Many times I’ve seen people here on DBO say that while they may be interested in Destiny’s backstory and the wide ranging tales of the Grimoire, they don’t have enough time or interest to dig through the numerous and often poorly organized cards. Or, that they don’t know where to begin.

There are so many good stories spread across the Grimoire that can be told, but even the greatest stories don’t mean much if they never get told. I’d like to help tell those stories to those of you who haven’t yet had the chance or the time to hear them. But I don’t really want to start on a long project if nobody really cares.

So, I ask you this: Instead of being pointed at the Grimoire section Bungie.net or even the substantially more organized Ishtar Collective, would you have any interest in an ongoing series that walks slowly through the Grimoire packaging and summarizing the stories into bite-sized chunks and occasionally providing bits of insight and commentary?

I’ve written the first two pieces of Bite-sized Backstory below and invite you to give them a read and let me know what you think of their content and the overall project.

Thanks! :)

Destiny’s history starts some fifty thousands years ago within the layers of a gas giant called Fundament. Unlike the gas giants in our solar system, Fundament is host to well over five hundred different alien races.

Most of these species live in the dark beneath the outer gas layers of Fundament on a large number of continents all floating on a massive sea that is suspended between storms and gas clouds overhead and the gas giant’s increasingly thick oceans, liquid metals, and solid layers below.

We don’t learn much about the numerous inhabitants of Fundament. Only one of the five hundred plus species gets much detail.

This race of three eyed humanoids are described as the smallest, weakest things on the seas of Fundament. Living gas clouds with glowing balls at the end of long tentacles reach down from the storms above like flying anglerfish and try to eat them. Acidic rain and deadly lightning storms occur frequently and kill many of them. And even though they have cities and science and some level of seafaring technology, they sometimes wage war on each other and demand sacrifices and eat their own. Maybe worst of all, this smallest of races usually only live 8 - 10 years.

There are a few other interesting things we learn about this three-eyed race:

• They all appear to be born female.
  
• At around four years of age they choose to morph into one of three forms: The king morph, the knight morph, and the mother morph. Notably, mothers live significantly longer than the others, but we are not told how long.
  
• This race, and many of the others, did not evolve on Fundament. Instead, they arrived on the gas giant’s hidden, suspended seas when each of their planets collided with Fundament long before anyone can remember.

Unfortunately, this weak, short-lived, three-eyed race is never given a name, but they eventually rise up above their lowly station and do much to shape the world of Destiny.

Sources:
Calcified Fragments: Curoisity
I: Predators

Next: 2: The Brave Exiled Sisters

The king of the Osmium Court, one of the nations of the short lived, three-eyed creatures adrift on the seas of Fundament, was old. He was senile. He was dying. His three daughters, Xi Ro a warrior, Sathona a leader and thinker, and Aurash an explorer, were skilled in their own fields, but it would have been difficult for any one of them to assume the throne.

Their teacher, the sterile mother Taox certainly thought this, which is why she made a deal with the Helium Drinkers, a nearby warlike nation of their own species, to overthrow the sickly king and kill his heirs.

Fortunately, the three sisters managed to escape. Xi Ro distracted the attackers with the bright glowing “bait stars” that her combat skills had previously allowed her to cut from the tentacles of the predators that inhabited the clouds above. Sathona’s tricks and cleverness allowed the sisters to evade their enemies, flee their home, and reach their nation’s coast. And once there, Aurash’s exceptional sailing skills allowed them to escape their enemies by fleeing their home and country on her personal sailing ship.

For over a year, a good tenth of their lives, the three sisters sailed away from home. They sailed passed many dozen foreign continents. They lived off the sea, catching and eating creatures they’d never seen before. They encountered and escaped powerful monsters through skilled sailing and risky maneuvers.

And they explored.
And they explored.
And they explored.

And what these brave seafaring sisters found out in the vast ocean in the heart of a powerful maelstrom would not only change their fates, it would change the fates of thousands of races and hundreds of trillions of lives spread across the spiral arms of our galaxy.

Sources:
II: The Hateful Verse
IV: Syzygy

Previous: 1: Fundament
Next: 3: The Hesitant Oath

Seriously, this is an awesome idea.

- No text -

Much like Cody (though to a different and lesser extent), you have shown a selectivity and untrustworthiness on sourcing and an inability to distinguish between story, backstory, or how to successfully craft writing with regards to story and plot. I don't want to try to have to figure out if your summaries are valid, opinion/your own interpretation that may be incorrect, or neutral on top of deciphering some of Bungie's own vagaries.

But alas, I am but one person with one opinion. I'm sure others want it and will take your word for it when you post the things. Have fun.

The first two look great! Good work!

Seeing another's interpretation is a great way to grow in your own understanding of any subject. Anyone who studies anything in a vacuum tends to strengthen their own interpretations and bias. This is a great way we as a community can "get the gist" while cross referencing it with the actual grimoire. For anyone who wants to taker it at face value, it's probably good enough.

Seeing another's interpretation is a great way to grow in your own understanding of any subject. Anyone who studies anything in a vacuum tends to strengthen their own interpretations and bias. This is a great way we as a community can "get the gist" while cross referencing it with the actual grimoire. For anyone who wants to taker it at face value, it's probably good enough.

Lol, I see you've met Av.

He's just like that, don't take it personal ;)

Thank you for taking the time to do these!

Edit: forgot to mention - nice use of the cliffhanger.

Keep them coming, this is very legible. More so than the grimoire (for me personally).