#then Calus shows up and the rest goes from there

[guardian-down]

[eosofspades]

so i'm seeing some ideas going around that this (horrifying) scene from the trailer -

- isn't our Ghost, but a Ghost, and i wanna talk about it.

i do think this is our (the player's) Ghost, for a couple of reasons! for starters, there's the obvious - the classic shell they use for The Guardian's Ghost in trailers, the Guardian being a Titan (also what Bungie tends to depict The Guardian as in trailers), the fact that in a trailer of this significance, it seems really unlikely that they'd be showing us something as intense as this with an unknown/unnamed character, etc.

but more importantly, a lot of people seem to be thinking that this Ghost and Guardian are... actually getting sliced up, which i don't think they are.

bear with me for a bit! while that's absolutely what looks like what is happening, i'm at least 80% certain this scene is going to be the Witness giving the Guardian a terrible vision/hallucination (similar to what happened in Shadowkeep where we encountered the Dark Guardian in the Black Garden.) and there are another couple of reasons for this!

(the rest under a read more - this one really got away from me.)

for one thing - purely from a technical standpoint - the Young Wolf and their Ghost just... straight-up can't die; at least not permanently, at least not yet. they're the player character; you're going to need them to actually continue playing the game.

(i've also seen people suggesting this can't be our Ghost from a technical standpoint because that would mean Bungie having to do the slicing animation for every single Ghost shell in the game, which, to be fair, is a completely valid assumption to make - but in my opinion, based on the sheer volume of detail within this game's scenery and animation, and the unbelievable attention to the smallest possible details that most players won't even notice - i would absolutely not put it past Bungie to put in that effort, and, moreover, i have another idea that goes hand-in-hand with the "this is a vision" thing; that they didn't have to animate every single shell - but i'll get to that in a bit.)

now, from an in-game perspective, it doesn't make sense to me to have this not be our Ghost, or to have it not be a vision. for one thing - if what the Witness is doing is actually slicing up all of these Ghosts and Guardians and ships, that's just… a little bit nonsense. yes, the Witness is unbelievably powerful and terrifyingly dangerous, but if it is actually capable of unmaking living, paracausal things with a single flick of its finger, that seems… unlikely in terms of power, at most, because if that’s the case there truly is no fight to be had. the Witness could obliterate the Guardian before we even had a chance to draw our gun. it just seems unrealistic that if the Witness was that overtly powerful, there could even be a compelling battle against it.

(it’s also worth mentioning that the Witness’ entire thing is visuals and appearances over actual physical confrontation. it doesn’t even appear in the flesh to Calus at all times - in fact, the trailer makes a point of showing that it speaks to him through a cracked mirror, and in the final Seraph cutscene that it appears to Eramis via a screen; there’s the fact that the Darkness is constantly waving around this motif of visuals and appearances (the Dark Guardian vision during Shadowkeep; Deepsight; the Nightmares on the Moon, etc.) and even that it’s name is the Witness - you get it.)

there’s also the matter of emotional impact. like, don’t get me wrong, this is fucking horrifying. actual, full-body dread and fear at this scene when i first saw it. but you cannot tell me you would be just as distressed and unsettled if it were a random Ghost paired with a random Guardian we’ve never seen before - our Ghost has been getting so much character insight and development in the last two DLCs (his fear -> reluctance -> hesitant acception of the Guardian using Stasis, his complicated feelings regarding his faith in the Traveler explored during Witch Queen or his hostility -> understanding towards Fynch, etc.), i can’t imagine Bungie is going to give us this close-up, visceral, nightmarish scene with a Ghost we don’t know and have no attachment to.

(also, i made a post about this already, but in this trailer alone i am seeing SO MANY parallels to The Red War campaign - the fact that the Ghost and Guardian are in the exact same position as we were during the Red War intro is not lost on me. this also ties back into my “only animating one Ghost shell” thing - if it is a vision, i think it’s possible that the reason the Titan in the trailer is in “older”-looking armor is because you’re seeing yourself and Ghost in what could be a potential callback to the Red War - hence having Ghost be in the Last City shell, and the Guardian in “older” armor; because what’s happening here is not what is real; it’s supposed to be the Witness getting into your head. (or, again, maybe the Titan is just in that armor for the trailer and Bungie did animate the Ghost shells! at the very least, i doubt that having a non-player’s Ghost be in the Last City shell is probably not going to happen, since that’s the shell we tend to associate with our Ghost.))

what i think is actually happening here is one of two things: either the Witness giving the Guardian a horrifying “vision” in order to scare us/make us understand why it believes the Traveler heralds death and needs to be eliminated (i’m going to shamelessly plug in my obsession with Unveiling once again, but the Winnower explicitly explains to us at least couple of times that it believes existence is full of suffering and many things would be better off not existing at all to spare ourselves the torment. i can absolutely see the Witness trying to intimidate/terrorize us with a vision like this in order to get across its point that the Traveler will allow us to suffer and writhe and never be able to escape it.)

