Empress Caiatl
From Destinypedia, the Destiny wiki
| Empress Caiatl | |
|---|---|
Empress
 Princess
 | |
| Biographical information | |
|
Other name(s): |
Princess-Imperial[1] |
|
Homeworld: |
|
|
Species: |
|
|
Gender: |
Female |
|
Height: |
9'10[4] |
|
Eye color: |
Orange |
| Political and military information | |
|
Affiliation: |
Cabal Empire |
|
Rank: |
Heir Apparent (formerly) |
|
Notable info: |
Daughter of former Emperor Calus |
| Empress Caiatl | |
|---|---|
.jpg)
| |
| Biographical information | |
|
Species: |
|
|
Faction: |
|
|
Rank: |
|
|
Class: |
|
|
Gender: |
Female |
| Combat information | |
|
Mission: |
Catharsis |
|
Weapon(s): |
|
|
Abilities: |
High Durability |
- "We are Cabal. We eat the mountains; We drink the seas."
- — Empress Caiatl
Empress Caiatl, formerly known as the Princess-Imperial, is the current Empress of the Cabal and daughter of the exiled Emperor Calus.
She and a group of others staged a coup to overthrow her father and later succeeded Dominus Ghaul as leader of the Empire following his death during the Red War. After the Sol System was invaded by the Black Fleet, Caiatl sought to bring humanity into the Cabal Empire as subjects to aid in her war against the Darkness and Hive. As of Season of the Risen, Caiatl has become an ally, as the Imperial Cabal and the Vanguard have formed a provisional alliance to fight against the Lucent Hive, as well as her father's forces aboard the Derelict Leviathan and on Neptune.
Biography[edit]
Warrior Princess[edit]
- "I will challenge Irkyn La to a battle and defeat her. Then my people will own everything in the universe."
"Yes, I think you would. But the empire has already defeated the Tiiarn. None of them are left. And with no one to believe in her, Irkyn La is dead as well."
"Then I will believe in her." - — A young Caiatl and Ahztja discussing the creation myth of the Tiiarn[5]
Caiatl was born to an unnamed Cabal consort of the emperor Calus during the time of the Praetorate's rule, who would abandon her to Calus after she could not rouse him from his depression. Her birth inspired Calus to overthrow the Praetorate and claim absolute sovereignty over the Cabal people.[6] As the daughter of Emperor Calus, Caiatl grew up surrounded by his decadence and extravagant pleasures. At birth, she was named by her father after the brightest star in Torobatl's sky,[7], which itself was named after a loanword from the Hive language - as its base form, "aiat", means "it is this way because it can be no other way", "caiatl" means "it does not always go as it needs to go".[8] Caiatl had also shown a curiosity for the world beyond, which Calus recognized having the same fascinations as him despite his worries for her.[9]
As her father was often busy in either his pleasures or depression, Caiatl spent much time in the company of the tutors and caretakers he sent to watch over her in his absence. One of them was the mythkeeper Ahztja, who would regale the young princess with stories of the worlds the Cabal Empire had conquered. One night, she asked her to tell her a story of how another species claimed the universe was created. Ahztja told her of the Tiiarn and how they believed Irkyn La, the First Host, had thought herself into existence and then brought order to the chaos of the cosmos. Caiatl questioned where Irkyn La lived, and Ahztja explained that the Tiiarn claimed she was woven into the very fabric of the universe and that the sky was her mouth. Contemplating this momentarily, Caiatl resolved to challenge Irkyn La to battle so that once she was defeated, the Cabal would have claim over the entire universe. Her amused caretaker noted that the Cabal had already conquered the Tiiarn and brought them to extinction, making Irkyn La dead with them now that no one believed in her any longer. Caiatl decided that she would believe in her so that she could be fought, amusing Ahztja further, who declared that she was so mighty a warrior she would wish her enemies into existence.[5]
At age three, Caiatl saw her father siring new children with a new female consort who was not her mother. Calus invited her to visit him while he nursed her young, despite her own personal reservations. Inside the bower, she asked her father if her own mother was dead, only for him to deflect the question by asking her to sing to her new half-siblings. This only raised Caiatl's concerns that a Cabal father would be willing to forsake his children as Ahztja taught how the mother must stand vigilant while he is sessile and vulnerable, lest he discards her offspring and take on the brood of another female. Calus offered quick reassurance, stating that selective breeding was how she knew her father's love.[10] Their engagement, however, would ultimately not last as his consort would leave him along with their children after a heated argument.[11]
As a child, Caiatl was gifted her own personal War Beast as a pet, whom she affectionately named Milos. She grew extremely attached to her newfound companion, spending every waking and sleeping hour with Milos by her side as the pair became inseparable. Caiatl trained Milos herself and even fed him from her own plate. Calus, fearing her love for Milos threatened to eclipse his own, grew envious and had Milos butchered by one of their servants. Caiatl would be sent a correspondence from her absent father explaining the deed and delivered by the servant whose hand had slaughtered her War Beast much to their dismay. Instead, the princess chose to forgive the servant for their part in Milos's death and started resenting her father henceforth. [12]
