I sorta accidentally read through the entire Grimoire last night and the new House of Wolves stuff is pretty amazing. Here's a random spattering of things I found intriguing:

- The Queen's Brother, Prince Uldren Sov, would seem to be in contact with... a Hive representative? I don't know who else might have three green eyes. Is he plotting against his sister? There are a few places scattered about where he puts respect in ambition or seems a bit disgruntled with his position. It's also interesting that this mystery woman brings news from "beyond." Now, is that just beyond the Reef, or the Jovians, or is it actually Beyond?

- Thorn 3 is interesting both as a great piece where a corrupt Guardian says farewell to his Ghost, but also because it ask the question: Who was Dredgen Yor? Over and over his former name is redacted while his new / current name of Dredgen Yor is not. I wonder who he was...

- I'm a bit confused as to what a Crow is. The card for Lord of Wolves names a Crow who tinkered with a Fallen weapon to make this one, but previously in this one it talks about a Crow being some sort of spy machine with feathers?

- It seems the story for the Queen of the Reef has been intact for a good long time. Her original card that shipped with Destiny had the caption: "I am noble too, oh Lord of Wolves. Starlight was my mother; and my father was the dark." The full context is chillingly revealed in this card. The City may have respawning Guardians, but the Queen seems to have both a fleet and some powerful tricks up her sleeve. Or, more frighteningly, she is telling the truth about her heritage!

- This calls into question what a Harbinger is. A ship? A weapon? Probably one of those as in a series of orders for the battle against Beltrik the Veiled during the Reef wars we see that the final part of the order says "NO HARBINGER SUPPORT IS AVAILABLE." My guess is the Queen has a few Golden Age ships with some sort of awesome EMP weapon that can disable electrical systems and even overload reactors. Here's a bit more about them. They apparently rip into an asteroid? Again some sort of EMP / overloading weapon might destroy an asteroid that was converted into a fleet base...

- Speaking of the Queen herself... we learn that her name is Mara Sov, and that she has some strange powers. This card is a bit hard to interpret, but I think maybe she was in charge of a facility in the asteroid belt when the Darkness swept through and she led her people to safety? I believe The Reef is built around Vesta, so this would be just after The Darkness was driven back by The Traveler. I wonder who betrayed her for Earth? A blue hand would seem to indicate an Awoken... Zavala, perhaps?

- The Nine come up a bit in the new Grimoire cards. We previously had this card where it seems forces or spies (or spy birds?) from the Reef crossed into territory held by the Nine and the Queen tries to placate them by giving them Skolas. Well it turns out the Nine were the ones who set Skolas free and set him on his crazy path of trying to become the Kell of Kells. Our good friend Xur, or someone like him, even makes an appearance! I think maybe the Queen is eventually going to try and pit The City against the Nine...

- The past and current tragedy of the Eliksni, better know to us as The Fallen, is spread about a few different cards. Here's one from Variks' point of view. Here's a ramble-y speech from Skolas that sheds a bit more light on why the Eliksni came to our system. Kinda makes me sad for them... though maybe if they'd tried to talk instead of tried to destroy us and the Awoken things might be going better for them...

- Petra Venj was apparently demoted to emissary to The City because she ordered an attack that killed three Guardian strike teams and caused bad blood between The Reef and The City. She was only called back to hunt Skolas.

- Osiris and his disciples are up to something... Possibly in league with the Vex...

-And lastly, the Fallen alphabet font makes a return on the cards for the major Queen's Wrath bounties. Unfortunately, the words are giberish or perhaps are words in the Fallen's language. "DPGRRLOTTQT" this one seems to say. All of them have "DOQR CRDDURR ANL EEFQ" at the bottom is smaller lettering. Even if it's not really readable, I still like this a lot because a few of us here at DBO were (among?) the first to decipher the Fallen alphabet way back when. :)

The more I read about Destiny's universe the more I like it. It will be interesting to see if any of this stuff shines through to the game or its ongoing plot...

- The Queen's Brother, Prince Uldren Sov, would seem to be in contact with... a Hive representative? I don't know who else might have three green eyes.

