Destiny 2 Lore - Cenotaph Mask Lore & my thoughts on how Exotic Armour Lore could be better... 

I'm sure someone pointed it out by now, but the whole "Everything becomes more crab-like" is an actual real world concept called "Carcinization" and it's actually really interesting from an evolutionary point of view, and I imagine when you involve The Traveller and its terraforming, that convo becomes much more interesting.

How to make Triton Vice lore interesting: Have one guardian going in depth with lore about the development of hive physiology and culture, and the moment that the Final Shape is mentioned, have the other guardian ask if the Final Shape is a crab.

When you refresh RU-vid and get a fresh My name is Byf video TWO seconds off the press. *chefs kiss*

Personally, I feel like not all exotic armors need to have a story that has huge or much implications as to the world. Sometimes, it’s nice to slow down and see that guardians are having a conversation or seeing a golden age plant and taking care of it. Sometimes even the most beautiful moments are smaller ones and I think if any part of the lore can convey this it’s probably going to be the exotic armor pieces.

Personally i loved the lore tabs for Arbor Warden and Tritons Vice because they felt a bit more like personal stories rather than something grandiose to latch onto or somethiny thats steeped in deep lore and expansion

I doubt the Cenotaph Mask lore is describing a worm, a worm isn't a pseudo-mammal. The lore of Cenotaph Mask seems to reference one of the Qugu's sessile beasts described in Inspiral.

I mean, it's nothing new. Exotic lore have always been like this, some are jokes (khepri's horn), some are serious, some are basically nothing sandwiches that talk about where the exotic was found (Monte Carlo) and some just throw names to be used later (Nezarec's sin). That's the main reason why I like reading exotic lore tbh, it's like reading an in-game social media

See I wholly disagree, because I *Love* Arbor Warden. It may not expand the story, but it expands the *themes* of Destiny that have been there from the very beginning. Recovering the remnants of an age long past while under siege by the forces of darkness. It's literally about killing an enemy to get a thing, that's what the game's been for a decade now. It's nothing revelatory, but it's a strong reminder of the foundation of things.

I think these lore tabs for the hunter and titan exotics might be a more of a setup to potential to why they exist like the hunter one could lead to those two guardians using glavies and finding out it’s purpose or we expand how the arbor warden works but I agree it could’ve been worded better in both exotics

As someone who finds the more boring/small things in various fandoms very interesting, personally I think smaller/less interesting or important lore is fine, and honestly I'm a little curious. How big can an Eliskni get? Do they follow the rules of some fish where, so long as there is enough room and nutrients, can they get as big as something like Oryx? What sort of plants did they grow on Titan, and how did they change, or how different were they? Of course the idea of something lurking in some of the Pyramid Ships, or maybe some sort of... remnant of the captain or perhaps The Witness flows through it as a hidden defense mechanism is pretty cool too.

13:02 according to byf written text can’t carry a tone even I someone who doesn’t enjoy reading books extremely disagrees with that statement lmao.

I’m sorry but I have to heavily disagree with you on this. While yes a large narrative beat would be nice to see from these exotic lore pieces, I think it’s just as important to have a small story pan out within them. It helps flesh out the world, make it more realistic and grounded. Our world is filled with mundane stories with characters who don’t matter to the overall purpose, and that’s the point. Not everything has to be important. It’s like the side missions within a RPG game, or when a book details the life of some minor character, they’ll never be important to the main story or cast of characters, but the world would be much more empty without them. Plus the crab story was hilarious, implying that crabs are the final shape might be the funniest thing to come out of destiny in a while.

My favourite types of exotic lore is like that of graviton lance or cerberus. Some guardian founds weird stuff from golden age that noone knows whats for and tries to do sth funny with it, like break the crucible. It really gives me that "guardians are just loot hungry scavengers trying to make everything a weapon" side of destiny, and i think thats the best part of it.

I think the variety of topics on the exotic armour is a strength. The smaller casual conversations make the world feel more real, because chats in the real world aren't always of great importance. One of my favourite lore tabs is from the targeted redaction hand cannon this season, it's just a chat between Osiris and Saint and it's just a funny tab. It's nothing really that expansive or revelatory, just a good character beat which rounds things out. The crab tab just made me smile, and for me that's enough

Sometimes you get Necrotic Grips. Other times you get An Insurmountable Skullfort, which has had (and contuses to have) the best lore tab since D2 launched. Destiny is more like Discworld than LOTR in that sometimes there will be impressive world-building and philosophy, and other times there will be gags, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

I feel like you missed the poibt if the Titan exotic lore. It was about how surprising it was to see a plant still thriving after all those years in the hydroponics lab. One of the plants specially grown there. The titan foujd that inspiring/lucky so they put it on their armor. Also we have plenty of jokey stuff like the crab hunter armor in the.

