Red Legion

Red Legion

Red Legion
Overview
Objectives:	Elite Special Forces World Destroyers Lead and expand the Cabal Empire Become wielders of the Light (formerly)
Commander(s):	Dominus Ghaul Consul Thumos, the Unbroken Bracus Zahn Primus Cal'aug Val Ca'uor Valus Thuun Kargen, the Technocrat The Psion Flayer Sisters Empress Caiatl
Keep(s):	The Almighty Firebase Hades Terrabase Charon Excavation Site VII
Deployed:	European Dead Zone Arcadian Valley Echo Mesa Fields of Glass Hellas Basin Meridian Bay Tangled Shore Venus
At war with:	Vanguard Rasputin Loyalists (formerly) House of Dusk House of Spider Sol Collective Precursors Descendants Savathûn's Brood Grasp of Nokris Mindbent Hive Xivu Arath's Horde Taken Scorn Wrathborn Lucent Brood
Allied with:	Imperial Cabal Loyalists Shadow Legion Psion Conclave

Blood Guard

Blood Guard
Overview
Objectives:	Protect Imperial Cabal leadership Enforce the Red Legion
Commander(s):	Thumos, the Unbroken
Keep(s):	Orobas Vectura The Immortal The Almighty†
Deployed:	European Dead Zone, Earth The Last City, Earth Arcadian Valley, Nessus The Leviathan (briefly) Sundial, Mercury Cosmodrome, Earth Rathmore Chaos, Europa

"Rumors mostly. They're elite. Ruthless. And rumor is, they've never known defeat."

— Ikora Rey

The Red Legion is an elite Cabal Legion once led by Dominus Ghaul. They were the main antagonist for Destiny 2: Red War, who invaded Earth seeking to claim the Traveler as their own.

In the aftermath of the Red War, the Legion would fracture into splinter groups under various leaders such as Val Ca'uor, Valus Thuun, The Psion Flayer Council and also see the return of Emperor Calus, their former emperor who aims to recruit them into his Loyalist regime along with his daughter, Empress Caiatl who seeks to see the Legion rise and march once more.

History

The Ghost Primus

The Ghost Primus, Dominus Ghaul

"The Ghost Primus was strong because of his disfigurement, not in spite of it. He alone had the vision to share my dream of a new, perfect world. Ghaul was a creature of singular beauty, and I loved him."

— Emperor Calus

Emperor Calus impressed by a young gladiator Ghaul, would appoint him to Primus of the Red Legion to better use his talents. Due to his albinism, Ghaul quickly became known as the Ghost Primus. Ghaul quickly became indispensable to the Emperor not only for his skill in battle but also his wisdom. Ghaul soon found himself as the right hand of Calus, who would often discuss his plans and ideas with Ghaul to refine them and temper the Emperor's passion with discipline.

As his command over the Red Legion grew, the Legion became more loyal to Ghaul over their emperor. This growing support enabled Ghaul to launch a successful coup against Emperor Calus, with the Red Legion accompanying him to arrest Calus and sending him and his supporters into exile inside The Leviathan.

A New Empire

"Ghaul has even disfigured the peoples' minds. He has dismembered the Cabal of its foreign influences, teaching the people a pit fighter's gruesome self-sufficiency. Weapons only a grunt can understand. Language that can only be barked through a battlenet."

— Councilor Match

With the Red Legion in control of The Cabal Empire, Ghaul titled himself Dominus and declared himself the leader of a new Cabal regime where there would be no more emperors and where everyone could attain greatness if they worked hard for it. Under his direction, the Cabal militarized and became a conquering, expansionist empire, and the Praetorate regained little of the power it had held before Calus, although the Consul remained Ghaul's advisor. Ghaul eliminated much of the decadence of the Empire in favor of perfecting the Cabal into what he viewed as an ideal war-driven form. Knowing that Calus remained alive and a potential threat to his rule, Ghaul took steps to hide his movements from the exiled Emperor to keep his plans secret.

