SIVA

"We thought we were indestructible, the Lords of Iron. We swore we would do anything to protect the Last City. Some of us paid the ultimate price. I am all that remains. We thought we had sealed away the plague for eternity, but now it has returned, and this time with a Fallen army. It is time to avenge my fallen brothers and sisters. Stand with me, Guardian. Prove yourself worthy, and the Iron Lords will rise again!"

- Saladin Forge

The SIVA plague was once a Golden Age breakthrough in self-assembling, self-replicating nanotechnology, created by Clovis Bray to accelerate humanity's colonization effort. It was discovered by the Iron Lords during the early City Age, and turned against them in their attempt to utilize it for humanity's betterment. Unable to destroy the techno-virus, the Iron Lords sealed it within its bunker, deep within the bowels of the Cosmodrome.

History
Clovis Bray began work on SIVA at the height of the Golden Age, alongside a similar project known to the Guardians only as Transmission. While Transmission was intended to enhance the strength, speed, and intelligence of prospective colonists using nanomachines, SIVA used nanomachines to break down matter and reconstitute it in order to rapidly construct entire cities. The Transmission project was eventually shuttered after it caused unforeseen side-effects in test subjects, and Clovis Bray focused entirely on SIVA, which was later completed and approved for deployment. So confident was Clovis Bray in SIVA's capabilities that they eschewed adding safety measures, such as a kill switch. The first SIVA replication chamber, designated Site 6, was built within the Cosmodrome in order to outfit the colony ships.

Many years later, the Warmind Rasputin was reactivated when the Iron Lords, hoping to harness SIVA to bring about a new Golden Age, trespassed into Site 6. Rasputin treated the intruders as hostile and activated its defenses. Unable to communicate with Rasputin, the Iron Lords managed to infiltrate Site 6 and release the plague. In the end, almost all of the Iron Lords and Iron Wolves sacrificed themselves to stop SIVA and seal it within its complex. Rasputin ceased its onslaught once it deemed Site 6 was re-secured, and began passive observation of the Guardians. Lord Saladin Forge, one of the surviving Iron Lords, quarantined the Plaguelands to prevent SIVA from ever being unleashed again.

A year after the Taken War, while looting ancient tombs from the Golden Age, the Fallen House of Devils managed to unearth SIVA once more. Realizing the potential of this nanotechnology, their Devil Splicers imbued themselves with it and began infecting their fellow Devils in an attempt to transform themselves into machine gods. Unable to contain the SIVA Crisis on his own, Lord Saladin began seeking out Guardians to help him form a new generation of the Iron Lords to defeat the mutant army and end the threat of SIVA once and for all.

Quotes

 * "SIVA was developed during the Golden Age - this powerful nanotechnology that, when programmed, could become anything they wanted. They used it to build cities. That's one of the things that allowed the great expansion of the Golden Age."

Trivia

 * SIVA is also known as Ironsbane, presumably for defeating most of the Iron Lords.
 * SIVA (or better known as Shiva), is a Hindu word meaning the destroyer, one of the three chief deities of the later Hindu pantheon, the other two being Brahma and Vishnu. Siva is also the god presiding over personal destinies. from Sanskrit Śiva, literally: the auspicious (one). This may be the reason for the plague's name in Destiny, due its lore as a destroyer.
 * Nanotechnology is a branch of technology that deals with dimensions and tolerances of less than 100 nanometers, especially the manipulation of individual atoms and molecules.

List of appearances

 * Destiny
 * Rise of Iron