This is how I see them Fallen: Kill those invisible dudes! Get that captain off me! Hive: Stupid wizard dodged my rocket Vex: bzzt! Teleport Cabal: space turtles

The Vex and Fallen and Cabal are not of The Darkness. Only the Hive is. The Fallen have a metal pipe in their mouths, which can be seen when they die. ( seriously look its in there) Fallen are Clones or Mechanical and Flesh mix. The Fallen have shown they are not driven Mad by the Darkness because they have their own minds, as seen by the ones who side with the Queen of the Reef. The cabal have done nothing to show they side with the Darkness at all. The Vex i would say are Humanity from the far future. The white light that comes out of them is what humanity turned into from following the Travalers light for a very long time. We do not need body anymore, because the Travalers light was a lie and changed us all who have it. But humanity learned to little and too late that the Travaler is the enemy of humanity. And humanity time travels back to eliminate the Travaler. I do not trust the Speaker either.

Fallen= Humanity if we run and put numbers dwindle due to darkness. Hive=Humanity if we succumb to the darkness. Vex=Humanity if we beat the darkness. Cabal=humanity if we rely on military and weapons over friends and family. Result= The 4 races are all versions of humanity from the future, come back to show us what we could become.

The four horsemen, that which usher in the apocalypse. The horsemen include Famine- The Fallen, picking apart old wrecks and scavenging for anything to keep them a float in this space epic. War- The Cabal, in orderly fashion boots drop as carriers fly over head delivering death and destruction planet to planet. Pestilence- The Hive, crawling beneath the moons flesh tunnels echo with infectious cries of witches and thrills a like, they wish to spread their disease to Earth. Last but not least Death- Vex, beyond time they like death are eternal, singular and everlasting, their hold is as cold as their bodies and once a planet feels their breath no life will come from it.

Falllen: Humanoid assholes, shoot in the head Hive: Zombie assholes, shoot in the head Vex: Robot assholes, shoot in the chest Cabal: Fat assholes, shoot in the head

Some really neat ideas in here! I like much of your thoughts, but felt the need to comment on the factions - I like much of what you put forth (especially the bit about working together), but some details I wanted to discuss. First, it bears keeping in mind that other factions have existed in the past, and several more likely still do. The Grimoire card [i]Ghost Fragment: The City Age[/i] mentions The Concordat being dismantled and no longer recognized by The Consensus (the ruling body of the Last City, mentioned in several cards). They were replaced by the Future War Cult. Consideration was also given to a faction called the Symmetry. Where any of these (and other) factions might fit into Destiny (or your ideas) I do not know, but they are something to think about, I suppose. My main desire was to discuss the thing I disagree with you on - which is the primary goal and flaw of each of the three in game factions. I think that the primary goal may well still be compatible with most of your ideas, but some of the finer points feel off to me (no offense is intended at all by any of this, by the way - just to be clear!). In addition, I think that one particular detail has more importance than many seem to note: the "race" of the faction reps. I will explain for each, starting with New Monarchy. The goal of New Monarchy is return humanity to the Golden Age, under the rule of a single Monarch. In [i]Ghost Fragment: New Monarchy[/i] are their Seven Tenets. They are all very nice sounding, but it is number seven that stands out - they wish to have the Consensus vote to disband itself and transfer all power to a "single sovereign of unimpeachable character." Taken together, these tenets embody the New Monarchy's greatest strength - the belief in unity, that all of mankind must stand together to succeed. In spite of that, their flaw is ultimately that they are trapped in the past - they believe our true hope lies in rebuilding the Golden Age. With a human faction rep, they embody humanity's strong impulse to cling to what is considered home, and to reclaim the glory that was stolen from us. Like you mentioned, no single faction has the absolute correct answer, and that is why this plan alone cannot work. The power and glory of the Golden Age was not enough to save us from the Darkness the first time, when the Traveler fought with us; why would it be different now, with the Traveler crippled? Next, we have Dead Orbit. Their goal is to abandon