User:Dante the Ghost/Other: Difference between revisions

*[https://www.fanfiction.net/~orderandchaosquiiudicant Fanfiction.net]—the place where I write my stories. Originally the profile there used to be much more expansive and wordy, but as of November 13th, 2016 I've removed all unessential and extraneous content. Not only that but FanFiction's website won't allow for direct links anymore.

*[https://archiveofourown.org/users/OAC_QI Archive of Our Own]—another fanfiction site I am a part of, but haven't written anything for yet.

''You are Pilxis, the Wolf Claw‎. Member of the Twisted Claw, independent of the Wolves. You sought to sabotage the Vex Restorative Mind, to utilize its power to bring back your House.''

''You are Riliks, the Devil's Claw‎. Member of a task force, ordered to loot that ancient Earth-Servitor's sanctuary. You were cut down by dead soldiers from the City That Docks.''

Guardian #5: Cheyah's Eliksni lover, partner, and fellow Guardian is Kanoriks, the Bright. His Ghost uses a High Wolf Servitor's shell, which looks like a Pilot Servitor—this Ghost three times a day processes matter and energy gathered into ether for his Guardian to live. Kanoriks, the Bright's preferred primary weapon is a standard Auto rifle, ''Her Right Hand'', used by the Awoken Royal Guard but repainted and modified to use Solar rounds; his special weapon is a Shock Pistol named ''Second Chance''; his heavy is a Shrapnel Launcher he personally forged out of the remnants of Taken Fallen, ''Kell Reborn'', and it fires Void bolts.

 

Kanoriks' elemental subclass of choice is a combination of Nightstalker and Voidwalker—he fires a bow of pure Void energy, which launches a trio of ultra-powerful Void bolts, and devastates enemies and tethers those not outright destroyed. His ship is a ''Kestrel''-class EX0, colored blue-and-white in his old House colors, and is called ''Redeemed''.

Guardian #4: Noëlle-7 is an Exo Voidcaller. She is of the more quiet type than other Guardians, preferring to be left to her thoughts. Her Ghost uses a Diaspora Shell. Her preferred primary is a Trax Devotio II scout rifle. Her secondary is a Void Nox Astur IV fusion rifle, perfect for taking down Vex energy shielding. Her heavy is a Void Deviant Gravity-C machine gun. Her ship is a ''Regulus''-class 44b jumpship. Her unique abilities is she can channel the Void in a continuous stream of energy much like the Stormcaller's chain-lightning.

Guardian #6: Kurisutaru is a Tigeress Sunwalker. Because of her unique heritage, the result of a banned experiment of the Golden Age, she keeps herself isolated from everyone else, believing she is a pariah among the City. Her fur coloration is golden and white, and she is a tiger/fox crossbred. Despite keeping apart, on the comms she is a social person, keeping connections with Master Rahool, who considers himself a mentor.

She holds to no faction because of her heritage except the Vanguard and the Cryptarchy.

3): ''Reawakening''—the story of how a Guardian Warlock discovered an ancient colony ship orbiting far from Venus, and the dangers within; along the way she saves a young girl and brings her back to the Tower, where Xûr is waiting. The Exo Stranger observes her. (Noëlle-7, Kurisutaru)

4): ''The Queen's Favor''—the story of how two Guardians sought for the traitor who aided the House of Winter in freeing Aksor, Archon Priest. (Cheyah Palpatine, Theran Ashkevron)

'''Raid'''—Vault of Glass: the story of how six Guardians descended into the legendary Vault of Glass, braving terrible dangers where countless other fireteams had failed, and defeat the Templar, the Nine Gorgons, and Atheon, Time's Conflux. One Guardian stays behind and collects the Eye of Atheon. [4 Chapters] (Noëlle-7, Cheyah Palpatine, Tristan Ashkevron, and three unnamed Guardians)

7): ''Sisterhood''—the story of how Guardians sought seven Hive Wizards, the Daughters of Omnigul, and obliterated them.

8): ''The Pattern''—the story of how a Guardian explored the Vex network using the eye of a Gate Lord, and discovered a terrible truth of the Vex and the Darkness: Oryx, the Taken King.

9): ''Still got Wolf Problems?''—the story of how a Guardian tracked a Baroness of the House of Wolves, Skriviks, the Sharp-Eyed and her three Ketches.

