Forum:Sol Detachment

"The sooner we're extinguished, the sooner they can go home."

- Commander Zavala.

The Sol Detachment is a collection of Cabal scouting legions tasked with investigating the Sol System for the arrival of a larger fleet at a later date. They are made up of a total of seven legions of various sizes and specializations.

Overview
The Sol Detachment is largely based on Mars, with five of the seven legions being based on the planet. The other two legions, the Skyburners and the Broken Legion, are based on Phobos and in the Prison of Elders. Across the seven legions there is a notable amount of dissent, presumably as a result of the Midnight Coup that divided the Cabal empire between those that follow Dominus Ghaul and those that remained loyal to Emperor Calus.

Despite the schism in the ranks, the detachment remains internally loyal with few deserters. The largest example of traitors to the Sol Detachment is the Splinter Legion, who abandoned the empire as a whole out of disillusionment. The Broken Legion are also widely believed to be a legion of deserters since they massacred their leadership and attacked the Reef against the orders of Cabal high command. However this was in fact done at the orders of Ghaul, who desired a Trojan Horse so the Red Legion could easily establish a foothold in the Reef upon their full assault.

Arrival in the Sol System
Sometime after the Collapse, the Sol Detachment arrived in the Sol System at the behest of the Empire's leader. Their goal was likely to map and gather data on the Sol System so that reinforcements would have an easier time assaulting it in the future. Initially, the Skyburners and the Sand Eaters established Fleetbase Korus and Firebase Thuria on Phobos respectively, before the latter branched onto the surface of Mars along with the rest of the detachment.

On the planet, the Cabal met the Vex for the first time and began investigating further. The Vex retaliated by assigning the Virgo Prohibition to defending their ruins and technology from the invading forces. Despite this conflict, the Cabal legions were able to establish a large presence on Mars, creating the territory known as the Exclusion Zone along with Fleetbase Apollo, Firebase Rubicon and Firebase Delphi.

At some point after the Exclusion Zone was established, a unit of the Broken Legion received the order to 'mutiny', kill their commanding Primus and assault the Reef. Lead by Valus Trau'ug, the Broken Legion did this and were ultimately captured and imprisoned in the Prison of Elders by the Awoken. At a similar time, the Primus of the Siege Dancers was 'claimed' by Calus, forcing Valus Ta'aurc of the Dust Giants to take control of the legion and expand the Exclusion Zone.

Encountering Guardians
Eventually, the Sol Detachment would encounter the Guardian during their search for entry to the Black Garden on Mars. Primus Sha'aull of the Blind Legion would be killed whilst defending a Vex Spire that had been secured by the Cabal, as the Young Wolf desired to charge a Gate Lord's Eye and enter the Black Garden. Later, Guardian strike teams would eliminate Valus Ta'aurc and a Psion Flayer trio of the Ice Reapers.

After the capture of Skolas, Kell of Kells, the Queen of the Reef opened the Prison of Elders to Guardians and allowed them to execute her prisoners. Some such prisoners were many of the leadership of the Broken Legion, however the legion had already succeeded in their mission.

With the immense losses of leadership for the Blind Legion, the Broken Legion and the Siege Dancers, and the large loss of members in two of the four other legions, a small number of Cabal became disillusioned with their original orders and broke away from the Sol Detachment. The vast majority of these deserters joined with a former Dust Giants Bracus into what would be known as the Splinter Legion, leading campaigns directly against the empire's orders. However, their plans and siege on Fleetbase Apollo were stopped by Guardian forces.

The Taken War
Despite the major losses to five legions, the Skyburners remained strong until the arrival of Oryx, the Taken King in Sol. The Osmium King and his Taken forces assaulted Fleetbase Kuros and decimated most of the remaining Cabal forces across the Sol System, breaking most of their strongholds and forcing the entire fleet to mobilize or perish. During the attack, Primus Ta'aun and his bond brothers evacuated the Fleetbase leaving the fleet mobile in Space.

The order coming directly from Dominus Ghaul himself, Ta'aun rammed his warship Dantalion Exodus VI into the Hive Dreadnaught to create a beachhead and learn of a method to combat the Guardians. Ta'aun lead a team into the Dreadnaught but would ultimately be Taken by Oryx, becoming Ta'aun, Hand of Oryx. In retaliation to this, the bond brothers (Valus Tlu'urn and Valus Mau'ual) rigged the ship's core to blow but were stopped by a Guardian strike team. However despite the massive losses of the Skyburners, their mission was ultimately a success and their survivors were able to send their discoveries about the Light to Ghaul and his Red Legion.

At some point after the order to ram the Dreadnaught, the survivors of the Dust Giants and the Sand Eaters were also ordered to investigate the Light. Specifically, they constructed Terrabase Charon on Io to study the remnants of the Traveler's Light, left behind when it returned to Earth and fought the Darkness during the Collapse. The combination of these learnings and the learnings on the Dreadnaught allowed Ghaul to construct the Traveler Cage hopes of stealing the Light for himself.

Subsidiary Legions

 * Blind Legion
 * Broken Legion
 * Dust Giants
 * Ice Reapers
 * Sand Eaters
 * Siege Dancers
 * Skyburners

Primus

 * Evocate-General Umun'arath—Primus of All Legions, de facto Primus of Sand Eaters, Dust Giants and Ice Reapers
 * Primus Sha'aull—Primus of Blind Legion
 * Primus Ta'aun—Primus of Skyburners
 * Unknown Siege Dancers Primus—'Claimed' by Calus
 * Unknown Broken Legion Primus—'Mutinied' against by Valus Trau'ug

Valus

 * Valus Ta'aurc—Acting commander of Siege Dancers
 * Valus Trau'ug—Acting commander of Broken Legion
 * Valus Mau'ual
 * Valus Tlu'urn
 * Valus Tau'ugh
 * Valus Gho'ourn

Other Leadership

 * Blind Legion Leadership
 * Val Sa'ahn
 * Broken Legion Leadership
 * Val Aru'un
 * Ice Reapers Leadership
 * Kolar, Psion Flayer
 * Numoc, Psion Flayer
 * Vatch, Psion Flayer
 * Sand Eaters Leadership
 * Bracus Tha'aurn
 * Bracus Tho'ourg
 * Siege Dancers Leadership
 * Val Bou'urc
 * Val Ca'aul
 * Val Ma'aurg
 * Val Zu'uarc
 * Skyburners
 * Bracus Dra'usk
 * Bracus Thra'aurg
 * Bracus Ma'aulh

Trivia

 * It is unknown whether the Sol Detachment was sent to Sol by Ghaul, Calus, or even a previous Emperor. The lore tabs for Dunemarchers and Skyburner's Oath implies that the scout legions were divided in their loyalties.
 * It is assumed that upon the Red Legion's arrival in Sol, many members of the Sol Detachment either joined Ghaul or defected to Calus.

List of Appearances

 * Destiny
 * House of Wolves
 * The Splinter Legion
 * ''The Taken King
 * Destiny 2
 * Warmind
 * Season of the Chosen