[b][url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/203322661/0/0]Verses 1.0-1.9[/url][/b]
[b][url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/203381247/0/0]Verses 2.0-2.9[/url][/b]
[b][url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/204671046/0/0]Verses 3.0-3.8[/url][/b]
[b][u]Verses 3.9-4.9[/u][/b]
Oryx, with his newfound powers, wages war on the Ecumene for one hundred years. At the end of this period, he kills the Ecumene council and somehow summons Xivu Arath back from his Throne via an act of war. Then Oryx and Xivu wage war on the Ecumene together for forty years. At the end of this period, he speaks to the Dakuta Nest, a subsection of the Ecumene, and tells them that he is jealous of Xivu and he needs their help to kill his sibling. At this point the Ecumene are desperate to survive, so they agree. But Oryx led the Dakuta Nest into a trap and completely obliterated them. And from the wreckage and remains, rose Savathûn, who had been conjured back from her Throne. Together, the three Hive deities made war on the Ecumene and exterminated them so soundly that the only record of their existence is in the Books. The Books, and the mind of Taox, who was not found.
After their victory, Savathûn asks Oryx if he succeeded in their plan to feed their worms. So Oryx spoke to the Hive, saying, "I am the Taken King and here is my law." And he describes the Tithe system, a Thrall will kill what it can and will take some of that killing. Enough to feed its worm and a little more to grow and then it must tithe the remainder to the Acolyte above it. The Acolyte must take some of its killing to feed its worm and a little more to grow, as well as the tithe from its Thralls, and then it must tithe the remainder to the Knight or Wizard that commands it. The process is the same for the Knights and Wizards, except that they get to take a little more killing for their own desires before tithing up to the Ascendants above them. But if they take too much, their peers will kill them and take their tithe. To become ascendant is to gather enough tithe to be able to enter the Hive Overworld. The Ascendants must pay a tithe to those above them. And so the chain flows, bringing the tithe all the way up to the three Hive deities. In this way, all worms are fed.
Some time after this, the Hive engage in a war with a race of sun ravens known as the Taishibeth. In his Throne World, Oryx takes ten paces. On the first, Kraghoor sends the accursed to blight the Taishibeth worlds. On the second, the Taishibeth unleash their fleets and arrays to battle the Hive. On the third pace, Oryx's Warpirest goes out to battle and is victorious. On the fourth, the dyad Knights Mengoor and Cra'adug go to the Raven Bride and kill the Tai for ten years. On the fifth pace, the Tai Emperor Raven returns to the Bridge and cuts open an entire Hive war moon and kills the entire brood inside. On the sixth, Oryx speaks to Emperor Raven and Takes her. On the seventh pace, Oryx sends out the perfect, Taken Raven and she spreads her wings across the Taishibeth. And a Tai child is never born again. On the eighth, the Tai demand to know why the Hive have brought so much blight to their worlds. On the ninth, Oryx replies saying that the struggle of existence is to exist, and if they cannot exist, they are not worthy to exist. And on the tenth pace, the Taishibeth are extinct. Oryx hears the call of the Deep and goes to speak to it. He prepares an Unborn Ogre to receive the Deep and the Deep itself arrived.
The Deep speaks to Oryx and tells him that they are enacting a perfect universe. The struggle of existence is to exist, and if you cannot exist, then you are unworthy to exist. While Oryx is in the Deep, his siblings have trapped him there and cut off his tribute. He is overjoyed to know that they are testing his right to exist. And in these thoughts, he decided to have children. Xivu Arath describes Oryx so as to help him return. Eventually, Oryx fights his way out of the Deep and cripples Savathûn's tribute and poisons Xivu Arath's tribute. He then found a mother to make his spawn. One of his spawn was called Crota, Eater of Hope. He also has two daughters, Ir Anûk and Ir Halak. Ir Halak sings a song in Xivu Arath's Throne that kills all who hear it.
One day, Oryx finds his two daughters dying in a space between Thrones. When he asks about it, they explain that they are trying to create something known as an Oversoul, which they can hide their death in. This Oversoul would further be enhanced by the Death Song. He tells Crota to watch his sister, so that he may learn cunning. Oryx went away to observe the Deep consume a world, and while he was away, Crota experiments with wounds in space be cutting a hole to another dimension. And from this hole, emerge machines known as the Vex, and they invaded Oryx's Throne World. The Vex didn't understand the logic and laws that governed the Sword Realms, because they didn't understand the Sword Logic. Crota advances to cut the Vex apart, but just then, a new Vex Mind manifests from a Vex ritual of better-thoughts. This Vex Mind was known as Quria, Blade Transform, and it was able to deduce the Sword Logic. And so, from Crota's wound emerged larger, brassy versions of Vex. These ones teleported from Crota's strikes and slew thousands of Oryx's Acolytes and Thralls. And they established themselves in Oryx's world by right of power. Ir Anûk pulls a sword star from the sky and together with other Wizards, charges it with killing power and smashes the Vex with this newly-made Annihilator Totem. The Hive try to close the wound, but Quria has instanced itself on the other side and builds a mechanism which keeps the wound open.
For one hundred years, the Vex and Hive are locked in a stalemate. When the Vex enter Oryx's Throne, they were inevitably annihilated, but when the Hive entered the Vex side, they lost too much of their power to win. Eventually, Quria captures some Worm Larvae and began to experiment on them and eventually manifested religious tactics, for it learned that by directing worship at the worms, it would be able to alter reality with mild ontopathogenic effects. So, being an efficient machine, Quria sets up a priesthood and ordered all subminds to believe in worship tactics. Then it went about abducting and killing dangerous organisms so that it could gain power via the Sword Logic and bootstrap itself to the Hive hierarchy. But for some unknown reason, Quria never attempted to introduce a worm larva into its Vex mind fluid. Savathûn was laughing for she has tricked Crota into opening the wound in that place. All this chaos attracted the attention of the Worm Gods. Eir called to Oryx saying, "ORYX. SET YOUR HOUSE IN ORDER."
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[quote] But for some unknown reason, Quria never attempted to introduce a worm larva into its Vex mind fluid.[/quote] This part of the story always fascinated me. I would imagine the worm wanted to be introduced to the Vex mind fluid much as it wanted to be introduced into the Hive biology. I strongly believe it is because Quria surmised that if the Vex ever stopped destroying and the worm was in their mind fluid, the worms would devour them, as they would devour the Hive. But the question remains: how could Quria know that?