#veist

"Let fly my sting."

My guardian is happy to pose for pictures for the people of the Last City. My fireteam-mate is not so enthused.

I think I finally figured out how I best like to combine my detailed lineart and painting-style shading. I'm quite pleased with the results! Please enjoy the hand-drawn lace and other little details~

“Time for an upgrade!”

“Hardly. How is this an upgrade from the Recluse model? If you believe that, you’re just buying into Veist’s planned obsolescence and padding their profit margin.”

“The new Death Adder series has a range of features that weren’t previously available, and—”

“OK, so the new Death Adder is better than the old Death Adder, great. But we all know the Death Adder was at best a base model for the Recluse. So I ask again: how could this possibly be an upgrade?”

“Well, the Recluse is discontinued, so...”

“So something is an upgrade from nothing? That’s the rationale?”

“You don’t have to go for it if you’re not convinced, but I’m in the market and I trust what Veist makes.”

“That’s the crux of it, isn’t it? You trust a corporation to provide something you need, and yeah, sure, a lot of the time they can do that. But don’t you see it’s in their interest to minimize the cost to themselves and maximize the cost to you?”

“Isn’t that just business?”

“No! No, it’s exploitation! Exploitation of you, a Guardian, somebody Veist and the other foundries are supposed to help equip to protect humanity!”

“Listen, I’m just lookin’ for a new SMG...”

“Gah!”

Hard Light

Ionized polymer synballistic attack platform. The system’s lethality is dynamically robust across tactical spaces.

Type: Auto Rifle

Slot: Kinetic | Energy | Heavy

Element: Arc | Solar | Void | Multiple

Perk: Volatile Light - Rounds fired from this weapon have reduced damage falloff, overpenetrate targets, and ricochet off hard surfaces. Projectile damage increases after bounce.

Trait: The Fundamentals - Hold reload to change this weapon's damage type, cycling between Solar, Arc, and Void. Grants different stats based on your selected damage type. Solar: increases reload speed and aerial effectiveness. Arc: increases handling and range. Void: stability and aim assist.

Ornaments: Lethal System, The Future Is Chrome, Brumal Dawn, Foundational Structure

Origin & Description: Another product from Omolon Foundry, if the pedantic description didn’t give it away. Hard Light is a Pink Floyd laser light show packed into a gun, and when they say ricochet, they mean it - hence the name “Hard Light”. Unlike Sleeper, Hard Light’s ricochets don't split, have travel time, and are relatively predictable. For years PvP players eyed its infinite range (no damage falloff with distance) and the ability to bounce shots behind cover made, but it was hampered by an intense camera/scope shake when firing that made it nigh-impossible to hold on target. That camera shake was greatly reduced at the start of Season 10, a season that also saw major Auto Rifle buffs plus the return of Trials of Osiris, so I think you can imagine what happened next: the inaugural weeks of Trials became a disco rave of incredible proportions. Bungie finally dialed back that whole "infinite range" thing, giving Hard Light a minor but still present damage falloff and dialed down the ricochet damage in PvP specifically. You'll still be dazzled by the occasional spray of Hard Light rounds in Crucible, but it no longer rules Trials. On the PvE side its lack of damage enhancement means it mostly sees use in the same situations as Borealis because of its changeable elemental damage. Hard Light originally had three options (Arc/Solar/Void Core) in its trait slot to choose between, but when both it and Borealis were reworked to cycle in the same order as the Prism combat modifier Bungie also simplified Hard Light by giving it the same "The Fundamentals" trait as Borealis.