Likewise, the Red Legion during the Empire's complete reconstruction became a Naval powerhouse. Under Ghaul and Umun'arath's command, the entire Cabal naval doctrine, predominantly that of the Red Legion shifted to an adaptive, dispensable, and swarm tactic stratagem. Cruisers described as "beautiful deterrents of Calus' armada" had been stripped down nearly completely into "hasty and crude" Frigates and Carriers (According to Loyalists). These new Cabal warships were made to be expendable, quickly produced, and used in unison, specifically in brutal broadside, point-blank exchanges with Hive Spacecraft. War Fleets now suckled fuel from enormous carriers and operated as groups instead of the "proud, independent" cruisers of Calus' old Empire. Much of this extreme shift of doctrine was pushed by the rim wars of the Cabal against the Hive which, as described by Councilor Match "leave no time or space for elegant vector dances" when facing the Hive's innate slip-space abilities. Despite this doctrine being best suited against Hive, the Red Legion stuck by it as their key naval principle and seemed to never greatly change it.

It should be noted, however, that either a few of Calus' cruisers presumably survived conversion and had been utterly retrofitted into grand Capital ships, or the Red Legion made some exceptions and constructed much larger battlecruisers that served as juggernauts for orbital bombardment and stuck out like sore thumbs amongst the new Cabal Fleets. One such example of these Capital ships is the Retribution.

The conversion of the Empire was not just limited to discarding decadence and the old naval doctrines. Conversion of the Empire to Ghaul and the Red Legion's new regime spread to the Athenaeum Worlds. Formerly sites where citizens, primarily artisans and thinkers, would travel to be inspired by "alien wonders from across and beyond the Cabal." These worlds were shut and closed off in the Legion and Ghaul's reign. The worlds of the Cabal Empire were radically transformed. Wondrous inventions of the old became replaced by grim weaponry and militant architecture. Great gardens and flora of the Cabal's worlds were removed to pave the way for an industrial expanse. Almost all of the properties that Calus had instilled were being dissolved. Emperors to Domini. Opulence to martial grit. Cruisers to swarms of frigates. Gardens to factories.

Galactic Campaigns

A Red Legion Cabal Fleet

"Before you, the Red Legion had never been defeated in battle."

"[They have] subjugated hundreds of worlds. Those that resisted... no longer exist."

— Osiris and Deputy Commander Sloane on the Red Legion

In some of the Legion's earliest campaigns under Ghaul, the Dominus had employed the use of Psions amongst the Legion to mask his fleets from the Hive in his conquest of their War moons on the fringe of Cabal space to ensure a "buffer" against invasion.

One of the better documented and most important of ("presumably") the Red Legion's campaigns involved one of the Empire's client species, the Clipse. Living amongst a harsh and xenocidal environment, the Clipse had been brutally forced to change, very similar to the conversion experienced by the Cabal, to a martial and war-driven race. Seeking security in the fallout of the Midnight Coup, Ghaul sent a fleet towards the Clipse homeworld to secure their loyalty and "win" the centuries-old conflict that had long tormented the toiling Clipse. The contingent of the legion in their occupation and assistance of the Clipse quickly discovered, however, that the only way the harsh ecosystem would involve taking the planet with it. Attempts at utterly terraforming and transforming the Planet's climate were all botched and only poisoned the world and Clipse further. Toxic shock attacks and "clear and hold" tactics repeated, again and again, proved futile as even though the legion and Clipse could fend off the threat - they could not stop or reverse it. Despite a century's worth of effort expended by this detachment, the operation was considered "no longer essential to the strategic security of the empire" by Ghaul and the contingent abandoned the Clipse. The Clipse would remain loyal to Ghaul to the bitter end, trying to earn his favor back by attempting to best Calus and the Leviathan when they appeared. Although many Clipse would eventually be taken into arcologies, their homeworld would be obliterated by its moon, Kaga-Clipse's guns.

Sometime following the conversion of the Empire, Ghaul and the Red Legion had constructed a titanic vessel comparable to a moon in length and utter size. This vessel, which would become known as the Almighty, became the centerpiece of all Cabal Fleets along with the crown jewel of the Red Legion. It was seen as an immense engineering feat by the Cabal and held to an almost zealous or holy stature. The loss of the Almighty would be as impactful if not more impactful than the loss of Ghaul.

The Red Legion would go on to conquer hundreds of worlds at Ghaul's orders, deploying the Almighty against those who refused to surrender. Though the vast majority of these wars and campaigns are undocumented, it is known one such assault occurred as close as the Trappist system. In most of these campaigns, the Red Legion sought any and all information on the Traveler.. They were said to have never once failed.

