While the bulk of the story takes place at the very beginning of the Golden Age, the prologue gives us a look at life post-Collapse: for all the damage suffered at the hands of the Darkness, humanity is far further along in recovering from the Collapse than in canon. Case in point: the Guardians' base of operations is not named the "Last City", as Little Psycho reveals that there are several other cities and outposts established throughout Earth, and the rest of the system as well.
Speaking of Little Psycho: if his dialogue with Patriot and Lucas is to be believed, he once faced off against a Kell. By himself.
One of the Resistance's cell leaders is an elderly priest running what might be the biggest human smuggling operation on the planet. What makes this awesome is the fact that he does it only to move people who live on dangerous nations to more tolerant territories, saving them from a lifetime of persecution and potential death, or worse.
Once again regarding the Resistance; they manage to infiltrate Ares One, with Isaiah (AKA Osiris) playing the role of a CIA observer. This is an extremely important mission to make first contact with an alien intelligence, meaning there's incentive on the Triumvirate's part to tighten security around everything about this operation. The Resistance still sneaks Osiris in.
Chapter III: Humanity successfully lands on Mars. No more needs to be said.
The next chapter features a big one for the Ghosts, and for the Traveler herself: when the time comes to speak with the latter, the Ghosts instantly make it clear that such a thing will only happen on her terms, and not the Triumvirate's, by rejecting Calumet right off the bat, citing a classified Soviet op as justification for her rejection. And when Calumet has her Space Marines move to apprehend Valentin, Fang and the other chosen, they remove her and the Marines from Mars, sending them back to Earth; a simple, effective, and bloodless assertion on the Traveler's part.
The Traveler gives Valentin and the first Chosen a vision of the war between Light and Dark, and boy is it packed:
The moment that the King's slaughter of the Queen of the Sky is concluded, he is immediately confronted by four of the Celestials, who arrive to put an end to him, to avenge her death, and to break the Order for good, seeing it as an appeasement of the King's whims.
The King himself, however, proves to be no slouch: as the battle goes on, he demonstrates a growing enjoyment of the battle, and he shows exactly why he is King of the Deep by maiming one Celestial and outright killing two others.
And even then, he's outdone by the first Celestial, who takes advantage of his distraction and his enjoyment of the hunt for the final one by banishing it back into the Deep, putting an end to the first battle and allowing the universe to recover.
A long time later, the Darkness makes its return under an Ascendant Lord, who is not alone: accompanying him are five titanic worms - the Worm Gods - and a group of veiled figures. Their name? The Nine Who Walk Beyond the Veil.
To this, the Celestials respond by sending their vessels - spheres much like the Traveler's own form - into the universe, to directly uplift species in danger and empower them with the Light, creating the first Guardians.
The rise of the Hive, as well as Oryx's ascension into Taken King.
He was no longer preyed on Krill.
Born at the bottom of the universe, taught to borrow.
Interlude I gives us a look into the Awoken and the Vanguard, and a strong first impression is made for the former:
This story firmly establishes that all Awoken men are bound to the Darkness, which builds up in their bodies and makes it visibly painful for them to live, meaning they have to purge the corruption regularly. Uldren Sov has apparently managed to adapt to it to some extent, and while he still has to undergo the needed rituals to purge it, he is explicitly noted to have mastered the Sword Logic to some extent, allowing him to keep it under control.
Chapter XIV: The American annexation of Canada finally starts exposing cracks within the Triumvirate itself, as Watcher-7 manages to persuade Hayden to start moving against the Triumvirate's leadership for the sake of the Triumvirate and its people.
On another level, it also cements the Traveler as a remarkably ruthless Guile Hero: through Osiris's presence, she effectively sanctioned the Dead Cell's attack on the Congress - used by America as the pretext for the annexation, as Canada had harbored Resistance sympathizers - which exposed a weakness in the Triumvirate and made it bleed, while also inspiring a resurgence of resistance movements around the world by effectively manipulating a Triumvirate superpower into annexing another country, which only results in weakening the bonds between the Triumvirate nations, as well as their people. The following quote perfectly describes this contrast, while also foreshadowing the role the Traveler has planned for Hayden Fox:
Watcher-7: "She portrays idealism, goodness, loyalty, but She understands what is required in this galaxy. What must be done to defeat the enemy. While Her Speaker embodies Her greatest traits, Her Shadow must ensure victory at all costs."
