They were born of humans in deep space under mysterious circumstances during the collapse. Ghosts did not exists until the late Dark Age following the Collapse. The First Guardians didn't arrive until the very tail end and signaled the beginning of the City Age when they fought in wars to establish the Last City. I've already explained this further below. Awoken existed and died long before the Ghosts began raising Guardians. Lore remains intact.

I can accept all that but the story telling of the game says several times the ghost where made in the travelers last dyeing breath. to me that means the traveler "died" then made the ghost. and up until this point I didn't think the dark age even started until after the Traver "died" How long was this collapse war, how long did the traveler defend? during this defending period was when the awoken were born?