Emperor Calus: Difference between revisions

|lineBG= #6A317F

|name= Emperor Calus

|image= {{Tabcontainer

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|species= [[Cabal]]

|affiliation= [[Loyalists]] <br> [[Shadow Legion]]

|gender= Male

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|gender= Male

|faction= [[Loyalists]]  

|mission = [[Leviathan (raid)|Leviathan]]

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|title3= Herald

|species=[[Cabal]]

|faction=[[Loyalists]] <br> [[Disciples of the Witness]]

|mission= [[Catharsis]]

|gender= Male

}}

|species=[[Cabal]]

|mission= [[Desperate Measures]]

|gender= Male

}}

}}

'''Emperor Calus''' is the former [[Cabal Emperor|Emperor]] of the [[Cabal]]. He ruled the Cabal Empire for over a thousand years, until he was overthrown in a coup led by [[Dominus Ghaul]] and exiled to aimlessly wander the galaxy aboard the [[Leviathan (ship)|Leviathan]]. Following Ghaul’s death in the [[Red War]], Calus traveled to the [[Sol System]] to scout [[The Guardian|the Young Wolf]] and their fellow [[Guardians]] as his [[Shadows of Calus|Shadow]]s to have by his side as he prepared for the coming of the [[Black Fleet]] and what he believed to be the [[Final Shape|end of all things]].

==Biography==

At some point, Calus came into possession of an [[Ahamkara]] bone, originating from the extinct civilization known as the [[Harmony]].

One of Calus' pleasures was the Coliseum, and one day, an albino gladiator, bleached from prolonged exposure to solar radiation due to being cast out as an infant, named [[Ghaul]] made his first appearance there. Ghaul's patient skill and unusual coloration soon made him a favorite of Calus', and the Emperor eventually made him [[Primus]] of the [[Red Legion]], where he believed his talents would be put to better use as the head of the most fearsome [[Cabal]] legion ever assembled. Calus grew to love Ghaul like a son, and believed they were kindred spirits who both envisioned a newer, more perfect world.<ref>'''Bungie (2017/9/8)''', ''[[Destiny 2]]: PlayStation 4, Activision Blizzard, [[Ghost Primus]]''</ref> Ghaul's association with [[The Consul]] and members of the Praetorate worried him, but not enough to cause him to take any action, with the former having great animosity for the Emperor, for he was stripped of rank and title, humiliated and castrated by Calus during the Emperor's coronation, and told him to run into the paved wasteland.<ref name="conspirator">'''Bungie (2017/9/8)''', ''[[Destiny 2]]: PlayStation 4, Activision Blizzard, [[Conspirator]]''</ref><ref>[https://www.ishtar-collective.net/entries/inaugural-address?highlight=run Inaugural Address]</ref>

===Coup and Exile===

While Calus and his Loyalist Cabal were engaged in pompous revelry, Ghaul launched his coup in the dead of night. With the Red Legion storming into Calus' palace, seizing and/or killing political members, the emperor immediately ran to his throne to retrieve an [[Ahamkara]] bone he meant to save him from this fate. Caiatl, however, was waiting for him sitting upon it with the bone in hand. Despite his pleas for help, his daughter crushed the bone in hand, and declared she would not be weak.<ref name="CBCaiatl">'''Bungie (2017/9/8)''', ''[[Cabal Booklet]] - [[Cabal_Booklet#My_Daughter:_Caiatl.2C_the_Princess-Imperial|My Daughter: Caiatl, the Princess-Imperia]]''</ref> With the Emperor too popular to simply execute, Ghaul, his Red Legion, and the Consul arrested Calus and an unknown number of supporters in his own court and exiled them aboard [[The Leviathan]], imprisoned within the [[Menagerie]] and taken far from the Empire along a pre-programmed course, far into the cosmos.<ref>'''Bungie (2017/9/8)''', ''[[Destiny 2]]: PlayStation 4, Activision Blizzard, [[Midnight Coup]]''</ref>

===Return to Power===

After the death of Ghaul, Calus immediately set to work on reclaiming the empire. He gave elements of the now leaderless Red Legion the chance to "join the loyalist regime," sending them on missions to collect geological data on Nessus with the intent of converting the soil of the planet into Royal Wine.<ref>'''Bungie (2017/8/9)''', ''[[Destiny 2]]: Playstation 4, Activision Blizzard, [[Invitation from the Emperor]]''</ref> The Leviathan arrived at Nessus soon afterwards and began consuming it.

Calus had the ''Glykon'' anchor off of [[Phobos]], at the edge of the Anomaly left by the disappearance of Mars. Calus then made the Scorn wear the Crown, stitching their minds together through the use of [[Egregore]], and then have his Councilors channel his will through it and speak to the Darkness. Although the communions initially failed, eventually they succeeded, and the ''Glykon'' plunged into the Anomaly, then became overrun by Scorn and Egregore, while Calus disappeared.

