The Traveler yearns for a utopia universe of eternal Golden Ages. It can't do this because of the Darkness. It gives races Golden Ages while simultaneously turning them into proxy armies, leaving when the Hive arrive. It did this to every race [i]except[/i] for us. It was tired of running and hiding, and just our luck it decided to stand its ground in our system. Unfortunately for it, the combined forces of us and the Traveler weren't enough to fight the Darkness and win. Rasputin (either working on some master plan, preparing for what might happen, or incorrectly simulating the Traveler) crippled the Traveler, releasing both the Ghosts and a massive blast of Light, driving back the Darkness and creating the Awoken.