The Drifter
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| The Drifter | |
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Other name(s): |
Finch[1] |
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Species: |
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Gender: |
Male |
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Hair color: |
Black |
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Eye color: |
Blue |
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Affiliation: |
Pilgrim Guard (formerly) |
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Notable info: |
Host of Gambit and Gambit Prime |
| “ | The name says it all. | ” |
The Drifter is a rogue Lightbearer who hosts Gambit and acts as a vendor for Gambit-related items. He is a traveler that has explored the far reaches of the Sol System and beyond, collecting machines, gadgets, and trinkets along the way. His extensive knowledge of the Darkness and the Nine has made him a crucial ally of the Vanguard.
Biography
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The Dark Age
- "Haven't seen shooting like that since an Iron Lady named Efrideet ruined my bar. The Dark Age was wild times."
- — The Drifter[7]
During the Dark Age, the Drifter was revived by a Ghost, who ushered him towards the Last City. The Drifter, not being keen on the Traveler's Light, headed in the opposite direction.[8] Dying of starvation, the Drifter was reduced to crawling upon the ground, continuously being revived by his Ghost, and continuously regaining consciousness hungry.[9] The Drifter eventually found his way to a small and starving village in the East, where he gained a new life as a normal citizen - keeping his Ghost and Light hidden, but performing minor miracles when nobody was around to provide small amounts of food.[citation needed]
At some point, the Iron Lords appeared, offering the town a deal they couldn't refuse. The leader of the Iron Lords' group, Lord Dryden, offered the town multiple months' worth of supplies and food in return for the use of the town as bait to draw out a Warlord known only as the "Red Man". The town accepted the terms, and they were able to survive through the winter.[10] However, when one of the townsfolk tried to escape out of fear of the Iron Lords' plan, they were captured by the Red Man and his fireteam, tipping the Warlords off to the town's location. When the Warlords arrived, the Iron Lords ambushed them, and the resulting battle razed the town to the ground as the Drifter's Ghost watched from afar. When the battle was over, the Drifter honored the townsfolk by giving their bones a burial.[11][12]
Sometime later, the Drifter owned a bar under the shadow of Felwinter Peak disguising himself as a man named Wu Ming (still keeping his Light a secret.) The bar was ruined when Lady Efrideet got into a fight with a group of Warlords and shot it up, the Drifter paying her for the work after the job was done.[13][14]
After the gunfight, the Drifter walked up Felwinter Peak to have a conversation with Lord Felwinter. The Drifter informed Lord Felwinter about the event of the town, what Lord Dryden did and that Lord Dryden broke the code of the Iron Lords by involving Lightless people in their conflicts. Felwinter, skeptic of his claims, asked how the Drifter could prove his claims. The Drifter's Ghost appeared and sent various pieces of evidence (audio and video) to Felwinter's Ghost. Felwinter then asked the Drifter to leave, asking his Ghost to prepare his Iron Banner loadout.[15]
At some point during the Dark Age, the Drifter was in a crew with the Risen Otto, Thalia, and Ayrin. This crew would perform heists on Warlord territories, with Otto accompanying the Drifter to respond to any security detail, Thalia picking off any remaining lookouts, and Ayrin providing the escape using a kitbashed bomber aircraft. In one such heist against the Warlord known as The Wake, the crew stole some supplies, encountering no resistance other than a poorly-trained civilian militia. The Drifter later commented that his crew could have easily "kept on like that for centuries."[16][17][18]
The Drifter was opposed to the Warlord Rience and requested that his fellow Risen Cenric, Jaak, Otto, Ayrin, and Thalia stop doing business with him. He later spotted all five meeting with Rience in the Warlord's territory and decided to eliminate them. After buying them five rounds of drinks at a bar to lure them into a false sense of security, the Drifter was told by Cenric that he had never liked him but was feeling fond of him now. Smiling in anticipation of killing the treacherous Risen, the Drifter noted Cenric was a smooth talker and wondered if he had said those same words to Rience. As the other Risen fell quiet, Jaak lied that they had cut the Warlord out as requested, but the Drifter revealed that he had seen them all in the valley meeting with Rience. Cenric demanded he speak plainly, and the Drifter declared them all rats and swiftly drew his assault rifle while stating there was only one thing to do to rats.[19]
Friendship with Orin
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A World of Darkness
- "I think I mentioned we're all raving psychos at this point. Well, we did what all measured raving psychos would do. We thought we each had been betrayed by the others. We drew on each other. To this day, I'm not sure how many of those guys drew intending to kill. But I'll tell you this. I was the only one who walked out."
