Forum:Shin'ra, the Sorrow-Maker

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"I am the Chisel Unbreakable, the Sword Insurmountable, the Black Hammer, Arbiter of the Witness, I am Shin'ra, God of Forge!"

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Shin'ra, the Sorrow-Maker
Biographical information
Other name(s):	Setak (formerly) Osmium Advisor Smith God Hive God of Forge and Artificing God of Judgment God of Pain God of Shaping Founder of Corruption The Black Hammer The Chisel Unbreakable The Sword Unsheathed Nephilim's Host Tarnished Father Arbiter of the Witness The Blunted Edge VIP#6942 SMS-000 Unmaker Interrogator Disciple of the Witness Disciple of Forge The Forge Master Se'tak, the All-Maker Worm of Endings The Pseudo-Worm
Homeworld:	Fundament
Species:	Hive Worm (temporarily)
Gender:	Male
Eye color:	Green
Political and military information
Affiliation:	Weavers of Sorrow
Rank:	Sorrow-Maker Ascendant Hive Disciple of the Witness
Class:	Darkblade Templar Worm God
Notable info:	Hive God of Forge and Artificing Former Advisor of the Osmium Court Knows the lie that brought upon the Hive Slayer and Hunter of the Leviathans Founder of the Weavers of Sorrow Creator of the Nephilim Progenitor of the Darkblades Servant of the Witness Destroyed numerous civilizations on the Witness' behalf Attempted to conquer Sol on numerous occasions Ascended as a Disciple of the Witness Transformed into one of the Worm Gods

Sorrow-Maker

Shin'ra, the Sorrow-Maker
Biographical information
Species:	Hive
Faction:	Weavers of Sorrow
Rank:	Sorrow-Maker Ultra
Class:	Darkblade (progenitor)
Combat information
Mission:	Seeking the Seeker (briefly) The Warpriest (briefly) The Sorrow-Maker
Weapon(s):	Corruption's Edge
Abilities:	High Durability Immunity Shield Rapid Movement Teleportation Shadow Vanish Ascendant Banish Blast Slash Wall Lingering Corruption Felled Omen Summon Hive Summon Taken

Forge Master

Shin'ra, the Forge Master
Phase 1 Phase 2
Biographical information
Species:	Hive
Faction:	Weavers of Sorrow Disciples of the Witness
Rank:	Sorrow-Maker Ultra
Class:	Templar (Basis)
Combat information
Mission:	Takedown in the Forged Pyramid
Weapon(s):	Inquisition's Hammer
Abilities:	High durability Immunity Shield Quick Teleport Summon Taken Summon Hive Corruption Blast Corruption Flurry Grasp of Malice Lingering Corruption Rupturing Cataclysm

All-Maker

Se'tak, the All-Maker
Biographical information
Species:	Worm
Faction:	Weavers of Sorrow Disciples of the Witness
Rank:	Ultra
Class:	Worm God
Combat information
Mission:
Abilities:	High Durability Temporary Immunity Summon Hive Summon Taken Summon Dread Ichor of Se'tak Lingering Corruption Soul Decay Flesh of Se'tak Mouth of Se'tak

Shin'ra, the Sorrow Maker is an Ascendant Hive, progenitor of the Darkblades and founder of the element known as Corruption. Acting as the Hive's weapons master, he commands a Hive Brood devoted to his craft of the Weapons of Sorrow. He also possesses untold power over the Darkness and the Black Fleet through the creation of Corruption. He acts as a reoccurring antagonist in Destiny 2 and is most notable for his major roles in Season of Sorrow, Season of the Wish, Into the Light and Episode: Dread, along with minor roles in Season of the Deep and Season of the Witch.

Biography

Origins

Osmium Advisor

"I am Setak, great advisor to the Osmium King and his court. I watched as the endless storms raged against the Fundament. I bid my time by training the youngest of the King's daughters to hunt the Bait Stars that sought our frail forms."

