Editing Toland, the Shattered

|hair=

|eyes=

|rank=[[Guardian]] {{c|formerly}}

|sn=

}}

{{Quote|Tell me, Guardian: Do you trust me? Do you believe I am an ally of the Light or a servant of the Darkness? What if I told you I was neither?|Toland, the Shattered}}

==Biography==

===Descent into the Hellmouth===

{{Expand-section}}

Years after Toland's exile and in the aftermath of [[The Great Disaster]], the old Warlock was visited by [[Eriana-3]] and [[Eris Morn]], who were seeking a way to destroy the Hive Prince [[Crota, Son of Oryx|Crota]]. He revealed to them that Crota could be killed if they were to enter the [[Ascendant Realm]] and slay him within his throne room after defeating his champions. Toland warned them of the many dangers they would face and spoke of the mysterious song sung by the Deathsingers that he wished to understand. Toland decided to join them in their quest to end Crota in order to learn more about the Hive, and they recruited three other Guardians to their mission: the [[Titan (class)|Titan]] [[Vell Tarlowe]] and the [[Hunter]]s [[Sai Mota]] and [[Omar Agah]].<ref>'''Bungie (2014/12/9)''', ''[[Destiny]]: [[The Dark Below]], PlayStation 4, Activision Blizzard, [[Grimoire]]: [[Grimoire:Activities/Raids#Crota.27s_End|Crota's End]]''</ref> As they prepared for their mission, Toland imparted what he knew of Hive lore to Eris, including his knowledge about the [[Ogre]]s known as the [[Might of Crota]], which would be unleashed when Crota's will was challenged. Eris questioned how he had come by this knowledge, and Toland claimed to have learned it from the [[Darkness]] itself.<ref>'''Bungie (2014/12/9)''', ''[[Destiny]]: [[The Dark Below]], PlayStation 4, Activision Blizzard, [[Grimoire]]: [[Grimoire:Enemies/Exalted_Hive#Might_of_Crota|Might of Crota]]''</ref>

===Journey in the Ascendant Realm===

{{Quote|You fools! You disastrous, bumbling squanderers! It's not right! Who now shall be First Navigator, Lord of Shapes, harrowed god, Taken King? Not you! You might have been Kings and Queens of the Deep! But you have toppled Oryx and you have not replaced him! There must be a strongest one. It is the architecture of these spaces. Why are you leaving?|Toland.}}

Toland's voice can be heard in Destiny 2 during the Voidwalker subclass mission. He will recount some of his discoveries about the Hive and the Darkness, and how he entered the Ascendant Realm.

===In The Depths of The Dreaming City===

{{quote|Guiding the uninitiated toward a final battle of spectacular futility used to be my specialty, you know. Forgive me if I'm a little rusty.|Toland}}

===Restoration of the Bad Juju===

{{Quote|Inflict your desires upon reality, Guardian. One good death deserves another.|Toland guiding the Guardians}}

===Reunion with Eris===

{{Quote|I will teach you what I know. Executions are so much more fun when the martyr thinks they have a chance against the lion.|Toland, the Shattered}}

{{quote|Life is pain. Pain is power. And power is life.|Toland}}<ref>'''Bungie (2015-9-15)''', ''[[Destiny]]: PlayStation 4, Activision Blizzard, [[Jumpship#Raid_and_Arena_Ships|Agonarch Karve]]''</ref>

*''This is the final transmission of Guren, Ghost of Toland whom you call the Shattered. He goes to hear the song of death.''

*''Nothing will deter him. None of you can stop him. Not anymore.''

*''Toland will hear the deathsinger's melody. He will redefine death, escape the Traveler's blunt samsara.''

*''He will sound the depths of the powers you so myopically fear.''

*''A Dreadnaught shields the Hive from the Traveler's Light. Were we to pass through its deepest layers, our Light would be as a dying sun.''

*''It has long been my belief that the binds which hold the greatest Hive terrors could be lifted by releasing the energy stored within their tomb husks.''

*''These stones. Always in their combat arenas. Do they have a strengthening function? Or are they mere legacy of a forgotten time and realm? The Hive never stopped honing their strength. They missed the point of being dead! Haha, ahh, I've heard it said that 'that which does not kill you makes you stronger', but what does that mean in the face of immortality?''

*''If you believe your weapon wants to end all existence, then so it will.''

*''Knowledge is its own end.''

*''The skulls have been gathered, and the final instrument set to join your symphony… the eroded grooves upon their jaws, cheeks, and palates providing the secret frequencies of the hallowed Deathsong. Its mysteries are now ours to bind and enslave. Its power is now yours to inflict at will. You are choir and conductor. You are, as ever, death.''

*''The Court of Oryx. The most powerful of his army. He would hold the Court in reserve. Allow the mass of the Hive to tear down a world. Then, he would open the gates and unleash the Court upon a weary and battle-scarred race. Fear is a powerful weapon, and one the King uses all too well.''

*''I do not fear death. I have already met her and walk again in the Light. I know she and I will meet again in time. Rather, I fear what she leaves behind. Loss is like the Darkness. It corrupts.''

