Rasputin: Difference between revisions

Rasputin was designed and built by the [[Clovis Bray (corporation)|Clovis Bray Exoscience Corporation]], one of the [[Golden Age]]'s greatest collections of scientists and engineers. He was designed to foresee potential threats to human civilization and to leverage military assets for its protection if the need arose.

{{Quote|I met [[Darkness|IT]] at the gate of the garden and I recall IT smiled at me before IT devoured the blossoms with black flame and pinned their names across the sky. IT was stronger than everything. I fought IT with aurora knives and with the stolen un-fire of singularities made sharp and my sweat was earthquake and my breath was static but IT was stronger so how did I survive?|Rasputin<ref>'''Bungie (2014/9/9)''', ''[[Destiny]]: Playstation 4, Activision Blizzard, [[Grimoire]]: [[Grimoire: Allies/Legends_%26_Mysteries#Ghost_Fragment:_Mysteries|Ghost Fragment: Mysteries]]''</ref>}}

A fragment of Rasputin, left on Earth and disconnected from Mindlab on Mars, was unintentionally reactivated during the [[Dark Age]] by the [[Iron Lords]]. The group of Risen had breached [[Site 6]] in search of [[SIVA]], powerful nanotechnology capable of disassembling matter and reconstituting it into almost any desired form. The Iron Lords had discovered SIVA's existence and hoped to use it to rebuild human civilization. Unfortunately, despite Lord [[Felwinter]]'s attempts to reason with him, Rasputin immediately classified the Iron Lords as a threat to its security and activated all of its defensive measures, including SIVA. Using an army of SIVA-modified constructs, among them militarized [[frame]]s, Rasputin attempted to repel the Iron Lords from Site 6 by force.<ref name=" GFR6"/> Realizing that they had been arrogant and that SIVA posed a significant threat to the world, the Iron Lords fought back. Hundreds of the Iron Lords perished in the battle for the [[Plaguelands]], with eight managings to seal SIVA within its replication chamber and partially damage it.<ref>'''Bungie (2016-9-20)''', ''[[Destiny]]: [[Rise of Iron]], PlayStation 4, Activision Blizzard, [[King of the Mountain]]''</ref> Only [[Saladin Forge]] and [[Efrideet]] survived. Rasputin, content that the trespassers had been ejected from its facilities, withdrew its countermeasures and began passive observation of the Guardians.<ref name="GFR6"/>

In recent times, the [[Fallen]] and [[Guardian]]s discovered Rasputin was still alive and protecting something valuable in the Cosmodrome. After a communications array at the [[Terrestrial Complex]] was reactivated by the Guardians, Rasputin was able to reconnect with the old interplanetary defense network, resuming control of [[Warsat]]s and [[Skyshock|ground installations]] across the system and launching a series of orbital strikes against the [[Vex]] and [[Cabal]] on [[Mars]]. Rasputin's attacks proved so debilitating to the Cabal that [[Valus Ta'aurc]] himself ordered the [[Ice Reapers]] be released to track Rasputin.<ref>'''Bungie (2015-9-15)''', ''[[Destiny]]: [[The Taken King]], PlayStation 4, Activision Blizzard, [[Grimoire]]: [[Grimoire:Allies#Ghost_Fragment:_Rasputin_2|Ghost Fragment: Rasputin 2]]''</ref>

{{Quote|What is buried beneath that ice is too dangerous to allow back into our world. It doesn’t think as we do. It weighs and judges our existence in its ruthless calculations, and we don’t even know what the goal is. Once, long ago, it might have been created as a tool to save Humanity. It is far more than a mere machine now. And it is broken.|Zavala<ref>"Narrative"</ref>}}

Rasputin soon came under siege from the Hive once again, but this time at his central core facility in Hellas Basin. Making matters worse, his [[Grasp of Nokris|attackers]] was led by the Hive god [[Nokris]], a son of [[Oryx]], and [[Xol, Will of the Thousands]], one of the Hive's gargantuan [[Worm]] Gods. Unable to adequately defend himself against such a massive threat, Rasputin accepted the assistance of Ana Bray and the Guardian, granting them the use of the powerful [[Valkyrie]] javelin and other Golden Age weaponry.  

*MIDNIGHT EXIGENT—a long-term counterattack protocol and moral structure change. All Warminds enter a period of extended deactivation in an effort to survive and later devise a countermeasure for an overwhelming threat. The protocol seemingly allows the Warminds to ignore their responsibility to protect human populations in favor of taking any measures deemed necessary to ensure their own survival. As of [[The Guardian]] slaying [[Xol, Will of the Thousands]], MIDNIGHT EXIGENT is still in-progress.<ref name="SleeperD2">'''Bungie (2018/5/8)''', ''[[Destiny 2]]: [[Warmind (expansion)|Warmind]] Playstation 4, Activision Blizzard, [[Sleeper Simulant]]''</ref>

*SKYSHOCK: OUTSIDE CONTEXT— hostile extrasolar arrival (check [https://www.ishtar-collective.net/entries/cosmogyre-i Cosmogyre I] Triumph lore).

