Forum:Dominus Khraghul, the Almighty

"For too long, the Cabal Empire has been in ruin. The decision to dwell under the reign of either a mindless warlord who has attempted to mangle with power he never truly understood or a lazy emperor who believes that it is possible to make amends for a price that has already been paid...has been made. I now recall for you the struggle between Ghaul and Calus. Ghaul believed that we were able to take the Light and use it for our own, but paid the price of death, ultimately serving that it can only be granted to those who have been chosen by the Traveler. Calus believes that by having multiple client species on his side, like he is doing with The Risen, he will be able to effectively expand his empire, but he doesn't realize that any one of his royal clients can turn on him at any moment. I say: do not trifle with power you do not know of, and do not trust someone you are unsure of. Simply disregard their needs and put down any potential opposition. And from here, I will finish what my father has started."

- Dominus Khraghul recalling the past troubles of the Cabal Empire and declaring a new direction for his people to head towards

Dominus Khraghul, the Almighty is the Cabal military emperor and the personal general of the highest-ranked legion in the Cabal army: the Behemoths.

Biography
Khraghul has grown up with harsh memories and many years of military experience on the back of his mind.

Paternal Problems
Khraghul grew up having issues with his father, Primus Tho'urgh. He kept showing his father that he would become amongst the most powerful Cabal soldiers the universe has ever known and wanted to fight alongside him, but was consistently denied. Eventually, the issues escalated hotter topics of debate. The two were then in a personal argument over how to gauge the military strength and political prowess of their people. After Khraghul personally insulted Tho'urgh's status throughout the debate, Tho'urgh cast his son out of the family until he was better able to grasp the functions and essentials of Cabal society, and started by ushering Khraghul into a low-ranked Sand Eaters squad.

Promotion to Bracus
The Sand Eaters took Khraghul into their ranks and put him and his crew in a heavily conditioned environment. He had to help rigorously defend Cabal outposts all over Mars against the Virgo Prohibition, a dangerous Vex programming targeted exclusively towards the Cabal to draw them out of their Exclusion Zone. With little equipment to work with, Khraghul and his fellow soldiers were under heavy siege by Vex constructs wherever they were. However, Khraghul eventually thought of the idea to reinforce their defenses and increase firepower. He laid out and proposed plans for building a giant barricade surrounding Dust Palace outfitted with artillery cannons. Of course, Khraghul considered that they would still be attacked while doing so, which is why he had begun constructing a blueprint for a tougher shield to be used by the Sand Eaters' Phalanxes. Going ahead with his plans, Khraghul had his ideas approved by Bracus Tho'ourg and Bracus Tha'aurn.

One fateful day, the Vex, under the Exclusion Mind, attacked the Dust Palace without warning. The new Phalanx shield was holding up well against Vex weaponry as the giant barricade was under construction. It was days before it was completed, with the Sand Eaters suffering heavy casualties during the process. Khraghul, meanwhile, was tackling elite Vex infantry and keeping them away from the barricade. When he saw it was finished, he retreated inside and ordered the artillery cannon operators to fire while Khraghul personally took down the Exclusion Mind. With the Mind destroyed, the Virgo Prohibition was forced to withdraw, allowing the Sand Eaters to score victory. One particular Cabal in his crew, Ral'un, was amazed at what Khraghul had done, and the two met up with each other a lot to go Vex hunting together, becoming close friends in the process. For his valiance in battle and helpful planning, he was promoted to a Centurion and was deemed worthy enough to become a Bracus. As Bracus, he helped the Cabal drive the Vex out of The Buried City and even cracked open the gate to the Black Garden for future assaults. The Sand Eaters regarded him so highly, they referred to him as "Bracus Khraghul, Elite Defender."

Rise to Val
The commander of the Siege Dancers, Valus Ta'aurc, gained word of Khraghul's achievements during the Dust Palace siege and sent him and his ever-growing crew a personal invitation to assist them in attacking the Black Garden. Khraghul and his crew accepted the invitation and were officially taken into the ranks of the Siege Dancers. They were subjected to learning the Siege Dancer doctrines and tactics, and seeing that Khraghul had opened the gate to the Black Garden for them, he and his crew were selected to enter the gate and force their way to the garden until they reach the Combination Mind, a feared Vex Mind programmed to weave the Black Garden with the Exclusion Zone. To further aid him on combat, he was given a specialized Cabal Shield with forward-facing spikes as well as a blade attachment for his Projection Rifle, and then marched forward.

