User:Arcmind-1

"And you say he gave you a "friendly" tour of the place? He did not seem ill-mannered. In any way? Hmm, that doesn't sound like him. Though he is friendly around his Ghost and Cabal companions, he is not exactly what I would call a courteous Guardian. Perhaps I should have a talk with him anyway...."

- Commander Zavala

Hello Guardian, welcome to the Archives! Allow me to introduce myself, I am an Exo. Obviously. A Titan to be specific (Yes I like punching things too, but it's the Hammer of Sol that really convinced me to become a Titan). Though I cannot recall my real name or most of my past before the crash of my ship a while back, and having no Ghost to resurrect me should I attempt the arcane methods of the Thanatonauts, most of my fellow Guardians call me Arcmind. Yes, it is a strange name indeed, but perhaps being one of the Vanguard's chief intelligence sources on the Vex has certain...connotations that come along with it. However I would make one thing clear, though i do posses an inherent fascination with the Vex, my allegiance is to the Light alone, and I will not be swayed from that path. That means don't try and mention me and Osiris in the same sentence, and don't ever try to imply I am out of whack, because the last Guardian that did.....well, I am not going to say. That's right, instead, I am going to take that stunned face as meaning you get my point. I will say this however; as long as you keep your mouth where your Ghost is, we should get along fine.

As a memento, I am going to keep a journal, like my idol Cayde-6. Reason? Since things upstairs come and go for us Exos, I've taken to recording whatever fragments surface here, as it's nice to get stuff down before it leaves again. Now [Standing Up], seeing that this menial conversation is over, you are going to go back over there, and tell Commander Zavala that I did as requested, and gave you a nice, friendly tour of the place, and that I am going back to work now on breaking Vex encryption okay? Great. See we are off to a great start already, now scram!

=Memory Fragments= "So let me get this straight; this guy is obsessed with the Vex. Yep I said it. Doesn't have a Ghost because he never died, but he walks around without any recollection of his past? Huh, I think he just took Eris' place as the creepiest Guardian to date. That's it, I am outta here! Too many odd people and things going on."

- - Cayde-6

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Memory Fragment/Fragment 1
I am falling into a vast desert. Everything is on fire. The ship's AI says damage sustained. Trajectory nominal. Collision inevitable. The voice is cold. It does not fear. For a brief moment, I admire it's lack of human emotion, it's inhumanity. But then, everything goes black. As the darkness engulfs me I can feel my memories fading, the shattered fragments scrambling, reshuffling. And then, I see myself, falling into an eternal abyss. Fragment/Terminal/Realigning....Wait! There is more, something taking shape. But there is something about it I do not like. The shape is me, but it carries the face of the abyss. It calls itself a shadow, but it whispers things, horrible things I do not understand. I flee, flee to the light which whispers too. Whispers words of hope - "It is time to return" - it says. "Return to the light."

Memory Fragment/Terminal/End Fragment }}

=Shattered Past=

Premise
Mankind's desire to explore the universe is rooted in our curiosity. But in Shattered Past, that inherent curiosity results in a terrible devastation. As humans attempt to prepare the planet Mars for human habitation after a failed colony on the Moon almost a century earlier, the terraforming process reveals ancient ruins and mysterious machines that lay dormant beneath the Martian sands for thousands of years. Soon after, humanity is attacked and driven back to Earth by a robot race hellbent on claiming the Solar System and the rest of the universe for themselves. Nearly three centuries later, you awaken as the protagonist near the wreckage of your crashed ship to find your memories shattered, and humanity scattered across the western part of the planet while their robotic foes control the eastern lands. Through your journey to unlock the secrets of your past, you will become involved in a battle to retake Earth, and to once more bring life and hope to the desolate lands of humanity's broken home. {{Scroll box|

