It is also notable that Lytek, being an Exalted-style god, has his own political agenda. In game he was ousted from the position of head of the Bureau of Humanity when the Solars were ganked. Thus he kind of hates the Sidereals and Dragonblooded a bit and wants them to fall and the Solars to rise back up. So sometimes he leaves behind strategic bits and pieces of past life memory that have imprinted on the shard to either a) grant the new Exalt an advantage (such as, say, knowledge of a Martial Arts style or where a buried magical artifact can be found) or b) push his own agenda (here, have some memories of being betrayed and murdered by Dragonblooded so you never trust those fuckers and kill all the ones you meet) and often both.
In effect, Past Lives exists in the setting to justify why your character is walking around with a bunch of Charms and Artifacts that otherwise would require an elaborate backstory. “How do I know Infernal Monster style up to the form and have my own set of Celestial Battle Armour and the Manse to power it? Turns out my past life was a master of the style so I kind of picked it up naturally and he had a hidden manse with his armour in it that I remembered the location and passcodes to…”