This is probably the most I've disagreed with Byf on something, the "everything becomes crab" is to me an acceptable fourth wall breaking meta joke, referencing the IRL meme of carcinization/convergent evolution, as well as the wider speculation of what the final shape will be and the myriad jokes about what that shape might be. The plant one is kinda weak though XD

Idk, it doesn't really bother me too much if lore entries for exotics don't enhance the overall story. Though i would argue that having random little moments like two guardians shooting the shit talking about crabs DOES add to the world by filling out the gaps. One of my favorite lore entries is the one for graviton lance. Not some huge revelatory entry (though it could be considering its subject being a weapon that can rip black holes into existence). Just two guardians, one showing their buddy this dope ass weapon they found and how they're gonna wreck havoc in the crucible with it. I'm more interested in the weapon/armor piece just being good. Not even busted op, but just useful AND fun to play with/build around. Id much rather the huge revelatory lore be brought out naturally in the main expansion and seasonal stories. Something that's been sort of hit or miss in these last few months, which is even more of a problem.

To be honest, I thought Triton Vise and Arbor Warden were fine. They don't add anything to the big picture but that's okay. It's nice to see the little bits of day to day life that your average guardian has. Not every lightbearer is going to be Saint-14 or the Young Wolf. That's important to remember

I find it necessary to point out that the Cenotaph Mask is definitely based on the main characters helmet/weapon from the classic game MDK, which the developers have since confirmed stood for Murder Death Kill which plays into the theme of the Cenotaph part of the name to a degree. So the name of the mask may not be referencing the lore character definitely being dead, it could just be linking back to the game it was inspired by.

Eh. Not every lore piece has to be revelationary. I love little lore as much as big lore. Funny little side thoughts, little slices of life from regular people or Guardians who aren't big heroes. One of my favorite things that Bethesda always did was tell little stories with only set pieces or a scattered journal with a long-dead adventurer. The guy in Morrowind who falls from the sky outside Seyda Neen... I guess my point is, small things like this are still fun and still add to the world!

I don't see how it can be any better than talking about crabs

This does not happen often in destiny. The cenotaph mask lore gave me shivers. Genuinely made me feel uneasy. I'm scared of going into those pyramids now.

I actually like the short stories about things that otherwise wouldn't make it into the history books. It adds flavour and texture to the world of Destiny that otherwise wouldn't exist.

i dont know man, i like reading about little character moments and interactions with eachother. It shows the smaller scope as opposed to the super big actions taking place. to me at least it makes the world feel more lived in and more real.

I think the hunter one may be a a knod to the "everything becomes a crab" joke

I think the one thing these season's exotics will be remembered by is the memes. Two of them at least. You got Crab arm and aircraft carrier helmet.

I would've enjoyed this more as two separate videos; one about the cenotaph mask, and another for the thoughts. Ironically, the same criticism you give also applies to the thoughts portion of the video. You have every right to feel the way you feel (I don't have any strong opinion on exotic lore tabs at all so I don't take issue with yours), but twenty minutes to say you aren't feeling it, even as eloquently as you deliver it, is a video I would've skipped.

If you're looking for content to cover you could finish Clovis Brays journal. Been looking forward to your thoughts on Entry 12

reading the lore behind the armor and weapons makes me want to use them more often. some of my favorites range from the more wholesome/heroic like Precious Scars(what was once broken can be made whole again), Athyrs’s Embrace( an Eliknsi lullaby) and Ursa Furiosa(the one defending the powerless against the millions) but also ones that get a chuckle out of me like Celestial Nighthawk(giving an enemy the finger, One red hot glowing finger) and phoenix protocol(byf talked about this one), And that’s only the first five that come to my mind, anyone else have a personal favorite bit of armor lore they like?

The titans gernades thing should have been a titan playing baseball with his shield and then accidentally fusing the two

Its not significant that its an acolyte, the reason it is an acolyte is because he can survive a shot in order to save the plant instead of risking destroying it. Its a reflection of the titans duty and commitment.

