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Bungie has had an extremely eventful day with the rapid-fire reveals that the company hosted for its flagship shared world shooter, Destiny 2. Not only did the game receive a series of major reveals about its next major expansion pack, Lightfall, but lore-minded players also found out a whole slew of unprecedented reveals about the game's lore, not least of which is the existence of the Neptunian metropolis of Neomuna.
While the mere presence of a hyper-advanced human city is a huge reveal for the universe of Destiny 2, its native warriors, Cloudstriders, are even more interesting. Bungie has revealed a few key details about the game's new faction of friendly trans-human combatants, as it has been suggested that they're fairly comparable in combat to Lightbearers themselves thanks to advanced nanotechnology.
Now that Destiny 2 has officially revealed Neomuna on Neptune, which was hidden away and managed to proliferate through the entirety of the Collapse and the subsequent Dark Age, its superpowered protectors are put into the limelight as well. Cloudstriders can, judging by Bungie's comments during the reveal's post-show, go toe-to-toe with Guardians in open combat thanks to their highly advanced technology. In fact, the lore attached to the pre-order Quicksilver Storm auto rifle suggests that Cloudstriders may be using an even more refined version of SIVA to enhance their abilities, which suggests an unprecedented level of human technology, more advanced than was available during the Golden Age.
While it's only to be expected that Destiny 2's newly revealed Strand Darkness powers will be the most important novelty in Lightfall, Bungie is also setting the stage for some truly substantial narrative reveals. Lore buffs have already discovered a few old references from Destiny 1 to a faction of so-called Cloud Walkers, the supposed pioneers of the original Exodus expedition into outer space.
It's possible that Neomuna was founded by the explorers who were on board one such Exodus vessel, and that the Cloud Walkers are the ancestors of the contemporary Cloudstriders. Since all Exodus ships also came equipped with SIVA foundries, this could explain how the Neptunian colony derived its advanced technology, which may also have something to do with Exo Stranger's mysterious companion.
Whatever the case may be, Cloudstriders are an exciting new development for the game, and Bungie is sure to have a fair few exciting new narrative twists in store for its players with the release of Lightfall DLC. In the interim, Destiny 2 has kicked off Season of Plunder, inviting players to join forces with the Spider, Mithrax, and Drifter to take on Eramis herself.
Destiny 2 is currently available on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
Source: Ishtar Collective
