Destiny 2 Lore - The Vex are having a Civil War! The Conductor's Choral Vex change everything! 

Really hoping bungie makes location changes/adaptations into a permanent instance, Nessus is really making me miss Venus and its jungles.

greetings Byf my name is Guardian

I saw a flavor text on a weapon this season that said "Brace yourself. Things only get weirder from here." And I really hope that's the case

Elsie had to watch her friends and loved ones die over and over through countless timelines before eventually landing on us, whereas Saint's struggle is being on the opposite end of that. _His_ friends and loved ones had to watch him die, and now he's grappling with imposter syndrome. I really wish they brought Elsie into this story, not only to help Saint through it but also because she's right up there with Osiris as the being the foremost experts on all things Vex related.

Shoutout to "Ada-1's little studmuffin"

Can't believe I was called a 'radiolaria sucker' by a clanker So i'm guessing the musical clefs are a throwback to Vance hearing musical notes on Mercury. That would be one hell of a plot twist for him to be the conductor

I also find it interesting that whenever they teleport in, they create a protective dome around them as far as I know, they are the ONLY Vex Collective to do that like they're trying to actually protect the incoming troops from getting spawnkilled

A "yoke" (for folks who may not know) is the collar you put around a pack animal, like an oxen or a mule, to guide its direction as it plows. Farming analogies=Gardening analogies? The yoke is also the thing that crushes your skull and holds your headphones on! *shakes fist at hifiman*

A minotaur calling us as asshole is hilarious lmao

So I'm a sucker for enemies-to-friends storylines, so if the Choral Vex's new degree of autonomy and individuality continues to grow beyond just following the Conductor's whims I'd be all for a potential Sol Accord faction; that is to say, Vex who align themselves with Sol. Hell, maybe even Asher Mir makes a comeback as a prominent figure of this new group. Even if we never get allied Vex and the Conductor themselves is defeated during this episode, having more autonomous and personable Vex *villains* would be absolutely awesome- though I do hope we still get to keep some Vex as the unknowable eldritch machines because they feel like a very unique antagonist.

The choral vex is just a rage against the machine crossover

I want to give a special prize to Joy Osmanski, Failsafe's VA talent. Even back in the Red War arc, but even more so now, I absolutely ADORE Failsafe and would take a million and one bullets for her.

Imagine how cool it’d be if it were a vex civil war between Mya and Asher Mir both controlling vex.

The thing that really makes me interested in this Episode is how Bungie first described this Episode as about “Uncovering a new Civilization” I really hope that isn’t just a fluffy way to describe the Choral Vex. If there is a group of people working behind the Conductor who can take control of the Vex, then this would be a group who has only achieved what only the Witness before them has! And I really wouldn’t be surprised if the Choral Vex Yolkes looking so much like the Ishtar Collective Symbol is a big hint! If the Vex copies of Ishtar Collective personnel are the new civilization, then this means Ishtar Collective has created not 1 but 2 Post-Collapse Transhuman societies! And yes, I’ve seen the Leaks for Act 2 and I GLADLY got “caught up in them” because the Bungie drip feed is *G A R B A G E!*

The neat thing is is that there are real life radiolaria that live in the ocean. They are microscopic protozoans (basically they aren’t bacteria) that live in the ocean as plankton and form “skeletons” out of silica. A lot of the radiolite samples we collect in game look like some of the real life silica skeletons that these plankton make.

For us lore nerds, the implications of the Choral Vex and their new individuality are massive, and frankly quite terrifying. EDIT: The third radio broadcast really hammers this home; Osiris notes that the changes to the Vex are occurring in real-time, when ordinarily such changes would be from a past iteration reaching into the present, as if said change was always the current state.