By the time they reached the gate, Vex constructs were pouring out. It was at this time that Khraghul ordered his Phalanx units to surround his attack force while the other soldiers bombard the Vex from the inside. With this special tactic, they were able to form a moving wall that could easily cross into the Black Garden. As the Vex tried to defend the gate, they followed the Cabal inside, but were fended off. Khraghul and his squadron descended deeper into the garden, slaying countless Vex on the way. It took them months to locate the Combination Mind, until it teleported right in front of them with a horde of Vex in front. Once the Vex started marching forward and firing, Khraghul ordered his Phalanx units to form a shield wall around his attack troops again, deploying the same tactic that got them in the garden. Only this time, they were hunkered down in one place and were forced to fend off incoming waves of the machines. This allowed his squadron to divert their attention away from Khraghul while he personally tackled the Combination Mind. According to lost Cabal reports, this mind was especially resilient and powerful, and would take years to defeat alone. It was several years before the Combination Mind was finally brought down to its knees, which gave the now weakened Khraghul the opportunity to bash the mind to pieces, forcing the Vex to retreat once more.

When he and his crew exited the gate back into the Valley of the Kings, he was welcomed home by Ta'aurc and the remaining Siege Dancer forces, and was officially deemed a Val for accomplishing what previous soldiers hadn't done before. However, Ta'aurc noticed his wounds, and thus sent him to a recovery station under the care of Dr. Rolak, a female Psion who had heard the news from other Cabal of what he had done. The two grew a special bond with each other over the months they had been together, and loved each other very much. One day, Rolak proposed she would find a way to make Khraghul bigger and stronger via psionic enhancement through temporarily sharing mindscapes. Through a short psionic enhancement process, Khraghul housed a larger, sharper mind and increased muscle mass. He thanked Rolak for the help, and upon returning to Siege Dancer headquarters, he was promoted to a Colossus and was given deadlier weapons and tougher armor. His new title was "Val Khraghul, the Unrelenting" for his unwillingness to back down against the Vex in the Black Garden. During his duties as Val, he pushed the Fallen of the House of Wolves away from Rubicon Wastes. His father also unknowingly fulfilled this task, though they were deployed in different sections, so they never got to see each other in battle. Khraghul heard that his father was in battle as well, but felt it was unfortunate to have not seen him. He knew he still had a while to go before he was worthy of fighting with his father.

Progression to Valus
Come the time of the Red War, Khraghul received two transmissions, one from Dominus Ghaul asking him to help the Red Legion purge The Last City and take the Traveler from them, and the other from Emperor Calus asking him to help the Cabal return to their "original way of life". Khraghul was at first unsure of who to join, but Ghaul assured him that he would accomplish a general long-time goal of the Cabal military as well as being able to meet a long-lost family member, whereas Calus assured him he will have the chance to be proven worthy in life and be rewarded with the finest of riches. While Khraghul was feeling unworthy at the moment, he found fulfilling the Cabal's military requirements far too important, and thus opted to help Ghaul assault The Last City. He, along with Ral'un and Rolak, took a Harvester from Firebase Rubicon to The Immortal, which was in orbit above Earth.

Ghaul greeted Khraghul and his crew and grouped the trio with Khraghul's long-lost brother, Gall'usk. The two brothers were happy to see each other and knew that they would be successful together. Ghaul said that it is why he put them together, and gave them the order to go around to different worlds and gather anything of value that could help end the Guardian resistance while putting down vital Fallen, Hive, Vex, and Taken strongholds. The group then took on the task with pleasure. As they were heading towards their first target, Gall'usk crafted and gave his brother a Cabal Gladius for him to use in battle. Ghaul sent the group a transmission stating that their first task was to raid a Fallen hideout in the European Dead Zone and challenge the soul of Phryzzak, Dusk Kell and claim his enhanced Ether. The soul was eventually destroyed and his Ether had been sapped from him for further investigation. Ghaul then ushered them to the New Pacific Arcology on Titan to learn the secrets of a special kind of Hive relic called a Plague Stone. They were successfully able to pull one out of an Ogre and leave the Ogre to die, as well as the remaining Hive and their lairs to rot to death. Next, they were deployed in the Arcadian Valley on Nessus to claim Vex artifacts from the core, and lastly in the Echo Mesa on Io to seize energy from a Taken rift. To also fulfill personal needs, they also captured, experimented on, and tortured live hostile Fallen, Hive, and Vex specimens.

