#weaponized curiosity

[phthalology]

jumpscared by how cool ikora looks on the homepage rn

[phthalology]

I think you're very insightful, and I've enjoyed a lot of your thoughts on Destiny and it's lore. I enjoyed your take on Ikora's story in Destiny 2, but the Stormcaller lore has admittedly always confused me. Could you explain how phrases like "the calm" and "the storm" apply to the philosophy and practice of the stormcallers?

Thank you!

My Stormcaller meta is likely to get a bit muddy, because there are multiple things going on here: in-game interpretation and fannish, personal interpretation. I lean toward the latter, and of course they both get slurried together in fic.

Ikora says that Stormcaller is one of the most difficult of the three subclasses, because of the risk involved. In practice, the storm is just the storm – a Guardian could potentially die or be irreconcilably hurt (in as much as that applies to Guardians) by trying to call lightning. Stormcalling requires being mentally calm enough to control the wild physical forces around you, as well as being mentally strong enough not to be afraid of that storm. 

She describes the paradox of Stormcaller philosophy this way: the storm is power, the trance is knowledge, and in holding both in one’s mind at the same time, a Warlock exists in a state of perpetual question and answer at the same time, the question/answer at the heart of a Warlock’s identity. Warlocks learn and catalog, that’s part of what makes them Warlocks.

Within that class, Stormcallers are a balance between Voidwalker and Sunsinger. The Destiny 2 description just about sums it up: 

“Calm,” whispered the Voidwalker. “Burn!” roared the Sunsinger. All I could hear was the impassive voices of my teachers, encouraging me (ordering me?) to find my path, find it soon, no matter the risk, because we can never know when it will all be taken away again, when the storm will overtake us. Words, buffeting me like the hail that pelted my face as I pushed through the howling winds, forced my way through to the eye of—

Peace.

The stillness of the hurricane’s eye prickled my skin and brought with it realization. We don’t have to choose between the calm and the storm. In fact, to have either, we must have both.

I like this description because it shows the Guardian essentially panicking. They are pressured by their teachers to find a path, to find a way to fight, because what is the purpose of Guardians except to fight? But the pressure bothers them. It panics them, until they think of the physical storm, the hail, the obstacle that rages now but will eventually have an edge and an end. 

This meditation is very similar to Frank Herbert’s Litany Against Fear in that it helps the user to identify their emotions.* They can see their problem as something finite, passable, and separate from themselves. One can use this sort of visualization in the real world too.

The storm is anything that antagonizes: physical danger, anxious thoughts, a Warlock’s fear of being unable to control their own power.

The calm is the discipline and determination (? sense of self? discuss) that allows one to acknowledge and exist within those thoughts without being controlled by them or suffering too deeply from them. 

*(For a less literary comparison, “Harmony within, hurricane without” is the exact opposite of “be like a duck: calm on the surface and paddle like heck underneath.”)

[phthalology]

I keep thinking about Ikora’s dialogue when the Vanguard are trying to assess the attack and the Guardian is ducking through the rubble of the Hangar hallway

She doesn’t stop to consider, she doesn’t go into some stereotypical Warlock effort to taxonomize the tragedy

Instead she gathers her Light and goes for the Speaker, goes for Cormorant Way and attacks the dropship that looks most likely to cause Amanda problems

I like to imagine that she would share a look with a Warlock Guardian. The Guardian is fresh from burning Cabal in sweeps of Solar Light, so it’s relatively easy for Ikora (easy for the Vanguard) to grab the fizzling end of that energy and allow the Guardian to see what she sees - to hear the cries from the City, to feel the fear, to feel Cayde’s overclocked panic and Zavala’s old, old memories of what the Tower looked like so long ago

This is what you’re saving, Ikora says silently into your thoughts. This is the information that matters. These people with their conscious stories

[phthalology]

Interesting that Ikora is associated with bravery - because of course that's the other side of knowledge, looking the fear straight in the eye, clarity instead of either fear or denial

[phthalology]

Destiny 2: Warlock Answers

Kass realized, then, why Ikora was the Vanguard.

