Traveler

*"The best voices never let themselves be heard at all. This lesson is worth teaching again and again. The choice is never mine. It is always yours."*-The Traveler

*"Traveling. Moon X. Look, we need to stop even thinking of it as a satellite or a false moon. It's big, but it acts alive— this thing moves with purpose. It's a visitor. It's… a Traveler."*-Evie Calumet

The "**Traveler**" is a mysterious spherical paracausal entity associated with the Light. Massive in scale, it hangs motionless in the skies above the Last City built in its shadow. Once responsible for terraforming the worlds of the Sol System, it was rendered largely inactive during the Collapse, when its ancient enemy arrived and launched a devastating assault on human civilization.

## Overview

The Traveler is an ancient and immensely powerful entity, the source of Ghosts and the paracausal powers of the Guardians. It is a source of Light, though not the only source in the universe. Its outer shell is made of lead, neutronium and "electroweak matter", the latter based on a fundamental force that hasn't existed since the dawn of time.

The Ghost Balthazar claimed that Ghosts originate within the Womb, a place inside the Traveler described as a "cosmos inside a bottle" or an "infinite space enclosed within a celestial egg", where trillions of star-like souls orbit each other in a complex weave. Another Ghost named Peach was dismissive of this description, contending that neither she nor Balthazar can remember the time within the Traveler.

### Origins and Purpose

The origins or nature of the Traveler is not clear to anyone. Some information can be gleaned from the poem known as Dreams of Alpha Lupi; based on this work, it appears that the Traveler chose Earth and humanity for a reason; it detected a "face" emerging from the Sun, later hearing a roar that contained something that it described as "a lucid melody". The Traveler felt joy, as it felt "the first hope in ages transform [it]," and it resolved to become strong enough to fight the Darkness.

The Traveler exists to help other worlds, but has never wished to be worshipped as a god, nor made its presence known any more than necessary to cultivate a civilization. When its work was finished, it would simply leave without fanfare. It would seem then that its defense of humanity was an extraordinary act under dire circumstances.

Saint-14 suggested that the Traveler had previously visited other species before finding humanity. The Fallen civilization in particular once hosted the Traveler, which they named the Great Machine. However, it left their system around the time of a catastrophic event only known as the Whirlwind.[citation needed] Other than the likely involvement of the Hive, little is known about this event, though it is thought to be similar to humanity's Collapse. After the destruction of their homeworld, the Fallen went in search of the Great Machine, leading them to the Sol System. All of their previous conflicts with humanity have been attempts to claim the Traveler for themselves, in an effort to prevent the destruction of their race

Other species the Traveler has also uplifted include the Ammonites and the Harmony. The Cabal are aware of the Traveler's existence and nature, with some indications that they knew of it from other species. Ghaul in particular wants to receive the same power as the Guardians, believing himself to be more worthy. It is later described in the lorebook Constellations that the Traveler felt more afraid of Ghaul, the Red Legion, and the cage device than its ancient arch-enemy itself, the Darkness.

The Hive uniquely hold the Traveler in special contempt, as it embodies the antithesis of their culture and society. One of the objectives of their crusade is to hunt down and destroy the Traveler once and for all.