the other guess i have, which is unlikely but still something i think would be very very neat, is that - with the Witness’ whole shattered glass motif and the way its hands move, like it’s altering reality as it exists - it would be incredibly interesting if the Witness were actually “dismantling” us, so to speak - even if just for a moment, maybe before summoning us to the final confrontation of the campaign, just as a sheer power move. so when the Guardian gets there, they’re afraid and disoriented and unable to focus (this is, again, incredibly unlikely, probably, but i really really want to see some threats from enemies on an incredibly personal level. i have been dying for an enemy to get to us in an uncomfortably up-close and personal manner, or at least for the Guardian to have actual reactions to things. i would love to see another callback to the Red War, maybe, with the Guardian and Ghost collapsed and the Witness towering over them.)

obligatory disclaimer that i could always be wrong, of course, and if it turns out to be a random Ghost and Guardian getting ACTUALLY sliced up i’ll admit it and eat my words, but with what we’ve seen at this point in time, it really doesn’t make sense to me that it would be anything other than a vision being experienced by the player Guardian and our Ghost.

[lumi-klovstad-games]

Ramses-17′s opinions on Destiny 2′s cast in the unfortunate event of his Death or Amnesia

The Prompt: Your Guardian, or a character of your choice, making video logs in case they die or start losing their memories

Ramses-17:

*shuffles nervously in front of the camera*

Hey you... so, I guess I’m either dead-dead or I’ve lost my memory completely. If I’m dead, I hope I pulled a Cayde-6 and went out like an absolute badass, defiant to the end. I mean, not that I’m eager to punch out or anything, but I at least hope my death measures up to what I hope my life amounted to. Preferably, even more so, but that’s a tall order. It’s been quite a life so far.

Some notes: I hope Saint-14 is still hanging around. If he is, go say hi. Make friends with him. He’s a damn good example of the very best of us. The image of a Guardian. He’s the icon I strive to live up to -- he taught me what it means to be a Titan and a Guardian. Just don’t don’t engage in a snowball fight with him. I don’t care how tempting it seems.

Be nice to Zavala. Yes, he’s made some dick calls, I mean, really dick calls... but his one love and loyalty is the City. Everything he’s done, smart or not, kind or not, was in its defense. He just... doesn’t understand that not all Guardians are like him, I think. You can get the story of what went down between us from Ikora, Shaxx, or Reena Feng but... dammit I’m just no good at telling stories. Point is, don’t judge him too harshly. There’s a good man underneath that gruff and social ineptness. Kind of like me, I guess.

Speaking of Reena Feng... it’s taken me a while to come to terms with the girl, and the choices she made, but ultimately... she made a better call than I did at the time. Showing mercy to Kaya-Sei was absolutely the right call, and I’m glad she was there to stop me. If she hadn’t been there, I think I would have regretted my decisions forever. If it’s Ramses-18 watching? Go thank that plucky Warlock. Say 17 told you to do it. She’ll laugh it off, tell a joke to try to deflect how much it makes her feel, but she’ll really appreciate it. With luck, you’ll be best friends with her, just like I used to be.

On the note of Kaya-Sei: she’s not that different from Zavala. She’s stuck in her way of seeing the world, but she’s not a bad person. If you cross paths with her, don’t treat her like the traitor everyone says she is. You can absolutely trust her, and this is coming from me, so that’s gotta mean something. Normally I wouldn’t say “trust the personal hitwoman of Mara Sov”, but if Kaya’s involved, take her side. She’s damn well earned that apology from me. Also her judgment is much better than it looks from the outside, which is a good thing because sometimes she really looks like a moron. Don’t tell her I said that. I mean, the part where I called her a moron. Go ahead and flatter her with the bit where I said she has good judgment. Mostly because it’s true.

Quick bits: Ikora Rey? Excellent sagely counselor. If you have concerns, she has some of the best advice out there. If you’re concerned about where to turn or what to do, ask her. You won’t regret it.

Drifter? Keep well away from that smarmy bastard. Something about him doesn’t add up, and the loot just isn’t worth the risk.

Ada-9: Worth kissing up to. Her gear is second to none. Just... learn to put up with the attitude; it’s not going away.

Devrim Kay: I may not have taste buds, but his tea is so good I’ve forgotten that fact any number of times. You can rely on him too. He may not have a Ghost, but he’s every inch a guardian in my book.

Asher Mir: ...kind of an asshole with a heart of jerk. Deal with him only when you must.

Sloane: Lady gets stuff done. Can be gruff, but don’t let it get to you. She’s worth getting to know.

Failsafe: I used to stop by every weekend and play board games with her. You should too. I know she likes the intellectual stimulation and the company.

Ana Bray: Ana Bray.... what do I say about her? That she’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen? That I’m grateful to have ever known her? That she’s kick ass? That she helped me discover some bits about myself before I was all... metal? Ana’s brave and beautiful and unconventional and a trouble magnet, but she’s up there with the best of us. She should be a legend, in my opinion. But maybe I’m biased. If you’re watching this, Ramses-18: go get her, Tiger. 

