This post covers the stories of all the Tower vendors and personnel (this will include the vendors on the Wall in D2). I had to split it into multiple parts because there are so many The Speaker: an elected position in the Consensus, the Speaker is appointed to study the Traveler and the Light and do the best he/she can to speak for the Traveler. The Speaker we see in D1 and D2 is not the first, but as far as we know he and the others have all been chosen for having strong connections to the Light, Guardians, and Ghosts, as well as for their desire to learn about the Light and do their best to enact the gentle ways of the Traveler. The previous Speaker was killed, so now we await the decision of who the next will be, if a new one will be chosen at all. Commander Zavala: as Vanguard Commander, Zavala is the one looked to for decisions relating to Guardian coordination and defense of the City. Zavala is serious, cool-headed, and will stop at nothing to protect humanity and the Light. Defense has always been more of a priority to him than offense. Zavala was revived in a crashed ship on Earth and fought his way through the Fallen (who clearly didn’t know Guardians could revive at the time) to get to the Traveler. He protected the first camps below the Traveler, led people to the City from the wilds, helped build the first walls of the City, fought at Six Fronts and Twilight Gap, was protege to Lord Saladin, and helped build the Tower. Now he coordinates Strikes and directs the defense on the City’s Wall, and keeps the other two Vanguard members in check (they can be quite a handful). He is also the Titan Vanguard, so it is his responsibility to welcome new Titans as well as teach Titans as a whole. The Vanguard Commander also has a seat in the Consensus to vote on matters involving the entire City. Ikora Rey: Warlock Vanguard, in charge of welcoming new Warlocks and managing the new and old amongst the Warlock Class. Ikora has a hot temper and an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. She prefers diplomacy and talking her way out of situations, but is famous for her quickness in taking down anyone who makes a move on her as well as her dominance in Crucible. Ikora is the holder of the first recorded 25 win streak in Crucible (127 years before the Age of Triumph began), was in a relationship with the leader of OWL Sector (a group that acts outside of City jurisdiction and particularly studies Golden Age and Clovis Bray projects like SIVA), is one of the few people Asher Mir seems to consider not stupid enough to insult, is one of the few people willing to talk to Eris frequently, is the founder and leader of a spy network called the Hidden, and was the owner of Invective. After she grew tired of her Crucible reign drawing in challengers, she struck out into the system alone to search for knowledge, but eventually returned. She has a knack for insulting Cayde and is said to have been a pain in the butt to Shaxx in her Crucible days. When the Vanguard makes decisions, it is up to Ikora to consider what intelligence could be gained from their task. Cayde-6: Hunter Vanguard, roguish commander, dashing hero, lone wolf, gambler, cheater/owner-of-lucky-pants, jokester, and “master” improviser, Cayde is in charge of acquainting new Hunters with the Tower and teaching all Hunters in the art being a lone ranger as well as helping the Vanguard make decisions. He honestly doesn’t do those parts of his job very well and would much rather be out on his own in the wilds, so he’s mostly locked down in the Tower because Ikora and Zavala don’t want him causing any trouble rather than for his input on decisions. Cayde was a soldier before he was turned into an Exo to pay off a debt to Clovis Bray. His journals suggest he had a wife and son before this change, but he forgot them after his first mind wipe and developed a crush on the scientist Maya Sundaresh. Cayde was around during Six Fronts and Ikora’s Crucible days and he became friends with the previous Hunter Vanguard, Andal Brask, but lost the Vanguard Bet with him so became the next Hunter Vanguard when Brask died at the hands of Taniks. Cayde seems to like watching your exploits to remind him of his days out on the field, but normally can’t be bothered to actually direct a Strike. Cayde has poor judgement and doesn’t like working with others, but it seems like he would hate being alone for long periods of time due to his apparent need to crack jokes and show off in front of others. Cayde has managed to get both Shaxx and Eris to hold grudges against him, along with probably scores of other people. He’s also considered rather idiotic by, well, pretty much everyone, and is a target for ridicule for Failsafe and Ikora. Suraya Hawthorne: Hawthorne is a woman who left the City and built a life for herself out in the wild. She’s not very social and acts