I'm just waiting for the lore from the Titan Dungeon weapons. The legendary weapons have some pretty interesting and rather upsetting lore regarding what happened on Titan during the collapse

I love Byf casually noting how many of these enemies we’ve killed. Like I have to have stacked almost as many Eliksni as Saint-14 at this point. Any guardian older than like 4 has a body count in the hundreds of thousands

I love the triton vance lore tab, because it has character. Sonewhere out there is the guardian who made these, and hes just a curious ADHD cime-fughting crab-man. Beautiful. He's no shin malphur, but hes a unique character.

Sounds like the second encounter from the raid. The walls push you off the encounter if you run out of time.

I think the lore is just ambience about the life of guardians, I like the lore for those exotics

You should do a tier ranking exotic armor pieces (and then exotic weapons) but solely based on their lore. I think that would be so fun

to me its quite clear that the pyramids even without their owners do possess intelligence afterall when we went to the pyramid that was being invaded by the cabal defectors on europa the pyramid sensed that our goal was to commune with the pyramid so it made a sort of wordless deal with us to eliminate the cabal and in compensation it would help us achieve that and we could use it commune with the darkness to better harness it and understand it. (at least if memory serves)

You should do more exotic lore videos. Some of my favorite are One eyed mask, Loreley splendor helm, and necrotic grips just to name a few.

One of my favorite exotic armor lore tabs is the helmet Precious Scars. I just thought the story with it was really endearing.

Love me some byf video in the morning

D1 lore was harder harder to access and understanding it was a little harder to do but it was still amazing.

Near the middle of the video you try and explain how the exotics lore should tie into its ability, I always thought the exotics were tied to individuals and their fantasies. Like saint 14s helm doesn’t intrinsically have any ability, it’s just the helm itself expands the fantasy of the character itself. The Titan chest exotic might have been a unique way that titan used their barricade rather then giving inate power. It’s been shown that guardians have differnt ways of applying the light and dark outside of the confines of the way we use it ourselves

I personally liked Arbor Wardens lore. I enjoy hearing about other guardians just like me and the stuff they get up to.

Lucky Raspberry, what Shiro-4 wears, has an interesting story about being worn by many Hunters. The lore of the Assassin's Cowl is similar in that regard. The lore of the Sunbracers connects to the lore of Sunshot in that both were made by Liu Feng, a Sunbreaker Titan. The Ursa Furiosa, the Pheonix Cradle, Shinobu's Vow, the Orpheus Rig, and Felwinter's Helm all have great stories. The Season 6 exotics, the Season 13 exotics, and the Season 15 exotics each have coherent, connected storylines related to the season they were added in.

I think Byf got burned out from Destiny and his videos are just showing this. I find the crab lore really funny as crabs are like earth’s final shape and the titan armor lore, is just beautiful poetic as it is mundane is a world where gods are manic characters.

Personally, I absolutely adore small scale stories. Tommy's Matchbook for example. It's not a story of guns and glory, or universe altering changes, it's simple. It's simply a story about how the death of Cayde had completely destroyed the morale of Hunters as a whole. A Hunter's den, quite literally a place where Hunters would gather and celebrate their adventures and share stories, was abandoned... Empty... Forgotten. There was just 1 mute Hunter and his Ghost. Utterly tragic. Then there's my absolute favorite piece of lore; the Takenome Rangers. They're a collection of non-guardians who travel outside of the City walls to guide new survivors back to the City. Everywhere they go, they plant blue flowers to provide a path back to the city.

All this triton vice and arbor warden talk when cadmus ridge lance cap has the most barebones lore I've ever seen for a exotic.

The lore tab of the cenotaph mask is unsettling the fact we dont have a complete grasp on these pyramids in any way shape or form

Triton Vice is Crab. It's all it needs to be. ADVANCE TO CRAB BYF ADVANCE TO CRAB

I think the funniest lore tab for me is peregrine greaves. The big report from the warlock on how a titan dropped from the sky and shoulder charged a walker. The the titan report just says "I had the best day ever!"

Cenotaph mask is by far my favorite exotic in destiny. The fact the you were able to connect it to a horrific in nature mystery of concern makes me very happy. I really wish destiny would lean further into cosmic horror. Easier said than done.

7:38 I still call them Sunbreakers half the time by habit.

