Speculation Saturday #4: The City (Destiny)

by Ragashingo , Official DBO Cryptarch, Saturday, September 14, 2013, 21:39 (4086 days ago)

Last Saturday we took a closer look at the Fallen. Who were these nomadic people? How and why did they come to our system? What do they want? What will it take to beat them? This week we’re going to look at one of Humanity’s largest assets: the last safe City on Earth. Read on for The Facts, some Informed Supposition, and my personal favorite, Rampant Speculation.

The Facts:

Defend the last safe City on Earth. Discover the ancient ruins of our solar system. Become legend.

Destiny features a compelling storyline, competitive multiplayer, cooperative gameplay choices, wide open public combat destinations, and third-person community spaces where you can repair and rearm before going out on your next adventure.

For centuries we've huddled under the safety of the Traveler, protected from our enemies. Now, a new era has begun, and the only hope for our future lies in unlocking the greatest mysteries of our past.

In our darkest days, Humans, Exos, and Awoken found the Traveler where it made its last stand, low above Earth, silent and immobile. We built this City – our last – within its protective Shield, fighting countless wars to keep its peace. From that dark age, the Guardians of the City were born.

You are a Guardian of the last safe city on Earth, able to wield some of the Traveler's incredible power. You are taking this mantle just as a new day dawns. Titans, Hunters, and Warlocks have finally returned to our long-lost worlds, only to find out we are not alone.

The first Titans built the Wall, and gave their lives to defend it. Now, you stand in the same high place, steadfast and sure, protecting all who shelter in your shadow. You hail from a long line of heroes, forged from strength and sacrifice. Our enemies may be deadly and merciless, but so are you.

The wilderness beyond the walls of the City are ruined and corrupted, claimed by nature and our enemies. From the war-torn fortresses of the Twilight Gap to the skyward steppes of Old Russia, evidence of our lost glory still litters the Earth, waiting to be rediscovered.

Early exploration attempts have proven too dangerous. The City has since classified Earth's Moon as a Forbidden Zone.

Beyond the safety of our Walls, strange and deadly enemies now occupy our old worlds. Every day they grow bolder, probing the Traveler's shields for weaknesses, looking to stamp us out for good.

Everyone’s an alien, aren’t they? Concepts of nationality don’t really apply when there’s only one safe city left on Earth. Destiny is a melting pot. A tossed salad. Gumbo. What’s in gumbo? No one knows. Tom Slattery, Localization Content Manager

“The City wants us to recover a piece of Charlemagne, one of the great Warminds of the Golden Age—a vast machine intelligence built by the ancient Powers of Mars." Joseph Staten

Hylebos Can you tell us anything about the Robotic Guards we've seen wandering the Last City in the ViDoc?
They’re deathly afraid of spiders. Although, we do tend to impose our own personality onto our machines (like that guy who swears that his bitchin’ Camaro hates stoplights), so this might just be me with my own things going on.

Tigerman What kind of things can Guardians do in The Last City, other than mill around and socialize?
The Tower is a friendly and familiar place to regroup, rearm, and repair before heading out on your next great adventure. As a Guardian, the Tower is a refuge – a sanctuary – but it is also bustling with all the activities you would expect to find in the last safe city on Earth.

”Why is The City breathing down my neck?” - Frontier dwelling Awoken

Informed Suppositions:

- After the Fall what’s left of Humanity somehow recognizes the safe zone established by The Traveler and builds a large walled city there. But did we have to build each building and road post Fall, or was there an existing city already there for us to start with? Based on the watermarked maps in the background of even the oldest Destiny content we suspect that The Traveler settled over the city of Puerto Princesa. Perhaps that island city was never touched during the Fall and, due to its intact nature, became the obvious location to being our rebuilding efforts?

- The City seems to have quite a bit of influence and political power. It declares some locations off limits. It “breaths down the neck” of those not living within its walls. It makes a lot of sense that the one place the enemy can’t touch would be most powerful force, politically, among Humanity, but this also cleverly points us at another probable truth: The City may be the last safe city on Earth, but that doesn’t mean it is the last one period. How many settlements, communities, and even cities are there on earth besides The City? And if that number is greater than zero what does that mean for Humanity's other worlds?

- We’ve seen “FOTC” (Forces Of The City) stamped or painted on everything from the inner workings of Humanity’s guns to the wings of their dropships. It seems that They City has a fairly impressive industrial sector. What is The City capable of producing? Are supplies fairly tight and yields very constrained or do we have surpluses just waiting for Guardians to carry / ride them into battle?

- If we huddled under The Traveler for centuries why are we poking our heads out now? “War is upon us” says leader at the end of the E3 demo. Well, yeah… Or is actual fighting between Humanity and the various alien races a new thing? If so, what sparked it?