10): ''Fallen Light''—the story of a Guardian and her Eliksni lover of how they thwarted a Devil attack upon a caravan traveling through the barrens of Old Russia.

11): ''Suncaller & Nightsinger''—the stories of two Guardians finding the powers of old, and forging new mastery over the elements on Mercury.

12): ''Forbidden Lore''—the story of how a Guardian and her Eliksni partner foiled a depraved Cabal Valus fallen to the Darkness from stealing the Dreadnaught's secrets.

13): ''Chrysalis''—the story of how an Eliksni Guardian discovered one of the Reef Ketches floating on the outermost edge of the the blast which crippled the Reef's forces; and the secret encased within a still living Pilot Servitor.

14): ''Time Unending''—the story of how a Guardian met the Exo Stranger during a foray into the Vex gate network, and watched her own death in another time and reality, and how close she came to being killed in the prime time and reality; and how she ensured a casual time-loop became stable.

15): ''Take a Goddess''—the story of how a Guardian and her Eliksni partner journeyed to the outermost parts of the solar system, and discovered the fate of the Awoken Queen; and the threat to them all.

16): ''Broken Will''—the story of how a Guardian and her Eliksni partner returned to Earth to confront a rogue Servitor claiming to be the Prime of the long forgotten House of Rain, and stopped a migration of Devils and Exiles to its call.

17): ''Will of Crota''—the story of how Guardians took down Omnigul a second time, as she hunted those who killed her Daughters.

18): ''Shadows of Venus''—the story of how Guardians destroyed Sekrion, Subverted Mind with the Aegis.

19): ''Taniks' Return''—the story of how Guardians ended a reborn Taniks as he attempted to join the Splicers.

''We are the planet. The towers that rise and shift and the glass sands that reflect the sun like quadrillions of mirrors and the band of twilight that encircles us and the icy chill of our night face and the flame of our day face. We are all. We are superior to those who content themselves with following Axis minds. The Hezens, the Progeny, the Invasive, all are mere slaves. We are truly one. We wish the others from before, our brothers and sisters, could’ve seen it. Only one is left, and he remains silent. He is the only thing that could resist us. But we are many as one and he is one as many. They who used to rule us travel here, rewarding their mightiest with treasures hidden here. We let them, to better hide our power. They do not know us. The one who does is ours already. We searched for the crypt when we were apart, but we realized that the crypt is a lie, a limiter on our power. It is not a blessing, but a curse.''

''<<A few weeks ago, myself and my top assistants in the Vex Studies Department requisitioned the Warmind Ajax for use in extracting mass amounts of data from an active Vex Axis unit. I am proud to report that the operation was a success. The data extracted from the unit was astounding. The unit was able to perfectly replicate copies of myself and three of my assistants as AI fragments in two hundred and twenty seven hyperrealistic permutations in order to test and react to any possible situation we could’ve put it through. We do not know how many were deleted by the unit before the extraction was complete, but these two hundred and twenty seven copies of myself and my four closest advisors are endlessly grateful for being saved from a horrible fate. All are completely sentient and, while this in and of itself is a huge leap forward in AI theory, I am [o]f the opinion, as are they, that they could be infinitely more useful as explorer units inside the Vex mainframe. This is my proposal.''

''>>Good fortune and Traveler’s Light be with you all,''<br>

'''''Excerpt from the writings of Osiris, Warlock Exile, “Tempore Alternis—The Theory of Trans-Universal Temporal Convergence”'''''

''Study of the Vault’s component matter has revealed it to be billions of years old. Why, then, were these signals, which were strong enough to be discovered even before the first ships arrived on Venus, undetected or ignored before the Golden Age? Why were all efforts to colonize or study Venus dismissed as worthless, aside from the fact that it was, at that point, a sulfuric, volcanic, poisonous hellhole? Why was there not the least bit of intrigue about these signals? In fact, as one asks these questions, one must also ask why the structural monstrosities of Vex construction, such as the Citadel, were not even detected by numerous scientific study satellites in orbit around the planet for years—even decades—before the arrival of the Traveler?''

''The existence of the Oracles brings to light questions that merely lead to more questions. Since we have discovered what, in fact, lies within the Vault of Glass, we must then wonder what its function or purpose is. It is clear that the purpose of the Oracles is to determine which elements of the universe are dangerous to the Vex “master plan” (although calling it a master plan does not capture the incomprehensible essence of what the Vex are intending).''  