— Setak

Shin'ra, born as Setak, was a proto-Hive Krill on Fundament in the Osmium Court. He was nothing more than a mere scribe and advisor to the Osmium King. He would be a secondary teacher to the daughters of the Osmium King and favored the youngest, Xiro, as she would become his prized pupil. He would help to teach her to catch the Bait Stars that threatened the weak Krill with his own special form of cunning, and to study and strategize the enemy's movements.

When the Osmium King reached the end of his ten-year lifespan, Setak sought to study his madness by navigating the royal orrery and understand the words of the dead Worm familiar. He would fall into the influence of the Witness, believing that a great cataclysm would befall the Fundament, the Syzygy. Its whispers would also tell them of the great lie that he would have to take part in. The whispers would direct him to help the daughters of the Osmium King to flee the court on a small craft while he stood behind. Shortly thereafter, Setak would flee from the Osmium Court towards Kaharn Atoll to find the means to escape the Fundament.

Prior to the Hive's emergence in the Fundament, Setak would reach the end of his ten year lifespan and had grown senile, much like the Osmium King before. Called a mad hermit by those at Kaharn, he still held onto what little remained of his sanity, believing that there was still a fragment of hope left for his people to survive the cataclysm that would shortly follow, the Hive.

Serving Auryx

"I live to serve you King Auryx, as I always have.

Then you must take this worm and be reborn.
No longer will you be Setak.
You will be known as.
Shin'ra"

— Auryx offering Setak one of the Worm larvae

Eventually, when the Hive arose from the depths of the Fundament, many tried to flee to Kaharn as a means to escape, Setak among them. However, when the Hive reached Kaharn, many of the proto-species fell to the power of Auryx, Savathûn and Xivu Arath. Being the last survivor and at the height of his madness, Auryx held sympathy for the one who helped his sisters to escape the Helium Drinkers and would offer Setak one of the Worm larvae, which the Osmium Advisor would ingest and take the Maker morph and new name, Shin'ra.

Setak, now Shin'ra, would live to serve Auryx and act as his advisor when invading the rest of the Fundament and its many moons. When Auryx first invaded the Ammonites, he sought amnesty with them. Shin'ra saw this as weakness, allowing Savathûn to kill him. In his time in the Ascendant Plane, Shin'ra made it his mission to conquer the Ammonites and sought to gift the corpse of the Leviathan as tribute to the Worm Gods. He earned a reputation during this campaign one the battlefield with many Darkblades bearing war paint based on Shin'ra's own appearance.

When Auryx returned from death, Shin'ra would learn of the Ascendant Realm from Auryx and its ability to survive death in the mortal plane. Shin'ra would construct a Throne World of his own, the High Forge, seeing it as his vision remaking the universe in his own image. He would take the moniker as the Hive God of Forge, seeking to construct and build new weapons for the Hive to wield in order to conquer the stars.

When the Leviathan fell, Shin'ra would what remained of it into a new form, forming a monstrous Tomb Carrier he would call the Nephilim. He would use the Nephilim to continue his conquests across the universe and return back to the service of Auryx and his sisters.

Greater Truth

Understanding the Deep

"There was a voice in the Deep. One without form as it took that of mine. The Witness. A chorus of the slain made manifest"

— Shin'ra detailing his first encounter with the Witness.

Shin'ra would be present in the Hive's war against the Harmony, destroying their many vessels and successfully conquering their Wishful Bishops compared to Xivu Arath who struggled against them. When Oryx toppled the Gift Mast and offered its pieces to his broods, Shin'ra would take one of these fragments for study. He would use the fragment as a basis for what would later be known as the Weapons of Sorrow, while the shard itself would be known as the Lucent Armament, the basis for the Weapons of Sorrow's antithesis, the Weapons of Hope.

Along with creating the basis of both the Weapons of Sorrow and Hope, he would eventually learn to master the former's corrupting potential, and being the first to fully master the newfound Darkness element, Corruption. He would use this as a means to understand the truth of the Deep, eventually communing with the entity known as the Witness. For an unknown amount of time, the two would discuss their plans for the universe as Shin'ra would declare himself as the Witness' herald and it would instruct him to conquer the species known as the Nadheal and Ussatan.