Interlude II provides a first look into the Eliksni. One of them being Mithrax, who is already Kell of Light. The real kicker here is the fact that all of House Light is composed of Eliksni Guardians.
Chapter XX:
Valentin gets a good one that also shows why the Traveler picked him to be her Speaker: his path to Rasputin's Mindlab is blocked when he encounters a squad of Soviet soldiers assigned to cut anyone off from the Warmind. He's accompanied by Elsie and other Guardians, the Soviet soldiers are visibly afraid, and Elsie is urging him to detain them so that he can meet Rasputin immediately. Even so, he attempts to reason with the soldiers first, going so far as to unmask himself to urge them to stand down and let him through to speak with Rasputin. How does he manage to convince them to stand down? Look no further than to what he says when the possibility of Rasputin demanding the soldiers' lives in exchange for an alliance is brought up:
"If Rasputin demands your lives in exchange for his cooperation, he is an enemy of Humanity. I will burn his core to ashes, and reduce the Mindlab to atoms before I would accept his price. You are not my enemy. You are my people - and if he threatens my people, he will be shown no mercy."
As stated in the previous chapter, Shaheed crashes the Triumvirate's press conference in Moscow, and delivers an absolutely striking"The Reason You Suck" Speech going into what was done to him, his family, his people, and all the countries subjugated by the Triumvirate, while simultaneously pleading to everyone listening - both in Moscow and across the whole world - to rise up and make a stand. And as Clovis notes... it's working.
Even after being shot three times by the General Secretary, Shaheed refuses to fall, continuing his speech even as he's bleeding out, and Clovis has no choice but to move in close and break his neck to shut him up. And, as Chapter XXII reveals, even that didn't last long.
Chapter XXI: The majority of the chapter is dedicated to the world finally rising in revolt against the Triumvirate, as the Guardians finally step into the light to reveal themselves to the wider world.
As expected, Shaheed's swan song in the previous chapter left a lasting impression, inspiring an uprising in Baghdad, which incites the rest of the country - and then the whole world - to strike as well. When the collaborator government convenes to address the situation, they end up poisoned by their own cooks.
The Soviet Union begins its invasion of the entire United Kingdom, and nearly overwhelms the British soldiers with their superior numbers and technology until Queen Alexandra steps in. Her response? Conjure a blizzard encompassing theentire city, aimed specifically at the Soviets. This single act single-handedly swings the momentum of the ground conflict back in the UK's favor.
That said, the aerial front goes no better for the Soviets, with an entire bomber wing falling to a single Titan.
The first actual showcase of the Guardians' power in this chapter, however, goes to Ernesto, who joins a protest in Rio de Janeiro, no-sells the Confederation's snipers, and retaliates with nothing less than the classic Golden Gun.
Meanwhile, in Bucharest, we're introduced to Radegast, who leads a successful insurrection against the Soviet occupants, in a good showing for a future Iron Lord.
Chapter XXII continues the awesomeness on the Guardians' side, on several new fronts:
Hayden is executed in a Soviet black site, but is immediately resurrected as a Guardian. His first act? To pull a Kill and Replace on his executioner, effortlessly shapeshifting into the not-so-poor man... and transforming the executioner into himself, with the rest of the site none the wiser.
Perhaps the single greatest feat of this chapter goes to Valentin and his Lifesong: a metaphysical tapestry designed to capture the souls of all who died during the Battle of Ethiopia, and promptly bringing them all back to life.
It gets better; he spent the entirety of the battle - which took place over an entire day - accumulating each and every departed soul to undo all of their deaths; not just the Ethiopian soldiers, but also the Soviets, and every civilian and/or animal caught in the crossfire. One can hardly blame the Soviet commander - the one that wasn't executed by Valentin for showing no regret, anyway - for deciding to surrender after this display of power.
Even though Neptune is understandably occupying the Guardians' attention, Chapter XXV still sees the Traveler give the biggest possible middle finger to the Soviet Union back on Earth, by essentially resurrecting Vladimir Lenin as a Guardian, behind Clovis's back.
