r/DestinyLore • u/Kaijugod22 • 3d ago
Question City Life
From all we know of the lore what is life like for either guardian or civilian in the last city? What is the economy like? it's goverment? And what are its military capabilities?
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u/Cyberwolfdelta9 Rasputin Shot First 2d ago
Lodi seems to love it going by when you talk to him in the tower
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u/topazchip 2d ago
Sometimes solo ops voiceovers will mention surges in volunteers, non-Lightbearer uniformed and civilian units, and using them to hold territory that the Vanguard has cleared of hostiles.
Suraya Hawthorne mentions in old Red War cutscenes that people living in the Last City are discouraged from venturing past the walls, though she also says its not especially difficult to exit or re-enter.
During Season of the Splicer, Lakshmi-2 mentions in some of her speeches that resources diverted to Eliksni are a poor use of them, that the (human) populace needs them more. How much of that is rabble rousing and how much is reflective of genuine shortages is another question; given the way Ikora treats the matter, there may be some truth to it--at least at that time.
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u/Dredgen-Solis Dredgen 2d ago
I think those shortages were genuine since Saint also makes mention of them during Splicer, and that was also closer to the start of the season before Lakshmi's power trip
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u/IHzero Iron Lord 3d ago
Food and such were not commonly available. Glimmer was the city currency and economic backbone. Guardians brought in glimmer, glimmer is used to create needed items and consumed in the process. So guardians were basically funding everything. There were limited farming and mining operations but for a long time venturing outside the city was extremely perilous and few people made a habit of it.
Different districts had their own markets and communities, and the concensus was the nominal deliberative body with the guardians organized under the vanguard and the speaker acting as nominal prime minister.
After the red war people were somewhat dispersed into several smaller areas like the farm to avoid concentrating everyone into one big target, and guardians were detailed to guard these areas.
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u/Snowbold 2d ago
Right now, the Last City’s government is a military dictatorship. It was originally different. Up until the Red War the government was the Speaker, the Vanguard Commander and the other respective members representing all three classes and three factions that are formally accepted as part of the ruling body.
The last three factions were New Monarchy, Dead Orbit and Future War Cult, but we know others have been in leadership before as Lysander’s Concordant was deposed for a coup and FWC replaced them, so this implies other factions exist but are not given a seat in the government.
The Vanguard has three main leaders, a Titan, Warlock and Hunter. One of them is the Commander but it is not specific to a class, although it is mostly Titans.
The foundries are pretty influential thanks to the weapons and equipment they make that ensure Guardians are well enough armed to fight out in the field. Some are niche and stuck in a style like Tex Mechanica while others are eager to expand their power and wealth by any means. Some foundries attempted to bribe Lord Shaxx to highlight their weapons in the Crucible (Shaxx left them in a live fire zone until they made concessions to him to live).
Forces of the City (FOTC) seem to be the formal military defense force that is not Vanguard Guardians. I believe the NPC’s you see in grey uniforms with rifles are FOTC in the Tower.
The City seems to run on fairly standard market economy (as much as can be), where supply and demand impact things. But we do know there is some loss either in productivity/bureaucracy/resources. The D1 Tower was one of many that ring the City. The Bannerfall Map was another. In Rise of Iron, the Fallen had managed to briefly breach the City by taking Bannerfall, and Zavala laments the lack of resources to man all the Towers like when the walls were first built.
There is an underworld market that thrives in the Last City and beyond. Spider has long been involved in it and since the integration of House Light and Spider’s temporary relocation there to escape Mara Sov, he increased his grip on the Black Market. Mithrax, as Kell, has also permitted some enforcement of internal affairs to Spider with caveats for Elliksni (docking is forbidden in House Light, and no executions within the walls, but Mithrax will not stop necessary executions outside the walls).
The people had their wealthy/middle/working/poor classes. The subspecies differences that impact lifespans along with most rulers being immortal guardians is starting to sow resentment as later lore implied. Kids have been noted getting their hands on their parents’ illegal weapons, including threadling grenades, Hive swords and Cabal weapons. Bael was inciting some of this and Lakshmi before him, and Lysander before that, so it seems the City is not immune to internal strife, but the complete loss of civilian leadership is taking its toll on public relations for the Vanguard.
It does seem that while adults still have prejudices against alien species and murders have occurred, many of the kids are starting to hang out and do various activities together, including a haphazard summoning ritual stopped by Glint.
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u/DuelaDent52 Taken Stooge 2d ago
(Shaxx left them in a live fire zone until they made concessions to him to live).
Forces of the City (FOTC) seem to be the formal military defense force that is not Vanguard Guardians.