Fall of the Nadheal

"Acaeleon of the Nadheal proved himself a champion to his people. They in turn were blasphemous and turned against one another against its practice. Acaeleon was one of them who fell to such praxis."

— Shin'ra

The Nadheal were a highly advanced race of bipedal arthropods that were once graced by the Traveler's presence. Their technological prowess exceeded Golden Age Humanity, establishing colonies across their home system and even beyond. Shin'ra made it his mission to corrupt the Nadheal from within, similar to how Savathûn had done to her many victims. Shin'ra would begin to spread the seeds of doubt within the governing body of the Nadheal species by the time the Traveler had left their home world.

His actions would create a death cult under the command of his vassal, Acaeleon. This death cult would begin sacrifices as a means to return the Traveler back to the Nadheal, however this was only a clever rouse by Shin'ra to tithe their deaths to him instead. This death cult would persist through several years as the God of Forge slowly began to reveal himself to Acaeleon, promising to offer a greater power than the Traveler ever could.

Fully under the thrall of the Hive God, Acaeleon would instigate a galactic scale civil war in the Nadheal home system. Their various colonies burned and destroyed and their capital in ruins with all that remained of their civilization forced to live on large cruisers for survival. Even under the control of Shin'ra, Acaeleon doubted his own actions and the destruction of his people. His doubt invoked Shin'ra to appear before him, declaring that he was unworthy of the power he sought to gift. He would then stab the weakened Nadheal with his blackened blade, and the power of the Hive corruption spread throughout his body, leaving it as a shriveling corpse. Shin'ra would have his followers destroy any that remained of the Nadheal people, including their home world.

Destruction of the Ussatan

"The Ussatan were a tribal race, worthy of the logic. Their recantation of it proved to be their undoing."

— Shin'ra refers to the fall of the Ussatan species

The God of Forge would come across another species, the tribal Ussatan. They were known to have worshipped the star of their home system which was their source of sustenance and worshipped it as their god. They were a warrior race separated in tribes and followed a caste system, with the leaders of each tribe being their mightiest warriors.

When Shin'ra descended upon the Ussatan home world, he would blot out the planet from its star, starving the species of their crops and resources produced by the star's light. After several days, he launched Seeder Ships onto the planet to not only destroy the landscape and devastate the tribal homes, but to launch a ground invasion by unleashing the stowed Hive from within the Seeder Ships. The conquest would only last a day as the Ussatan did not last against Shin'ra's strategies and the power the Hive held.

Though his conquests proved a failure, he chose to convene with the Witness and discuss with it their next plan of action. Despite his failure, the Witness addressed that he must stick back to the basics and begin his hunt for what remained of the Leviathans and traitor Worms.

Hunting the Leviathans

"The Leviathans.
They will be hunted down to the very last.
And I will bask in that glorious victory and drink from their blood"

— Shin'ra's command to hunt the Leviathans

During the Hunt of the Leviathans, Shin'ra entrusted some of his own soldiers, which he would emerged to as his Celebrants, to hunt down the Leviathans by plunging into the depths of various worlds to root out any that remained. Many Leviathans would be slaughtered and offered to Shin'ra for tribute to satiate his hunger for the hunt. Their corpses would be molded into his Tomb Carrier, strengthening its defenses and increasing its size exponentially, making it it near unconquerable warship.

His successes with hunting the Leviathans would help to earn the Witness's favor to Shin'ra once again. It believed at that point in time, belibed that the Maker was worthy enough to look after the Darkness progenitor, the Veil. Shin'ra would place the Veil deep within the Nephilim's vaults, believing that its intense Darkness would fortify his ship from the inside, and he could continue his studies of the paracausal.

Studies of the Veil

In various attempts to study the Veil, Shin'ra sought to outright take the information directly from it, leading to grave consequences. In a similar instance to what it would do to the Ishtar Collective centuries later, causing instant brain death to those that made contact with the Veil. In order to properly interface with the paracausal object, Shin'ra developed a "meta concert" of the various Hive minds to be joined together into a singular entity.