FYI I tried factor ands it’s really greasy and oily food. It’s not unhealthy grease such as hamburger or bacon grease but if greasy food is gross to you, avoid.

The syntoceps lore tab reminds me of the contraverse gold lore tab, both awesome

They nerfed syntho + glaive, for the hunter gauntlets. I'm absolutely convinced of it, and I'm pissed about it. Also great vid

Crowning Duologue needs a video! Been waiting for that conversation!

Interesting doesnt always mean story driving, which is something a lot of writers in general not just video game story writers have a hard time grasping.

Whats funny is a plant is a living organism and you use synths to compare but what if thats why the chest piece is covered in flowers lol. The flowers could be a type of symbiotic organism as well. Or the plant really is lucky because it has light in it or something or maybe its for the food supply since its for the hydrop area which i assume is hydroponics or maybe for clean air. The plants being on the chest in the image kinda makes me think the first thing maybe.

I know he can get frustrated with how certain items in the game give off weird and funky lore but man this was a 20 minute rant on that little subjects. I am not complaining, I just surprised is all, this must have been itching him for awhile for him to put this in a vid.

The crab conversation was a meme topic that you’d find in marine wildlife youtube videos and twitter posts. Bungie writers GOTTA get off the internet more.

Im pretty sure in nature the reason there are so many crab like animals is because crabs are so perfect alot of stuff evolves into them idk if im right i remember hearing this somewhere lmao

Okay Byf, MAYBE I'm alone on this, but I DO want to know how big an Eliksni can get off an insane amount of Ether consumption. To be fair, I would still want context that goes beyond an exotic one liner.

Makes me think of the old Dont Touch Mes from D1. The lore card for that one was so interesting

Assassin’s Cowl is an interesting story. There aren’t any names or big, recognizable legends regarding the exotic. But, it does give insight into the unspoken brother/sisterhood of the Hunters. Sharing secrets and techniques, being a wanderer, or traveling with a posse. Though thogether, yet alone, Hunters have a type of honor that’s beholden to promise made, loyal built, or their own integrity as a Hunter, one that doesn’t back down to a dare, or leave friends behind. Despite being very individualistic, Hunters share stories, secrets, and are beholden to their own creed of class.

It's silly, but the lore of Triton Vice has sent me and my fireteam into a long winding conversation about carcinization. Ultimately, we've decided that the Final Shape which everything will take in Destiny is that of a crab, and that to become truly powerful, we need to seek the form of the Crab.

I honestly don't care about exotic armor lore. I really only care about exotic weapon lore, so this isn't really an issue for me. They might be peas of the same pod, but I'd rather know the origins of something that is actively being use than something that is passively being used.

My favorite lore tab is from skullfront "you hands are now your eyes, have a look around!"

Hey byf I think you missed what the arbor warden and triton vice exotic lore pieces were supposed to be because to me they are small personal stories about what other guardians do in the system also not everything has to be important and the lore pieces can just be little looks into the universe. I get where your coming from and these two lore tabs probably shouldn’t be on exotics due to the umportantnce of their knowledge but I actually liked the Personal stories even if they weren’t deserving of being put on an exotic.

Titan: I fought an acolyte for this Byf: *DO YOU HAVE EVEN THE SLIGHTEST MODICUM OF AN IDEA WHO I AM*

The Triton Vice lore tab is the kind of thing you put on a sparrow, or a seasonal weapon. Or a ship.

Remember that lore doesn’t have to be interesting in the confines of the game. It can just be interesting period. The whole crab thing is a joke sure but it’s an actual scientific concept pertaining to the evolving efficiencies of life. How biology streamlines itself for an environment. If you choose to study a bit of biodiversity it’s pretty interesting. Or say you want to take the crab thing as a surface level joke. Calling it bad means lore tabs like Graviton Lance and Crimson are also close to if not fall into that category. It’s nice for a weapon to be contextualised and Triton Vice does that. It explains the design choice. If guardians can wear Ahamkara bones, there’s no reason why we can’t see guardians wearing vex metal plates, hive armour and even fallen carcasses, which some guardians actually have done in the lore. The Titan one does the same but the reason it falls off is because it doesn’t have the humor to bolster it. A good luck charm doesn’t need to be too deep but they should’ve made it a bit more mysterious on how they found the flower or at least make the fight more action packed. In the end, it’s all subjective. I personally found the Wicked implement lore to be a bit short and dry. There’s nothing too deep. It’s just Xivu seeing how we’re such great fighters but we’re limited to the light. So she calls us out and revels for the day we fight. That’s all it boils down too. I think an exotic mission exotic should have more interesting lore than some random armour that’s slid into the game.

