This is the backdrop story of vanilla D2. The story of the previous Cabal Emperor Calus, and the rise of Ghaul to power. Some of this information is fact (direct lore reference) and some is speculation. I’ll do my best to clarify.
I’ll put a tl;dr in the spoiler
[spoiler]
1. Identifies the names and roles of all the conspirators who overthrew Emperor Calus (Fact)
2. Discusses Calus encountering the Darkness during his exile on the Leviathan (Fact)
3. Ghaul may have been in contact with the worm parasite, and could be in part driving his behavior (speculation)
4. Calus himself appears to have been influenced by the Ahamkara (speculation).
[/spoiler]
NOTE: Most of the source for this post is contained in the Cabal Booklet or Cabal notes as I call them that came with the legendary edition of the game (like Caydes Treasure Island book with the TTK) which can be read here:
https://www.destinypedia.com/Cabal_Booklet
Emperor Calus is shown in the lore entries as an extravagant and decadent leader. During his rule, he made some significant changes to the Cabal culture, which in time those closest to him would resent and ultimately betray him over.
The Emperor himself had a different vision for the Cabal. As much as we see the Cabal as a militant force in the game, the Cabal under Calus was quite different.
[spoiler] “When I took the throne, my people bled to feed a corrupt military elite. I vowed to celebrate our existence in the highest luxury, to set an example for my empire – no privileged few, but decadence for all!”[/spoiler]
To this end, Calus eliminated the Praetorate, the military elite and redistributed the Praetorate’s wealth to the people. A robin hood style Emperor.
NOTE: Now before declaring Calus as an altruistic leader or a good guy, note that all the lore entries are from Calus’ point of view and there are hints that Calus may have been mad himself. He is not a good guy at all in my opinion, but one who felt his actions were in the right.
Overtime, the factions within the Cabal wished to return to the ways before Calus, and re-establish their military rule as the Praetorate.
Below is a list of the conspirators or those Calus holds resentment towards:
[spoiler]
Shayotet – Calus’ closet companion and friend. Shayotet lead the soldiers into Calus’ house to arrest him.
Otzot – A female Psion who had extreme clairvoyant abilities. She used her powers to transmit the messages in secret for the betrayal among the conspirators without Calus’ knowledge.
Moli – The Chief of Festivals. Calus relied on Moli to spread his decadence across the people via mass celebrations and festivals. Moli himself did not betray Calus but Calus resents Moli because Moli sided with those that betrayed Calus and kept the festivals going as if nothing was wrong, to keep the people from knowing their Emperor was removed.
Umun’arath – She was the Primus of all legions, and put in the position of Calus’ lead military advisor when the Praetorate was disbanded. She appears to have never agreed with the Emperor and assisted the Consul and Ghaul in the overthrowing Calus.
Iska’al - A merchant in the capital of Torobatl, the Emperor would visit his merchant booth which sold tea during the Emperor’s daily parade in the market to share his wealth. He would visit Iska-al’s shop last, and pay extravagant prices above necessary for his tea. Calus felt he was helping Iska-al, but when Calus was overthrown, Iska-al acted as though nothing had happened, and became wealthy selling his tea to those who overthrew Calus. Iska-al showed no gratitude as far as Calus is concerned.
Caiatl – Calus’ daughter, and pilot. She aligned herself with Umun’arath and when Calus tried to retreat to his throne when they came to arrest him, she prevented Calus from activating a signal for help.
Consul – We see the Consul via in game cinematics, and now know he was an old product of the Praetorate that the Consul disbanded, and one who in order to restore his position of power that he lost, influenced a young Cabal orphan into hatred for the Emperor and his elaborate life style.
Ghaul – From an orphaned child, he was raised by the Consul to hate the Emperor and influenced him to overthrow Calus. Yet Ghaul proved stronger than the now re-established Praetorate expected, and he now leads them forward in the ways of war.
[/spoiler]
Once betrayed, Calus was put into exile aboard a ship called the Leviathan
[spoiler]
“They would have killed me, but I was too beloved and too glorious. So they sent me away into resplendent exile upon this Grand Leviathan.”
[/spoiler]
While in exile aboard the Leviathan, Calus encountered something new.