- — The Drifter[20]
At the dawn of the City Age, the Drifter and a subset of his crew set out to leave the Sol system, in search of something "greater than Light" due to the conflicts that Light had created on Earth. They traveled for centuries, eventually finding a cold, desolate planet which gave off an energy that seemed to repel Light, much like the exotic weapon Thorn. The Drifter and his crew landed with the intent to study this energy and render it portable, although the Drifter felt that humans were not supposed to be on the world. The extreme cold of the planet took a toll on the Lightbearers and caused them to occasionally freeze to death and require Ghost resurrection, yet the Drifter and his comrades were hopeful they could find something useful and confident in their skills to survive the planet.[21]
The Drifter's crew found a series of abandoned monolith-like structures on the planet, which they discovered contained strange, amorphous shadow-like creatures imprisoned in cryogenic suspension. They determined that these entities were the source of the Light-repressing fields and that they shared some characteristics with the Hive, although the Drifter regretted not having a scientist among his crew who could study them better.[22] They soon discovered that not all of the creatures were imprisoned in the monoliths and that some roamed out in the wild. One night while they slept in the frozen wilderness due to it still being warmer than inside the cryogenic monoliths, a member of the Drifter's crew froze to death but was unable to be revived by his Ghost due to the proximity of one of the creatures. This loss angered them, but it also increased the Drifter's determination to find a way to take the creatures off-world as they could change conflicts between Lightbearers forever. However, the crew also started becoming paranoid due to how unlikely it seemed for one of the creatures to be in close enough proximity to prevent resurrection, particularly so soon after they had realized the potential to weaponize the creatures.[23]
Not long after this first death, the Drifter and his crew moved into one of the monoliths to get better protection against the roaming creatures despite the cold. The Drifter continued examining the technology within the monoliths to try and understand the cryo-technology but was unable to figure out how it worked. Tempers began rising, which only worsened when a second member of the crew died due to the proximity of one of the wandering creatures. Some members of the crew began to believe one of the others had lured the creature close, although the Drifter thought the creature itself had deliberately only killed one of them as a warning to leave. When one of the Lightbearers drew his gun, the Drifter warned them all that the next time one of them did that he would kill them all.[24] A little over a year after they arrived, only the Drifter and three others remained and their ship had ceased working due to the cold. The cold had killed them thousands of times and their paranoia had begun turning into insanity. As they settled in for another night in a monolith, they all suddenly lost their connection to the Light due to Dominus Ghaul entrapping the Traveler in a cage. However, they each believed that the others were responsible and drew their weapons. Unsure if they really intended to kill each other, the Drifter still lived up to his promise and murdered all three of his remaining companions. Angry and seeing one of the frozen creatures seemingly watching him, the Drifter flipped it off and contemplated that he was now alone and stranded.[20]
The Drifter's Ghost 'snapped' at this point, informing the Drifter of a way they could capture the creatures. The Drifter asked how they would do such a thing, as the creatures were undoubtedly dangerous. His Ghost told him of a set of modifications they could perform on his shell, but that they would require components from other Ghosts - the Ghosts of the Drifter's deceased teammates which had now scattered across the icy planet.[25]
Drifter hunted these Ghosts, being sure to stay away from the Shadow Creatures as much as possible. The Drifter, having killed the Ghosts to obtain their parts, began the modification process of his own Ghost, trying not to freeze to death before the process was completed. With the modifications complete, the Drifter's Ghost could see and emit light and energy in spectrums no other Ghost could - eventually inspiring the tech used in Gambit banks, Motes, and Portals.[25]
Return to Sol
