Emperor Calus: Difference between revisions

Many years prior to the invasion of the Solar system, Calus led a populist revolution to eject the military aristocracy known as the [[Praetorate]] from power and became Emperor. By his side during the revolution stood his long-time friend and protector [[Shayotet]], who stopped numerous attempts to kill Calus. Under his rule, the Cabal Empire became a seat of all-encompassing hedonism and revelry. His accomplishments during that time included redistributing Praetorate wealth to the people, granting citizenship to the imperial Legions, and putting down various alien threats such as the [[Sindu]], the [[Clipse]], and the [[Psion]]s' [[OXA Machine]]. However, when the OXA machine was rebuilt by the savant [[Otzot]], Calus was impressed enough by her genius to order the machine preserved and hold a festival in her honor, elevating Otzot to his court as Imperial Dreamer.<ref name = "Cabal Booklet">[[Cabal Booklet]]</ref>

One of Calus's pleasures was the coliseum, and one day, an albino gladiator, seemingly bleached from prolonged exposure to solar radiation, named [[Ghaul]] made his first appearance there. Ghaul's patient skill and unusual coloration soon made him a favorite of Calus's, and the Emperor eventually made him [[Primus]] of the [[Red Legion]], where 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.<ref name="conspirator">'''Bungie (2017/9/8)''', ''[[Destiny 2]]: PlayStation 4, Activision Blizzard, [[Conspirator]]''</ref>

Calus extended an invitation to [[The Guardian]] to board his vessel for slaying Ghaul. The Guardians accept Calus' challenge and following a long journey through Calus' palace and defeating his loyalist army, the Guardians seemingly meet Calus in person in his throne room. Facing off against the exiled Cabal Emperor, the Guardians witness his strange powers and after dealing critical damage, they find that the Calus they are facing is really a robotic duplicate. Regardless, the Guardians succeed in destroying the robot. Before the machines destruction, Calus boasts about his power and claims to know the "real truth" about the galaxy. Nonetheless, he rewards the Guardians for completing his challenge and offers them a place by his side should they seek him out. As the Guardians step past the machine's body into a large room to claim their reward, they see countless robotic bodies, all in the image of Emperor Calus.

At some point months later, the Leviathan consumed a chunk of Nessus that contained a powerful [[Vex]] Mind, [[Argos, Planetary Core]], the entity responsible for converting Nessus which then caused the world-eater to clog up and malfunction. Emperor Calus immediately called upon the aid of the Guardians to destroy the Vex intrusion, where they succeeded and repaired the Leviathan. However, as they destroyed the [[Axis Mind]], the barrier protecting itself was removed, thereby threatening the Guardians to be consumed by the fiery inferno of the Leviathan. Calus then saved the Guardians from being sucked into the Leviathan afterward, where he rewarded and congratulated them for their efforts. The Cabal Emperor once again offers them more than just the power of the Light, as Calus demonstrated that he can keep them safe. He also warns them that the "end" is near and therefore must be ready, as he will find them again.

Calus's personality is defined by four key characteristics: his hedonism, his narcissism, his ruthlessness, and his need to be adored. As a hedonist, he loves opulence, extravagant displays, and pleasures of all kinds.<ref name="Booklet">[[Cabal Booklet]]</ref> As a narcissist, he considers himself godlike in status and power,<ref name="conspirator"/> is incapable of accepting any point of view other than his, and immerses himself in royal scenery that often depicts his own image. When roused or denied, he is fully willing to use force to achieve his goals, throwing the old Praetorate to the mercy of mob justice without remorse and annihilating the [[Sindu]] fleet when they refused to join his loyalists.<ref name="HotAD"/> Fundamentally, however, Calus wants to love and be loved by those he rules. He abolished the Cabal Praetorate as he believed they abused their control of the Cabal Legions for their own benefit at the expense of the people's welfare, attempted to free the indentured Psions but was overthrown before he could complete the act, and considered the Consul and Ghaul turning the Cabal into a warmongering empire to be the ultimate betrayal to their way of life. <ref name = "Booklet"/>

Emperor Calus will initially be immune to damage, and will attack from afar with his Emperor's Gaze laser. He will summon an onslaught of [[Loyalist]]s that must be killed, after which four unique [[Psion]]s will appear on each of the four plates around the throne room. They each will each have a unique symbol above them: a [[War Beast]], a chalice, a sun, or a pair of swords. These symbols need to be memorized for the next section. After a brief pause, Calus will clap his hands twice to teleport all [[Guardian]]s into his mindscape, where they will be met with a giant projection of his head. Killing the Psions beforehand will just spawn extra enemies.

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 those inside will shoot down the skulls. Killing 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.

And thus, the damage phase begins. Everyone needs to step on the same Psion plate to deal damage. Since there are four plates, there are four chances to get in as much damage as possible. However, Calus will charge an Afterburn blast that can shut down the plate and kill everyone standing on it, thus causing players to jump to a new one. After losing a set portion of health, parts of his body will break off, revealing a machine. He will also gain new attacks in addition to his laser: an arm-mounted Vengeance Cannon and a meteor storm that leaves behind circles of fire which deal damage over time. As his health nears zero, he will charge up his Imperial Nova attack again. If Calus is not killed in time, the entire team is killed.

During the mindscape phase, whoever kills the Psion whose symbol was not called out will be teleported to the mindscape, and one person will teleported in the throne room to replace them.

**He hopes that the [[Warlocks]] become his ambassadors, his technologists and his warrior-scientists to discover the secrets of the the lost worlds his empire once ruled.  

**He hopes that the [[Titan|Titans]] become the taskmasters to train his armies, both in personal combat and warfare, teach them to be both civilized during peace while vicious during war and to teach his soldiers to be selfless yet persistent in battle.