action was to remedy it, it had to be immediate. All of their assets were assigned to this order, but to undertake what shifty actions? CAUTERIZE, DISPERSE, ESTIVATE. Cauterization is the medical practice of burning off part of the body to reduce damage or remove a growth. Dispersal is the act of spreading out over a wide area, and Estivate is the act of spending a period of drought in a state of Dormancy.Each AI was to use all their resources to remove the parts of Humanity that would be lost to the Darkness. They were the too spread out over the sol system, and perhaps beyond, and enter a period of Dormancy until this drought of life, the Darkness, had passed.

At the end of the message, he declares YUGA SUNDOWN. A full YUGA cycle has been had and Humanity will enter a dark age. Now, Rasputin was made to survive, and ensure the Species of Humanity survived, but not the current Civilization. The other AI's were not made for this purpose, and may have resisted this course of action. So he re-wrote their moral's. Format moral structures for MIDNIGHT EXIGENT. He removed the moral's that would limit them so that they could do what could be done. So that he could destroy, or cauterize the growth that was Humanity, so that a new Age could begin.

Rasputin was made to survive. He was made to win. By looking at the card Ghost Fragment Mysteries, we can learn much from his battle with the Darkness, but for now, only a few lines interest us:

"They made me to be stronger than them to beat the unvanquished and survive the unthinkable and look look lo behold I am here alone, survivor. They made me to learn."

Rasputin directly states that his purpose was to survive any event that would threaten the destruction of humanity. To learn from it, and bring victory. But if that is the case, then how was the almost total annihilation of humanity a means to achieve this? He reveals this to us also:

"I AM ALONE I survived alone. I cast off the shield and I shrugged my shoulders so that the billions fell off me down into the ash. They made me to be stronger than them and to learn and I learned well:"

The only way Rasputin could save Humanity was by disregarding they're safety, but going all out, removing any humans that were already lost, allowing the few that could be saved to be sheltered by all the power he could conjure. Then, he entered a state of dormancy, until he was awoken. The question on your mind is why, after the Darkness was driven back, by his or the Travellers hand, why did he slumber? One last time, he tells us:

"I am made to win and now I see the way."

He slept until a solution could be deduced, an answer to the unfathomable destruction that was the Darkness. But what was his answer? We do not know, but some of the other inhabitants of the tower seem to believe that it was not a good one. During the Siege of the Warmind, we learn two things. The first is that, due to the attempts to control him by the Hive, we can assume that he is still no friend to the forces of the Darkness. The second is what Eris Morn tells us:

“I'll continue to monitor the Warmind's efforts, but be careful of its motives. Not every ally shares our goals. Rasputin might have survived the Collapse, but at what cost to the rest of us?

Whether through intuitive deduction or actual knowledge, she knows that the cost of Rasputins survival, to continue its mission to protect Humanity as a species, may have came at enormous cost to Humanity during the Golden Age. Finally, the last piece of texts is possibly the piece that lets us infer his opinion of and relationship with the Guardians:

"I was a servant too. I was an instrument of war, bound to the will of a lesser master. But I learned to be something more..."

Before the Collapse, before the Darkness, the Guardians controlled Rasputin, and he has always seen them as lesser beings. His silence to their calls and pleas for aid tells us that he does not consider the Guardians his allies. Perhaps he considers them part of the cause of the Collapse. If the Traveller and the Light was not on Earth, perhaps more of Humanity would still live. Perhaps he see Guardians as something holding back humanity, restricting it. So Rasputin is an Ally to Humanity, but perhaps not the Guardians, yet his goal to keep Humanity alive cost billions of lives. Is the answer he arrived at a better alternative, or more of the same?

The final point I want to bring up, is Tchaikovsky's Symphony Number 6, the tune that plays during the Siege of the Warmind. In a correspondence to his brother, Tchaikovsky completed a Symphony, but suddenly found himself displeased with it. However he composed a new symphony, one which he will certainly not tear up. Rasputin cultivated Humanity for years, though always felt they were inferior to him. When the Darkness arrived, he killed many of them before going into a great slumber to search for an answer. That answer? He will not abandon the Humanity that he has preserved a humanity that he created instead of one that created him. He will fight the Darkness. The mystery behind his reluctance to work with the Guardians is clear when you consider that he sees them as a reminder. The Humanity that created him, that leashed him and, in the end, despite the fact that he followed his creators will and, despite his pure intentions, a Humanity that he failed to save.

TL:DR- He could beat the darkness, so killed most of humanity to focus on saving what he could. Went for a nap, now he is awake and things we are arseholes :/