Destiny 2 Lore - What happens when Cloudstriders go Rogue? You get the Uplift Coven. 

Neomuni: "Warlords"! Byf: "And I took that personally".

I think the best argument against "warlord prejudice" is the simple fact it was Lighbearers who worked to put a stop to the Warlords. Guardians worked hard to ostracize their extremists. Ask Citan lol

The last contact they had with Earth before they hid themselves was that one cloudstrider who actually went to earth and removed files of Nefele Stronghold aka Neomuna aka “new world” from Rasputin’s archives. I’m pretty sure that was during the dark ages and they will have witnessed the warlord’s acts and consequences firsthand. But Jisu stabbing us in front and behind us every chance he gets is a little bit annoying.

The problem is people fear power. The people of Neomuna are even afraid of Cloudstriders. That's why there are only ever two Cloudstriders at a given time. Because of that fear their city burns. The Traveler trusted that Guardians would do the right thing. The Last City is safe because of its Guardians.

The creation of the Cloudstriders reminds of the Spartan II (Halo) augmentation procedures especially with the drills

Now that I think of it, nearly every superhero I can think of has a dark parallel that demonstrates the whole “making superheroes” problem.

This is crazy good and bring a tear to my eye. I wish bungie would put voices behind the stories I can guarantee that having the lore being spoken by actors would make the community feel more in-tuned with characters

just gonna go ahead and point out that one of the members of the coven was named Laghari. like Quinn Laghari, the arcivist of the Hall of Heroes. i'm guessing Laghari is the coven-members last name, wich comes with interesting implications regarding Quinn and her potential family legacy. hoping this gets explored in a future season.

I'm replaying the campaign with my other two characters and realized even Nimbus admits he imagined guardians as "people with bushy eyebrows and wooden shields" the first time the player talks to him. Another thing I've been thinking is that perhaps the process to become a cloudstrider might be gruesome and painful on purpose, so as to discourage kids with illusions of power, glory and fame from enlisting. Hell, what if their "expiration date" is artificial too? Like the replicants from Blade Runner!

Okay, Guardians, nobody tell the Neomuni about Shaxx and the title he's never given up over the centuries. Don't want them getting nervous, you know. On the flip side, the interview between Jisu Calerondo and Warlord Shaxx would probably be pretty amusing.

5:30 That sounds even more brutal than what the children in the Spartan-II program went through with their augmentations.

The common theme between the guardians and cloudstriders to me seem to be that you can’t choose good, you let good happen sometimes you’ll make mistakes but you’re suppose to have faith in the fact that they will be good instead of just thinking you have to force it on everyone

a NONILLION nanites is insane. That’s a 1 with 30 zeroes after. The avg human body only has 7x10^27 ATOMS in it

The Traveller took it more as a numbers game, the more people with the POTENTIAL for protecting the light the better. It results in many more flawed people becoming Guardians with a lot of negative consequences over the years but in the end it gives both the light and life a better chance of survival in the long run. Unlike the traveller spreading as many seeds(ghosts/guardians) that could eventually become heroes and protectors, the Neomuni used near surgical precision when creating their two saviors at a time. I think there is something poetic about the Traveler spreading its Ghosts to choose who receives its gifts - a literal god choosing who it empowers versus the Neomuni who are humans picking and choosing who gets to become empowered and immortalized in their history. When it comes down to human preference on their decisions I can see where this would breed lots of contempt on the system that creates these godlike beings, and it makes me wonder what is coming next for the Guardians as we learn more about the Light and its source and motives. It also highlights the value of the Ghosts picking dead people to empower and return. The dead will not hold grudges or regrets if not chosen as a guardian, but the Neomuni - who get trained from childhood to become a cloud strider, if they fail to be chosen their life purpose would feel it was stolen or taken from them.

I wonder if the shorted lifespan might be manufactured as a failsafe.

While I can't say that feeling of smug superiority isn't there to me it feels like the Neomuni, and their governing council in particular, are stuck in that desperate survival mindset much the same way the Last City is. This contrasts very sharply with the glitzy, technologically advanced, golden age-esque City they live in where there is no Great Wall to keep their enemies at bay or Towers to keep watch. I do find it a little amusing though that Neomuna was able to form something that at least resembles a Representative Government in its Council, something The Last City has never experienced having been ruled by a Cadre of Misrepresantative Factions in an Oligarchy-themed Junta and now, after the factions' failed coup, The Vanguard has become Military Dictatorship in all but name. For me interacting with Neomuna is kind of like being able to look at the Last City from the outside-in.