Many military parades, celebrations and ceremonies of countless victories were held by the Red Legion on Torobatl. One such ceremony would be interrupted by Calus's Shadow assassin Rull, who would eliminate Iska'al of Fantor and Aedile Moli Imoli before perishing at Ghaul's hands after pursuing the Everjoy. In the days immediately before the Red Legion set out to the Solar System to wipe out the Guardians, Calus deployed his Shadows to assassinate the various conspirators behind the coup that deposed him. While the Shadows succeeded in eliminating nearly everyone on Calus's hit list except Caiatl, Umun'arath, Otzot, The Consul and Dominus Ghaul, none of them survived their mission. Although they succeeded in infiltrating Ghaul's vessel, the Shadows perished one by one against overwhelming odds. Nohr slaughtered three hundred of Ghaul's best warriors with her bladed shield before facing off against the Dominus himself. She was the last Shadow standing, and Ghaul killed her, much to the grief of Calus.

Preluding the Red War, it was discovered that, with the assistance of the Skyburners, the Red Legion had figured out how to drain the paracasual properties of the Traveler after rugged research and intel taken from the Hive Dreadnaught. With this information combined with the years Ghaul had already studied of it and "the worlds it had touched", the Red Legion was able to fulfil its goals and construct a cage device that could extract the Light from the Traveler and bestow it upon others. This valuable information, along with the schematics to the Cage would be stored onboard the Almighty.

The Red War

Red Legion attacks the Last City

"I command Legions. Conquered worlds. Waged war across the galaxy to prove my worth. I alone am worthy of the Traveler's Light."

— Dominus Ghaul.

Upon receiving a distress call from the Skyburners, the Legion prepared an attack against the Last City on Earth. Psion Operatives managed to compromise the city's outer sensors, defenses, and outposts to conceal their presence. Using this to their advantage, they launched a successful invasion on the Last City while attacking other places like the Reef. The Legion would cripple the Last City and devastate the Guardians by using the Traveler Cage to suppress the Traveler's light. In attacking the City, Ghaul sought to show the Traveler the error of its ways in choosing humanity over the Cabal and establish a new order of Cabal Guardians from within the ranks of his own species.

Following the attack, the Red Legion began to quickly spread everywhere in the Solar System. On Nessus, they launched a mining campaign lead by Primus Cal'aug to harness the Vex technology of the planet. On Io, they attempted to drain Io of its abnormal Light which accidentally summoned the Taken, forcing them to abandon many dig sites as they fought. On Mars the remaining Legions gathered at Meridian Bay for one final assault and the Red Legion led the charge. The stalemate was broken, the Vex Virgo Prohibition was destroyed, Bastion retaken, and the Gate to the Black Garden was disabled, even on Venus. On Mercury the now-Lightless Titan Sunbreakers were destroyed. They had even assault the Reef after having imposed the Broken Legion lead by Valus Trau'ug as a trojan horse.

With their security being lax, and Ghaul being preoccupied with wanting to understand the Traveler, their greatest weapon, The Almighty, was disabled by a Guardian. This led to a full-on attack on the Red Legion-occupied City by more Guardians, spearheaded by the Vanguard. With pressure mounting and his temper boiling over, Ghaul murdered the Consul, who criticized his obsession and went to take the Light to become a Lightbearer himself. For a short while, after he fought the Guardian, Ghaul ascended into a massive figure of pure Light just as the Traveler awoke, who smote the Dominus once and for all. Even in its aftermath, Red Legion weapons are used in Shaxx's Crucible to help train new Guardians.

Ghaul's death and the Legion's defeat at the City did not substantially hinder their war machine, and Guardians took to the fronts of the Legion's operations across the Solar System.

System Conflicts

Red Legion fighting alongside Bracus Zahn

"The Cabal used to be those cranky jerks out on Mars. Now their warmachine is all over Earth. Someday we'll get them out of the system. Right?"

— The Ghost

Having regained their Light and secured victory against Ghaul, the Guardians started attacking the Legion more aggressively within the European Dead Zone. Their actions involve instigating a skirmish with the House of Dusk Fallen, directing the Taken assault on the EDZ toward the Legion, and thwarting the Psions' attempts to harnessing Taken power. On top of that, Firebase Hades was subjected to the Guardians' repeated assaults, including sabotage of their anti-air defences, explosive charges, electrical systems, and supply of Organogel.