[spoiler]
“At the edge of the universe, I stared into the infinite deep. It stared back, and was pleased. The Leviathan came to a halt before a wall of infinite void. The course that the conspirators had set crossed a space that simply did not exist. From my seat of my observation chamber, I stared into the perfect void. Only I, a god, could understand that what I witnessed. It was a thing greater than myself. And if such a thing exists, then I too, can be become more.”
http://www.ishtar-collective.net/entries/it-stared-back
[/spoiler]
Calus appears to have encountered the darkness directly, the same deep that Oryx communes with in the Book of Sorrows. While Ghaul has been our enemy of focus in the D2 vanilla story line, it appears Calus is set to return to the story armed with knowledge from the deep itself.
Now to the more speculative parts. In the “Conspirator” lore entry, Calus says the following about Ghaul:
[spoiler]
“What terrible [b]worm[/b] burrowed into his heart that he would betray my love and plot against me?”
http://www.ishtar-collective.net/entries/conspirator
[/spoiler]
And on the Ghaul entry in the Cabal notes, Calus discusses Oryx and the Worms:
[spoiler]
Let me tell you a story. Once upon a time, a small people lived on a dangerous world. Unto these people came a King, who said “We are surrounded by enemies, we are weak and frail. But I have an answer. Eat these larvae, my people, and with their strength we will rise up.” Thus the King led the great people into slavery to their fear. Ghaul will do the same.”
[/spoiler]
Now this is circumstantial, but Calus specifically mentioning similarities between Oryx (King) and the Ghaul, while also using the key word “worm” in describing Ghaul’s change, leads me to believe that Ghaul’s rise might be more than just influence from the Consul. Nothing in game I am have seen corroborates this yet though.
Additionally, the Emperor himself appears to be under the influence. For him, the Ahamkara. Those familiar with ahamkara know the key words to look for Oh bearer mine, and Calus does not disappoint.
In his final notes in the Cabal notes, Calus says:
[spoiler] I say this to you, [b] oh champion mine[/b], and I say it from my heart: there are those who would bargain away their souls (ie: Ghaul to the worms perhaps?) just to live a little longer. I am not them.
[/spoiler]
And again, those familiar with Ahamkara lore, know the form they currently take as they whisper: bones (mostly in the form of in game armor). In the entry for Calus’ daughter Caiatl in the Cable notes, Calus appears to have had an escape plan in place should anyone try to overthrow him. One his daughter knew about and sabotages to prevent Calus from getting away.
[spoiler]
“I could have stopped the coup. You alone knew of my special arrangement. But when I raced to my throne to give the signal, you were there… You sat on my throne with the signal in your fist. And when I reached out to beg, you crushed the [b]bone[/b] in your gauntlet.”
[/spoiler]
So this bone was apparently the signal device. With Emperor using the Ahamkara words (oh champion mine) and his escape device conveniently being a bone which is highly associated with deceased ahamkara, it would appear that Calus himself had succumbed to the whispers of the ahamakara. In fact, I think this would fit the narrative of the elaborate decadent lifestyle he lead.
Much like the Taox considered the Osmium King to be a mad man, the former Cabal elite see Calus as similarly extreme, deviating from the ways of old, and overthrow him.
Unfortunately, none of this elaborates on the nature of the worms or ahamkara, but does subtly suggest that both Ghaul and Calus are being influenced by outside parties, whether they know it or not. As more lore becomes available, hopefully more of this will be supported or refuted. But based on the limited amount known to date, I believe this to be conclusive speculations.
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由gizzamaluke編輯: 5/7/2018 11:07:50 PMSo, Calus = Donald Trump [quote]Much like the Taox considered the Osmium King to be a mad man, the former Cabal elite see Calus as similarly extreme, deviating from the ways of old, and overthrow him.[/quote] LMAO!!!
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由Ferus Lux編輯: 10/3/2017 11:49:08 PMI think the Ahamkara ARE the worm gods. There are lesser worms which are the ones you see on the dreadnought and on Titan, and then there are the Worm gods, two of which were killed and consumed by Oryx and Savathûn to get their power to take. There is old concept art of tower sized worms with dragon like features (Worm could be a play on the word for the dragon like creature Wyrm) and multiple green glowing eyes in horizontal patterns. It's important to note that the Hive didn't take on their current appearance until AFTER the pact with the worms. What also leads me to believe the Ahamkara are the worm gods is the fact that they burrow into races and change their way of thinking, and the lore for the Ahamkara armor mentions how wearers begin to hear voices telling them to kill and destroy, both of which the worms need to be sated.