When Caiatl grew older, she eventually became disgusted by her father's revelries and instead found a friend and mentor in Evocate-General Umun'arath, the Primus of All Legions. She played games of war and conquest with the general to learn strategy and soon embraced the military lifestyle, wearing pressure armor at all times, even on the capital of Torobatl.[1] Caiatl soon fell in love with flying and began training as a pilot. During one training session, Umun'arath had her fly a simulation through the swampy world of Aark, which had been conquered by the Hive. She was fascinated by the alien landscape, and her distraction cost her when a simulation of a massive Wizard destroyed her fighter craft. The simulator mimicked death as part of the learning process, and Caiatl emerged from it shaken and with a tremor in her arm. Umun'arath criticized her for being distracted and dismissed her as being weak and coddled by her upbringing, but Caiatl insisted she would not fail again. Her mentor disagreed, informing her that failure would teach her how to live and ordered her to run the simulation again.[13]
Eventually, Caiatl graduated from her training and became a pilot in the legions. While scouting the frontier of the Cabal Empire, she saw numerous threats to its security, which she did not believe Calus would be able to handle. Meeting with Umun'arath, who shared the same concerns about the exterior threats faced by the Empire, the two warriors made plans on how to deal with the situation.[1]
The Midnight Coup[edit]
- "Father, I will not be weak."
- — Caiatl to Calus during the Midnight Coup[1]
After several centuries, Caiatl would join Umun'arath in a conspiracy led by Primus Ghaul of the Red Legion and the exiled Consul to overthrow Calus and end his negligent rule of the Empire. They would convene via Psion metaconcert though the usage of Otzot's OXA Machine, though at one point during their psionic mind-melding, the Princess-Imperial had glimpsed into Ghaul's memory of her father. Calus confided with Ghaul of her mother; who had once served as a consort to comfort the depressed emperor during his ennui under the Praetorate's rule, ultimately leaving him with an infant Caiatl to brood after her departure. While Ghaul remembered with contempt, Caiatl would express empathy for her father for the first time.[14] A few days later, Caiatl came to the emperor wanting to confess everything including the conspiracy in a moment of weakness. As she was willing to betray her cause, Caiatl asked her father if there was anything he wanted beyond her birth. Calus responds by revealing the Ahamkara bone he used to wish himself into power, the selfish wish he made for something to love him unconditionally, and the story of her birth that inspired the desire of want for him to take the throne for himself.[6] Realizing he will never reconcile with his actions as emperor, Caiatl concluded that his father must be overthrown for the greater good.[15]
Knowing Calus' closest secrets, Caiatl was a key player in the Midnight Coup, securing the throne room and the Ahamkara bone he kept there. As her father rushed into the throne room to utilize the bone amid the coup, Caiatl greeted him and vowed never to be weak before crushing the bone, ending his chances of stopping the coup.[1] Calus' popularity with the common people prevented the plotters from executing him, and he was instead imprisoned aboard The Leviathan and exiled to the edge of the galaxy along with his Loyalists by the ascended Dominus Ghaul.[16]
Centuries later, Caiatl sensed an assassin watching her. The assassin spoke and informed her they brought Calus's regards. Turning to face the assassin, Caiatl did not recognize their species but noted their pressure suit was styled with Calus's colors. She told the assassin her father could keep his regards, but they responded that the Emperor also had a message. Before they could relay it Caiatl charged them as they fired a Void weapon that tore into her bicep. Ignoring the pain, Caiatl knocked the assassin to the ground, grabbed them by the throat and inquired about the message. The assassin stated that she was nothing more than a child playing general and lacked the vision of her father and the drive of Dominus Ghaul. She was caught off-guard as the assassin plunged Heartshadow into her side and finished the message by stating that she would not be remembered. Infuriated, she rolled away to remove the blade as the assassin leveled their weapon at her head. Caiatl quickly placed her palm over the weapon's muzzle and jerked it away as it fired, ripping a hole into her palm. With the assassin now unarmed, Caiatl grabbed them by the head and slammed it into the ground repeatedly until it cracked and blood began to pour from her foe's broken form. She questioned if her father was listening and warned him that she would come for him no matter how far he traveled. The assassin gasped out that his death would not stop the end from coming and that their gods had foreseen the end. Pondering those words, Caiatl crushed the assassin's skull with a blow from her good hand and declared that their gods were dead. She would then break the enactine blade in two and send it back to her father along with the head of his Shadow assassin.[17][18] That would soon became a tradition between Caiatl and her father as both parties kept passing the ceremonial blade between each other, being their only effective means of communication for the time being.[19]
Rise of the Princess-Imperial[edit]
- "The Red Legion will march again."
