Forum:Azarias, The Subverter

Harmonic Ending
Azaria's Origins began as one of the Ahamkara who was present during the Hive's battle with the Harmony on Ana-Harmony. As one of beings assisting in granting wishes to allow their bishops to stalemate the Hive War God Xivu Arath, however the machinations and trickery of Savathûn would begin the downfall of the stalemate in favor of the hive. Azarias, who feasted upon the use of these wishes was one of the few who escaped the onslaught of the hive and avoided death unlike several of his kin. He battled his way to freedom and upon killing several powerful Knights learned of the source of the Hive's Power. The worms within, thus beginning his personal war with the Worms who ruined his feasting grounds.

The Dark Age
Azarias, The Subverter, Came to the Sol System during the Dark Age, arriving after the Traveler and the following Collapse. During this time he posed among several forms whispering and speaking to the wayward desires of people, warlords and even several lesser known Iron Lords. Granting wishes, trading information and bargains as a source to feed and grow his power. His most chosen form was that of a blind man with a large hat and walking stick who had the power to seemingly "Pull information out of thin air" or be privy to knowledge and information he was not suppose to have. As he travelled the earth he found himself not only dealing with the violence of the Risen would be later known as Guardians, but also dealing with the four armed raiders he would learn were called the Fallen. It was during this time that he co-opted various forms among both humans and the fallen and granted the desires of those who were crazy enough to bargain with him, often trapping individuals in Faustian Choices and invoking the Anthem Anatheme in the form of riddles and rhymes to feast. His greed nearly led to his death after one of his wishes led to the destruction of a settlement the fallen had secured by effectively turning wishes against each other of varying houses. As time went on and he assumed more forms he learned of the rise of the Tower the small bustling city of civilization that it was. It was here he posed as a normal person and learned more of the Guardians and Ghosts and the relationships between the two. Eagerly granting wishes that he could feed on and grow his power, a position he would hold acting as a fortune teller and merchant trading in materials, foods and information.

The Infinite Supper
As the Last city prospered and grew so to did Azarias as he bided his time to consolidate his power and fine tune his plan. It was during this period of time that his kind truly made themselves more known to the public. Thus creating the moment in time that he and many other Ahamkara would refer to as the Infinite Supper, a time of great feasting and prosperity as guardians would flock to ahamrkara for all manner of reasons. A bountiful feeding ground for his kind to compete among each other and grow stronger. However due to the growing number of his kind and constant complaints of wishes backfiring, Azarias began to see the cracks of this prosperous time especially in light of his time with the harmony. Posing as a Guardianless Ghost among the city he would begin to overhear of the Vanguards plans to begin the purge of their species in light of the current risks that came with making bargains or wishes with the ahamkara. Armed with this knowledge, Azarias continually posed as a ghost and to prevent himself from falling prey to his nature and began a series of missions and operations where he would pose among the Hive and other weapon masters to gain insight on how to turn "one's own hunger" into a weapon that he could truly defend himself. While his hit and run tactics were mostly successful, he failed to by himself push through to the World's Grave, but as the final wish he would grant for the time being. He convinced another to desire a weapon that could truly be seen as one's own hunger made physical, a weapon that sough to fill it's belly on the pursuit of one's ambition. Thus gaining a fragment of the knowledge he sought, turning the wish against the knight who desired such a power.