Some time later, during the events of [[Operation: Elbrus]], Qabix, a member of the [[Psion Conclave]], began to broadcast Psionic propaganda that exhorted the members of the [[Imperial Cabal]] to mutiny and attempted to entreat them to defect. As Caiatl could not launch an attack on the broadcasting station without being viewed negatively in the army's eyes, she entreated the Vanguard to step in. A fireteam was deployed which managed to slay Qabix and shutdown the broadcasts, despite the threat of an orbital bombardment being constantly present. Upon reaching the broadcast room, the fireteam discovered a chest and several other pieces of finery that appeared to have come from the Leviathan, and viewing of the propaganda revealed it to be a message involving a Psion, a golden statue of Calus offering "[[Darkness|Salvation]]", and a [[Pyramid]]. Calus would continue restocking the base with his cloned troops and resources, forcing the Guardians to periodically take it down again.

There will be three Psionic charges that will teleport three players back to the throne room, while the remaining three are stuck inside. Those who remain inside will be inflicted with the Mind's Eye debuff, to show that they are being sucked in. If they are sucked in too far, then the Guardians will die. Those who remain in the throne room will have to kill more enemies, and the Psions from earlier will appear with the symbols appearing above them. In the mindscape, Calus' projection will show a symbol on his forehead. Each of the three players will each see a different symbol. Whichever symbol has not been seen is the symbol whose Psion in the throne room needs to be killed. This will repeat a total of four times for each symbol that does not appear. Those being sucked in, meanwhile, with have to kill two different kinds of Psions: regular Psions and their projections. The regular Psions must be killed so that their ruptures cannot send players into the air, and the Psion projections must be killed so that Calus doesn't use his Mental Collapse attack. As soon as they are all killed, Calus' projection will unleash a Psionic Overload, where he will spew purple skulls from his mouth. This is a sign that Calus is charging up an Imperial Nova attack that can wipe the entire team. He will be shielded while doing so. Destroy the shield to stop the attack, while the people inside will shoot down the skulls. Killing or damaging a skull grants a stack of the "Force of Will" buff, and these stacks are shared by the whole team. The more stacks the team carries, the more damage they can deal to Calus. After a while, Calus' projection will stop spewing Psionic Overload skulls, and three Psionic charges will appear that will teleport each player back into the throne room.

'''Prestige Mode Changes''': During the mindscape phase, whoever kills the Psion whose symbol was not called out will be teleported to the mindscape, and one person will be teleported into the throne room to replace them.

===Desperate Measures===

While the most common strategy to attack an enemy with a high health pool is through camping in one spot and slowly picking away at them, allowing one's infinite primary ammo and health regeneration to win a war of attrition, Calus has a counter for this, in the way of [[Rhulk, Disciple of the Witness]]' Suns of [[Lubrae]] attack. This is fired in a vertical column, rather than a horizontal one. If Calus feels that a player is staying in one sector of the battlefield too long, he'll cast Suns of Lubrae on that entire section, dealing high damage and applying stacks of Pervasive Darkness, which will automatically kill if it reaches ten, and almost guaranteeing a death on Legendary mode if one does not react fast enough.

At each health gate, Calus will also summon in a new wave of Shadow Legion and a [[Tormentor]]. The Shadow Legion Cabal troops will lock down the ground level corners of the map, keep several Psions in the middle to assist Calus, and pick away at the Guardian's health while also dampening regeneration. The [[Legionary|Legionaries]] and [[Incendior]]s also have increased range in this encounter, being able to fire their [[Cabal Frag Detonator]]s and [[Cabal Magma Launcher]] flames much farther than normal, even being able to reach the upper platforms, ensuring pressure is always present, even when Calus' shots cannot reach the Guardian.

==Trivia==

*Calus also shares a rivalry with the [[Drifter]] over the Guardians and their allegiance, despite sharing similar apocalyptic beliefs over the Darkness.

*After the events of [[Presage]], the fate of Calus was unknown. However, during an interview with Games Radar, Nardin of the development team said "Calus is out there waiting, doing something, we're not really sure, but we're really excited to do things with him."

*During the single day game outage to prepare for the launch of Lightfall, Calus told players on Twitter to go touch grass.<ref>[https://twitter.com/Destiny2Team/status/1630368284993548288 '''@Destiny2Team:''' ''"Lightfall is arriving in less than 24 hours, Guardians. Consider this your reminder to watch out for any spoilers, mute any sensitive terms, and stay vigilant in the trenches of social media. Calus says so 😤"'']</ref>

*Calus's dying words were "Cemaili". The significance of this word is unknown, though, it can be an affectionate nickname which Calus used on her daughter, Caiatl, or this word is actually the name of Calus's missing lover, Caiatl's mother.

==Gallery==

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**''[[Lightfall]]''

***''[[Season of Defiance]]'' {{Mo}}

==References==