#vigilance wing

Vigilance Wing

“The eye remains open. The Lighthouse remains lit.” —Brother Vance

Type: Pulse Rifle

Slot: Kinetic | Energy | Heavy

Element: Kinetic | Stasis | Strand

Perk: Harsh Truths - This weapon fires a 5-round burst. When a nearby ally is killed, gain health regeneration and increased movement speed.

Trait: Last Stand - Improved weapon performance and greatly increased recovery when its wielder is the last living member of a fireteam.

Masterworked Trait: Ensemble - Improved handling and reload speed when allies are nearby.

Ornaments: Vigil for Saint-14, Book of the Dead, Heaven’s Vigil

Origin & Description: Vigilance Wing is a weapon forged by the followers of Osiris, a fierce Warlock of the Dark Ages/early City Age and one of the most notorious Guardians in history. Grumpy bird husband of legendary titan/sunshine bird man Saint-14, a founding member of the Consensus that governs the City, the first Warlock Vanguard, and the first Warlock Vanguard to get exiled for constantly starting shit, Osiris fought at the Battle of Six Fronts and mentored current Warlock Vanguard Ikora Rey. In addition to knowing a ridiculous amount about Vex technology and time manipulation, he was one of the most powerful known Guardians; a ferocious Solar-aligned Dawnblade, Osiris is known for his unusual ability to create "Reflections," copies or projections of himself made from Light that he can control remotely and use to speak, see, and fight in many places at once. During the Battle of Six Fronts Guardians reported seeing Osiris' Light-filled avatars raining down hell from every angle, shifting from place to place as the battle flowed.

Though he played a key role in founding and defending the early City, Osiris was uh...not widely loved. He used his position as Vanguard to divert official resources into researching his own pet topics and theories and, while he claimed that the cult that sprang up around him was unintentional and mostly misinterpreting him, he and his ego also didn't do much to dissuade them from their near-worship. As he caused more and more problems the Consensus finally voted to exile Osiris (upon which his Ghost Sagira announced, "Later, haters!" because Sagira is way more fun than Osiris himself), and he left willingly. He spent a little while bouncing around on his own before traveling to Mercury to journey within the Infinite Forest, an immense Vex simulation engine made out of most of the planet.

The Infinite Forest is dedicated to creating millions of possible futures and scenarios; in practice that means it contains millions of different timelines and virtual worlds of sizes ranging from a minor combat alteraction to the entire local universe. Osiris could roam the digital corridors of the Forest as long as he liked, plumbing the secrets of the Vex. Osiris' Followers, well, followed him there and established camps on Mercury, chief among them the Lighthouse, a converted tower built near an entrance to the Infinite Forest to await his return from the simulated Vex labyrinth. To pass the time his followers also hosted combat games for Guardians called Trials of Osiris, which served as Destiny 1's elite PvP mode. Trials of Osiris awarded unique armor and weapons, was only open on weekends, didn't have matchmaking (so you had to bring your own fireteam) and would kick you out after your third loss. It was just as dickish as Osiris himself, in other words.

Unfortunately his partner Saint-14 also followed him to Mercury, determined to stomp into the Forest and drag him back to the City to take responsibility for his actions. Osiris noticed Saint enter the Forest and deliberately manipulated it to lead him astray. He planned in time to, with cooler tempers, cross Saint's path and attempt to reconcile; but in typical Osirian fashion he then got distracted and by the time he thought to check in on Saint again, he couldn't find him. Frantic, he sent out thousands of searching Reflections to canvas the Forest, but none of them could find Saint. He tried to pretend like he didn't know his sunshine husband had to be dead, but, well, he knew. And he knew that, for all he blamed the Speaker or Saint's own foolish quest, it was his fault at the end of the day. Because this is Osiris, his coping mechanism was to plunge even deeper into the Infinite Forest trying to figure out the Vex, a Sisyphean task even he had to know would never be completed.

At some point in his excursions he was ambushed by Vex in a simulation of the Vault of Glass and tossed his Ghost Sagira through a portal to get help. Sagira, wounded by a goblin's rifle, was disabled and eventually found by a Guardian who returned her to Ikora. This kicks off the Curse of Osiris DLC, the first expansion for Destiny 2. After we revive Sagira (played by Morena Baccarin in a criminally-underused role) she temporarily borrows our Ghost's shell and comes along to bail Osiris out. We venture into the Forest ourselves, track Osiris via his Reflections, and fight our way through a few different timelines before finding the man himself in one he calls the Burnout: the ultimate reality the Vex seek, a universe at the end of its life where the Vex are the only remaining beings in existence. Though he's still reluctant to return to the real world, the prospect of this future worries Osiris enough to share his plan: break Vex control of the Infinite Forest by killing Panoptes, the Mind that curates it. Panoptes guides the engine's simulations and reaps the data they generate, processing it into useful orders for the Vex back out in reality; killing it would therefore render the Forest useless as a predictive tool. After a lot of tossing about between past, present, and future iterations of Mercury we finally dunk on Panoptes and, even more impressive, get Osiris to sort-of apologize to Ikora for leaving her high and dry back in the day before he bunks off back into the Infinite Forest to start reshaping it to his own ends. Shortly afterwards he would also create the Sundial in a quest to reverse Saint-14's death, which didn't end well at all right up until it did - but that story goes with Bastion.

