Piecing Together the Plot Part 2: The Exogenous and XM

I’ve heard many conflicting things about XM and the Exogenous. I know that, at its core, XM is “raw, intelligent data”. But what does that actually mean? If there are two reactions people have to XM (attraction and abhorrence), then why does the faction that exhibits a general repulsion towards XM still use XM-based technology in the scanner? How is XM used by the Exogenous? What kinds of exogenous are there (I’ve heard whispers of something called the “Undine”)? There’s a lot of stuff to clear up with these topics, so any knowledge you could add would be greatly appreciated.

Comments

  • GoblinGranateGoblinGranate ✭✭✭✭✭

    That is easy, man: they lie. It's all politics.

  • edited June 2021

    I feel like I've heard so many explanations for what XM is/does that I can't really speak for what it actually is/does without accidentally missing some obscure media from 2016 that contradicts some other obscure media from 2018 and blah blah blah. I'd rather someone who's followed the lore since the beginning explain that, though the answer to why the NIA created the Scanner in the first place is the same reason why Project MK Ultra happened: because as soon as the US Government found out about XM, they wanted to know how to use it to their advantage.

    As for what the Exogenous are/do, I was recently shared this transcript of one of the YouTube videos (English at bottom) that finally actually sheds light on the Undine and their role.

    Most relevant bit:

    Millennia ago, the Undine were charged with maintaining the balance of Exogenous influence on each world. It's why they built the Tessellation Membrane around every world in the multiverse, but the Shapers and the N'zeer eventually grew tired of the Undine playing gatekeeper, and they work together to banish the Undine to the Fugue.

    Basically, we now know that the Exogenous are massive extraterrestrial beings that treat worlds like chess boards, using XM to influence resident species to do their bidding. We can see this on Earth through the Shaper Glyphs, which is essentially the Shapers whispering to us through Portals. The Shapers influenced individuals who became known as the Enlightened, and the N'Zeer influenced individuals who became known as the Resistance. We know also know that when the two Exogenous decide they're done with the chessboard, things get... messy for that planet's inhabitants.

    The Undine were similar, but acted as a mediator between the two, blocking them out of planets if they thought the Shapers and the N'Zeer were getting out of hand. They have since been banished and have no interest in returning. Most of this probably won't come up in the future, though, because the Exogenous are out of the picture as of a year ago.

  • MoogModularMoogModular ✭✭✭✭✭

    XM is ordered data - sort of like graphing a group of points with the format (x, y). However, that's only assuming there's 2 specific elements in the data. It can be much, much more elements where you have to look into plotting points on a 3-D plane. The ordered data could be (x, y, z) or (1218, Osiris, Nemesis) with respect to time. There's a lot of ways to look at it and the prospective depends entity on your viewpoint.

    It's interesting looking back at the Tessellation Era. The Exogenous influence could simply be just one variable of this ordered data. The Tessellation and how its tuned is another variable. We know the Prime Artifacts are like manually setting a value of 0 or 1 for a specific item. There's also the roles for the 13 archetypes and a magnus regardless if they are active or inactive. We also have the Undine as another variable.

    These mini events are showing that XM is generated regardless of removing Exogenous influence. Our theories about the Exogenous having this ultimate control on the multiverses have been wrong - especially if we're seeing the Undine purposely hide from both the N'Zeer and the Shapers. It's like the wars between the two spanning multiverses have been their own separate entity from XM - in other words, it's been used as a tool and weaponized regardless of the faction.

  • This is actually very helpful! I ended up just quoting you in the Doc I’m putting together. Do we know what the end goals of the exogenous are? I would like to include those as well, along with thier nature. I heard something about the N’zeer and a “technological hivemind” and was wondering if that had anything to do with the nature of the N’Zeer themselves.

  • ArkFangArkFang ✭✭✭✭✭

    Their ‘true’ end goal is unknown. However, if we can trust the Nemesis Node versions of the Researchers, it’s “perpetual enslavement.” The Shapers keeping people in “nutrient vats” harvesting our every though, impulse, and feeling. And the N’Zeer forcing people through cybernetic augmentation until they’re “no longer human”, no emotion or thoughts of their own. Just “part of the collective” and being conduits of the N’Zeer collective consciousness.


    And if you ask Jarvis, the shapers want to “elevate humanity to their highest potential/form” whereas the N’Zeer was to essentially turn people into mindless drones and “end creativity”

  • This post may help best (thanks @InvestigateXM!)

    The Nemesis Node is (as far as I know) the only recorded universe where the Exogenous succeeded in their ingression into our reality. The Shapers enslaved or consumed half the earth, while the N'Zeer cybernetically augmented (and then probably enslaved) the other half. Note that this information is only provided by NEMESIS itself, so we can't be 100% sure of it's veracity, but it's what we have.

  • Neku69Neku69 ✭✭✭✭

    Yes, but Nemesis story is ingression of more than 1 Exogenous species at the same time. Do we really know if humans fought them in the first place? Because if that was true, then the "enslavement" was a punishment.

  • Thank you so much! One last question: I’ve heard something about “the Ultimate”. What is that? And Is that related to Exogenous beings, or is it best saved for another section of the document I’m putting together?

  • ArkFangArkFang ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited June 2021

    The Ultimate is similar to the XM Substrate, however it’s “Shaper specific” and similar to the N’Zeer Calculation Substrate. They are two different “planes” or dimensions specifically owned/geared for each Exogenous.


    Jarvis was able to connect to this “Ultimate” when he was Sharded, granting him access to Shaper knowledge/influence as well as being connected to (nearly) ALL other Jarvis across the multiverse.

    Post edited by ArkFang on
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