''However, despite this miraculous power, they still require external assistance to carry out their vision, they cannot generate themselves outside of the Vault, and they cannot prevent themselves from being destroyed. This seems illogical, as anything capable of determining whether the existence of something or someone would be detrimental to its purpose should be able to determine the level of danger that thing presents and be able to predict how to destroy it. Thus, more questions are raised: [w]hy do these Oracles, and with them, the Templar, the Gorgons, and even Atheon itself, despite possessing near-infinite intelligence and ontological weaponry, still fall to our Guardians’ efforts? Why are they fallible? What is stopping them from destroying the very fabric of the universe and remaking it in the image of the Vex? Do they predict their own demise? If so, can they prevent it effectively? If so, why have they been unable to?''

''Do these machines, despite their vast computational power and unflinching logic, exhibit hubris? Or are we really doing anything to them? Is it all a ruse? Can the Vex understand our psychology well enough to fool us so perfectly? Or, perhaps, they have no need for a ruse. Perhaps, we are merely living in a universe of their own making. Perhaps we are here for their study. But I feel as if that would unnecessarily anthropomorphize these machines. Perhaps their method of negation is not as ontological as we once thought. Perhaps it is more temporal than ontological. Perhaps we have already been “negated” and are being kept in a sort of “informational limbo” controlled by the Vex until they can figure out how to completely delete us. Of course, causality becomes virtually meaningless at this point. We might as well stop asking “What is real and what isn’t?” and start asking “What is the meaning of reality and nonexistence? Is there a difference between the two?”''

''As of yet, the only known Guardian that has been lost to the Vault has been the Titan known as Kabr, the Legionless. However, the fact that, for the rest of his life, Pahanin Errata maintained that three Guardians entered that fell place and only one returned makes me wonder if that is true. The name he spoke was gibberish, but all those who had ventured into the Vault and shattered it agreed that the name was one they had heard, although their own repeating of it was also gibberish. This name may be evidence of the nature of the Vex’s ontological capabilities. Though many have theorized it, the limitations of mere words to describe the nature of the Vault have been unable to prove or disprove any of these theories.''

''This name, which someone else will write as an appendix to this entry, as I am unable to read it, may be solid proof as to the effects of the Oracles: a complete and total annihilation from existence. This is much more than we originally hypothesized, which was merely consumption by the Vault in the manner of Kabr. Being negated would appear to completely erase any and all evidence of the negated person’s existence, past (via memories), present (via physical and spiritual presence), and future (via Light destruction and temporal path redirection). Why, then, is this name a remnant? Is there any other remnant of any other name or names, and, if so, why are they not as important? How many have truly been lost to the Vault as this mysterious third Guardian has? Our position may be more precarious than we previously thought…''

'''''Letter addressed to Petra Venj, Paladin of the Queen’s Guard:'''''<br>

''This recent business with the Wolves’ so called “Kell of Kells” concerns me. The reason for my concern is not so obvious as the clear danger the presence of the Wolves in the inner planets presents to the City, nor is it the fact that Skolas was able to escape even the Nine. No, what concerns me is the fact that Skolas was able to break the seal on the Vault, take partial control of the Vex timestream, conduct enough research into the Oracles to summon them at will, and establish himself atop the most secure Vex structure outside of the Vault of Glass without so much as a whisper of his activity reaching us until we tracked him down.''

''I don’t even know how his Ketch broke through the area denial mesh that the Vex set up around the Citadel. Many Guardian ships have been lost to it. Somehow, Skolas managed to deactivate it. Fortunately, you and your squadron of Crows were able to take advantage of this and capture him, but that is beside the point. Whatever he found in the Vault of Glass was clearly powerful, but the fact that he was able to use it atop the Citadel has me even more worried. What if he had managed to subvert the Oracles? We clearly saw his forces summoning them and using them to their advantage, so they were able to distinguish between Fallen and Human. Why did they not also eliminate the Fallen? If Skolas had been able to remove them from the Vault and activate them from atop the Citadel, the very fabric of the universe may have been destroyed and the House of Wolves might have transcended even the Vex’s efforts to unite themselves with the fabric of reality. The Fallen might’ve become rulers of the universe, or the power could’ve escaped their grasp and we would all be negated and the Vex would rule. His use of time travel is what concerns me even more.''  