Time Immemorial

 * The Primeval rise in a distant galaxy and expand far beyond their system's confines and across many other worlds, only to be destroyed centuries later in a terrible cosmic cataclysm that wipes out five hundred species, and shatters hundreds more.
 * The races who survived the cataclysm turned to warring for resources and control over their lost worlds. While others like the Primeval set out to find new worlds, and aboard a massive Warship called the Maelstrom Entropy the Primeval begin their exodus.
 * After twenty-thousand years in cryostasis, the Primeval come across the ancient Sol System. With their Warship, the Primeval conquered the Outer planets, before encountering the Sivian Empire on Jupiter where the Primeval destroyed five of the planet's seventy-two moons, forcing the Sivian to flee the void beyond.
 * Upon reaching the inner system, the Primeval encountere an alien force - they called the Cthulhu - almost immediately, the Primeval began to falter. To survive this new threat, the Primeval turned to new bodies in the form of the Primeval Cognitive which would prevent their corruption. In the wake of the war, the tenuous Martian atmosphere becomes unstable, it's lands becoming constantly plagued by violent sandstorms. Unable to maintain an effective base of operations on the planet in it's current state, the Primeval Cognitive create the Praetorians, who lay dormant beneath the deserts, until a time when they could summon their to finally complete their grand purpose - to reclaim the Solar System.
 * Thousands of years later, on the third planet from the sun - the first habitable planet since Mars - the human empire begins to rise.

Age of Humanity

 * Adam and Eve leave the Garden of Eden.
 * Clothing and shelter becomes commonplace.
 * The Flood.
 * First stone tools.
 * Modern Humans leave the Cradle of Humanity in Ethiopia and begin to migrate worldwide.
 * Metalworking becomes commonplace.
 * First civilization in the Mesopotamian region.
 * Invention of the wheel.
 * First written language. Early ziggurats built.
 * The Pyramids of Giza are built.
 * Stonehenge is constructed in England.
 * Moses leads the Israelites out of Egypt.
 * Jesus Christ of Nazareth is born.
 * Jesus Christ rises from the grave.
 * The Roman Coliseum is completed.
 * The Fall of Rome.
 * The Middle Ages.
 * The Crusades
 * The Age of Enlightenment
 * The United States of America is formed after a 13 year war with Britain.
 * James Bowman Lindsey invents and uses the first incandescent light bulb.
 * The son of Charles Babbage completes construction of his father’s design for the first computer.
 * First manned flight is conducted by Orville and Wilbur Wright.
 * The first nuclear bomb is tested in New Mexico, codenamed “Trinity”.
 * The Soviet Union launches the first satellite, Sputnik 1.
 * The Soviet Union achieve the first successful moon landing.
 * The Soviet probe Venera 3 is the first manmade object to land on Venus.
 * Neil Armstrong is hired to fake the first man on the moon.
 * Soviet Union land an unmanned lander on Mars.
 * Voyager 1 launched.
 * Voyager 1 breaks the heliopause.

21st Century

 * The International Bureau of Aeronautics is established on Earth.
 * Colony Pods are designed to transport colonists and supplies to destination worlds as well as acting as temporary surface shelters.
 * The first human outpost on the moon is established, but is abandoned shortly after, a result of the satellite's low gravity and lack of atmosphere.

22nd Century

 * The Red_Eden Project is initiated, and an exoscience company tasked with solving the challenges of reshaping many of the Solar System's formerly inhospitable worlds into sustainable earthlike environments is subsequently formed.
 * Early prototypes of atmospheric processors are developed.
 * The International Bureau of Aeronautics begins work on a still theoretical form of Faster-than-Light travel called the Cosmodrive.
 * The colony ship RED EDEN is launched.

23rd Century

 * During the initial terraformation of Mars, dust storms reveal the presence of ancient Praetorian ruins on the planet. After the reactivation of their dormant units buried within the planet, the Praetorians lay claim to Mars and begin attacking humanity, pushing it back to its homeworld, Earth.
 * The Praetorians invade Earth. In Europe, ths results in the creation of the Overmind Hull. It organizes a series of invasions.
 * War Drones are created to help combat the Praetorians.

24th Century

 * Due to mounting losses against the Praetorians, Earth's national governments issue a statement in which all organized combat operations in the eastern continent are officially terminated.
 * With all of Eurasia being declared off-limits, the Americas become the only safe haven for humanity. A Praetorian Convergent Hull known as the Invasive Conductor, attempts to lead an invasion of the former North American Nation, but is destroyed, and the Praetorians return to Europe.
 * As humanity's armies struggle to keep the frontier from Praetorian incursion, it's civilian population becomes engulfed in a bloody civil war over their civilization's ruins before achieving a tenuous peace in which many survivors attempt to form colonies in the wilderness, all the while keeping a watchful eye on the east.