It would be awesome if you could do a lore ranking of all exotics! Or a playlist of each piece of exotic lore!!!

Just a question that has nothing to do with this video is the “one million deaths is not enough for Master Rahool” from the loot cave in D1. Is that Nezerac

I feel like this video was made primarily just to appease the Algorithm despite the story content starting to dry up.

Good to see RU-vid notifications is working now

i like to think that titans could always do this but all of us where only focused on punching enemies really hard but never thought of punching our own grenades hard lol. where the plant is just a pretty flower that we wanted really bad.

17:20 "I'm the lore guy, and do you know how many acolytes I've killed?" I'm just imagining a warlock sitting on a wicker chair, massive open book in his lap, a cup of tea in one hand, a monocle, and waving a hand around like "Even **I'VE** killed a lot of acolytes"

To be honest, I forgot that Saint was originally known only through his helm. He’s such a full character it’s hard to imagine him any other way than he is now; standing in the tower overseeing trials while occasionally dipping out to help us (or beat the shit out of savathun)

When I saw the titan exotic I hoped it would talk about the plant life that grew when the traveler fired at the Witness's ship.

The Pyramid ships should never be considered safe space. There is more to them than meets the eye.

Crab is the final shape

I respectfully disagree. Some lore tabs can be small little one offs that don’t expand to the greater story and world. For example, look at Celestial Nighthawk’s lore; it’s just about a Hunter flipping off a Taken, and I say that gives more than enough flavor

The lore of the A N V I L

“DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MANY ACOLYTS IVE KILLED??!” The titan talking about the acolyte he killed: 🥺😢☹️

This is no longer a Lore Channel. It's a Drama Channel.

I think Triton vice is bungie being cheeky on a fairly popular meme, they've done this before and I don't expect them to stop being cheeky.

In regards to Nezarec’s Sin, it was much more interesting before we actually met Nezarec. I’d really like to see then return in some manner. I’m disappointed they even removed their dialogue from the Netrunner strike post raid. I understand why from a lore standpoint…but we can still kill Oryx over and over, why not leave some cool dialogue in a strike.

This kinda reminds me of what’s going on in Halo Infinite’s current season. Previous seasons had cosmetics with interesting little blurbs- from the helmet attachments to the armor coatings- but now they’ve significantly scaled back on that front, with almost half of the new pieces having basic and generic descriptions. I know it’s not as big as what’s happening in destiny, but it still feels like that little bit of love and care is just gone… Great vid! Can’t wait to see what comes next!!

I loved the lore for Triton Vice, I feel like it’s something that wasn’t supposed to be taken seriously, and read more as a shit post

I kinda disagree, I like that some lore just tells simple stories of what guardians are like, it kind of canonizes the dumb conversations we have with our friends while playing destiny into something that guardians do in the universe of the game, crabs being the final shape is also hilarious.

As arbor warden is one of my favorite exotics ever, I disagree. The tab provides depth to the Titans, who often get made fun of for punching, crayons, etc. They aren't though. They protect, they care, they nurture. The plant is simply a moment of beauty that inspires the Titan. You missed the point entirely.

I wouldn't mind off shoot lore in a different time in Destiny, but this is the final moments of the light and dark saga, right now we NEED more interesting lore and lore that builds on the current story.

D1 lore was in the grimoire cards mainly and then listening to the story and the differences the characters have are also relevant. Keep your eyes and ears open so that you can see all patterns and paths.

I need Byf's rant on how many Acolytes he's killed to be official lore.

I still feel that way for Sunbreakers it's the exotic that got me off of the void class back in d1

I would love it if they did something with the Apotheosis Veil It describes the Void in greater detail, much like how Hunter exotics give Arc life Apotheosis Veil gives the Void definition, it is an absence pf everything but it is not malice, it is tranquility. Or even Contraverse Hold, it proposes the idea of the multiverse in Destiny 2, which duns parallel to the vast amount of timelines that Elizabeth has experienced. Give me more of the Void, Bungie, it allows for so much in an empty space.

Would love to get more exotics based off the characters we know

Hey Byf thanks for everything you do!