incredibly similar to many Hunters, but she built up the Farm with a few others as a safe haven to travelers. When the City fell she began leading survivors (Guardian and civilian alike) to the Farm and organizing them. Lord Shaxx: a former protege of Saladin like Zavala, Shaxx took up the title Lord much as the former Iron Lords had. Shaxx was present at Six Fronts and Twilight Gap (at the Gap Shaxx led an unsanctioned offensive that pushed back the Fallen but risked the lives of many Guardians, making his current relationship with both Zavala and Saladin tenuous now since both disagreed with his decision), and after the Gap Shaxx took up the position of Crucible Handler (Crucible existed long before this happened) and built it into the game we know today. Shaxx is bold but is a thoughtful strategist, leading him to be one of the very few to object to sending Guardians to retake the Moon at the Battle of Mare Imbrium (the Great Disaster) even though that’s the opposite of what most would expect. Shaxx enjoys battle and the act of improvement through combat, and seeks to prepare Guardians for the challenges that lie ahead by throwing challenging fights in the Crucible. He has his own fair share of war trophies, an army of Titans as well as some Warlocks and Hunters at his command, is almost a whole head taller than most other Guardians, and is the manager of the Redjacks (a group of Guardians and combat Frames that capture areas for the Crucible as well as SRL). Lord Saladin: the last of the Iron Lords of old (apparently Efrideet doesn’t count because she left the Banner and u don’t count because you’re next generation), Saladin is one of the oldest of those selected by the Traveler as well as one of the very first to truly be a Guardian. With the other Iron Lords, Saladin fought at Six Fronts, led a crusade to kill all the Warlords or force them to join the Iron Lords, and defended the City even back when it was just a small group of people pitching tents. Saladin is the only survivor of the failed attempt to claim SIVA from Rasputin and ever since then has been destroying all he can of SIVA to keep others from finding it. Saladin had abandoned the Iron Temple on Felwinter Peak after the fall of the Lords, but took on Zavala and Shaxx as proteges and fought at Twilight Gap with them. He created the Iron Banner Crucible tournament and came to the Tower frequently to hold it in hopes he could raise other Guardians strong enough to avoid the fate of his lost friends, and in holding these matches also kept the memory of the old Lords alive. When the Devil Splicers uncovered SIVA, Saladin returned to the Temple to fight in the SIVA Crisis. Saladin then began holding the Iron Banner tournament from the Iron Temple with the help of Efrideet and turned our Guardian into a new Iron Lord. Eris Morn: Eris was once a Hunter. She went to the Moon with thousands of other Guardians in what became the Great Disaster, and she was one of the very few to return. Wanting vengeance, Eris gathered a raid team to kill Crota and ventured into the depths of the Hellmouth to slay Crota. They failed, and all 5 of Eris’s allies died, leaving Eris to survive on her own in the dark with nothing but the journals of Toland, the Shattered, to guide her. Her Ghost died, her Light ebbed away, and she replaced her own eyes with those of a Hive she captured so that she could see in the dark. Eventually, Eris escaped and returned to the City with a now vast knowledge of the Hive and Darkness, including some abilities that she could perform herself. Ikora found Eris and recruited her to be one of the Hidden. Eris wasn’t fond of staying in the City anyway (she saw it as a false safe haven and the Light now made her uncomfortable), so she accepted Ikora’s offer and now reports back to the Warlock Vanguard on all of her findings. When Crota began to rise again, Eris set up shop at the Tower and directed our Guardian in killing Crota, then later in killing Oryx. Right before the Taken War against Oryx, Eris was revealed to have been meeting with Mara Sov and Osiris to create a plan that is still relatively unknown to us. After the SIVA Crisis and the return of Asher Mir to the City with Vex corruption on him, Eris left the City. Her whereabouts are currently unknown, even to Asher Mir and Ikora, but she’s out there looking for information and messaging Asher still. Eris is antisocial, often cryptic, has no sense of humor or cheer, and REALLY hates Cayde (he still owes her a ship). Aside from her eyes, Eris picked up a small stone from the Hellmouth that whispers to her about the activities of the Hive and Darkness; she used this to help us learn how to defeat Crota and to sense the coming of Oryx. Part 2: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/237562432/0/0 My Archive: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/217384398/0/0