Exodus of The Great Hunt
As the hunt started, Azarias using his guide as a Ghost acted among the hidden unit know as the Spectral Network, using the false name of Sylon, The unfounded, a ghost who had yet to find his chosen and had given up searching after failing to locate him for years. He used this guise as a way to create a unique ability to "cloak" his essence using the weapon he carried which acted as his hunger and kept hidden in a stash away from the Last City. During the events of the Great Ahamkara Hunt Azarias or Sylon began to look within normal human settlements to feast but change up how he invoked his power that would bring about his death or unwanted attention. He would use his form as a ghost to get close to people, specifically people who were grieving and dealing with loss at the hands of the Fallen to seek out those who would make the best prey for wishes. Eventually he came among a young man known only as Tameerwho lost most of his family to fallen raiding parties, his hatred and desire for revenge proved to be the perfect feeding ground to cultivate a wish that he could use to feed himself. Over time ehe would speak to the young man both personally and telepathically, pushing him forward to make a decision to make a difference, slowly planting the seeds of cultivating a wish, a wish to turn the tablets on his oppressors, a wish to be able to guard and protect his home and people. A wish that would be granted by Azarias. This resulted in the boy's death but his resurrection at the hands of Sylon the Ghost using his wish to replicate how the light would reach a guardian. However while his memory of Tameer was gone, Sylon filled in the blaks explaining to him who he was and use to be. Using other within the village to add to his truth. This in mind Tameer would fight to protect his home from all assortments of threats, mostly from The Hive and the Fallen. Azarias, using what he learned of knowledge stolen from the Hive previously, he would feats off the kills of his "guardian" since Tameer was ignorant to claiming the power of kills, thus creating a rich feasting ground where he could feed without too much attention being drawn to him. Using his guardian he could once again use him as a way to strike against the Hive meanwhile assisting and helping his guardian protect his home. Though it came at a great price, Tameer over time began to grow weary of the constant battles of protecting his people and stopping attacks, a madness and frantic behavior becoming more and more apparent. After his last battle with the Hive, Sylon opted not to revive his friend, allowing him to rest while he moved on to finish what he started.

Revelation's Delight
With the events of the hunt well behind him and his people all but remnants and remains he began to take on a more mainstream form, posing as a guardian known as Silcardo, who hunted among the Tropical Regions of the world for survivors and settlements to lead people back to the last city, during this time period he mostly laid low as possible using his Ship The Arbiter to move around in a more casual manner and look less suspicious to varying parties that would seek to know more about him. Though he was still eager to continue his crusade against the hive he used his power sparingly to avoid his magic being scanned or picked up on by the vanguard, the fallen, and Hive acolytes bred specifically to hunt him down. This period of time though more or less the most he worked underground to avoid detection he would travel frequently to the tower to hang among the denizens to remain social, stay up to date on current topics, magic, ideas and view matches within the Crucible. It was here he would meet a person who used no name and went only by the phrase The Guardian, though he spoke little the two spoke enough that they would work that when the guardian was tasked with Raids, Silcardo would be one of the guardians he would pair with for several raids to come.

He joined the Guardian on several excursions to the Black Garden, battles with Atheon, Time's Conflux within the Vault of Glass, and continue onward to the fight with Crota, Son of Oryx whose death he took exceptional pride in playing a part of, using that moment to claim a portion of power from the kill, despite the growth it was not enough to even come close to his personal mission. Though he would assist the guardian in many battles. He took more personal satisfaction in dispatching Crota and bringing on the anger and wrath of his father Oryx, the Taken King. During the Events of Skolas, Kell of Kells uprising he would use this as a moment in time which he began to take special interest in the Eliksni and their past beyond just raiders, many of them had wishes and desires he could use much later but for now he merely assisted the guardian where his help was needed, keeping a low profile and seeking no personal interest beyond attempting to gain more knowledge of Hive Arcana. In the final battle with Skolas in the Prison of Elders and haven gotten to see just how deep the Vex mystery deepened he began to take more invested interest in keeping an eye on their technology for future use.

Taking Power
After news of the Awoken's failed attack on Oryx and his fleet made headway to earth. Azarias became far more focused on his plans working less for the best interest of the Last City as it served him and more focused on how he could benefit from serving the last city. As the war dragged on and Azarias\Silcardo fought alongside fellow guardians to dispatch the hive and deal with new arriving Taken, a force of power that he was growingly interested in obtaining for himself. once the guardian killed Oryx within the material realm and retreated to his throne world he used the power he gained from killing Crota alongside the fragment of soul the guardian gained from Croat's last rites, he the guardians and several others began their raid on Oryx's Ascendant realm and began their descent into his throne world where they would begin the six hour battle with Oryx. After a difficult battle with the taken king The raid team was successful in defeating Oryx and ending his threat once and for all. As the guardian left hand so did the remaining fire team. Azarias stayed beyond noting the world did not collapse, realized the power of Oryx went unclaimed. Silcardo himself used his body as a vessel for the Tablets of Ruin wearing them on his flesh and from his hand in killing Oryx he sought the one thing Oryx ghad he wanted. The power to Take, a power he felt would grant him an immense boost in abilities and level the playing field for him to begin to make some headway on his war against the worm Gods. Upon gaining this dark power having proven himself a greater than that of his prey, it was here for the first time among his own mind he heard the whispers of the darkness speaking to him, speaking to him as he had done to so many others. The contents of the conversation were unknown, and not written but that it spoke to him through the tablets of ruin.

