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| {{Under construction}} | | {{Under construction}} |
| {{Conjectural title}} | | {{Conjectural title}} |
| {{about|the ancient species that formed the Witness|the Vex Subtype|Precursors}} | | {{about|the ancient race that formed the Witness|the Vex Subtype|Precursors}} |
| {{Race infobox | | {{Race infobox |
| |name=Precursors | | |name=Precursors |
| |image=[[File:Witness Species.png|300px]] | | |image=[[File:Witness Species.png|300px]] |
| |focalworld(s)=[[System R-3TN-PLRMA]] | | |othernames= |
| |goals=Finding purpose in the [[The Traveler|Traveler]] {{c|formerly}} <br> Define different interpretations of the [[Final Shape]] {{c|formerly}} | | |variant= |
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| |distinctions=Pale white skin | | |distinctions=Pale white skin |
| |notable-group=[[Bountiful]] <br> [[Consensus (Precursor)|Consensus]] <br> [[Penitent]] <br> [[Nihilist]] <br> [[Solipsist]] | | |lifespan= |
| | |notable-group=[[Consensus (Precursor)|Consensus]] <br> [[Penitent]] <br> [[Nihilist]] <br> [[Solipsist]] |
| |notable-person=[[HNW047622]] <br> [[RS6243199]] | | |notable-person=[[HNW047622]] <br> [[RS6243199]] |
| }} | | }} |
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| The '''Precursors''' were an ancient humanoid species, believed to be the first to be blessed by the [[The Traveler|Traveler]]. However, despite enjoying a Golden Age that lasted for eons, they gradually grew dissatisfied with the Traveler's lack of communication and guidance, and began to crave meaning and purpose. As a result, they sought to enforce meaning and purpose upon the universe, and eventually discovered another paracausal entity, the [[The Veil|Veil]], which held the means to achieve this goal. Upon attempting to combine the Veil's Darkness with the Traveler's Light and remake the universe into a [[Final Shape]], the Traveler fled their homeworld. The Precursors then used the Veil's power to shed their corporeal forms and merge themselves into a single, unfathomably powerful Darkness-wielding being: the [[the Witness|Witness]]. | | The '''Precursors''' are an ancient species that first discovered [[the Traveler]]. However, despite being ushered into a Golden Age, they grew dissatisfied with the Traveler's lack of communication and the chaotic nature of the Light, and so sought its [[The Veil|opposite]]. When the Traveler fled their world after the Precursors attempted to merge it with the Veil, they used the latter's power to merge themselves into a single being - [[the Witness]] - to bring the universe to a [[Final Shape]]. |
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| ==Overview== | | ==Overview== |
| {{Expand-section}}
| | In ancient times, the Precursors were once a nomadic people who trekked through the desert of a desolate world for survival. However, they would enter a Golden Age after discovering a large white orb buried in the sand they would call [[The Traveler|the Gardener]]. The Gardener terraformed the deserts into fertile deltas and lush gardens and gifted the Precursors with the means of building great cities and ships that let them travel to other worlds that they could terraform themselves. |
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| The Precursors were tall, humanoid beings, very similar in overall appearance to humans. In all images or depictions that are currently available, members of the Precursors are shown wearing veils or other full-body coverings, and thus most of their features are currently unknown; assuming that the Witness largely resembles the Precursors which merged themselves to create it, they seem to have had large, dark eyes, a hairless and earless head with a slight horizontal ridge at the back of the skull, and a small nose that lacked nostrils.
| | However, despite all they had been given these gifts, the Precursors desired meaning and guidance from the Gardener but it never spoke to them. In time, they began to see the [[Light]] the Gardener provided as a source of chaos. As such, the Precursors sought a "Winnower" to shape the garden and began to idealize a "[[Final Shape]]" |
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| ==History==
| | In time, various factions of Precursors would form under a consensus, all with their own interpretations of how to enact the Final Shape. The '''Solipist''' believed that one's self is the only existing "Final Shape" in this reality and all other realities. The '''Rendolent''', who were described as "self-flagellating pessimists", believed that the Final Shape would only be brought upon by their own destruction. The '''Penitent''' desired to rid the universe of all suffering by any means and believed that anyone who did not act to do so was complicit in its repetitive cycle. Two other groups known as the '''Bountiful''', who had erroneously destroyed themselves with the Gardener's gifts, and the '''Primacy''', who had used the Gardener's gifts for subjugation, were mentioned to have existed. However, it is unclear if they were factions of the Precursors or separate races previously blessed by the Gardener. |
| ===Origin===
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| Billions of years ago, the Precursors were a nomadic people who trekked through the desert of their desolate homeworld. At some point, they discovered [[Traveler|an enormous white orb]] buried in the sand, which subsequently activated and terraformed their planet into a lush garden world; they called this entity "the Gardener", and began to worship it as a deity.<ref name="Origin">[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0CKckjryVI'''YouTube''' - ''Destiny 2: Season of the Deep - The Witness's Origins Cinematic'']</ref><ref>'''Bungie (2024/6/4)''', ''[[Destiny 2]]: [[The Final Shape]] - [[The Traveler#Visions of the Traveler|Visions of the Traveler]]: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvwWQjx8FwI Ninth Vision]''</ref>