The Guardians had also targeted Bracus Zahn, an infamous Cabal weaponsmith and arms dealer employed by the Legion. Wanted for arming the Legion with his illicit weaponry that killed dozens of refugees, Suraya Hawthorne and Cayde-6 instruct the fireteam to infiltrate Firebase Hades and trace the Bracus' whereabouts to Echion Vae. Having occupied the carrier after Thumos' death, Zahn rallies the Legion along with his lieutenants to engage the fireteam as he tactically retreats to the roof of the warship. He called down air support for aid in his final confrontation but meets his end.

On Nessus, the Red Legion had been excavating the surface for Vex technology to weaponize. Their efforts unearthed the ancient Vex Mind Protheon, Modular Mind deep within the Inverted Spire, with which they could harness its unique shielding technology. However, a fireteam of Guardians manages to breach into the Legion's dig sites and destroy Protheon before they had a chance to capture it.

After Ghaul's death, the Red Legion received transmissions from the desposed Emperor Calus, offering them the chance to join his Loyalist regime aboard the Leviathan. Several elements of the Legion were sent on missions to collect geological data on the planet itself, which the Guardians had intercepted and killed.

Following the events of the Red War, leadership began to fracture with the death of Ghaul and several senior Primus and Valus personnel having been hunted and killed by Guardians in the ensuing aftermath. The line of succession eventually fell to Val Ca'uor, who quickly established himself as the new leader of the Red Legion. Rather than return to Torobatl in disgrace, the newly appointed leader arranged to have the Legion's arsenal restocked and their strength rebuilt. To capitalize on the limited Guardian presence at the time, Ca'uor deployed Red Legion forces to Mercury to harness Vex technology and Mars to siphon ample energy.

Restocking their Arsenal

Kargen and Red Legion engaging a Guardian

"The Dominus was a strong leader, but the Red Legion had more to offer than simply overwhelming force... They think us weak and insipid. I will show them the might of the Red Legion, and they shall not forget."

— Val Ca'uor

After the Almighty's sabotage, Cabal survivors occupied the Fields of Glass on the unbroken surface of Mercury where they would engage the forces of the Vex and later the Guardians.

Early on in the campaign of the Red War, Valus Thuun led a Cabal excursion into the vast alternate realities of the Infinite Forest. Coming close to the map of the Forest, Thuun and his forces would become trapped in an endless combat loop by the Vex and killed by Guardians on repeat. A glitch in the loop had also duplicate copies of the Red Legion which threaten to escape the forest, forcing the Guardians to push back against them.

While the polar caps had recently been thawed by the Traveler's reawakening, the Red Legion made a push to establish a foothold over Hellas Basin despite the Hive presence of the Grasp of Nokris. Cabal forces led by Bracus Talurn attempted to occupy BrayTech Futurescape but were immediately dispatched by The Guardian and Ana Bray.

The Red Legion would attempt several operations against Rasputin and the Bray facility. It includes a raid orchestrated by Val Palusk to steal power from BrayTech Futurescape into batteries to smuggle. Their efforts would only incur the Guardians to strike back with an ambush to kill Palusk and disrupt their supply chain. Meanwhile, a group of Psions would make a failed attempt to evolve into Flayers by stealing power from Rasputin's nodes, to which their efforts were thwarted by Guardians as well. All of these attempts at stealing from Mars and Rasputin came to a head under the command of Commander Truvul who led a heist to steal data fragments that could grant the Red Legion Rasputin's Omnikey. The operation along with Truvul himself and his two subordinate Val's was decimated and vanquished.

Meanwhile, Cabal forces led by Kargen, the Technocrat launched an incursion into the Insight Terminus on Nessus, which serves as a Vex installation of great interest to the Psion Flayer. Having hacked the Vex's gate network, Kargen's attempt to steal Vex data with an OXA Machine prototype would only be thwarted by another Guardian fireteam that killed the Psion and his forces in cold blood.

War's End

Val Ca'uor invades the Leviathan

"I will take the Leviathan for the Red Legion. The great machine is a weapon of the Cabal, and if Calus holds no allegiance to his people, then he is not worthy to wield it."

— Val Ca'our

Faced with countless setbacks by the Guardians, Ca'uor would lead the Red Legion in a final push aimed to commandeer The Leviathan from Calus, to whom he loathed for being envious of Ghaul. Ca'uor launched a massive Red Legion fleet against the Emperor and his Loyalists, where his forces pushed into the Spire of Stars at the top of the Leviathan itself.

