Master Rahool, official Tower representative for the Cryptarch society and the main point of contact for Guardians seeking to decypher reclaimed engrams, has broken his self-imposed media exile following the recent "Doorknob Incident." In this interview with Vanguard News, he shares his opinion on the situation and his reputation. VN: This is Camilla Putney-Singh, Vanguard News, speaking with Mister Rahool-- MR: [i]Master[/i] Rahool. VN: Yes, sorry. I'd like to get your thoughts on-- MR: My change in behavior? VN: That's one way to put it. MR: It is a simple concept, Miss Putney-Singh. I, like all Cryptarchs, am essentially a curator of a vast museum, a sprawling memorial to humanity's Golden Age that stretches from Earth to... Well, we don't really know, do we? Mars, certainly, but how far did we go during our time in the Light? The asteroid belt, where the Awoken make their home? The moons of Jupiter? Saturn? Did we strike out boldly into what is now referred to in hushed voices as "The Beyond"? VN: When you say "we," Rahool, do you-- MR: [sighs loudly] Yes, I'm aware that I am Awoken, don't get pedantic with me. What I mean is that it's possible to be present somewhere without considering it a part of our empire, so to speak. Explorers and the like. Exos claim to have recovered lost memories of being in the far reaches of the solar system, but for what purpose? Their deployment speaks to conflict, but to what cause? Were they fighting each other under the command of humans, or were they sent to fight something else? VN: I think we've gotten off the track of why you asked me to come speak with you. MR: Ah... Indeed. The Engrams. VN: Yes. MR: As I was saying, our ancestors left a great deal behind when the Light began to dim, and the Cryptarchs seek to, alpha) identify, beta) repair, and gamma) utilize the tools of our mighty past in order to help us reclaim our birthright. The Engrams are pieces of the past that our ancestors thought valuable enough to save in the form of raw data. VN: And this data can be reused, right? I mean, I can make a recording of myself singing and send it to my friends without having to go over to all their houses and perform it in person. MR: Oddly, no. The Engrams are all entirely single-use records. A "Write-Only" storage medium, if you will. Drawing out the encoded molecular datastream destroys the Engram, and it can never be used again. VN: That seems like a very inefficient tool for whoever made Engrams to use in order to spread information. MR: That's the thing! Our current theory is that Engrams were never [i]meant[/i] for disseminating physical objects. They are, instead, lockboxes that protect an item in a non-physical format from the ravages of time and the elements. The Engrams themselves are incredibly durable. VN: Are you saying that the Engrams are more like a time capsule than a, a... Matter replicator? MR: Exactly. So you must consider what it is that a person from the Golden Age would find valuable enough to place within an Engram for what is essentially eternity. VN: Having seen the trade you do with the Vanguard... Guns, armor, and small items of flair, I would assume. Which says something about the past, doesn't it... MR: It says something about [i]you[/i] that you only assume that is what we find. No, the vast majority of the items we discover within Engrams are of deep personal significance, and totally without value to the Vanguard. Family pictures. Works of art. Items that a person wants to preserve forever. VN: But the items you give to the Guardians are...? MR: Not always what was contained within the Engram. VN: The Engram classification system seems to only allow for weapons and armor, though. MR: The Engram classification system is one of the Cryptarchs' greatest failings, and in my youth I sought to change it in order to stop misunderstandings like these. You can ask any Guardian; sometimes you find a coin in an Engram labeled "Heavy Weapons." Now, unless you have a very cynical view of capitalism, I don't think the label is correct there. Our Engram classes are so heavily entrenched in the Vanguard lifestyle that we dare not change it. VN: So, when you were knowingly giving out "Uncommon" weapons in exchange for "Rare" Engrams, what were you really doing? MR: That is an unfair and misleading question. Firstly, as I said a moment ago, the Engram may not have held a weapon at all. Secondly, even if it did, the quality of the weapon inside the Engram is not dependent on the quality of the Engram itself. I can serve a sandwich in a bowl, but that doesn't make it soup. VN: Interesting... So your recent near-altercation with Hunter Vanguard Cayde-6 was...? MR: Thuggery, plain and simple. He came to me and threatened me with physical harm if I didn't produce items that matched the perceived classification of the Engrams given to me by Guardians. A classification that I believe to be faulty, by the way! VN: Why aren't you providing the Guardians with what they need anyway? Surely it is in your interest to assist the Vanguard in their fight against the Darkness. MR: I find your unstated attempt to impugn me distasteful. VN: I didn't-- MR: You did. But let me answer your question, loathsomely worded though it may be. On my first day here in the Tower, a Titan handed me a purple Engram and expected me to give him a helmet. Do you know what was inside? VN: Not a helmet, I assume. MR: No. It was an urn containing the cremated remains of a shorthair [i]felis catus[/i]. VN: ...A dead cat? MR: Yes. Someone in the distant past loved their pet enough that when it passed, they placed its corporeal remains in an Engram reserved for only the most precious things. VN: That's sweet. MR: Heartwarming it may be, but the Titan standing before me wanted a helmet, not a dead cat. Now, since this was my first day on the job, as it were, I did not have a spare Legendary-quality Titan helm just lying about unused. I gave him an Uncommon helmet that I luckily happened to have present and sent him on his way. VN: Does that kind of thing happen often? MR: More often than you'd think. My point is that after Cayde-6's threat, now I am forced to provide Rare and even Legendary items in exchange for Engrams that could contain practically anything. And do you know what the Guardians do with them? VN: Use them to fight the Darkness, I can only hope. MR: Oh, it must be lovely to see the world with such optimism. No, at least ninety percent of the time they destroy the items I give them. VN: Seriously? MR: Oh, yes. "Not many of these left," I'll warn a Hunter as I hand her a technologically advanced combat helmet, and she'll just bash it against the floor until she can pull a wire out of it. I've seen more guns smashed against that post there than I'll ever count. Do you see that frame sweeping up over there? Search its trash bin, and you'll find nothing but components for enough weapons and armor to outfit an entire nation's military. And the most galling thing is that they don't even have the decency to do it out of my sight! They'll stand right here and destroy priceless artifacts right in front of me. VN: That's terrible. Why do you continue to do it? MR: As you said, the Guardians do need weapons and equipment, and they do provide the Cryptarchs an invaluable service by bringing in Engrams and data from across the worlds. The Engrams they have are not always what they need to fight, but they make life a little bit more livable. I happen to have a bottle of four-hundred-year-old whiskey that I decoded the other day. Very fine. Perhaps you'd like to join me? VN: I think we're done here.