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If Callus encounters the darkness out at the edge of space, that means the pyramid ships at the end cutscene cant be the Darkness. Calus just fell to the Darkness after criticizing Ghaul for getting a worm. That means that the Darkness has access to an INTERGALACTIC civilization and that it will probably collapse like Human civilization did.
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由Sancho編輯: 9/15/2017 3:21:15 AM
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I think its far too coincidental for Calus to say "Oh Champion mine" and then have bone and Ahamkara references in there. Oh ... mine is not a normal way of speaking, even for Cabal (as shown by Ghaul and Consul's normal speech patterns) so its highly likely Calus is Ahamkara influenced. Either that or he's incredibly eccentric
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I think calus will be a Allie. The leveith is his prison. We go there to save messes but we also free him.
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由WiErDScIeNcE11編輯: 9/13/2017 3:19:28 AMWhen The emperor refers to the worms in slaving the hive race and how Ghaul is doing the same, he maybe referring to Ghaul and his obsession with making his army become part of the light. I mean think about, the darkness uses worms and other things to control the Hive the light uses... light to protect its self. They both manipulate the people they come in contact with. Just an idea.
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This could be lead to new content? The vanilla story leads to you killing ghaul and the emperor says that you get an audience with him personally, the raid is a test like he says and it's a robotic duplicate of him that we fight, Maybe that's the end of the test and you pass. After the test in some future content maybe he wants to form an alliance with the guardians and set about assassinating the rest of his enemies for these rewards. Then maybe that could set the tone for taking on them pyramid things or the darkness itself
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由Arcangel編輯: 9/13/2017 3:49:03 PMI genuinely do not think Calus will be the Raid boss. I think the interaction we have with him will involve less guns, more diplomacy. He wants to reform the Cabal, and he wants our help. I think this may be the start of a beneficial human/Cabal partnership. At least, I hope so. It would be so unimaginative to just make him another bad guy, and outright kill him. Besides, we know [spoiler][/spoiler] The Darkness is coming. We cannot beat it with as weak as we are. Neither can the other races. The only way to survive is to create shaky alliances. The Fallen and Cabal will not be hard won allyships, as we are much more alike than most realize. The Vex may be hard, but with Osiris in their collective mind and Rasputin creating music machines capable of controlling Vex, we could forcibly control them. And the Hive/Taken... They need to fight to survive. Ultimately, they must defeat the Darkness to prove they are worthy of existence, such is the Sword Logic. Savathun is more imaginative than Oryx. It's possible she would rather overthrow the Darkness than serve it like Oryx. In fact, she (or Xivu Arath) MUST, or the Hive will eventually decay and die off. So I think we should start forming alliances... Lest the Darkness consume us all. [spoiler][/spoiler]
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Based on as ive seen so far, calus's message is an invitation to the raid in which he uses to prove us worthy of his fortunes and a place at his side. Calus may not be the boss but rather a spectator into what we're doing. He knows of our triumphs and extends a hand to us and offers alliance. Calus is our friend. If he knows of our tdiumph over ghaul, over whom he put a bounty on with the reward of friendship and alliance, then maybe, just maybe the pyramid ships are not the darkness but rather calus on the leviathan. I know im not gonna be recognised or even seen for this but if it is seen and you think this is interesting then pm me.
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after reading this and learning that he communed with the darkness is that purple stuff a physical form of void light (like the crystals in the savathun strike)? And what is that dimension he teleports you too? Is that the void or another dimension? So many questions
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Is it just me or there is a SIVA Strike missing from the game? the siva strike was shown in the guided games trailer but its not in the game. heck, there was no siva enemies in the game.. Cut content?
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Excuse my stupidity. I just thought about this. [spoiler]Calus says, "Whoever kills Ghaul will get an audience before my throne.". The raid is called Leviathan and so is the ship he was exiled on. Is Calus going to be the raid boss?[/spoiler]
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