"I have always been proud of you. From the first moment, I've been proud of you. And it was my pride, that blinded me; I loved you too much to see what you were becoming... what I was turning you into." - Strider (to Uplift Coven), probably.

Funny how they call us Warlords and some of them want us gone yet here we are helping Nimbus protect them in their cozy CloudArk while trying to also fight on multiple other fronts

Interesting. Another interesting thing that crossed my mind was the 10 years Cloud striders have. It is almost like 10 years is the life span of the nanites used to enhance them, kind of like they run out of power after 10 years and can no longer regenerate or maintain their structure.

Yea. That smugness. I feel it. Even when they're being friendly and helpful. Like... I honestly can't hate folks like Sid, or Quinn, or Sam. They're decent folks. But Sid commenting on how he figured that if they got involved with Earth again, it'd be them rescuing Us stuck with me. And they did see Earth at it's absolute Worst. Warlords and suffering and banditry. Rasputin unhinged and in full MIDNIGHT EXIGENT mode and so on. But they also never came back. They wrote us off. All the talk of "Oh some day we'll go back and fix up that mess on Earth," even in that damn kid's show, but they sat around hanging around in their shining city in peace, safety, and isolation. Yea, I think I'm a little bitter about "Warlord". But the Best of them, that Trio(and the fourth woman who's name i can't remember beyond it being chinese?), Nimbus and Rohan, accepted us and work with us. And in the case of Quinn, hitting on us. Seriously, I kinda wanna call her HR department at this point because the thirst is *real* with that one.

Laghari Sounds like one of the ancestors of quinn was part of that Uplift Coven. I wonder if Quinn knows about this.

The Warlords of the Dark Age have come and gone. They are all either dead or converted to being protectors of one kind or another (and Felwinter is both dead and a convert to the Iron Lords). Those Guardians that have gone rogue are few in number and either operate alone or are part of splinter groups being hunted by the FOTC. Some are in the wind; some have been captured (like Shayura); and some are dead, either at the hands of Aunor or Shin Malphur.

Warlord Byf: Hoarder of Lore

Amazing videos Byf. Your takes on the world and lore of Destiny is always a joy, and I’m so happy that you enjoy it as much as you do.

I can just picture byfs guardian putting this video up on the holonet in the tower 🤣

Byf, you're on fire! The flow of videos you've uploaded recently has been constant. Much appreciated, hope you don't strain yourself too much.

Interesting how they basically replaced “Thor’s Day” with “Cloudstrider” day. They made them their new gods. Thinking about it more, the Neomuni are kind of like regular Asgardians with their gods watching over them.

I'm just going to be "that guy" and say this: This video was the most educated way of saying "check yourself"

I really wonder if a guardian can become augmented like a cloud strider. I think that would an interesting interaction to see

Considering half the community is like “Let Neomuna burn, we didn’t even know about them a few months ago,” I’d say the Neomuni are right

I could feel the passion byf had on this one! Good stuff!

Bud the way you word some of of these things are quite beautiful “ cloud striders get their human aspects advanced every aspect including their flaws”

Honestly the attitude is very similar to the attitude a lot of the pre collapse lore has. Especially Clovis. I think it's telling that these people for all their hardships effectively avoided the collapse as we know it. They live in a technologically advanced city, in relative piece and with technology that can trace a direct line to golden age gear they had on hand. If a guardian finds something golden age, it's considered an exotic. They never had to humble themselves so they still have the cocky attitude. Some soundbites even imply that they planned to use cloudstriders to fight the guardians if they were to come here, reminds me a lot of Clovis' plan to blow up the traveler.

As I understand it, the Uplift Coven never got the Cloud Strider augs, only the training. They were 10 young people with military training who knew how Cloud Striders operate, not rogue Cloud Striders themselves.

I always love your videos! Always brings me back to destiny 2!

Just curious does anyone know if there has ever been any light bearers risen from Neomuna? Seem odd that there arent any. Prince Uldren was ressed from the dreaming city so I dont think its a distance from the traveller thing. If it was because it was "hidden" whatever that means, it'd be cool if now that its revealed we could get a past Cloudstrider revived as a guardian or something.