The meta concert did come with a great cost, as the joining of minds had released an ontological being that referred to itself as the Scarlet King, later to be revealed as Mallum. The process of the meta concert would merge the unknown biology of Mallum and that of the Hive, inadvertently creating the monstrosities known as the Tarnished. The release of the Tarnished would lead to a war deep within the Nephilim, with many of Shin'ra's own subjects to be converted into the undead servants of the Scarlet King.

In a last ditch effort, Shin'ra would use the Veil and Corruption to conduct one last experiment in order to banish Mallum from the material plane. By using the meta concert of both powers, he would construct a massive spire on top of the region from which the Tarnished began their invasion. The massive energy it conducted would banish the undead Hive within the research facility and Mallum would be cast out into the void, unable to manifest in the material plane. Shin'ra would return the Veil back to the Witness, declaring that he had studied what he could from it and no longer desired its primordial Darkness it exhumed.

Sol Incursions

Initial Intentions

For recompense by unleashing Mallum and the Scarlet King, the Witness would revoke Shin'ra's attempts to enter the Sol System during the events of the Collapse and leave him behind outside of the Sol's borders.

It would only be until the Black Fleet's return to the system that Shin'ra sought to make his move. He would station the Nephilim on the borders of the Kuiper Belt and begin his plans to corrupt the system's denizens with the power of Corruption. He would successfully tempt remnant members of the House of Dusk to board his Tomb Carrier with the roused promise of Corruption.

After the Traveler successfully healed itself and ceased the Witness's efforts to fully consume the Sol System in Darkness, Shin'ra would send of his Wizards and supposed daughter, Ir Naziith to the Cosmodrome to claim the light of the newly risen Guardians. She would act as one of his emissaries to claim control over the Cosmodrome Hive, gaining a reputation towards the newly risen Guardians, who were attempting to scour the region for loot and potential info.

Shin'ra would learn of Naziith's conquests and failures against the Guardians, becoming infuriated after she had failed to call forth more champions to lay siege to Earth and the burning of various broodholds. She would eventually die after being cornered in a final stand and be recalled to Shin'ra's Throne World. There, the Hive God would brand his spawn with the symbol of failure and cast her from his domain, similar to how Oryx did to Crota, to "come home victorious, or die forgotten," declaring that she must make up for her failure in order to return to his court.

Season of Sorrow

Shin'ra would openly reveal himself following the death of the High Celebrant of Xivu Arath and send his High Conjurer, An Irvask to consolidate the Wrathborn in the European Dead Zone and use them as tribute, while he himself met the Hidden Swarm on the Moon to consolidate their forces into the Weavers of Sorrow. The Guardians would learn of An Irvask's plans on Earth, destroy a Wrathborn Walker, and eventually finding the High Conjurer in the Scavenger's Den and killing them.

The Guardians would then locate Shin'ra's congregation on Luna and attempt to put a stop to it. The God of Forge would hold them off by sending some of his elite Hive while he continued to poison the minds of the Hidden Swarm, eventually having to face the Guardians head on. Instead of fighting them, he would taunt the Guardians, declaring that his conquest was inevitable and fleeing from the scene after summoning forth his Seeker.

Even though the Guardians would learn of his plans to consolidate the Sol System Hive, he would continue on with his greater plans at large by sending three members of the Court of Sorrow, Ir Abzûl, the Cryptkeeper, Kramûc, the Huntsman, and Davaj, the Blademaster to the European Dead Zone, the Tangled Shore and the Moon respectively to establish footholds for the Weavers. Afterwards, he would learn of the Guardian's infiltration of the Nephilim and their acquisition of Corruption as their new Darkness element. He would attempt to stop them by sending forth some of his more powerful champions, including skilled users of Corruption. They would eventually fall to the Guardians, angering Shin'ra greatly and began to pull much of his resources to reinforce his commanders for the battles to come.

