Exodus Project (the rest of the story)

In my last post about the Exodus Project and SIVA, responses made me realize that many found it helpful to tie to the broader Destiny story together. None of this info is new, just trying to package the story to connect the dots. So while the last post helped understand the RoI DLC and SIVA, the Exodus story line ties into more than just that. So let’s pick up where the last post left off. Link to previous post: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/215764896/0/0 Exodus Project. The expedited colonization project to get people off earth to avoid the coming threat. In the Old Russia 3 card, from the view of one of the Exodus Colony Ships during the Golden Age, the General foreshadows the coming events: [spoiler] “Imagine this road choked with corpses. Imagine the security team gunning down refugees as they try to force their way onto the ships. Imagine cars from here to the horizon –“ [/spoiler] Queue the start of destiny. Road full of cars and corpses, within view of the Exodus colony ships, just outside the security wall. Personal note, I always like to think of my Guardian as one of those desperate humans, trying to get to the ships when it all went down. Just my thoughts, not canon, but it fits the lore nicely so I stick with it. From Human 5, we know some of humanity got stuck on earth, never made it to the ships. [spoiler] “Hope. And standing with Strangers. The Earth was in ruin. Chaos and madness and death. It was my turn to leave. I remember. I was waiting with others like me, and the ships would soon would soon take us away.” [/spoiler] And some made it to the ships but their fates are not known. Old Russia 2 from an Exodus Colony Ship AI: [spoiler] “Now I am packed bulkhead to bulkhead with cold terror. Refugees from a nightmare I don’t even know how to understand. I wish I could comfort them. I’m trying to be brave. But conditions outside are terrible. I suspect I won’t make liftoff. By the time your read this , whoever you might be, I suppose you will know. Exodus Red will be long gone – or rotting at its gantry, me dead inside.” [/spoiler] Some died as they tried to make orbit. Exo 2: [spoiler] We are falling into the world. Everyone is on fire. There’s a ship above us but it’s coming apart just like a flower, alloy and fusion flash, pierced through and through – I can see the whole earth below me and the sky we are falling out of is black without stars.” [/spoiler] But all was not lost. Some survived. And it makes the rest of the Destiny story to date possible. For had the Exodus project not partially succeeded in getting people off earth. We would be without a valuable ally. From The Asteroid Belt: [spoiler] “ Among the asteroids drifts the Reef, lashed together from the ruined ships of an ancient exodus. Here the Queen rules over the Awoken.” [/spoiler] So the Exodus project is part of the Awoken origin story. Not only did the ships themselves serve to be a makeshift colony, but the distance from the collapse on earth allowed those humans to survive, changed into Awoken. Had the Exodus project not occurred, had humans not made it to the Asteroid Belt, and had the Awoken not been created, our story might not exist. So before we woke up on that road littered with cars and corpses near the Exodus Colony ships on earth, humanity on earth was trying to survive, gathering under the Traveler. Early Risen like the Iron Lords and Rezyl Azzir were trying to restore and defend what little of humanity was left. But there were those species out there that sought to exploit the damaged Traveler and the little that was left of humanity. The Fallen made several coordinated attacks on the Last City over time. Their greatest attempt was going to be a united attack by the Fallen Houses (Devils, Winter, Kings, and Wolves). Except one of the houses never showed up. The Fallen were defeated as they attempted to breach the city wall by Guardians at what history knows as the Battle of Twilight Gap. The house that failed to show up? The House of Wolves. They never made it to earth, because the Queen in the Reef ambushed their Fleet in the asteroid belt. Wanted: Skolas, Kell of Kells [spoiler] But then the Wolves arrived from the Jovians. Their army was hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions strong; a dark wave that washed over the Reef, rushing toward the Earth. As soon as we saw them it was clear that if the Wolves reached Earth, the City would fall. The Queen’s decision was this: attack the House of Wolves, thereby saving Earth but revealing the Reef’s presence to any and all enemies