Forum:Kelgorath, Risen from Bones

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Kelgorath, the Undeterred
Biographical information
Other name(s):	Failed Chisel of Xivu Arath Hammer of Shin'ra Maker's Hand
Species:	Hive Taken (formerly)
Faction:	Hidden Swarm (formerly) Wrathborn (formerly) Xivu Arath's Horde (formerly) Weavers of Sorrow
Rank:	Ascendant Hive Ultra
Class:	Knight
Combat information
Mission:	TBA
Weapon(s):	Cleaver
Abilities:	Summon Taken Summon Blight Summon Hive High Durability Rapid Movement Teleportation Immunity Shield Lingering Corruption

"No more am I the Failed Chisel of Xivu Arath. I am no longer to be the pawn of a War God in her grand schemes to reshape death. I am now to be the Hammer of Shin'ra."

— Kelgorath

Kelgorath, the Undeterred formerly Risen from Bones and Taken from Bones, is a Hive Knight of the Weavers of Sorrow. Tired of being used as Xivu Arath's chisel to be reborn or remade, he would be given the chance to make a new path under Shin'ra, the Sorrow-Maker and serve the Weavers of Sorrow with powers of Corruption.

Biography

Warring Allegiances

A Knight from the Hidden Swarm, Kelgorath built an esteemed reputation as the champion of death and was led by the surviving bloodlines of Crota. When the Hive suffered the losses of Oryx and Crota, many turned to Savathûn, the Witch Queen for aid. This changed with the arrival of the Black Fleet as Savathûn's interference forced her into hiding. In her absence, Xivu Arath sent her High Celebrant to the Moon to unify and consolidate the Scarlet Court into her image. However, the Warlock Osiris intercepted and slew the surviving descendants of Crota.

When Kelgorath learned the news of their deaths, he became disenchanted with the Witch Queen and one night renounced her as a heretic. He felt she was weak for allowing their deaths and his loyalty to his brood wavered. Kelgorath traveled to the depths of the Hellmouth to remove the scarlet coloring off his chitin and ground his flesh against the jagged serration beds. He found a new purpose by devoting himself to Xivu Arath after the Hive God and her Celebrant trapped Osiris with Hive runes and avenged their deaths by killing Sagira and stripping the Warlock's Light. This fueled Kelgorath with an insatiable drive for vengeance and his new path for war sought to eliminate all traces of the heretic Witch Queen.

He began a new life as a Wrathborn and relentlessly pursued the many enemies of Xivu Arath. In one instance, he battled a Guardian who managed to kill him numerous times. However, death was unable to end the Knight as he rose again through battle and was reborn. Nothing was able to escape his grasp, and Kelgorath finally slew the Guardian and gifted its empty Ghost core to defecting Scarlet Wizards.

In another tale, Kelgorath hunted an Awoken Techeun through the Ley Lines for three days. The fearful Techeun radiated a stench of fear that allowed the Knight to track her down and corner her. In desperation, the Techeun collapsed the Ascendant Plane onto him through her magic which resulted in his death. Kelgorath re-emerged in his next life with newfound determination to not be fooled again by her trick. When he confronted the Techeun a final time, the Awoken Witch mocked the Knight by saying he still bore the scarlet flecks on his chitin flesh and belittled him for abandoning his Witch Queen so quickly. Kelgorath, angered by her words, ripped off the crystal implanted on the Techeun's forehead and added it to his collection of war trophies.

He then gathered these ornaments of conquests and built a shrine; deep within the Ascendant Plane, from the bones of his foes to direct his tribute and worship to Xivu Arath. As Soulfire vanished from the ground, Kelgorath placed his head against his shrine and smudged a bloodied sigil of his new Hive God to show his devotion to war. The sky around him began to churn as Kelgorath inhaled the first breath of his new life. As he prepared to face his adversary, he glanced at the trinkets of his conquests and recollected his journey from killing the Guardian and Techeun to renouncing the Witch Queen. Still determined to eliminate any traces of the heretic sister, Kelgorath wanted to make an example of his adversary, Hurdru, as they still showed loyalty towards Savathûn. Through battle, he would confirm his allegiance to Xivu Arath and through blood, he would don her image of war and be one step closer to erasing Savathûn.

Hunting the Witch Queen

Kelgorath's first battle against the Guardian.

After pledging his loyalty as a servant of the God of War, Kelgorath led a raid on Titan after it had been absorbed by the Witness' power. Commanding a legion of Acolytes and Thralls, he slaughtered the remaining forces of Savathûn's Brood on the moon. Afterwards, he would offer the new conquest to Xivu Arath, using a ritual in which several Acolytes sacrifice themselves to invoke the God of War. She would accept her new servant and, as a reward, brought back to life Kudazad, Binder of Savathûn, a Wizard of Savathûn whose skull had been left adrift in the waves of Titan and used in the ritual.

When the Hive learned of Savathûn's ambition to remove her Worm, Xivu Arath ordered Kelgorath to pursue her heretic sister through the Dreaming City. The Guardian was also in pursuit of Savathûn for other reasons and entered the Ascendant Plane to bypass the Hive barricades, however, Crow informed them a Wrathborn was nearby. Kelgorath emerged from an Ascendant Portal and dueled against his new adversary with his Hive Cleaver. As the Guardian inflicted damage against Kelgorath, he gained an immunity shield thanks to Taken Shield Weavers. The Guardian turned the tide by defeating the Wizards and Kelgorath.

