Exo

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Exo
Grimoire Exo.jpg
Overview

Homeworld:

Europa [1][2]
Earth

Focal world(s):

Earth

Goals:

Revive the Traveler
Reclaim the Solar System
Rebuild civilization

At war with:

Cabal
Fallen
Hive
Taken
Vex

Distinctions:

Self-aware humanoid machines

Average lifespan:

Indefinite

Notable group(s):

Clovis Bray
Guardians
Iron Lords
Ishtar Collective
House of Salvation

Notable individual(s):

Cayde-6
Saint-14
Lord Felwinter
Ada-1
Shiro-4
Atraks-1

 

"Ask yourself: what threatened your Golden Age ancestors so much that they constructed the Exos to defend themselves?"
— Grimoire card blurb

Exominds [3] (or simply Exos as they are more commonly known) are self-aware humanoid machines built by humanity in the Golden Age[4].

Overview

Unlike mass-produced robotic frames, Exos are human minds uploaded in artificial bodies; with the notable exception of Felwinter, each and every Exo was a human before. The uploading technology was developed by Clovis Bray corporation during the Golden Age; many Exos come from the mysterious Deep Stone Crypt on Europa. Exo names typically include the number of memory-wiping "reboots" of their brain, e.g. Cayde-6 or Saint-14. While not being biologically "alive", Exos retain many human qualities and habits; just like any living being, they have Light of their own, and can die and be revived by a Ghost.

The Exos were the brainchildren of Clovis Bray, [3], which originally developed them as a means for humans to attain immortality. During the Collapse, the Exos' memories were shattered [5] and nearly all knowledge of their origins lost as well. In the Dark Age that followed, the Exos helped build the Last City alongside their organic brethren, with many going on to become Guardians. [4]

The Exos were once involved in an ancient conflict, and 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."[1][2]

Exos appear unyielding and tireless, to the point that appearing exhausted is often considered impressive for an Exo.[6] Mechanically, they are so advanced that only a Ghost can comprehend their inner workings. In many ways, Exos like to think of themselves as human, or having human minds in machine bodies. Exos can also confuse armor they wear for part of their own body, which leads to a feeling of being naked.[7]

Exos are subject to a number of unique medical conditions, being Dissociative Exomind Rejection (DER) and spontaneous Exo reset syndrome.[8] The former is a serious and ultimately fatal cognitive disorder caused by the human mind rejecting its new body, and the latter is an involuntary self-reset that can occur without any immediately apparent cause or warning.

History

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, 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 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, 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.[9] 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 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.[10][11][12] It is not possible for an Exo to become intoxicated by alcohol, however.[13]

During the development of the Exo creation process, Clovis Bray founded the Europan colony of Eventide to house clients awaiting uploading, and the resulting Exos.

Post-Collapse

After the Collapse, many Exos survived and would go on to participate in the founding of the Last City. Many would also be resurrected by the Ghosts to become Guardians. Even among non-Guardian Exos, virtually all memories of their origins and the Collapse appear to have been lost over the course of multiple memory wipes; an exception is Ada-1, whose memory has never been wiped.

Known Exos

Trivia

  • During their presentation at the 2013 Game Developers Conference, Joseph Staten and Christopher Barrett revealed the Exos as a playable race and described them as being "sinister, powerful, and tireless war machines".[15]
  • Exos were stated to be emotionless in a preview.[16] Game interactions appear to contradict this.[17]
    • In fact, some lore material released around Season of the Worthy implies that it is uncommon for an Exo to even have very little emotion.[18][19]
  • Exos are able to eat and drink despite being machines - and not having stomachs.[20]
  • Some options for Exo player customization lack visible eyes.

Gallery

List of appearances

References

  1. ^ a b Cayde's Treasure Island Book
  2. ^ a b YouTube: Destiny 2 Reveal - 6/9 @ 9am Pacific
  3. ^ a b Bungie (2018/5/8), Destiny 2: Warmind, Playstation 4, Activision Blizzard, Scan: Core Terminus, Mars
  4. ^ a b Bungie (2014/9/9), Destiny: Playstation 4, Activision Blizzard, Grimoire: Exo
  5. ^ Bungie (2014/9/9), Destiny: Playstation 4, Activision Blizzard, Grimoire: Ghost Fragment: The Dark Age
  6. ^ Bungie (2018/9/4), Destiny 2: Forsaken, Playstation 4, Activision Blizzard, The Sixth Coyote
  7. ^ Bungie (2017/9/8), Destiny 2: Playstation 4, Activision Blizzard, Item Description: Primal Siege Type 1 Gauntlets
  8. ^ Bungie (2019/3/5), Destiny 2: Joker's Wild, Playstation 4, Activision Blizzard, Lore: Dust
  9. ^ a b Bungie (2020/3/10), Destiny 2: Season of the Worthy, Playstation 4, Activision Blizzard, Weblore: Legacy Pt 2
  10. ^ Bungie (2017/8/9), Destiny 2: Playstation 4, Activision Blizzard, Looped
  11. ^ Bungie (2017/8/9), Destiny 2: Playstation 4, Activision Blizzard, Exodus Crash
  12. ^ Bungie (2019/10/1), Destiny 2: Shadowkeep, Playstation 4, Activision Blizzard, Never Live It Down
  13. ^ Bungie (2018/9/4), Destiny 2: Forsaken, Playstation 4, Activision Blizzard, Lore: The Man They Call Cayde
  14. ^ Bungie (2014/12/9), Destiny: The Dark Below Playstation 4, Activision Blizzard, Item Description, Tomyris-E2
  15. ^ YouTube: "Destiny" - News GDC Panel
  16. ^ Gamelynch: Destiny Preview
  17. ^ Bungie (2014-6-12), Destiny: Alpha PlayStation 4, Activision Blizzard.
  18. ^ Bungie (2020/3/10), Destiny 2: Season of the Worthy Playstation 4, Activision Blizzard, Lore: The Liar
  19. ^ Bungie, (3/10/2020), Weblore: Remembrance
  20. ^ Polygon - Watch the first teaser for Destiny 2

v • d • e
 
Races of the Destiny series
Human races
Awoken • Exo • Jovian
Fallen races
Cut content
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