Exo: Difference between revisions

The Exos were designed and built during humanity's Golden Age by the [[Clovis Bray (corporation)|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, characterized by loss of sapience and seizure-like involuntary movements, culminating in a state analogous to brain death. This problem eventually claimed the life of [[Clovis Bray II]] after he was uploaded into an exomind format.

Following the discovery of the [[Anomaly (artifact)|K1 artifact]] and the paracausal force [[Clovis Bray I]] called "[[Darkness|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 [[radiolaria|radiolarian fluid]] and observing its synergy with "Clarity", Clovis I discovered that introducing "Clarity"-altered radiolarian fluid, deemed "[[Alkahest]]", to an exomind's hardware miraculously solved the "loop/billboard/crash" problem. However, even this solution was not permanent, as the new generation of Exos fell victim to Dissociative Exomind Rejection.

Clovis I discovered that DER could be staved off by two methods. The first was the "reboot", wiping the mind's memories post-transfer so that it would not remember its old body and so better accept the new one. Despite the term "reboot", also referred to as "resets" or "memory wipes", the process did not actually remove memories and only blocked off associative access to them (as memory engrams were stored in too many areas of the brain to easily locate and delete). 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. As reboots did not technically remove any memories, Exos sometimes remembered traces of them, especially for Guardians and some can gain access to these buried memories by purposefully dying or killing themselves. By default, Exos had a number appended to their names that signified the number of reboots they had experienced, with the original human used as the zero-index. Hence, the human Lucas would be followed by the Exo Lucas-1, Lucas-2 after one reset, etc. This number was stored in the Exo's memory as hardware, and so could not be forgotten.

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, as without routine feedback from bodily processes the Exo would become convinced those processes had failed and develop severe [[wikipedia:Cotard delusion|Cotard delusion]]. 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]], Playstation 4, Activision Blizzard, [[Lore]]: [[Lore:The_Man_They_Call_Cayde#Turn|The Man They Call Cayde]]''</ref>