Eris Morn: Queen of spookiness. Has a knack for knowing where we should really make our stand. You should absolutely dance in front of her. The worst that can happen is raisins. *barely contained laughter* 

Emperor Calus: Bad news, and definitely that “friend” nobody should like. Steer clear.

Xur: Oh dear god, ditto. Even if his loot is awesome, he’s shifty as hell and keep an eye on him. You don’t need his gear anyway. A real Guardian makes do and has plenty of tools in every situation anyway. Whatever he’s selling, you don’t need it. Even if it is really, really cool.

Tess Everis: Shrewd woman. Offers some neat stuff, but keep your hand on your cash when you deal with her, because she’ll probably rob you blind and call it “commerce”. Cayde never did finish that investigation of whether or not she ran Eververse sweat shops in the City. You should look into that for me.

Fenchurch Everis: I really don’t think he exists. Tess 100% made him up. I mean, has anyone ever actually seen him? Like, in person? Exactly. He’s pure fiction and you need to tell Tess to knock those stupid stories off.

Petra Venj: God I hate her. But... *sighs* she occasionally makes a good point and she’s handy in a fight. Also, if you kill her, I’m pretty sure Kaya-Sei will go all hitwoman on you and you will not make it through the rest of the week so play nice, I guess.

Mara Sov: Everything I just said about Petra Venj goes triple for Mara Sov.

Mithrax: Pretty damn chill for a Fallen.

Spider: Same, and oddly trustworthy. Do not trust him anyway, just for pragmatism’s sake.

Osiris: Means well but will 100% screw you over purely by accident. Keep your distance, but be ready for Ikora to draft you into cleaning up his latest mess on a monthly basis.

Banshee-44: Ever seen an Exo with Alzheimer’s? Banshee’s as close as you get. I heard a rumor that 44 is just the amount of reboots he lost count at. Either way, he’s got a memory like a sieve, but it’s hard to find a better gunsmith. Be patient with him. He’s been through more than I could possibly know.

Shaxx: He’s loud, he’s proud, he will get you killed many, many, many times, but he’ll help you stand back up every time. He’s quality guardian.

Lord Saladin: He’s grim, but like Eris, he comes by it honestly. Make sure he adds my name to his list.

Amanda Holliday: God I love her. She’ll have more than few tales to tell you about me. Not just me, lots of interesting stuff from our recent history. I think she’s seen almost as much as I have, and in a much shorter span. I have no clue how she keeps it together, but she does, and I’m grateful.

Suraya Hawthorne: I mean, she’s a nice gal and a great ally, but I think her desk job is getting to her -- sometimes it seems like she doesn’t realize how much stuff actually happened since she took her posting in the Tower. Poor girl needs some time in the field again if you ask me.

Who else is left? I guess I should mention Caesar, my ghost. Hopefully he’s watching over a Ramses-18, who is hopefully watching this. We’ve been through some times together, and hopefully, he’s there to get you through some more. I couldn’t ask for a more stalwart partner.

I guess all that’s left is me. I’ve always been a survivor. From Twilight Gap all the way to the Crimson Spire Offensive, I’ve made it through battle after battle. If I’ve lost my memory, maybe in some way it’s a blessing. I can’t begin to tell you the things that witnessing what I have does to a mind. Sometimes it’s better to simply know what you’ve faced and overcome and not know the details. I wouldn’t choose to forget any of it, but... if I have, I’d be hard pressed to say I regret the loss. But if you’re watching this, I don’t care if you’re Ramses-18 or someone else: by watching this, you’re picking up a piece of my legacy.

Go on and make something great with it. Most (keyword: MOST) of the folks I’ve mentioned will help. But you’ve sat and listened to an old Exo reminisce long enough. The future’s yours, Guardian. Go build it.

[silyabeeodess]

Even after making these guys, I still can hardly fathom how much I actually like this show now…

Here’s a character line-up for the six IZ ocs I mentioned in my earlier post.  I’ll list some info on each of them in the cut below, but here’s some general info for the whole group:  These guys all knew each other since they were smeets. At the time, Irkens were going through one of many phases to genetically engineer better, stronger, taller versions of their species. At this point, the experiments were winding down and each phase pushed for only mild or subtle changes in order to limit any extreme consequences. Most of their batch ended up slightly taller than average and tested better overall during their training. They were all also very loyal Irkens! The problem was… a lot of them proved to be more loyal to each other than to their actual leaders.  This actually led to about a 2 minute “uprising” in their youth where a few of them got themselves just about vaporized. Some other smeets from their batch would later meet similar fates or get their little, green butts handed to them down the line whenever any of them stepped so much as a foot out of line.  …Woohoo! :) So, the ones that survived basically either never really had a loyalty issue or learned pretty fast to keep their mouths shut.  In the case of these six, it was the latter. Rather than favor height, they value competence. That doesn’t mean that they won’t follow orders, but whoever leads them better do so well. This leaves them to often have shaky opinions of their fellow Irkens and higher-ups, and the group will often debate (in secret) over which traits are the most valuable for the empire’s goals of conquest. They’re also pretty ambitious, and divided themselves in a way to both jointly live…somewhat, comfortably and rise through the empire’s ranks.

