All Such Amazing Options

Destcember Day #8: Alternate Universe

Two friends sit talking on top of a skyscraper that just reaches well above the clouds. Below them sprawls a gleaming metropolis that extends as far as the eye can see. The sky is clear and bright, without a hint of smog or rain. Overall, it is a beautiful day on Venus.

"You ever feel like something is missing?"

"What do you you mean? We literally have everything. Ever since the Traveler showed up a few millennia ago, things have just gotten better and better. We colonized every planet in the system and a few beyond, we solved scarcity, and now no one has to work anymore if they don't want to. Hell, we even cured death a while back. I mean, there was that thing with those evil pyramid things a few decades ago, but we sorted them out pretty quickly, with all the warning the Traveler gave us and all the time we had to prepare. What could possibly be wrong?"

"I don't know. It all just feels anticlimactic, you know?"

...

Simulation #540608849333807 Results:

Processing Power Required For Simulation: High

Paracausal Interference: Extreme

Accuracy: Within Acceptable Range

Premise: Golden Age collapse averted via failure of Darkness to locate Traveler before overwhelming force was accumulated.

Outcome: Convergence rendered unobtainable before heat death of the universe due to excessive presence of Light based paracausal interference and high level of human technological progress.

Timeline Deemed Nonviable

Simulation #540608849333807 Terminated

I know it will never happen, probably because it would be a nightmare to program and balance, but I want a flamethrower. Just imagine it. Finally being able to literally kill all of those creepy thralls and screebs. Seeing the home of the enemy burn down around you. Looking at your Ghost worry as the fire glints off your wide eyes and wolfish smile. In conclusion, fire good.

Hive Worms Are Just Tiny, Evil Roombas

Imagine if hive worms outside their host don't quite have depth perception, but also because they are worms they refuse to take help and are not given any, so until they find their host they just wander the hive tomb ships eating any scraps of food they can find. They would be like tiny, evil Roombas and there would be hundreds of them just crawling around the ships and running into walls in a way that could almost be called endearing.

Do the Offering to the Oracle First This Week

Hopefully no spoilers, but seriously, it's super important to the story. Don't put it off, you'll want to see it.

Destcember Day 24: Praise the Sun, Arc, and Void

Praise the Sun. A gentle caress for friends. A warm, healing fire, cauterizing wounds, mending bones, and regrowing wounds. A searing flame to foes. Burning away the dark undergrowth, allowing new growth to flourish. Wielded by the benevolent protectors, the kindly healers, and those who want to burn away their foes.

Praise the Arc. The crackle of thunder is the only warning you will get before you dissolve into static and the smell of ozone. Bright and crackling, it stands at the eye of the storm, laughing as the wind whips and the rain lashes. With blades, bolts, and crackling fists it moves through the battlefield. Wielded by the restless, lovers of natural chaos, and those charged with emotions.

Praise the Void. The darkness between stars. The cold embrace of oblivion granted to those who dare to stand between it and its goal. The whispers that tell of forbidden secrets, the flicker of forgotten knowledge at the corners of your mind. With a cackle, it discovers that which it has searching for, be it the last scrap of information to solve a great mystery or a huddle foe, terrified of what they know is about to happen. Wielded by the dedicated scholars, the half mad holders of dangerous secrets, and those who stalk the night.

Praise the Light. The source of the each of the prismatic colors, Solar, Arc, and Void. The shining glimmer within the Dark. The last bastion of warmth against the cold night. It is the brilliant radiance that shines withing every guardians. But be wary, as the road to Hell is paved with good intentions, and those who stare to long into the Light often look away to find themselves having become become fanatics or knights templar. And do not put down your guard, for wherever the Light goes, it is always followed by the Dark, as the Day is followed by the Night.

Me, Before the Allegiance Quest:

"Well, I don't quite trust the Drifter, but I agree with him more than the Vanguard, so I'll side with him."

Me, after the Drifter says that he trusts you and considers you one of his only friends:

Destcember Day 13: Theism

I live close to the center of the City, mostly for practical reasons. Any attackers would work inwards and therefore I would have time to pack before and grab a few people before I head into the sewers that are also under my house. Plus, all the best shops are here. However, this also means that I'm almost directly under the Traveler and it attracts the crazies like moths to a flame. As such, there is a temple to it just a few blocks away.

I've never put much stock in worshiping the Traveler. It never asked us to pray to it nor responded to prayers, so why should we. Furthermore, if it was really a god, it wouldn't need our help or praise. Did it kill Crota? Oryx? Guall? Did it beat back the Darkness another dozen times to rebuild the City? No. We did.

Even if it did ask us to pray, should we? It certainly isn't working out for the Hive or the Vex. All they did was join a magic pyramid scheme. "You work hard and give us 99% of what you make and die for us. We will sit here and watch, maybe doing something when we are all about to die." Even their "gods" aren't really gods. I've personally killed two and have the bits to prove it. The Black Heart and Xol went down with enough bullets and I assume the Traveler would too.

Therefore, the only manner of Theism ascribe to Maltheism. Everything that claims to be or looks to be a god is either incompetent or evil. The only good one needed an army and it's own heroic sacrifice to save fraction of one of the numerous species it tried to help. The rest are omnicidal bastards. So, screw the gods, we are better off without them.

...

"Did you really have to tell off those missionaries quite so severely?"

"Yew, the only reason I did it was because you vetoed dropping water balloons on them from the roof."

"Because that would have been cruel and childish. Anyway, you could have just said no to a donation."

"That's what I told them last time and they came right back the next day."

"They were from a different temple!"

"Oh, well now I feel a bit guilty."

Million glimmer idea:

Carve Ahamkara bones into bullets. Will they grant the target they get lodged in cursed wishes? Will they drive them insane with whispers? Who knows! But it will be interesting, whatever happens.

Goodbye for now, Mara Sov.

You will/absolutely-will-not-be missed, to be decided on a case by case basis.

Destcember Day 3: Living Without the Light

I was asleep in my appartment when the when the Red Legion sealed the Traveler's Light. The change was so stark that it immediately jolted me into conciousness. It was like the constant, soothing fire of the Void Light in my chest had been extinguished, leaving me cold and weak. I tried to rouse Yew, but the most she could produce was a flicker of light or the occasional distorted word. I was going to be on my own for a long while.

Then, I heard the screaming. Cabal drop pods were falling from the sky, smashing buildings and people unlucky enough to be caught in their path. From them poured hundreds of legionaries, psions, and ever other kind of soldier at their disposal. I saw squads of legionaries rounding up everyone that they found fleeing and executing them, while incendiors and war beasts flushed out anyone who had managed to hide. Even without my Light or a chance of being brought back if I died, I had to do something to help.

Luckily, I had prepared to have to flee the City, as with all of the enemies of humanity in the system, I figured that an attack on the City was inevitable. All the weapons that I had stored in the vault were gone, but I always keep a few hidden away in my home and on my person. I took every weapon I could carry and the books and artifacts that I could not afford to let burn with my home. I gently placed Yew in bag and then abandoned the soon to be ruins of my home. As I fled the City, I gathered any survivors I could find, leading them down the burning back alleys and through a series of tunnels that ended outside the Wall. Once we were clear, I brought my bedraggled group to a pack of Eliksni that I had managed to befriend, having brought them any either tanks that I had found while patrolling the system, and called in every favor I had. And with that, I turned back to the burning city. I didn't have the light or my ghost, but I had allies and preparation, and that would have to do.