25th Century

 * To manage governance across the scattered human colonies as well as to ensure their security from warlords and other threats, the Protectorate is established, and array stations to maintain communications with these colonies are constructed in a defense program overseen by the Protectorate's higher-ups known as the "Iron Line".
 * The Terraformer is created and tasked with overseeing an experimental project involving the use of nanomachines to convert matter into nano-mechanical surrogates. Allowing the Praetorians the manipulation of matter on extremely small scales.
 * The Overmind Hull initiates a series of campaigns against human settlements beyond the Iron Line to claim more ground for the Terraformer's operations. As a result, the Praetorians begin swarming across the wastelands, aggressively seeking out and attacking human occupied territories.

Base Game
Earth }}
 * Having survived a Praetorian incursion, you attempt to escape the onslaught but your ship is shot down and crashes in The Desert. A group of Rangers investigating a distant colony that recently dropped out of contact with the Iron Line, see the downing of your craft, and rescue you from it's burning debris. Remembering little about your past before the crash, and stranded otherwise, you join the Rangers following a brief meeting, and after fending off a Praetorian scouting mission along the way, arrive at the colony only to find the remote settlement destroyed, and under Praetorian occupation.
 * After helping eliminate the Praetorian presence at the colony, and wanting to help, you aid the Rangers in reactivating a series of dormant tracking sensors and learn that a Permutative Hull known as the Terraformer has begun isolating the lands for experimentation in an effort to transform the region in order to make it more suitable for Praetorian operations.
 * Together with the Rangers, you journey into the Cyberlands and defeat the Praetorian construct before subsequently destroying a network of machine units being used to augment the landscape. Claiming the area and it's mysterious technology for study.
 * Returning to the Overwatch with the Rangers, you are invited to attend a discussion concerning the mysterious Praetorian behavior, and Commander Fenrir becomes convinced to strike back at their forces. Soon after, you join Fenrir's rallied army of Rangers to attack the Praetorians near the colonies. His campaign is successful and Praetorian attacks on the human settlements temporarily abate.
 * While establishing another network of tracking sensors across the five miles of territory reclaimed during the offensive, you survey an abandoned military facility known as Carrhae, and discover an AI. The AI points to a location in Old Europe, The War Bunker.
 * Lacking the materials necessary to supply a convoy to Europe, you lead a team-based exploration in the gathering of enough resources to repower the old Dropships.
 * You are then deployed together with a team of Rangers to disable a set of gun platforms, after the assault convoy assembled by Fenrir is thwarted by the Praetorian defenses. After which, you find transport at a broken hangar nearby, allowing you to make it to the Praetorian stronghold.
 * Upon reaching the AI's coordinates, you recover a transmission among the corpses of a dead team from [], emanating from within the base, warning that a Praetorian Hull of impossible capabilities dwells within. You venture into the base and after finding and rescuing [], fight alongside him against the Overmind Hull. Finally defeating the Praetorian command nexus, and dealing a massive blow to the machine hivemind.

Compendium of the Crux Monith
"For all of the bad rumors, he has been fairly helpful in recovering a substantial portion of the Crux Monith. Secretive to some extent yes, but for the most part, he would make a brilliant Cryptarch!"

- - Master Rahool

The Compendium of the Crux Monith is a collection of cryptic excerpts and fragments detailing both Primeval history, that of the human race, and to some extent, even that of other races as well, stretching back millions of years. The Monith is divided into chapters known as Chronicles and individual verses known as Numbers.

I: Chronicle of the Cataclysm
First Number of the Cataclysm's Chronicle: ''A distant galaxy. Hundreds of star systems stretch across the black like a giant tapestry, woven from the harsh light of unfamiliar and distant suns, each system holding it's own unique forms of life. One of these systems hosts a highly sophisticated starfaring civilization which will eventually come to expand far beyond the systems confines and across many other worlds. They are primeval.''

Second Number of the Cataclysm's Chronicle: ''The cry of many moons, the cry of death. The terrible cataclysm that overtook them was swift and total. Though it shattered the Primeval civilization and many others like it, they were counted among the fortunate, for they had survived the apocalypse. Five hundred species, wiped from the face of history. races who's memory re would be remembered no more. As for those who survived; they turned to warring for resources and control over their lost worlds. Other however, set out to find new worlds, and aboard a massive Warship; they called the Maelstrom Entropy the Primeval began their exodus.