I'm always here for vex lore.

drinking game, take a shot every time Byf says "Pattern"

these vex are really their own individuals. weirdly they’ve been noted to run away by other guardians in the field, something smaller vex never really do. they have a degree of self preservation. also a cute little vex started waving excitedly at a guardian and waved with both hands jumping up and down when the guardian who noticed it waved back. before it got killed by a titan driving past. poor little guy

Vex developing feelings for us, even it does hate us, is very surprising. Then again, they did this once (maybe, I could be wrong) when the Taken invaded the Vault of Glass back in the Taken King.

I love how Osiris is trying to hold back laughter at the sight of the Vex brawling with each other.

The normal Vex have no chance at beating the Choral Vex because of their lack of paracausality. That's why like entities like us Guardians and Ascendant Hive, to name a couple, can stand up to them. Maya Sundaresh's faction of Choral Vex having the paracasual power of the Echo is VERY bad news for us because that means the advantage that we've always used to tip the scales and escape the Vex's plans is gone. It's now an even playing field. Yes, we could still win (and will win because video game, but ignore that), but there has not been a single thing in the billions upon billions of years of existence that has won against the Vex when on an even playing field. It's as Byf succinctly put it, "You either get more Vex, or death."

Gotta say that I absolutely LOVE the idea of the vex civil war!

I'm sure it's unrelated but I remember the Vex being hypnotized by the music during the Arecibo adventure on Io

They will 100% become friends to the guardians and that guy who had metal arm will be involved

When I described Act 1 of Echoes to a friend, I think I used the phrase "Vex Protestant Reformation but in reverse" at some point. I really like the broad strokes, even if the pacing is messy.

Last time the Vex Collective had a part of it section off... We got the Sol Divisive. This feels similar... But potentially much more dangerous

Chioma Esi's logs did mention Maya died in the Conductor's Chair while studying the Veil with her chorus of puppet Exos.

The verbiage and wording of everything this season is so similar to the unveiling lore with Maya and lakshmi. Can’t wait to see what they’re up to and if I can turn them into a gun!

9:17 Truly, the Vex have sent their mightiest champion: Tim

The call out to music makes me think back to when Rasputin was playing music through those nodes and the Vex were srot of worshipping them.

1:20 YOU GET A BLADE, YOU GET A BLADE, F*** IT EVERYONE GETS A BLADE!" 😂

Seeing the vex evolving is fascinating, a lore book entry from week 3 of the first act is filled with incident reports to the vanguard regarding anomalies in vex behavior. One includes a group that was building sandcastles, another mentions a goblin who looks at the guardian and waves in a friendly manner

After all these tears listening to you, I have to say…. I’d read ANY audio book read by you. Great voice Byf

Coral is also mentioned in a new lore book, with a race known as the “Qugu” I think and they link together similarly to the vex inorder to controll their fleets of “pearls”

In Veil Containment, Research log 11, Chioma describes how Maya was found "Dead" in the "Conductor's chair". I know everyone has pretty solid suspicions right now, considering the Insight Terminus ghost mission, but it's a fun bit of extra hinting and lore or w/e.

Honestly, this video reignited my interest in this story. While act I was rough, it really has an exciting prospect about how the vex are changing

They really need to make the changes to Nessus show up in the patrol. It’s super weird how sometimes they do this and sometimes they don’t. Sometimes they leave things in the patrol like the Leviathan in orbit above the moon from Haunted and Caiatl’s tank on Nessus from Chosen, and other times they don’t like the Siva damages in the Cosmodrome from Rise of Iron and the Lucent Hive architecture from Risen on the Cosmodrome and the moon.

The choral Vex were also notable moving backwards in the retreat pattern that the strike comms mentioned. Most Vex will tread in formation towards you, run directly at you to push your territory, or simply teleport to gain an advantage. All the ones in the mission seemd to slowly fire at you while doing the encircling position you would see in guerilla warfare like how the Colonial army of the Thirteen Colonies started to do instead of doing firing lines during the Revolutionary War.

I don't know if anyone else has brought this up, the vail and the people in the hidden city, that digitalized themselves, what if that's why Cade came back...the traveler digitalizes the final death of any lightbarer's it's blessed. Saving them for prosperity. And the use them in it's final shape.

