Hi, hello, it's me again. Not exactly a frequent post maker, least of all recently. But today I wanted to take a break from the monotony of mathematics and make a very simple case against a rather shaky foundation for argumentation concerning Destiny lore. If you're going to cite a source for your claims, there's one lore book above all others you should never, EVER use. No prizes for guessing correctly, it's [b]Truth to Power[/b]. Since this book has began to resurface on these forums during this slow period in terms of lore, I thought I'd clear up the misinformation in one clean little post. [b]DO NOT TRUST TRUTH TO POWER[/b] Now, for those of you who never got to play Forsaken, or those of you who couldn't be bothered to run the Blind Well twice on Heroic for the offering, this lore book was earned from visiting Mara Sov's Throne Room through the Oracle engine, one page per account. Since Mara's Throne Room was only available when the Curse was at its strongest, this meant you got one page every 3 weeks. It was an agonisingly slow journey to collect all the pages. Each visit would also have an interaction unique to that week. This is where we got things like the Uldren being revived as Crow cutscene, Mara Sov yelling at our Ghost or even the allusion to the Pyramid Ships. And yet, when we opened that chest in the back of the room there was always a lore page waiting for us. For those who somehow haven't read it, this book is a wild ride I would highly recommend it. For those who have, maybe a refresher? [url=https://www.ishtar-collective.net/categories/book-truth-to-power]Truth to Power[/url] Now that you've hopefully read all of that, for the first time or as a refresher, we can continue. These messages from the book start out as claiming they're from Eris Morn and speaking to us of her past as a Golden Age Russian swimmer, then some Golden Age A.I. called Medusa who was impersonating her. This gives way to waking hallucinations that see Quria reveal it had fabricated Medusa, show that Eris Morn was actually Dul Incaru who then shows us messages supposedly authored by her mother Savathun. After this point the book begins going in reverse authorship wise. Dul Incaru comments on her mother's verses, Quria claims to have simulated Dul Incaru, Medusa states that Quria had compromised her systems and we are violently ripped back into another letter from Eris Morn, once more reminiscing on her past and lamenting that we cannot even trust that it is her speaking, asking if we shall dissect everything we have read. There's also technically a final entry you can only datamine that's stated to be part of the book by its author, but the tweet confirming that has been deleted so I would take it with a grain of salt. [quote]O you wonderful curious things. Do you believe you're the only ones with the power to see what should not be seen? Did you believe you can use such power blithely? For your trespass, I would ruin your luck, wreak havoc on your drops, poison your engrams, and fill your lines with static. Thus I would curse you and dissipate the bond that ties you to your tasks. How frail you Guardians can be! How many millions have fallen silent, never to return, because the bond did not hold them strongly enough? But you have already cursed yourselves. You have walked the Anathematic Arc and glimpsed creation from below. You will never forget the tenuous, provisional framework you found here. You will never forgive the mortality and fallibility that underlies a world you thought was everything. Those who use this power to seek unearned knowledge will see more than they ever desired. There is a price for glimpsing the Cord. You will pay it.[/quote] Now then, you might be thinking, there's an awful lot to dissect there. - The motivations of Savathun in the Dreaming City. - Singularities, Time Dilation and the feeding of Hive Worms. - The Distributary. - Our first mention of the concept of Imbaru. - Quria seeking freedom from Savathun. - Dul Incaru seeking to understand her mother. - Medusa, the Golden Age A.I. watching over the Dreaming City in secret. - Eris Morn and her past life. All fascinating topics for discussion, but there's one major issue, besides each additional layer to the book contradicting the previous as the authorship and intention of the text shifts. We can prove at least two of these supposed authors were never involved in the writing of these messages. [url=https://www.ishtar-collective.net/entries/forgeries#book-stolen-intelligence]Forgeries[/url] Several important points from this entry, which was released during Jokers Wild (Season of the Drifter). - These messages were sent to Ikora by our Ghost and distributed to the Hidden - Eris Morn denies any knowledge of these messages - Eris is revealed to be a child of the Last City alongside Asher Mir (whole other topic) - Neither Failsafe or Rasputin have any records of a Medusa A.I. With both of these out of the way, that leaves us with three purported authors remaining. Quria, Dul Incaru and Savathun herself. So it's safe to say the most likely author is Savathun herself. So, this entire book has been created by Savathun. For what purpose? Why tell us contradictory motivations for her incursion into the Dreaming City? I believe Riven said it best. [url=https://www.ishtar-collective.net/entries/boots-of-the-great-hunt]Boots of the Great Hunt[/url] [quote]I can tell this is not a part of her grand design. This is an introduction. She is at play.[/quote] The Dreaming City holds absolutely no importance to Savathun. She doesn't plan to enter the Distributary. Time Dilation to more efficiently feed Hive Worms isn't something she's actively pursuing. She saw an opportunity to weaken her enemies and took it, with no further thought behind it. So then why write these messages at all? It's actually quite simple, there's the one thread I didn't mention in these dissections thus far. Imbaru, a concept we know works as we actively saw it sustaining Savathun during her time disguised as Osiris. [url=https://www.ishtar-collective.net/entries/vii-ripe]VII - Ripe[/url] [quote]A man places his hands on me, on my shoulders, on my back. He asks if I am ill, and he sees my flat eyes, my teeth black with ripeness, and he prepares to scream. I let him keep his mind. I push breath up and through my ruined mouth and speak a simple lie. He stops, smiles, laughs. Shakes his head. He points a finger at me in mocking admonishment before walking away. I swallow the fatty morsel of his ignorance and it gives me the strength to stand once more, cover my face, and resume my walk. I feel this form splitting beneath its wrappings, held together weakly by wet strands of sinew. And from deep inside, stirred by that latest scrap of deception, I hear the oily growl of the Worm. Even here, basted in deception both ample and rich, the Worm cries ravenously. It has grown grotesque, skin taut, overfed, and still it howls for more. It commands me to keep it alive.[/quote] Like most her pre-Witch Queen scheme, we fell for this hook, line and sinker. Or more accurately, our Ghost did. The misinformation is the point, cloaked in truths such as describing how Riven constructed the Curse using the power generated by the wish of six Godslayers to kill her. The Book is meant to confuse and obfuscate, which is why you should always be skeptical when people attempt to use it as a source of information. Unless they can corroborate that information with a trusted source outside of the Book itself, it means squat. So remember, [b]DO NOT TRUST TRUTH TO POWER[/b]. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.