<You ever stare at the Traveler and go, "why did it stay"? I mean, it didn't HAVE to. Rasputin's -blam!-ing useless, and humanity's not really that special on the outside. You could argue that we as a species have a "heart of gold", but one glance at humanity IRL will tell you that you're DEAD wrong. You ever glance at the Nine and go, "why here"? I mean, their cores are wrapped around OUR WORLDS, not the Cabal home system's planets, not Fundament, not the Fallen homeworld, OUR system. SPECIFICALLY our system, and even better, even though their reach extends to the ends of the Milky Way galaxy, their autonomy is entirely based on the life made HERE, in Sol. Nowhere else. Half of all life in the galaxy could die, but as long as Sol has some life in it, the Nine can think. You ever gaze into the Anomaly and go, "what the -blam!- even IS that"? I mean, it's been here since the Moon was FORMED. That's -blam!-ing right, it's been here since Earth was a fiery ball and some random-ass planet SMASHED into it and made the Moon. The Darkness has had a presence in this system since the Nine were young, hell, it could've been before they even knew how to think. So I ask this, what the -blam!- is with the Solar System? Why were the Nine born here? Why did the Traveler stay here? Why did the Darkness have a presence before either of them? This will more or less just be covering my theory on the Darkness aspect and how that may potentially tie into the Nine and possibly even the Traveler. [b]THE NINE'S ORIGINS[/b] The Nine are Dark Matter wrapped around the cores of 9 celestial bodies in our system, often theorized to be the 8 planets and the Sun. Before life arose in this system, they were nothing but loops, indifferent. When life sprung up from the depths, they could think, act. They became complex. But what life exists here in the system? Last Days of Kraken Mare confirmed that life existed on Titan in the form of microscopic entities at least. There's the idea that larger things exist in the methane oceans, but the only life we've seen beneath the seas for ourselves was something reminiscent of a Worm. Of course, that thing may actually BE a Worm, given the Hive presence, which would mean it's a more recent edition. Then there's us. We have the perfect conditions to exist. Life spawned here and began to evolve. It's entirely possible that it wasn't exactly US, but just life on Earth in general that seeded the thoughts of the Nine. [b]THE ANOMALY[/b] So, what does all of that have to do with the Darkness? Well, the First Light crew discovered an anomaly (a dark orb that is now contained, we know it as The Anomaly) deep beneath the Lunar surface. This artifact was one of Darkness, and it actively communicated with the Armada outside. The thing is, the rocks surrounding it dated back to the Moon's formation, which raises a LOT of questions. Why was it here all of this time and how did it get here? The Moon formed after the theorized proto-planet, Theia, crashed into early Earth approximately 4.5 billion years ago. While this is still theory, there's plenty evidence backing it up. Fun fact, the first forms of life also popped up around that time. If you've read Unveiling, then you know that the Darkness claims to have kicked evolution on Earth into gear. The common interpretation is that the Darkness's methodology is the actual culprit, rather than the Deep itself. However, the Anomaly has me questioning this, among other things. [b]NIGHTMARE GENERATION[/b] Nightmares are empty manifestations generated from the Darkness peering into your mind and finding a critical weakness. However, they can only be drawn out from a human psyche* according to Toland. So why is that? Nightmares can't be made from the Hive, but humans get the short end of the stick? Another thing is that Nightmares are creations, not resurrections. This is an important distinction. Things that die their final deaths remain true and properly dead, these Nightmares are merely images. However, the ability to create gives me an idea. The Darkness isn't just purely destruction, but the creation of things meant to last or challenge its enemies... like us. [b]EXPANDING ON CREATION VIA TERRAFORMING[/b] Terraforming? What is this? Why are you talking about a Traveler ability in a Darkness post? Well, look at this quote by Toland, if you haven't caught it the few other times I've linked it. [quote]The Moon sits lush with schisms. The result of Eris's curiosity. A Pyramid of pure power with the ability to terraform.[/quote] Curious, isn't it? How, or why, would the Darkness use such an ability? It's here that I pose this question, is it possible that the Darkness didn't just push life on Earth to evolve from a logic standpoint, but from direct interference? The Moon crash made the Cambrian Explosion possible, and that orb has been here before humans were even a thought, since said crash happened. Perhaps we really are creations of Darkness twisted from the oozeballs we once were, children of the Gardener wrung from her grip and given a drive by her sister. [b]NOT REALLY TYING IT UP[/b] The system was made from dust, coming together as planets and rocks wrapped around a ball of gas. It was here that the entities known as the Nine began, starting as dark matter that figured out how to loop itself. Suddenly, one rock carrying a suspicious orb crashed into a planet and suddenly, life began to become COMPLEX. What was formerly aimless specks turned into a ton of varied lifeforms that competed with each other to survive. Entire ecosystems spawned from the orbs interference. The seeds led to an eventuality, us, humanity. The Nine had grown over time, drinking up the complexity of our lives and our thoughts, only growing more as indirect aspects of Darkness, activated by its interference, otherwise they'd been slumbering still. We, the apparent first sentient life in the system, are the culmination of billions of years of evolution. Our creation through Darkness is something that's been on my mind for a while, but even if we are not made through its direct influence, OUR influence is suspiciously spread in places we'd never really gone. Labyrinth patterns drawn in the Io cradle, for example. Those are of OUR design, WE made those, yet their on Io in various sizes, why? The Traveler entered the system, being pulled in 9 directions thanks to the impatience of the Nine and only staying due to a belated epiphany and a mental break culminated from YEARS of abandoning other lifeforms... as well as being trapped. This Collapse was inescapable according to it... why? Why is our seemingly existent/non-existent history with the Darkness so much more interesting? But all of this still leaves one BIG question... why? Why is this system the testing ground? The Nine? Here. The life that fuels them? Here. The Anomaly? Here. Why does the Traveler have the idea that it might be being PUSHED around? It's like the Darkness has it cornered. Are we, as sentient life, bait to draw in the Traveler in order for it to die? Are we an army manufactured to be good soldiers? Why here? Why us? [b]TL:DR[/b] - I believe we're children raised by our mother's sister and then left to grow on our own before they brought their family drama to our front door again. [b]TL:DR 2 [/b]- buy silver to get a part 2>