Ghaul finally deemed them ready to counter the Guardian resistance and stationed Khraghul and his crew on the outskirts of the Tower in an effort to divert the resistance's attention away from Ghaul as he siphons Light from the Traveler using The Cage. While he was unable to fend off enough Guardians before Ghaul was slain by the Traveler, the remaining Red Legion command turned to Khraghul for answers. He was appointed to Valus and initiated a hostile takeover of remnant human outposts, thereby rendering humanity unable to defend the exterior of their city should the Cabal launch another attack. As he, Ral'un, and Gall'usk went on to sabotage the Vanguard's remaining external defenses, Rolak was left to psionically extract power from their specimens. His record, eventually made known to the rest of the Red Legion officers, earned him the title of "Valus Khraghul, Ravaging Virus", for his ability to raid enemy settlements and leave them to rot away and decay until they are no more. He was both feared and respected by the many Cabal who heard his name, and was slowly becoming a force to be reckoned with.

Breakthrough to Primus
Realizing his dramatic uphill climb in the Cabal hierarchy, Khraghul started to piece together everything he had learned about the Cabal hierarchy and figured out that the titles and ranks he has been given are not just a way to show his status; they are also a way to describe what one has achieved and is capable of achieving. But he was not ready to tell his father of his rise in power. Shortly after, he received a personal transmission from Primus Ko'rok, overseer of the Cabal Battle Network and lieutenant of the Stone Breakers. Ko'rok told Khraghul that he has heard good things about him from the Cabal High Command, and would make a perfect fit for the Stone Breakers. Khraghul accepted the invitation and went off to Firebase Vulcan, the military grounds of the Stone Breakers. He was taken in as a Draconarius, the elite heavy infantry, and him and his battalion were put to work.

Their first task was to help reinforce defenses at Firebase Hades and other Red Legion bases, as the Stone Breakers' commander received a distress signal, and ordered a full battalion of reinforcements to be deployed. Additionally, they were to launch another attack on the Tower and siege The Last City once more. They helped deploy fresh specialist troops defend Cabal outposts across the system. Firebase Hades in particular saw the greatest success, with their assigned defense plans being able to push back both Guardians and Fallen alike. However, this plan was eventually cut off by Emperor Calus, who secretly sent his Councilors to arrest Khraghul and his crew for their failure to comply with his demand. They were instantly transported to a large space on The Leviathan with Calus personally greeting them before locking Khraghul behind bars and forcing his crew to fight the Loyalists for Calus' entertainment. Ko'rok hastily sent a Stone Breaker force on a course for their coordinates.

Primus Tho'urgh then stepped out and asked Ko'rok to report anything suspicious. He told him that one of their highest-value commanders has been captured by Calus. Tho'urgh didn't think much of it at first, and turned his back. Ko'rok continued told him that this commander has made many achievements for the Cabal military, but Tho'urgh still wasn't listening. But Ko'rok eventually got it through to Tho'urgh that this great commander was his own son, Khraghul. Tho'urgh felt a sudden change of heart, becoming utterly heartbroken to learn that his son was subject to cruelty from Calus. Ko'rok told him that he sent a large force to retrieve him. However, Tho'urgh himself opted to get his son back. During the fight against the Loyalists, Ral'un, Gall'usk, and Rolak were having trouble holding out against the large masses of foes coming against them. Calus laughed and smiled as he watched them suffer. Khraghul could only watch as his closest crewmates were slowly being wounded. This cruelty lasted for hours until Tho'urgh crash-landed his Thresher into the Leviathan's arena. The crowd looked up in shock and Calus paused the fight. He then saw it was Tho'urgh, and ordered his Loyalists to open fire on him, but Tho'urgh walked it off and eventually beat down the entirety of the royal guard in the arena. Calus then personally challenged him, and whoever won would keep Khraghul. While Calus' psionic powers and increased intelligence were initially a superior display, Tho'urgh's resilience and ferocity eventually won the day, forcing Calus into hiding, deeper within the vessel. He then freed his son and promoted him to Primus once they returned to Firebase Vulcan. Khraghul's new title was "Primus Khraghul, Battle-Scared Vanguard". He was even selected to be one of his personal guards during the siege on The Last City.

Using the Ordnance Juggernaut, their Imperial Land Tank, as well as lines of Breaker Goliath Tanks, they were able to leave a giant gaping hole in The Wall. This caused the Guardians to rally a full-scale defense. While Khraghul was able to fend them off long enough for his crew to hold out, he failed to notice a specialized fireteam sneak onboard the land tank, tasked with killing off the Stone Breaker command. Concerned for his father, he rushed inside and saw Tho'urgh struggling to combat the Guardians, so he assisted, but was promptly interrupted by a Nova Bomb that knocked him unconscious. He then saw his dying father call out to him. He took this final moment to tell his son that he was proud of him and that he was right about him, bringing up the past memory that Tho'urgh only looked at his son as someone looking for worth, going on to say that he should have looked at him as someone also looking for purpose. After telling his son to be strong for him and to finish what he has started, Tho'urgh finally succumbs to his wounds and dies. Khraghul knew what he had to do. Overcome by a frenzy of anger, he would soon launch the most destructive military campaign in Cabal history.