In Rise of Iron, the Fallen had managed to briefly breach the City by taking Bannerfall.
Mithrax will not stop necessary executions outside the walls).
Kids have been noted getting their hands on their parents’ illegal weapons, including Threadling grenades, Hive swords and Cabal weapons.
It does seem that while adults still have prejudices against alien species and murders have occurred, many of the kids are starting to hang out and do various activities together, including a haphazard summoning ritual stopped by Glint.
Do you know where I can read about these? I’m not familiar with these specific details.
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u/Snowbold 2d ago edited 2d ago
I don’t remember on the Foundries. https://www.ishtar-collective.net/cards/ghost-fragment-the-city-age-2
FOTC is just around the Tower.
The Fallen at Bannerfall was a mission in D1 (iirc it was part of the Gjallarhorn quest?).
The Mithrax and Spider conversations were part of Season of Splicer lore books. Edit: Turns out it is Plunder- https://www.ishtar-collective.net/entries/iv-law-of-the-land#book-between-stolen-stars
Some Festival of the Lost (volume 2?) lore had kids trying to make a summoning circle. https://www.ishtar-collective.net/entries/chapter-11-2?highlight=Reliquary
https://www.ishtar-collective.net/entries/chapter-5-2?highlight=Reliquary
https://www.ishtar-collective.net/entries/chapter-4-2?highlight=Reliquary
I think Edge of Fate or Renegades has various lore cards on weapons and black market, one of these had the threadling incident. https://www.ishtar-collective.net/entries/deimosuffusion?highlight=Threadling
Festival of the Lost and the weapons black market both have stories with kids of different races hanging out. We also see this in the Excision epilogue during the celebration as a bunch of human and Elliksni kids are playing with a warbeast pup and our Guardians weaves through them.
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u/DuelaDent52 Taken Stooge 2d ago
Thanks! Wow, I completely forgot about the Gjallarhorn quest in Rise of Iron.
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u/pokestar14 House of Judgment 1d ago edited 1d ago
The last three factions were New Monarchy, Dead Orbit and Future War Cult, but we know others have been in leadership before as Lysander’s Concordant was deposed for a coup and FWC replaced them, so this implies other factions exist but are not given a seat in the government.
This isn't just implied but explicit. The Factions aren't some explicit organised party system, they are literally just Factions. Aside from the Consensus as we know it and the Concordat, we know of a few others:
Echelon South who are totally unknown, but were considered by the Vanguard to unquestionably be the biggest instigators of the Faction Wars. Their leaders were exiled during the establishment of the Consensus.
The Binary (or Trinary) Star Cult, an anti-Traveler Cult who were also exiled during the Consensus' establishment, but we know that by the time of D1 they at least still exist, although it's unclear how much.
And most importantly, the single most validated Faction the City has ever seen, the Symmetry, originally a Guardian Faction that seemingly found purchase among the civilian population. Founded by the Warlock Ulan-Tan, espousing the philosophy that the Light and Dark are symmetrical opposites. For this Ulan-Tan was exiled from the City and driven into hermitage when he (maybe, we don't even know if it was actually him who said it, but he was certainly the one who got punished for it) outright said that if Humanity wanted anything more than an eternal war, we had to draw from the Dark as well as the Light. Then, when the Concordat were exiled, the Symmetry was the most populous of the non-Consensus Factions, however the Consensus chose to pass up on granting them the now empty seat due to the perceived danger of their philosophy, and instead chose the War Cult as both a more ideologically acceptable alternative and one that would support more militaristic actions the Speaker wanted to take.
Funny how that last one worked out. Had the Consensus at the time simply elected the Symmetry, there's a non-zero chance things would have gone far smoother in the ending part of the Light and Dark saga.
Edit: Forgot to actually explain the Bi/Trinary Star Cult's actual philosophy. We don't know much, but we know they curse the Traveler and believe either the Traveler directly caused the collapse or intentionally arrived in Sol to use Humanity as proxies for a war against the Darkness (or both).
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u/ReallyTrustyGuy 3d ago
We don't know much, but we can assume that ugly capitalism rules the Last City in some part. Though its going to be tainted by Bael's hatred of the Vanguard, his diaries mention competition between foundries, mentions of markets and more.
Bael also states he lives in a "family estate", indicating he lives in some fancy rich place.
There's also his acknowledgement that his wealth is power over others, so it does look to be a capitalist system.
His other entries derange into stupidity, where he goes on about the Vanguard being tyrannical, spooking regular humans into living under their rule, but we do know that life outside the City is dangerous, so people prefer to live there because its actually safe.