I've enjoyed it so far. Also, I collected some of the Books Of Sorrow. It really does seem like they have an idea of where to take the game now. Bit of lore here. TL;DR at the end.
Our story begins with Santhona, Aurash and Xi Ro, spawn of the Hive King. These three of the Hive are brethren, and were responsible for infecting the Hive with the Ahamkara (parasitic worms), who propelled the Hive from the bottom of the food chain on a fragment of a rock in a gas planet to one of the most powerful races in the universe. Aurash becomes Oryx, the Taken King. He wrote the Books of Sorrows, and this is why.
Fleeing from Taox, usurper of the Osmium Throne and conspirator against their now-murdered father, the three Hive locate an ancient ship capable of withstanding the immense pressure of the gas planet they are located on. With time running out (Hive age very, very quickly, and they had been onboard for over two years) to prove an extinction level event is imminent - the syzygy, or the 'god wave', a gravitational disaster - they dive to the core of the planet in a bid to buy more time (immortality). On the ship, they have a dead worm:
The worm — Carved in my code by Sathona — Who should be afraid —
It was my father’s familiar. I ripped it from him as we fled. It is a dead white thing, segmented, washed up from the deep sea.
It’s dead, but it still speaks to me. It says: listen closely, oh vengeance mine...
Sound familiar? Well, it should. Every single reference to the Ahamkara, be it grimoire or gear, contains the phrase 'Oh (person) mine', be it "reader" or "bearer" or so forth. Furthermore, it washed up from the Deep Sea - from the core of the planet. More information on Ahamkara can be found here.
In Book of Sorrows VIII, we see Sanotha falling under the influence of the worm. She even begins to talk like it:
Sisters, I have my father’s familiar. Look! It answers me in plain words. It helped me find this ship. It gives me strength when hope is lost.
Who will you trust? The voice that wants us to live and suffer, as we have lived and suffered? The Leviathan that offers no hope against Taox or the world-wave?
Or the plain, honest worm?
Let us see where its whisper leads us, Aurash. Let us go deeper, Xi Ro!
Let us dive, oh sisters mine.
Now, in case anyone isn't aware, there is a very strong theory over the powers of the Hive (found here). And this is now confirmed, with the release of Books of Sorrow IX:
I am Yul, the Honest Worm.
Behold my passage. Behold my vast displacement, my ponderous strength, my great and coiling length, my folded jaws and curled wings. Behold the hiving cities symbiotic with my flesh. I am fecund, Aurash. I am at the beginning and end of lives.
Behold Eir, and Xol, and Ur, and Akka. The Virtuous Worms. Look upon us, and know that We are go
For millions of years We have been [trapped|growing] in the Deep. From across the stars We have called life to Fundament, so that it might contend against extinction. For millennia We have awaited you... our beloved hosts.
Against you stand the cruel Leviathan and all the forces of the Sky. They would crush you down into the dark. They have arranged their moons to drown you, in fear of your potential.
We want to help you, Princes. We offer to each of you a bargain... a symbiosis.
Take into your bodies our children, our newborn larvae. From them you shall obtain eternal life. From them you shall gain power over your own fragile flesh: the power to make of it as you will. And should you find an imperfection in the world, an injustice or an inconvenience — you will have the power to repair it. Let no mere law bind you.
We ask one thing in exchange, oh Princes.
You must obey your nature forever. In your immortality, Aurash, you may never cease to explore and inquire, for the sake of your children. In your immortality, Xi Ro, you may never cease to test your strength. In your immortality, Sathona, you may never abandon cunning.
If you do, your worm will consume you. And as your power grows, oh Princes, so will your worm’s appetite.
But we offer eternity, Aurash. We offer you a chance at the universe. Would you deny your people infinity?
Reach up to me. Let my flesh be your sacrament.
The dead worm that is on the ship one of the spawn of Yul, Eir, Xol, Ur and Akka. They then rename the three Hive brethren as Auryx (Aurash), Savathun (Sanotha) and Xivu Arath (Xi Ro). But the question has remains - why would the Hive deal with literal parasites? Let's take a look at what the Hive refer to as 'The Timid Truth':
The Timid Truth says that we are the smallest, most fragile things alive. The natural prey of the universe.
