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The Numeric Usurper
Biographical information
Species:	N/A
Faction:	Shattered
Gender:	None (Referred to as male)
Height:	17ft
Combat information
Weapon(s):	Sonorous Absractum
Abilities:	Initial Immunity Create Copies Planetary Banishment Guard Buffs High Durability Summon Vex Summon Fallen Summon Cabal Light and Darkness shield

"Is that all? The champions of the universe, those who finally broke the Flower game, who brought the Hateful God to its knee, are just the pawns of these *formless nothings*? What a shame. They work better as tools. Though I suppose you do too."

— The Numeric Usurper

The Numeric Usurper is a mysterious entity who claims to be a survivor of the previous pattern of the Flower game, being one of the few entities who wasn't consumed or destroyed by the Vex.

Biography

"So dark... I don't sleep anymore. I don't blink, either. The idea of the dark terrifies me. Yet, the light does too. Suns, nebulae, your essences, it all scares me. What did I do wrong?"

— The Numeric Usurper

Born to Suffer

The Numeric Usurper claims to have been an entity from the previous cycle and a part of a species of no name, along with having no name itself as the concept of names were long since consumed by the Vex in that cycle. It was formed near the end of the cycle's lifespan into a Vex-dominated universe. From the moment it was formed until its final breaths, it fought against the Vex and other desperate hostile races. Eventually, the Usurper and its entire race, along with a coalition of vast innumerable other species would face the Vex in a final battle at the center of the Universe of that cycle. Despite it and its coalition's best efforts, the Vex were insurmountable and with the timeline collapsing around them thanks to the efforts of a powerful and unique Vex Mind, the Usurper led one final push at the Vex Mind as the cycle came to an end.

What happened next, not even it knows. All it can say is black befell all of creation. Whether it was seconds, hours, days, years, millennia, eternities, it can't say. But eventually, it saw a colorful tear pierce the darkness. Without thinking, it clawed at it desperately as it heard untold numbers of voices crying out but just as quickly silenced with one final solemn sentence in a language it did not understand. It endured countless unknown timeframes of agony, clawing its way into the universe until-...

It heard singing. It heard the cries of an infant. It heard the commanding presence of a king, or what its cycle's equivalent of one was. Yet above all, it heard triumphant, yet mysterious trumpets, the twinkling of stars, a new destiny was calling to it. As it floated through space, it saw the Sun, the other planets, but it also saw what it dreaded the most. War. Before it could give into despair again, it was reached out by a song, a song from a mysterious entity of brightness and potential. It saw it all, in ways it couldn't understand yet knew was true. It watched as the mysterious Gaiaforms of this cycle began to take action. It was intrigued, in its cycle the Gaiaforms were tools of its race, yet they seemed free here. It would change that. It would subjugate these "Nine" and use it to bring the Vex to their knees and undo the damage The Witness had done. If it couldn't win in its cycle, it'd win in this one.

Campaign of Control

"I have come too far to end now! I will write my wrongs! It's not too late. Join me. We can fix this. They can fix this! Why do you oppose your own prophecy?! Why won't you answer me!?"

— The Numeric Usurper

The now named Numeric Usurper would gather Cabal deserters, lost and disgraced Fallen, and splintered Vex subroutines with the promise that it'd restore their homeworlds with the power of the subjugated Nine and give the Vex new purpose away from the pattern and The Conductor's tyrannical rule. It would then lead a strike force onto Essence, The Europan Pyramid, The Lunar Pyramid, and The Sunken Pyramid to gather the energy that powered the Macrocosm engine, along with as many relics and technology as possible.

Upon the deaths of the strike teams' leaders, the Usurper would call the survivors back with any cargo they got and use this technology to begin attempting to bind the Nine to its control. With the help of a budding Lodi, The Numeric Usurper would be banished to Unknown Space for a time so the Guardians could plan a strategy. Once it broke out at Infinity's Crown on Mercury, the Guardians were prepared and intercepted its ritual, defeating all of its strongest followers, and finally stop Eternity's Precipice, its long storied life would meet an end. Though in its final moments it declared that even the end of the universe couldn't stop it forever and in time, not even death shall either.

