I'm back! The story in my heart, An Exo Found on Mars: Maekir-4 finished ([i]selfless humble bump[/i]), and I am [b]VERY[/b] eager to be back. I'd like to invite everyone here to join [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Clan/Forum/769615/0/1/0]The Collective of Knowledge[/url] as well as the alliance group [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Clan/Forum/806204]The Collective of Fanfiction[/url]. And now the moment I've all been waiting for since the start of these goddamn posts! *drum roll* [b]THE FALLEN!!![/b] Here's what we know about the fallen: -They once were a large society that must have held large portions of land on their home world noted by their house. example: House of Devils -The House of Wolves (at the point of writing this) is in charge by the Queen of the Reef. -The fallen have a brutal social structure. -They are scavengers because of an unknown reason . The dreg is the lowest part of society. As a ritual of humiliation and obedience they have their lower arms docked. Only through proving themselves can they remove the [b]docking caps[/b](gross right? we collect those things on patrol) and regrow their limbs. They use Shanks, small flying robots for going where dregs wont go, scouting, keeping watch, and are even deployed from internal bays of a fallen walker for tactical support and repairs. The Vandal is the next highest member of society. I feel these are...not exactly peasants, sorta middle class. They are described as soldiers, brawlers, assassins, and scouts. These are the seasoned veterans, most likely the redeemed Dregs still fighting trying to move up even further in ranking of their brutal Lords. We bring ourselves to the Captains, the most interesting fact about the Captains is that their card actually states that they have the largest ether rations. The Captains are larger, not by much, but they definitely are. We clearly see a difference in size between the lower ranks and an Archon/Kell, and both of those are far higher than a Captain. Ether is needed for a Fallens life, and may even be what dictates their size. Now let's look at a Baron. They seem to be a Captain, but I feel they are drastically different. A Captain may have rank and title, but the Barons also hold land. Think of it as america. The Kell owns a state, the Baron owns a town district, the Captains manage a town, but do not own, the vandals and dregs live in the town. Outside the rankings exist the Servitors. These large, [i]traveler shaped[/i], orbs are living relics of the once great society of the Fallen. They process matter and energy into ether, which as i said previously is what they need to survive, in battle they support with shields, and powerful weaponry, outside battle they are the in-betweens of Fallen comms and provide vital decisions. These must be viewed differently from the Primes as Primes are more of a religious figurehead. The Primes are the real reason the House is actually able to survive, and therefore are seen as givers of life and pseudo-gods. . Now we must leave the direct grimoires and speculate the final two ranks of Fallen. . The Kell and the Archon probably haven't always lived on an equal ranking, but after the fall of their society it became so. I believe the Kell was the owner of the state, as i said earlier, and the Archon was simply the caretaker of the Prime. The Kell is in charge because he owns the Prime, the Archon listens for larger rations of ether, and the hierarchy goes on. Now for whatever the reason their society collapsed. And really, who owns the Prime? The Kell who sits back and gives orders, or the Archon who mends it? Okay, now let's start digging. Ghost Fragment: Fallen tells a story of Cayde-6 before he became the Vanguard. While on the moon fighting off Thrall he notices a Fallen Baron in Exile colours. There was no time to fight eachother so they just continued fighting the Hive. In the end the Baron was wounded and threw their last shock pistol between them. They tried to Knife Cayde-6, but were too slow. Cayde-6 killed them quickly and they didn't even seem surprised. This really shows that the Fallen are a curious enemy. The Vex are clearly trying to destroy everything on their way to integrate themselves into the universe. The Hive clearly want to consume our light. The Cabal are a little more curious, but the base is still there, they wish to conquer our galaxy. The Fallen however; they target us personally, but why? Did we fight them in the distant past? Did we inadvertently steal the Traveler from them? I don't know, but based on this card I feel the later is the more likely. After fighting along side, instead of against, a Guardian the Fallen Baron realized that we weren't evil after all, but deeper still understood the fact that both races could never live peacefully. Ghost Fragment: Fallen 2 depicts the findings of a Dreg, most importantly is a "story" found that was partly corrupted, [quote]what others call dark which is not I know what it is but no time room calm given for an appropriate telling so I say only that what is not shadow is an ally and a wonder and I respect what I cannot steal from and you cannot take from the dark you can claim only pain from the dark and that is why the dark is worthy of love beyond all other love that astonishing ability to evade being robbed ~ I know what no one else knows and now I am a marvel with ten thousand arms[/quote] This seems to describe that the Dreg came into contact with the Darkness, and it could not be stolen. Now looking at this directly in comparison to the Fallen as we know them it seems that if something can't be stolen it is of great wealth. But what if we looked deeper into them. I've already hinted, directly, at the theory that the Traveler visited the Fallen before us. If this were true and the Traveler left them, probably because of their disgusting social practices, and came to us; they wouldn't look at themselves and think "hey guys, its our fault so let's change and be better" they would think "the humans stole the traveler from us! Let's kill them!" So if that's the case, and the Darkness can't be stolen, then it is greater than the Traveler and worthy of the love that they have since been giving to the traveler. . Sadly this is all the direct grimoire information we have on the Fallen at this point, but luckily soon I'm sure we will get more. At that point i will research further and repost/update this to fit the newer news. But I don't wish to leave this post so short and with more to be desired, so I will explain in greater detail the finer points of the Fallen. The Traveler came to the Fallen, it is more likely that they have always needed ether to survive than it is that the traveler introduced it to their culture and they just accepted it. This leads to two possibilities, A: they were cave dwelling, uncultured, uncivilized creatures who lived in small communities where ether, a natural resource, was readily abundant, or B: they found a way to harvest ether for themselves, but the practice was largely ineffective for a large scale. This is when the traveler comes into the picture and makes the Servitors a possibility, so in gratitude they built them in its image. I would like to point out how the social structure came to be from the empowerment of the Servitors. When the Traveler came to us, it wasn't a widespread advancement to everyone on earth. There were people who started to partake in the learning of the travelers teachings. I feel for the Fallen it was the same way, and more importantly it was the would-be-Kells who took advantage of this. They raised their hands and learned how to create the Servitors. They then used such a power of life, and more importantly life outside of a cave (i believe in the first situation), to create followers. Once their power was recognized by most they went into the caves because no one would live in their lands free of their rule, and as a way to designate them as such; docked their lower arms. Now comes the time when the king realizes his true standing. He's the ruler so why is he actually maintaining the Prime? He hires a lesser to fill that role, and as i said before, in exchange for larger ether rations. The Traveler is on the run, on the run from a dark being, (most likely his opposite being) and came to the Fallen for help. It could not survive without help and needed it, but that doesn't mean that it would accept the help of such cruel and terrible beings. The Fallen were the cause of their own downfall. Without the Traveler there, in its full strength, the Fallen were unable to survive. So they went after the Traveler. They were the "Chosen Ones" why would the traveler leave them? It was stolen. The Traveler came to us, possibly wary of giving us too much too fast, and helped us advance. In the Grimoires it's said how just having the Traveler around granted people almost superhuman intelligence, now that it sleeps we must have lost the hidden gifts of the Traveler for the more easily viewed ones, our Classes. The Fallen chased the Traveler across the stars and come to see it gracing us, clearly we are holding it hostage. They must also have heard, or at least felt, the wrath of the Darkness. They understood it as an evil, and probably even put us in league with it. This leads into their second ghost fragment where a dreg sees the deeper into the darkness, understands that it isn't the enemy, but the solution. This is why it states that they are a marvel with ten thousand arms, they were to become so empowered by the Darkness that they got more than their lower arms back. . Thankyou for reading, This is your friendly neighborhood AnonPig!