Earth and the Last City, as they believe them to be nothing but a death trap. Humanity very nearly was made extinct when the Darkness arrived, only surviving due to the intervention of an "alien miracle" (to quote the [i]Dead Orbit Faction Rep[/i] card), there is nothing that remains to stop it a second time. Instead they believe that humanity should set sail for the farthest corners of the cosmos, spreading so far and wide that no single threat can reach them. Very much of the "do not put all your eggs in one basket" mindset. Their strength is in the understanding that we cannot rely on what worked in the past to save us again - we cannot look to the Traveler to save us a second time, but must work towards our own solution. With an Awoken faction rep, they embody the lack of attachment to Earth, and the apathy/antipathy for the Traveler - demonstrated by our interactions in game with the Queen. Upon our second visit, she states "We gift it, in sympathy for [b]their Traveler[/b]." - emphasis mine - implying that she does not look up to and respect it the way we do. Not surprising, as she has built a powerful society far from the Traveler's Light. I believe their flaw is a lack of foresight, and perhaps divisive-ness. While separating out among the stars would serve to ensure that no single "colony" became humanity's last stand (which is what the city is), it would forget the wisdom of: "United we stand, divided we fall." The Darkness is far too powerful, and vast in scope, to ever truly escape from. Following their plan alone would allow the Darkness to hunt us down in its own time, and eliminate us one by one. Considering it is only the Traveler's Light that allows us to fight back as well as we do, abandoning it would never allow us to "win". Sort of as an aside, I have to scratch my head and wonder how the heck Dead Orbit thinks it will ever get together a big enough fleet to truly go out and colonize other stars in a meaningful way... but that is a thought for another time. Last, we have the Future War Cult. This faction is one of the most mysterious and (to me at least) interesting. They are in possession of something they call the Device ([i]Ghost Fragment: Future War Cult[/i]). This seems to have allowed them to see into possible future timelines. If you sit and listen to the things Lakshmi-2 says long enough, you will hear a lot of very interesting bits (same goes for everyone, faction reps, Vanguard and so on, actually). In particular she makes mention of there being infinite timelines, and of how if even one in a trillion knew peace, how would we find it, and would we even know how to live in such a timeline. Back to the grimoire card, it is apparent that in all of their searching through timelines, they have yet to find one in which peace prevails, or in fact in which the Darkness does not win. They have thus made it their goal to pursue war to perfection, committing everything to the idea that we can never actually win, and that the only way to survive is to never stop fighting. That they seek to become better and better at war is their chief strength, perhaps accompanied by the fact that they seem to understand timelines, and perhaps time travel - which may be key to victory. With an Exo rep, they embody the mystery of the machines - secrets locked away (sometimes even from themselves), unknown origins, but undoubtedly designed foremost for war. It may be the only thing they truly know. Their flaw is ultimately that they have allowed the possible futures they have seen to take away their hope. They no longer wish for an end to war, believing that to be impossible - or close enough as makes no different. I cannot help but think they are living the Warhammer 40K tagline: "In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war." This philosophy alone can not prevail, for two major reasons. With no hope, we have nothing to fight for - merely living to fight tomorrow is not enough. Without some hope, morale will fail, and we will be doomed. In addition, our resources are far from infinite. If we attempt a war of attrition against the Darkness, we will ultimately fail. Some other gambit must be employed. Much as you said, only through working together can they succeed. Standing united, as New Monarchy teaches, using Dead Orbit's fleet to retake our worlds and learn what we knew before, while trying to decipher the mysteries FWC hides regarding timelines... perhaps that would be one place to start. Sorry for the imposing length of this, thanks for the read! I have some other thoughts, but I think it best to save them for another time. Thank you again for your post - I love the ideas and theories the community keeps coming up with!

