Grimoire:Enemies

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

Darkness

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

Fallen

The Fallen

"We have butchers at our gates—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

""Waves of them smashed against our walls, hissing and wailing. But it was the one who stood beyond them, silent and scenting the air, that froze the blood in our veins.""

— Card blurb

Having clawed and knifed his way to the top, scattering bodies and limbs in his wake, the Captain is the strongest and most ferocious member of the crew he musters around himself. His ration of Ether is the largest, his blades the sharpest, his guns the finest. Upon his shoulders hangs the flag of his House, if he swears loyalty to any. For his crew, the slightest hesitation to comply earns a slash from his sword. Defiance results in immediate amputation, if he is in a good mood, or death, if he is not.

Servitor

""A floating light, a sleepless eye. Their hope, their faith, their sustenance.""

— Card blurb

Servitors are living relics of the once-mighty Fallen civilization. Packed with ultra-sophisticated machinery, they process matter and energy into the Ether that the Fallen depend on for life. In battle they support the Fallen with defensive systems and their own powerful energy weapons. Outside, they anchor Fallen comms and provide vital technological acumen.

Servitors have complex relationships with each other and with their Fallen crews. Servitors are attached to a Prime, a massive Servitor which exists in unclear symbiosis with a Fallen Archon. The Archon conveys the Kell's wishes to the Prime Servitor, and exerts some measure of control. Recent developments suggest that Prime Servitors are more than a focus of worship and logistical activity. They may play a key role in Fallen star flight.

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…/
<u.1:0.1> There [is] a wall. Out in the steppes.
<u.1:0.2> You know it?
<u.1:0.3> Use[d] [to] protect a spaceport—one [of] them old rocketyards. Know what I mean? Where they use[d] [to] leave world.
<u.1:0.4> One [of] them monuments [to] the good old days. Whatever those are, right?
<u.1:0.5> Only days I ever known look just like this one.
<u.1:0.6> Can't say I [would] call [them] good, but there [have] been worse. And worse is what I'm talkin[g] about.
<u.1:0.7> [Be]cause I was out there.
<u.1:0.8> At the wall.
<u.1:0.9> I was there.
<u.1:1.0> I'd heard about it. Just stories. But I'd heard. Ya know?
<u.1:1.1> We'd been on the road for…
<u.1:1.2> I don't know.
<u.1:1.3> Four-some years. Over? I don't know.
<u.1:1.4> We'd worn thin.
<u.1:1.5> Time and…
<u.1:1.6> ...
<u.1:1.7> Time and other things… other factors… will do that to [you].
<u.1:1.8> ...
<u.1:1.9> So, we were there. Not there, but close enough we could see it—out of the way, but close enough.
<u.1:2.0> Should [have]…
<u.1:2.1> We should [have] left it alone.
<u.1:2.2> I mean, we could [not] know, but we should [have] known.
<u.1:2.3> ...
<u.1:2.4> ...
<u.1:2.5> Anyway…
<u.1:2.6> I…
<u.1:2.7> Me and another couple guys, we convinced [them]…
<u.1:2.8> Convinced the rest that we should take a look.
<u.1:2.9> That maybe, I don't know…
<u.1:3.0> That maybe we'd find a jumper or shelter, or whatever… something.
<u.1:3.1> We agreed… All of us…
<u.1:3.2> We agreed. If we got close and it looked bad…
<u.1:3.3> Looked wrong…
<u.1:3.4> ...we [would] turn back.
<u.1:3.5> Everyone knows… Avoid tech.
<u.1:3.6> Right?
<u.1:3.7> Stick to the lowlands and stay away from scrap.
<u.1:3.8> We knew this.
<u.1:3.9> We talked about it.
<u.1:4.0> But it was quiet. [You] know?
<u.1:4.1> And bare.
<u.1:4.2> Like it [had] already been picked over.
<u.1:4.3> Like they were gone.
<u.1:4.4> I mean… It was clear they [had] been there.
<u.1:4.5> But they looked gone.
<u.1:4.6> And we knew…
<u.1:4.7> We knew we wouldn't survive much longer.
<u.1:4.8> Not as a group.
<u.1:4.9> Not on our own.
<u.1:5.0> We needed a ship.
<u.1:5.1> We needed help.
<u.1:5.2> ...
<u.1:5.3> So we went inside.
<u.1:5.4> We were careful. I mean, I guess… I guess we were.
<u.1:5.5> We meant to be.
<u.1:5.6> Quiet.
<u.1:5.7> Careful.
<u.1:5.8> But we were wrong.
<u.1:5.9> It was [not] just a wall.
<u.1:6.0> It [is] not just a spaceport…
<u.1:6.1> Not anymore.
<u.1:6.2> ...
<u.1:6.3> It [is] a goddamn fortress.
<u.1:6.4> ...
<u.1:6.5> We were wrong...
<u.1:6.6> I was wrong.
<u.1:6.7> And, now they [are] all dead.
<u.1:6.8> And the Fallen own this goddamn planet.
/...END TRANSCRIPT///

Ghost Fragment: Fallen 2

[Redacted]

Fallen Arsenal

Shock Pistol

The Shock Pistol is a simple but deadly weapon, and a mainstay of the Fallen arsenal. Primarily utilized by the lower ranking members of a given Fallen crew, Shock Pistols discharge bolts of Arc energy.

Shock Rifle

Although based on the same Arc technology as other Fallen weaponry, this rifle has a distinct advantage: the projectiles it fires track unerringly to the target. The exact mechanism behind this is unclear, but the rifle seems to steer the slow-moving molten projectile down an artificial field line.