Transcending Talon
After obtaining the powers of Oryx and the ability to Take, Azarias set out the quest with the Guardian to create forth the Touch of Malice though he dare not set foot forth near Eris Morn and her orb he waited for the guardian nonetheless and assisted in its creation and thus became a wielder of Said weapon. Armed with the power to take, a power of darkness and now carrying the ravenous heart of a renowned hive God, the heart of the first navigator. Azarias made himself scarce for a great deal of time slowly teaching and gaining mastery over the powers he had gained over the years. His biggest test being that of the power to take. Believing himself to be immune, he learned otherwise he was in fact quite capable of corruption from darkness, It whispered to him quite frequently as he practiced his newly minted magic and felt many times himself become more and more willing and eager to commune with the darkness. As he did his mind and eyes were opened to the very hypocrisy of the enemy he faced, the enemies he dealt with. Using the ability to create Shades he quickly learned to cover a great deal of ground and be in several places at once to carry out tasks. By the time of the Siva outbreak he had mastered a intermediate use of the taken energy and magic, but despite his power he came to realize that he could never topple the worm gods so long as they received power and tribute from the Hive themselves a war he could not fight an alone due to the vast and very ancient nature of his enemy. He needed to abandon his lone work mentality and thus create a following of his own. He needed people he could trust completely, those focused on a mission and goal and best fit the nature of his mission. Remembering the nature of the fallen it was here he would get the idea to create a house of his own, not just any house but one that would reflect his desires and would proudly reflect their own. This thought is what brought him back to the guardian to assist in offering a helping hand among the Siva Crisis, helping the guardian and several others March into the perfection complex and crush Aksis and put and end To the Devil Splicers effectively. With then taken care of and out the picture for the time being he could begin his search for the perfect clandestine operation to bring about his plans. With so many houses broken and fallen seeking guidance he could now play the field to subvert the fallen and gain the trust and members for a house of his own.

Clandestine Operations
The first order of business was developing a HQ Where they could safely operate from the prying eyes of others. A stationary headquarters would make it easier for enemies to crash upon him and ruin everything. The fallen on their rush to leave the cosmodrome left behind resources and materials that he could make a great deal of use of. Doing his best to avoid Guardian detection from the sweeping teams that remained he set up a series of short make shift bases and crates that he could use to hold the materials he would need for later, weapons, glimmer drills, glimmer and various other spin foil metal. However while he had resources he lacked a true base, hiding in caves and spaces where eyes were not privy at the moment did not mean good security.

Call of the Crimson Curtain
As the red war began and guardians found themselves completely off guard, Azarias used the Red war as a cover to completely disappear as his guardian alias, using the confusion as a way to Raid former bases of left over houses to recruit allies, build his ranks and structure his plan, during the Red War he was at his most daring, competing with The House of Dusk for members and getting into several scuffles that he would have otherwise avoided, though he focused mostly on obtaining resources he did begin a small salvage operation to Venus and several vex structures among the Sol System in an attempt to make use of their Prediction based engines to better Prepare for future battles with the Hive and other possible enemies that could arise due to his actions. With his ketch serving as their main base of operation and several bases among the Ruins of the now tropical wasteland of New Hawaii, he built his ranks up using the islands as a place to set up stealth generators to Cloak High energy and give his troops a place to stretch their legs, even for a temporary use he trained his troops for their most difficult missions to come. As the red war was beginning to swing in the direction of the vanguard. Azarias was made very aware by several Run ins with lightless guardians that it was only a matter of time before he could no longer remain hidden from the eyes of the vanguard at his current pace. With several key battles still being fought to weaken the cabal. Azarias and his House gathered their materials and made their way for the moon. During several key moments where the opportunity presented himself he would attack various Sol Divisive Minotaurs and their network to gain and take a great deal of Minotaur, noting their great use of stealth but still have unique firepower that made them both stealthy but lethal, while the others were useful they fit his purpose far more. Using the remnants of traces left behind by Oryx via the use of the Ravenous Heart and his own enhanced taken energies and empower by his partially taken crew. He was able to pick up the trail and create apertures to snatch take them from various places around the black garden and like a pocket dip into it and snatch minotaurs and quickly take them. Even more so he acted as a virus using his taken magic to enhance his shape shifting abilities to take on the form of the What Vex solider he desired. This he could discreetly without causing too much of a scene because it was done so quickly. That even if one could sense it, it would be over before it could be sourced. With infinite places and spaces to reach from and into, tracking it to a specific place would be impossible. With the vanguard having more pressing matters and scattered due to the events of the Red War, the reef having its own issues happening and taking place, Azarias moved at much faster rate and more openly using the confusion as a way to tackle more ambitious tasks that would have been impossible to hide otherwise. With the Vex he had been gradually taking from the Sol Divisive he used them as his method to maintain his ear to the Vex Network ensuring they couldn’t close his access to the black garden.