- — Caiatl[20]
Caiatl became the new ruler of the Cabal Empire after the demise of Dominus Ghaul during the Red War, though she did not initially claim the title of Empress. While making preparations in her war room to lead her fellow Cabal into a new age, Caiatl contemplated her bitterness towards Calus and Ghaul in place of their failings. She blamed her father for delving their people into vice and luxury and Ghaul for his obsession with the Traveler and its Light. However, she also credited Calus for instilling within her an active imagination due to all the stories and plays he had subjected her to as a child, and now Caiatl planned on utilizing that imagination to save the Cabal and forge a better future for her people. She intended for this new future to be of war and conquest of rival nations under her direction so that the Cabal would rule the galaxy once more.[20]
Standing in Caiatl's way of full control of the Cabal Empire was her father, Calus, who had emerged from his exile shortly after Ghaul died in the Sol System. She directed her own emissaries to eliminate one of her father's Shadow agents operating in the Human's solar system that was using The Fourth Horseman, an infamous Cabal killer, to eliminate remaining Red Legion personnel.[21]
To aid in her ambitions, Caiatl began attempting to rally the remnants of the Red Legion back to her side and exhorted all loyal Cabal across the Sol System to prove themselves by capturing Calus. Although the remnants of the Red Legion on Earth, Nessus, and the Reef responded to her call and offered tribute, they could not comply with her orders, as following the arrival of the Black Fleet to that system, the Leviathan disappeared without a trace.[22] She dispatched emissaries and scouts to the system, however, they began to report abandoned Red Legion camps with signs of internal conflicts.[23] Additionally, a mysterious disease of Hive origin began to spread amongst the fringes of the Cabal empire.[24]
Fall of Torobatl[edit]
- "Our people are not meant to flee our battles. But neither are we the Hive, throwing ourselves on the blade again and again. There is strength in tactical retreat."
- — Caiatl, informing her war council of her decision to retreat from Torobatl[25]
As the de facto ruler of the Cabal following the death of Dominus Ghaul, Caiatl presided over the Cabal Empire from the royal palace on Torobatl. When one of her generals came to her complaining of a horrendous stench coming from Umun'arath's quarters, a concerned Caiatl visited her mentor's room and discovered it stank of death and poison. Instead of the neat and tidy war room of the Cabal's military leader, she found the tables covered in papers and tomes which she did not recognize, and saw to her horror in the corner was a Hive Thrall chained to the wall. She questioned Umun'arath on what she was doing, noticing that the tome the general was currently reading was bound in flesh, and was disturbed as she explained that she saw the future of the Cabal in the ways of the Hive and their lack of fear towards death. Caiatl reminded Umun'arath that it was she who had taught Caiatl about how the bravery to defy death was what made soldiers. Her mentor dismissed that and now proclaimed that with the rapidly deteriorating state of the galaxy, they must embrace new ways and new gods to survive. After a long silence, Caiatl came to a decision and ordered Umun'arath to step down from her council.[26]
Sometime later, Caiatl was alerted by Advisor Taurun that Umun'arath had been apprehended in the central square of Torobatl's weaponsmith district, in the middle of conducting what appeared to be a Hive ritual. Caiatl arrived on the scene to confront the disgraced Evocate-General and was disturbed to find her nearly naked with glyphs carved into her skin and a sickly green fire burning behind her. Dismissing the guards, Caiatl demanded to know what new god her former mentor was rambling about greeting. Umun'arath stated it was the god of war, causing the ground to begin rumbling. Caiatl declared that her obsession had turned her into a threat to Cabal society and began to pronounce her sentence, but Umun'arath then raised her hands, which glowed with energy and made the fire burn brighter while a stranger chattering began. Concerned, Caiatl drew her ceremonial blade and drove it into Umun'arath's gut, seeking to halt the ritual, but the corrupted general only laughed. Disgusted, Caiatl kicked Umun'arath off her blade and into the fire, inadvertently completing the ritual and summoning Xivu Arath, the Hive God of War, and her army to Torobatl through a massive portal.[27]
A battle began to defend the Cabal homeworld, but the endless army of Hive ground down the Cabal's military. The capital city was quickly overtaken by Cryptoliths, which emerged throughout its streets. Caiatl took to the skies in her starfighter to defend the world but found that while every missile she fired destroyed one set of foes, they were soon replaced, and she was eventually shot down. Wounded and with her combat suit leaking gel, Caiatl reflected on her role in the invasion, reflecting that even if she had been unwitting, it was still her blade that completed the ritual Umun'arath set in motion. Xivu Arath then spoke, declaring that the Cabal had long worshipped war and thus her, and that she had finally come to claim her tribute.[28]