**YUGA SUNDOWN—a condition that cancels all protocols for protecting humanity and activates MIDNIGHT EXIGENT.

**YUGA ECLIPSE—a condition which is currently unknown.<ref name="unsecured/OUTCRY">[https://www.ishtar-collective.net/entries/unsecuredoutcry'''Bungie (2018/12/4)''', ''[[Destiny 2]]: [[Black Armory (expansion)]] PC, Activision Blizzard'']</ref>

*''"There is no immortality of the soul, thus there is no greater good. Therefore everything is permitted."'' (A reference to ''[[wikipedia: The_Brothers_Karamazov|The Brothers Karamazov]]'')

*''" System breached, damage sustained, planning counter-actions."''—destroying the vent panel with a grenade ('''Note''': no actual threat of orbital bombardments)

*''"High priority to the mobile unit, destroy immediately."''—When [[S.A.B.E.R.-2]] spawns in Boss Room<ref>'''reddit''', ''[https://www.reddit.com/r/DestinyTheGame/comments/5o5ozv/rasputins_dialog_from_fallen_saber_translated/dch9uge/ Rasputin's Dialog From "Fallen S.A.B.E.R." Translated - zu-fox's comment]''</ref>

*''"The Bray family shaped me to be an all-seeing savior... while your vanguard sought to wield me as a primitive weapon... but today that ends... and I define the reality of my own existence... My sight will stretch to the edge of this system and beyond... Never again will a threat go unseen... From this day forward I will defend humanity on my own terms... I am Rasputin... guardian of all I survey... I have no equal."''

*[[wikipedia: Rasputin|Rasputin]] was a Russian priest and mystic closely associated with the [[wikipedia: Romanov|Romanov]] family, the last Tsars of Imperial Russia. He is most commonly associated with having several assassination attacks carried out on him, surviving each one until he was shot in the head, wrapped in a blanket and dumped in an icy river by his attackers until they were certain that he was finally deceased. This is most likely a source of inspiration for the Rasputin of the Destiny universe, as it survives The Collapse and many other attempts to destroy or control it.

*The [[Grimoire: Allies#Ghost_Fragment:_Mysteries|Ghost Fragment: Mysteries]] appears to be written from the perspective of Rasputin. Though heavily laden with metaphor, it appears to be a fractured chronicle of his encounter with the [[Darkness]], his fruitless attempts to overcome (or even resist) it, and his fateful decision to abandon his primary function in favor of survival (a tactic which he claims to have learned from his enemy). The colorful descriptions seem to indicate that he has descended into insanity since the [[Collapse]], either as a result of his encounter with the Darkness, or due to drastically rewriting his core protocols, or perhaps both.

*When Rasputin speaks "in person" at the end of [[Warmind (expansion)|Warmind]], the soundtrack is the correct Russian equivalent to Bray's English translation, but played backward (small bits, such as "Ja Rasputin" - "I am Rasputin", are not thus inverted) and overlaid with a range of voice distortion effects, as well as some "glitching" reminiscent of what is heard when computer audio "hangs". A re-inverted version of the recording, cleaned up to provide essentially intelligible Russian speech, can be heard [https://clyp.it/zhkq5rod here].

*Rasputin's protocols contain a number of references to history, mythology, and philosophy.<ref>[https://www.reddit.com/r/DestinyLore/comments/6ddaqx/allusions_in_rasputins_protocols/ Reddit''' - ''Allusions in Rasputin's Protocols'']</ref>

*#Völuspá is the most well-known poem in the Norse Poetic Edda, chronicling the creation and end of the world.

*#Surtr is a fire giant and will destroy the world during Ragnarok with his fire.

*#Telihard is a Jesuit priest and philosopher who conceived the Omega Point, a spiritual belief and scientific speculation where life will eventually become united with the divine and argued that Jesus Christ was focal of this Omega Point. This can be considered one of the earliest known versions of the Christian Universalist belief, that everything no matter how fallen or depraved (such as the Devil) will be reconciled with God.

*:#'' Satya Yuga''—the first and best age, analogous to the Golden Age. Here people had extended lifespans of over 100000 years.

*:#'' Treta Yuga''—the second age, where warlords and darkness cover the land, analogous to the Dark Age.

*:#'' Dvapara Yuga''—the third age where people turn upon one another, corrupted by evil.

*:#'' Kali Yuga''—the final age, called the Age of Destruction. According to modern Hindu mythology, humanity is currently living in this age.

*During the adventure Arecibo on Io, the ghost asks Asher if he is picking up anything on channel J-1869. Grigori Rasputin was born in January 1869.

File: Vex Citadel Destroyed Concept Art.jpg|Concept art of the Citadel destroyed by Rasputin's orbital weaponry upon his reactivation.