The World Of 'Destiny': The Paracausal Powers

Video Games

Feb 1

Destiny as a looter-shooter franchise has been full of crazy concepts since its early years, but at the epicenter of gameplay and combat are the unique paracausal powers each character class can wield against the enemies of humanity. These elements, split between two alignments and a few unique examples that stand apart, also empower the enemies of humanity. Today, on CultureSlate, we give a rundown on these various powers and some other background information on the ancient conflict at the center of their duality.

Essential Background

The world of Destiny is based on our own but sees a point of divergence when an immense white sphere known as the Traveler appeared in our solar system, and settled over Mars. When humanity made contact with it, it helped jumpstart the Golden Age, allowing for the colonization of multiple, newly terraformed worlds across the system. Human lifespans were extended, diseases were eradicated, and the world was made better. But then, the Witness came, with its Black Fleet of Pyramid Ships. This age-old enemy of the Traveler and its Light threatened to destroy everything and win the long-running conflict with its foe but failed. The Traveler sacrificed itself to push the Witness back, saving remnants of humanity across the solar system. But before it went dormant in the aftermath of this momentous event, it released the Ghosts, small machines of Light that were somehow paired to a single dead individual they had to find and resurrect.

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These Risen, later the Guardians, could initially only wield the Light, but throughout Destiny 2’s story, powers based in Darkness have gradually been revealed to players. With the most recent major expansion, The Final Shape, the unique element of Prismatic was introduced. As a result of the blending of Dark and Light within the Traveler due to the invasion of the Witness and its forces, Prismatic combines abilities from elements of both Dark and Light, creating its unique gameplay style. After untold ages apart, these two forces are finally back together in Guardians and help them defend the Last City against the new threats rising from the defeat of the Witness.

Light

While many might instantly assume the Light to be good and the Darkness bad, Destiny has clarified that that is not the case. These forces can be used by anyone for good or bad, as the original Risen after the Collapse of humanity proved. Many became brutal Warlords, who ruled over fiefdoms they protected and terrorized in equal measure, though some eventually turned against this dark path to seek a better way. Much more recently, the Lucent Hive also proved this point when they ascended to the Light yet retained their murderous nature. Part of this was due to their indoctrination into brutal Hive culture by those around them, but the allied Ghosts and the Light the Hive wielded did not falter or leave them despite that brutality.

The Light as a source of power is often involved in wild, unordered creation. While it can be channeled and controlled, it is lively and flexible, endlessly shifting and seeking to create and give life when it can. It gives its gift freely to those it chooses but does not desire the worship it has often become connected within the many cultures it has impacted. Light flows freely from the Traveler, sometimes also known as the Gardener, though it if is the only source of Light is unknown.

Arc

Arc power is bright blue lightning, rolling through a user’s body and exploding out through continuous streams of crackling energy. This paracausal electricity can empower people to move quicker, stun and blind opponents, and remain behind, still sparking and crackling away as an after-effect against those standing nearby.

Solar

A bright orange burning fire, Solar jets out like tongues and flame from Guardians when they deploy it in the field. Solar power can burn away enemies (even causing them to explode), grant boons to weapons, and it can also heal allies.

Void

The Void is a deep purple source of energy that can be used to protect its wielders as much as it can be used as a weapon against enemies. As mentioned, Void power can create shields, but it can also be used to debuff foes or eat away at them until they vanish, or on the other hand, violently explode.

Darkness

While the Darkness was cast as universally bad for most of Destiny’s history, beginning with the Beyond Light expansion, the game allowed players to wield the powers of Darkness. Further exploration of the properties of Darkness confirmed it stood in opposition to the Light mechanically, but it lacked the malevolence often associated with it. The Darkness is focused on the reduction of diversity and complexity, but this does not mean it cannot aid those who make use of it. Additionally, while the Light is often connected most to the physical universe, through the art of terraforming for instance, Darkness is instead connected more to the metaphysical, thoughts, emotions, and consciousness. For instance, resurrected Guardians are wiped of their memories, because the Light can’t engage with such complexity, yet the Darkness can restore such memories.

