Fireteam NightLaw.

I’ve seen seen a lot of lights, Ace. Some have been brighter than others, and precious few have been as portentous as folks like to say. This particular light strikes me as one of the precious few.

On the other hand, could just be a busted lens. Hard to tell.

Funny how time alters, when you can’t die. Sometimes it makes you feel stagnant, like you - and the people around you - can’t change, won’t change, no matter what the current does to you. Time started feeling slow as soon as Clovis Bray did their robot thing, and it feels slower now. Slow enough to write another letter.

Hate to say it, Ace, but it’ll probably be the last. And I don’t even have a pen.

You know, when you’ve got all the time that immortality can give you, it can drive you mad. Especially when it feels like all you’re doing is waiting. Settling. Reacting. Killing time, because you’ve got so much time you can’t thing of anything else to do with it. For the first time since my Ghost rezzed me, it feels like time’s running out. Like I gotta cram as many words as a I can onto this imaginary page.

It’s not that your dad has regrets. It’s not that he’s made mistakes. Who doesn’t? Who hasn’t? I guess I just hope you understood why I did what I did. Hope that I did, too. But some choices cut both ways: lose a family, gain a family. That’s what I’ve got here, Ace. Loud, unruly, obnoxious. Good people, though. Wish you could’ve met them. Ikora, Zavala, Shaxx - hell, you would’ve gotten a kick out of Eris. And they’dve loved you, too. I’m sure of it.

And that’s how I know you’re real, Ace. How I know you’re real enough. They woulda loved you because I loved - because I love you. You’re not just my son. You’re everyone’s son. You’re everything that kept me going, even before I met you the second time. You’re something to fight for. Something to believe in. Doesn’t matter if you’re dust now, or if you were ever anything more than a word on a page. I think you were, but that’s my choice, and it’s a choice I’m proud of.

So that’s it. That’s how it goes. It’s been fun, but I’m runnin’ out of ink. Thanks for your help, in all of this. Thanks for keepin’ me focused. Thanks for keepin’ me sharp. And who knows, maybe one of these days I’ll get to tell you some stories in person. I wouldn’t bet against it. ’Til then, keep your eyes up.

Read it on AO3 here

It took one look at the figure huddled on the windowsill for Tallulah to understand what Saint had meant by “lost”.

Thanks for asking!

I was asked something like this once before, and I didn’t have a very good answer then, so hopefully I can be a bit more helpful this time.

First off, even as robots, the exo are still very “human”, and except for some headgear (antenna, horns, etc…), they generally have human proportions and silhouettes. So, a lot of their design are very heavily influenced by normal human anatomy/function. That being said, the second thing to keep in mind is that they are distinctly not human, they’re robots. Which means they’re mechanical and generally have a mixture of metallic armor and other inorganic materials in place of skin. 

To get started, I’d suggest treating the exo’s armor more or less like an exoskeleton rather than skin. Meaning, it won’t squish or stretch like normal skin and muscle, but it does need the same general shape and flexibility. 

Each metal piece is inflexible in and of itself, so where flexibility and mobility are required we need joints and/or another material which can provide that necessity.  So, there are some common areas on every Exo that will need joints/rubber skin/mesh/etc for movement- places like the shoulder, elbow, wrist, fingers, waist, hips, jaw, knee, etc…  to allow for a full range of movement, but the shapes of the armor itself tends to mimic human musculature and/or skeletal structure.

Now, unless you like drawing your Exo in pajamas and workout clothes like I do, you don’t have to worry too much about the details of most of those joints. As long as you remember that all those individual metal plates won’t bend, squish, or stretch on their own (if they do get squished, it’s probably bad- since there are probably important wires and mechanisms underneath). If you are interested in all these little joints though, there are a hand full of references that can be found. The original Exo concept art which can be seen online or in the Destiny artbook is really nice for the overall feel of the Exo and there are a number of basic models that can be seen on artstation like those by  Mike Jenson. For in-game references, your own character model can be seen in some of the cutscenes, which is always fantastic. 

And, there’s a really nice (if a bit hard to see) references for the hand/arm in particular, which I just found recently, if you stop to chat with a couple of the Osiris cult members who hang around the lighthouse on Mercury. ( I take a ton of reference shots in-game, which probably drives my clan-mates nuts.)

