Now that the Trailer for Rise of Iron has been released and a new threat announced, that wonderful time in the forums where speculation over the lore to come and the quest to understand the new threat to The Last City begins anew! This time we face a threat called SIVA, a nano-technological entity that infuses the Fallen House of Devils' (whose signature color is red, i may add) Splicer Faction with new abilities, armor, and weapons. And no, the Fallen didn't steal all of our Red Chroma! Some forum users suggest that SIVA is a Vex attempt to assimilate other races, citing the teleportation of the SIVA Strike Boss as a reason to speculate. While this is a valid theory and very well could end up being associated with the Vex, I believe I have found evidence that points toward the new SIVA threat being a damaged or corrupted Warmind.
The picture above depicts 4 instances of a logo that has never been seen anywhere else in Destiny that were found within the Rise of Iron teaser trailer. In the first instance (picture on top left) we see a red logo painted onto a column within what appears to be a SIVA infected Warmind bunker that we see a player walk into. The logo itself looks like a lowercase e, with the piece that is furthest from the main body of the logo appearing to fit snugly into the gap of the logo, potentially representing a dark subset of Rasputin (or at least that we are fighting a Warmind that has a few screws loose and has abandoned its mission of protecting The City and begun to accomplish the opposite). It also has the same blocky and artifice style that the Symbol of Rasputin bears.
On the top right and bottom right images, we see the logo imprinted on SIVA inspired Titan armor and an Omolon Primary weapon. This should come as no surprise because we Guardians have a serious tendency to take enemy technology and convert it into a weapon or armor of Light (Thorn, Claws of Amkahara, Bad Juju, Red Death, Darkblade Helm, Vex Mythoclast, Desolate Armor, and The Exotic Swords just to name a few) for our own purposes. Splicers, which according to the stream exist in all Fallen Houses (except House Judgement, poor Variks :/ ) are Fallen who incorporate technology and mechanics into their bodies to advance their own purposes. After all, the Fallen worship The Traveler, whom they refer to as The Great Machine, as a god (They even built the Servitors in the image of The Traveler)! Perhaps this new technology of near limitless power symbolizes the Fallen turning away from their original goal to take back The Traveler, and are now taking up the new goal of becoming their own new machine gods. Taniks and Skolas are a very good example of Splicers, as they both heavily rely on technology to vanquish enemies and accomplish personal goals. Skolas even tried using the time and space manipulation technology of the Vex to reverse the events of Twilight Gap! However, the logo being on both Guardian weapons and armor does effectively confirm that it is the symbol of SIVA.
In the last image (bottom left), the SIVA logo appears on the side of a supposed Raid Boss that is on top of the Wall that Guardians first start their adventure by. This seemingly Old Golden Age technology could perhaps have been one of the defense mechanisms that SIVA was in charge of before the Collapse, or a new piece of tech created by the Splicers to assist the spread of SIVA and its unknown motives.
Another interesting find is the way the name itself is stylized: SIVA. In Grimoire: Ghost Fragment: Rasputin 3: we discover that in computer processes, Rasputin is stylized as RSPN, and on the Mars Warsat node of the IKELOS Fusion Core needed to complete the Sleeper Simulant, the other known Warmind (Charlemagne on Mars) is stylized as CHLM. The common background is 4 Capitalized letters, shortening a name of a historical figure of Human History, and each name has symbolism behind it. Obviously, Rasputin was aptly named because no matter how many times the AI is invaded, attacked, hacked, or tampered with, it just wont die, similar to how Grigori Rasputin of Russian Revolution fame was poisoned, shot and beaten before finally dying of drowning. And [quote]Charlemagne or Charles I was the legendary 8th century Christian king of the Franks and the first Holy Roman Emperor. His attempt at unifying Europe, the first time since ancient Rome, and attempt to resurrect the Roman Empire which fell to the Germanic tribes in 476 C.E., may allude to humanity's attempt to reclaim their own empire, forged during the Golden Age, which dissolved after the Collapse[/quote] according to Destinypedia, the Destiny wiki. The name SIVA could potentially be associated with a monarch or historical figure who is known for abandoning their original cause, turning against from their old one as SIVA appears to do.
What did you think of this theory, Fellow Guardians? Comments, Criticisms, Counter-Theories? Crazy hype for Year 2 Gjallarhorn?!?!?!? Speak your mind in the comments below, and thank you for reading this post!
[i]See you out there soon, this is Guardian DyingExhalation signing off from the field.[/i]
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As of right now, only Earth and Mars are not fully functional. That means RoI is probably doing something on Mars. I think you could be onto something.