Grimoire:Enemies

The following is a list of Grimoire entries pertaining to enemies:

The Darkness
Something hit us. Killed our Golden Age. Nearly wiped us out. Only the Traveler saved us, and at a shattering cost.

The Speaker tells of a cosmic force that swept over us and caused the Collapse. Legend calls it the Darkness, the Traveler's ancient enemy, which hunted it across space.

All we have left are questions. Centuries of debate gave birth to competing arguments on the nature of the Darkness and the Collapse.

The Pujari Position describes the Darkness as a force with both physical and moral presence, an actualization of evil. Pujari art depicts the Darkness as a great storm, or as a change in conduct, a corruption that emerged from within and poisoned the Golden Age.

Saint-14's Position argues that the Darkness was an invading armada, an alien force of incredible - but tangible - power. Some adherents believe that this armada sprang from species rejected or discarded by the Traveler for their sins.

Ulan-Tan's Thesis considers the Darkness a necessary symmetry to the Traveler in a cosmic balance. In this view, the Traveler's goodness led it to sacrifice for others, and it is up to us to return this goodness by healing the Traveler.

The Monist Position, or the Deflationary Position, considers the Darkness as a technologically sophisticated force, perhaps a post-Singularity intelligence. Adherents invoke information theory or contend that the universe is a simulation, allowing advanced intelligence to gain weakly acausal powers by bending the rules.

The Acataleptic Clause claims that we are intrinsically unable to understand the Darkness. In many respects this belief parallels the Praxic Creed, which suggests that we should stop worrying about the nature of the Darkness and focus on resisting and defeating it.

Certain positions - often labeled heretical - imply that the Traveler itself triggered the Collapse, or that it knew the Darkness was coming for it and hoped to use the Solar System as a sacrifice or a proxy army. The Binary Star cult is one notable example.

Ghost Fragment: Darkness
V113NNI070XMX001 SECRET HADAL INSTANT AI-COM/RSPN: SOLSECCENT//SxISR//DEEPSPACE CONTACT CONTACT CONTACT TRANSIENT. NULLSOURCE. NULLTYPE.

This is a SKYSHOCK ALERT.

Multiple distributed ISR assets report a TRANSIENT NEAR EXTRASOLAR EVENT. Event duration ZERO POINT THREE SECONDS. Event footprint includes sterile neutrino scattering and gravity waves. Omnibus analysis detects deep structure information content (nine sigma) and internal teleonomy.

No hypothesis on event mechanism (FLAG ACAUSAL). Bootstrap simulation suggests event is DIRECTED and INIMICABLE (convergent q-Bayes/Monte Carlo probability approaches 1).

No hypothesis on deep structure encoding (TCC/NP-HARD).

Source blueshift suggests IMMINENT SOLAR ENTRY.

Promote event to SKYSHOCK: OCP: EXTINCTION. Activate VOLUSPA. Activate YUGA. Cauterize public sources to SECURE ISIS and harden for defensive action.

I am invoking CARRHAE WHITE and assuming control of solar defenses.

STOP STOP STOP V113NNI070XMX091

The Fallen
"We have butchers at our gates&mdash;four–armed and eager for slaughter."

- Card blurb

The Fallen are ruthless scavengers. Brutal and uncaring, they arrived on their massive Ketches in the wake of the Collapse to loot and pillage our devastated worlds.

There are hints of ancient nobility to the Fallen - the scars of lost grandeur. The Kells of their scattered Houses still claim to be royalty. But they leave only grief and wreckage in their wake.

Dreg
"Don't underestimate a cutthroat, or you'll get your throat cut."

- Card blurb

Dregs cling to the lowest rung of Fallen society. Docked of their lower arms in a ritual of humiliation and obedience, Dregs seek to prove their worth. Only a few will survive to gain promotion and regrow their limbs. Their suicidal bravery is fueled by ambition and shame.

Shank
[Redacted]

Vandal
"You could drown the City in the blood they've spilt."

- Card blurb

Vandals are savage pirates, taking pride in every world they pillage and every body they drop. Soldiers, brawlers, assassins, and scouts, Vandals serve many roles within a Fallen crew. And whether from distance or up close and personal, they are seasoned, efficient killers, with an arsenal of weaponry and tech to match their bloodlust.

Captain
[Redacted]

Servitor
[Redacted]

House of Devils
[Redacted]

Ghost Fragment: Fallen
//...498.0074/IR:KK0709a.9//

//ALERT: CORRUPTION DETECTED//

//ALERT: AUDIO LOG UNAVAILABLE//

//REROUTING…/REROUTING…/REROUTING...

