thorough-witness-enjoyer

[thorough-witness-enjoyer]

Alt design for Crow

Posting it here bc my gf likes it

Also bonus of him. Being pissed

[thorough-witness-enjoyer]

David Miguel Korosec is one of my favorite lore-only characters for this paragraph in Last Days On Kraken Mare

[thorough-witness-enjoyer]

you could make a racist colonizer character but if he is drawn in a appealing artystyle or is overall charismatic, then fandomite white ppl will be over his dick because they'd fuck a fence if it was painted white.

[thorough-witness-enjoyer]

The Traveler would probably see this and go “ !”

[thorough-witness-enjoyer]

Guys I keep thinking about Savathûn’s relationship with Dûl Incaru and her reaction to us stealing Malok’s head in Heresy… and I just gotta ask… is Sav a boy mom

[thorough-witness-enjoyer]

The Magic of Humanism (Ethical Society of Saint Louis) & Letter from Ikora to Sen-Aret (Hidden Dossier)

[thorough-witness-enjoyer]

Moving from the light vs dark saga to the fate saga, to me, feels like when you pause to eat at a restaurant and the waiter takes your plate away to bring dessert

Like yay!!! Dessert!!! But waiter I wasn’t done with that yet :( come back waiter :( there was still unexplored and under examined plot lines on my plate waiter :(

[thorough-witness-enjoyer]

If there is one aspect of Savathûn I think is highly under explored in the narrative it’s her role as a mother. I mean, one of the first things we learn about her when she was just young Sathona riddled with worry about her longevity was the fact that she wanted to become a mother to live long enough to matter to a cruel, apathetic universe.

Returning to that original characterization, now with the information that she is not Sathona, but Savathûn, a woman who has lived for eons and has left such a enormous mark on the universe without the need of the mother jelly… yet has spawned children that she has done little for beyond using them for her machinations, would be such an interesting narrative point . I want to explore Savathûn’s motherhood now that she has all Sathona wanted to be a mother for, and frankly, I think Sav needs to explore that too.

Holds Dul Incaru gently. I am thinking about how Dul Incaru has now spent nearly a decade stuck in a miserable timeloop where she dies at the end over and over and over again just so she has the chance to show her mother that she is worthy of her love. A mother who abandoned her and only cares about her as a means to an end. A mother who tore her mask of civility down when we took her son’s corpse but continues to ignore her still alive daughter’s suffering. Truth to Power is a plea from Dul Incaru, a way of connecting with her mother in the only way she knows how- deception. It is a desperate attempt to understand a mother who never once told her the truth about anything. And I think about how lonely that must be.

[thorough-witness-enjoyer]

I have a whole universe of thoughts about how the Traveler can be seen as disability and neurodivergent representation, as well as its philosophy triumphing the acceptance and protection of those society considers “undesirable”, but I fear my heart may explode in my very chest

[thorough-witness-enjoyer]

Coming back to briefly speak on my Witness project, I just want to say that I am so glad it turned out so well. Like, beyond words glad that I got to experience this.

To be able to talk about Bondye, the lwa, obeah, the curse of Ham explanation, hope during enslaved conditions, négritude, epistemic loneliness, free will in Caribbean spirituality, the isolation often experienced by diaspora groups in the US, maroons, fundamentalism, W.E.B Dubois and Booker T. Washington’s perspectives on black spirituality and how that affected their civil rights activism, humanism, syncretism, “respectability” when fighting for the right to exist as you are, the “uncle tom” stereotype and its connection to supporting imperialism, anti-fatalism, myal, reframing ideas of love, the Inconsistent Triad, social Darwinism, systems vs people, my own writing, and so much more within the context of Destiny’s thematic elements after having many experiences involving being shamed or disregarded for such ideas has been an honor I will cling to for the rest of my life.

It truly, truly, truly has been an utter joy presenting the game that is the love of my life to others and have them see what I see in the story of Destiny. I cannot even begin to explain how much it meant to me to offer my perspective on what makes Destiny special in my eyes and learn so much in turn from people who are just as passionate about being loud about Caribbean perspectives in media.

So many tears have been shed over just how excited this all makes me and I thank everyone who was involved in letting this happen.

In the words of astronaut Jacob Hardy, “It makes me unspeakably happy to see how well it all turned out. And it makes me happy to remember I was there.”

[thorough-witness-enjoyer]

My fellow Destiny fans… I have something to admit… I presented my Witness project today and IT WAS A MASSIVE SUCESS WOWOWOWOOWOWOWOWOWO!!!!!!!! IM SO HAPPY AND EXCITED YIPPPEEEE!!!!!

[thorough-witness-enjoyer]

There is something so captivating and sorrowful about the Dynasty lore book that I honestly think makes it one of my most cherished lore books.

My Witness project is being discussed in a few days (my stomach just dissolved itself at that thought what) and for this project, I’ve collected thoughts on how species that use the darkness to form their spiritual beliefs (Psions and Qugu specifically) have similarities to spiritual beliefs often found in the Caribbean and in South America (with discussions over matters like spiritual substance use with ayahuasca (Qugu), ancestral veneration and communication from Western African practices (Both), and the suppression of panentheistic/pantheistic and harmonizing thought (Psion)). The Qugu have been such a comfort to me for a while now and whenever I think about their fate in Dynasty, I am filled with such a sense of anguish and mourning.

