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Destiny

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This thread is inspired by another: view original post

3/31/2013 8:31:36 PM
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Alternate Races: Exo, Awoken, and the Excluded Tigerman

The exclusion of the Tigerman probably points toward the Awoken and Exo not being aliens, as the Tigerman (obviously alien, am I right, guys?) did not fit the vibe they were going for. The two that made the cut are most likely human variations, The Food Chain pointed out that the existence of aliens with similar facial features is highly unlikely. This is a little long but almost all of it hasn't been gone over. As ShadowSlayer218 and a few others alluded to, this is a mythic sci-fi game, the Awoken clearly represent the Elven element of this mash-up. Evidenced by the screenshot from the Destiny Character Development video, they appear to be identified with the Hunter, a ranger-esce class (note the yellow hued warm colors, and the left variant doesn't even have an exposed face). As for the Exo, previously we couldn't see the full concept but The Exalener has provided us with a [url=http://puu.sh/2pNg2]suitable reference[/url]. That helmet doesn't appear to have enough room for a full skull, notice the back top portion appears either blown out, broken, or stylized to have a chunk missing from what would be a full head. Also notice the hands, particularly the the thumbs, where the webbing and muscle should be instead there are mechanical tendons and a blacked out gap. To me the hands appear mechanical with the legs and feet simply being armored, indicating the Exo is not fully machine. Where does this put the Exo? [i]outside, external, turning out, outward[/i]- medically and scientifically this term is used to prefix something that produces something else, such as energy or waste, or something that lays outside of something else. The most prominent term we might think of is [i]exoskeleton[/i] but we know that all classes utilize some form of armor, so maybe this is an external skeletal feature or replacement that does not supplement but attaches at the end of the body as prosthesis. With human civilization facing annihilation it could make sense for recovered casualties to be repaired and sent back into battle, their disabilities replaced with prosthetics, their damaged brains/humanity sutured and cropped (offering a more useful disability: a mental familiarity with and propensity for violence). Or perhaps they've willingly subjected themselves to medical procedures and cybernetic alterations aimed at enhancing their [i]physical[/i] or [i]outward[/i] presence on the battlefield, whereas the Awoken (filling the role of the Elves) might have more of an intellectual/spiritual prowess, scrying abilities or mental connection to physics, or similarly, as most have proposed, a more intense magical presence. What do you think of this speculation, it's effect on story, and the gameplay implications of this may be?

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  • Edited by LugDubh: 4/1/2013 11:33:02 PM
    I don't believe that the oddness of Tigerman is proof of his being "an alien" as opposed to just [i]alien[/i]

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    • Lol ok I see your point but a Tiger...Man? That doesn't seem as believably 'human' as a Elf-Woman or Cyborg-Man which expand on the already present genes. Exactly why I thought Tigerman could not be a human mutation was because of the idea of posthumanism, transcending ourselves not developing and entirely different genome. It seems as exobiologically alien as a Dinosaur-Man, two different branches of evolution being so similar that you could liken a big cat to a human? That's my reasoning at least, the Exo and Awoken seem much more grounded in maintaining a human aspect while exploring a variation of frame of mind. Tigerman, appears to me to have been cut because it's the opposite of that: an 'alien' combination that if exploring a 'posthumanist' viewpoint would be too removed from a desired familiarity, and if exploring a more traditional "I'm just like you" viewpoint would have been directly opposite of the intended philosophical impact of humans that have become something more or less than human. I don't know if Tigerman was intended to be an alien but it seems like they went in a direction that would suggest the Awoken and Exo are not.

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      • Edited by LugDubh: 4/2/2013 8:37:52 AM
        [quote]The difference between the posthuman and other hypothetical sophisticated non-humans is that a posthuman was once a human, either in its lifetime or in the lifetimes of some or all of its direct ancestors. Therefore, a prerequisite for becoming a posthuman is having been a transhuman, the point at which the human being begins surpassing his or her own limitations but is still recognizable as a human person or similar.[6] In this sense, the transition between human and posthuman may be viewed as a continuum rather than an all-or-nothing event.[/quote] All that I am suggesting is that he/she could have arisen as a result of radical genetic engineering (splicing) at some point in the past and both trans and posthumanism easily accomodate this notion. After all it is a fiction were dealing with in the Destiny universe and for instance author Alastair Reynolds makes use of this model of trans and posthumanism in his "Revelation Space" writings.

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