As of "New Eden," here's mine: they're the Preservers from TOS. Taking people from Earth and transplanting them? Check. Taking group(s) specifically who are in danger of being wiped out? Double check. And it appears they're leading the Discovery to places where they can save people in trouble, which is not inconsistent in with the protective purpose of the obelisk we saw in TOS.
Yeah, New Eden definitely made me think that the angels are the Preservers. Maybe not the Preservers themselves but maybe agents of them.
Agreed, , they almost certainly are. I just wish we had a little longer to guess, I didn't expect a very explicit answer to the question of their identity so soon
I too am thinking Preservers. The "saving people in trouble" also has the feeling of being some kind of test.
I think we'll definitely get a nod, easter egg, or background reference. A ship called the USS Burnham, a brief reference to the spore drive in a rundown of experimental technologies, that sort of thing. I'm sure critics of DSC will groan, but that's the kind of thing Trek has done forever: Nemesis mentioning the USS Archer, TNG mentioning the USS Gorkon in "Descent," not to mention "Unification" heavily referencing the events of TUC a week before its release in theaters.
As far as i know, there's nothing in canon that makes it impossible for the Iconians and the Preservers to be the same species. Not talking about Star Trek Online or the Novels here.
Was actually thinking the same thing. They've retconned stuff like this before, making the Briar Patch the Klack'd'Kel'Bracht or whatever. The books did it by making Trelane a Q.
...Putting them down at a location that will eventually kill them? Triple check. The heroes seemed to cause the pulsar-collision disaster all by themselves, with that "two magnets repelling each other" approach of theirs. What nudged the radioactive rubble towards the planet here for the first time in gadzillion years? Again the arrival of our heroes and their hugely attractive pet rock? Is this the same as Quantum Leap where Sam more often than not causes the problem of the week by acting all wrong when first leaping in? Timo Saloniemi
Seriously. The split second that stained glass showed up, I immediately thought of the image you've been posting here. I still think they're the Preservers, but there's no doubt the design is taking more than a few cues from the STO Iconians.
In STO lore, the Iconians are the first seed race from the Preservers. Discovery may have done something with that storyline to mix both the Preservers and the Iconains.
While I love Star Trek Online as much as anyone (I actually have a lifetime subscription), I would caution from using that lore to make Discovery theories as I find it very likely the new Picard show is going to completely bulldoze STO. As for STO, they'll probably literally have Q in-game snap his fingers to explain how the game drastically changes to fit the Picard show in a future update.