Operation: Grave Digging
With what he needed at his beck and call Azarias would move forward with a second attempt on the World Grave, this time far stronger than prior and armed with his house of partially taken troops behind him, he and a hand chosen group of marauders would attempt a cloak and dagger operation to infiltrate the area and obtain information regarding the Ascendant realm where the worms and other high ranking members of the hive were hidden or had been, though the frontal attack was met with mixed results he found himself in a unique position to expand not only his fallen members but to use the members of the Hive he could take and use to better interface with Hove technologies, his truth intentions however laid with his stealth team which due to the battle within getting to the hellmouth allowed them to move from the opposite side from within the Temple of Crota and secure a way within the Shrine of Oryx to which Azarias and his team would meet with the infiltration team. With no way to interact with the Blight sphere without raising an immense amount of attention Azarias took a risk and communed with the withering orb, learning what he could before he gathered information that would better answer his questions on Oryx former flagship the Dreadnaught. Though this mission could be categorized as a success his risk invoked the anger of several of Crota’s brood, who could sense not only the power of their Grandfather within the creature, but that his essence was not truly what it appeared to be. Hashladun, who upon noticing this plan came closer to the surface from the pit with her sisters not to far behind had began attacking the fallen and taken knights bow beholden to Azarias. She attacked with a source of power he had not yet witnessed, several phantom figures which would be Nightmares, assisted in her ambush of Asiriks and his team. Not seeing a reason to bring about a pointless fight or worse more attention. Azarias and his regiment retreated from the Shrine and returned To the surface of the moon after fighting their way back to the surface and retreated to their Ketch once the skiffs broke orbit to retrieve them.

Dreadnaught Return
While his mission could be categorized as a success it did not come without some losses, the biggest being that his gambit was scanned and reports about a Disturbance on the moon was noticed and teams from the Vanguard were sent to investigate, while he mostly avoided detection though traces of energy were however discovered his bigger concern was the new power he had faced from the daughter of Crota, a power that brought his nightmares to surface, that of his own and of his chosen crew. Believing this to be another power yet up the sleeves of the hive, he would dedicate a small research and discovery team to attempt to stay and study this unusual power he had encounter using remnants of unstable energy and Nightmare energy he picked up from their retreat for testing and identification. While he and another team would make preparations to fly to the orbit of Saturns Rings to the very place where he believed he ascended, a place he became the new Taken King. The former Throne of Oryx.

