Nerf-Roaches, Part 1-3 Part 1: [spoiler]Shortly after the Collapse and the Guardians were created, the Crucible was formed to test a Guardian's abilities besides out in the field. During the process of making the Crucible arenas, workers found small cockroaches all around certain sites. However, these cockroaches felt off, looked off, and gave a menacing presence. Warlocks and scientists alike took part in studying them, but found nothing negative about them in the beginning. One day, a few months after the Crucible arenas opened, a Hunter while using his Arc Blade felt weakened after slicing up two targets. He couldn't explain why he felt so. He was checked out in the infirmary by doctors, but all they could find was one of the new roaches hanging off his cloak. Not even one, but a few. They were deemed harmless though, and were taken to labs for studies. When the Hunter reached full strength again, he tested out his Arc Blade in the arena again but something happened. His vision got blurry, and missed several swipes on an enemy Titan. When his vision cleared, he was being revived by his Ghost. This had never happened before, but he dismissed it initially. However, it began getting worse. His Blink was worsening, he was missing swipes that would normally hit, and even his weapons began to suffer defects. He had to constantly clean his gun after leaving the Crucible, trying to remove the roaches. Something was wrong.[/spoiler] Part 2: [spoiler]It wasn't just one Hunter though. Many Hunters began suffering from the same problems. Warlocks began feeling certain problems as well, but not with their Supers directly. Their Scorch only felt strong while coated in their own flames, and their grenades got weaker. Many Crucible contenders to believe foul play was involved somehow. However, everyone's weapons that they used were suffering from the roaches too. The weapons in question were Auto rifles and Fusion Rifles. These roaches were being studied more than ever, being found in the Iron Banner and Trials of Osiris as Year 2 comes closer and closer. These roaches seemed attracted to Hunters for the first year, but soon, when Sunbreaker Titans arrived after the fall of Thorn -in which the nerf roaches began infesting it along with all HandCannons soon suffering Thorn's fate-, they began suffering their fate at the hands of the roaches. They would sometimes be revived with them on them, Ghosts being unable to cleanse them. Shotguns were also affected, having their ranges reduced and their damage, as Guardians were now calling it, "nerfed". What is happening to the Guardians?[/spoiler] Part 3: [spoiler]Guardians are being infected all over, not just in the Crucible, Iron Banner, and Trials. Scouting parties that dealt with the House of Wolves per Petra Venji and Variks the Loyal's orders reported that their Supers kept getting weaker, there weapons becoming worse. Where only one Guardian managed to bring Skolas to his knees by herself, it took three to finish him in the Prison of Elders, with all three nearly losing their lives just getting to him. During the Darkblade escapade, two BladeDancers and a Sunbreaker went missing, forcing Cayde to send a backup party. The backup party was successful in killing Ala-Khul, but were only able to bring back the roach-infested Ghosts of their dead comrades. the roaches however, were dad alongside the Ghosts. It is finally believed that these roaches are now harmful parasites that will only affect living Guardians. Even the roaches in the weapons the deceased Guardians were dead, but it is believed that they were using the weapon as a home while eating away at the Guardians' light. Despite this, they were heavily infecting PvP arenas more than any place, presumably because that was where Guardians used their Light the most. As the era of The Last Word and 1000-Yard Stare entered the Crucible, everyone became paranoid that these weapons would become infested too. The paranoia grew as the MIDA Multi-Tool rose in arenas as well. As the paranoia grew worse and worse, and studies unable to slow down the infections and infestations. people are wondering why these "nerf-roaches" exist, and why they continue to torture the Guardians. Are they a form of the Darkness? No one knows, but these sinister insects are becoming worse and worse as Year 3 rolls around. I am beginning to wonder if these bugs will ever leave...[/spoiler]