Thinking back on the House of Wolves DLC, there was a lot of unexplored potential for amazing lore and storytelling. In the last mission of HoW, when you capture Skolas at the top of the Vex Citadel on Venus, Ghost tells you that he’s pulling the entire House of Wolves through time. Unfortunately, the only fallen pulled through were the fallen we’ve already fought- there were no new fallen from other times or timelines in the Vex network. I’m thinking of fallen comparable to the Vex Precursors and Descendants seen in the Vault. While I was thinking about this, I considered the possibility that we could fight Fallen from the future and the past, perhaps even from before the Whirlwind, but I was also thinking that since the Vex are able to simulate millions of possible universes, we could fight someone we’ve seen- and killed- in the earlier HoW missions, but from another Vex timeline, far in the future. This notion, I think, would’ve been excellent for both lore and gameplay mechanics, and I came up with one central idea for a House of Wolves related strike boss. At this point, the strike is due to take place in the current era, after HoW and TTK. Considering the jumpy nature of Destiny’s DLC themes, something like this could yet be explored: Veliniks, the Time-Lost If you’re a grimoire nerd, you’ll remember the name Veliniks. In the House of Wolves he’s referred to as Veliniks the Ravenous and is one of the many Fallen Hunted you can find and kill on patrol. These fallen already have great lore behind them, so adding to one of them seemed to me like a logical step. Veliniks the Time-Lost would not be the same Veliniks we killed, but rather one from an alternate Vex simulation of our universe, a universe where he was brought to the brink of death by Guardians before being ripped through time and enhanced by Vex technology by our universe’s Skolas in that last mission. A picture of him is provided above. I think he’d be an ideal Fallen strike boss because he’d exhibit traits not normal for usual Fallen bosses (a Scorch Cannon or Shrapnel Launcher) while also providing some insight into a hugely unregarded part of the Wolves’ lore potential. If you’ve made it this far, I drafted a general plot for the strike. Any advice is much appreciated. [spoiler]Stage One: As the ships fly to Mercury, Variks will inform the players that Shaxx and his Redjacks have closed Vertigo from any crucible activity after an accident: A Vex gate activated and unknown forces killed all six guardians and crushed their ghosts in mere seconds. Before the Vex gate closed, surveillance recorded the gate’s frequency, one matching the frequency used by Skolas on top of the Vex Citadel. The three guardians spawn into the Vertigo crucible map on Mercury. Optional scanning of six dead guardians scattered about leads to Ghost explaining their crucible match or their untimely deaths. There’s a dead ghost in this area, right next to a dead guardian. Upon arrival to a Vex gate marked by a waypoint (this would be the usual teleporter thing during the crucible), Fallen from the House of Wolves spawn in, but they appear like the Vex do, in a cloud of electric smoke. Two fallen majors at the back of the group would be wearing armor made out of Vex components (similar to the concept art at the beginning of the post). The second of these majors will run and teleport around the map once the first is killed. Once the second is killed, he will drop a key to open up the Vex gate. These majors would have to be fairly healthy, unable to be killed by a single volley of heavy ammo before spreading out. The guardians enter the Vex gate and spawn in a new Mercury map that would be a dilapidated Vex citadel full of Fallen/Vex hybrid technology. A dead fallen body will be scanned, and Ghost will reveal that these Fallen are from the House of Wolves, but not the one from our timeline: they were made in the Vex simulation and were pulled into reality by Skolas atop the Venus Citadel. Ghost remarks that the radiolaria in the Fallen’s armor are actually simulated Vex brought into reality as well, and quips about Vex accidentally making more powerful Vex. Stage Two: After Ghost’s dialogue, he uses the key from the Fallen major to open a door revealing a huge battle between Fallen/Vex hybrid Majors leading normal HoW fallen and Vex led by Precursor minotaurs. The Precursors kill several Fallen majors before a Vex spawn animation spawns in Veliniks, the Time-Lost. He’s open to damage, but cannot be