Later, Kelgorath rose again and undid his death. Xivu Arath commanded the Knight to steal Ager's Scepter from the Dozmary Vault. Mara Sov sensed that Xivu's minions would want the weapon for themselves and ordered the Guardian to secure it. As the Guardian was about to make their exit, Kelgorath re-emerged to confront them alongside Hive pillagers. Learning from the mistake of his past battle, Kelgorath armed himself with a Splinter and engaged the Guardian from afar. He also recruited more Hive reinforcements to outnumber the Guardian. However, this was not enough and Kelgorath was once again slain in battle.

Exorcism

Kelgorath's assault against the ritual spire.

Months after this, on the day of the ritual to exorcise Savathûn's Worm, Xivu Arath deployed Kelgorath, who had once again risen from death, to the Dreaming City alongside her brood in a final effort to capture her sister. Mara, who had anticipated an attack, called upon the Guardians to fend off the God of War's forces. After Kruutiks and Kholks had been laid low, Xivu Arath, in an act of desperation, ordered her Wrathborn champion to attack the Ritual Spire and prevent the exorcism at all costs. Now donning new armor and wielding a Boomer, Kelgorath entered the Spire through the Ascendant Plane and battled the Guardians, alongside hordes of Hive reinforcements. He would even summon large masses of Taken energy in order to wipe out his enemies. However, this would all be in vain as he could not match the power of the Lightbearers and would be once again defeated.

Darkblade of War

Kelgorath's attempt to lay siege to Mars

"CLAIM MARS; POSSESS THE WARMIND"

— Xivu Arath.

After his failings at the Dreaming City, Kelgorath would face judgment from Xivu Arath's soulfire projection at an invocation ceremony on Mars. An ornately adorned Wizard presided over the communal ceremony as they offered up his broken blade upon a ritual altar having failed the Knight multiple times. Despite his failure to prevent the exorcism or the Witch Queen's escape, Xivu Arath still found Kelgorath of use to her; enough to have his Cleaver reforged into a giant Hive Axe and giving him the title of Darkblade. For his first task given his new position, Xivu orders the Darkblade Knight to claim Mars and possess the Warmind's network.

The Darkblade would lead the Hive God's forces to Hellas Basin which was trapped in the past via a time slip, where they staked their claim over BrayTech Futurescape and the Mindlab containing the submind of Charlemagne. Though Kelgorath guarded the vault dutifully with his minions tithing to him, he would be forced to fight a fireteam of Guardians seeking access to the vault's data; the very same Guardians who defeated him in the Dreaming City. Despite his newly acquired power, Kelgorath fell to the Guardians one more; allowing them access to the vault before reinforcements could arrive. After the battle, the Guardians recovered what remained of Kelgorath's weapon: a Darkblade core that the Häkke Weapon Foundry would craft into a newly forged Glaive.

Taken by War

Taken from Bones stalks his victims on Titan.

"KELGORATH! TAKEN FROM BONES, CHISELED BY LOSS... RISE... A TEST OF METTLE!"

— Xivu Arath.

Following another humiliation at the hands of the Guardians, Kelgorath brought himself to a broken court of the High Celebrant where he would be taunted by the wizard, Rakthrin, War-Council, a member of Xivu Arath's War-Council. Remembering how he once served the Witch Queen, Rakthrin mocked him on how he could've found greatness had he still served the Witch Queen even as she turned over to the Light which angered Kelgorath who refused, wishing to continue his service to Xivu Arath with renewed vigor. Pleased with this, Rakthrin used her magic to crack the court's altar, revealing an emerald sliver of a blade, a piece of the Taken King's very own sword Willbreaker. Transfixed on the blade shard, Kelgorath agreed to Rakthrin's union, thereby allowing himself to be Taken, earning the new title Taken from Bones.

With his new form and power, Kelgorath would be sent by Xivu Arath to corrupt the egregore coral the Guardians are seeking to collect for their ongoing mission in helping Deputy Commander Sloane in strengthening her connection to the proto-worm Ahsa. During Operation Fulgurite, the Taken Kelgorath would stalk Sloane as the fireteam worked to collect the coral, but she fought him off; leading him to eventually confront the Guardians once more. Despite Kelgorath's persistence, power and being encouraged by Xivu Arath herself, the Guardians prevailed, slaying the Taken Knight once more and allowing them to collect the egregore coral.

Corrupted Rebirth

"I was sent back to my scrap of land, where I met someone of untold strength and power. They offered me new strength, one in which I would use to conquer my shrine to the God of War."

— Kelgorath.

After his death on Titan, Kelgorath would be sent screaming into his scrap of land within the Ascendant Plane. He would find himself freed of the Taken corruption as he stood before Shin'ra, the Sorrow-Maker, who admired the shrine that the wrathful Knight made in honor to Xivu Arath. He would offer Kelgorath the choice, to take in the power of Corruption, or to be cast into the endless abyss of the Ascendant Plane and die his final death. Emboldened by this choice, he would take the power of Corruption and declared that he was no longer to be the chisel of Xivu Arath, rather the Hammer of Shin'ra, proceeding to shatter the shrine with the power he was granted by the Maker.

Shin'ra would employ Kelgorath, now the Undeterred, to make a last stand against the Guardians during the Golden War by corrupting the heart of the Dreaming City within the Keep of Voices as a means to corrupt the city itself. Kelgorath would unleash the full power of Corruption granted to him by the Maker onto the Guardians, only to fall due to his own negligence and misuse of Corruption. Shin'ra would take note of Kelgorath's failure to corrupt the Dreaming City, but he held other plans for his new champion.

List of appearances

• Destiny 2: Season of the Wish (First appearance)
  • Into the Light