After Ir Abzûl, Kramûc and Davaj fell to the Guardians, Shin'ra took a last ditch effort decision to command Jirâth to take command of the Weaver's Hive and Taken forces to begin a full on assault on inner Sol. The Guardians would infiltrate the Nephilim to defeat Jirgâth before this plan would come to fruition. There they would meet Shin'ra once again, empowering the Warpriest with more of his power to end the Lightbearer threat. Jirgâth would fail to defeat the Guardians, becoming another victim to their slaughter, forcing Shin'ra to continue his consolidation within his citadel.

Fall of the Maker

Shortly before the Guardians would make their move against the Citadel, Shin'ra would converse with his necromantic priest, Zâtrox, attempting to make a decision on how to properly deal with the Lightbearers. Zâtrox declared that he would put all of his efforts into resurrecting the dead members of the Court in order to reignite the invasion as Shin'ra would hold back the Guardians.

The God of Forge would issue the challenge to the Guardians, beckoning them to enter his citadel within the Nephilim. He would send the defenders of the citadel to hold the Lightbearers off, but they proved themselves to be of little challenge to the Guardians. Upon reaching the pinnacle of the Jade Citadel, Shin'ra would make his stand against the Guardians, pulling them in and out of Ascendant portions of the Nephilim. In the end, Shin'ra would declare his return and his inevitable revenge before suffering his mortal death.

The Guardians would try effortlessly to find the means to enter into Shin'ra's Ascendant Plane, only to learn that there was limited access and only those that Shin'ra trusted are capable of entering it. Even in death, Shin'ra would continue to taunt and torment the Guardians during their escapades across the Nephilim. Though his schemes to resurrect the Court of Sorrow and the attempt to corrupt the Black Garden would be thwarted, Shin'ra's presence would persist.

After the events of Season of Sorrow, the Vanguard would classify Shin'ra as VIP #6942 and SMS-000, along with being a potential threat to Hive reunification following the excommunication of Savathûn from the rest of the Hive. Eris Morn would even consider him to be a potential threat to the Taken Throne and a rival to Xivu Arath herself.

The Subjugated Vault

During the events of the Endless Night, both Eris and Shin sought to investigate further into the depths of the Nephilim, locating the prison of the Subjugated Vault. They would also understand that Shin'ra had reconstituted his physical form to continue his watch over it.

Eris and Shin would send fireteams of Guardians to breach into the Vault to put an end to the suffering brought upon the prisoners by Shin'ra and his followers. While investigating the Vault, they would learn that the prisoners were collected throughout the years and were used as personal entertain for Shin'ra, along with a means to test his own weapons and use their conflict to feed him tribute.

Abhorrent Alliance

Shin'ra, seeking to gather tribute from the Hive Lightbearers of the Lucent Brood from the events of the Lucent War and seeking to build an alliance with the Abhorrent Brood, he would attempt bring the Ghosts of dead Lightbearers from the former in order to create an alliance with the latter. The Abhorrent Brood would assist with constructing a portal into the Maker's Ascendant Realm for Shin'ra himself to bring the tributes of Light to the Hive of the Cosmodrome.

His plans wouldn't be found out until the Hive of the Lucent Brood began to invade the Cosmodrome in order to purify the Light from captured Guardians within the EDZ. Guardians would detect the massive ritual within the depths of the Cosmodrome, initiating a Takedown to end the alliance.

Both forces of the Abhorrent Brood and Weavers of Sorrow would face against the team of Guardians with many of their champions slain in the process. In a final gambit, Shin'ra would send one of his ambassadors to see to it that the alliance was to be completed at all cost as he knew risk if said alliance wasn't to go through. The Guardians would defeat them and the portal was left closed. This failure infuriated the leaders of the Abhorrent Brood that demanded tribute for his failure to offer the Light of dead Hive Lightbearers, from which he promised that they would get what they were owed.

Search for the Relics

Several months after the failed alliance, Shin'ra and his forces were directed by the Witness to assist Eramis and the Old Crews to locate the reliquaries containing the fragments of Nezarec. Hesitant to reclaim the pieces of the Disciple that took his role of the custodian of the Veil, he would direct his forces across the Themis Cluster to find the relics.