//EDS:3713498.0074/IR:KK0709a.9//

//AUDIO UNAVAILABLE//

//TRANSCRIPT FOLLOWS…/

&lt;u.1:0.1&gt; There [is] a wall. Out in the steppes.

&lt;u.1:0.2&gt; You know it?

&lt;u.1:0.3&gt; Use[d] [to] protect a spaceport—one [of] them old rocketyards. Know what I mean? Where they use[d] [to] leave world.

&lt;u.1:0.4&gt; One [of] them monuments [to] the good old days. Whatever those are, right?

&lt;u.1:0.5&gt; Only days I ever known look just like this one.

&lt;u.1:0.6&gt; Can't say I [would] call [them] good, but there [have] been worse. And worse is what I'm talkin[g] about.

&lt;u.1:0.7&gt; [Be]cause I was out there.

&lt;u.1:0.8&gt; At the wall.

&lt;u.1:0.9&gt; I was there.

&lt;u.1:1.0&gt; I'd heard about it. Just stories. But I'd heard. Ya know?

&lt;u.1:1.1&gt; We'd been on the road for…

&lt;u.1:1.2&gt; I don't know.

&lt;u.1:1.3&gt; Four-some years. Over? I don't know.

&lt;u.1:1.4&gt; We'd worn thin.

&lt;u.1:1.5&gt; Time and…

&lt;u.1:1.6&gt; ...

&lt;u.1:1.7&gt; Time and other things… other factors… will do that to [you].

&lt;u.1:1.8&gt; ...

&lt;u.1:1.9&gt; So, we were there. Not there, but close enough we could see it—out of the way, but close enough.

&lt;u.1:2.0&gt; Should [have]…

&lt;u.1:2.1&gt; We should [have] left it alone.

&lt;u.1:2.2&gt; I mean, we could [not] know, but we should [have] known.

&lt;u.1:2.3&gt; ...

&lt;u.1:2.4&gt; ...

&lt;u.1:2.5&gt; Anyway…

&lt;u.1:2.6&gt; I…

&lt;u.1:2.7&gt; Me and another couple guys, we convinced [them]…

&lt;u.1:2.8&gt; Convinced the rest that we should take a look.

&lt;u.1:2.9&gt; That maybe, I don't know…

&lt;u.1:3.0&gt; That maybe we'd find a jumper or shelter, or whatever… something.

&lt;u.1:3.1&gt; We agreed… All of us…

&lt;u.1:3.2&gt; We agreed. If we got close and it looked bad…

&lt;u.1:3.3&gt; Looked wrong…

&lt;u.1:3.4&gt; ...we [would] turn back.

&lt;u.1:3.5&gt; Everyone knows… Avoid tech.

&lt;u.1:3.6&gt; Right?

&lt;u.1:3.7&gt; Stick to the lowlands and stay away from scrap.

&lt;u.1:3.8&gt; We knew this.

&lt;u.1:3.9&gt; We talked about it.

&lt;u.1:4.0&gt; But it was quiet. [You] know?

&lt;u.1:4.1&gt; And bare.

&lt;u.1:4.2&gt; Like it [had] already been picked over.

&lt;u.1:4.3&gt; Like they were gone.

&lt;u.1:4.4&gt; I mean… It was clear they [had] been there.

&lt;u.1:4.5&gt; But they looked gone.

&lt;u.1:4.6&gt; And we knew…

&lt;u.1:4.7&gt; We knew we wouldn't survive much longer.

&lt;u.1:4.8&gt; Not as a group.

&lt;u.1:4.9&gt; Not on our own.

&lt;u.1:5.0&gt; We needed a ship.

&lt;u.1:5.1&gt; We needed help.

&lt;u.1:5.2&gt; ...

&lt;u.1:5.3&gt; So we went inside.

&lt;u.1:5.4&gt; We were careful. I mean, I guess… I guess we were.

&lt;u.1:5.5&gt; We meant to be.

&lt;u.1:5.6&gt; Quiet.

&lt;u.1:5.7&gt; Careful.

&lt;u.1:5.8&gt; But we were wrong.

&lt;u.1:5.9&gt; It was [not] just a wall.

&lt;u.1:6.0&gt; It [is] not just a spaceport…

&lt;u.1:6.1&gt; Not anymore.

&lt;u.1:6.2&gt; ...

&lt;u.1:6.3&gt; It [is] a goddamn fortress.

&lt;u.1:6.4&gt; ...

&lt;u.1:6.5&gt; We were wrong...