- The City is safe, but how exactly does that work? Is it safe because The Traveler zaps anything foreign that comes into view, or is it “safe” because it has thick walls that must be maned at all times to keep attacks from forcing their way inside?

- It is clearly stated that Humans, Exo, and Awoken were there at the founding of The City. Just how different are these three "species"? Do they all get along, are they all treated equally? All three are allowed to be Guardians so it seems probable that all three are given some measure of trust, but how much?

- The Tower is a place we can go to repair and rearm. It appears to have everything from launch bays for our personal spaceships to observation decks overlooking The City. Do Guardians live there too? What about non-guardians? Is the tower some sort of off limits military building, or does it perhaps have a gift shot and daily tours?

Rampant Speculation:

- How was The City built? Where do we get the materials to sustain it? Presumably Earth is no longer the hugely interconnected manufacturing marketplace that it is today. The City can’t just order in new parts from someplace an ocean away. I wonder if that big sphere right above it with pieces large and small seemingly falling away has anything to do with this? Or, stated more clearly: Is Humanity perhaps cannibalizing The Traveler to build The City and or fuel Humanity’s war effort?

- If The City actually is safe, why are we sending out fire teams of Guardians instead of hunkering down and building up an actual army? Even if it is just a small one comprised of large groups of Guardians, wouldn’t that get more accomplished than sending out forces only powerful enough to complete what would seem to be fairly limited tasks? Perhaps there is a reason The City can’t deploy armies? Maybe small ships can slip in and out past The City’s enemies, but bigger groups, or larger warships would get shot down?

- I touched on this a bit last week with the Fallen, but given that Humanity has an actual city, and not just a hunkered down military base, isn’t it destined to win by attrition? If each one of our Guardians can kill just one enemy, and we can keep producing Guardians, don’t we eventually win in the long term?

- How much pressure is there to be a Guardian? We’re told we can become legend, but what does The City need more? Explorers and Warriors, or regular people? Which is more important, a Guardian, or a population of engineers and weapon smiths and construction workers building things for Humanity’s offense and defense? Are Guardians our best and brightest, or could they be our most brash and those who don’t get along well with others?

- What is the population of The City like? There must be some limit to its ability to grow outward. Has it reached that limit yet, and if so is overcrowding becoming a concern? Or do we have too many tasks to do and not enough people around to do them all? We see what seems to be roads and districts, does the city function anything like a normal city? Is there unrestricted travel for instance?

- What is The City’s end goal? Peace? Expansion? The complete annihilation of all it enemies? Just because it’s where we are going to originate from doesn’t mean its leaders have good or honest motivations. Once again I come back to the idea that Humanity, and The City in particular, has done something, or is hiding something that has caused all these aliens to want to destroy us.

- It seems very likely that The City can manufacture weapons and vehicles for its war effort, but is that all The City is? Is there entertainment? Are there social scenes? Restaurants? Malls? Parks? Heck, is there even money? Or could it be one large population operating under marshal law with an “economy” fueled by work rations and strictly controlled time and material allowances?

- What about governments? Are The City’s leaders elected? Do they serve for life? Are there kings and queens or a bunch of honest, good natured representatives doing the right thing? If a person disagrees with the apparently new push to regain the offensive how would they voice that? Or do they dare speak up at all?

- Is The City perhaps waking a sleeping giant or giants by sending out Guardians? Perhaps all these aliens were out there battling it out amongst themselves until we proved we were a bigger threat. Are we even the bigger threat, or are we considered nothing more than a hard to reach itch?

That's it from me for this week, but cities are big places. Maybe you've thought of things I haven't, or maybe I've gotten something wrong and you know how to set it right. If so, speak up. I want to hear from you!

Next Saturday: Gameplay

Over the past four weeks we've taken a closer look at mankind's Golden Age and it's Fall. We then scoped out one of our chief enemies in The Fallen and have just finished examining the blueprints of The City. There are other races and other locations my radar, but I'm not sure there is enough specific information on any of them to really dig into yet. So next week we'll focus on gameplay. What will Destiny be like? What can we glean from the content Bungie has already released? What will it bring to the table that no other game will? I'd love it if you'll once again join me as I look at The Facts, make some Informed Suppositions, and then close my eyes and let loose a bunch of Rampant Speculation. But until then:

All Speculation Saturdays:
Speculation Saturday #1: The Golden Age
Speculation Saturday #2: The Fall
Speculation Saturday #3: The Fallen
Speculation Saturday #4: The City
Speculation Saturday #5: The Gameplay
Speculation Saturday #6: What's New?
Speculation Saturday #7: The Hive
Speculation Saturday #8: The Vex
Speculation Saturday #9: The Cabal