Caiatl withdrew to her flagship, the Eligos Lex V, and met with her council of advisors. Taurun reported that the Hive's War moons were too powerful and overwhelming their defenses. As Ca'aurg and Tha'arec began arguing over the role Emperor Calus and Dominus Ghaul had played in weakening their society and defenses, Caiatl interrupted before a fight commenced. She noted that her father had built a mythology around himself and what the Cabal could be while taking only half-steps towards his goals, while Ghaul imagined slights and sought to use the Legion as a tool to entrench his own legacy. Declaring herself to be like neither of them, Caiatl stated that Umun'arath had misled them as well and that they could not be the Hive and throw themselves at their enemy without hope of victory. She decided they would evacuate the entire surviving population of Torobatl and undertake a tactical retreat to the Sol System to reclaim what remained of the Red Legion. Noting the worry and shame on her council's faces at the dishonor in retreat, Caiatl further declared that this was her first order as the new Empress of the Cabal Empire.[25]
Caiatl's coronation was held the next day as the Cabal fleet retreated from Torobatl.[25] Following her coronation, Caiatl addressed the entire Cabal fleet to address their concerns about the fall of their homeworld and their retreat, reassuring them that there was no shame in withdrawing to consolidate strength for future conflict. She urged them to remember that they found themselves in a war with the embodiment of war itself and admitted that she now found conflict to be ugly and poisonous and that the Cabal must fight for a greater purpose than the fight itself. Caiatl declared they would fight for each other and the Empire and would do so with the remnants of the Red Legion in the Sol System. She vowed that she would lead the Cabal into a new age, one where she would fulfil promises that her father left incomplete. She began by announcing that all Psions were now free and full citizens of the Empire, and any who wished to depart could do so and be granted a reasonable amount of supplies. Caiatl cautioned that those who remained would soon find themselves in another war, but that together they would build an army that fought for each other. She then ended her address by declaring that they would emerge victorious against the false gods of the Hive and would unite to draw strength from the past to forge a new, united future for all Cabal.[29]
Clash of the Chosen[edit]
Aggressive Negotiations[edit]
- "Join my empire. You'll keep your title and gain a seat on my war council. With my army and your Light, the Cabal will crush the Hive. Then… the Black Fleet. Bow."
- — Empress Caiatl presents her offer to Commander Zavala[30]
As the Cabal fleet traveled to the Sol System, Caiatl weighed what to do upon their arrival. Taurun entered her private quarters and informed her that the rest of the council was awaiting her word. Caiatl invited her advisor to sit with her and discuss their options. Noting that the Guardians of the Sol System had slain Ghaul and many other powerful foes, including multiple Hive gods, with Xivu Arath's brother Oryx among them, Caiatl and Taurun wondered if the cost of continued war against humanity was too high when they needed all their resources to strike back against the Hive. She asked Taurun if war was needed to reclaim the Red Legion, and her advisor carefully asked if Caiatl did not believe they would win. Careful not to show weakness to her advisor, Caiatl stated that they would, but only after a long war with many casualties that would leave them even more vulnerable to Xivu Arath. Instead, she suggested open negotiations with the Guardians, although she disliked doing so and knew that many of her advisors would also protest. Taurun advised that she would need to concede to the rest of the council to maintain their support after the retreat from Torobatl. Stressed and understanding that her position limited her options, Caiatl decided that she would need to demand the Guardians kneel before her, although she was resigned to the fact that they would most likely reject her offer immediately.[31]