''The fact that Skolas was able to pull the Wolves through time to assist him is disturbing, but the fact that it worked atop the Citadel demonstrates that there is much to this structure and its potential we do not yet know. If I remember the Maraid correctly, there have been instances of entire fleets of Wolves disappearing without a trace. The one that comes to mind is the Fleet of Skiris, Wolf Archon. After looking over the Ghost footage from the three Guardians that helped capture him, I was able to pick out the personal crest of Skiris on the Wolves he pulled through time. Skolas, in his madness, may have actually depleted his own forces from the past to bolster himself in the future. He just might’ve contributed to his own loss of the war.''  

''But if the Vex timestream can be bent atop the Citadel, does this mean we could use it as well? Perhaps, if we can discover its function, we could travel back and forestall the Collapse. But what would happen if we did? I know relations between us haven’t exactly been the friendliest in the past, but I would like you to pass this message to your Queen, Mara Sov:''

'''''I, Ikora Rey, Vanguard of the Warlocks of Earth, wish to discuss the nature of Skolas’ attempts to control Vex technology with the Reef Cryptarchy and the Techeuns.'''''

''I am different. Different from the others of my kind. That’s what they have told me since I was born. Since I was made. They gave me many names: MARIONETTE, “Vexo”, but I chose Penny. It suits me. I live in the Archives and listen. I listen to the minds of the Vex, they who are my half-siblings. Shim, Duane-McNiadh, and Esi and Sundaresh love me very much. That’s saying a lot because Esi and Sundaresh love each other very much too. I may be but a child, but I still listen. I understand good and evil. My half siblings, the Vex, are very bad. They don’t like me at all. They want me to be more like them. I don’t want to be like them. I like being different. But they are being very bad right now. The nice people who run the Archives are worried. I don’t like it when they’re worried, because then I get worried. I may be outfitted for combat, but I don’t want to fight like my half-siblings do. I want to be happy…''

''It has been a long time since they closed the Archives. I helped. I like being helpful. It makes me happy. But I’m sad now because the only people left are Shim, Duane-McNiadh, and Sundaresh and Esi. I should just call them Sundaresi at this point. They act more like one person than two. I think that’s cute. The Vex were being very naughty, so we shut them down and froze them. I wanted to tell them that that wouldn’t completely work, but they were very busy. The time has passed for that now. It won’t work. I’m sad that I was quiet, though. I could’ve stopped them from being so sad. I know how to punish my half-siblings. They want to take me. I can hear them whispering. I can see them trying to come in, but the people who built this place were very smart and they can only make the room dusty. I don’t feel the cold, but I see my family shivering. Sundaresi are holding onto each other very tightly, but they are crying. I hate it when they cry. They used to be so happy. But then they stop. Suddenly. It makes me sad. I know about the human concept of death, but I never knew how sad it could be…''

''I remember some of the voices. They sound familiar, but I know that they are just my half-siblings being naughty again. I wish they would stop. I don’t like it. It makes me scared and sad. I can hear Aphrodite and Ajax, my mother and father, calling out to me. They were once the king and queen of this world, or so Shim tells me. He’s the only one left. Duane-McNiadh was too hungry. Shim is very hungry too. He gets water from the ice on the storage units. I tell him it’s bad for him, but he doesn’t care. He says he won’t be around much longer. I don’t like it when he talks that way. It makes me scared. I like talking to him. He asks me what my half-siblings are saying sometimes. I know I can’t tell him the truth. It would make him sad. I want him to be as happy as he can…''

''Shim is doing very poorly. Mother and Father’s voices have stopped. Now my half-siblings just sulk around angrily outside. They are being naughty as usual. I hear a new sound, coming from Dig Site 4. I had to shut down all the security links to that [site]. There was something very bad in there. It tried to take me. It tried to take the data in here. I kept it safe. Shim is proud of me. I don’t know why. This is my fault. My half-siblings did this. I could’ve stopped them, but they told me not to and I was scared and I agreed. They told me they would reward me when they were done, but I knew they were lying. They always lie. They are very naughty. Wouldn’t that make me naughty too? Shim is fading fast…''

