Destcember Day #5: A Day Off

Destcember Day 14: Chosen Undead

I've read a number of books from before the Collapse. In some of the fantasy novels, there was a creature known as a lich. A monster of magic and undeath, living forever as long as they could protect their philactery, but having to kill endlessly in return for their power. In some ways, we are like them. We have been granted powers of Light and eternal life as long as we can protect our Ghosts. In return, we serve the Light, killing the enemies of humanity, over and over, thousands and thousands. There is once difference, though. In the stories, they were always the villains, selfish for living forever and killing others. We, however, are the heroes, praised for our endless lives and slaughter in the name of humanity. I suppose times have changed.

Attention those of you invading in Gambit:

Please use Roaming Supers more often. I have played at least 50 matches without getting a single kill for Light vs Light progress. I still need 7 more and at this rate I will never be a Dredgen.

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.

Destcember Day #6:

For Every Rose A Thorn

While I can appreciate the work that they do to protect the Last City, I honestly cannot stand the Praxic Order. At their best, they are warriors of the Light that honestly do what they think will stop the Darkness, even if they go about it like zealots. At their worst, they can act like thugs, going out of their way to intimidate anyone who tries to study the Darkness into abandoning their work and threatening to kill them otherwise. Most of them are better than that and there are a few who I even respect, but the sight of them gives me a headache. While their goal seems noble, they fail to see the subtleties.

Take their stance on guardians using the Thorn. They heavily discourage its use and sometimes go as far as to trail users in case they are Shadows of Yor. At the same time, the promote the use of Lumina and its reproduction. One is decried as a tool of Darkness and the other hailed as a weapon of the Light. As a proud owner of both, I can tell you that they are practically the same weapon. Sure, one is white and the other a dark black, but they both steal the life energy of their victims to empower themselves. The only difference is in how the stolen essence is redistributed. Do they honestly think that the health it restores comes from nowhere?

Of course, that is just a microcosm of my issue with their ideals. If we are to save ourselves, we need all of the power we can get, even if the source is impure. Attempting to ban the use of Darkness in service of the Light holds us back. I've seen Fallen squadrons break and flee from watching one of their comrades break into ashes as a single bullet wound eats them from the inside out. Sure, a bullet from a Thorn kills worse, but because of it I've had to kill less. It is a display of danger, unlike the Lumina, which displays beauty before function. No one avoids a rosebush because of its beauty. They are careful because behind every delicate rose is a thorn to keep it safe. As guardians, we cannot afford to be the innocent roses, free of guilt or pain. That we leave to the civilians of the city so that we may one day join them. For now, we must bear the burden of the thorns, inflicting harm on any threats, no matter how we must do it and no matter how it may leave us broken. When we succeed, then there will be time to heal. But for now, we must be thorns.

Destcember Day 10: What Is Worth Fighting For

I admire Petra and her Corsiars greatly, probably more than anyone else, in the Reef or the City. Unlike us guardians, they don't have the luxury of returning after death, and yet they fight just as bravely as any of us to protect what is worth fighting for. Even though they are caught in a time loop by Riven's last curse, I have let to see a single on give up or try to run. Perhaps the best example I have seen of this is Amrita Vae. When Petra called for her Corsairs to return and protect the Dreaming City, without a hint of hesitation, she abandoned the home she had made for herself on Earth and risked her life to help reclaim the Reef. Every three weeks, I find her gravely injured, having failed to protect the relics she was assigned to guard. And yet, the next time the cycle repeats, she is there again, having stayed to fight, despite knowing what would happen to her and that she would fail again. That is why I always come when Petra calls for our help, despite so many other guardians having abandoned their eternal conflict. Because if the Corsairs refuse to give up on on their home and what they believe is worth fighting for, then who am I to give up on them.

Destcember Day #7: Forge Your Destiny

"You ever notice that the best weapons are the ones you make yourself?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well not to insult SUROS, their weapons are fine, but they don't hold a candle to the stuff the Black Armory lets you make. Also, magic doesn't come premade. Thorn, Deathbringer, Bad Juju, we had to put those without more than vague guidance. Anytime we want something good, we have to forge it ourselves."

"Well, you know what they say. If you want it done right, commit the necessary atrocities yourself."

"You know that isn't what they say, right?"

"Ugh, I've been translating too much Hive lore."

Destcember Day 11: Knowledge Is Power

Knowledge is power. That has been my mantra since I was revived in service to humanity. When I awoke without any memory of myself or the world, I wanted to know. To know where I was, to know who I was, to know what I was, because if I could just know, then I would be fine. But with every answer I learned, another question sprung up and the desire to know never abated. I think that's why the Traveler brought me back, to learn about all I could for the sake of humanity. So, now I research the deepest parts of the Darkness, the searing brightness of the unknown parts of the Light, and the strangest mysteries of our universe. I collect the whispering bones of the Ahamkara that we destroyed because we could not control them or tame their parasitic nature. I fight into the depths of Hive strongholds to steal their tomes and objects of power. I make deals with Cabal and Eliksni to learn about their history and their culture. I work with Osiris to unravel the machinations of the Vex. And even though I am set in my course, the Vanguard still seek to dissuade me. Stare not to long into the Abyss, they warn, lest it stare back at you. But I must continue to to learn, for it is better to risk losing myself to find a light than to stumble blindly into the night.

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.

The Last Word quest is like trying to run up a greased slide while a bungie cord holds you to the ground. I have been at this for two hours and have made no progress. I'd say to kill me, but then I'd just lose more progress.

Destcember Day 6: In the Vanguard

In the Vanguard, your duty always comes first. Everything other than your duty to the City and its people is secondary, as Zavala will happily tell you if you ask, or, more often, if you ever do anything that indicates to him that you might even think otherwise. Personally, I could never get behind that mentality. Of course, I still believe in protecting the City and all, but not to the exclusion of all else. Zavala's mindset on duty boarders on both tyranny and cowardice. He attempts to ban all guardians from searching out their past, reasoning that they would have to leave the city to do so. When Ana tried to help Rasputin, Zavala constantly tried to discourage her, on the grounds that we couldn't control Rasputin, never thinking that maybe we didn't need to. He never pushes advantages or goes on the offensive, only holding on to what we have and, more often than not, nearly losing that too. But, the final straw for me was his pathetic treatment of our greatest friends and allies. When Cadye was murdered, rather than sending an army of guardians or even a single fireteam to avenge our friend, Zavala refused, saying that our duty to the City was more important. Then, when I took the initiative and hunted Uldren down myself, he had the nerve to act high and mighty, both saying that I shouldn't have done it and that he would have done the same in another life. So, that's why I'm no longer in the Vanguard. Because in the Vanguard, it is duty before self and duty before reason, with a spineless tyrant in charge of it all.