[spoiler]This is a series of posts dedicated to overanalyzing and finding the stories and lore behind Lost Sectors, one of the games most underrepresented features. I’m probably not going to cover [i]every[/i] Lost Sector, since not every one is interesting enough. Masterpost: https://www.bungie.net/de/Forum/Post/250564946/0/0[/spoiler] [i]It’s time. For those few that might remember, I’m bringing this back (yes, I changed the name). I started this “series” of posts quite some time ago. I only ended up making two, although I had started research on a few more. Well, this is one of them and my personal favorite Lost Sector. To be honest, I’m expecting any engagement on this, I’m just doing this for myself. Image links are provided for visualization (I hope they work this time).[/i] We’re going to Io, into the cave that contains, [b]Aphix Conduit[/b]. —————————————————————————- For starters, I know that this Lost Sector has been discussed on places like r/raidsecrets ages ago and nothing significant has been found. Instead, I’m trying to look at it from a different angle, while also trying to explain it with current lore. Since this Lost Sector has been around since the game’s release, it’s completely separate from everything that happened/ is happening on Io since the Red War. Now, I firstly want to talk about the meaning of “Aphix Conduit”. I think since conduit is pretty self explanatory, let’s just focus on “Aphix”. It seems like that word has no actual meaning outside of Destiny, but in-game, it’s actually not the first time it’s appeared. In D1, all enemies used to have different looks and titles based on inter-species groups. Unfortunately, we don’t have that anymore. Anyways, one of the different collectives of Vex featured in D1 was named “[b][i]Aphix Invasive[/i][/b]”. It’s a rare sub group of Vex, but they appeared in the [b]Vault of Glass[/b], occasional patrol missions on Venus and Mars and most notably in the [b]Prison of Elders[/b]. The [b]Gate Lord Qodron[/b] comes from their ranks. Except for him, all Vex of this type are distinguished by a red coloration and spiky frame details. They’re specific purpose is unclear, but based on the name and their rarity, they seem like a special task force used for combat operations. Maybe they are the closest to actual combat Vex we’ve seen so far... So based on this, Aphix Conduit might represent a piece of Vex architecture that is specifically used by the Aphix Invasive. But considering the fact that we no longer have dedicated Vex subgroups represented in the game, it’s more likely either a D1 reference or “Aphix” represents a larger context within the Vex collective, that we’ve only seen glimpses of. Over all, this Lost Sector definitely represents a critical point in the Vex architecture, due to its well developed state and seeming focus on data transfer. Looking at the Lost Sector itself, we start off with a partially converted cave, which leads deeper into fully converted Vex architecture. Prominent features include a dormant Vex portal in the first room and a big “wheel” in the second room. That room also has a second dormant portal as well as a gaping hole in the middle, allowing us to see the deeper, converted parts of Io. Keen eyes may also spot small floating cube formations all throughout the Lost Sector. We’ve seen them before, like on the D1 crucible map “[b][i]Pantheon[/i][/b]”. Its not exciting know as to what they are, but my best guess is that they either represent moving data or that’s how Vex architecture looks when it’s growing. [quote]First Room: https://i.imgur.com/lt6xbOJ.jpg Second Room: https://i.imgur.com/sjGoRmM.jpg[/quote] The Lost Sector’s boss is the “[b]Ruined Mind[/b]”, a Hydra likely overseeing this operation. However, as the name suggests, the Mind has been compromised in some fashion. We will return to this aspect. Now, the reason I like this Lost Sector is not because of everything I just mentioned. You see, this Lost Sector has secrets. Most of you have definitely stumbled upon them before, but I’m going to take another look at them. This Lost Sector has four [b]“secret” rooms[/b]. They’re not hard to find, just off the main path. Two of them are just empty rock caves, while the other two are our points of interest. I’m actually going to start with the room further back, since it’s less interesting than the first room. You enter this room by jumping inside the the wheel in the boss room. Aside from some interesting lighting, the main point of interest and culprit of many early D2 speculations is a weird structure on one of the walls. People used to think it was a map or the start to some puzzle. But after doing the tiniest amount of research, this room basically looses all of its mystery. For one, this room actually has a purpose. Back when we still had [b]Faction Rallies[/b], some Lost Sectors contained extra scannables for you to find. This room was the place where you could find this Sector’s scannable. And concerning the strange wall structure, I don’t have direct confirmation, but I’m somewhat certain that this is not the only place it’s used. It’s probably just one of those rarer assets that only see occasional use in Destiny maps. In the case of this room, it is just a very striking decoration. [quote]Wheel entrance: https://i.imgur.com/n7VlpJi.jpg Wall structure: https://i.imgur.com/XL3u9Lp.jpg[/quote] [b][i]Continued in comments...[/i][/b]