The unfolding of the events in the lore book is just plain devastating to read; seeing Te’Qal’s absolute best efforts to save their people not be enough to stop the Hive and the Witness speaks on something I think is underdeveloped in Destiny.

We hear so much about the annihilation of countless star systems at the hands of the Hive and Black Fleets, but often, due to the information coming from beings who lead those fleets or people reflecting back on their escape, the sheer scope and emotional impact of these losses is not captured in a way that is truthful to the matter.

Dynasty’s narrative following Te’Qal and the Qugu people changes this trend and it makes the extermination of the Qugu people all that more impactful.

It starts off with familiarizing readers with how the Qugu came to be; how they developed their spiritual beliefs and their way of life. It’s delicious world building (which I always love from Destiny writers), but it also establishes just how much will be ripped away and snuffed out by Savathûn, Oryx, and the Witness.

Te’Qal is a competent, determined Warden who vows to do nothing but their best to defend Seht, both before and after they understood their vision of the fall of the Qugu. They were well trained and the various descriptions of their armada’s defenses provides evidence of them being a masterful tactician. In fact, Dynasty even admits that on the basis of skill, the Qugu were beyond the Hive, who were winning off of their brute force and numbers (“When evenly matched in numbers, Te'Qal's superior tactics pick the Hive forces apart” - Dynasty)

Te’Qal is relentless in their desire to preserve their people, their beliefs, their home. They sacrifice their well-being to offer hope to the Qugu people during a hopeless time, pushing their body and mind beyond its limits to keep themselves alert enough to lead ark ships and give speeches to bolster morale.

Te’Qal did everything they could and it wasn’t enough and I don’t think there is anything more devastating than that.

To have hope against intentionally-made hopeless, only for it to not be enough to save your people?

What a defeating, soul crushing, utter helpless feeling.

Destiny tells us that hope is worth having and it will lead to you defeating impossible odds, but as shown in Dynasty, hope is also a tireless thing that sometimes doesn’t pay off fast enough to save everyone.

Te’Qal’s determination to not just give into the Black Fleet and the Hive, their determination to let their hope go out loudly instead of fizzling into nothing, lead to them destroying a pyramid with their final stand and thwarting countless hive vessels that were in their star system.

Their final stand left a mark on the universe and set the Hive and Witness back, even if it was momentarily, but that still wasn’t enough to save their people.

However, I think the cruelest part of it all is how the Hive and the Witness refer to the extinguishing of the Qugu; how everything Te’Qal held dear and fought til the very end for was meaningless to them.

Oryx, in the Book of Sorrows, speaks of the Qugu in such a disgusting way, completely minimizing them as sentient beings and acting as if ridding them from existence was a noble act of “liberation”.

“Savathûn and her broods have liberated the Qugu from jaw-beasts, and indeed from existence…I know more joy and more anguish than the entire Qugu race could ever experience… Joy that we have put down these blights. Scoured them away and left the universe clean, ready to move towards its final shape. “ - Oryx, Verse 3:3, “Fire Without Fuel”, Book of Sorrows

Part of his view of the Qugu as lesser is their veneration of Jaw Beasts and their ability to receive visions, saying “For millions of years of evolution the Qugu have been infected by a virus so insidious that it wrote itself into their genome…They venerate these beasts and treat them as gods”.

He says the relationship between the Qugu and Jaw Beast is “insidious” and there is a tone of condescension when talking of their spirituality. Oryx sees Qugu spirituality as a blight and burden, but if it truly was so, then the Qugu wouldn’t have spent so much effort in preserving the land around their “mountain” for their ark ships. To the Qugu, there could be no new home for them unless their beliefs came with them.

The ancestral visions Te’Qal receives are so heart wrenching and beautiful, and when they are at their lowest, when all efforts seemed futile, they wanted nothing more than to drink the nectar and receive those visions. They speak to their Te’Dura for support and it is by remembering all who came before them as well as their capabilities that Te’Qal finds the strength to prove that the Qugu not only existed, but existed proudly ("Not because you forget, but because you have been hopeless before." Te'Dura rears into a taller posture. "There is victory in that darkness. A kind. Find it." - Dynasty)

The Qugu and their belief in the power of the darkness were intertwined, making it a key part of their identity. It gave them meaning, it guided them to become more than what they could be alone, and yet, in the eyes of the Witness, it didn’t mean anything at all compared to its belief in the Final Shape.

“Far distant, there is a people lacing ribbons of Darkness through their thoughts to bring them closer together, that no one might be divided from the purpose they have dreamed for themselves. But they have not come to Darkness through the Gardener's neglect — it is simply their natural course. In time, we shall enfold them into our shape, but they need not urgent salvation…Some resist the rampaging Hive, crying out into the Darkness. It is to us they reach, in the end. We hear their pleas and grant them succor, salvation, enshrining them in our monument. Toward our inevitable final shape.” - The Witness, “Cacophony, Euphony.”, Destiny Grimoire Anthology, Vol. VII: Penumbra

“The purpose they have dreamed for themselves” was not a respectable purpose to the Witness for it wasn’t the purpose it wanted to enact upon them. The Qugu are not specifically mentioned, but they fit the description of the darkness species mentioned.

