destinys-cabal-blog

[destinys-cabal-blog]

What’s in the book.

A look inside the information given by the Cabal booklet from the Collectors Edition of Destiny 2. I have attempted to make this book as spoiler free as possible but cannot guarantee there are absolutely no spoilers. No mission objectives or quests are spoilt however.

Thank you for your time

Pages: 17

Word count: 6080

[destinys-cabal-blog]

Okay, so we all know the City gets attacked in D2.

The Cabal do it.

The Bonecrushers arrive!

Pause at 28 seconds.

Tell me, why would Cabal (and we know they’re Cabal) attack the City and then a random enemy show up.

This is likely to be a soldier from the Bone Crushers Legion. Possibly a twist on the Colossus.

[destinys-cabal-blog]

Open season

Alright, so this blog is really quiet. I know there are other Destiny Lore blogs and sources to get lore from but honestly, I’m happy to spelunk around in the Grimoire.

Over on my other blog I put up a post a short while ago since my Cabal Masterpost (You can find the link to the google doc on Reddit here) got mentioned at the beginning of a video on one of youtubes smaller Destiny Lore channels. It was a small mention but I really appreciated it.

But honestly, if anyone has any theories or any aspects of the lore they want me to look at, please let me know.

[destinys-cabal-blog]

Cayde-6 and the Cards

So, in the mission “Cayde’s Stash” there is a vent you can go through before the gravity lift which prompts hidden dialogue. We learn through this dialogue that Cayde-6 has or had a way of marking areas with playing cards. He is quoted to say that the hearts are for this girl he liked.

We got no more information from this but looking at Cayde-6′s page in Desstinypedia we can almost confirm that this girl he liked referenced in that mission was Dr. Maya Sundaresh. Dr. Sundaresh worked in the Ishtar Collective after Cayde was transformed into an Exo. His job was to protect her as a security officer

However, Dr. Sundaresh barely noticed Cayde and he wished he got to know her better.

There is no definitive proof the card lady and Dr. Sundaresh were the same person, but until we have proof other than speculation to suggest otherwise it is highly likely.

[destinys-cabal-blog]

Why The Cabal Emperor Should Not Be Killed In A Cabal Based DLC

Since the end of the Taken King, the Cabal are in a vulnerable state and they sent a message outside of the system, presumably to the Empire detailing their situation.

Unless Bungie decide to let this be the beginning of the collapse of the Cabal’s presence, a Cabal centred DLC is almost expected at some point.

And what better way to top off a Cabal based DLC than with a raid?

Imagine, The Elite Flagship arrives in the System, and deep inside is the Cabal Emperor themselves. A plucky team of six Guardians are tasked with the mission of boarding the massive ship, hunting down, and killing the Emperor.

From a player’s perspective I admit that would be immensely fun with the possible new mechanics, level design, and aspects to explore, and from a game designer’s perspective I imagine it must be fun to build and design that challenge and intricate easter eggs or hidden items.

From the perspective of the Destiny franchise’s story, slaying the Emperor would be beneficial too.

But it cannot happen. Or more accurately, it should not happen.

Firstly, killing the single most important individual in an enemy faction does not happen in any of the current Raids I am aware of. Atheon, being Vex and because of the nature of the Vault of Glass, never truly falls. Crota, is the Son of Oryx, and Oryx is one of three sisters.

Now, I have not yet played Rise of Iron and have no knowledge of its contents story wise and raid wise. This is a status I would like to keep until I have played the expansion myself. But I do not think the Wrath of the Machine Raid would cause the extinction of an entire enemy class.

The death of the Cabal Emperor would cause the extinction of the Cabal on Mars and on the Dreadnaught.

Think about it, the Emperor is the one who’s ordering ships to be deployed to our system to reinforce troops already here. If the Emperor dies then no-one will order reinforcements to come, meaning there will be a limited number of Cabal left.

Also, the power vacancy created by the Emperors death is likely to cause a lot of in-fighting amongst the Cabal. This will trickle down to the deployed footsoldiers who are, as we know from the Grimoire Card “Cabal”, already arguing amongst each other about their allegiance to the Empire. The already existing uncertainty amongst some troops combined with the lack of figurehead in the Empire, is likely to cause some of the Legions to fall prey to infighting amongst other Legions and amongst troops of the same Cohorts.

For example, the Sand Eaters have weaker moral than most Legions on Mars so they are likely to fall victim of the infighting resulting from the Emperors death. The Blind Legion, who are described as carrying out their jobs with ‘fanatic zeal’ are then likely to try and kill any troops that seem to be against the Empire.

Even without the Cabal infighting they are at risk of extermination. With a limited number of troops and no reinforcements, Cabal numbers on Mars will be thinned out to nothing by Vex assaults and Guardian activity.

The Cabal on the Dreadnaught will be overran incredibly quickly without reinforcements, meaning the Dantalion Exodus V will soon become taken by the Hive.

On Mars, Cabal numbers would decrease and there would only be the Guardians and the semi-active Warminds stopping the Vex. Since Vex took Mercury and changed it in days, Mars is likely not going to last long with massive Vex presence.