After escaping the cold world, the Drifter returned to the inner solar system on a new ship dubbed The Derelict with a massive object from the Nine in tow and had acquired a small Taken army in a pocket dimension which he could control using Motes of Dark.[26] His goal was to go to the Last City and start a competition he dubbed "Gambit" which would generate Motes of Dark and also recruit Guardians into a new crew.[citation needed]
Constructing the Sundial
Prior to meeting the Guardian, the Drifter was hired by Osiris, to Sagira's chagrin, to consult on the construction of the The Sundial. Drifter had Ghost gather data, and after reading the statistics and inspecting the core, he confirmed that it would work. However, he warned Osiris there were no guarantees that he would find the exact moment in time required to rescue Saint-14. After that, he left to return to the Tower and told Osiris that he would return to collect his payment.[27]
Gambit with a Lone Gunman
- "He's not like them, but not far off—hard to trust, hard to know. He's seen more than most can imagine and done things most wouldn't dare. But he's always kept his distance—stayed far from the Light."
- — Shin Malpher[28]
The Drifter became associated with another group of Lightbearers who leaned toward the Darkness known as the Shadows of Yor until he had a falling out with Callum Sol. Following this, the Drifter encountered the rogue Gunslinger Shin Malphur, who had begun tracking the Drifter after learning of his connections with the Shadows, whom Malphur was hunting.[29] During their first chance encounter in a neutral location, the Drifter told Malphur some of his story but left out his name, asking only to be known as the Drifter while Malphur told him to call him "pal". The Drifter bragged about all the places he had travelled outside of the system, claiming he had gone to the Luvial Crux, the Shift Chasms Below Elios, and the Fourth Tomb of Nezarec and seen the Idols of Lower Sul, the Treasure of Exodus Prime, and the Solar Engine of Dead Star-Six, although Malphur was unsure how truthful any of those tales were. He also claimed the object his ship was hauling was an artifact with a mysterious origin that "may be" powerful. Sensing that Malphur was unsatisfied with the answers he was giving, the Drifter changed the subject by mentioning Callum, knowing that Malphur's obsession with killing the Shadows of Yor would divert his attention.[30]
At some point after coming back, the Drifter met Emperor Calus in his real form. The Drifter asked if he and Calus would be fighting over Guardians now, and Calus replied that (his) Shadows were his. The Drifter took that as a "yes" and spoke about how "everyone is crazy, now." He tells Calus that the Cabal emperor is not even Cabal anymore and leaves on his Sparrow.[6]
Return to the City
Starting the Gambit
- "Nothin' kills a Guardian faster… than another Guardian. Woo! Get ready to be bad guys!"
- — The Drifter[citation needed]
With Shin's approval, the Drifter returned to the Last City and set up shop in an alleyway by the bazaar. Soon after his arrival, he introduced himself to The Young Wolf and explained the rules of Gambit to them.[citation needed] Not long after establishing himself in the Tower, news arrived in the Last City of Cayde-6's death at the hand of Prince Uldren Sov of the Reef. The Drifter spoke with the Young Wolf before they departed the Tower to hunt the Prince and told them he had heard the two of them had been good partners, which the Drifter considered a rare thing and that he had thought Cayde preferred working alone. He advised the Guardian to not let Cayde's death weigh on them and that everyone, including himself and the Young Wolf, had a bullet with their name on it somewhere in the universe and that all they could do was go out on their own terms. The Drifter also suggested that they vent their anger by participating in Gambit matches.[31]
Owing a favor for The Spider, the Drifter employed Guardians on a job to retake the Prison of Elders on behalf of the mob boss. He also provided tactical support during the strike against Variks' malfunctioning Servitor within the prison. At the end of the strike, Drifter noted that they could collaborate more together at some point in the future.[32]
Leveling the Playing Field
- "I finally have an answer to the man with the Golden Gun. And it's something you and me built together. What do you say we call it Malfeasance? Sure, I shot bigger guns. But this thing is weaponized heat death…pure atrophy. and it's my key to freedom from HIM. Fact is, you don't outdraw that Gunslinger. No one can. But my entire crew - armed with THIS? We don't have to outdraw him. We just have to get our shots in. He dies, too."