Once The Light and Darkness saga ends I'm Immediately leaving Neomuna

First from the way I read it the uprise cult while trained never got upgrades to actually become cloud striders so the dmg they could actually do would not be that bad. Also I believe he mentioned it at the end the big difference between guardians and cloud striders is that while they choose to do this and who would become one we had no choice the ghosts decided who would become a light bearer. Im sure there are untold stories of people being brought back not wanting it but not having a choice unlike the neomunians. As for the feeling of superiority over us that makes since. we fell into a dark age that stunted our growth for a long time and even during the city age the need for technical advancement was not that big of an issue because the guardians protected the people. Need is the mother of invention but with guardians there was less of a need the people of earth became complacent.

Imagine they have something like RU-vid and they see videos of team mates shoving each other off cliffs 🤣…tea baggings and other stuff

Byf with that Padme reference. This is one of the most entertaining Destiny videos you have made.

Byf always does good stuff.

"'Warlord' Hmm? A'ight, I can leave. If you want me back, be sure to send a message to 'The Guardian' mkay? Mkay."

Yeah I do get the feel that the Neomuni see themselves superior to Guardians. I read through the Cloud Strider Legacy book, and there was a line about how they wanted to "teach" us to be civil, and knowing history, that wouldn't end well

I think the hidden moment in this is those codes, the Killswitch to the Cloudstriders programing which Nimbus in working with us will see the best in Guardians and look to their city and their 7 maybe 6 years left alive and instead of training a new Strider will entrust us with the city of Neomuna and destroy the syridal

Would have been cool if the witness saved the uplift coven, get some disciple cloudstrider cross over

Let's face it, we are all loot goblins with a penchant of making guns out of enemies...

Snarky Byf is snarky, I love it.

Neokunians throwing rocks inside a glass house

Y'know, it's interesting that Maelstrom also had the codes to destroy the Sidereal and she entrusted them to Geist (the name btw, means "ghost" in german, interesting fact), what if the codes were passed down to Rohan, or even Nimbus? It would make an interesting story point to see if they go through with it, and dismantle the machine, what would happen after, or refine it in such a way, that after the 10 years, the cloud striders can survive and continue to live, but with the side effect of shortened lifespan (like, between the full neomuni and the 10 years) and the inability to become a cloud strider ever again.

Oof, I feel bad for the guardian that got crushed by the cabal drop pod at 10:52

the whole point of this video was byf heard someone talk shit about guardians and he came with the receipts.

It's funny to think of the fact that the Spartans of Halo were at least a *lot* more controlled in creation than Guardians or Cloud Striders. One could say the Battleroids of Marathon were also "controlled" but those were literally just resurrected Weapons of Mass Destruction. All they needed was a target to point at. Spartans had to have that time to be indoctrinated. And a lot of that included taking them in at an INCREDIBLY young age so as to wash away any "imperfections" in how they functioned. Which i suppose is what makes Guardians and Cloud Striders interesting. Guardians were allowed that time to "sort" themselves out through mass bloodshed where as the Cloud Striders did not and even then it was only 2 at a time that could be one. So you have a lot more flaws and imperfections in the Cloud Striders when it comes to attitude and mindset. Which again leads into that question of "Power". And no it's not just a Superhero thing, it's a real life philosophical issue that has been grappled with for millennia. To the point where a number of people will say that "Absolute Power corrupts absolutely" which isn't true. It's not that Power or Absolute Power corrupts. Power simply "reveals" the intention of the wielder. People will already be corrupted by their own thoughts and beliefs. Power has nothing to do with that. So the question is if the "corruption" is of benefit or harmful. If the corruption is beneficial then you often get people who will go out of their way to try and end conflicts or stop wars. Gandhi would be a good real-world example, but that's mostly how you get Super Heroes. But if the corruption is harmful then you get stuff like the Warlords, certain Regimes and Dictatorships, or so on. Essentially Villains or Super Villains. In short: Good on Bungie for at least making little marks and story points where they can go "Power" is neither good nor bad, it just is. It's how people use that power that is the problem.

Hot damn I'm early for once. As always, quality content from Byf.