LARG:

Larg is the tallest of the group, and because of this the others will sometimes treat him as an outsider. In public, they give him the respect other Irkens would show him because of his height and position. In private, he has to prove himself to them more than the rest of them have to with each other to show that he isn’t taken in by his own status and that he won’t end up stabbing them in the back at some point. In reality, the fear is pretty baseless as he’s actually the most lenient and easygoing of the bunch. 

Once he became a navigator on the Massive, he was able to solidify his place in the group a lot more. They valued his placement and what it meant for them overall, with him doing the others favors or giving them subtle recommendations when possible. It also gave him the chance to keep an eye on the Tallest.

Out of the six, he questions authority the least. He gets along well with his fellow navigators too.

 SLEEVEEN:

Sleeveen is the next tallest of the six and became a scientist. It’s not so much that she devoted herself to science because that’s her strong suit, but rather that “someone needed to fill that slot” and the role fit her personality best. Sleeveen’s the sort to play mind-games rather than draw a weapon. She’ll put on a show to convince you that your family’s dead just to see how you react and test how far she can push you over the edge. Therefore, it could easily be said that she favors/specializes in psychological weaponry and related tech.  

She likes talking and bragging about her work, so she’ll show it off any chance she gets. In turn, she’ll take it as a personal offense if you don’t give her some attention. Just letting her talk and nodding along on occasion is typically all it really takes to satisfy her though. 

The group views her as the least rational, due to her being pretty petty and desire for revenge if she feels slighted–which the others mostly view as a pointless waste of time. Still, she doesn’t let her feelings get in the way of her work or their safety, so they’ll usually let her have her way or even play along.

FIZ:

Fiz probably would’ve been fine anywhere in the military, but the others pushed her to be an invader due to her self-discipline and well-rounded abilities. And it was good advice: She does a pretty good job.  Her main issue is that her usual “angry” expression sometimes gets her into a bit of trouble, as most people can’t read her and don’t know if she’s giving them sass or not.  She often gets sent to planets with darker atmospheres or that are tidal locked, so she wears a much darker uniform than normal to help her blend in a bit better to those types of surroundings. 

Even when she first hatched, Fiz had a pretty angry expression. She’s not a negative person though: It’s just her face. She can be a hard-case with a razor focus to her work and a stern desire for control of both herself and her environment; however, she will emote more at times of extreme emotion, such as surprise, and doesn’t mind relaxing a bit–especially with the others–if she is offered the chance. Just don't expect her to spill her innermost secrets…

Fiz has a major caffeine addiction. She once had to go several weeks without caffeine on an assignment on a dwarf planet and it frustrated her so much that she dumped a ton of chemicals into its entire water supply to turn it into soda. Even though she went a little out of line, the Tallest were actually happy with the result and pumped the planet dry before conquering it completely.  

CESTUS:

Cestus is the group’s second invader; however, he stayed an Irken elite for a much longer period than Tiz from a lack of trying. He shows a general apathy for most things, and as a result nothing really moves, disappoints, or impresses him easily.  The most anyone can normally get out of him is a resounding “meh.” Out of the six, he’s the most likely to be a follower, as he doesn’t give much input on things and has a habit of staying silent. Despite this, the others know that he’d come through for them in the end.

The one thing Cestus really does care deeply about are the others in the group, even if he doesn’t show it. If something happened to them, he’d fight tooth and nail to save them–even shirking off his obedient façade if it came to it, so long as he knew it wouldn’t do more harm than good.  He actually has a soft spot for smeets too, and would’ve wanted to teach if he was able. Not without attempting to slip their batch’s ideology onto future generations despite their PAKs’ programming, but he would’ve enjoyed it.

No one will say it to his face, but some Irkens talk about Cestus’ head. He doesn’t know it, but a lot of them think he got hit with something that caused a permanent indentation in the back of it. It’s one rumor that somehow no one in the group has picked up on, or if they have they just don’t care enough about it to bring it up.

MOOB:

Moob is about average in height for an Irken, as well as average overall in most fields. Because of this, he became a standard soldier. He specializes in demolitions for his unit, which is the main area where he shows incredible skill.  He’s very passionate about his explosives. Some might even say dangerously so.  Give him any opportunity to blow something up and there’s a chance that the armada will see fireworks from halfway across the galaxy. If it weren’t for the others reminding him to keep himself in-check, he’d probably get himself into a ton of trouble.

