The following are my ideas and speculations on what each race in Destiny is, and how they came into being. I tend to let my creativity run when it comes to things like this, so some of these ideas may seem farfetched or even impossible, but hey – it’s all for fun. [u]NOTE:[/u] There is a TL:DR at the bottom, if you don’t want to read the whole thing. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [b]Humanity:[/b] Humans are obviously humans. I doubt anyone needs much explanation on this, and I don’t have much speculation to offer. What we do know is that the arrival of the Traveler sparked a golden age for humanity, and it granted humanity with special ‘powers’ that we have heard referred to as “The Traveler’s Gift”. I am lead to believe that the technology of the Traveler isn’t what sparked the Golden Age, but rather it was the effects that it had on us. Perhaps along with special powers, the Traveler granted us higher intelligence? With this intelligence the speed of technological advance increased, and while all of the technology is of human origin, although the ability to invent new things at such a rapid pace is given to us by the Traveler. [b]The Awoken:[/b] The Awoken are certainly not human, or at least [i]completely [/i] human. The title “Awoken” leans towards the idea that they were once asleep, or dormant. Perhaps the Awoken are the offspring of a mutation in the human genome. Let’s say that 30% of Humanity had this mutation when the Traveler arrived. For reasons unknown, the effect that the Traveler had on humans affected those with this mutation differently; this resulted in the different appearance. The differences could go beyond the physical. Perhaps the Awoken have a stronger connection to the powers of the Traveler, but didn’t receive the IQ boost that the rest of humanity did? Maybe they did? I personally have no interest in playing as the Awoken, so I haven’t spent too much time theorizing how they came to be. [b]The Exo:[/b] I have two theories on the Exo. As I currently think I will be playing one, I’ve put the most time into making a creative backstory for them. [b](Theory #1):[/b] My first theory on the Exo, is that they are of alien origin. I believe the Exo were once a race of biological organisms, which have transcended the limitations of biological life. If the biological predecessors to the Exo were to digitize the contents of their brains and place them in bodies that are 100% synthetic, then the limitations that biological life presents are eliminated. Each individual Exo would still be unique, by retaining all that they were before the transfer processes. The Exo would still feel emotion as humans do, because they still retain a biological sentience. The only difference being where the processes that determine this sentience are executed: in an organic brain or an electronic processor. Now this theory raises some questions: Why do they look like humans? What reason do they have to interfere with “lower” biological lifeforms? Why are they helping us? I can’t quite answer these questions, but that adds to the fun of pre-launch speculation. [u]NOTE:[/u] An alternate version of this theory is that humans are the life-forms that transcended biology, but not everyone [i]wants [/i]to lose biological limitations, which is why not every human is an Exo. [b](Theory #2):[/b] Although in my second theory the Exo are still aliens, it does differ quite a bit from my first theory. In this second theory I believe that the Exo are a form of life, but more like formless souls. Humanity built these creatures robotic exoskeletons, so that these creatures could have a physical form we could interact with. This theory answers many of the above questions that the other theory raised: They look like us because we built them. They are helping us because we gave them a physical form. I feel that this theory makes more sense in the Destiny universe, because “soul meets robot” sounds like something straight out of Mythic Sci-Fi, doesn’t it? As an additional detail, if you look at the concept art of the Exo, it looks like there is a soul behind his eyes. Now that’s just how I interpreted it, but still. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [b]TL:DR[/b] Humanity – Traveler jumpstarted technology Awoken – different species of human that branched off a mutation and the Traveler Exo – Either beings that transcended biological life [u]or[/u] they are formless aliens taking a robot body So, those are my thoughts and theories on the races of Destiny. Each one is complete speculation, and I thought up each of these as a means to satisfy my craving for moar Destiny. If you have any theories or ideas of your own, feel free to post them below. ;)