The Witness saw the “waywardness” of the Qugu as a problem to be solved, something that had to be corrected to give them a proper place in their vision for the universe, and though the Qugu never asked for anything more than safety and the ability to keep their connection to their ancestral lines, the Witness forcefully responded by sweeping up every memory of the Qugu people into an echo, extinguishing them and turning a cacophony of expression into a euphony it found fitting.

It was never once mentioned that the Qugu ever knew about the light or Traveler, yet they were still treated to ruinous assault for the crime of crafting their own meaning out of a power granted by the Witness’ pyramid; a pyramid they had revered as a mountain and watched turn on them in their moment of need.

Even when Te’Qal and all the ancestors they drew power from showed that they wouldn’t let their sacred mountain become a cursed pyramid without a fight and that they were willing to do the ultimate sacrifice to refute the corruption of what they exalted, the Witness still forced them to accept it’s “salvation”.

That is cruelty beyond imagination and no justification the Witness could ever offer or belief in its righteousness would erase what it did to the Qugu.

The Art of Symbiosis entry from the Inspiral lore book is one I have read again and again and again. To be completely vulnerable, it is an entry that has elevated me from the depths of gripping grief time and time again. I actually have the entry printed so that I may reach over and read it when I need my resolve strengthened.

It’s a bit strange to feel this way towards an entry, I know, but The Art of Symbiosis and it’s Qugu narrator offered assurance to me that the beliefs I held that gave me meaning, that allowed me to move on from scorning a universe I didn’t truly believe in, weren’t as “meaningless” and “distant from the truth” as others made me think.

The way the Qugu speak of those who have passed is just so consoling and it reminds me that the person I’m doing this project for mattered as much in death as they did in life. They may be no more, but I still am, and there is meaning in wanting to create an impact on a finite world that will show that people like them existed, and that existence mattered. There is meaning in being perfectly fine with a finite existence because you don’t need your lost loved ones to be eternal and “perfected” to matter to you.

I don’t want people to think of people like them the way Oryx and the Witness thought of the Qugu. I’ll do everything I can to ensure it isn’t that way and I thank the writers for giving the Qugu a voice beyond the one in the Book of Sorrows years ago to remind me of why I feel so strongly towards this matter.

I’m doing this project for them like Te’Qal did it for Seht, and though my efforts and hope may not win now, I hold onto the idea that this tirelessness will help those who come after me win in ways my lost loved one couldn’t have imagined.

[thorough-witness-enjoyer]

I think the funniest thing about Destiny’s T rating is sometimes characters will hear about the universe being left in ruins by the actions of villains and go “Ughh!! What a bully!! They are such a stupid mean jerk!!”

[thorough-witness-enjoyer]

That being said I’m drawing that fucking bitch tomorrow or so help me

[thorough-witness-enjoyer]

I think an severely underrated perspective of the Traveler comes from Peach the ghost and I think she’s the best for being something along the lines of an atheist /lighthearted

Like you’re so right girl, we don’t know much about the Traveler and probably never will, so we probably shouldn’t make our speculations into divine scripture.

I enjoy how her criticism points towards the Traveler not being much of a god people would want, much less an all powerful god who is so wise and knows so much about what it’s like to be a sentient human/ghost/eliksni/uluran/etc., it can predict the future and create a perfect predetermined fate for everyone.

She’s also right that if you cling onto the idea that the Traveler is an omniscient being that can craft purpose, without ever considering other perspectives on it, you’d have to come to terms with the fact that it would be an intentionally massive jerk for its behavior (and you’ll probably want to cut away at the imperfections of your people and combine their will into a single being who will hunt it down)

And above all, she’s right that we really shouldn’t hold what we think the Traveler would want for us above what we want for ourselves and we shouldn’t hold narratives we crafted of it to fit our feelings towards it as a singular, indisputable truth. We live for ourselves first and foremost, not for the Traveler’s approval. It’s probably just as lost as we are.

Also in regards to some recent lore about her watching Osiris with strand:

I love, love, LOVE when Destiny drops what seems to be a throwaway line in lore that came out years ago, only to revisit it later and turn it into something meaningful for the future. I start jumping up and down when I’m able to spot connections to old lore, I love it!

Guys make sure you think about how awesome Peach is at least once a day and remember, be a gardener when it comes to other perspectives on the nature of existentialism/spirituality/religion/divinity! It is our ability to share how we perceive reality that helps us appreciate cultural similarities and differences, even if you don’t agree with them, which makes us stronger and helps us break down harmful, dogmatic thinking.

[thorough-witness-enjoyer]

The other day, my mom asked me if I had washed the dishes like she asked me to. I yelled back “Xivu Arath!!!”

She smiled.

She knew they were washed.

[thorough-witness-enjoyer]

Everyone about Oryx’s echo rn