*''Guiding the uninitiated toward a final battle of spectacular futility used to be my specialty, you know. Forgive me if I'm a little rusty.''

*''This is the shape and the point of the tooth: nothing has ever lived that will not die. Now I fly between green-black suns in the labyrinth beyond Crota's god-star. This is the Overworld, the Sea of Screams, where the throne-universes of the great Hive fester in eternal majesty. I move among them. I map the shapes and connections of this world.''

*''I want to appear in the Tower and taunt them, lo, lo, I never sleep, I dance in light and shadow, I never sleep, I will never die. I will never die. I want to ask them: if you followed your laws here, to this trembling fearful place, of what use were those laws? But I have work to do. I shout into deep places. Osiris! I call. Osiris, Osiris! Can you hear me?''

*''But you will not be held back. Gifted with the Traveler's Light, armed with the secret physics of a lost age, you will tear reality asunder. You will fear nothing, and nothing will not fear you.''

*''YOU! Why would you come here? There is no place less suited for the likes of you, walking in the dreamland of your enemies.''

*''And what, am I to be your Virgil? A guide, a shepherd? [chuckle] No, no, no...''

*''I leave you here.''

*''The rules of Ascendance have changed according to the wish of the dragon.''

*''Imagine three great nations under three great queens. The first queen writes a great book of law and her rule is just. The second queen builds a high tower and her people climb it to see the stars. The third queen raises an army and conquers everything.''

*''Listen! Listen. Death, true death, is both failure and liberation. Liberation from a race you had no hope of winning. To kill, then, is a terrible sort of compassion, a dreadful kindness.''

*''Delve deeper. Make yourself known. They'll believe you are one of their own. And that is the only way.''

*''I could flense you apart, molecule by squirming, molecule. It is within my power.''

*''When a god's will is met with force, its might will be unleashed in the form of... hahaha.. trickery.''

*''Do you like it here? It's scenic, I will say that. The sisters did not do much redecorating when they moved in, but I say, give them time..''

*''Follow the screams''

*''Were you tricked by the worm that chased the Warmind? Did you truly believe you'd fought one of the beings that the Hive call gods? Ha!''

*''"A shape which depends on nothing but itself." Do you see the profundity of that concept?''

*''Ah, my foolish friend, you walk the spine of an ouroboros. Find another way.''

*''Whenever in our passage we find ourselves in need of power – remember that the greatest authority here is a blade made keen by eons of use.''

*''There is only one end to the universe, only one conclusion - what the gods of this place call "The Last True Shape."''

*''Paracausality! What a trip. If you believe your weapon wants to murder all existence, then so it will. Call it a little bad juju, if you please...''

*''Sharpen your intentions. When life is strength and strength is death, what is death, if not hope?''

*''Sickness, weakness, bad luck, pestilence - that's the old idea of a curse. This repetition is an innovation purpose - built for Guardians.''

*''Death is just a word, isn't it? A catch-all term for the failure to go on – nothing spiritual, nothing with its own quiddity.''

*''Come back to us, Eris. Come back. I have seen your future; you are, as ever, fated to be misunderstood, maligned, ruined on the rocks of tragedy...''

*''Sympathy and study do not breed alliances. Don't mistake me.''

*''The Shape needs no followers; no one to enact it, to preach it, to practice it. It is, and will be. There's nothing else, Hive or no Hive, the end is still the same. So why are you here?''

*''Listen! Do you hear them respond to your presence? Commands echoing through the dark, fetid caverns...''

*''This is the queen at the end of time, whose sovereignty is eternal because no other sovereign, can defeat it.''

*''They'll carry out their orders with grinding stone and squeaking claw, skittering thrall and blade against bone.''

*''Eir. Ur. Yul. That is the cry now, that is the cry now that the littlest worm has shamed its kin...''

*''The Last True Shape is not a belief. It has nothing to do with faith. It's pure logic. Self-evident, self- proving.''

*''You are a misshapen puzzle piece. You perplex me. You defy the logic which cannot be defied.''

*''What will you do here, in this world on fire? You could carve your name into the fabric of reality, but you lack the imagination for that, don't you?''

*''Osiris! Osiris, Osiris, can you hear me?''

*''That which does not kill you makes you stronger, but what does that mean in the face of immortality?''

*''Tell me, Guardian: Do you trust me? Do you believe I am an ally of the Light or a servant of the Darkness? What if I told you I was neither?''

*''We all died once, and it did not prove insurmountable.''

*''Eris, Eris, what a name, a name for discord a name for far cold orbits where no living thing should dare to go...''

*''I shall be your Virgil once again...''

*''Will you be prepared? Or will you be... boring?''

*''Listen, listen...''

*''Come slayer of Oryx. I have words for you.''

*''Will you listen? Or will you be like your Vanguard?''

*''All is not lost; the unconquerable Will, And study of revenge, immortal hate. And courage never to submit or yield. And what is else not to be overcome?''