Third Number of the Cataclysm's Chronicle: ''Twenty-thousand years in cryostasis, before they finally found the Sol System. A nest of little worlds scarred by the cataclysm. Scarred indeed, but nevertheless such scars could be healed. Therefore with their Warship, the Primeval took the Gas Giants from those who inhabited them, and when the Sivian Star Fleet attacked the Entropy from their lord of worlds-Jupiter- the Primeval responded by destroying five of the planet's seventy-two moons. Forcing the Sivian to flee, flee into the void beyond.''

Fourth Number of the Cataclysm's Chronicle: ''Upon reaching the inner system, the Primeval encountered something new. An alien force - they called the Cthulhu - that came up from the dust. It burrowed into the flesh, and the first shape was made anew. Almost immediately, the Primeval began to falter. To survive this new threat, the Primeval turning to new bodies in the form of the Primeval Cognitive, cybernetic forms which would prevent their corruption, and so their quest continued, and Mars was won, but victory is always costly. In the wake of the war, the tenuous Martian atmosphere became unstable, it's lands becoming constantly plagued by violent sandstorms. Unable to maintain an effective base of operations on the planet in it's current state, the Primeval Cognitive created the Praetorians, who lay dormant beneath the deserts, until a time when they could summon their creators through giant portals to finally complete their grand purpose - to reclaim the Solar System.

Fifth Number of the Cataclysm's Chronicle: ''Thousands of years later, on the third planet from the Star of Sol - the first habitable planet since Mars - a new empire begins to rise; those who call themselves homonids. The Age of Man, has begun.

II: Chronicle of the Centuries
First Number of the Centuries' Chronicle: ''As space exploration became increasingly compelling during the later half of the 21st century, colonization operations required international cooperation and assistance in order to effectively conduct territorial expansion throughout the Solar System. The International Bureau of Aeronautics was formed at this time, an organization that contributed immensely to furthering the quality of space travel engineering, and in less than ten years, had already designed the first iterations of Colony Pods. By the end of the century, humanity had established it's first lunar colony. Despite this categorical success however, the effort did not solve the Moon's issues regarding it's low gravity and lack of atmosphere, resulting in the eventual abandonment of the human outpost.'' - An recovered from the Bekenstein Encyclopedia of World History

Second Number of the Centuries' Chronicle: ''Around the turn of the 21st century the Red_Eden Project is initiated, and an exoscience company tasked with solving the challenges of reshaping many of the Solar System's formerly inhospitable worlds into sustainable earthlike environments was subsequently formed. In the following years, the bio-corporation had already completed an early prototype of atmospheric processor, and the International Bureau of Aeronautics began work on a still theoretical form of Faster-than-Light travel called the Cosmodrive. Half a century later, advancements in terraforming technologies and new forms of interplanetary travel paved the way for the launch of the first colony ship - to initiate the preparation of the planet Mars for human habitation.'' - An article recovered from the Bekenstein Encyclopedia of World History

Third Number of the Centuries' Chronicle: ''As the Martian atmosphere began to form in the early part of the 23rd century, dust storms revealed the presence of ancient ruins on the planet, and after the reactivation of dormant Praetorian units buried within, the Praetorians lay claim to Mars and began attacking humanity, pushing it back to its homeworld, Earth. Subsequently, the Praetorians invaded Earth, in Europe this resulted in the creation of the Overmind Hull who organized a series of invasions, and initiated a century-long war in which non-sentient war drones were created to help combat the Praetorians.'' - An article recovered from the Bekenstein Encyclopedia of World History

Fourth Number of the Centuries' Chronicle: ''Due to mounting losses against the Praetorians during the 24th century, Earth's national governments issued a statement in which all organized combat operations in the eastern continent were officially terminated. With all of Eurasia being declared off-limits, the Americas would become the only safe haven for humanity. Later, a Praetorian Convergent Hull known as the Invasive Conductor, lead an invasion of the former North American Nation, but was destroyed, and the Praetorians returned to the east. As humanity's armies struggled to keep the frontier from Praetorian incursion, it's civilian population became engulfed in a bloody civil war over their civilization's ruins before achieving a tenuous peace in which many survivors attempted to form colonies, all the while keeping a watchful eye on the east.'' - An article recovered from the Bekenstein Encyclopedia of World History

