Skirmish on Kepler

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Previous:	Dire Emergence
Next:	Rise of the Imperium
Skirmish on Kepler
Conflict:	Prophecy Crisis
Fronts:	Kepler Unknown Space
Outcome:	The Vanguard learns about the Nine Lodi takes Orin's place as the Emissary of the Nine III, a member of the Nine tied to Earth's gravity well, is killed by the original iteration of Maya Sundaresh The Vanguard learns of the prophecy from III and decides to redact information related to it to avoid hysteria Earth begins to suffer from health and environmental problems as a consequence The House of Exile on Kepler loses its Archon. The Nessian Schism's plan to digitize Unknown Space is halted Maya's control over the Echo of Command wanes
Belligerents Humanity Vanguard Aionians Ishtar Collective copies Fallen House of Exile Vex Nessian Schism Commanders Vanguard Ikora Rey Orin Drifter Aionians & Allies Dean Rebecca The Emeritus Lodi Ishtar Collective copies .50 Chioma Esi .87 Maya Sundaresh Archon Levaszk, Prophet of the Giver Giver's Bounty, Exile Prime Servitor Giver's Sentry, Exile Servitor Illaszk, Exile Marauder Kylazk, Exile Machinist The Conductor Epoptes, Lord of Quanta Iatros, Inward-Turned Agraios, Inherent Koregos, the Worldline Strength Guardians Countless Fallen Countless Vex Casualties Rhys Levaszk Thousands of Fallen Thousands of Vex Civilian casualties Unknown number of unarmed Aionians

The Skirmish on Kepler is a conflict that occurred on Kepler between the forces of Vanguard and various factions which are being tied to the Nine, including the House of Exile, and the Nessian Schism.

Prelude

Origins of the Nine

The truth about the Nine's origins were debated by City Age scholars, until findings which shed light into them were conducted through the account of an exiled Cryptarch named Lavinia Garcia Umr Tawil in a book titled Dust and the Vanguard's investigations on Kepler. The Nine first emerged from the loops of dark matter dust being formed in the gravitational wells of the eight major planets in the Sol System alongside the star the planets revolve around: the Sun aka Sol. The Nine's birth long predated the Traveler's arrival into the Sol System and gave them the ability to tap into a 4th dimension, which allowed them to see into the past, present, and future simultaneously. From the moment of birth, the Nine were divided into the Inner Orbits and the Outer Orbits. The Inner Orbits (consisting of I, II, III, IV and IX) sought to transform themselves with the power of paracausality. The Outer Orbits (consisting of V, VI, VII and VIII) sought to escape themselves into a higher order of reality by gathering enough dark matter dust to form a singularity.

The Nine became responsible for various events throughout the history of humanity including Lodi's later selection of becoming their Emissary, the death of Dr. Nella Davis, etc. The Traveler's arrival would cause further division among the Nine when humanity was bestowed with the Traveler’s bounty.

Interactions with Guardians

The Inner Orbits of the Nine later sought the Ahamkara in their goal of transformation, but the Ahamkara were hunted to near-extinction by Guardians in the Great Ahamkara Hunt. In response, the Inner Orbits of the Nine would appoint Xûr to become their 1st Emissary with the intent to make contact with Guardians and study the nature of the Light they wield. The Guardians first learned of the Nine when they recovered a copper box which contained a model of the Sol System from the Ishtar Sink on Venus. The Guardians interact with Xûr, who would sell esoteric wares in exchange for Strange Coins. The Nine would become the force responsible for Skolas's release from the Prison of Elders and the beginning of the Red War.

In their attempt to find a more suitable Emissary, the Inner Orbits of the Nine selected Orin to replace Xûr, though he would continue his service to the Nine as their Agent. Orin had been known as Nasya Sarwar in her Golden Age life, then took on the name Nasan Ar when she passed into the singularity which created the Distributary and subsequently birthed the Awoken, and then took on the name Orin after she left the Distributary and then was killed by Warlords on Earth. Orin first became aware of the Nine when she was investigating Sjur Eido's death at Mara Sov's request. She began to receive strange dreams and visions after her interaction with Xûr which culminated in his injury. She finally became Emissary after deciding to seek them out in the heliopause. She became the 2nd Emissary after the Nine caused the satellites to fail to detect the Red Legion's arrival on Earth, which leads to the start of the Red War. They started the war with the intention of killing Gol. After Dominus Ghaul was defeated, the Guardian finally met Orin as the the Emissary, who was hosting the Trials of the Nine at The Third Spire, a mysterious tower within Unknown Space. They meet Orin once again when The Reckoning and the Invitations of the Nine came to be. They were able to gain insight into her past and recovered accounts of Lavinia's investigations into the Nine during that time. Orin would secretly bide her time to leave her service to the Nine. She uncovered the origins of the Nine, their desires, and their fears of death.

The Nine would also begin to occupy an orbital space station called Cocytus after its previous owner, Crota was slain within his throne world by Guardians. According to a Hidden report, the Nine were attempting to create life through their experiments on Cocytus. The experiments ended in failure when 2 organisms emerged from the Cocytus gateway and died soon afterwards.

