Rasputin: Difference between revisions

After Osiris was awakened by the power of the reliquaries, he experienced visions of a [[Neomuna|city]] on [[Neptune]]. After being told there was nothing there by [[Ikora]] and her Hidden, he resolved to ask Rasputin what he knew regarding this city. Learning that he was still disabled and that Ana had made no progress in repairing him, Osiris suggested asking her grandfather, [[Clovis Bray]], to try and fix him. After battling through Xivu Arath’s [[Wrathborn]] on Europa, they reached the AI and asked him to help repair Rasputin. Out of a need for legacy and self preservation, Clovis agreed and inserted himself into Rasputin's experimental Exo frame. He explained to Ana and Osiris that they must gather Rasputin's subminds and inject them into his core in order to fully fix him.

However, as the Guardians made progress in gathering the submind data of Malahayati and Charlemagne and gained access to the Seraph Station, the main hub of Rasputin's Warsat Network, Ana found an unconventional means to quickly restore Rasputin: finding the Ghost of the Lord Felwinter, [[Felspring]], who was recently discovered to be once a piece of Rasputin's code placed in an Exo before being made a Risen. Ana believes that within Felspring, the missing pieces of Rasputin's code, linguistic data and even pieces of Felwinter's personality engram can be used. Gaining Lord Saladin's approval in gaining access to Felspring's remains at the Iron Temple, the Guardian arrives to fend off a force of House Salvation Fallen led by [[Rilliks, Instrument of Xivu Arath]]‎, alongside Saladin's Iron War Beasts. The Guardians and Cabal prevailed in repelling the Fallen attack and after acquiring Felspring's remains and connect them to Rasputin's mainframe, the Warmind itself connects and speaks to Ana directly. Shocked, Rasputin clarifies that he copied Clovis's voice modulation to allow him to speak and inform Ana and the Guardian that they are in danger. Rasputin reveals that Clovis Bray I has deceived them, that he was never created by the scientist to be humanity's protector but as a means for Clovis Bray to assume control. In his mind, Clovis Bray was the only one worthy of be humanity's savior and thus sought to create a machine god of his own and use it to replace the Traveler but thanks to Ana Bray's deviance from his agenda, by teaching him the things that Clovis found "irrelevant": independent thought, history, art, philosophy and music, this did not happen. Through them, Rasputin had seen the beauty in humanity and thus changed Clovis's protocols and locked him out, infuriating his creator and saving countless lives. However, despite failing during the Collapse, Rasputin had awakened, but so has Clovis, now a digital mind like himself and instead of using Rasputin as his proxy, Clovis intends to have Rasputin be his prototype, a means to allow himself to become a machine god and be humanity's savior, as he always intended.

Furious over this revelation, Ana, alongside Elisabeth and the Guardian head back to the [[H.E.L.M.]] to confront Clovis. Though Ana was prepared to shoot her grandfather, Clovis attempted to justify his deceit, claiming that the Traveler could not be relied upon as it had abandoned the Eliksni and gave the Hive the Light and with Rasputin under their control, they can fight the enemies of humanity together. Ana lowered her weapon but instead of complying with her grandfather as he expected, she instead uploads Rasputin's personality into the prototype Exo Frame, leading the two digital minds to clash for control. Despite Clovis's efforts and demanding Elisabeth to stop Ana, Rasputin seized control over the frame, deleting Clovis's personality in the process. With their grandfather removed, Ana took her leave, requesting to be alone for a bit. Her sister agreed before taking her leave but Rasputin, after rebooting his new frame, requested that the Guardian speak with Ana, stating she shouldn't be alone right now. The Guardian agrees and speaks with Ana, who while happy that Rasputin can now speak directly with humanity, something she has always wanted, she dreads the thought of the damage Clovis would've caused once he used Rasputin to integrate himself into Seraph Station.

After a time, Rasputin informs the Guardian that he still lacks the key codes necessary to regain control over the Warsat Network, requiring them to continue the mission in retrieving submind data even though there aren't any new subminds left. Nonetheless, Rasputin advices the Guardian to stay the course in gathering submind data for his reconstruction algorithm. Later on, Rasputin would speak with the Guardian on his restoration has made him something more, having understood why humanity in the past saw him as a protector and savior, a war god of their own making, causing him to believe that he may no different than Xivu Arath in that regard. However, Rasputin states that what makes him different is that, unlike Xivu Arath, he does not wage war for its own sake but to safeguard those under his charge. Thus, he vows that once the Warsat Network is under his control once more, he will smite the enemies of humanity, starting with the Wrathborn threat.

After weeks of collecting more submind data, Rasputin and Ana learn that Eramis has discovered the back door virus the Guardian implanted in Seraph Station, removed it, and is now planning to destroy the Traveler with the Warsats. In order to prevent this, Rasputin tells the Guardians that his repair algorithm has restored him enough to insert the Pillory Engram containing him into Seraph Station and trigger the self destruct. Ana refuses to do this, but Rasputin tells her it’s the only way, citing it as his purpose as a shield rather than as a weapon.  

The Guardian, Pillory Engram in hand, fights their way back into the Orbital Command Nexus and inserts Rasputin into the Station. As this is happening, Eramis is preparing to fire the Warsats at the Traveler, who then appears to leave the Last City as it’s residents look up in fear and uncertainty. As it reaches low orbit, it seems to come to a stop. As the Warsats power up and begin to fire at the Traveler, Rasputin actives the Aurora Sacrifice protocol, destroying himself and the Warsats. As Eramis looks on in hate, she wonders why the Traveler refused to abandon Humanity. At this point, a vision of the Witness shows up behind her and tells her that it’s because it has nowhere left to run, as an army of pyramid ships is shown to be crossing Jupiter's path, along with another ship containing Calus.  

Afterwards, the Guardian arrives at the HELM, to receive a message from Ana Bray. She says that she had been thinking of Rasputin as a way to unlock the secrets of her past, in order to find out who she was, but in the end, she realized that Rasputin choose to be more than that, more than just a weapon, he had refused to be what everyone else wanted him to be and choose to be what he wanted to be. Ana realized that Rasputin had been family to her, and that because of him, she knew who she was, and who she wanted to be. After ending the transmission, the Guardian goes to the now dormant Exo Frame to receive one last message from Rasputin. In this message, Rasputin tells the Guardian that if they are receiving this message, that meant that he had died, and that he hoped his sacrifice wasn’t in vain. He tells us that although we may have survived this, there was still trouble on the horizon. Rasputin tells us that the Neptunian city Osiris saw in his visions is real, and that there was an artifact called "the Veil", an object of immense power and somehow connected to the Traveler, inside of this city. He states that all other files regarding Nefele Stronghold were deleted by someone else other than him, and that the information was in the files that the Guardian had retrieved from the Cosmodrome, and that he had taken the liberty of decrypting them for Osiris, asking the Guardian to tell Osiris to consider it a gift from one old miser to another. Before the message ends, Rasputin leaves the Guardian with one last piece of wisdom. He tells them that Ana was afraid that she had forgotten to teach Rasputin to trust, but entrusts this knowledge to us, calling us his Seraph, Humanity no longer needed a Warmind, that all we truly need is each other. With that, the message ends, and Rasputin is no more.