- — The Drifter[33]
After the Young Wolf defeated an Ascendant Chimera while playing Gambit and recovered its seething heart, the Drifter met with them and took the Heart, remarking that they could use it later. Noting the Young Wolf's reliability and skill, he asked them to track down Callum Sol, claiming that the Shadow had stolen something valuable from him. The Drifter suspected that Callum was dead due to not having seen or heard of him in a while. Callum's ash outline is found in the Dreaming City; a final audio recording from his Ghost hinted that Shin Malphur killed Callum for joining the Shadows of Yor.[33]
Using the parts stolen from him, the Drifter and the Guardian finished their creation: Malfeasance, a hand cannon powered by the Taken energy in its weapon core. Wielding it as a countermeasure against Shin Malphur, the Drifter officially counted the Guardian as part of his crew.[33]
Upgrading Gambit
The Making Of Gambit Prime
To test Gambit Prime, the Drifter hired a Titan named Joxer, a regular in Gambit who was good at invading. He explained that he was setting up a new version of Gambit, how regular Gambit has been a training ground for it, and he wanted Joxer to test it. Joxer brought up the Guardian, claiming that the Drifter favored them, to which the Drifter asked why people always assumed he had a liking for them. Joxer mentioned they built a gun together, but the Drifter countered that making Malfeasance took more than just the two of them, that many Guardians have one now, and it wasn't his fault he kept missing the shot. Joxer got angry, but the Drifter calmed him down by saying he likes the Motes he gives him, with or without Malfeasance. He then complimented Joxer's Invading skills and asked him to test Gambit Prime. Joxer wasn't enthused by the name but agreed to take the job.[34]
The test was successful for the Drifter, even though three Guardians had been permanently killed. Joxer was incensed that he didn't stop the Taken even though he could have. Despite that, the armor the Drifter supplied worked perfectly. He paid Joxer, including his dead teammates' cuts, and offered more work. Joxer refused to work with him anymore out of disgust, but the Drifter let him keep his Invader armor. After Joxer left, he reviewed the data his Ghost collected, impressed at the results.[35]
Prime Opportunities
- "Y'all helped me get Gambit going. And for that, I'll be forever grateful. But I've expanded my operation. I call this new scam Gambit Prime. Consider it a down payment on a dream. Give it a try, hotshot. You were my inspiration."
- — The Drifter[36]
After several successful trial runs, the Drifter introduced Gambit Prime to the Guardian as a role-based, single-round evolution of Gambit.[36] Unlike regular Gambit, Gambit Prime utilized counterfeit Primevals of the Drifter's creation from the acasual energy of the Haul, his Gambit banks full with Dark motes, and sheer force of will; the most prominent having the likeness of the late Oryx and his son. During this development however, the Drifter's actions eventually reached the prying eyes of the Warlock Aunor Mahal of the Praxic Order, who has been after the nameless Lightbearer in his illicit schemes of tempting Guardians with the unscrupulous power of Darkness.[37] Having been barred by the Vanguard from investigating, she called upon the Guardian to monitor the Drifter instead and report their findings.[38]
Games of the Nine
- "Nah, nah, nah. Not good. They're giving you visions too."
