Exo: Difference between revisions

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(Moved a paragraph from history to overview, noted that there are exceptions to Exos having previously been human)
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==History==
==History==
The Exos were built during humanity's Golden Age for a long forgotten struggle, possibly against the Vex, with the purpose of protecting their creators. [[Rasputin]] was once involved in their command, a fact that some Exos dimly remember. The conflict itself has long been forgotten and the Exo remain ciphers, even to themselves, for their purpose has been forgotten as well. But there is one clue to their origins; many Exos experience a dream they call [[Deep Stone Crypt]], or the "place where they were born." It is described as "the infamous subroutine which seeded the first Exo consciousness." [[Cayde-6]]'s memories stretch further, where he recalls being a human before travelling to [[Europa]] to become an Exo, as he "came there in flesh and bone. Gave everything to the ice. Started over. Rebooted."<ref name="Treasure Island Book"/><ref name="SoA and Beyond Light reveal"/>
===Origins===
The Exos were designed and built during humanity's Golden Age by the Clovis Bray corporation. The original intent of the project was to develop a durable, synthetic housing for an uploaded human consciousness (an "exomind"), which would effectively render humans immortal. However, early exominds fell victim to a degenerative process termed the "loop/billboard/crash" cycle, which would result in loss of subjective experience and seizure-like involuntary movements. This problem eventually claimed the life of Clovis Bray II after he was uploaded into an exomind format.


The Exo is a robotic body with an uploaded human consciousness. The technology to encode the latter into the former was developed by Clovis Bray. This existence is not naturally sustainable; early Exos suffered from a condition known as Dissociative Exomind Rejection (DER), a serious and ultimately fatal cognitive disorder caused by the human mind rejecting its new body.
Following the discovery of the K1 artifact and the paracausal force Clovis Bray I called "Clarity", Clovis I mounted an expedition to Europa to find the secret of immortality promised to him by "Clarity". There, under the instructions of a mysterious entity he called "Clarity Control", Clovis I stole a Vex from the Ishtar Collective and used it to build a gate to a distant star system. Upon studying samples of Vex radiolarian fluid and observing its synergy with "Clarity", Clovis I discovered that introducing "Clarity"-altered radiolarian fluid to an exomind's hardware miraculously solved the "loop/billboard/crash" problem.


Clovis Bray discovered that DER could be staved off by two particular methods. The first was the "reboot", erasing the mind's memories post-transfer so that it would not remember its old body and so better accept the new one. While effective, it was not a cure, and the reboot procedure would often be repeated several times over the Exo's life. It would also be used for functional purposes, such as restoring Exos whose minds had become "compromised". Successive reboots cumulatively eroded an Exo's mind and their ability to retain any memories at all, with excessive numbers of reboots causing insanity.<ref name="SoWLegacyPt2">'''Bungie (2020/3/10)''', ''[[Destiny 2]]: [[Season of the Worthy]], Playstation 4, Activision Blizzard, [[Weblore]]: [[Weblore#Legacy_Pt_2|Legacy Pt 2]]''</ref> Clovis Bray estimated that the maximum number of times an Exo could be safely rebooted was around 20. Not all reboots completely remove past memories, though, especially for Guardians and some can gain access to these buried memories by purposefully dying or killing themselves. Every Exo has a number appended to their name that signifies the number of reboots they have experienced.
However, even this solution was not permanent, as the new generation of Exos fell victim to Dissociative Exomind Rejection (DER), a serious and ultimately fatal cognitive disorder caused by the human mind rejecting its new body.
 
The Clovis Bray corporation later discovered that DER could be staved off by two particular methods. The first was the "reboot", erasing the mind's memories post-transfer so that it would not remember its old body and so better accept the new one. While effective, it was not a cure, and the reboot procedure would often be repeated several times over the Exo's life. It would also be used for functional purposes, such as restoring Exos whose minds had become "compromised". Successive reboots cumulatively eroded an Exo's mind and their ability to retain any memories at all, with excessive numbers of reboots causing insanity.<ref name="SoWLegacyPt2">'''Bungie (2020/3/10)''', ''[[Destiny 2]]: [[Season of the Worthy]], Playstation 4, Activision Blizzard, [[Weblore]]: [[Weblore#Legacy_Pt_2|Legacy Pt 2]]''</ref> Clovis Bray estimated that the maximum number of times an Exo could be safely rebooted was around 20. Not all reboots completely remove past memories, though, especially for Guardians and some can gain access to these buried memories by purposefully dying or killing themselves. Every Exo has a number appended to their name that signifies the number of reboots they have experienced.


The second method Clovis Bray used to prevent DER was to introduce familiar organic conceits into the Exo's mechanical body, such as the drive to eat or reproduce. While these "humanisms" were not functionally necessary, they nevertheless reduced the chances of DER developing. The "humanisms" may extend to certain sensations of discomfort, such as nausea or physical exertion, as Cayde-6 has demonstrated on occasion, though he is not a reliable source.<ref>'''Bungie (2017/8/9)''', ''[[Destiny 2]]: Playstation 4, Activision Blizzard, [[Looped]]''</ref><ref>'''Bungie (2017/8/9)''', ''[[Destiny 2]]: Playstation 4, Activision Blizzard, [[Exodus Crash]]''</ref><ref>'''Bungie (2019/10/1)''', ''[[Destiny 2]]: [[Shadowkeep]], Playstation 4, Activision Blizzard, [[Never Live It Down]]''</ref> It is not possible for an Exo to become intoxicated by alcohol, however.<ref>'''Bungie (2018/9/4)''', ''[[Destiny 2]]: [[Forsaken (expansion)|Forsaken]], Playstation 4, Activision Blizzard, [[Lore]]: [[Lore:The_Man_They_Call_Cayde#Turn|The Man They Call Cayde]]''</ref>
The second method Clovis Bray used to prevent DER was to introduce familiar organic conceits into the Exo's mechanical body, such as the drive to eat or reproduce. While these "humanisms" were not functionally necessary, they nevertheless reduced the chances of DER developing. The "humanisms" may extend to certain sensations of discomfort, such as nausea or physical exertion, as Cayde-6 has demonstrated on occasion, though he is not a reliable source.<ref>'''Bungie (2017/8/9)''', ''[[Destiny 2]]: Playstation 4, Activision Blizzard, [[Looped]]''</ref><ref>'''Bungie (2017/8/9)''', ''[[Destiny 2]]: Playstation 4, Activision Blizzard, [[Exodus Crash]]''</ref><ref>'''Bungie (2019/10/1)''', ''[[Destiny 2]]: [[Shadowkeep]], Playstation 4, Activision Blizzard, [[Never Live It Down]]''</ref> It is not possible for an Exo to become intoxicated by alcohol, however.<ref>'''Bungie (2018/9/4)''', ''[[Destiny 2]]: [[Forsaken (expansion)|Forsaken]], Playstation 4, Activision Blizzard, [[Lore]]: [[Lore:The_Man_They_Call_Cayde#Turn|The Man They Call Cayde]]''</ref>
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