‘Destiny 2’ Is Done With SIVA, Probably Forever

Pretty much ever since Rise of Iron, the final Destiny 1 expansion, players have been wondering when SIVA, the Warmind-created plague of nanomachines that devoured several Iron Lords would return to the game.

The answer, it seems, is never.

According to a new interview, Bungie views the SIVA storyline as both being introduced and having been finished within Rise of Iron itself. While SIVA has returned with exotic ornaments and the SIVA-producing weapon Outbreak Perfected, which was dropped in the now-vaulted Zero Hour quest, SIVA returning to the actual storyline is not going to happen. Here’s what Nikko Stevens, senior narrative designer, said to PC Gamer:

“So whenever the Warmind comes up, whether it was back in Season of the Worthy or now, SIVA has been a part of the conversation narratively. We talk about it, we kick it around. But ultimately, I think SIVA is a story that was told in Rise of Iron, and was finalised in Rise of Iron.

"While narratively it's possible to upend those stories and bring them back, I think seasonally one thing that we have to do is make sure that we are focused on the story the season is telling—and that we aren't indulging ourselves on pieces that don't necessarily push that story forward. I think SIVA, while it's cool, it would be looking backwards. And we were trying to build up to Neomuna and Lightfall and making sure that that story had room to breathe—has room to flourish—before players set foot onto that new destination.”

They go on to talk about how some “people in the studio” want to do things with older elements of the game, for the most part, they’re focused on moving forward. And those older things are probably not SIVA.

The lack of future SIVA storylines is not the biggest shock in the world, particularly now with Season of the Seraph, the Rasputin-resurrecting season we are currently in that has had literally nothing to do with SIVA at all. Destiny 2 has had many, many chances to bring back SIVA if it wanted to, in the Warmind expansion, in the Warmind-focused Season of the Worthy, and now here in Season of the Seraph. But it’s just not going to happen.

There does, however, seem to be some new form of let’s call it “good SIVA” that is arriving with Lightfall. Early lore based around Neptune, the Cloudstriders and Neomuna seems to talk about a new kind of smart nanomaterial used for weaponry and other things, including our early copy of a Lightfall weapon, Quicksilver Storm. Heres’s a passage from that lore entry:

EXO: Your accessory came from a gun. Someone in the outer system is using weaponized nanomachines. I haven't seen that.

Tokki: That shouldn't mean you can just take other people's thing.

EXO: I've seen EVERYTHING, Tokki.

POUKA: *contactCall.3*

EXO: Almost everything.

EXO: But I can't figure out from the scans how the original design propelled anything.

Tokki: Isn't why you kept that piece of the original barrel?

EXO: No. Someone spent some time etching that motto by hand. Seems respectful to keep it.

Tokki: I will never understand Guardians.

EXO: So, someone out there has a weapon I've never seen before, don't understand, and don't know how to defend against. The closest thing we've seen to this is SIVA, and these bugs are so far beyond that.

So, silver SIVA is coming. Hopefully something that doesn’t eat any more Iron Lords. But red SIVA remains vaulted, outside of some flashy accessories and Outbreak Perfected itself, it seems.

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