Imbaru

"With this tribute, I shall undertake a mighty work. A real humdinger of a scheme. I'm going to refinance my entire existence. I'm going to move from an existential economy based on the accumulation of violence to an existential economy based on the accumulation of secrets and the tribute of failing-to-understand-me. I shall name this tribute of failing-to-understand IMBARU, for it shall be as formless as the mist."

— Savathûn

Imbaru is the name used by Savathûn, the Witch Queen to refer to a method of paracausal tribute-gathering she conceived as a reinterpretation of the Sword Logic originally set by her brother. Whereas Oryx's Hive acquired power from slaying enemies and redistributed that power to their superiors as "tribute", Savathûn gains power from Imbaru by whenever another being is misled by her or fails to understand her schemes and intentions.

Savathûn first demonstrates Imbaru to the Guardians in a manifesto she published in the style of a chiasmus with fabricated authors like Eris Morn, the Craftmind Medusa, Quria, Blade Transform and even her daughter Dûl Incaru, the Eternal Return. She would then deliver it in secret to the Guardian via encrypted in Glimmer that the Hidden would then intercept. She would also attempt to deceive the Guardian by infiltrating the Vanguard's communication channels and feeding them several false missives with the intent of subterfuge and misdirection. However, Savathûn's greatest example of Imbaru would be when she possessed the body of Osiris and hid in the Last City for nearly a year amongst her enemies, impersonating the formerly-exiled Warlock and working desparately from the shadows to feed her starving Worm; all while evading the wrath of the Witness.

Trivia

• The name "imbaru" is derived from the Sumerian word "imbaru", which means 'mist'.
• "Imbaru" is the name of Chilean neofolk/classical music project (Bandcamp page, Discogs page)

Appearances

• Destiny 2
  • Forsaken (First mentioned)
  • Season of the Witch