He would have his forces invade various pirate hideouts of both Fallen and Cabal and claim at least three relics, containing a finger, an eye and a fang respectively. Forces of the Coalition would take wind of this and locate the invaded hideouts and take out the commanders originally sent by Shin'ra and retake the relics. This deeply angered the Forge God who saw to take vengeance out on Eramis and her Fallen city for the failure, rather than his own Hive.

Hunting Ahsa

When Titan mysteriously returned from Darkness, Shin'ra took it upon himself to investigate its reappearance into Sol himself. He would discover the emergence of one of the last Worms, Ahsa, and sought to capture her to make up for his past failures against the Guardians. He would send his Celebrants across the surface to locate Ahsa, strengthening them with reinforced armor and depth breathing spells to scour the Titanian seas.

While investigating the depths of the New Pacific Arcology, the Celebrants would discover something of great importance, something that Shin'ra must see for himself. Reaching the dark hovel near the depths of Titan, he would discover the corpse of Oryx, the Taken King, still growing but unconscious. He would take this discovery to Xivu Arath, who was outraged at the recent revelation, and sought to take his corpse to be properly buried, only for the forces of the Lucent Brood to crash one of their warships near Oryx's corpse and try to resurrect him with Necromancy and Light of a Ghost and the Guardians successfully taking Oryx's remains to be locked up within one of the Tower's vaults.

Shin'ra would make one of his grander attempts to claim Ahsa's life by having his Celebrants unite to conduct a massive ritual to take her. Xivu Arath would learn about the Forge God's plan, and out of an act of anger for the death of Oryx, she would successfully move Ahsa to a separate ritual site first. Her attempt to take the Proto-Worm would fail, with Shin'ra warning her that if she were to cross him again, he would send his entire army after her within her throne world.

Silver Winged Temple

Prior to Eris' ascension as the God of Vengeance, Shin'ra would take his time to make up for the failure to make the alliance with the Abhorrent Brood and the taking of Ahsa by c stealing power from the Tree of Silver Wings on Io. He would send his most elite servants of the Cult of Unmaking to lay siege to he region and to build what he would call the Temple of Exultation to siphon the Tree of its Light and Darkness. He would appoint Xurgen, a newly joined member of the Cult and the one responsible for killing most of the inhabitants of Io after it was Taken by the Witness, to see to the construction of the Temple.

In a bid to gain more power, and a means to test the strength of the Cult, Shin'ra would bring Io back into Sol in order to get the attention of the Guardians, knowing that their lust for weapons and armor would empower him. As Guardians would break through the defenses of the Temple and kill the Ionian Scourge, Shin'ra would send more members of the Cult, including its leader Storgor, to retake control over the Temple. When the Great Shatterer fell, Shin'ra would openly speak to the Lightbearers, taunting them of their efforts, claiming that their actions would only empower him and declaring that he would continue to send his forces to take back the Temple and claim its empowering Light and Darkness.

Corruption of the Dreaming City

When the Guardians sought to make the fifteenth wish to Riven after the excommunication of Xivu Arath from her throne world, the Forge God would intervene by sending a massive force of the Weavers into the Dreaming City, spreading the influence of Corruption into its halls and the lair of the Ahamkara. His actions would also gain the attention of the Cabal's Golden Legion, who would build massive barricades surrounding the Dreaming City within the Reef, staging the events of the Golden War.

The Forge God would also take this opportunity to claim the remains of Xivu's forces, Taking the dead champions of the War God and claiming Kelgorath as his own to lay siege to the Dreaming City. He would empower Kelgorath with Corruption, using him as the foundation of his plans.

After many weeks of fighting against the Weavers, Golden Legion Cabal and taking down the Cabal flagship, the Guardians of the Last City would begin preparations to end Shin'ra's plans and make the fifteenth wish to the last of the Ahamkara. The Forge God would task Kelgorath to head straight into the heart of the Dreaming City, the Keep of Voices, and use the spire to finish the corruption of the Dreaming City. Breaching into the Keep of Voices, the Guardians would fight against the Corruption empowered Kelgorath and defeat him. Shin'ra would briefly appear before the Guardians, only to be fended off by Mara Sov and the projection of Riven, casting the Forge God back into his throne world, ending his plans for corrupting the Dreaming City.