&lt;u.1:6.6&gt; I was wrong.

&lt;u.1:6.7&gt; And, now they [are] all dead.

&lt;u.1:6.8&gt; And the Fallen own this goddamn planet.

/...END TRANSCRIPT///

Ghost Fragment: Fallen 2
[Redacted]

Shock Pistol
[Redacted]

Shock Rifle
[Redacted]

Shrapnel Launcher
[Redacted]

Shock Dagger
[Redacted]

Shock Grenade
[Redacted]

Skiff
[Redacted]

Riksis, Devil Archon
"The Archons are the links between the Fallen and their Servitors. We break those links, we break the Fallen."

- Card blurb

Archons are revered amongst the Fallen. It is unknown whether these high priests are the caretakers of the Prime Servitors, or simply vicious arbiters of the Primes' will.

Riksis collects the skulls of dead Guardians. Whether he keeps them as trophies or presents them as offerings to whatever Prime he serves, his threat is very real, and his death will bring great joy to a City in need of hope.

Sepiks Prime
[Redacted]

The Hive
"That shiver you feel up your spine is truth. There are nightmares rising from the shadows, and they hunger for our dying hope."

- Card blurb

The Hive are an ancient, festering evil. Their antipathy to the Light transcends hatred. To the Hive, the eternal struggle between light and dark is not only a war, it is a crusade&mdash;all Light must be devoured so Darkness can reclaim the universe.

Thrall
"The shadows have claws."

- Card blurb

Feral and fearless, Thrall are a plague upon the battlefield. Their swarming, twisted frames are driven by unfettered rage. Of all the terrors born of the Hive's vile will, they are the basest.

Acolyte
"Belief is a powerful weapon. But, so is an Arc Rifle."

- Card blurb

It would be a mistake to view the Hive's Acolytes as foot soldiers, because the Hive is not an army, it is a dark force rising. It is belief and horror, and its Acolytes are the instruments of that horror, hungry to commit the atrocities that will drive their own ascension.

Knight
[Redacted]

Wizard
[Redacted]

The Hidden Swarm
"Mind the cracks and crevices of the Moon. There is an army in their shadows."

- Ikora Rey

Boiling from the wounded surface of the Moon, the Hidden Swarm is the Hive's outermost line of defense - a numberless legion that repels intruders before they breach the temples and shrines of the vast Hive fortress.

Spawn of Crota
"Crota's spawn will snuff out the worlds of Light, and Oryx's coming shall be unfettered."

- Osiris

The heralds of a dark future, led by the champion of a long-forgotten king. Crota and his legions once banished us from our own Moon. Now we fear they are rising again to claim Earth.

Blood of Oryx
"They are the shadow of an unknown master, harbingers of a power beyond anything we've faced."

- Master Rahool

Research into the cyphers and runes of the Hive leads the Cryptarchs to believe the Hive sects all serve one great master. The Blood of Oryx are feared to be the direct servants of this dark lord. The name Oryx appears too many times in Hive rituals to be ignored.

Ghost Fragment: Hive 2
At the doors to the Temple he fell for the last time. He fell, and I could not reach him.

My own Light flickers.

They took me down into the dark, past tiers of massed Hive, more than we believed could exist. Past grisly nurseries hung with pupae. Past writhing worms that they swallow whole. I saw the armaments of war.

I am weak, so weak.

They have clamped me to this spire while a black foulness eats my Light. The Wizard comes now and then to probe with her scaly claws into my systems, to inquire about my making, the City, what I have seen. I erase and dump as quickly as I can - they will learn little from me - but I am studying them, I know - pain.

Always pain.

I have seen chasms beneath the surface, falling away to green nothingness. I have seen black seeders prepared for invasion.

Their strength is not their own. They draw from another force, something that corrupts, that distorts, that eats and will not be satisfied.

The Wizard is near. I feel her presence as a rip and a knot in the world. She tells me things that I immediately forget. I am too small to hold the vastness of them, or the terror.

I am fading. I have no more that it can take.

With my last light I say to the City: War comes again from the Moon. This time they want Earth. Prepare.

Arc Rifle
[Redacted]

Shredder
[Redacted]

Swarm Princes
"The royalty of nightmare."

- Card blurb

The Swarm Princes are terrible legends. It was their will that forged the Sword of Crota, a weapon meant to ravage worlds - the Great Render of Light, the Darkest Edge. They have waited in the shadows of the Hellmouth for their master's return, guarding the Sword and sating its ravenous hunger with the Light of Guardians who have dared to challenge them.