He’s got a very “silent, but deadly” personality, not really saying much to other people outside of the group, but breaking into a loud, scary fit of laughter when it’s time to do his job. Effective as he is, most people don’t like teaming up with him on assignments. 

He’s blown himself up and his PAK has had to revive him multiple times. It’s a miracle he still has all of his limbs. 

CALU:

Unlike the others, Calu didn’t get very far in his training. Although just a little shorter than the average Irken, he was one of the shortest in the batch. That, combined with his slight chubbiness and lack of noteworthy abilities led to him getting stationed as a janitor on the Massive. His placement was intentional, with Larg pulling some strings so he could watch him and so that Calu could check out other parts of the ship. No one makes his job easy though–and it’s already not, because sometimes he’ll get sent on jobs cleaning up areas like that trash compactor in “Star Wars”–so he does what he can to keep attention away from him.

Calu is actually very intelligent, but hides it since his low status actually works well for them all in the end. Since most Irkens view him in a poor light, if they notice him at all, they don’t really bother hiding anything in front of him. So he gets to listen on plenty of good information or dirty secrets.  While he might get in trouble for spilling them himself, it doesn’t stop him from telling the others in the group. That sort of know-how comes in handy, especially if any of them ever want to one-up a fellow Irken. 

Due to the abuse he does face, the others will treat him almost like a little brother despite them all being the same age. They’ll tease him a bit too, but only in good fun. And if anyone else messes with him, they better hope they don’t “accidentally” slip through an open air lock. They help him bear what he goes through, like secretly giving him a small earpiece to hide under his goggles in case he wants to listen to music. 

Additional Info:

The group tries to meet up on occasion and hate being separated. Still, it’s next to impossible for all six of them to be in one place at the same time. Larg and Calu see each other the most often, with Fiz and Cestus seeing the others the least due to falling out of contact for long periods while on assignments. 

Fiz and Cestus have the most in common. Not counting their antenna, they’re both the same height; they’re both invaders; and they were both pushed to be invaders by the group for their skills, demeanors, and, according to their smeet days, ”because they look so intense.”

Sleeveen and Fiz act a lot like bickering sisters, throwing insults at each other and talking over the other’s head, “borrowing” each other’s things, and so forth. Really though, that’s just their typical way of dealing with each other and they’re pretty close.

Sleeveen sometimes uses Moob as a test subject when he’s off-duty, since he can take a lot of damage. In return, she sometimes lets him mess around with experimental equipment–if always when she can observe.  

All of them are pretty comfortable and open around each other except for Larg, who tries to connect with them the most. He’s closest to Calu, who in turn doesn’t mind being brutally honest with him in private.

They’re technically defective, but it’s not actually their PAKs that causes it: It’s the chemicals in their bodies transmitting signals differently to their brains. The PAKs would’ve been fine strapped onto another Irken.  Should their PAKs be attached to another Irken now ,however, their memories and ideology would imprint on future generations. Their current defective state could be “corrected”, but it would have to be done through severe torture. 

[lordshaxx]

Yes, hello, I would like to subscribe to Shaxx Facts

thats going to cost u 9.99 glimmer a month altho u can purchase ur yearly subscriptions for the low low price of 69.69 glimmer

shaxx facts include knowing:

zavala and saladin only know his real full name

daily reminders that shaxx has a child and that the crucible post becomes the naptime post when it is the baby’s naptime and no running or shouting is allowed

he also has a large ovcharka dog named spartan and she is also a guardian because a ghost accidentally rezzed her instead of the owner. she is a sunbarker and she goes on missions with the redjacks to clear out arenas.

shaxx has his own little niche in the ascendant realm that no one is allowed to know about bc it literally is a very small area and he built it after having to abandon the dreaming city

when crota, and eventually oryx, arrived, shaxx studied them from afar and its how he began his real research into sword-logic. he ignored toland about 90% of the time

calus and shaxx probably acknowledge each other especially when shaxx goes to take a portion of the leviathan but unlike the guardians that visit the leviathan, shaxx does not give a FUCK about whatever calus offers and would probably take over the entirety of the leviathan if that asshole didnt fortify the rest of it from him.

has on more than one occasion gone to the raid starting point and thrown random baskets of gifts right onto some poor cabal guard all the while shouting, “THE ANSWER IS NO, YOU BLOATED WINE BOTTLE”

many guardians doing the leviathan raid have witnessed this

bungie is full of bullshit, shaxx loves light manipulation. subclasses whomst.

shaxx also views his light as an extension of himself in a way that he will imprint his light on those he loves / trusts

SHAXX. IS. TRANS.

hes also a goddamn bisexual disaster but what bi isnt

he has a lightscar that shows how he died.

from the crook of the right side of his neck all the way across and down to his left waist is where he was dismembered by ship debris when the darkness struck the system, the light glows and spills in excess where it fills the crevice of a scar

his respiratory system is also ignited with light as he also suffered from asphyxiation before dying

several months leading up to and during the red war, vanity becomes a very important part of his identity, particularly his long hair. his appearance becomes the one thing he can control and by god, is he gonna control that

