Now, amongst the labyrinth of questions running to your mind right now, one might occur that I’d imagine would have a shape quite similar to; Why would the Exos need to function similar to the Submind? Because they’re Warmind assets. Why else would the Exoscience facility at the Futurescape be located directly next to the Warmind compound? Fresh off the factory line, ready for Warmind network configurations (this is just one side note, there’s actually more supporting evidence below). Cayde, in one of his Mementos from the Wild notes, says that he once slept next to a crate with a strange symbol on it, and that whatever it was inside tried to take him over “like [he] was nothing but circuits and steel”. This is an obvious reference to SIVA. The Symbol, its presence on what was undoubtably a Clovis Bray transport ship, it’s attempt to integrate with something mechanical. SIVA exposure was probably just another punishment for Exo that stepped out of line, which is why it has an intrinsic aptitude to attempt an override them. Punishment would be the only time they would’ve been exposed to it. We know for a Fact that there are Exos out there who are either directly controlled by the Warmind, or are one of it’s “puppets”, as seen in the Lord Timur Grimoire card, when Timur begins to question Felwinter about his experience as an Exo. These “puppets” likely receive directions from the Warmind while the directly controlled Exo would be hooked up to the Warmind network via direct SIVA exposure. Not all too enlightening, but the real question we should be asking about this information is; why are some Exo susceptible to SIVA override and some aren’t? Cayde says that it “didn’t know who it was messing with” but that’s just him stroking his own ego. Panache isn’t gonna save you from a swarm of nano-drones that’s already integrated into your systems and is stomping around in your subroutines. But something else does. So what is it? What kept Cayde from being taken over? I’ll tell you what. The Deep Stone Crypt. The Deep Stone Crypt, as many seem to have forgotten, is where the Exo were born. The Crypt is an odd process alone, but in context of a neural processor, its down right bizarre. The Crypt is a dream all Exos dream, about a Tower on a black plain, where the teeth of the mountain cut the sun into fractal shapes and the ground is decorated with fields of golden millet. They come here to make their trek to the Tower and return to their birth place, but are faced with an army of everyone they’ve seen in all their lives. They have to kill this army, because they were made to kill. At the time of the Deep Stone Crypt Grimoire card, back when Destiny was first coming out, the description of the Tower’s location was a total mystery. It didn't resemble any of the locations that we had access to, and some had theorized that it wasn’t an actual place, rather it was metaphoric of some greater truth to the Exo. But thanks to a certain Vex simulation in the Infinite Forest, we’ve seen what Mercury looked like at the time of the Golden Age; Sharp, angular Mountains, Golden grass, dark, rich soil. Vex Towers being planted to start their convergence of the planet. So the Deep Stone Crypt is on Mercury. Mercury of all places? If dreaming is just a natural occurrence for Human consciousness, even in the Exo body, then it wouldn’t be as universal as the Crypt is, so it’s definitely a byproduct of the robotic frame. Its such an odd thing to design and program into your mercenary army. Did Clovis Bray create this dream as another “humanism” to prevent DER? Why would they create something as abstract as a dream about an army protecting a Tower on Mercury? I think most of you can figure out where I’m going with this. Clovis Bray didn’t design the Deep Stone Crypt (mainly because in this line of thought, it would be kind of self defeating if Clovis Bray designed something that prevented disciplinary SIVA possession). Clovis Bray sent their Exo out to Mercury, likely to steal assets from off-shore Ishtar facilities, or maybe to destroy Vex resources before Ishtar even had a chance to study them. Either way, they were exposed to… something. Direct Vex Network Exposure? Experimentation? Counter Mechanical Influential Fields? Fusion with their Simulated selves? Minor details. All we know is that the Vex did something to them, gave them actual consciousness, made them harder to control. Something subtle that Braytech didn’t notice. Why would the Vex do this, you might ask? To sever the link the Exos had with the Warmind network so they’re more accurately simulated, maybe make them less like their War Machine selves and easier to kill. The Vex have problems grappling with AI that have resources as big as the Warmind network, especially if those resources are spread across the entire system. Cutting the link and making the Exos completely autonomous would be like leaving them dead in the water. Whatever they did to accomplish this stuck with the Exos in the form of the Deep Stone Crypt. None of the facts add up with Clovis Bray’s explanation. It’s all a conspiracy. The Golden Age wasn’t the Utopia what’s left of Humanity thinks it was. Greed and Ambition and Fear. They were always there, making powerful men bad and good men do nothing. Don’t believe their lies, their crooked smiles and silver tongues. Bray is an empire of death and corruption. Do not trust the Tyrant. Side Notes: [spoiler]Tidbits I couldn’t really fit into the post naturally, but are still relevant to the topic. DER probably exists, but it isn’t the Human Mind rejecting the Exo body, its the AI not knowing what to do with certain parts of the Replica Mind. It’s receiving signals to eat and reproduce from the brain’s primal instance regions that it can’t satiate. So Braytech adds these features, as well as “reboots” them into the Exo frame to account for possible faults in the Replica Mind’s Temporal Lobe region as well as an excuse for punishing Exos who deviate from their instructions. “Oh, that Exo tried running away? Well he just so happens to be suffering from DER, better reboot him so he survives!” Clovis Bray probably did actually have the ability to digitize Human Consciousness and place it into a Mechanical Frame. I think it was reserved for very high paying customers and was what Elise Bray used when she became the Exo Stranger, but I don’t think the transfer caused nearly as many problems as it did with AI meshing with Replicated Minds. How many reboots do you think the Stranger went through? None, if I were to guess. Exo not present on the Mercury operation would be still susceptible to SIVA, and so those “puppets” Timur was talking about would still be plausible. Also, the Mercury operation might not have been Clovis Bray trying to sabotage the Ishtar Academy. Whatever Military existed during the Golden Age might’ve contracted Clovis Bray to take care of the Vex problem on Mercury because they actually did know about their War Machine Army. Probably not the entire extent of what they were using them for, but its possible that it was known.[/spoiler] End of Post Part 1: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forums/Post/248173957?sort=0&page=0