Disciple's Ascension

Siege of the Last City

As Guardians would begin their final preparations to entire into the Pale Heart, the Witness would task Shin'ra to hold back their efforts in order to complete the Final Shape. From the safety of his throne world, Shin'ra would send his Hive, Taken and House of Salvation Fallen to invade the Last City by using the remaining ships of the Black Fleet that didn’t join the Witness. In the process of tbh is invasion, he would use newly created Taken units like Taken Marauders, Gladiators, Psion Flayers, Vanquishers, Harpies, Cyclopses and Tormentors into the Last City territories. He would also use his Aspects to destroy their defenses.

Despite his failure to destroy the Last City, his efforts were not in vein as the Witness was mere moments before completing the Final Shape. It would commune with Shin'ra and finally ascend him as one of its Disciples. The First Hive Disciple would then join the Witness in the Pale Heart as a means of defense, knowing that the Guardians would soon arrive.

The Final Shape

Despite not appearing before the Guardians in the Pale Heart, he would puppeteer the events from the shadows. His own influence would begin to show his own forces being encountered in the Pale Heart and the appearance of the Templars, Darkblade-like units of the Dread who were once his Celebrants remade in the image of Shin'ra, and would be used in defense of the Witness's strongholds.

Abandoning the Witness

When the Witness was initially excised from three of its dissenting minds, Shin'ra finally took the chance to abandon the Witness and pull his remaining forces and Dread warriors from the Pale Heart. Shin'ra would consolidate his forces deep within the Nephilim, which around the same time, a Ghost by the name of Adrian would investigate the Nephilim and study further effects of the Darkness and its connection to Corruption. As the Guardians searched for the lost Ghost, they would have to go into Warpriest's Keep and hunt down the now resurrected Jirgâth. After finding the whereabouts of Adrian, the Ghost had unintentionally left behind some telemetry that he gathered while exploring the Nephilim. Shin'ra was gathering his forces en masse due to Xivu Arath's excommunication by accumulating and offering her remaining Wrathborn to the Hive Disciple and use that tribute to claim the Hive throne. They would also understand that Shin'ra's forces were trying to locate a device or structure known as the Hadium Forge.

After the Witness's death, the forces of the Last City would rejoice, despite the fact that its death would leave a massive power vacuum in its wake. As its remaining forces would continue on with enacting the Final Shape to their own ends, Shin'ra sought the power that would come from the Witness's death, the Echoes, believing that one alone could be used to enact his own plans for a Final Shape.

Personality and traits

Much like the Oryx and Savathûn, Shin'ra is seen as subtle and confidant in his tactics of conducting war and conquest when compared to Xivu Arath's more bloodthirsty tactics. He actively lets events play out rather than intervene, believing that corruption exists everywhere, even in the most uncommon places. Whenever he does act out on his own accord, he tests those against his own cunning nature, studying the movements of others to determine their next move. The mixture of his cunning and knowledge on war has led him to a multitude of successful sieges across the universe and the vigorous hunts of the Leviathans.

He has also determined that through his connection as the Hive God of Forge, those that conduct war and conquest, they feed him tribute and worship him with the very weapons they wield. He has proven this with his campaigns against the Nadheal and the Ussatan by turning their own weapons against them. He had even claimed that when the Guardians had killed them, they had become his mightiest worshippers and devote students of the Sword Logic. During the events of the Temple of Exultation, he proclaimed to the Guardians that their actions would continue to fuel himself in his future schemes and if they would fail, they would have to suffer the loss of their City by his hands.