SHAXX AND HIS CRUCIBLE PERSONA ARE SEPARATE PERSONALITIES. hes loud and hes tough to guardians and he may seem angry half the time but outside of his work, hes incredibly kind and gentle, he just doesnt quite understand social cues all that well which can lead to some confusion and crucible shaxx coming out

shaxx needs entire bars to get drunk. while his alcohol tolerance is already high enough as it is due to his size, the light nullifies the effects even more, making it a serious effort to get the guy even slightly tipsy.

his favorite foods are udon ramen, pancit, fried eggrolls, and boba tea (specifically taro or honeydew)

technically hes allergic to dates and figs but on the off chance he does eat them, the light just…. nullifies the reaction….

ANYWAYS. thats this months shaxx facts, enjoy \o/

[thathomestar]

So the Destiny crew and I got to Calus in the D2 raid and holy shit, the sheer amount of communication needed is almost overwhelming, there's so much going on all the time and usually all at once. The initial starting area is easy, just bring back three staves to a point to open a door. The enemies relentlessly try to take them back but they're not so bad to guard against. After this point, you have to go through three trials, and each party member only has one revive token for each of them, meaning very limited respawning. If someone stays dead for 30 seconds, the whole party is killed.

The first trial, Pleasure Gardens, is an absolute clusterfuck of mechanics. Basically, there's 6 dogs patrolling the gardens. Alert the dogs, and the hunt begins, but you can't really damage the dogs, so you have to sneak around them. Two guardians need to stay above the gardens to help lead the rest of the group, who are holding these spore things, around the dogs so they can reach specific glowing flowers. There are 8 flowers, but only two glow at a time. When the flowers are shot with a crystal thing by one of the above guardians, it releases pollen or something, and gives a buff to the group, which will allow everyone to damage the dogs. However, you need stack the buff 3-5 times to be able to do any meaningful damage to the dogs, and you only get a full stack if everyone in the below group is next to the flower when it's shot. You also cannot kill the dogs one at a time, as the amount of time you have to sneak goes down for each dog killed, so they all must be killed within the same phase. It's not too hard once you figure out what needs to be done, but figuring that out, and contending with the extremely random and buggy nature of the detection AI, is a hell of a challenge.

The Royal Baths is a lot easier by comparison. There's four outer plates that need to be stood on to lower a chain (and a middle plate, but that one doesn't need to be stood on), but they're submerged under a damaging liquid, so you need a protection buff. At the start, there's a buff on the plate, but it doesn't come back, so you need someone to swap out with you from the middle after the buff wears off, because the middle plate has a refresh. About halfway through your buff, a Cabal Bather will jump out, and they need to be killed immediately. After swapping a few times, the chain in front of all 4 plates will lower all the way and lock in, allowing everyone to rush to the middle plate to shoot at 9 lanterns that have been raised. After the buff from the middle plate wears off, return to the plates and repeat. There's probably supposed to be 3 cycles, but we did it in 2 because shooting at lanterns is not hard. Needless to say, you're being swarmed with enemies the whole time, which isn't the biggest deal, but they can be annoying sometimes.

The last trial, the Gauntlet, was weird to learn but not too hard to actually do once you figure it out, much like the Gardens. It's a round room, with four pillars spread out around it. Four people need to stand on the pillars to lower them, and enemies start swarming out. After some time, a buzzer sounds, and 4 shielded centurions come out. Taking those guys out starts what I call the Goofy Game Show phase. Two guardians go through a teleporter to the outer circumference of the circle and pick up an orb. The orb has a timer on it that kills the group when it reaches 0. To add time, the runners need to navigate a hurdle course and pick up more orbs. The orbs are locked inside walls that have 3 rows of 4 holes in them. To get the orbs, the people in the pillars need to shoot the corresponding arrows on the outside. For example, if a hole on the middle row is glowing red, two of the pillar guardians need to shoot the top arrow and bottom arrows at the same time. If they don't time it right or shoot the wrong arrow, the orb will not appear. After the orb is collected, a shielded Cabal Psion will appear that needs to be taken out immediately by the pillar guardians, and they can only be killed via melee. The runners need to do a full lap to bring their orbs to the middle of the circle room to dunk them. Three rounds of this (on the second round, death pits will appear on the track, and on the third round the pillars will randomly move up and down), and then 6 orbs will spawn in the middle. Upon picking them up, everyone will be teleported to the hurdle track and have to navigate it. Once 9 orbs are dunked into the middle, the encounter is over. I glossed over some details for the sake of not typing any more than I already have, but that's the basic jist of it.