I’d say Jisu and other authorities view on Guardians and the Vanguard aren’t too inaccurate. But, the fact is, Neomuna doesn’t know what the City and the Vanguard have gone through the past two years. Our civilian government disbanded and left because they were too stubborn in their ways, Savathun exploited and weakened us last year, the current war hasn’t given the Vanguard time to choose a new Hunter Vanguard and rebuild a new governing council in place of the Consensus either. Not to mention, the Vanguard has to contend with at least one or three god-like immortals destroying an entire city block if they haven’t been disciplined and trained. Fact is, Neomuna is quick to judge an issue they have no deeper insight on. Hopefully Zavala, Ikora, maybe even Suraya can come on the news and clear up the current issue the City’s governing body faces for them to be more understanding. Byf, would certainly pull up a stack of tomes and written essays to support they’re claims. Suraya, being a human who once had biases aginst the Guardians not caring about human civilians, could certainly vouch for us.

Behind all overconfidence lies an air of doubt and envy. We are numerous, we have our own autonomy, we have our own freedom. We do what we do not because it's our duty, but because it's our choice. That fact alone makes us unpredictable, and in a city that tries to do the opposite at every turn, it's no wonder we're both feared and gawked upon.

I dont really read the lore of destiny 2... so listening to it from you is amazing... however... im not sure if anyone else has heard this or not... but i had something from neomuna civil news come up mentioning that A (i think guardianless) ghost arrived on neomuna.... (ive only had it show up once... and i barely remember that...)

My opinion of the Neomuni is thus far very low, not only have they seemingly not been aware of the city's advancements, they seemingly have no knowledge on our enemies (primary thing I wanted from them) and have very little to no knowledge on what the veil is despite extracting power from it. Sure protecting them is all well and good, but I have to say the relationship between the forces of the Alliance and Neomuna feel very one-sided as of now. Wish bungo had the Neomuni bring a bit more than one insensitive individual and a whatever the Veil is but ah well.

Honestly, it's a bit refreshing to have our boogeyman status reestablished a bit. Mara Sov has recently confessed to having a contingency to kill us and a lot of other Guardian VIPs. After all the things we gave killed, these people have every right to be *terrified* just by the fact that we are on their planet. However! They aren't afraid because of what they know. They're afraid because of what they knew about Warlords, and that's not just false, it's a little bit insulting because, yeah, their protectors had some growing pains too.

honestly this sounds like it'll lead to something like what happened in season of the splicer some neomuni start to hatemonger against guardians and we come in conflict with neomuna's people would need a good catalyst though

So I kinda want a spin off game where it take place during the time of the warlords and iron lords. Could be different style of game if they like. Secondly I've been wondering if in some future destiny sequel we could play in a setting similar to back warlord days where many factions existed not just the vanguard realistically. There could be several multiple race factions comprised of cabal, eliksni, humans. Whatever mix you can think of. The last city isn't the last city anymore since neomuna. So after finalshape and all that jazz if we remained on earth then people should be able to split into several cities and ideals that may conflict. Would open doors for political intrigue.

Isn't Neptune still in the Sol system? Found myself having to just listen now. I can't deal with noob tube/smg gameplay any more 😂 As always, great job on the lore Byf 👌🏻

Ah, good old Uncle Ben, his wisdom transcends even universes

I laughed when they said when we first met them they be removing the guardians or as they say they be kicking us off of they're world I found it funny considering all the threats we have defeated the army's we have torn threw more times then we can count and the gods we have killed they could not know about this but still the fact they thought they could beat us maybe at first but we adapt quickly and always over come the threat

Wow. I actually found the video within the hour

Honestly, I dont see things like the Uplift Coven as proper justification as to why "ThErE CaN OnLy Be 2 CloUdStrIdErs" because First of all, the Uplift Coven WERENT Cloudstriders, they were merely trained since birth to become them and became justifiedly upset when they werent chosen. They were obsessed Cloudstrider fanboys gone rouge at most. Second of all, we all know that the real reason we cant have more than 2 Cloudstriders is gameplay limitations, they have to maintain the player power-fantasy of Guardians being the be-all end-all Hero, if we had an army of Cloudstriders running around, the Servers would lag, "Kill Enemy" Bounties would be much more difficult, and i doubt the Neomuni would even need our help at all. The 2 Cloudstrider rule was created out of narrative contrived necessity, simple as that. There's even Concept Art of a Cloudstrider Army preparing to march out, so at one point, the idea was considered. Halo did this much better, even with the Spartan-4's, Recruits are pulled from Marine Veterans, people who are already blindly loyal to the UNSC, sure some rebels still happened, but this happened within even the Spartan 2's. The reward vastly outways the risk. Cloudstrider Army should have happened. Even the similar Nanite-Cyborg Devil Splicers grew so strong they were preparing to invade the City. and can you imagine if a Ghost resurrected Rohan? That would be the most powerful Human we have ever seen.