Vigilance Wing itself is likely a product of the Infinite Forge, a weapon foundry set up by the Followers of Osiris back in the Lighthouse. The Infinite Forge is also the source of the ten Prophecy Weapons, the totally-kickass Sagira Ghost shell (fun fact: Sagira may have been the first Ghost to cosmetically modify her own shell), and Saint-14's shotgun Perfect Paradox. Vigilance Wing is a pulse rifle that fires an unusually-long five-round burst. Its perk and trait both buff you as your fireteam members are injured or downed, making it far more useful in PvP where other Guardians on your team are being picked off all the time. Its catalyst also has to be completed in the Crucible and gives it a full-auto trigger system, letting you just hold down the trigger to fire as fast as possible. Pulse rifles are already a strong archetype, with high damage that's supposed to be compensated-for by a mid-to-short engagement range but turns out that's the range at which the majority of PvP altercations occur, so.

Anyways, why did the Cult of Osiris hold super-competitive pinnacle PvP games, especially when Osiris himself seems totally uninterested in it (unlike his protegée Ikora)? Turns out the Trials of Osiris served a far wilder purpose than we thought. Basically the Cult of Osiris, in particular Brother Vance, figured out that the Vex towers in that area echoed paracausal energies - that is, they reacted when someone used Light around them. But not just Light. Vance engineered the Trials in order to get as many Guardians as possible dying repeatedly near the Lighthouse so they could study the structures' response. Listening with an exquisitely-trained ear and and quite a bit of practice, Vance discerned not one but two tones, distinct yet harmonious, whenever a Guardian perished. One tone soft and warm, the other sharp and cold. In unraveling this mystery Vance stumbled onto an awkward truth, known but concealed by certain other actors in the solar system: Guardians hold just as much potential for Darkness as Light. No ancient pacts with Worm Gods or Hive larvae required. And Darkness in turn can provide the same type of power. When Ghaul ambushed the City and suppressed the Light to kick off the Red War, a few Guardians were in the middle of a Trials match on Mercury. One killed another just as the Light failed, dealing them their final death - and Vance heard only one set of towers ring in response. With that confirmation of Darkness' presence in Guardians, he discontinued the Trials as no longer necessary.

A couple years later, after spending a season getting his shit back in order and working on reconciling properly with Osiris, the newly-returned Saint-14 decided it was time to show the Guardians what a real challenge looked like and restarted the Trials of Osiris. Unlike Vance, Saint has no weird ulterior motives; he just wants to help you get better and maybe watch a good fight. Brother Vance, on the other hand, bunked off to the Reef to get yelled at by Mara Sov for telling other people the Darkness-Light thing, then came back to Mercury to be our planetary vendor after we rescued Osiris from the Forest, then decided to go into the Forest himself when Darkness threatened to engulf Mercury. Which it did. Did I mention that? Mercury's gone. Like it's not...there. Anymore. We think it's still somewhere, probably a pocket singularity in the same place the planet used to be, but for the moment it's uh...yeah. It's, um...upsetting.

Destiny 2 Compendium Armarum Exoticarum

Vigilance Wing

"The eye remains open. The Lighthouse remains lit." —Brother Vance

Weapon Type: Pulse Rifle

Ammo Type: Kinetic

Slot: Primary

Foundry: Followers of Osiris

Rarity: Exotic

Exotic Perk: Fires a 5 round burst. When a nearby ally dies, grants health regeneration and boost movement speed. Improved weapon performance when the wielder is the last alive in their Fireteam.

Masterwork Source: Reward from a successful Crucible Match

Masterwork Perk: Full-Auto Trigger System

Obtainment: Drop; Xūr

Lore:

"What you hold was once an beacon. We came out of the shadows seeking those willing to join our search. We staged the trials in his name. It was once a reward for the chosen few— the ones who persevered when all seemed lost."

“It was forged as an testament to his resolve, to seek answers where no one else cared to look and to continue down the path so many fell blazing. In your hand is proof that those who earned it's firepower never gave up and never lost their way. You may not know the legend of Osiris or ever dared our trials, but should we call on you, will you honor the heralds who earned this weapon's honor and continue the hunt?”