Destcember Day 15: Forged In Battle

Destcember Day 30: New Vistas

Of all the places that I have been, perhaps the one that awed me the most my first time being there was Mara Sov's throne world, specifically the Queen's Court. It was such a beautiful sight, looking out past the edge of the universe and seeing. I stood there for as long as I could, until Mara started less than subtly suggesting that I should leave. It isn't just her Court that is beautiful. While I was Dûl Incaru, what I saw of the rest of her throne world looked like it would be almost as awe inspiring as her Court once the damage Oryx did is repaired. If we ever manage to end all of the wars we are fighting, maybe I will be able to find myself a place with such a view. Perhaps a little home on Pluto, without any light pollution to obscure my view. Or, if I can master enough kinds of magic, I could carve myself out a bit of the ascendant plane. Hell, even the Drifter managed to get himself a slice to store his Taken monsters in, as small and ramshackle as it may be. Yeah, I think I'll look into that. Surely all that killing that I have had to do recently must be good for something.

Me, Before the Allegiance Quest:

"Well, I don't quite trust the Drifter, but I agree with him more than the Vanguard, so I'll side with him."

Me, after the Drifter says that he trusts you and considers you one of his only friends:

If Guardians still play baseball, I guarantee you that someone has accidentally thrown their Ghost instead of the ball. I'm not sure how or why it happened, but I am completely that it has.

Destcember Day 12: Last Man Standing

A warlock stands in his friend's apartment, dreading having to ask for his advice. Although his friend is less academically inclined, he is no less passionate in his work. Asking him for advice will inevitably lead to a two hour lecture including several charts, but what must be done must be done. Apparently, these thoughts dragged out long enough for the silence to become awkward, so the titan takes the initiative and breaks the ice.

"So Ash, what brings you here? Usually you just call when you want to chat, so it must be important."

"Well, you know that I never got a Recluse."

"Really, I could have sworn you had one by now."

"Nope. Furthermore, no amount of bribery will get anyone with one to give me theirs. I can hold my own in the Crucible, but not well enough to convince Shaxx that I deserve his ultimate weapon. So Buloke, what I'm asking is can you give me some tips on the Crucible."

With this the Striker's eyes literally spark with excitement. He sprints out of the room only to return several seconds later with a corkboard covered in in pictures, thumbtacks, and enough red yarn to knit a sweater.

"I'm so glad that you finally asked! The current meta is quite complicated, so I'll start with the basics. You are going to want to bring a shotgun. There are a couple choices, but I prefer the Last Man Standing for its perks. You see..."

As Buloke begins his rant, Ash finally starts to realize what it is like to be on the other end of one of his manic speeches about his research. Although he is grateful to his friend, both for so easily agreeing to help him and for so frequently listening when he got in a similar state, as the lesson just finishes with the shotgun tips at around the half hour mark, a part of him begins to regret every decision that he has ever made.

"That gun had better be as good as they say it is," he mutters internally.

Idea For A New Iron Banner Ghost Shell

A wooden looking shell, studded with metal rivets similar to the Iron Banner guns. The top half of the shell has a constant, flickering flame. If the shell was really creative, the color of the fire would change with the shader.

A possibility for the name and flavor text are "Flickering Shell: For Ghosts who keep the spark of hope alive."

We did it guys. We finally got Mara to express a strong emotion. Unfortunately it was terrible, burning anger, but still. Baby steps.

Also, Ghost deserved that chewing out just a little bit.

Edit: For the record, I still think Ghost is great. I just really hope that Mara has good reasons for her choices and has a sliver of goodness buried deep inside. Maybe. Possibly.

Imagine if

Uldren somehow manages to make it to the Tower without remembering/being told who he is. When he appears, every guardian stops what they were doing and then they slowly file out until only Lord Shaxx is left. "They want to see you in the Crucible, Guardian."

I wonder what Uldren has been up to for the last few weeks. Has he made it to the Tower without anyone noticing, even the Vanguard? Did he get lost somehow and is just wandering the system aimlessly? Did Mara and/or a Corsair swoop him up, requiring us to maybe have to stage a daring rescue mission? Or, more likely, does he keep getting spawn killed because he is a level-1 kinderguardian in revived in the Dreaming City, a level-50 war zone, completely unarmed and unarmored. I'm guessing that it is the latter. Probably about time to start sending out the search and rescue parties, whatever the case.

Jobs For Guardians In Peacetime

It's interesting to think about what will happen to Guardians after the perpetual wars that humanity is in end. Of course, many will likely stay on as warriors. Even if we do ever defeat the Darkness fully, there will always be threats that are unrelated to it, such as the Cabal Empire.

Others will likely just retire, having more than earned the rest of their possibly eternal life off.

Besides those, there will be some who are tired of fighting, but still would like to work. They could do dangerous jobs, like construction, mining, or demolition.

For those who want a more peaceful job, there careers too. They would make great historians and teachers, with some Guardians having been there for every event since the collapse, or writers. In fact, with infinite time to become good at their job and an inbuilt drive to do so, they would be great at any profession.

Finally, and my personal favorite, there are the jobs who can't give up the love of the unknown and wanderlust. Guardians would also great explorers, due to them not strictly needing food, water, environmental protection, etc and an eternal companion to prevent isolation insanity. They could search for new civilizations or habitable planets to colonize. If the explorers ever find a civilization who isn't immediately, genocidally hostile, certain Guardians would make great diplomats. They have spent years dealing with hostile and insane aliens, they have their Ghost and personal experience to help translate, and the unspoken warning of being able to use an immortal warrior who has killed tens of thousands including gods as a simple diplomat wouldn't hurt.

Anyway, those are just some of my headcanons. What do you think that Guardians will do during peacetime?

Destcember Day 11: Guardian of Nothing

Guardians have a tendency to hoard. I think it has something to do with whatever the Traveler did with our brains when it brought us back to make sure at least most of us would help people instead of just wandering off. But as a side effect, we tend to take things we like and guard them too.

We all have things we store away, myself included. There are always a few dozen guns and bits of armour that are rattling around in our vaults that we tell ourselves will come in handy one day. All those ghost shells, mods, shaders, and shiny bits that we gather by the hundreds. We regularly spend enough glimmer to feed a family for months to buy things from vendors, put it in the pile, and promptly forget. And it's not just physical things we hoard. We love hoarding power.

Everyone loves power, be it physical or status. The Vanguad and the factions all cling desperately to positions. We all grind for that next arbitrary rank in crucible. We want more numbers. Bigger numbers and better numbers than our friends. It's more subtle than the physical hoarding, but it's still there.

I think that's why Guall's attack hit us so hard. Sure it killed people, but everything does that. But for a bit, we lost everything we guarded. Our guns, our gear, our ships and sparrows. Our ranks, our power, our people. Even our Light. For a while, we were guardians of nothing.