YOUR LAST LINE….. they were made!!!

I'd love to see Ghost mention these moments the next time that one News guy tries to interview us, just to get them to shut up. Be all sassy, it's perfect XD

Caitiel also calls them out on their prejudice with jisu. Saying your sympathies means nothing to earth

What if a future season is about us shutting down the sidireal? That Gheist never destroyed the codes to take it down. Or even wrestling such codes from some villain?

It’s a new class of Spartans :p

I always thought that they refered to us with such archaic terms was more a result of them being cut off from basically everything that happend.

So I think this is the 4th or 5th video from Byf that has the children's program lore. I think Byf just likes to say "one, two, three. eyes on me, niños!" And I like hearing it lol

Anyone wonder what a couldstrider guardian would look like.

Hey byf please replie to this i have serious questions and a possible next vid for you. After the riven rade and we take her heart we take it to get cleansed right? After we cleansed it what happend exactly? Does riven go back to normal or does the heart just die and if so why does mara need the heart. And on a other note she has a new ahamkara egg we saw from the season of the lost. Wouldnt it be so awesome if one season we get to talk and interact with a friendly riven or other ahamkara for certain missions or season somthing idk but its all just adding up a little too well

If they call me a warlord again after the hours of grinding I spent killing vex in terminal overload to save them I might just become one

Will never forgive Neo Muna for just leaving us to die out

Greetings Byf

"When you point a finger at another person, there are three fingers that point at you. "- Old Creole saying.

Well prejudice will always be a thing, but honestly it never really came to mind. Even when people point them out, I just feel sorry for them and move on. Cause let's be honest, we all get that feeling in one way or another.

Lowkey feels like the witcher mutation process

Did the Uplift Coven have augments, or just the pre-augment training from Maelstrom? I read it as training, but no augments, which is still bad, but not quite rogue Clouds riders.

Just realized Striders and their recruitment program is a lot like the Spartan program

Rohan will be the first cloudstrider guardian no doubt. Since exos can be guardians I don’t see why cloudstriders can’t

I wonder if the 10 year lifespan is a means of control. Like they turn you off after 10 years.

Neat!

If u look at the lore the revelations about the true intentions of the traveler are not really that surprising we were all shocked when ghosts start reviving hive but some of the first light bearers were just as bad. The idea of light bearers being honorable and just was a product of the city age.

Ok this is like the third time within a week he's read the same lore entry on Nimbus' conversion into a cloudstrider lol. And Maelstrom's for that matter.

Well that does it. My guardian will no longe the helping them.

I wish Sony would give them money to cast voices for these lore books

There are a lot of parallels one could draw between the smugness the Neomuni people show, and the smugness that a lot of folks on planet Earth in real life show simply because they are from certain countries. As an American, I definitely encounter a lot of people who proclaim American exceptionalism despite our incredibly troubled past, present, and likely future. Wish folks could be more introspective and less quick to judge folks from areas they are not familiar with. Not saying that folks from America (or any country) should be ashamed, but everybody could stand to be more introspective and tolerant. Hopefully D2 and videos like this can help start some folks down that path. We certainly need more ways in the world to help more people be a bit more accepting these days.

If only we had Neomuna teachers when we were in grade school...

How many Cloudstriders are there at a time? Is it a set number?

how does Neomuna even know about Earth's history? How would they know about warlords or even how the Vanguard is structured enough to even have an opinion about it. Thats what I thought was odd. Where were they getting this info if they were a hidden and isolated community up until now?

3:33 would’ve been prime time for Vsauce theme to start playing 😢

One thing I'm confused about is how are they still having kids if everyone is cryogenicly frozen and in the cloud?

Does anyone know why i cant see the show lore button on my equipment tab?

It's the Red Skull problem, not the Steve Rodgers or Peter Parker conundrum. not when you drop uncle Ben on us.

Yeah... My Inner Guardian was gaining a Very Strong Urge to start Titan Punching in the face (Especially the Face) as I learned their history and attitudes...

they gota call jack reacher

Always two there are. No more, no less