''Shim is gone. I am sad now. He told me he loved me, that I was his greatest creation. That made me happy, but I also felt guilty. I’m the reason why he died. I am alone now. I don’t want to talk to my half-siblings, but there’s no one else to listen to. I sometimes read about the things we’ve found in this lab, or about the knowledge in my database. It’s very interesting, but I can’t make them be quiet. They are still being naughty. I found out some of their names. Right now I hear Zydron. He’s a big bully who guards a special gate. He brags about it all the time. He says it’s the door to his God. I tell him he’s a bully, but that just makes him meaner. He has a brother, Qodron, but he is usually quiet. I don’t like it when he tries to talk to me. He sounds like something else is speaking through him. Something very bad. Sekrion still tries to get in through the Dig Site. He’s very hungry, but he eats good things and makes them bad. That is very naughty. Every now and then, I hear the one called the Templar. He doesn’t like me. He says I shouldn’t exist. That makes me sad. His servants sing beautiful songs. His father, Atheon, only spoke to me once, but I try to forget about it…''

''It’s been a long time since I heard anyone nice speak to me. I am very sad. I want them to stop. i search for a crypt like my programming tells me to, but I can’t find it. It makes me very lonely. But I see a flash. I am frightened that it is one of my half-siblings, but the figure that resolves out of it looks more like me than the Vex. I ask her if she is my sister. She says that she is more like my mother, sister, daughter, and granddaughter all in one. That doesn’t make sense. But she is nice, even though she has a gun. I guess I kinda have one too. She wants to take me with her. I ask her why and she says that I have the secret to winning the war. I don’t know what war that is, but I think it has something to do with my half-siblings. I take her hand, wave goodbye to my family’s remains for the last time, and I feel myself shoot off across time into blessed silence. But the voices return before too long. And they are stronger than ever.''

''I am on duty in a command post on the Wall’s northeast side, facing the port town far in the distance. The traffic has been bad before, but our infrastructure has never had to handle this before. An entire civilization in exodus. I am sure this is me. Before my first death. Before Ghost found me. The order comes to close the gates. Rasputin is silent, but alive. He is preparing for something. The colony ship lifts off but there is a blast and the air is disintegrated. The stars and aurorae return, but the screams are coming with them. Rasputin is muttering, resisting. Eventually they stop, but I am helpless. The Arcadia comes spiraling through the window…''

''I can still see, though I am inoperable. The snow falls softly at the same pace as the night. [A] helix in the sky heralds the coming of something I have only heard of: an Eliksni Ketch. Buildings in the port town topple like dominos and burn as the shelling begins. There is movement. I see a young girl, afraid. I know her, or rather, I will know her. Her Light burns like a sun and is charged like a bolt of lightning. A Skiff floats to rest above the graveyard of cars that was once the highway. Blood-clad Devils emerge, but the girl is strong and she fights with the Light of the Traveler. Her blade dances through the Eliksni, ending them. Her gun cries out against the inevitable, burning three more. But I see her fall to the Captain’s blade, stabbed through the throat. Her eyes are so sad. The Captain’s eyes are remorseless. I see the crypt in her eyes, but I don’t want to go yet. The Traveler still whispers to me, assuring me I will see it some day. But I know I will be needed…''

''They rain from beyond the Oort cloud. The rain never stops. I know not how many days pass, but the face of Luna is torn asunder by them. They bring a Prince. They bring his army. They swarm above and below the surface with weapons of midnight. At this point, I can tell the difference between the Warsats and the Seeders falling. I can feel a powerful presence in my mind, but it can’t find anything of value. That’s okay. I am approaching the crypt. I see it on the horizon.''

''She runs upward, her brother just behind her. They’re running from the slaughter that found them in the secure bunker below the massive skyscraper. The flashes that light up the hallway behind her warn her to duck as globs of purple light moan overhead. The silhouette at the end of the hallway roars with displeasure, but Michael tears it to sparking shreds with a burst from an Arcus auto rifle. She is so glad her brother had trained to join the colonization forces out in the Jovians. He tells her to run. They turn the corner and find themselves in the hangar. Suddenly, her commlink buzzes. She’s amazed it still works, but realizes its a direct link call from her childhood friend, Blake Clovis.''