By killing the Cabal Emperor you would need to show the impacts of this on the Cabal. If Cabal activity does not change after the death of their ruler then that is to say the Emperor was as influential and as important as a single Legionnaire, something that is highly unlikely.

So the choices would be to kill the Emperor and deal with the realistic outcomes which would result in Vex superiority on Mars, kill the Emperor and have no change to Cabal troops which would massively devalue the Emperor and would be unrealistic, or not kill the Emperor.

Now, unless Bungie wish to either remove the Cabal entirely from patrols or trivialise the death of a figure that was highly believed to be a vital part of the Cabal Empire, I suggest keeping the Cabal Emperor alive.

What does everyone think?

[destinys-cabal-blog]

Why The Cabal Emperor Should Not Be Killed In A Cabal Based DLC

Since the end of the Taken King, the Cabal are in a vulnerable state and they sent a message outside of the system, presumably to the Empire detailing their situation.

Unless Bungie decide to let this be the beginning of the collapse of the Cabal’s presence, a Cabal centred DLC is almost expected at some point.

And what better way to top off a Cabal based DLC than with a raid?

Imagine, The Elite Flagship arrives in the System, and deep inside is the Cabal Emperor themselves. A plucky team of six Guardians are tasked with the mission of boarding the massive ship, hunting down, and killing the Emperor.

From a player's perspective I admit that would be immensely fun with the possible new mechanics, level design, and aspects to explore, and from a game designer's perspective I imagine it must be fun to build and design that challenge and intricate easter eggs or hidden items.

From the perspective of the Destiny franchise’s story, slaying the Emperor would be beneficial too.

But it cannot happen. Or more accurately, it should not happen.

Firstly, killing the single most important individual in an enemy faction does not happen in any of the current Raids I am aware of. Atheon, being Vex and because of the nature of the Vault of Glass, never truly falls. Crota, is the Son of Oryx, and Oryx is one of three sisters.

Now, I have not yet played Rise of Iron and have no knowledge of its contents story wise and raid wise. This is a status I would like to keep until I have played the expansion myself. But I do not think the Wrath of the Machine Raid would cause the extinction of an entire enemy class.

The death of the Cabal Emperor would cause the extinction of the Cabal on Mars and on the Dreadnaught.

Think about it, the Emperor is the one who’s ordering ships to be deployed to our system to reinforce troops already here. If the Emperor dies then no-one will order reinforcements to come, meaning there will be a limited number of Cabal left.

Also, the power vacancy created by the Emperors death is likely to cause a lot of in-fighting amongst the Cabal. This will trickle down to the deployed footsoldiers who are, as we know from the Grimoire Card “Cabal”, already arguing amongst each other about their allegiance to the Empire. The already existing uncertainty amongst some troops combined with the lack of figurehead in the Empire, is likely to cause some of the Legions to fall prey to infighting amongst other Legions and amongst troops of the same Cohorts.

For example, the Sand Eaters have weaker moral than most Legions on Mars so they are likely to fall victim of the infighting resulting from the Emperors death. The Blind Legion, who are described as carrying out their jobs with ‘fanatic zeal’ are then likely to try and kill any troops that seem to be against the Empire.

Even without the Cabal infighting they are at risk of extermination. With a limited number of troops and no reinforcements, Cabal numbers on Mars will be thinned out to nothing by Vex assaults and Guardian activity.

The Cabal on the Dreadnaught will be overran incredibly quickly without reinforcements, meaning the Dantalion Exodus V will soon become taken by the Hive.

On Mars, Cabal numbers would decrease and there would only be the Guardians and the semi-active Warminds stopping the Vex. Since Vex took Mercury and changed it in days, Mars is likely not going to last long with massive Vex presence.

By killing the Cabal Emperor you would need to show the impacts of this on the Cabal. If Cabal activity does not change after the death of their ruler then that is to say the Emperor was as influential and as important as a single Legionnaire, something that is highly unlikely.

So the choices would be to kill the Emperor and deal with the realistic outcomes which would result in Vex superiority on Mars, kill the Emperor and have no change to Cabal troops which would massively devalue the Emperor and would be unrealistic, or not kill the Emperor.

Now, unless Bungie wish to either remove the Cabal entirely from patrols or trivialise the death of a figure that was highly believed to be a vital part of the Cabal Empire, I suggest keeping the Cabal Emperor alive.

What does everyone think?

[destinys-cabal-blog]

Honestly, I like the idea. But I doubt that it is the case.

With the Vex and Clovis Bray, we need to remember that the Vex were discovered in ruins pre-dating humanity. It would make sense then that if the Vex were created or researched on back when the Venus civilisation was still alive, it would explain why, with some reverse engineering, Clovis Bray is able to run Vex simulations.

With regards to the Vex aspect of the story, I honestly hope that Clovis Bray are a bigger part of it, but what we have to work with is very little and there are a lot of gaps in our understanding. I’m not going to sit here and tell you you’re wrong, but I will say I’m not certain Bungie put this much thought into it. I could be wrong, and I hope I am.