Hard Light is another Omolon product, so let's talk a bit about the weapons foundries in the game. Not counting the clandestine Black Armory there are four major weapons foundries in the Last Safe City - Häkke, Omolon, Veist, and SUROS - and several minor foundries both within and without. These foundries grew out of City gunsmiths scavenging Golden Age parts & weaponry outside the walls, and started to cause concern when they reached a certain size and began taking sides in the Faction Wars that divided the City before the formation of the Consensus. These days they answer (sort of) to the Vanguard and spend a lot of time producing Guardian weaponry - because if there's one group in Destiny with a bottomless appetite for guns, it's the Guardians. Each of the four foundries has a distinct style and naming pattern. Häkke's signature is "hammers, not scalpels" - heavy, no-frills weaponry that gets the job done. They make a lot of rocket launchers, is what I'm saying. Omolon (Coldheart, Wavesplitter, Hard Light) is the Apple of Destiny foundries, all about the newest, most cutting-edge nonsense they can get to stop exploding long enough to make a gun out of. They pioneered the trace rifle archetype and the liquid ammo canisters that have become their signature. SUROS (SUROS Regime) focuses on design, often design that harkens back to 50s scifi, and giving the user as many options as possible. Veist (The Colony, The Recluse), added in Destiny 2 and explained as the City's newest foundry, goes for aggressive, high-mobility, high-impact designs. They don't fight fair - there's a reason all their weapons are named for venomous predators.

Though they're not supposed to take sides these days, the foundries still do special orders for the three factions Guardians could choose between during D2 Year 1's Faction Rally events. Veist does orders specifically for the Dead Orbit faction, Omolon makes weapons for Future War Cult, and both Häkke and SUROS make weapons for New Monarchy. Back in Destiny 1 Guardians would also choose which foundry to place orders with at the weekly Armsday event.

While these four foundries make up the bulk of Guardian weaponry by numbers, plenty of other sources produce guns for the solar system's finest heavily-armed children. City foundry Tex Mechanica is a minor foundry constantly trying to make it big; their brand is all about that Wild West aesthetic, a look that's even more ridiculous in Destiny's timeline because thanks to the Collapse even the cultural mythos of the Wild West has barely hung on. Oddly enough they've produced the most exotics of any foundry, big or small, at a solid four: The Last Word, Prospector, the reproduction Chaperone, and Huckleberry. So why aren't they a bigger deal in the City? The Doylist answer would be that they aren't needed to fill out Armsday or the Faction Rally events; the Watsonian one would be that they keep doing dumb shit like trying to bribe Shaxx into throwing Crucible matches in favor of Guardians using Tex Mechanica weapons in order to boost their sales. I have a feeling they won't be winning a Vanguard contract anytime soon.

Less-stupid foundries include Cassoid, which produces strange custom jobs like Telesto, Eriana’s Vow, and the D1 exotic shotgun Invective, Ikora Rey's personal weapon. Crux/Lomar specializes in rocket launchers, building the privacy-invading Truth, Dragon's Breath, and the famous D1 exotic Gjallarhorn. The Black Armory, a secret foundry dating back to the Golden Age, produces a handful of top-notch weapons including the exotics Le Monarque, Jötunn, and Izanagi’s Burden. The Daito foundry, a group with a distinctly Japanese pop aesthetic, created the Jade Rabbit and Two-Tailed Fox. Some Guardians or Guardian-adjacent groups also do their share of smithing. The Sunbreakers, a famous order of solar Titans, tended the Burning Shrine as part of their devotions and forged the Sunshot weapon and the Sunbracers exotic armor, while the Cult of Osiris used the Infinite Forge to create Vigilance Wing. The Warmind Rasputin builds Guardian-specific weaponry plus the exotic Sleeper Simulant under his IKELOS program (and arguably indirectly created Outbreak Perfected.) And that's not counting all the weapons we get bribed with, find on the ground, or beat out of a god. When it comes to firearms, Guardians never lack for variety.

Recently the City foundries have been expanding into other product lines. Whether that's a good thing, well...let's just say they've made some interesting aesthetic choices. Veist, Omolon, and Tex Mechanica have all produced Sparrows, ships, Ghost shells, and even armor ornaments for the Guardian who really wants to demonstrate their brand loyalty. Look up Tex Mechanica's "The Bronco" for a good laugh.

Destiny 2 Compendium Armarum Exoticarum

Model: Gabriella Taylor | Hunter | "Feel the Surge, and feel it burn."

}yo, if anyone wants a full list of which foundry made what (or just wants to know who made a certain weapon), hmu{

}I mean, a lot of weapons remain unconnected, but there’s still a shit-ton that have a known foundry{