It's like how from Hollow Knight, the Pale King arrived and made his Hollownest Civilization by uplifting the minds of simple bugs and giving them intelligence in turn for eternal fealty back to the Pale King.

I have a headcan theory that The vex can't simulate paracausality because they were part of the original flower game that didn't have paracausality. When the gardener wanted to implement new rules into a separate game to increase diversity in complexity, and then the gardener in the winnower inserted themselves into the game as the traveler and possibly the veil, they they brought with themselves the paracausal powers of light and darkness.

if you remember back in destiny 1 their was one time that the vex didn't even attack us in the house of wolves when skolas attacked the vault of glass

"Perhaps The Final Shape is not silence, it is a symphony."

I cannot tell you how much I raced here after these episodes. I had the "ok, what's really going on here."

Hey Byf, I would recommend giving the lore tabs of the ghost shell, sparrow, and ship from the Season Pass a once-over. Pay special attention to who the author might be, and consider who that might make their "associate".

i hope the story somehow has ties to rasputin's music which he used on the vex back on io, someone using the concept/tech then either bad guys combining that with the echo which made the choral vex stuff OR good guys using it to counter the conductor and the choral vex i think asher mir and the vex network + rasputin and his sound tech + the echo would be cool af and it kinda makes sense, it would be a interesting twist if asher was conductor, above everyone else and controling the 'lesser'. sounds like him. but msund12 gotta be in the story so not likely, secretly rooting for evil/corrupted msund12 and asher helps and becomes the new conductor plot

Byf, can you do a lore video explaning all of the vex factions and what their way of surviving is? Because you said yourself, they all have the same end goal, but with different ways to go about it

The musical element reminds me of Rasputin and the music nodes on Mars

I think more importantly, as the vex are changing we are seeing (like saint) exos changing to due to radiolaria being a key component in there construction, i believe that the conductor and the choral vex aren’t just solely reaching out to other vex factions but exos across the system to. This could be through they’re dreams or something else entirely like the symphony and the voice saint-14 heard that lead him to Nessus without the choral vex even thinking of attacking they’re greatest enemy. We could see them try and breach into the last city again with this in mind but the sky’s the limit with the conductor at this point In time. But that’s what I think

I did a bit of a deep dive on this but im just gonna comment that there are A LOT of times song is mentioned alongside darkness or users of darkness. Between that and the sounds you hear next to the veil, (the music actually sounds like what happens if you connect fungi to some sort of audio projecting device.) I think there is something to sound or music and darkness

I love how Saint is casually saying that Titans are not as smart lmao

Apropos of nothing else, I just want to say that I love Failsafe so friggin' much. Seriously, I am so glad that she's back at the fore in the game.

so im not too sure, but during a run of VoG the other day I noticed that some vex in the gatekeeper and atheon encounters had the new faction symbol next to their name. also not sure if that means anything

Any chance that upcoming video will be on the music of the spheres? ;)

If you haven’t yet (I’m sure you have) check out the lore tab Dusk and Dawn > Polyphony > II. Isolated Incidents. It talks more about weird Vex behavior that guardians are reporting in.

This vex lore jus reminds me of a certain awoken who became one with the vex network, might even jus be sitting deep in the vex core jus running his own simulations(experiments) on the vex

So.. a call back to the song of savathun? I mean that playe a huge role in a couple seasons.