Following Val Ca'uor's invasion, Emperor Calus ordered an unsanctioned Guardian Raid team to repel the Red Legion, offering further riches and rewards for their success. The Guardians heeded the exiled emperor's call and ascended the Leviathan's spire, just as the acting commander destroyed one of Calus's robotic proxies. Upon confronting Ca'uor, the Guardians engaged the Red Legion's elite forces to prevent them from taking control of the Leviathan. Using the Leviathan's own formidable weapons, the Guardians managed to decimate the Red Legion fleet blockading the Spire and killing the Val in a climactic battle. In the wake of losing the majority of their fleet, their ground forces, and their leader, the Red Legion was forced to withdraw in disgrace. Ca'uor's death would officially mark the effective end of the Red War. It would later be found out this Raid was unauthorized by the Vanguard and solely Guardians heeding Calus and Calus alone.

It would appear despite the Guardians' intervention, a vast amount of Loyalists had been killed as every proceeding encounter on the Leviathan with the Loyalists afterwards would show far fewer Cabal members.

A Scattered Legion

Ghalak the Forge Warden battling the Guardians

"You left the Cabal scattered after the Red War. Reef scooped some up. They took your Tower? You took their Dignity."

— The Drifter

With all their major operations thwarted and the death of Ca'uor, the Red Legion was left without any centralized leadership. Their forces became disjointed and scattered across the corners of the system, including the Reef. Awoken forces had even captured several remnants and imprisoned them within the Prison of Elders, until Variks, the Loyal inadvertently released them in a massive breakout. Red Legion forces having previously occupied Reef territory could also be found in the Tangled Shore, where Kaniks, the Mad Bomber would play them against a vengeance-seeking Guardian during their hunt.

The Red Legion would also find themselves pawns of the Drifter where dozens of Cabal were lured into Gambit matches for slaughter by Guardians. In the aftermath of one of their matches in the Emerald Coast, a surviving Psion had called in reinforcements with the radio of his fallen Colossus superior. The new line of Cabal soldiers demand that the Drifter surrender his weapons and ship immediately, only for him to turned the tables by summoning an army of Taken Primevals which decimate their numbers, including a Harvester.

Despite their losses, several holdouts of Red Legion Cabal still possessed spoils of war from their initial conquest of the City. This includes a Forge scavenged from the Black Armory that they stashed away at Smidur's Cavern in the EDZ. Their attempts to weaponize their Cabal arsenal with its experimental phase radiance technology were met with Guardians looking to reclaim the forge for Ada-1, killing Ghalak the Colossus, Forge Warden in the process.

In addition to their disheveled state, the fractured Red Legion began splintering out into groups lead by different Cabal warlords such as Garut Gra'am who rooted themselves in Trappers Cave. One of these groups, the Unbowed Legion led by three Cabal warlords, would be drawn to the European Aerial Zone during the Guardians' annual Solstice of Heroes event where they are eliminated by the participating fireteam. Another Red Legion battalion led by two Bond Sisters were also killed during the same event.

Meddling with Time

Ozletc battling the Guardians

"The past and future are at our fingertips, sisters. Let us see what prospects they hold."

— Ozletc, the Sky Piercer

While the Red Legion was left scattered, Psions within their rank-and-file began pursuing their own goal of reestablishing their civilization freed of Cabal influence. A council of the Legion's Psion Flayers consisting of Niruul, the Hollow Voice, Ozletc, the Sky Piercer and Tazaroc, the Sun Eater would embark to Mercury on an expedition to the Infinite Forest pursuing a simulated future free of their oppressors. Instead, they discovered and later commandeered Osiris' time-traveling Sundial, which was used to split Mercury into a temporal rift that threatened to span beyond the planet and throughout the Sol system.