The Echoes' Creation

The Nine and Orin remained neutral in the conflicts that followed: Guardians discovering a vessel of the Black Fleet beneath the Lunar surface, the return of the Undying Mind, the Psions' plots with the Sundial and the Almighty, Guardians wielding Darkness, the formation of the Coalition, the Witness's return to the Sol System since the Collapse, and the final battle with the Witness within the Pale Heart of the Traveler. Its death and the subsequent creation of the Echoes would cause yet another division within the Nine. IV was the only member of the Nine who was absent within the argument regarding the Witness's death. Meanwhile, 3 Echoes were created in the wake of the Witness's death: the Echo of Command, the Echo of Riis, and the Echo of Navigation. The Echo of Command landed on Nessus and fell into the possession of the original iteration of Maya Sundaresh from the Vex Network, who was going by the moniker of "The Conductor". She was able to escape with the Echo of Command when Guardians confronted her deep within Nessus's core. She has since reflected on her actions of killing the various iterations of Chioma Esi and made strides to strike a bargain with III when she tasked the Vex with finding information on the Nine. The Echo of Riis landed in the Reef and fell into Fikrul's possession before it was claimed by Eramis after the Guardian killed him using Eido's Tonic of Ether Clarification. The Echo of Navigation landed on the Dreadnaught and was later destroyed to prevent the Hive pantheon from claiming the Echo with Eris Morn and Sloane's guidance.

The Nine would host the Rite of the Nine following the Echo of Navigation's destruction. There, the Guardian learned of the writing styles associated with each member of the Nine. Meanwhile, Orin made a decision to leave her service to the Nine and puts her plans into action. She was able to leave despite the Nine's attempts to stop her. She makes her way to Kepler, where III speaks through Orin and begins to send out an invitation to Guardian to travel to Kepler to hear its message. Afterwards, the Inner Orbits of the Nine begin their plan to appoint Lodi to replace Orin and become the 3rd Emissary.

Lodi's Origins

Lodi was known as Louis Yero and born in Lodi, Wisconsin in the Space Age era. He served in an unknown war before he employed as a linguist at the Department of External Observation, a United States task force was responsible for investigating extraterrestrial anomalies on Earth. He would meet a colleague named Dr. Nella Davis, who was a mathematician working on Project Graviton and experienced strange dreams and visions during his employment at the DEO. After bumping into her because she was in a hurry, Louis would enter a containment room which contained a strange phone of unknown origin and answered it when it rang, pulling him forward in time into the City Age following the Witness's death. He would arrive on Kepler and receive care from a scientific organization setting on the planetoid: the AION Initiative. He began recording a series of messages calling for help. One of Lodi's messages was retrieved from the Anomaly on Vesper Station and intercepted by Astraea.

History

The next stage in III's plan to send an invitation involved a train. It emerged out of nowhere while Ikora Rey and the Hidden were investigating dark matter anomalies on Earth and the train nearly killed her. She discovered an aster within the train and uncover the coordinates for Kepler, which she sends to the Guardian. Upon their arrival on Kepler, they encounter the Fallen belonging to the House of Exile, which was led by an Archon named Levaszk. He believed in achieving the Grand Design, which is achieved through the worship of III, known within the house as the Giver. The Nine began reaching out to them through visions and distorted sound waves. They would meet up with Lodi upon recovering a Strangelet Capsule from Vessels of the Archon. They learn that in order to receive III's message, they must pass through the singularity safely, which required the Guardian to recover more Strangelet Capsules across Kepler. In the process, they learn more information on the Nine, the culture of the AION Initiative and the Aionians who work for it, and Lodi's journey to become the latest Emissary of the Nine.

After they recover enough of the Strangelet Capsules, they meet up with Lodi and Orin as the Nine begins their council to discuss two issues: the Guardian being bestowed the title of Weapon and Lodi becoming an Emissary. Though the votes were mostly unanimous in the former, they were divided in the latter. The Guardian was tasked by the Nine to seek out the final vote from III. Unbeknownst to them, III had already died at the Conductor's hands, when its refusal to bring the Golden Age into the present led her to pull it into a 3-dimensional space. The Guardian and Lodi learned the truth about III once they reach the heart of the singularity and stop Levaszk. Later, they would stop the Nessian Schism from digitizing Unknown Space and help Maya .87 and Chioma .50 reunite with each other.

Aftermath

"death ensures extinction
to survive you must bind the nine"

— III

III's death had affected all of the factions involved: it placed the council of the Nine on a stalemate between the Inner Orbits and the Outer Orbits, it led to the Vanguard deciding to redact the prophecy that they learned from III before it died once more, VI began to learn from Hive and Dread arcana and began establishing its goal of achieving Ascendancy through the Sword Logic, the Conductor began to lose control of the Echo of Command and would send her forces to steal Warmind technology from the Tower and create a new Warsat network within the Plaguelands, a new Cabal faction called the Barant Imperium emerged and robbed Xûr for information on the Nine, and Earth began to suffer from chemical changes, environmental anomalies and health problems as a consequence of its death. The Barant Imperium would be led by Premier Lume and Dredgen Bael, who is chosen by VI to be its champion in response to the Guardian being anointed as the Weapon.

Meanwhile, Lodi would meet with Astraea when the Guardian was stopping the Warsats from being launched by Maya, and then Astraea made plans to reunite with Soteria on Neptune. This failure would lead to some of the Vex defecting from the Nessian Schism to form a new collective: the Tharsis Reformation. The Spider would hear of the rumors of the new collective from a report made by Arrha and decided to make his way to Mars to investigate.

List of appearances

• Destiny 2: The Edge of Fate (First appearance)
  • Renegades (Mentioned only)