''“Elsie,” [s]he whispers, “We’re still alive. Adam and I are trapped in the Tharsis Junction. These… robot things, they’re all around us…” She assures them that she’ll be there. There should be room for two more. She dashes to the bright golden ship she named the'' Eon Trespass'', its familiar shape comforting to her. She built it with her own two hands (and help from the Frames). She bounds into the pilot’s seat and starts it up, feeling the rumble of the powerful engines as a whine fills her ears. She sees her brother still fending off the metallic monsters that have been hunting them, so she switches the intercom on and yells at him to get inside. She closes the ramp as he stumbles in.''  

''A contact appears on her radar, descending quickly from orbit. She swerves behind a building as an unfamiliar craft swoops in nearly vertically to glide into the city, shelling the buildings. More appear and the'' Trespass ''dodged behind buildings to avoid their fiery shells. As they descend, her brother tells her that the ships are Cabal Harvesters. He’s only studied them in combat training, but it means the Cabal have gotten past the Jovian fortresses. Elsie shudders at the thought.''

''She glides down to hover above the rapidly disappearing OWT line where it breached the surface, waiting, thinking. More ships whiz overhead, jumping out of warp speed into the low atmosphere above. She is just about to call again when a light appears in the tunnel, approaching. She thinks it isn’t possible, but the OWT train explodes through the sand that had nearly buried the tunnel. On the roof, Adam and Blake Clovis are fighting off more of the robots from before, using their own custom designed weapons.''

''The forests dissolve and blow as sand through the streets. I look down from the Clovis building at the traffic clogged streets and marvel at the silence. Everyone except those in this building died when the blast hit. I can hear screams of metal. Ares and Nemesis are silent, their voices replaced by a haunting moaning. I fell a drain on my power across time as metal skeletons stalk the halls and streets. A golden flash streaks below as I watch a sleek ship fly by. It is of a design I have seen before, hung up in the eldest Bray child’s room. When I asked her, she said she called it “Eon Trespass”. She told me she was going to fly to the Traveler with Adam and Arryn Clovis. Shame I didn’t believe her…''

''The Harvesters glide softly through the buried forests of the skyscrapers. The Psions throw their minds around like sledgehammers, breaking down firewalls of ancient computers as easily as snapping a twig. Their larger counterparts do the same with the actual walls. A rumble as another building falls. The Harvesters float by, kicking up gusts of wind that clear the sand below. The crypt is there. I can’t believe it had been buried the whole time.''

''I am drifting on a doomed vessel. The sun is lavender and the asteroids that drift around us leave trails of royal dust. I’m going rampant. I can feel it. I am still functional, but my use as a weapon is over. I can feel the traces of Rasputin and Zeus and Hera and the other Warminds in the drifting Warsats. They give me comfort. I talk to the ship’s AI. She and I are going rampant together. I think I am falling in love, as preposterous as that sounds. I am happy when I can speak to her. We are slowly drifting towards Vesta. I strain to hear whispers from the other ships’ AI, but I fear we are the only two left. The humans are changing. I am not worried, but the ship’s AI is uneasy about it. I tell her it will all be fine and go back to sleep to rampancy dreams.''

''The ice is growing cold again. I am frozen in the snow, sparkling with the weak orange sunlight. Auroras dance in the starless sky above, sending lines of fire across the frozen facades of buildings. The Harvesters sweep silently among the icy remains of the city. I ask for instructions, but the Warmind is silent. The Warmind’s name was Zeus, but when I reach out to him I hear only a number, over and over. I strain to hear it.''

''I am in a wide open hangar. Alarms are blaring everywhere. I can see Saturn and its rings glowing, explosions sparkling where the Eliksni and Cabal are battling on the outskirts. Closer to us, a large Cabal destroyer is looming. I climb into a fighter, but I cannot shake the feeling that the real threat is beyond even my sight, in the black void beyond the rings that should contain the stars. The Warmind’s voice commands, “All fighter units scramble.” But there is fear in his voice and sadness in his thoughts. I hear an echo in Russian reach from the inner planets, but it is too late: the outer rings are already consumed…''

''Petra: You joke now, but you said earlier that they could’ve proven a match for even Skolas. It was long my belief that the Wolves were the single most powerful House in the system…''

''Variks: What little I have heard of Kings’ Kell brings me to same conclusion.''