But, the Darkness has been wielded for evil quite often in its history. The Witness, a terrifying gestalt being who led a crusade to hunt down and trap the Traveler so that the Witness could enact the end of the universe, in the form of the Final Shape, extensively used the Darkness for its goals. Its servants, the Disciplines, also frequently drew on the Darkness, and some even had strong biases against the Light due to past experiences with the Traveler. It is only more recently, through the Guardians, and characters such as the occult-drenched Hunter Eris Morn, that Darkness has been used for more objective good.

Stasis

Discovered on the icy moon of Europa, Stasis is a dark blue hue and is focused on freezing, solidifying ice, and the desire to keep entities trapped, unchanging, within its power. When used by a Guardian, Stasis can, of course, trap the enemies of humanity, but also slow them and when the time is right, even shatter them to pieces.

Strand

Strand is a unique form of power recently discovered in the city of Neomuna, on the planet Neptune. There, a powerful artifact of Darkness called The Veil allowed Guardians to unlock the secrets of unraveling the threads that bind the universe together. A collection of bright green strings, Stand can help in navigation, letting its wielder ascend to new heights or unreachable places, it can protect the wielder in an armored mesh, it can suspend targets ensuring they cannot move, and it can cut a being’s connection and reduce the damage they deal out. Lastly, Strand can unravel any target, breaking them down in the blink of an eye.

Prismatic

Prismatic is the newest power in Destiny, born from the collision between Darkness and Light within The Pale Heart at the core of the Traveler. Manifesting as a pink-purple prismatic, reflective glow, Prismatic allows for the use of a Darkness and a Light power simultaneously within one being. This means as fast as someone can throw out a Void grenade, they can awaken a Super of Stasis. Prismatic is also seen shielding enemies in The Pale Heart, but anyone transcended by the power of Prismatic can easily break this barrier.

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Unique Powers

The above elements described are based on the gameplay of the Destiny universe, but there are many other manifestations of Dark and Light in the world of Destiny. The following three are just an example of the sorts of powers that exist between the cracks, and can only be wielded temporarily, or through the use of the game’s weapons.

Taken Energy

The Taken are an enemy faction created by a process of infection, of being “taken” and transformed in the process. Throughout the games in the franchise though, Taken energy has been shown as a quantifiable source of power in its own right. It can be used to open sealed doorways, to shear off unique shielding on enemies, and of course, can be used to deal damage to the enemies of humanity, sometimes in weapons where it plays a lore role in having helped create.

Necrotic Poison

An infamous class of unofficial damage in Destiny’s world, this poisoning effect is one seen delivered by weapons like Thorn and is also connected with the Hive. They had a hand in Thorn’s creation, but sickly green energy is also a common aesthetic among the Hive, representing their unique sorcery. Players even theorized at one point that we would get a “Poison” or “Hive magic” element type, but no dice, at least not yet.

Resonance

Resonance is a unique form of energy associated with the Pyramid Fleet of the Witness. Distinct for its deep orange glow around sleek or shifting black objects of Pyramid origin, Resonance can seal and open doors, and fuels different devices from the Pyramid Fleet. Some have theorized Resonance may become the next element to be wielded by Guardians, but only time will tell.

Gameplay

What has been discussed above is largely related to the lore and background of several elements in the Destiny universe. As for the gameplay in the series, players in Destiny 2 gain access to three abilities, a melee, a grenade, and a class ability. This can then be paired with a Super, an impressive ultimate move that has a long cooldown. Each of these can be aligned to a singular element of Light or Dark, though as mentioned in Prismatic, it allows for the blending of some elements together in a single build. Each melee, grenade, and class ability also has several options.

The enemies in Destiny sometimes use these paracausal powers directly, but other times, it is just based on gameplay reasons. Additionally, Light paracausal powers are seen widely replicated in technology by various factions, such as Arc being a main element used by the Fallen enemy faction, and Solar being a favorite of many Cabal, another enemy group. These enemies can also sometimes have an elemental shield over themselves that weapons or abilities can break, dealing damage and sometimes causing a chain reaction depending on the status of surrounding enemies.

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