Since this week's Guardian Radio reading of the Ghost card, I've been thinking about a particularly elusive question that we've had since we first entered Destiny's World - What is the Traveler actually trying to do? Here's my hypothesis: I believe that the Traveler's end goal for every civilization it uplifts is to give it the tools to create a dimensional shelter. A hidden, self-sustaining dimension where life can survive without a threat from the Darkness. If we look at the Ghost fragment: Ghosts, we're given a peek at what one civilization has done: [quote]Beyond. It is a place, a place casting shadows and emotion. It's a real place, I know. One hot blue sun, say. And other suns too. Five? I like seven better. What I'm recalling is a giant star with a family of six smaller suns, and you could spend days and nights counting all of the planets circling those suns...except there are no planets. Not anymore. The powers in charge have carved up all of the worlds, and maybe a brown dwarf or two for good measure. With that rubble, they fashioned a topologically creative enclosure, a twisting of space and time sealed behind doors that admit only those who know the magic words. The bones of a hundred planets have been cut smooth and laid out like a floor, a polished and lovely floor creating vast living spaces. A floor bigger than ten thousand worlds, catching the fierce glory of the seven suns. For light, for food. For beauty. And nothing escapes. Not heat, not gravity. Not even the faintest proud sound. It could be anywhere. It can live in the cold between galaxies, or folded up inside matter, near enough to touch right now... I remember it and maybe it's exactly as I describe it. Seven suns wrapped inside magic. Or it's something else entirely, perhaps. A place still fat with life. An abundance of sentient souls, some decent, maybe a few of lesser quality, and everybody stands about or floats about, or they bounce between dimensions. The point is that the residents of this hidden realm live inside a bottle so perfectly hidden that they can't see beyond their own borders. Which shapes a mind in very specific ways. But, Beyond is their name for a mysterious, doubtful realm that they can't see. Which is us, of course.[/quote] This card talks about a septenary star system (7 stars) with a lot of planets. "The Powers in Charge" probably refers to whatever race/races lived there. The Traveler, being an entity of light, wishes to preserve life (where darkness wishes to destroy or consume it). It's possible that the Traveler has come to realize that the only way for life to go on is to get itself out of the universe where darkness and chaos is destined to prevail. Along with the Traveler being some kind of space god (from its cards, it is clearly a conscious entity), it's possible that the physical manifestation of the Traveler is a "lynch pin" that binds all of these pocket dimensions to the universe we live in. There's a little quote from Ghost Fragment Mysteries 2 that might give some weight to this idea: [quote]A switchboard or a train station, empty, dead (waiting). The tunnels branch off into infinity. I stare down one for a long time and see a pale worm move in hungry coils around itself. I think this one is the most likely although I might have brought the worm.[/quote] I'm still not sure about the significance of the worm... Anyway, as the various races that the Traveler uplifts devise the means and power over space to develop these "shelter dimensions", the Traveler moves closer and closer to its goal of preserving life indefinitely. As always, the Vex seem to be on a different level entirely. I'm not convinced that the Vex are aligned completely with the Darkness, but it's clear that they aren't on the Traveler's side either. It's possible that the Vex have chosen a different path altogether - the Traveler may have visited them and given them this power, but they ultimately decided that hiding away was not an acceptable path. We constantly see the Vex utilizing light - They may need to be in the Traveler's presence to continue making progress towards their version of the end goal - obtaining a configuration of reality that allows them to exist indefinitely as a fundamental part of the universe. We may be able to put the Black Garden into perspective here: [quote]The Traveler moved across the face of the iron world. It opened the earth and stitched shut the sky. It made life possible. In these things there is always symmetry. Do you understand? This is not the beginning but it is the reason.[/quote] The Black Garden could be one of these shelter dimensions created by the Traveler and later used by the Vex - But they found that it didn't work. The Darkness found its way inside and corrupted it - at which point the Vex splintered. Some Vex such as the Sol Progeny began to worship the Darkness, other Vex such as Atheon started to pursue other options for preservation. You can note as well that this may just be the "meta-intelligence" of the Vex exploring literally every possible option for making things work. This is why the Vex are so obsessed with simulation - They are running the model for everything they do and searching for a better solution. Another interesting little connection is the key that you use to enter the heart of the Black Garden. Way back in Vanilla, in the days of yore when there was very little lore, I captured and posted this image: https://i.imgur.com/Mm80fJK.jpg Orion has 7 major stars. Guardian Radio discussed Orion as if it were a real place, but it's not - the stars of Orion are incredibly far apart and we just see it as a shape from our specific perspective here on Earth. Here is where I can launch into a shit ton of different information about Orion. Both Orion's [url=http://www.darkstar1.co.uk/ds7.html]connections to Egyptian mythology[/url] and Orion's [url=http://earthsky.org/favorite-star-patterns/pleiades-star-cluster-enjoys-worldwide-renown]astronomical proximity to the Pleiades, or the 7 sisters[/url] are of particular interest. There is way too much for me to write in this thread while I sit here at work. You can check out those links and make your own connections. I find it VERY interesting that Orion is thought to be the location of the Egyptian underworld "DUAT", and the Traveler is referred to by Rasputin as ISIS, and Orion appears as the key to the heart of the Vex's pocket dimension, the black garden. Not to mention Orion's connection with a 7 star cluster (I think it's actually more than this, but mythologically it's always considered as 7 stars) Now, let's talk about Ghosts. The Ghosts could, in this scenario, be conscious beings from these 'shelter dimensions' that are venturing out in order to protect the Traveler - which acts like a keystone, that protects them and hides them from the Darkness. It's evident from the Ghosts card that at least one or many races has succeeded at hiding themselves away, in a hidden bottle between dimensions. Anyway, I need to wrap this up as my lunch break is ending. Please let me know your thoughts, and if you have any other evidence along these lines don't hesitate to share it. TL;DR: - The Traveler's goal is to give the civilizations it comes across the tools and means to create a hidden dimension that can be used as shelter from the darkness in the universe outside. This preserves life and order out of harm's way. - The Vex have attempted this with the Black Garden and found that it doesn't work, now they are looking into other options - The physical Traveler that we see is a lynchpin that binds the pocket dimensions to physical reality and enables their existence. - The Ghosts are consciousnesses from these pocket dimensions that have ventured back out in order to protect the Traveler and ensure the survival of their hidden shelter from the Darkness.