Upon arriving in the Sol System, Caiatl extended an invitation to the Last City to secure an alliance against the Hive. Caiatl arranged a meeting with the Guardians where she parlayed with the Vanguard Commander Zavala and Osiris. As the meeting began, Caiatl admitted that the Cabal had a word for peace, which was not used often or lightly, and that they should take that as indicating her offer was sincere. Zavala was skeptical, but Caiatl argued that with the Darkness in their system and the Hive serving them, humanity would fall to one or the other just as Torobatl had. The Commander offered his sympathy for her loss, but Caiatl noted that they had all suffered against the Darkness and its forces. As she proposed her alliance, the Warlock Osiris interjected and noted that she had betrayed her father to Ghaul and that she could not be trusted. Caiatl dismissed her father as soft, but Osiris noted he only lacked ambition. She accused him of the same, declaring that humanity would not survive without expanding its horizons before officially offering them to join the Cabal Empire and that Zavala would keep his title and join her War Council to defeat the Hive and Black Fleet. However, to appease the rest of her advisors, Caiatl demanded that they bow, a stipulation that Zavala rejected. As her bodyguards prepared to attack the two, Caiatl signaled for them to stand down. Understanding the rejection, Caiatl stated that she would sharpen her blade and meet them on the battlefield.[30]
The Vanguard began using Caiatl's own embrace of ancient traditions against her, challenging the potential members of her War Council to the Rite of Proving and slaying them. After Commander Dracus, Basilius the Golem, and Val Ma'rag were slain, Caiatl requested another meeting with Osiris. The former Warlock kept her waiting and then mocked her by stating he had been managing the antics of her commanders. She informed him those "antics" were time-honored traditions that the Guardians had no right to interfere with and reiterated her offer to have Zavala join her council. Noting that Osiris seemed wise, Caiatl suggested that he knew the best victories were those won without war and that her offer was a way out of one for humanity. Osiris was impressed by her offer of mercy and how it separated her from previous Cabal leaders, but turned down the offer once more and noted she leaned on tradition out of desperation and did not truly have a united Cabal Empire behind her any longer. Caiatl insisted that the Cabal had only lost their home and not their honor and vowed that if it came to war, they would take much of humanity and their other foes with them before dying. She ended the conversation by asking Osiris to inform Zavala that her patience was quickly running out.[32]
In addition to her efforts to convince Osiris, Caiatl sent a private message to Zavala without the knowledge of her advisors. She told him that as a child, she had believed rulers held absolute power to conquer and kill, but now understood that ruling was a form of servitude to one's people. Caiatl explained that she was beholden to the will of her people and that after the loss of Torobatl, she could not retreat from the Sol System empty-handed in order to preserve their honor. Going into greater detail on her offer, Caiatl revealed that she saw the Guardians becoming the elite force of the Cabal Empire and promised that humanity would be free citizens just as the Psions now were. She asked once more for Zavala to reconsider and join the Cabal to gain revenge upon the Hive to ensure all of their survival against the Darkness.[33]
The Final Rite[edit]
- "There's something more important than victory at stake here. We will honor tradition. We will accept the Rite of Proving. And we will win or lose it as Cabal."
- — Caiatl, discussing the Vanguard's challenge with Advisor Taurun[34]
After several more weeks of losses to the Vanguard and tensions rising as members of both sides pushed for open war, Caiatl was contacted by Zavala, who issued a challenge for one final Rite of Proving, with each side selecting a champion and the winner setting the terms of their treaty. She agreed to the challenge and declared that if the Cabal's chosen champion emerged victorious then Nessus would be ceded to the Cabal, humanity would support her claim to the throne of the empire, and Zavala would join her War Council as a Bracus and serve as a hostage to ensure the cooperation of humanity. However, should the Cabal lose the Rite, then she would cease all hostilities against humanity immediately and withdraw Cabal forces from Earth.[35]
Caiatl was pleased by Zavala's offer, which she considered clever and a way for both sides to avoid wearing themselves out before fighting the Darkness. As she considered who to select as the Cabal's Chosen champion, she reflected that her choice had to honor tradition to hold the Cabal together. She informed Taurun that she would select Ignovun, but her advisor cautioned that not all of her supporters would accept that choice or her agreeing to the Rite of Proving. Caiatl noted that Taurun had encouraged her to embrace tradition and thought she would have been pleased by her decision. Taurun warned that some warriors believed that Caiatl was denying them glory through a full-scale war and sought to follow in the footsteps of Ixel, the Far-Reaching in their quest for infamy. Disgusted by their lack of foresight, Caiatl reminded her that they must conserve their strength for the Hive. She was angered by Taurun stating that she was seemingly valuing conclusion over victory and declared that their honor was at stake and more important than victory, and that they would win or lose the Rite as Cabal.[34]
With Ignovun awaiting his challengers in