It's Eris, bro. I know you know, you know.

The Queen possesses a gravity weapon called Carybdis that was used to smash asteroids into the Fallen during the Reef Wars.

Skolas, the Queen, Osiris, and presumably the Nine all know something is coming from the dark beyond the system. I'm guessing Oryx, considering Eris is freaked out about him, and Rahool talks about a transmission presumably from Osiris that repeats "Oryx Dead King" over and over. I think that's why Osiris set up shop on Mercury. The vibe I'm getting is that the Speaker was Osiris' mentor but Osiris was banished because of his heretical beliefs. What heretical beliefs? The Disciples seem to have an intense fascination with light as a purifying energy, but not the light of the traveler. So mercury is the closest they can get. Brother Vance is out in the Reef under the guise of the Trials to investigate the rumors of Oryx.

The Nine (or just Xur) may have intentionally let Skolas escape to incite his new rebellion against the Queen.

The Queen possesses a gravity weapon called Carybdis that was used to smash asteroids into the Fallen during the Reef Wars.

Yep, I forgot about that one. I think it's in the long grouping of cards that detail different battles and such and it slipped my mind to track it down.

Skolas, the Queen, Osiris, and presumably the Nine all know something is coming from the dark beyond the system. I'm guessing Oryx, considering Eris is freaked out about him, and Rahool talks about a transmission presumably from Osiris that repeats "Oryx Dead King" over and over. I think that's why Osiris set up shop on Mercury. The vibe I'm getting is that the Speaker was Osiris' mentor but Osiris was banished because of his heretical beliefs. What heretical beliefs? The Disciples seem to have an intense fascination with light as a purifying energy, but not the light of the traveler. So mercury is the closest they can get. Brother Vance is out in the Reef under the guise of the Trials to investigate the rumors of Oryx.

The City knows too. "The Darkness is coming back..." says the Speaker in his cutscene, right? As for the light of a star being important, I'm always drawn back to The Hope:

The blaze sits inside a nest of little
worlds, still to distant to share its heat
but plainly staring out of you. A face
emerges, drawn from plasmas and
radiation...

There must be meanings in its roar.

You listen hard and carefully, and
sometimes a lucid melody seems to
rise out of random noise, pulling your
mind into moments where it seems
possible that answers are about to be
revealed. Joy builds, and the first hope
in ages transforms you.

It seems important, even critical, to tell
every star from here to the black
between the galaxies that you are
strong again.

Starts were important in the beginning, at least. Oh... hehe, track #7 on Music of the Spheres is: "The Prison." Not sure why I didn't realize that before! :p

The Nine (or just Xur) may have intentionally let Skolas escape to incite his new rebellion against the Queen.

I think the card about the Crows going into the Nine's territory and the Queen sending them Skolas is the key there. It's like they have some sort of uneasy truce. Which is, of course, very interesting in itself!

I assumed the 3 eyed messenger was Eris, and that she was feeding Uldran some info. Perhaps the Tower and the Prince have worked together in the past, and he just comes off as a jerk in the one cutscene to hide this connection?

I wouldn't describe a wizard, the only known female hive, as "statuesque".

I know you know, you know.

Heh. You're giving me too much credit. I kinda assumed that she never moved from her spot on the balcony! :p

I know you know, you know.

Heh. You're giving me too much credit. I kinda assumed that she never moved from her spot on the balcony! :p

I had assumed that card was taking place right before she came back to the Tower. Which would be interesting, since it would mean she felt the urge to let Uldor know before doing it.

The space lanes wouldn't have been filled with Guardians until after we kill Crota.

You're assuming their nav lanes are restricted to within the Reef.

"Last I heard, your Queen was on the far end of the Belt."

That's her immediate response to his remark of the nav lanes, which, imo, would indicate she disagrees with the statement.

Not to mention how we do fly into the Reef before even slaying the Black Heart

Pretty sure limited travel opened up between the Reef and the Tower after Twilight Gap given that the Reef had been hidden before then.

Not open for everybody. But a rare few, perhaps.