Now, like any other individuals, Exo have a lot of variation in their appearances- this can be seen in the color of their lights and paint, the shape of their armor, and any extra headgear. So, while there is still a lot of similarity in the shapes overall there is also a lot of flexibility in the details. If there is a specific face/style you’re trying to mimic, then running through some cutscenes or taking some screen shots of your own are probably the most reliable references. 

Since their faces aren’t as flexible, I’ve also found that Exo expressions are easiest to display through the eyes and through body language. If you’re doing something a little more cartoony like I do, then you can bend the rules of their flexibility a bit. I find this useful in the mouth and eye area of the face, but if you overdo it, you loose the rigidity that really sells the ROBOT feel, so I’d suggest keeping that to a minimum. Little tweaks to position and angle of the character from your own viewpoint can also do wonders for expression and attitude. 

Anyways, I hope this helps a bit. If you have any more specific questions, feel free to ask, and I’ll do my best to answer. Best of luck!

Ghost Fragment: Ghosts

Beyond. 

It is a place, a place casting shadows and emotion. It’s a real place, I know. 

One hot blue sun, say. And other suns too. Five? I like seven better. What I’m recalling is a giant star with a family of six smaller suns, and you could spend days and nights counting all of the planets circling those suns…except there are no planets. Not anymore. The powers in charge have carved up all of the worlds, and maybe a brown dwarf or two for good measure. With that rubble, they fashioned a topologically creative enclosure, a twisting of space and time sealed behind doors that admit only those who know the magic words. 

The bones of a hundred planets have been cut smooth and laid out like a floor, a polished and lovely floor creating vast living spaces. A floor bigger than ten thousand worlds, catching the fierce glory of the seven suns. For light, for food. For beauty. And nothing escapes. Not heat, not gravity. Not even the faintest proud sound. 

It could be anywhere. It can live in the cold between galaxies, or folded up inside matter, near enough to touch right now… I remember it and maybe it’s exactly as I describe it. Seven suns wrapped inside magic. 

Or it’s something else entirely, perhaps. A place still fat with life. An abundance of sentient souls, some decent, maybe a few of lesser quality, and everybody stands about or floats about, or they bounce between dimensions. The point is that the residents of this hidden realm live inside a bottle so perfectly hidden that they can’t see beyond their own borders. Which shapes a mind in very specific ways. 

But, Beyond is their name for a mysterious, doubtful realm that they can’t see. 

poke au silvallies……..

Your good pal Tevis is always there to give a solid advice

exos have separate circulatory systems/pumps for vital fluids and coolant. the coolant lines run closer to the surface (and the ventilation system), while the vital lines run closer to the endoskeleton.

the ‘stomach’ of an exo doesn’t really function like an organic stomach at all; it’s a matter conversion tank that takes anything that’s ingested and rearranges the matter into materials the body can use. it’s all done with minimal waste aside from water/steam, which is easily exhaled through the ventilation lines.

as for the ventilation lines, exos only breathe to assist with thermal regulation. they don’t need oxygen to survive. air isnt always vented out through the mouth either; there’s exhaling points around the sides of the head and sometimes around the torso.

movement devices are either one of three things; artificial muscle, hydraulics, or a combination of the two. ada has hydraulics, banshee seems to have artificial muscle, and the exo stranger appears to have a mix of both. artificial muscle models tend to have at least a little bit of squish to them. when will bungie give us canon exo anatomy

exos don’t have noses, but they do have an olfactory sensor on the roof of the mouth. this often leads to exos looking like they’re drinking the air when they’re getting a Good Sniff in.

exo eyes vary wildly in function and capabilities. some can only see visible light, some can extend into infrared or ultraviolet, some have thermal vision, some have telescopic sight, etc. eyeless exos have a spatial detection organ embedded in the forehead, and while it’s better at detecting and locking onto motion and surrounding objects, and works perfectly in complete dark, it can’t see colour unless a paracausal mutation occurs over time or upon revival.

the exoskeleton is embedded with hundreds of thousands to millions of little sensors that act like dermal nerve endings, detecting heat, pressure, humidity, and texture as if it were flesh. exos also hate condensation. you can probably guess why.

exo vocalizers can mimic a wide range of sounds aside from the default voice print, and some who are exceptionally adept at mimicry are comparable to lyrebirds. some are also capable of raising their voice to combos of frequencies and volumes that can cause permanent damage in organic foes. this is especially amplified when the user in question is a guardian.