Cabal = Space Marines Hive = Necron/Chaos Fallen = Dark Eldar/Ork Vex = Tau There's really not much else I can see in them besides that. There may be [i]themes[/i] involved but those are ripped directly from the original source material.

Here is my view. Fallen = Covenant Hive = Flood Cabal = Brute Vex = promethean

How I see them.. Fallen - Assholes with op homing weapons Hive - Scary ninja assholes Vex - Teleporting assholes Cabal - just plain assholes

Waiting for Oryx so I can beat his ass too.

The Fallen are running from the Darkness, seeking further refuge under the Traveler (assuming the Traveler helped them at one point). They could be possible allies in the future. The Hive are the Darkness' shock troops, here to conquer us and take our planets for their own. The Vex are the Darkness' reformers, changing planets into machines. It is also possible that they are machines from the Traveler, corrupted by the Darkness. The Cabal, the most warlike of the 4, are more conquerors. It is possible they aren't part of the Darkness, and are here as an alternative to the Traveler, but only when we stop killing them. I have nothing backing this up, just thoughts floating in my head. Go ask Alpha Lupi.

Before you start reading, I must warn you that English is not my primary language, so there will probably be a lot of mistakes. I apologise in advance for that. First, to the original poster, nice job. I enjoyed reading you. Even if I don’t agree with you on every points. Here is my opinion. Let’s begin with the Fallen. I don’t think they are under the Darkness influence. I think that they made contact with either the Cabals or the Vex and they got nearly destroyed. I believe they somehow heard of the Traveler and are seeking for his protection. That’s why they came on Earth. Why I don’t believe they work for the Darkness? Two reasons. First, there is a grimoire card where a Guardian and a Hive fought their way together against the Hive. At the end, the Fallen gave his gun to the Guardian. It is not a proof of anything, but it shows values that a race under the Darkness influence should not have, once more from my point of view. The second reason I think the Fallen are not with the Darkness is the fact that they fight with the Hive (like on Earth, in Skywatch) and with the Vex (like on Venus, where there is a plane crashed, I forgot the name of the zone). I think the Hive is with the Darkness, so why would Fallen and Hive fight each other if they were both for the same side. For the Vex, I can’t tell, but if they are not with the Darkness, they may be the race that wiped out the Fallen and that would explain why there is not much Fallen on Venus and none on Mars. For the Cabals, I don’t think they are under darkness influence. Actually, there is not much we know from the Cabals from the game or from the grimoire card. They are highly militarized, that we know. And they are winning against the Vex on Mars for the moment. We also know that they secured the gate for the Black Garden and that they show interest in technology (both from the Golden Age and from the Vex). So here is my guess (and it is really a guess). The Cabals came across the Vex somewhere in the galaxy and they saw a race that could destroy them. So they formed a small division with the task of tracking Vex origin and finding a way to destroy them. This would be why they are only on Mars. They found the way into the Black Garden but could not open it without a Gate Lord’s eye. Again, it is only a guess, I could be wrong (probably am by the way), but that’s what I think. Now, the Hive. What to say about them. Pure evil, long live spam, parallel dimension and sorcery. They are the Darkness minions. And I really hope that we will learn more about Eris expedition and Oryx. So much to know. Who is Tolland and why did he know so much about the Hive? He said he looked into the Darkness to gain his knowledge, so that confirm the Hive and Darkness connection. Why is Crota asleep, and why without his sword? Why do we destroy his soul on Moon in the Wakening mission and his physical form in Crota’s End raid. I read on the forums that some people thought that Eris expedition was more successful than we think and that somehow they could banish him from our world, or separate his soul and physical form (that would explain why is soul is in a crystal in the Wakening mission). Once the crystal is destroyed, the raid bring us in Crota’s dimension to destroy him once and for all. That would also explain why is sword is on Moon and not with him, because once is soul was separated from his physical form in our dimension, the sword became useless until he could regain a physical form. Somehow, Omnigul found a way to do so and then all the events from the Dark Below begins. But, Crota is the son of Oryx, so probably a lesser being than Oryx. So, the destruction of Crota won’t stop the Hive. Is it possible that Oryx is actually the Darkness? Why not? In real life, depending on the religion or the people, an entity could have multiple names (like the greek god Zeus was Jupiter for the romans). Anyway, even if it is not the case, I do think that the Darkness and the Hive are one. The last but not the least : the Vex. Honestly, here, I think that even Bungie does not know what they are doing with them (but once again, I can be wrong). First, are they Darkness? Two races tried to contain or destroy the Traveler. The Hive (Chamber of Night mission, they use a shard of the Traveler to drain his energy) and The Vex (Black Garden Mission, the Stranger tells us that only by destroying the heart we could save the Traveler). So, that would maybe make the Vex working for the Darkness. Another hint is that the Hive are on Earth and on Moon. The Vex are on Venus and Mars. So, they don’t have to fight. Maybe they are allies? Let’s be crazy for a moment and make this theory : what if the Vex are the Darkness (so, they are Oryx). They share one mind for a million units (the Mind, like Sekrion, would be the leader of one faction) and they are have technology far beyond any others races. They found the Black Garden and the heart, not understanding it. So, they worship it, the only course of action they can do or understand with this being. The heart has an enemy : the Traveler. So the Vex creates the Hive to pursue the Traveler and drain his Light while the Vex are healing or powering or trying to understand the heart. For this theory, we have to understand that it spans on millions of years. But the Hive is only the first line of attack. Once the Hive tracks and finds the Traveler, the Vex follows (they let some Vex in the Black Garden, that’s why the Vex we find there look less futuristic). After millions of years of conflict, the Traveler comes on Mars to try and destroy the Black Garden. But something happens : humans come on Mars. The Traveler finds new allies so he terraform all the planets (Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, etc.) and he moves to Earth. He helps humanity and prepare them for the fight to come. He even teach them to build the exos to make additional warriors. But the Darkness comes before humanity is ready, so the collapse happens. In his last breath, the Ghosts are created, so Guardians rise from the ashes. The exos, without the Traveler, forget what they are and they have to learn all over again what is their purpose in life. Guardians then successfully destroyed the heart in the Black Garden and Atheon in the Vault of Glass. Yet, the Vex are still there. Why? Well, with time travel technology, the Vex are trying to find a course of action where the heart is not destroyed. That would be why we see past Vex (the ones who found the heart), current Vex (the ones who protect the heart) and future Vex (the ones who try to rewrite history so that the heart would not be destroyed). Then again, it’s only a theory, but I do believe it would fit in the lore of Destiny. But hey, there is still so much to know : what is the Stranger (my favourite theory is that it’s a Warmind), who is Tolland, who is Osiris, what is the Speaker, etc. To be honest, Bungie created a great game with a lot of lore. But in making the game, I think they forgot to tell their stories (that would be why the grimoire cards are not even in the game). I fell like it will be like Lost all over again : so many questions, so few answers. However, Bungie told they had a 10 years plan, so there is still plenty of time to know more about the story and I really hope they will be able to do so.

Mark my words--the Fallen will be our allies eventually.

Cabal-Buff guys at the beach that came together and formed their own species. Fallen-Wandering space hobos. Hive-Walking syphilis cases. Vex-Windows PC 5,000 years in the future.