Finally, is the encounter with Emperor Calus himself. To start, shoot his goblet out of his stupid hand. Waves and waves of Cabal will swarm into the chamber, and eventually 4 shielded enemies. Killing them will cause Calus to send the entire group to the Shadow Realm. Three people can warp back to the chamber, but the other three need to stay behind. Back in the chamber, more waves of enemies will swarm out, and the shielded Psions from before will appear on 4 plates around the chamber that have symbols on them. Back in the Shadow Realm, the remaining people are being sucked into a giant ghostly visage of Calus's face. On his forehead, each guardian will see a different symbol. The symbol that the Shadow Realm people do not see corresponds to the Psion that needs to be punched back in the chamber. Do this four times, and the Shadow Realm people will be able to build up buff stacks to deal damage to Calus by shooting at flying skulls. The group will all return to the chamber, and will need to all stand on one plate to fire at Calus. Calus will try to smite the group after a bit, which means moving on to the next plate. After all four plates have been stood on, the cycle repeats all over again. If the Shadow Realm people built up enough stacks, Calus will be down a third at the end of the damage phase. The cycle continues for three more times, and if you haven't killed Calus by then, he wipes the party. Other little things change between the cycles, but that's the long and short of it. The enemies do not stop pouring into the room, by the way. They are constant, they are healthy, and they hit extremely hard.

We only made it to Calus's third phase before we had to stop. There is almost no breathing room for chatter because even one slip up in any of the trials means wiping, for the most part. The limited revives are so extremely punishing for minor mistakes that it can really take the fun out of actually playing through the raid, in my opinion. We'll try again next week, but I don't know how thrilled my group will be about having to go back through it all again just for another shot at Calus.

[namgwen]

Some Ideas

The new crossover that I’ve been thinking of is, as you probably have figured out, Destiny and Touhou. While I wouldn’t claim to be an expert in the lore of either setting, I am drastically more familiar with Destiny’s setting. So, should I make a mistake feel free to correct me.

It does get a bit long and doesn’t go into as much detail as I wanted.

Part 1: Set Up

The first and biggest obstacle for combining these settings is getting them to interact. For reference, Touhou takes place in a pocket reality in Japan during modern times and Destiny takes place across the solar system in the distant future. 

The first question to consider is whether or not the Earth for Touhou is the same as the one in Destiny. Depending on the answer the setting would change and how the crossover is explained will change, for the sake of future details it will be assumed that Destiny would be Touhou’s future.

Next, you have to consider what event would cause the crossover to occur. I personally would go with someone messing with Vex or Golden Age tech (explanations on what they are later).

Then you have to consider when and where Gensokyo would appear. There’s no shortage of potentially interesting times, but I’d go for shortly before the events of the base game. As for where, Gensokyo staying in Japan wouldn’t actually do much to isolate them but would make them less immediately interesting to The Last City. Conversely, if Gensokyo was suddenly in Russia then it would be quickly noticed that something is wrong and they’d have the attention of The Last City and The House of Devils.

Lastly, the Hakurei Barrier. For those unfamiliar with Touhou, the Hakurei barrier separates Gensokyo from the outside world. While the location would make little difference for the ability for the major players to find them, the barrier would make it more difficult for interaction to occur. Keeping it around would probably help with focusing on singular characters. Conversely, if you wanted the Touhou characters to interact with Destiny’s characters sooner/on a larger scale you’ll have to get rid of it.

Part 2: Magic

This would probably be where the combination of the settings would start to have major effects. Magic within Touhou is, to my understanding, flexible in its origins and how it functions. For example, enough belief and worship can turn anything into a deity or how fairies are personifications of aspects of nature. There’s also how the study of magic is relatively uncommon.

Comparatively, magic for Destiny tends to originate directly or indirectly from either the Light or the Darkness. Additionally, the Darkness is fully sapient and actively malicious making use of it potentially dangerous. The most alarming aspect of both is the fact that with enough strength (intensity? quantity?) individuals and objects can start being outright paracausal. For example, the Traveler managed to turn Mercury into a garden world (yes, really). It stayed like that until the Vex showed up.

Light also has three forms; Solar, Arc, and Void. Solar is exactly what it sounds like. Arc is lightning. Void is... hard to describe, it’s more dangerous than other forms of light.

As the scenario would inherently mean that considering how these systems would interact is vital. In Touhou scientific development drove magic into obscurity necessitating the creation of Gensokyo to survive. Conversely, Light and Darkness aid scientific development.

Part 3: The Last City

The most immediate group to deal with is the Last City. They, as the name implies, the last city left. They are comprised of three species in the games however, due to the nature of the crossover introducing a fourth species would be necessary. These species would be:

Humans: I’ll take the liberty of assuming that the readers of this are human and do not require an explanation about the nature of humanity.

Awoken: easily differentiated from humans by their blue skin. Their origin is unclear beyond that involves colonists attempting to flee the solar system during the Collapse.

Exo: humanoid and sapient robots, at least some of these (potentially all) are human minds uploaded into machines. They have numbers in their name that demonstrates how many times they’ve been rebooted, they typically lose all memories when this happens.

