A thought

by Schooly D, TSD Gaming Condo, TX, Thursday, February 14, 2013, 22:11 (4299 days ago) @ Avateur
edited by Schooly D, Thursday, February 14, 2013, 22:55

This has probably been mentioned before, but I'm thinking these messages each correspond to a faction, presumably since each faction is headquartered on a planet? The names of the three Bungie Day shirts seem like they relate to planets:

Dead Orbit - Mercury
(edit: the shirt graphic might also suggest the Moon, but I feel like since this is the future the Moon is probably healthily colonized and not "dead")
New Monarchy - Jupiter
Future War Cult - Mars

The "armies" mentioned in the messages might correspond to the factions headquartered on each planet. Dunno about the dramatic imagery in the messages, and the references to "you." Maybe the "you" is supposed to refer to that big sphere hovering above Earth, or some related entity. The references to "you" creating and guiding armies would have some precedence in Bungie lore, involving some ancient, foreign entity tipping over the first domino that led to the current state of humanity.

Second edit: WestCoastRonin's post has some messages from Bungie which I think are also relevant to the factions/their planets

[...]
[...]
3. Make the City safe again.
4. Together we will take back all that we have lost.
5. Hope shines brightest in the dark.
[...]
7. Only the trusted few…

The most obvious connection is 7, which refers to the "trusted few." The same phrase is used in the puzzle image whose symbol relates to the Moon. "Trusted few" sounds like it might refer to the organizational structure of whatever faction belongs to the Moon, similar to the Prophets in Halo.

If 7 refers to the first released image, then it might make sense to work backward.

5 would be the third released image, then, which corresponds to Mercury. "Hope shines brightest in the dark." Doesn't make much sense at first since Mercury is, presumably, a very bright place due to its proximity to the Sun. I can only think of two possible rationalizations:

(1) Whatever faction is on Mercury is actually based in orbit around Mercury at its L2 Lagrange Point, thus always keeping it in Mercury's shadow and, thus, in the dark. Seems like that'd be the only consistently hospitable area around there.

(2) The quote doesn't mean much and its purpose is just to draw contrast -- "Hope shines brightest in the dark." This would be in keeping with the theme of the message in Mercury's leaked image, which involves contrast, and begins with "One face is blistered, the other plunged into a brutal chill" and goes onto include various other dichotomies.

4 is anyone's guess. If the pattern holds up, it refers to the fourth leaked image which corresponds to Jupiter. The message makes a couple of relevant references, first to "hid[ing]," then to "search[ing]" and "finding nothing." Sounds like it might be related to "taking back what was lost," but what exactly was lost is anyone's guess at this point.