hurt much and will not attack the Guardians yet. He stomps on the Vex, killing them all, before more Fallen spawn in. The Guardians have to push through. Here, you’ll be acquainted with the attacks of Veliniks, although they get much stronger. Variks uses Ghost to do a scan of the battle and reveals the boss to be Veliniks the Ravenous. Ghost, in disbelief, says that we killed him. Variks reminds Ghost that they aren’t from our universe. After all of the Fallen mobs are killed, Veliniks teleports away, summoning one more wave of Fallen through a Vex gate. The guardians kill those Fallen and proceed through the Vex gate. They quickly fight up a staircase area to the top of the citadel, which overlooks Mercury: The skybox reveals the planet’s curvature, and, in the distance, a temple that looks like the Lighthouse. Veliniks sits atop a throne, and behind him floats a Ketch sparkling with Vex energy. Stage Three: The guardians approach Veliniks, the Time-Lost. During the first phase, Veliniks uses his weapon as a wire rifle that does massive amounts of damage. There are few fallen mobs in this part to avoid the impossibility of damage recovery, but waves of dregs and vandals do spawn in. Once Veliniks’ health gets halfway down, he summons several Fallen/Vex hybrid Majors and his crit spot switches from his head to his chest (like the Vex). His primary attack now is his melee weapon, which discharges like a mix between a psion blast and Alak-Hul’s cleaver: it can create shockwaves on the ground but also deal enormous close-range damage. Supporting fire appears, similar to the mortar blasts in the Shield Bros strike, from the Ketch. In this part, almost all of the fallen mobs do melee damage (captains and dregs with swords) except for some dregs and vandals. Once Veliniks’ health reaches less than one fifth, the Vex Citadel begins to fall apart. Areas disintegrate like in the VoG jumping puzzle, and Veliniks’ attacks become more aggressive. He can also teleport from place to place. If not killed very quickly, Veliniks will almost certainly wipe the guardian team due to his quick attacks. The Ketch stops shooting and more Fallen mobs than before spawn. In this phase you can simply kill Veliniks. After he’s dead, the fallen and the Ketch begin to melt back into the nothingness of Vex simulation. The Ketch falls out of the sky and explodes in a ball of fire and Vex energy. Upon death, Variks explains that you’ve wiped out a hidden Fallen threat and prevented possible catastrophe. He thanks you for ending Skolas’ dreadful legacy once and for all. Possible Strike Specific Loot: Sniper Rifle: The same gun model as the HoW Fallen sniper Shadow of Veils Name: Darkest Truth - “You walk in the shadow of the Kell of Kells” Low RoF, high impact. The dark grey surface of the gun glows with Vex energy, white by default or customizable by chroma. This weapon always has this intrinsic perk in its first perk slot: After a three second lock-on period, this weapon will deal the elemental damage of the locked-on enemy’s shield. This only procs if they have a shield, obviously. The gun can drop in any base element. Titan Helmet: Antithesis Machine - Slaying the dark only brings darker. Same model as the VoG helmet, but with some fallen themed details. Default color is a matte grey and black with the same Vex energy as the sniper. Vex energy alterable by chroma Warlock Helmet: A Dark Apotheosis - Sword Logic demands a pinnacle. such a pinnacle needs not be a Hive… Same model as the VoG helmet, but with the fallen spikes like on the PoE helmet. Default color is a matte grey and black with the same Vex energy in its visor. Vex energy alterable by chroma Hunter Helmet: Prime Directive - The Vex obey the laws of their central mind. Do you not do the same? Same model as the VoG helmet, but with Fallen details. Default color is a matte grey and black with the Vex energy surrounding it. Vex energy alterable by chroma Artifacts: Can drop up to 335 Warlock: Radiolaria Cycler - Contact with Radiolaria can cause blindness, hallucination, paralysis, and instant death. I keep some in my pocket. Hunter: Dreg’s Wish - “Ten thousand arms cannot turn back time. Ten thousand arms cannot stop the Whirlwind.” Titan: Wolves’ End - A fragment of Veliniks, the Time Lost’s armor, emblazoned with the crest of the devastated House of Wolves.[/spoiler] And that’s it! If you’ve got any gameplay ideas or loot ideas, let me know. TL;DR: read the first paragraph. That’s the general idea.