- — The Drifter[citation needed]
When the Young Wolf visited the Drifter again, their Ghost mentioned a vision from the Nine and Orin that showed them the card game where the Drifter had been gifted the Haul from the Nine.[26] The Drifter was alarmed about the Nine reaching out to them and that they had gotten another glimpse into his past, stating that his deal with the Nine was risky and warning them not to trust the Nine or what had become of Orin. He asked them to ignore the Emissary if they approached them again and to leave the situation to him to deal with.[39]
Three weeks later, the Drifter confronted the Young Wolf about their continued visits with the Emissary in the Unknown Space. He asked them to promise to stop visiting her if he explained who she was and proceeded to tell them about how Orin was a Reefborn Awoken who was close to Queen Mara Sov before dying and being reborn as a Guardian. She eventually went looking for the Nine to gain power and got it but was transformed. The Drifter declared that her past no longer mattered and that she was no longer who she had been, just like him, and made another demand that they stop investigating.[40]
The Young Wolf ignored the Drifter's demands and continued to seek information from the Emissary and the Nine. After six more visits, they learned of the Drifter's true past with Orin and the Nine, and of the warning given to him about the Black Fleet's imminent arrival.[41] The Drifter angrily confronted them once more, noting that he had killed people for less, but admitted that he was in over his head with everything that was happening and that his own interactions with the Nine had just confirmed his deepest fears. He warned the Young Wolf that they need to set aside their dogma and understand that Light could not defeat the coming Darkness on its own, but that the key to salvation lay in Gambit.[42]
Choosing Sides
After finishing the first Reckoning Mote, the Drifter gave the Young Wolf two choices, side with him and be a part of his crew, or side with the Vanguard and work with the Warlock Aunor Mahal in trying to find something to incriminate the Drifter.
Siding With The Drifter
If the Guardian sides with the Drifter, he will be extremely pleased and excited with their decision and tell them to go talk with the Spider as he has an item called "The Jerky". The Young Wolf will then head to the Spider's Lair and discover the Spider is selling many different illegal items including "The Jerky", a Ghost in a cage, a replica Gjallarhorn, and many other items (however they are only able to buy "The Jerky"). Once "The Jerky" is purchased from Spider, it'll lead the Guardian to Titan where several supplies the Drifter requires lie. The player will replay the Adventure "Thief of Thieves". Afterwards, the Drifter will ask the Guardian to talk to him, face to face. He'll then tell them to go to the Derelict to find a tape that sets up the beginning of a scavenger hunt all over the European Dead Zone. These tapes will tell the Guardian the Drifter's past and reveal some more about his personality including his time in the Dark Age, his distrust of Ghosts, his time in the Shadows of Yor, his fear of Shin Malphur, the Warlock Aunor, who has been after him for some time, and even a foreshadowing comment that a second Collapse is coming and that Reckoning is only a preparation for it. After all the tapes have been collected, the Drifter will request the Guardian's presence one last time, where he'll then explain how he has many enemies and that he has seats for people who'll escape the impending apocalypse with him. He claims he has a seat reserved for the Guardian and hopes that they will be with him when that day occurs. He then rewards the Guardian with a package of Gambit loot, ending the quest.[43]
Siding With The Vanguard
If the Guardian sides with the Vanguard, the Drifter will be disappointed but respect their decision. He tells them that they are wrong about him. Afterwards, they are instructed to use a terminal in the Hangar to send a message to Aunor Mahal, who then instructs them to place bugs around the Drifter's area of the Annex. Once all three bugs are placed, the Guardian must return to the terminal to monitor them, and they'll hear the Drifter tell someone to visit the Spider. When they visit the Eliksni crime lord, he will request a bribe of 50,000 Glimmer, which must be paid to continue the quest. When the Spider receives his payment, he will direct the Guardian to Titan, where they must replay the Adventure Siren Song. Toward the end of the quest, Drifter will start talking to the Guardian, wondering what they're doing on Titan. After the adventure, Aunor requests that the Guardian goes into Gambit or Gambit Prime, where the player must bank 50 Motes to continue. The next step is to get 25 kills in the Crucible. After finishing those steps, the G