Gameplay

Macrocosm

The Numeric Usurper is first encountered in the mission Macrocosm where it is attempting to use the engine of the same name to bind the Nine to its whim. To stop this ritual, one must observe the number on its eye, and shoot the correct planet corresponding with the Nine member such as I for the Sun, III for Earth, VI for Jupiter, etc. Doing this correctly will cause the planet to crack, interrupting the ritual. This gives the player the Fate's Weapon buff, which allows the bearer to then shoot the icons on the back of the arena to match planet that is missing from the orbit, returning it to the orbit. Once this is done, all planets will shatter and bring down the Usurper's shield until it loses a third of its health in which it will restore the shield, banish another planet, and begin the cycle again.

Call of the End

The Numeric Usurper appears as the final boss of the Raid, Call of the End, where its mechanics are mostly similar. However, now the Numeric Usurper actively fights in the arena instead of just meditating in the middle. It also now has a three minute thirty-three second wipe timer dubbed "Fate's Chains". To begin damage phase one must obtain the Fate's Shield buff which is granted by shooting the Numeric Usurper's weapon's weak spots. This will cause the Numeric Usurper to focus them, but also let them see the three planet sequence flashing in its eye and whether the symbol is Light or Darkness. From there three separate teammates must each shoot a planet orbiting the Numeric Usurper within a five second timeframe with a correctly aligned weapon type (Kinetic counts as Light and Prismatic counts as Darkness). If it is correct, the planet cracks and gives the shooter the Fate's Weapon buff. If the wrong planet is shot and/or with the wrong alignment, the message "Your folly empowers the Nine's chains" and shortens the time limit by fifteen seconds. If someone already has the Fate's Weapon buff and correctly shoots another planet, the message ":Player Name: was crushed by the weight of the world" appears and they are instantly killed.

With Fate's Weapon, the teammate can now go to the edges of the arena and use Mattermorph to take the rubble floating around the arena and form them into planets. The location of each planet is associated with a clock that has had its spaces adjusted to only have eight numbers, with the top being I and the Sun and going clockwise until VIII, being Neptune. Once all three planets are successfully pulled, the message ":The Three Involved Planetary Bodies: have been unbound, strike the Usurper with Light and Dark to break its focus", which prompts the final two teammates need to shoot the Numeric Usurper with both Light and Dark aligned damage at the same time, causing the message "The Numeric Usurper's focus is broken" to appear and it to retreat back to its starting point, restarting the cycle. This must be done three times within the time limit to avoid defeat.

Once all planetary bodies are restored, the timer halts, all planetary bodies blast the Numeric Usurper with Dark matter energy, shattering the Macrocosm planets orbiting it and beginning damage phase. However, the Numeric Usurper also splits into six copies, each targeting a different fireteam member. One can tell which is going to attack them through the buff ":Number I-VI:'s Weapon", which causes the Numeric Usurper with that number in its eye to focus that player. Once damage phase concludes, all the copies merge back into one, and the cycle repeats with the timer restarting at full.

Trivia and Behind the Scenes

• I thought of this character while bored at work. I liked the idea of shooting the Macrocosm planets to start some kind of mechanic in a raid.
• The Planetary Usurper is based off of Ramattra from Overwatch 2, Shockwave from Transformers, and an old concept I had for Nezarec, Final God of Pain. Along with the idea of something else surviving the previous pattern besides the Vex.
• The mechanics of its raid encounter are meant to build a bridge between The Light and Darkness Saga and The Fate Saga. While not connecting them per say, more a passing of the torch while still making it clear that just because they're not the focus anymore, Light and Dark still are very powerful forces in the universe that can be taken advantage of in both good and bad ways.
• The Planetary Usurper doesn't have a listed gender because its race didn't have genders as they 'reproduced' in a strange way that can only be described as "Using math to prove more of your race exists, and math listening."
• I am still attempting to draw this thing. Making a new race is shockingly hard. It keeps looking like either Nezarec or a Knight.

Appearance

• Destiny 2: Chains of Gaia