Ascendance to Dominus
The Stone Breakers feared they had lost everything. Their command has been severed, but Khraghul and his crewmates made it out alive. The legion then looked to them for answers. Seeing as the Red Legion still had no proper command, Khraghul figured he would make his own subunit of Stone Breakers to include all remnant soldiers of the Red Legion and make it the highest-ranked detachment in the Cabal army, and with it, cause untold destruction on the Solar System. He called this unit the "Behemoths". He made Ral'un a Valus and proper second-in-command, also made Gall'usk a Valus as well as the unit's weaponsmith, and made Rolak the lead researcher. Rolak continued to perform experiments on their captured specimens and artifacts from the Red War, Gall'usk made enhanced weapons and equipment for soldiers, and Ral'un was the elite guard.

From what his closest crewmates have gathered, Khraghul deduced that he can make every soldier of his as armed and dangerous as can be. He soon launched sabotage missions on Fallen, Hive, Vex, and Taken strongholds. In doing so, they sapped SIVA remnants from the Fallen of the Dusk Splicers, drew power from relics belonging to the Hive, cracked open Vex artifacts, and mangled with Taken power. Khraghul and his crewmates were there to personally assist in each of these missions, hence why they were so successful in reaping the rewards. Using this sabotaged enemy technology, they increased the lethality of their weapons and attack vehicles. He then went on to see what power he could hold from the technology himself along with his assistants. This dramatic increase in power made his soldiers increase their rank. Ral'un became "Primus Ral'un, Enforcer; Rolak became Analyst Rolak, Free-Thinker; Gall'usk became a Primus with the name "Gall'usk, Elite Bombardier and was given the Ordnance Juggernaut; Khraghul finally reached the rank of Dominus and came to be forever known as "Dominus Khraghul, the Almighty". They have since ravaged several worlds in their wake, and even blew a gigantic hole underneath the Traveler, which they plan to completely bury beneath the Earth and send it falling towards the planet's core, which will ultimately destroy it in the process, leaving The Last City and its Guardians permanently defenseless.

Gameplay
"Guardian...ask yourself. What are you truly fighting for? Are you even sure of what your Traveler is making you do? You have no will of your own. I will change that. Once your Traveler drops into this planet's core, you will no longer have to serve it. Then, my legion and I will take over from there, and only then will you get the sweet release of death I'm sure you've been waiting for. This is for your own good."

- Khraghul scolding The Guardian on their course of actions

Dominus Khraghul is by far the single most powerful and dangerous Cabal commander encountered by Guardians. He is engaged three times throughout the War of Ruin expansion.

The Monster Wakes
Khraghul is briefly engaged during the first Story mission. He initially fights just like any other Hardened Draconarius, but when he reaches 90% health, he becomes immune to damage and casts a gigantic blast that will instantly break through a Guardian's shield and visibly stun them, giving Khraghul the chance to knock The Guardian and their Ghost off of his Cabal warship, Flagship Hades. He then continuously harasses The Guardian by deploying various obstacles in their path to prevent them from interfering with his plans.

Brink of Extinction
Khraghul is directly engaged for the first time in the final story mission. His numerous weapons and abilities make him a dangerous foe. The main weapon he carries is a Blitz Slug Launcher, a shoulder-mounted rocket machine gun that fires a storm of Arc super slugs at 240 RPM that each release a miniature concussion field upon impact. These fields shock, blind, and paralyze anything in their radius before eventually detonating and inflicting significant knockback. Alternatively, he can use back-mounted Behemoth's Gaze standard to unleash a swarm of SIVA nanites that home in on Guardians and eat away their health; any Guardians afflicted with these nanites leave a nanite trail behind them, thereby spreading the effect to other Guardians. For close range combat, Khraghul has three attacks. Primarily, he will charge up his Suppression Gauntlet and smash the ground with it to release an energy shockwave that will suppress the abilities of its victims and send them flying upward. However, this has a cooldown before it can be used again. During this cooldown he will make use of an armed-mounted flamethrower and his personal melee weapon, the Viral Gladius. This blade deals massive damage to a Guardian's health and inflicts the "Infection" debuff with every strike, which disables recovery and lowers for a short time. His deadliest attack is when he thrusts himself in the air, surround himself with an immunity shield, and unleashes a barrage of large magic blasts that travel slowly but track their targets and deal high damage. However, he will largely hover in one place when using this attack. When he reaches 10% health, he will be severely weakened, but then start to pull more power from his sabotaged enemy supplies and teleport into hiding, so he can recover before their next engagement.