*''In the Hive, the vanguard face a new threat they didn't understand. So they did what they do best - they shot at it. And to their detriment, it shot back. Death was delivered the day of our Great Disaster.''

*''So many wonders of the age, so many sciences still used, conceived of here, in silence and secrecy. What inspired them? What did they find in this desolation?''

*''How long were the Hive on the Moon? How did they arrive? How patient they were, listening to invaders scrabble across it surface. But I do not think they were hiding. They awaited a sign.''

*''Had the Traveler not come to our fragile home, humanity would've carried on as it always had. Reaching blindly into the dark. We likely would've extinguished ourselves before the Hive took up the task. So I ask: Are we fortunate? Or unfortunate?''

*''Exploration and discovery are pleasant but thin euphemisms for conquest. This was as true in our history as in any you'll find. Our first steps into the inky dark were no different. Lest we forget: The Hive's lunar settlements predate our own.''

*''For millennia, humanity gazed at the Moon and envisioned visiting it. Yet, no one dreamed it a trespass. The Hive is not a welcoming host, as you well know.''

*''All great journeys begin with a single step, but not if you stand at the precipice. How does one tell the difference between the horizon and an abyss in a place like this? They couldn't. Are you certain you can?''

*''Before we could leap from planet to planet like fleas, we had to crawl through the void like worms. The Accelerator flew humanity's necessities on swift wings, flitting them from the Moon to the colonies like starlings. But worms do not survive flights with birds''

*''Dark the Moon. Dark the night. Hush the station. Hush the Hive. Gone their leaders. Gone the Light.''

*''Just think of the old colony ships, lumbering toward some distant planet loaded with bodies. And then some soulless cargo package flashes by, shot from this Accelerator and piloted by an AI. It weighs you down, life''

*''You feel it, don't you? The hunger that cannot be sated. What's next? What if? Why? It eats at us, what we don't know. It always has. Ignorance has never been bliss - not once you've learned you lack the truth.''

*''Though many souls were silenced at the Great Disaster, their memories lingered. A fire was born in the heart of the Praxic Warlock Eriana-3. She fought the day of our disaster, lost one of her closest friends, and retreated alongside the survivors. But her Light remained. And she vowed vengeance upon Crota''

*''In the quest to fell Crota, we brought us the desire for vengeance. We brought ego. But with me, I brought curiosity. Reverence. Fascination. And as such, here I sit, my soul still bound to existence. With the exception of Eris, I can't say the same for the rest''

*''Eris - at the time, unbroken - together with Eriana-3 sought vengeance upon Crota. And they formed a team of powerful Guardians to aid in executing him. Vell Tarlowe, Sai Mota, Omar Agah... And of course, the only one who could truly guide them, me. All of them, so foolish. They passed through this canyon, naiveté at their side, toward their inevitable doom.''

*''The Fallen's obsession with Luna has cost them much. They come to pillage the remains of human innovation and pick at the Hive's arcana. But I have yet to understand what drives them to take such a risk when here are other worlds more easily scavenged.''

*''Before Crota's death, the Hive viewed the Fallen as nothing more than an annoyance. But now, as they struggle to regain their purpose, the Hive have no patience for distraction. This has led to a renewed conflict as both fight to survive in the face of sustained Guardian aggression.''

*''There was a crew of Fallen who took to the Hive's sword logic. They are all dead now - by their own hands. They sought Ascension, but understood nothing of its meaning. I watched as they slaughtered one another over the course of months. The last of them, with no crew left to lead, walked to Hellmouth's edge and cast himself into the depths.''

*''I offer no set conclusions, but it is my belief that the Fallen dare plunder the Hellmouth's depth. They know the value in mastering the strange science of their enemy - be it Hive, Human, Vex, or Cabal. They risk much to steal pieces of understanding from us all, until that time when they no longer fear extinction... but inflict it.''

*''How many crews have called this Ketch home? How many worlds has it plundered in the name of Fallen Houses that have since crumbled? Now the grand houses, like this Ketch, are broken things - shades of old glory, like poor Luna. Once majestic, once an inspiration, now nothing more than a shattered relic of glory days beyond reclamation.''

*''The [[House of Dusk]] is not the future of the Fallen, but it is a sign of their evolution - of a future yet to come... No longer the desperate fools clinging to a lost history and misguided faith in machines. I am curious as to what the Eliksni will become on the far side of their current struggle.''

*''The pirates came in wake of our Collapse to pick at our bones. I have no answers as to whether it was bravery or desperation that drove them to scavenge at the edge of the Hive's most hallowed ground. But the Hellmouth has been rich in its bounty. And many Fallen crews made a name among the old Houses for the treasures stolen from this dead rock''

'''Choir of the Damned, Symphony of Death'''

*''Welcome, once more, to the edge of oblivion, hero. You have faced much – enough to impress the easily impressed – but the melody we seek to cage may be more than you can overcome.''

*''[[Destiny 2]]'' {{Mo}}

**''[[Curse of Osiris]]'' {{Mo}}

**''[[Shadowkeep]]''

==References==

[[Category:Characters]]