It’s honestly very interesting to see how the vex are changing in such a drastic way. I’m pretty sure I’m not the first person to know this but the time trial mission that we get to do whenever you reach a checkpoint and take a note of your radar, you can see a little conversation being held , it’s more or less fragments but nonetheless, and then you slowly take notes. They are holding mostly encapsules every day human stuff. They’re signs bases classes, and such it almost seems as if the vex themselves are also trying to build a culture based off of the enemy us like they’re trying to make a normal Life. I might be looking too far into it, but it definitely seems interesting that they are choosing music as a form to organize.

ada's little studmuffin what a name!😂

Oh my lord... 😳 Thank you Byf.. After watching those 2 leaked cutscenes from Act 2 & this video.. I think I've pieced together what the ultimate plan of the "Conductor" is.. And wow, it could be on scale of Cosmic proportions. I won't spoil anything tho. But sheesh, Bungie's story team is probably the best part of this entire franchise 👏🏾

Didnt they mention something about a chorus in the veil containment files? The ones talking about Maya / Lakshmi-1. I though they mentioned her set up was called a chorus but maybe im not remembering correctly

I kind of wish they talked more about the parallels between the vex and the witness

Maybe with the echoes they are clusters of the witness’ minds made manifest. This one being the actual artistic/symphonic cluster put towards making the final shape. It’s picked up by the conductor who spreads this creativity and individuality of a universal symphony (previously final shape) to create individuals among the vex hive mind.

All this stuff on music makes me think back to when Rasputin disoriented the vex with it. So there's something about music that has a strong influence on the vex. All of this is possibly referencing the philosophy of "musica universalis" which states the movement of our solar system is a form of music. The "pattern" of the universe 🤔

I'm pretty sure the latest entry in the new lore book that depicts Mithrax experiencing some kind of painful vision

Maya Sundaresh returning will be interesting given she's clearly controlling this

Didnt Chimoa Esi mention the Conductor and the chorus in her logs during lightfall?

One lore tab has a vex hobgoblin wave at a guardian

One detail I’m surprised nobody at all is talking about is the fact that the word that is used to describe some of the choral vex is “Uplifted”. An example of this is the “Uplifted Choral Cyclops” (in this video, one appears at 3:05). This struck me as odd, as afaik, the term uplift is specifically tied to what the traveler does to the civilizations it visits. Given that a shard of the traveler is involved here, and the vex seem to be developing into something new… I almost wonder if the “echoes” that are being sent out are specifically packets of the bounty that the traveler brings. That it uses to “Uplift”. It also makes me hope (though I know there’s no realistic chance of this, because it wouldn’t really make sense) that we somehow get Vex Guardians.

I think it’d be very interesting to see the conductor as Rasputin… being that he was a big enthusiast of music being him playing it throughout his vaults. Very slim chance though considering that he pretty much offed himself.

Maybe that "guardian slayer" swearing at you is a bit of fun tongue in cheek, but it's still great for the implications around vex behaviour

I don’t know if anyone else noticed, my buddy mentioned the thing around their neck looks pretty much like the Ishtar symbol.

Kinda like Plainsong being music based in naming conventions...

This is, conceptually, THE most excited I’ve ever been for a Vex story. Hands down. I just really hope Bungie will showcase it better as the episodes go on

Would it be unreasonable to think that the conductor found the echo and gained sentience from the darkness through clarity control? They then used that echo to make more vex sentient. We’re not just fighting vex, we’re fighting Vexos (Vex Exos).

Thank you so much for the leaks heads up! Now I can hide🍻

Uh oh the story just got a little good rebellion within a hive mind I wish it was reality. Also it’s funny how a hive mindor the destruction thereof seems like the theme of the final shape.

The gatekeeper hydra in vog before atheon is a choral hydra now

This is the first part of the 3 part act coming off final shape revelations. Maybe Bungie wanted to pick the story up and mystique in the second act. They will probably answer a lot of these questions in later acts imo… I want to see how it plays out before I judge the overall episode

The vex are odd, their Greek inspired and always constructing and building. This is funny because they follow a kind of sword logic by winning and getting stronger, they follow the final shape logic of trying to find the best form and structure. lastly tend the black garden as if they're the gardener. They often stay out of conflicts that are political. They engage when it interferes with their goals or tests. They only respected a few entities and never really made a move against the traveler except the vex controlled by exterior entities.

guess that makes the song they used on saint-14 one of existential dread, given it had him questioning his right to exist, and has so far not as far as we know recovered with osiris a bit unsure how to help his lover

Hey, do you think you could go over the "Dynasty" lore book? I'm pretty sure its the backstory of one of the Witness's forces but I'm not certain.