Amidst the different alternating timelines in each past, present and future iterations, the Red Legion's operations were multifaceted within the Sundial with many ranging from seeking to close the Infinite Forest, grind the Traveler to a pulp, and steal more information from the Vex. In their operations, the Red Legion even managed to utilize Osiris' own bypass signatures to crack further into the Vex than ever before. In some timelines, the Red Legion had stolen Light from the Traveler and offered the bulk of it to Calus, seemingly in a way to buy their way back into the Empire. Though the Psion Flayer council managed to create a border realm for themselves to pursue a timeline that suited all their goals, the Guardians would effectively ruin their plans. One by one, the Psion sisters would each face the Guardians and be defeated, resulting in the collapse of every timeline they created. After weeks of their time-spanning operations being thwarted, the three sisters, driven to desperation, used their vast psionic powers to merge themselves into a single being, Inotam, Oblivion's Triune and face the Guardians one last time. As a final gamble should they fall, they entrusted Amtec, the youngest of the council, with the duty of enacting their vengeance upon the Guardians that would end their schemes. Despite Inotam's vast powers, the Guardians would nonetheless prevail against her, thwarting the sisters' efforts to subvert time.

Almighty Crisis

The Almighty crashing into the Last City

"The Red Legion has one last play. They've boarded their superweapon the Almighty. And it's on the move."

— Commander Zavala

After their crippling defeat at the Sundial, Amtec gathered what remaining Red Legion forces she could to act upon her sisters' vengeance in one final desperate ploy: sending the Almighty on a collision course with the Last City itself. Despite the efforts of Zavala and Ana Bray clearing the ship of Cabal, the Red Legion had effectively disabled the ship's navigation and propulsion systems to prevent any attempt from veering off its intended course. Amtec's fate afterwards also remains unclear.

With little to no choice, the Vanguard decide to cooperate with the Warmind Rasputin, with Guardians rearming his arsenal, to save their home from destruction. This would kickstart the Almighty Crisis as the Guardians had only weeks to prepare before the calamity arrived. Meanwhile, remnants of the Red Legion took the opportunity to raid upon the newly active Seraph Bunker in the EDZ for weeks, plundering it of its Golden Age tech to stash in secret Lost Sector caches despite the Guardians' attempts to thwart them. The Cabal were also drawn to the Seraph Towers during their activity in attempts to steal its polarity charges.

Despite the Legion's efforts, however, the Almighty was ultimately destroyed by Rasputin merely moments as it reached orbit with Earth, resulting in Amtec's plot ending in a total failure for the Red Legion.

Heir Apparent

"The Red Legion will march again."

— Caiatl

Despite the huge loss surmounted over the years, including losing the Almighty, remains of the Legion still operate. Several groups of Cabal are shown drawn to the Pyramid Scales deployed by the Pyramid on Io and interfering with the Guardians' operations to secure the Darkness they inject into the environment.

As for their current fate, Eris Morn would surmise that the remaining Cabal in the system will either turn to Calus' Loyalists or to Caiatl, the Princess-Imperial's regime, with the latter seeking to raise the Legion once more.

The Hunt

" She's calling the Legion home...or, no... back to her bosom? She wants them to capture Calus to prove their loyalty."

— Sagira to Caiatl's transmission

In the wake of many planets and moons vanishing, the Hive god of war Xivu Arath began rooting Cryptoliths across the Reef to create an army of Wrathborn, corrupting many Red Legion Cabal just as Caiatl was beginning to rally the remaining remnants of the Legion through both the use of encrypted communications and emissaries, to which Osiris and Sagira were both able to intercept Cabal transmissions from Nessus, the Reef, and even the European Dead Zone on Earth.

Through their transmissions, Caiatl commanded the Cabal to return to her and to prove their loyalty by capturing Calus whilst she sent further scouts and emissaries to the Reef. Upon Osiris's investigation, entire encampments were abandoned along with mass graves reported and entire groups slaughtering each other or suffering internal conflict due to the Cryptoliths' influence leading Caiatl and her scouts to become wary and attempt to investigate the situation.

The Empress' Arrival

Imperial Command Carriers over Europa

" Ghaul commanded you to die for his vanity. I ask only that you fight at my side for the empire. The choice is yours."

— Empress Caiatl

Following the vanquishing of the High Celebrant of Xivu Arath at the hands of the Guardians, Empress Caiatl, the new head of the Red Legion entered the Sol System and extended to the fractured remnants seats on her War Council through Rite of Proving. Recruiting many into emissaries of the Imperial Cabal, the Red Legion served under several new directives at the behest of aspiring champions. Spread across their old strongholds of Nessus, Earth, and leading a new incursion to the Europan front, the Red Legion began to actively compete amongst each other for glory and positions along with offering tribute to Caiatl. With the prospect of the failed alliance with the Guardians, many of these erected grounds flooded with Red Legion seeking to defend the glory of the Empire alongside their Imperial aspirees.