in the quadrant; or remain silent, preserving the Reef’s invisibility but allowing the City to perish. Her Harbingers ripped into Ceres, destroying the asteroid and killing Virixas, Kell of Wolves and more than half his House. [/spoiler] The Awoken prevented the Wolves forces from joining the other houses, which likely would have tipped the results of the Battle of Twilight Gap in the Fallen’s favor, the Last City and Tower overrun. Who knows if our Guardian would have been raised had this happen. And even if we had been raised, there would be no Tower, no City to defend. The House of Wolves DLC was our Guardian in a way, paying back a favor most of us probably didn’t know we owed. The Wolves that the Queen had stopped to help save the city, had rebelled against her rule, killed Awoken, and were once again trying to unite the Houses, this time under the Kell of Kell, Skolas. Yet as we are assisting the Reef in hunting down the Wolves and capturing Skolas, another story is brewing. Under interrogation after we catch Skolas atop the Citadel, Skolas provides some interesting information. He’s afraid of something. Queen’s Ransom: [spoiler] Skolas falls abruptly silent. Then a low, soft growl – almost like a whine – echoes from the cell below. The Queen does not react. “What did he say?” “He says…” Variks hisses under his breath. “He makes no sense, my Queen. He speaks of…Light-Snuffer. Dark-Binder.” “He will not say more” “He does not need to.” She turns toward the door. The Techeuns gather at the door as the Queen approaches it. Prince Uldren holds it open with a small bow, and the Queen touches his shoulder as she passes. “Send a Crow to Mercury. And another to our new friend in the Tower.” [/spoiler] So in response to Skola’s ramblings about the “Light Snuffer”, the Queen sends a summons to Mercury and the Tower. And those summoned answered, with a meeting in the Reef. From Ghost Fragment: Queen 2 [spoiler] The Hunter came to a halt in front of the throne, raised her covered face to meet the Prince’s gaze. “Your Grace”, said the man before her at the foot of the stairs. His voice was soft but strong. When he spoke the Hunter start to turn her head toward him, then flinched as if someone had shone a bright light into her eyes. The Hunter’s pale lips tightened slightly, then resumed their usual stony mien. “Your Grace,” she said. “I am not here for you.” “I have no wish to play politics. I have no grievance with the City, not anymore. I have no grand hopes to end the war, for long I have known I will not see its end. I am here for one battle, and one alone, because it is a battle we must all fight, together or separately. So I will warn the defenders, together or separately. I will do anything –“ her low voice shook with passion –“to end Oryx.” Then a small smile curved the Queen’s lips. “Well said.” She straightened, and leaned slightly forward so the room’s light fell on her face. “So let us end him.” [/spoiler] The Hunter, the female with covered face and pale lips, the new friend from the Tower is Eris Morn. The man with the bright light from Mercury, is Osiris. So based on the words from Skolas, the Queen summons Eris and Osiris to the Reef where they ally together to stop Oryx, whom they all know is coming. Their efforts prove to be critical in our Guardians’ next step. Fast forward to the TTK intro. Mara Sov, the Queen, has amassed her fleet and sacrifices herself and her people to clear the Hive Armada and leave the Dreadnaught vulnerable to invasion, which we later exploit by sneaking on via a stealth drive equipped version of Eris’ ship. During the opening TTK cinematic. That is Mara talking to Eris. It “was all part of the plan”. The sacrifice. And later, when Eris retrieves the piece of Oryx’ sword, “You were right my Queen, the Guardian was the key.” The dreadnaught attack to clear the Hive fleet, so our Guardian could get onboard because it was the only chance to end Oryx. The cause and effect cascades throughout the grimoire. Without the Golden Age research we don’t have the warminds, without the warminds, we don’t research the Vex, without the Vex research, we don’t have the Device, without the Device intel, we don’t know the coming darkness, without the knowledge of coming darkness, we don’t have the Exodus Project, without the Exodus project, we don’t have the Awoken, without the Awoken, the Last City falls and we are unable to stop Oryx. Despite being tucked away in grimoire, there is a grander storyline, showing the effects of previous events. Like before, hopefully this discussion helps people understand the larger Destiny story.