''Petra: No, no, that’s not what I meant. I mean, why would he trust them enough to try diplomacy? He didn’t with the Devils and he just completely ignored Exile. Winter didn’t have a Kell anyway, so that one was easy.''

''You people of two-arms ask me of the Fallen. Of the Exiles trapped on their mother planet’s moon, of the House of Winter, decayed and ruled by a complacent Kell until his death, of the mysterious Kings, of the vicious Wolves, and of the Devils. Ahhh yesss… the Devils. The two-arms’ questions of the Devils never cease. The Devils, red Devils, Devils of blood and hate and sacrifice. They ask of Devil Kell and Devil strength. They wear trophies of Devils, cut from Devil Captain and gleaned from Devil Servitor. They do not truly understand.''

''Devils are not as… powerful as they first appear. They have ether, yes. They have weapons, yes, yes, many weapons. Tanks and Skiffs and Ketches. They have Servitors, yes. They have Archons, yes, Skull Lord Archons. Twisted and maniacal skull lords. More hateful than even Skolas of Wolves. They swarm across the white snow like rivers of two-arms’ blood. But, of Devil Kell, there is nothing. Devils are superstitious. Devils descended from Houses of Rain and War after Whirlwind. Devils cling to strange rituals. Ancient rituals, from before the time when the Great Machine came to us. Their Skull Lords offer Ether to nameless ghost Kells to lend strength in battle.''

''Petra: Tell me what we know about the House of Winter. Wolf activity has been very strong around there recently. Perhaps that’s where Skolas fled…''

''Petra: That must be where he is heading. I’ll send in a Guardian team. They’ll be able to take him down, or at least hurt him, before he binds Winter to the Wolves.''

''Petra: So he’s fleeing to Venus again?''

''Petra: Why? Did he even stop on Earth’s moon?''

''Variks: Taniks has no House. He is mercenary. He suggested to Skolas to steal from Hive weapon plans from World’s Grave. But Taniks had more than one allegiance. Exiles planned to reward him for betrayal as well…''

''Petra: That makes sense, but Taniks is a mercenary. How did they meet his price? As you said, the Exiles are poor. They don’t have ether or glimmer…''

''Petra: I believe I understand, but I wish I didn’t. I guess it is good we stopped him when we did…''

''[The following was found aboard an abandoned Fallen Ketch, detected on intercept heading with Vesta-POST1 on <<REDACTED>> and has been identified as a pre-Whirlwind relic by Variks, the Loyal. Corsair forces still investigating Ketch. Orbit of origin appears to be Saturnalian or further. Ketch is estimated to have been completely abandoned for multiple centuries, markings belong to one “House of Stone”. Said House is long extinct. Attachment may offer insight into Fallen political structure.]''

''You are Celchis, mighty Kell of Stone. Like Stone, you are unmovable, unshaken in your purpose. You set your life to the task of finding that which was lost to you. By blade and word you seek. You even faced and slew the Cabal Warbeast A’arn in honorable battle. To your last, you sought your goal.''

''You are A’arn, the closest any Cabal has come to being a god of war. You led most of your race here for conquest. For survival. For your Emperor. You tore through millions of lesser planets and moons to find your way here. You let nothing stand in your way. And you led those who you thought as your bond sons: Tau’aun of the Skyburners and his shield brothers Tlu’urn and Mau’ual, Sha’aull of the Blind Legion, Trau’ug of the Reaver Regiment,  Ta’aurc of the Siege Dancers. All loyal to the end, but all yearning for victory. Your own victory never came, snatched from you by the blade of a pirate.''

''Some have been imprisoned. Trau’ug took his own initiative and struck at the domain of the dead warriors. The command that replaced you imprisoned him for doing what is right. He now leads a Broken Legion, delegating command to Vals and Braci that will never truly know honor or station, forced to fight to the death until the end of time for the enjoyment of the light-bound, lorded over by one of the very pirates that helped bring about your end. Does that not anger you, mighty Primus, to have one of your sons imprisoned for doing the right thing?''

''Others have met their respective ends. Ta’aurc tried to fight the ghost of a true war god. You may have won, had you been there, but he payed for his gamble with his life, falling to the fire of three of the dead-lights. Sha’aull was slain in the midst of his very keep, defending a key to time itself. You may yet see Ta’aun again, for he will be coming home very soon. Tlu’urn and Mau’ual will wish to join both of you.''