She had thought she had known before. She had thought that it had something to do with power, something to do with authority, something to do with the impossible corona of electricity around herself when she first learned to Stormcall. Something to do with calculations and hidden libraries, rediscovered files, knowledge hoarded like water. Ikora was doing none of those things as Kass ran toward Tower North, looking for Amanda.

The Cabal advanced shield-first, pressing. Kass fired through the handholds. Sparks jumped and reflected in puddles of rainwater. Three more Cabal advanced through the courtyard ahead of her, setting fire to the wall hangings.

Ikora’s presence was a spark at the bottom of a well. She had protected her Light, drawn it within herself for however long she would have it. She had predicted this, somehow, and stored up a defense for even the greatest threat. (Defense and self-destruction at the same time; what clawing dreams had led to the need for such a precaution? Ikora had partitioned her own lifeblood out in case she needed a reserve.)

Kass shot again, the long, jagged jaw of the gun spitting strange fire. It boiled between plates, and the Cabal dropped the shield as their hand melted.

She dropped the Cabal behind a pile of stone that had been blasted out of the wall. When she looked up, the rest were gone.

“Ikora, the Speaker is gone.” Even in the other world inside the Dreadnaught, her Ghost had not sounded this panicked.

Ikora stood on the topmost circle, blue fire gusting around her like fog over a lake. Looking at the sky sent Kass scrambling again to her guttering mental link to the Traveler. Ikora reeled her thought in with a quick tug. Although there were meters between them, Kass felt suddenly that she stood face-to-face with Ikora, seeing the warmth in her wide eyes.

With that tug came the Vanguard’s presence in the Light, as fierce and focused as she had been on the comm. Instead of asking questions, she was filled to the brim with answers. She allowed Kass a glimpse into a window behind which there were emergency routes, civilian evacuations, Hidden networks, Eris Morn’s mysterious travels. When it shut again, Kass’ focus remained steadfast.

Ikora let her go to arms’ length. Her regard for her Guardian resided there, not her innermost impressions of Kass but her pride for all six of the Guardians who had fought Oryx. Here lived her regard for the exterior things: Kass as Warlock, Kass as teammate, Kass as thousand-times-born soldier in a war she had not seen begin. She looked at all of this with a peaceful and open quiescence, and then she turned away and let Kass’ Light go.

Ikora Rey took three steps to push into a run and launched herself off the tiled floor just as a Cabal ship, heavy-limbed and coiled with the sharp shapes of gun muzzles, lumbered into the sky.

Kass felt the Light flair again as Ikora shouted. “Red Legion. You will take no more from us, and you will find no mercy in me!”

All of her power was concentrated on the ship now, none left for the lone Ghost-and-Warlock. Kass turned toward Tower North as her own Light flared. More packets of messages from Ikora stuck to it like burrs. The Vanguard would pass these treasured, encoded bits of knowledge to any Warlock she met, but now was not the time for contemplative curation. Ikora’s answer was her kick off the balcony. Kass charged toward Tower North before she saw the collision, but Ikora’s answer bit at her heels. Ikora’s answer echoed in the rumbles that might have been explosions and might have been the roots of the Tower shaking. Ikora’s answer would follow Kass until they both rebuilt their home.

[phthalology]

@hokuton-punch I see! I'm glad they're doing other character videos. They'll be a nice thing to look forward to. And hopefully my Warlock pride will be stirred up by Ikora's haha.

[phthalology]

And there’s a FLAME SWORD for Warlocks, and six-winged armor, and Ikora exploring the heart of the Traveler’s newest planet, and. My Warlock heart is happy, even if that image of the Warlock stumbling around without the Light wounds my soul.

(edited)

[phthalology]

I keep thinking about this post from @brainwolf and the ensuing conversation Warlocks are anxious nerds and this (and the space magic) is why I main one