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| The Gardener gave the Precursors a Golden Age that lasted for millions of years, transforming the deserts into fertile deltas and lush gardens, and gifting its patrons with the means to build great cities and ships that let them travel to other worlds that they could then terraform themselves.<ref>'''[[Entelechy]]''', ''[[Entelechy#Scribe Archive XI-2-4A|1-2]]''</ref> However, despite their prosperity, the Precursors eventually became dissatisfied with the Gardener's silence, as they desired a higher purpose to guide their existence. They also came to view the [[Light]] as a chaotic and capricious force, capable of taking life just as easily as it could create it; two factions within the Precursor civilization, the '''[[Bountiful]]''' and the '''[[Primacy]]''', are recorded as having misused the Gardener's gifts to the detriment of themselves or others, reinforcing the Precursors' view of the Light as being a fundamentally amoral force.<ref name="6-11">'''[[Entelechy]]''', ''[[Entelechy#Scribe Archive XI-9-2C|6-11]]''</ref> As a result, the Precursors sought a "Winnower," something that could select a just and righteous purpose from the infinite choices of their open-ended existence, and began to idealize a "[[Final Shape]]" toward which their civilization could strive.<ref name="Origin"/><ref>'''Bungie (2024/6/4)''', ''[[Destiny 2]]: [[The Final Shape]] - [[The Traveler#Visions of the Traveler|Visions of the Traveler]]: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qc48r_h88pA Tenth Vision]''</ref>
| | When Precursors Scholars discovered an entity with a connection to the Gardener known as [[The Veil]], they claimed it. They began studying it, eventually discovering the power of [[Darkness]], which had their means to carve away the chaos of existence and calcify it into the Final Shape. But, when they attempted to link the Veil to the Gardener to strengthen the connection between them and allow them to shape reality to their idealized state. However, the Gardener fled from their word as it was unwilling to allow this. |
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| In time, various factions arose within the Precursors' governing body, the Consensus, each with their own conception of the Final Shape. The '''[[Solipsist]]s''' believed that the self was the only true "Final Shape", whereas the '''[[Nihilist]]s''' believed that the Final Shape would only be achieved through their own destruction.<ref name="6-11"/> The '''[[Penitent]]''' desired to rid the universe of all suffering by any means, and believed that anyone who did not act to do so was complicit in its endless cycle.<ref name="6-11"/> Eventually, the Penitent became the dominant faction within the Consensus.<ref name="32-25"/>
| | Unwilling to give up in their pursuit of the Final Shape, the Precursors, now fully under the control of the Penitent after eliminating both the Rendolent and Solipists, would use the powers of Darkness to merge their minds into a single being, one that would be both incredibly powerful and incapable of doubt or dissent in its goal of the Final Shape. This being would come to be known as [[The Witness]]. |
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| The Precursors eventually discovered another paracausal entity in a distant star system, which they called the [[The Veil|Veil]]. The Veil appeared to be a counterpart to the Gardener, but where the Gardener's Light could reshape physical reality, the [[Darkness|power]] associated with the Veil was linked with thoughts, memory and emotion. The Precursors determined that by combining the powers of the Veil and the Gardener, they could bring their conception of the Final Shape into the physical world, carving away the chaos of existence and calcifying it into an eternal, timeless state, free of even the possibility of suffering. However, when they brought the Veil back to their homeworld to form a link between it and the Gardener, the Gardener fled from their world.<ref name="Origin"/>
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| Unwilling to abandon their pursuit of the Final Shape, the Precursors used the power of the Veil to merge their minds into a single, unfathomably powerful Darkness-wielding entity, guided by a unified, unwavering will: the [[the Witness|Witness]].<ref name="Origin"/><ref name="32-25">'''[[Entelechy]]''', ''[[Entelechy#Scribe Archive XI-23-1C|32-35]]''</ref><ref>'''Bungie (2024/6/4)''', ''[[Destiny 2]]: [[The Final Shape]] - [[The Traveler#Visions of the Traveler|Visions of the Traveler]]: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2ZQQWnz7Fg Eleventh Vision]''</ref> In at least one location, the process of creating the Witness took the form of a ritualistic ceremony where the participants cloaked themselves in cloth veils, standing in a circle and chanting in unison until their consciousnesses departed their bodies to merge in the Darkness;<ref name="Dissent">'''Bungie (2024/6/4)''', ''[[Destiny 2]]: [[The Final Shape]] - [[Dissent]]''</ref> another depiction portrayed the Precursors as dismembering themselves and piling their body parts upon an altar.<ref name="Origin"/>
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| ===Dissenters===
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| At the start of its journey, the Witness' component minds were more or less completely unified in their goal of finding the Gardener, free of doubt or dissent. However, as time went on, many within the collective began to question or regret their decision to create the Witness, as they watched it perpetrate countless massacres and genocides out of a desire to "correct" the needless profusion of life (and therefore suffering) left in the wake of the Traveler.<ref>'''Bungie (2024/6/4)''', ''[[Destiny 2]]: [[The Final Shape]] - [[Lore:The Rubicon|The Rubicon]]: [[Lore:The_Rubicon#Phlegethon_II|Phlegethon II]]''</ref> These '''Dissenters''' were sequestered by the Witness away from the rest of its collective consciousness, with the intent to reintegrate them during the creation of the Final Shape.<ref name="Dissent"/>
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| ==Architecture==
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| From what can be gathered from the Guardians' explorations of the Black Fleet and the Witness' own memories reconstructed within the Pale Heart, the Precursors favored relatively simple architectural forms, especially pyramids, obelisks or other similarly monolithic styles. Most of their buildings appear to have been constructed of slate-like stone, either matte black or stark white in color.
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| ==List of appearences== | | ==List of appearences== |