This is what the Hive believe themselves to be. They have also stated that they live with "... thousands of other species [that] drift with us, coexisting on a vast world sea. And the tides of the Fundament move us all" (Found here) The Fundament is the gas planet in which the shattered remains of the Hive's home planet floats in. The Hive have an incredibly short lifespan - a Hive of ten years is ancient. Immortality would be incredibly tempting, and the Ahamkara offer great power. However, we don't have any confirmed, official pictures of an Ahamkara. Many people think they look like dragons, due to the many bones (Claws of Ahamkara, Young Ahamkara's Spine, Bones of Eao) found ingame. But the worms might develop into a dragon like form later in their life form - supported in Book XLV:
THE DRAGONS. Our gods should be ours alone. Their smug freedom is an insult to me. I’d shut them all in cells. Bring them to me!
And here is how Yul, worm-god of the Hive, describes himself.
I am Yul, the Honest Worm.
Behold my passage. Behold my vast displacement, my ponderous strength, my great and coiling length, my folded jaws and curled wings.
Last time I checked, worms don't (normally) have wings. Perhaps we should have been considering wyrms, not worms. Here is some concept art that might be an Ahamkara. Note that this may be concept art detailing the Great Ahamkara Hunt. Note how the worm (that is what it is) doesn't seem much like an earthworm? It's more of an armoured, vertebrae-possessing one, with some very large teeth.
Now, we have a bombshell – why the Hive hate the Traveller. Shortly after conquering the Fundament, the Hive reach stable orbit and find the fifty two moons of their planet in perfect alignment, the cause of the syzygy. Except there is one additional object in the sky...
Our organs detect a fifty-third moon in orbit of Fundament. A Traveler. Divine presence of the Sky. Now we know what arranged the syzygy.
Who is talking? This is the worm (ahamkara) within one of the three spawn of oryx. Essentially, the Ahamkara told the Hive that the Traveller was responsible for the syzygy - who knows, they could be telling the truth or lying - and set the Hive against it.
The Ammonite, a species raised by the Traveller, are armed by the Traveller and involved in a war with the Hive.
In their desperation, the Ammonite have begun using paracausal weapons.
What are these? How do they work? Wouldn’t you like to know. Suffice to say that some powers in this universe are superordinate to mere material physics.
The source of these weapons is the Traveler, the Sky’s bait star. Their effect is subtle, but devastating.
The Ahamkara sparked and continued the war between the two species. They also taught the Hive how to 'eat light'
Once the way is open, we’ll show you how to eat the Traveler.
We also learn that Auresh/Auryx is the Oryx that we know of; King of the Osmium Throne, the First Navigator.
Sayeth AURYX, this is where I went when I died. Let us establish our thrones here. For I am Auryx the First Navigator and I shall chart death. And my throne shall be carved of osmium.
His speech to the Deep is not recorded here. But it is known that he returned, and he said, now I am Oryx, the Taken King. And I have the power to take life and make it my own.
Oryx killed his brethren (temporarily, but only by chance did they come back) to gain their power.
“I know a way,” King Auryx says. “But it will require great power. More power than any one of us can claim.”
“Then kill me,” says Xivu Arath, “and use that killing logic, the power you prove by killing something as mighty as me.”
So King Auryx took up his blade and beheaded Xivu Arath.
“And strangle me,” says Savathûn, holding a blade behind her back. “Use that killing logic, the cunning you prove by killing something as smart as me.”
But King Auryx turned with the speed and might of Xivu Arath, and beheaded Savathûn before she could move. King Auryx was the First Navigator, with the map of death.
These were true deaths, for they happened in the sword world.
Then he went to the Worm named Akka [Akka is the 5th worm god, the one of secrets]
We then have the showdown between the Ecumene, an unknown race, and the Hive. We also learn that Oryx gains his power to ‘take’ others from Akka. He employs this tactic against the Ecumene- until this event, they were losing a war against them.
The Hive entity Oryx/Aurash is deploying a paracausal ontopathogenic weapon that infects and subverts Ecumene forces. The weapon operates on individual targets. Targets are abducted and returned as compliant Hive slaves with inexplicable and physically illegal abilities.
Eventually, Oryx kills his resurrected brethren again, but the ascendant Hive such as these are immortal and cannot die, only weakened. He becomes the sole ruler of the Hive for a short to,e by crippling their power (limiting their worm's food). They eventually split up (who knows, we may encounter the other two siblings at a later date). And he still hates the Traveller, evident in his speech to his newborn son, Crota.