Lunarians: in Touhou Lunarians are (if I recall correctly) a race of moon rabbits that are immortal because of the absence of life and thus “pure” (no I don’t understand how this works). In terms of appearance, they look like humans and some have rabbit ears. Their presence would definitely raise a few eyebrows among Gensokyo’s inhabitants. 

The City’s reaction to the sudden appearance of Gensokyo would undoubtedly be to investigate it. However, the subject of Yokai and some of the groups present would be a significantly more divisive subject. They would certainly be opposed to any yokai eating any humans, however some individuals are somewhat xenophobic. For example, the Guardian Saint-14 believed that the Darkness was actually a collection of alien species rejected by the Traveler. Rumia alone would probably cause some worry, being the yokai of darkness in a universe where the Darkness is a sapient and hostile force.

Part 4: The Fallen/Eliksni

What makes the Fallen so dangerous isn’t the unending numbers and dark magic like the Hive, sheer size or military might like the Cabal, or incomprehensibly advanced technology of the Vex. What makes them dangerous is savagery, fanaticism, and sheer desperation. They were the previous species that benefited from the Traveler’s presence. They had a peaceful, prosperous, and advanced civilization. At the height of their power, they were beyond even Golden Age humanity, and that was when they were snuffed out.

An event known as the Whirlwind occurred that destroyed many noble houses and scarred the rest. Sheer desperation forced them to perform increasingly ruthless actions and fall further from grace. The houses left becoming little more than pirates. As a whole, they wouldn’t care about the presence of Gensokyo, with the potential exception of the aforementioned House of Devils.

The House of Devils would probably investigate and raid Gensokyo (probably to little success) but wouldn’t care unless Gensokyo/it’s inhabitants encroached on their territory or gained advanced technology.

Part 5: The Hive

At one point the Hive was a small short-lived species known as the Krill living as the weakest species on the gas giant Fundament. When they encountered the Darkness they went from such a frail species into one of the most powerful species in the setting.

Their ultimate goal is simply to kill everything until only one thing is left.

While they probably wouldn’t have any particular interest in Gensokyo they would undoubtedly be interesting to Gensokyo. Why? Their main base in the solar system is Earth’s moon. Which they hollowed out.

Part 6: The Cabal

Short story: giant, highly advanced, militaristic space turtles.

Long story: as a society, they’re split between following Emporer Calus or Dominus Ghaul. Calus’ followers desire to conquer to ensure that their people have a safe place to live, while Ghaul’s forces want to conquer so that they can conquer more.

While they demonstrate less supernatural (less not none) than the other factions they should not be underestimated. Their main strength is the sheer brute force that they can bring to bear.

Until the events of Destiny 2, they mostly were located on and around Mars and thus have little interaction with Gensokyo. 

Part 7: The Vex

The Vex are, paradoxically, both the most dangerous and least dangerous faction present. They managed to turn Mercury into a machine world in a matter of days and almost rewrote the fabric of reality to ensure their dominance. At the same time, they typically stick to their own territory.

Even before they worshiped the darkness they had access to complex simulations, teleportation, and interdimensional travel. They’ve only grown more powerful since then. The kicker? All of their units have combat as a secondary role. Goblins are meant to build, Hobgoblins communicate, and Minotaurs plan.

They probably would figure out Gensokyo’s presence whether or not the Hakurei Barrier is up. Admittedly there’s little chance of them actually charging off to Earth because of Gensokyo. Still, the mental image of Patchouli complaining about Marisa stealing some of her books only for the Vex to steal the entire library is amusing.

Part 8: Guardians

Guardians are people chosen by Ghosts. Typically this means reviving them (usually they’re skeletons at this point) but living individuals can be recruited. Their use of Light tends to cause them to act oddly (dancing in odd places or being obsessed with loot for example). There are three classes and each has four subclasses.

Titan: focused on sheer strength and combat capability. They tend to focus on either defending the city or destroying its enemies

-subclasses: Sunbreaker (solar), Striker (arc), Defender (void), and Sentinel (void)

Hunter: more eccentric than the other classes. They typically are loners and somewhat obsess over capes.

-subclasses: Gunslinger (solar), Bladedancer (arc), Arcstrider (arc), and Nightstalker (void).

Warlock: the mage of the three classes. They usually obsess over knowledge and ways to obtain it.

-subclasses: Sunsinger (solar), Dawnbringer (solar), Stormcaller (arc) and Voidwalker (Void)

Additionally, Guardians revived from the dead tend to be missing most of their memories.

Part 9: Story Ideas

Honestly, any ideas I come up with would probably pale in comparison to what others would come up with. Still...

-a slice of life of the Touhou cast trying to deal with Destiny’s weirdness (ex: Reimu finding a crucible match going on outside of the shrine)

-A tragedy/horror where Marisa goes to the moon to try to get her hands on Hive magic and ends up corrupted like Dredgen Yor.

-A story based on Osana Reimu where a ghost revives Reimu’s mother