The Darkness… Within its clutches we shine our brightest. Our existence something its vastness can’t quite smother. Our legend and with that memory our light connects us to the past and to those that follow us. The Taken are Blight that spread from the Darkness itself. Being taken is stripping away weakness and with weakness goes emotion; Purpose becomes a twisted perversion that sees submission of their will. They acted through the will of Oryx, and Oryx was but a hand of the Darkness. Like a reptile these cold creatures could grow into tendrils of the dark. These creatures are unhallowed, not meant to interact with the living their very screams cause one to bleed internally. A Taken Psion quite literally multiplies. This ability is a mutilation against the extinction of the Psion race. Their numbers ever dwindling since their enslavement to the cabal. Sedated by a manipulation of their individual survival. This new form a corruption of their biology stripping away the individual in pursuit of the logics of the Hive. The Vex when taken become a force of creation, but curiously enough they become individuals, they become emotional, they become flawed. Strange to think that the pursuit of perfection through such violent change can be undone by emotion. [i]“A king is dead, and with him the fatal flaw. This was not conquest, this war where Light yet offends. This was selfish — a father’s rage in place of a king’s measured hand.” – Excerpt Noru'usk, Servant of Oryx[/i] The Taken Cabal became corrupted by both desire, and by purpose. The majority seek a form of freedom or a safety, but their taken ultras are so diverse in their motivation it serves to build themes in the cabal lore. Taken Hive are a strange thing; the Hive fight to garner tribute for their masters and their own worms, and yet they scorn the weakness in themselves so much that they would tear themselves away. This almost self-loathing behavior is expanded on in the Sylok, the Defiled card [i]“...The greater than anguish, the greater the reward... ...I know you. See your thoughts. I will use the pain. Reach in... ...Give me the pain. Take away all but agony. Through it, I transcend. ...Just once more... ...more...” - Sylok, the Defiled[/i] Of course that’s the mind of a Powerful taken, but the powerful taken retain some consciousness. These glimpses we get define the hive and build the themes that help create such a powerful story behind their race. The Taken Blights are a manifestation of the Darkness. They can harm guardians and prevent a ghost from reforming damaged tissue, and a ghost can reassemble tissue damaged from radiation. This suggests that it either is hazardous and hostile to us. To what extent that the blight correlates to the darkness is unknown. The corruption that these taken represent is of moral perversion to the enemy races of destiny, and the proximity to the Darkness shows the uncertainty in the future of Destiny. As we fight the current of time to make every second a certain future our Light grows, and with that we cast larger shadows. [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/206388637/0/0]Back to The Master Post[/url]