We fight a war against false hope, Crota. We chase a god called the Traveler, a huckster god who baits young life into building houses for it. These houses are unsafe, for they cannot stand against my Hive. And these houses are a trap — for they lead young life away from the blade and the tooth, which are the tools of survival and the means of ascension.
Only when the Traveler is extinguished will the universe be free to arrange itself, and assume, by ruthless contest, its final perfect shape, a shape which depends on nothing but itself.
We stand against the fatal lie that a world built on laws of conduct may ever resist the action of the truly free. This is the slavery of the Traveler, the crime of creation, in which labor is wasted on the construction of false shapes.
If you choose to fight us, fight us with everything you have, with all your laws and games. We will prove our argument thus.
And here the Hive learn the craft of The Oversoul AND THE ORIGIN OF THE VEX IN THIS DIMENSION (holy smokes). Crota learns the art of the Oversoul from his sisters, and also accidentally unleashes the Vex from a different dimension when he attempts to make his own throne world:
“We propose a method by which Ascendant souls can be detached and integrated into a tautological and autonomous thanatosphere, which we tentatively term an oversoul. Oversouls can be stored in a throne world as a mechanism of enhanced death resilience. As a side effect, new refinements to our Deathsong may be achieved, moving us closer to a generally effective paracausal death impulse.”
Oryx brandished his sword. “Speak the Royal Tongue, or I’ll pin you up for Eir to eat.”
“If we can separate our deaths from ourselves, and hide them, we will be hard to kill.”
Oryx went to his son, Crota. “Go keep an eye on your sisters,” he said. “'You can learn cunning from them.”
But while Oryx traveled to observe the Deep destroy an ancient fortress world, Crota conspired with his sisters to learn their secrets. “I too will experiment with a wound,” he said. With his sword Crota cut open a new wound, into a new space. In here he thought he might obtain a secret power.
Out of this wound came machines called Vex. They invaded Oryx’s throne world.
There we have it folks. When I set out to make this post, I didn't expect to find THIS. Book XXXIX details the shenanigans Crota and his siblings get into.
The Vex then learn 'sword logic' from the Hive by spawning Qurai, Blade Transform. They also learn how to influence reality by worshipping the Ahamkara. When Oryx realizes what happens, he slays all remaining Vex in his realm, and then throws Crota into a Vex portal to grow stronger. Oryx also views the Vex as 'worthy rivals' Book XL. Qurai continued to study the Hive, transmitting data to all other Vex, until he is destroyed in Book XLIII. It should be noted that the Vex could not simulate Oryx.
We then learn why The Dreadnought exists; essentially, it is a Hive Dimension ripped through space and time and dumped smack middle in our reality:
The Taken King said to his Court, the High War, “My throne world is vulnerable. I am going to move it.”
‘Where?’ asked Kagoor, World-Render.
“Into a mighty dreadnaught,” said Oryx. “I shall keep my glorious mind cosmos inside a titanic warship.”
Why does he do this? The Vex compromised his world once, and he needed to make his realm safer. By removing his realm from an alternate dimension, he makes himself slightly more vulnerable to threats in this world but nearly immune to ones from outside it. This is detailed in Book of Sorrow L (#50), the final one. A quick summary - if he is defeated outside of the Dreadnought, he has to retreat to it; if he is defeated inside the Dreadnought, he must retreat to his throne; if he is defeated at his throne, he dies.
And there we have it folks; the origin of the Hive; their rise to power; the origin of Oryx and the background of both the Vex and the Ahamkara. There is much more to learn from these cards - I could only give them a cursory read over. For instance, I am unsure if the Hive had contact with a known race(found here). I would recommend anyone to read these grimoire cards; they are some of the most detailed ones to date, and give the most insight into the history behind all factions to date.
TL;DR: The Ahamkara raised the Hive from the weakest beings found on their planet to some of the strongest in the known universe. The Ahamkara are parasitic worms that are found inside the Hive. They granted the Hive immortality, taught the Hive how to use the darkness and Oryx how to 'take' others. Oryx used his 'taking' abilities to win a losing war against the Ecumene, whom they exterminated. The Ahamkara set the Hive against the Traveler, though it appears Oryx agrees with the Ahamkara on why the Traveler is an evil being. Crota brought the Vex into existence in this dimension.