Fifth Number of the Centuries Chronicle: ''To manage governance across the scattered human colonies as well as to ensure their security from warlords and other threats, the Protectorate was established, and array stations to maintain communications with these colonies were constructed in a defense program overseen by the Protectorate's higher-ups known as the "Iron Line". In Europe, it is believed that a Permutative Hull known the Terraformer was created, and tasked with overseeing an experimental project involving the use of nanomachines that would convert matter into nano-mechanical surrogates, allowing the Praetorians the manipulation of matter on extremely small scales. In light of this project, the Overmind Hull initiated a series of campaigns against human settlements beyond the Iron Line to claim more ground for the Terraformer's operations. As a result, the Praetorians would begin swarming across the wastelands, aggressively seeking out and attacking human occupied territories.'' - An article recovered from the Bekenstein Encyclopedia of World History

III: Chronicle of the Enemy
First Number of the Enemy's Chronicle: ''After thousands of years in dormancy, the Praetorians have begun to awaken. Having waited for the planets of Sol to heal from the wounds left by a terrible cosmic cataclysm, a great purpose begins. Now, on the desert world of Mars - a planet thought long-bereft of all life - dormant units reactivate, commencing a slow process of revivification that will see the eradication of the human race.''

Second Number of the Enemy's Chronicle: ''The Overmind is a Praetorian hull that contains global instances of superordinate goal sets meaning that the Overmind Hull can plan and coordinate Praetorian action against human forces on a global scale. It's current operational plan appears to involve an attritional campaign of aggressively seeking out and destroying humanity's presence on Earth, supplemented by disruptive albeit minor, invasions of territory, claiming them for the Terraformer's enigmatic purposes.''

Third Number of the Enemy's Chronicle: ''The Terraformer is a Praetorian construct created to oversee a mysterious and unknown experiment on Earth which would presumably result in the transformation of the planet as well as the other planets of Sol, into ones suitable to the Praetorians. According to the data collected from the Cyberlands, the Praetorians were using advanced nanotechnology to augment the landscape. If they succeed in this project, Earth will become a manipulable world, meaning the Praetorians can shift and change it at will. Perhaps this is their goal, to control their environment, or maybe they are simply the remnants of a civilization shattered by war and by chance, and one that now seeks to make anew the scarred worlds of the universe to their liking.''

Fourth Number of the Enemy's Chronicle: ''Permutative Hulls are specialized Praetorian units usually charged with preparing different region for Praetorian occupation. Harbingers of death, should you come across a Permutative Hull, know that death and destruction follow in it's wake.

Fifth Number of the Enemy's Chronicle: ''Convergent Hulls are mobile foundries who act as heavy infantry machines when protecting sectors and stand out among their troops, leading the attack. If you want to break the ranks of the Praetorians, take out their Convergent Hulls.''

Sixth Number of the Enemy's Chronicle: Coalescent Hulls are the field commanders of the Praetorians. When a Coalescent Hull is in the vicinity, it is usually a good idea to flee if you are not armed.

Seventh Number of the Enemy's Chronicle: Superordinate Hulls lead AeroHull Flocks on patrols and scouting missions across the wastes, feeding central processors like the Terraformer, topographical data, enemy positions, and are usually the first to strike.

Eight Number of the Enemy's Chronicle: Subordinate Hulls are right above the regular Hull in that they act as Commandos during battle, taking out high value enemy targets when necessary. Though a single unit can be dispatched quickly, Subordinate Hulls rarely travel alone.

Ninth Number of the Enemy's Chronicle: Hulls are the what make up the standard infantry of the Praetorian armies. However individual Hulls struggle with latency as they may crash at times and are unable to hold much long term memory.

IV: Chronicle of the Shattered Past
The Crash: ''Birthed through metal and flame, who you were before or how you crashed in the sands of this vast desert is a story for another time. You have been reborn. Unlock the secrets of your past, embrace your new path, forge a new future.

The Terraformer:

The Mantle, Fifth Permutation of the Didact's Number