I'm glad we're finally getting a good vex storyline

I am equally interested at who is commanding the Shadow Legion on Nessus. Following their assault on the Insight Terminus, it is clear someone is in charge. But who?. Is it Yirix? Or is someone else in charge now. It is safe to assume their target is the Conductor and the echo, which I suspect is the collar like thing around their neck in the promo image. It would be a bad thing for everyone if they succeeded and possibly gained command of the Vex.

Please talk about the lore What Gives Me Pause and how it kinda ties into Vex drama. There was no accident why Echoes was capitalized in it literally 4 years ago.

It really cool seeing this change in the vex. One of the biggest problems with storytelling involving them is that they don't have any key figures since they all act as one. Panoptes and atheon might be the exception but even they still are just made for a specific purpose. Here we're seeing them be angry, talk amongst themselves and give themselves titles. And now the conductor might be our very first true vex villain that we've had.

Could we get a video about Failsafe getting a physical body? She mentions is a bunch in the first week of the episode and I think we see it in the launch trailer under the hand of the conductor. No one is talking about it.

hii, im new. i watched a bunch of videos from you in the last days. even the 10h lore video. i very love the story of destiny, but we dont have good lore youtuber in germany, so i have to listen to english lore youtuber, its a bit hard for me to understand some words but i try my best

random idea mid video, but being that exos are similar to the vex.. could it be clovis behind this? the vex are talking to eachother and exhibiting tactics like.. guardians.. if not clovis, something that is similar to colvis brays understanding of the vex and exos, to transfer consciousness to individual frames in some way?.. if im wrong, its kinda a cool thought, a kinda crappy, but cool thought

I have not seem any spoilers but the music related terminology makes me think of Brother Vance. Although story wise it would make more sense for it to be Maya

I still say that the boss in the seasonal activity with the two captured Hydras is them showing this conflict in game. Yeah, it`s not much, but still.

My favorite part of the lore lately is the waving hobgoblin

Check the Lore Tab Dusk And Dawn, Polyphony pg 2 is a list of Incident Reports from Guardians in the field. The Choral Vex are learning individuality. Are they breaking away from being a collective? Who knows. But I bet the Yokes are freeing individual Vex units to be completely autonomous and self serving.

This is all fascinating lore implications. Though I am still hoping that one of these Vex seasons will start wit us getting a distress signal from the Vex to discover Asher has somehow turned himself into a Vex Mind. Would be fascinating to see potentially allied Vex, and I am hoping these no changes in the Vex will take us one step closer to that idea.

Was mopping up some missed “Veil containment missions from last season, and I caught numerous references to “conductor” and “chorus” in reference to maya sundaresh, and lakshmi-2. Thoughts?

I thought for a long time that Radiolaria would be something Bungie madu up just for the game, but then we went to a zoo/museum with the kids and there on a timeline of living things on earth was one picture with text about Radiolaria.

Its not the first time we've linked the Vex to music as a concept either. Back in warmind, Rasputins beacons (data stores) scattered around Mars would activate playing music, classical music, and it seemed to mesmerize Vex. I believe at the time we debates about their interest in Rasputin, and what level Clovis had to go to to create an AI like the warmind. We know now that Soteria was constructed off of Vex tech so much so that the Vex on Neomuna think they're trying to retrieve one of their own. War Mind Rasputin Augur mind Soteria Likely made via a process of clarity control and Vex mindfluid, a step along the way of creating EXOs. Maya Sunderesh was inolved with both of these projects AND was involved with Isthar and the vex AND was on Neomuna studying the effects of the Veil on Exos, which are made with Vex mind fluid. Seems to be a very straight line to Msund12 and Maya. Guess the question is, which one. Is it Laksmi or Maya...or another version...

Vex gonna be learning gamer words pretty soon

Terminators of Destiny