Upon arriving and his skiffs cloaked to avoid being spotted he was nostalgic of his return to the ship, however on his return mantled with the Touch of Malice and the Power to Take just as Oryx once had the ship appeared to whisper to him, something spoke to him. Wanted to guide him deeper to places in the ship he had not dared go before or alone, the ship demanded a guide, a first navigator to once again take the helm and and the throne. Azarias would oblige and take on such a mantle however it would be done his way and his way along. The whispering voice lead him to a area within the Dreadnaught that allowed him to gain access to the knowledge he had sought. Creation of Sword Worlds, Knowledge of Oversouls, deep sea information on Ascendant Plains as well as the history of Oryx, his past and his wishes to be used a weapon. A weapon he now carried. The irony was not lost on him and in a way the worms played Oryx and the the rest of the Kryll as he would learn they were once called. Armed with this knowledge, guided by the whispers he would see to it that the worms weakness and reliance would be laid bare before him and that they would see that whatever this talk of a final shape was, they would have no part in it. Taking what information he could write and carry he and his hand picked team would board their skiffs and head back, he would be granted more visions, more whispers reaching to him mind. As he stepped back on to his ship, a wave of light from the traveler passed through his ships, through the Dreadnaught and the entire solar system. I’m doing so with his power to take he felt a slight hunger in himself but even deeper than that he felt something far older and more malevolent that seemingly caused a stir in the Dreadnaught itself. Following this disturbance he witnessed the jubilation of the Ship, the dead flesh of akka reacting to the true darkness and its discovery of the travelers awakening. Knowing this, he quickly made for his ships. In his study of Hive Magic, history of Oryx and search for Worm Gods, Azarias would make several trips to the Dreadnaught, narrowing down his search, gaining more knowledge of the Ascendant Plane.

Visions of the Unknown
In the wake of his return back to ships and Ketch, he witnessed visions of the return of the darkness, which would in fact be the end of all things, the darkness would grant no quarters to anyone, but it spoke to him of purpose and direction, becoming a blade sharper than its design. His evolution and what he stood to gain if he so chose it, he just needed to choose. That which he sought was not out of reach. With visions becoming more and more frequent he would often arm his crew with the info he gained and they would begin their search of the ascendant realms that they could find or gain access too starting with the Sea of Screams. Azarias and his house would spend the latter part of the year searching the Ascendant Plain pockets as they could battling the Hive during such events, eventually finding themselves in the middle of the conflict with the Vex who would be in certain area they needed for information and the occasional guardian who would have strayed so far from their tower. Though it was a year of much gain very few yielded the sight of a worm God and it was clear despite his stealth, the longer it took to find the worms the more he ran the risk of being discovered as his actions would not go unnoticed forever, even the best laid plains could have slips ups and his use of the Taken and this power, the touch of malice caught the eyes of his Sisters Xivu Arath and Savathun. Both of whom would eventually make their way to the system. However it was the whispering voice that would speak to him once more and grant him a vision of a red world where a secret lay under the ice. That secret being the very entity he sought to find for quite sometime.

Will of Thousands
The vision he witnessed was a breath of fresh air, a crack he needed and desperately sought, so much that he even returned to his guardian form as Silcardo and returned to assist his former ally who thankfully outside of his ghost chatter didn’t really concern himself with the whereabouts of his raid ally. And with the rise of many new lights coming to the tower it allowed him to squeeze right in without raising too much awareness or concern about his identity. Allying once more with The Guardian, Silcardo was present during the descent into Mars and while he had These days now more than ever had way more sympathy for the Hive d me aboard the Dreadnaught, Nokris, [[Herarld Of Xol especially. The Hive granted no mercy and neither would he. Together their fireteam marched down into his domain and together they slaughtered The Son of Nokris and The worm god himself rose and spoke, his very voice shaking the area to its core. The event nearly caused a cave in and while the two would reorient themselves and meet up again, Silacardo used this as a moment to gain the power of being involved in the murder, to which even the touch of malice seemingly got a sinister satisfaction from. Only much later did they reconvene and begin their hunt for Xol, which was a perilous fight of its own. Given his use of the Cloaked Essence magic he created he could not fight at his full capacity and make the most of his magic without raising the alarm about his powers and risking his identity. This handicap made it much harder to fight Xol than it initially would have been, had it not been for the guardian Ana Bray and the assistance of The Warmind Rasputin. Before him Xol was finally slain and when everyone had left from the scene he was hesitant to absorb the power from the kill, the Warminds awareness raised a huge alarm about just how hidden was he truly. He knew the Warmind was extremely well connected but how connected surprised even him. Knowing it would be even harder to maintain cover, not without constantly evolving his stealth to account for yet another occupant. Even more puzzling was when he attempted to gain power from the kill, there was little to nothing to gain Xol was killed it wasn’t until much later time he discovered that Xol pulled the same stunt as Oryx and made himself into a weapon one wielded by the guardian.

List of Appearances

 * Destiny 3