Desecration
Khraghul and The Guardian have their final engagement during the very last encounter of the "Desecration" Raid. He retains his previous weapons and abilities, but has grown significantly more powerful during his recovery, with the new following attacks:


 * His large magic blast attack has been improved to allow him to fly around while rapidly firing the barrage.


 * Khraghul can now throw a Spire Grenade, which detonates in Void energy and teleports Guardians to another random location.


 * He is also capable of stomping the ground to unleash a fissure that will form a crack and reveal a surface of molten lava that will rapidly burn away the health of a Guardian that walks into it. This fissure will then erupt into fumes of lava that will instantly kill anyone in its way.


 * He can teleport around the battlefield at random intervals.


 * He can summon Afterburn blasts similarly to Gall'usk, except it does more damage and sunders Guardians' resilience values upon detonation.


 * He can deploy an Arc web that covers the entire ground in an electric blanket that slows the movement of Guardians in its path, and when it dissipates, it will release a high damage pulse that can immediately bring down a Guardian's health next to nothing.


 * He can envelop himself in a Solar vortex that will rapidly burn away the shields of any Guardians in his radius while summoning flaming geysers that will send Guardians flying and inflict them with a deadly burning effect. The vortex will then start to move around the arena and instantly kill anyone in its path before Khraghul eventually emerges from the vortex and initiates a gigantic fire blast.


 * He can surround his Suppression Gauntlet with an aura of Void energy, charge it up, and fire a gigantic Void sphere similar to a Nova Bomb that leaves behind a giant dome that temporarily jams all equipped weapons as well as miniature seekers that inflict a long-lasting poison effect.


 * He can summon a myriad of Hive needles that travel across the ground and trap any Guardian in place and rapidly damage them.


 * He can absorb energy from his Plague Stone and enter a blind rage similar to an Ogre. He will fire a faster, more accurate version of their eye blast similar to Golgoroth while also firing large Axion Darts that inflict the "Dominus' Venom" debuff, which slowly reverses an afflicted Guardian's ability recharge.


 * He can channel enhanced Ether and fire a stream of corrosive Ether fumes that leave toxic vapors on impact which will slow the movements of all Guardians in their path.


 * He can channel power from his Vex artifact to summon clouds that rain radioloarian fluid all over the arena, which will deal heavy damage to anyone under the clouds. The clouds eventually seek out Guardians and detain them. Stepping out of the cloud will instantly kill the player due to a "Suppression Field". As they are stuck inside, they will take damage over time.


 * He can channel energy from his Taken ooze sample and summon a gigantic Taken rift that will release large Taken Blights that will inflict both the "Shadow Touched" and "Taken Blight" debuffs. Walking into the rift will inflict one with the "Septicemia" debuff, which will slowly drain their health and blur their screen. If the player ignores this, the effect goes into "Severe Sepsis", then their screen blackens, their health drains faster, and move drastically slower. The only way to reverse this effect is to briefly run through the blights to gain the "Blight Receding" buff, which will alleviate the sepsis. Otherwise, they will die of Septic Shock and their corpse will release a blast that will spread the effect to any Guardians in its radius.


 * He can channel power from his enhanced SIVA samples to enter a blind rage, causing him to rapidly fire Splicer Grenades and Splicer Seekers while chasing down one Guardian at random. Splicer Grenades leave SIVA clouds upon detonation, and running through them will cause Guardians to bleed to death.


 * He can summon black holes that can suck any Guardian into them and deal rapid damage to them until they die.


 * When at 5% health, Khraghul will make a final effort to wipe out all Guardians on the battlefield. He will summon a white star in the center of the arena that will begin to charge up and summon blinding light rays. Khraghul must be killed quickly, or the star will detonate in a supernova, which will completely reverse the ability recharge rate of all Guardians on the battlefield and instantly kill the entire team.

He will be vulnerable to damage, but it will be too dangerous to try and kill him while he is attacking, as his his armor can deflect bullets. However, he can be hold in place for 30 seconds with a special trap launcher that also weakens his armor. To activate the launcher, Guardians need to insert batteries in a certain order, which drop from high-level Behemoth troops. If a battery is placed in the wrong sequence, the order will reset.