Hello, so me and my friend were talking on snapchat about the lore of destiny and my mind had a baby, some of this may not make sense and most of it is probably wrong but we both love lore and have read pretty much everything there is about destiny lore including the most up to date versions of the OWL sector logs, tell me what you think. @ask-cayde-6 @ask-eris-morn @ask-commanderzavala daddy zavala please notice me :)

[destinys-cabal-blog]

Actually, the Traveller seems to have arrived almost 90 years before the Martian Colonies were founded, and the Vex were discovered on Venus the year before the Martian Colonies. This is according to http://destinytimeline.com/

However, to say that Clovis Bray was not behind the Warminds and media control is not entirely debunkable. Engram technology was created after Clovis Bray was established so it is possible that Clovis Bray manipulated information and data access through the manipulation of engram technology and Glimmer.

Now, these Pseudo Guardians are interesting because of the Exo. We, at the current point in the game, don’t understand how the Exo function. But they were built to combat the Vex. Now, with Clovis Bray settling up highly scientific research colonies on Mars and creating the Warminds, Exo, and developing Engram technology all shortly after discovering the Vex, we can make one theory:

Clovis Bray was making Guardians to try and combat the Vex but humans proved to be incapable of surviving long enough to be effective. As a result, Clovis Bray built robots that were capable of surviving what their organic counterparts couldn’t.

It would make sense that after countless fails on humans they would move onto something else. According to the timeline there was roughly ten years between the Vex discovery and the Exo being created so it is possible.

I do find the whole idea of Clovis Bray engineering everything unlikely, but since they most likely experimented on the Vex it is possible, albeit unlikely, that they messed around with events in time causing the Traveller’s arrival.

This is an interesting idea though

Hello, so me and my friend were talking on snapchat about the lore of destiny and my mind had a baby, some of this may not make sense and most of it is probably wrong but we both love lore and have read pretty much everything there is about destiny lore including the most up to date versions of the OWL sector logs, tell me what you think. @ask-cayde-6 @ask-eris-morn @ask-commanderzavala daddy zavala please notice me :)

[destinys-cabal-blog]

The Cabal Masterpost is up! I have tried to break it down into sections if anyone wants to look at certain bits, and because it would be a massive chunk of text otherwise.

I look forward to receiving any sort of feedback on this since this is the largest post I have made in the Destiny Community. Please feel free to leave any ideas, theories or questions in my Messages, Ask box, or Submissions. I will update this when I receive theories, questions, and obtain more lore on the Cabal.

Thank you all once again.

[destinys-cabal-blog]

Can we please take a moment to appreciate this? Please? I know Bungie like to ignore the Cabal or use them to progress already developed races (I’m looking at you Oryx and your Taken in search of revenge. You Hive can go take a hike for a bit), but really can we look at these guys?

Now, the picture doesn’t mean much. We see four Phalanxes on a ridge, shields down, being shot at.

But that’s not what the picture shows us. The Cabal are an Empire, almost like space Romans by troop names and by nature. So we can deduce that there are in fact five Phalanxes here. The one at the far back is still putting their shield down so I get the impression these guys have just arrived. Their first priority will be to get the shields up so we can assume that there is a Phalanx next to the one closest to the camera but because it hasn’t moved in position fully it’s hidden behind the first one.

We can also tell by their colour scheme that they are Sand Eaters. These guys are the front line infantry, the bulk of the Cabal presence. The Sand Eaters Legion are on the front line against Vex and Guardians. Vex are relentless and unstoppable, not needing rest or rations, and Guardians can’t stay dead.

The Cabal theorised that heavy concentrated artillery bombings may destroy Dead Persons (What they call Ghosts) but because of the uncertainty, the amount of munition required, and that large groups of Guardians are uncommon and therefore this would be ineffective.

So since the Cabal arrived on Mars these guys have been around. The Sand Eaters were the first on Mars. According to http://destinytimeline.com/ they arrived in 2430 and it’s implied they are fleeing from something. So here we have several detachments of an Empire, possibly cut off from the bulk forces by the Darkness hence why a much larger army hasn’t arrived, and there is nowhere for them to go. They can’t return home because the moment they are deployed they either die as failures or return victorious, no negotiations. They’re stuck on Mars, holding territory as well as they can because if the Darkness is after them then Mars is as far in the Traveller’s Light as they can get. They hold up against the Vex onslaught and against Guardians, receiving trickles of reinforcements and supplies.

The Sand Eaters have the weakest tactics and the weakest moral. And, if the timeline is correct, our Guardians were revived around 2715 canonically.

Nearly 300 years of fighting the Vex day in day out, in an environment which is the absolute opposite of what they can naturally survive in.

For almost 300 years the Sand Eaters have endured such a beating, yet still they fight on. Desperate because if their Legion fails, if the Sand Eaters fall, a massive chunk of Cabal presence will go and there is no chance that without drastic changes or reinforcements will the Cabal be able to hold as much territory as they do now.

So this picture of five Phalanxes, what does it show us?

It shows us the desperation and the determination of a force that, whilst weaker than other Legions in the cabal Empire, is so important, so vital to the Cabals survival. It shows that the Cabal, weary and frightened as they are, will continue to fight to survive.

And I honestly think they deserve better recognition for it.