Shrapnel Launcher

The Shrapnel Launcher is a simple, effective, robust weapons system that the Fallen can build without risking vital resources.

The weapon fires loose-forged canisters of explosives and shrapnel down electromagnetic rails embedded in the barrel. Captains favor this weapon for its intimidating presence. It deals Solar damage.

Wire Rifle

The Wire Rifle utilizes shock cores to charge thin wires of an exotic metal, converting them into Arc-infused molten shards with an extraordinary muzzle velocity.

Shock Dagger

The Shock Dagger is a deadly combination of stun gun and knife. Composed of a lightweight metal and powered by a small Arc charge, the Shock Dagger is capable of cutting through armor and delivering a staggering jolt of electricity. The Fallen use them for every purpose imaginable, from light metalwork to hand-to-hand combat.

Shock Blade

These full-length edged weapons gather Arc energy from a system of shock cores and charging caps in the hilt, converting the entire length of the blade into a plasma cutting torch.

Brutally efficient in the hands of a skilled Captain, Shock Blades are not ceremonial weapons built for show. Guardians would do well to respect the threat they present.

Shock Grenade

The Shock Grenade is a simple, effective Fallen weapon. The core of the device is a shock core encased in an induction motor. Once activated, an Arc charge builds in the core until it reaches critical mass, starting a chain reaction that ends with a devastating explosion.

Skiff

Slipping out of stealth only to offload a crew of Fallen, the Skiff is rarely seen. On the other hand, its rumbling, booming arrival is difficult to miss - as are the weapons it uses to support its troop deployments.

Fallen Leadership

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.

Draksis, Winter Kell

""The architect of Winter's strategy. And he still shows his strength on the front line."

— Commander Zavala

Draksis, Kell of the Wintership Simiks-fel, has been an elusive target for the Vanguards. After his countless raids on jumpship reclamation convoys, Cayde-6 personally upped the bounty on him. With confirmed sightings of the Kell in the Ishtar Sink, the time to strike is now.

Defeating Draksis could throw Winter into chaos. With Simiks Prime allegedly already lost, the House leadership would be gutted - although proof of the Servitor's demise remains elusive.

Aksor, Archon Priest

A disciple of the Prime Servitor Kaliks, Aksor initiated brutal crusades against human settlements beyond the City and ravaged countless Awoken enclaves throughout the Reef. When the Queen waged her war against the Wolves, Aksor was taken alive and sealed into the infamous Prison of Elders.

Killing Aksor before he can join the ranks of the House of Winter weakens the Fallen, strengthens ties to the Reef, and brings the City one step closer to gaining a solid foothold along the Shattered Coast.

Simiks-3

""Its thirst for knowledge was left unquenched for so long, its death will almost be considered a tragedy.""

— Card blurb

Simiks-3 was born of Winter's Prime Servitor, rumored to have been destroyed long ago. From readings gathered during the battle, it appears Simiks-3 was uniquely equipped to process and store huge amounts of intel between itself and a chain of nearby Servitors.

Sepiks Prime

""I never believed a machine could know hatred.""

— Card blurb

Floating, emotionless arbiters of life and death, Servitors are quasi-religious automata defended by the Fallen with zealous ferocity.

The exalted Servitor of the Fallen House of Devils, Sepiks Prime, has long been rumored to dwell deep within the bowels of the Cosmodrome. While the Kells are the political leaders of the Fallen, Servitors are said to be their gods - and the source of their life-sustaining ether. A Prime Servitor is a target worthy of even the greatest sacrifice. Those willing to accept such a challenge will have the eternal gratitude of a City desperate for relief.

Sepiks Prime relies on fanatical reinforcements and its own considerable tactical abilities - including a short-range teleport and a powerful directed energy weapon. Aim for the eye, and break contact if it turns your way.

Hive

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—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]

Ogre

""Its gaze shattered the rock, and then it smashed the rock to powder.""

— Card blurb

Charged with Hive sorcery, Ogres are abominations of flesh and rage, unleashed from the deepest Hive tunnels as engines of destruction. Apocryphal lore suggests that Ogres undergo terrible transformations as they grow - agonizing rituals that gift them with might and cunning.

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

We were overwhelmed. I could not save mine, so I have hidden myself where I might be found by the others, if they even survive. There is most likely no possibility of my return to the City. I prepare here in summary the knowledge so painfully won by my Guardian and our fireteam.

The Moon has been geoengineered into an impregnable fortress, designed to support a vast number of - creatures - if any mind could be evil enough to create them. Are they alive? They move, they shriek, they fall upon us in ravenous waves. But I see death, decay, and corruption, not life. We discovered, to our sorrow, one massive set of gates. There are likely more.

We met a towering monster, wielding a sword of utter darkness. The Light only made it hungry. We tried to fight, and we fell. Too many times to remember.

We were all brave, I assure you. May the Light find Guardians capable of facing this monstrosity, or I fear the Moon may be lost to us forever.

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.

Hive Arsenal

Arc Rifle

[Redacted]

Shredder

[Redacted]

Boomer

This devastating Arc weapon is said to contain a shard of some dead celestial body. Lobbing bolts of rotting starfire, it is both a ruinous tactical weapon and an instrument of siege.

Cleaver

Carved of fossilized bone and hell-forged metal, dulled by centuries of slaughter and execution, the Cleaver is the terrible weapon of a Hive Knight. Despite their mass, they swing easily, as if the sword were aware of its action and eager to tear into the Light.

Exalted Hive

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.