His overconfidence however has proven to be one of his weaknesses, as seen in Season of Sorrow, where he believed his power would inevitably lead to the corruption of the Guardians, only for his ambitions to fall short when they managed to channel the dark powers of Corruption for themselves. He would show his desperation for conquest when he tried to assist his Warpriest, Jirgâth, before his own demise. When he had failed, he funneled his resources to Zâtrox's scheme to resurrect the dead Court of Sorrow to reignite the conquest, proving to be yet another failure. He would show his frustrations when the Guardians would assault his forces when they slaughtered his Hive during his communion with the Abhorrent Brood, which caused him to lose not only the alliance, but a great deal of tribute.

Unlike the other ideas of the Final Shape, Shin'ra believes in what is known as Perfection Eternal, a perfect universe where all exist in his own twisted vision of living forever. Despite his nature to conduct war and a Hive, he believes in the anatomical perfection of a separate stillness compared to the Witness's. Because of this, he knew that the Witness's Final Shape was a flawed piece, something that he took note of even before becoming a Hive and how it had manipulated the Krill to kill and devour each other through the Sword Logic and had become blind by the violence of the First Knife.

Gameplay

Seeking the Seeker

Shin'ra is initially seen at the end of the Seeking the Seeker mission where he attempts to rally forces of the Hidden Swarm under his control. He does not attack the player and has a permanent immunity shield. He eventually flees the scene, not before summoning Sorrow's Eye, Seeker for Shin'ra.

The Warpriest

Shin'ra is encountered again at the end of The Warpriest mission where he attempts to empower Jirâth with more corruption. Much like in Seeking the Seeker, he does not attack the player and has a permanent immunity shield. He will eventually flee the scene and escape to the Jade Citadel.

The Sorrow-Maker

Shin'ra serves as the final boss of The Sorrow-Maker mission where his might in combat is shown at full force. Much like Crota, Zulmak and the Leviathan-Eater, he will fire Corruption Blasts at players from a distance. Wielding a Darkblade Axe, to will close in on players and crush them with it at great force. He also has the ability to Shadow Vanish, temporarily dissatisfied and quickly reappear in a different point of the arena, disorienting the players so that he may strike at them. He will occasionally taunt the Guardian and swing his axe upwards, sending a wave of Corruption towards the players, causing massive and lingering damage. He will occasionally summon in Hive and Taken reinforcements to batter down the Guardians while he continues to fight them from a distance.

Once he reaches low health, Shin'ra's helmet will fall off, revealing a Darkblade-like face with the green glow of Corruption flowing through him. He will instantly teleport them into the Ascendant Plane and will change tactics by charging at the players and slamming his axe at them, leaving lingering pools of Corruption behind him. There he will exclusively summon in Cleaver wielding Knights and Taken Knights to back him up until he dies.

Takedown in the Forged Pyramid

(See Takedown in the Forged Pyramid Walkthrough: Shin'ra, the Forge Master for full gameplay)

Trivia

• Shin'ra's name is likely derived from Shinra Myōjin (Japanese: 新羅明神), a Buddhist god associated with the Jimon branch of Tendai, a school of Japanese buddhism.
• It is possible that the Shin'ra himself is one of the Disciples of the Witness due to his strong connection and influence with the Black Fleet as seen with the shackled servants of the Witness.
  • In Into the Light, he would eventually be elevated as a Disciple by prolonging the Guardians from entering the Pale Heart of the Traveler, further proving his status among the Witness's forces.
• While he knows much of the history of the Hive, Shin'ra however does not know the origins of Wizard and sees her as an anomaly in the Hive history.

Gallery

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  The Inquisition's Hammer

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  Concept art of a Black Fleet altered mace being grabbed by Shin'ra

List of appearances

• Destiny 2: Beyond Light (First mentioned)
  • Season of Sorrow (First appearance)
  • Season of the Splicer (Voice only)
  • Season of the Lost (Voice only)
  • Season of the Risen (Mentioned only)
  • Season of Plunder (Mentioned only)
  • Season of the Deep (Voice only)
  • Season of the Witch (Voice only)
  • Season of the Wish
  • Into the Light (Mentioned only)
  • The Final Shape (Mentioned only)
  • Episode: Heresy (Mentioned only)
  • Episode: Dread
  • Episode: Rebirth (Voice only)
  • Veil of Deimos (Mentioned only)