The largest of these detachments crowded Nessus where the Empress had touched down an Imperial Land Tank the Halphas Electus along with a series of Bunkers. Led by a former Legionnaire and Commander of the Red Legion, Commander Dracus sought to assert himself worthy through the Rites of Proving. Defending the Halphas Electus, Dracus and a large group of Cabal fought valiantly against the Guardians, yet fell nonetheless and had their tribute pillaged. With a War Fleet settled over Europa, another aspiring champion, Basilius the Golem, sought to exploit the secrets of the Deep Stone Crypt to create Exo-Legionnaires yet had also felled to Guardian fireteams breaking through the Legion's defenses. Enraged by the fall of their homeworld, the Red Legion gathered under the command of one of their last remaining officers, Val Ma'rag, and began to besiege the Cosmodrome and flush it out of its Hive inhabitants as a symbolic victory and to potentially erect a firebase. The skirmish was disrupted by further intervention of the Guardians that killed both the Hive and Cabal forces along with their commander. The last of the aspiring champions, Ixel, the Far-Reaching took a more elegant approach. Working with a cell of Psions, Ixel and the cell seized a Vex prediction engine to pull out from its information of the future. Unlike the Battlegrounds before, the unknown lead Psion escaped with the information they had gathered from the machine, destroying it in the process and leaving Ixel to fend off in a Rite against the Guardians. Ixel would fall, leaving Caiatl deprived of several potential members as the Guardians continued to disrupt aspirants trying to ascend to her war council.

The Conspirators

Psions fleeing with Ixel's information

"We are Amtec's vengeance …and while she struck from the sun, we strike from the shadow."

— Yirix

In the shadows of the broken Red Legion, a conclave of independent Psions and Cabal would form in Amtec's name seeking retribution. These conspirators would meddle in secrecy before acting in the cover of Empress Caiatl's advent to the system. Yirix, the leader of the conclave of conspirators, gained the aid of Ixel, the Far-Reaching, who sought to earn a place on Caiatl's War Council and used Vex prediction engines on Nessus to find potential futures they could utilize. Although Ixel was slain by interfering Guardians, several Psions escaped with stolen Vex data that suggested several futures where the leader of the Vanguard, Commander Zavala, could be assassinated.

Acting on Ixel's foretellings of the future, three Psions snuck into the Last City and stole remnants of the Traveler Cage from a Häkke facility. Understanding the inability to destroy The Last City, the conspirators would instead seek crippling of its leadership in Amtec's name. After amassing the information they had sought the conspirators aimed to destabilize the Guardians and their leadership, using the refined Light-Extraction and Detainment tech derived from Dominus Ghaul to achieve so after having tested it repeatedly in the field. The conspirators first sent a lone assassin into the Last City to slay Zavala in a garden while he was distracted, but he was warned of the assailant by Crow and killed the Psion.

Challenged to a Rite of ceremonial combat after weeks of conflict, Caiatl would send forth Ignovun, Chosen of Caiatl as her anointed representative, along with a bulk of Imperial loyal Red Legion, to challenge the chosen Champion of The Last City in the Proving Grounds inside the Halphas Electus. Taking place after the aforementioned Rite, the conspirators sent Qalec and Valir to try again at a ceremony marking the beginning of an armistice between the Cabal Empire and the Vanguard. The second assassination attempt was close to success, but Crow once again interfered and saved Zavala's life with the aid of Empress Caiatl who slew Valir in the attempt. Dispatching one of her Imperial Guard to seize the other who pulled the trigger, Qalec was captured and executed by Caiatl who vowed to hunt down and exterminate the rest of the Psion conspiracy as traitors to the Empire. Despite the failed attempt, the conspirators would not languish and continue its operations in secrecy. After Ignovun, Chosen of Caiatl's defeat in the Proving Grounds and the armistice, Caiatl lost a lot of support regardless of the honorable rite and several Cabal dissidents of the Red Legion defected, swelling the ranks of the deserters once more.

Structure

Red Legion troops can be primarily identified by their signature gunmetal and red color scheme, with some troops having gold, silver, or orange highlights depending upon their rank. They are also more heavily armored than other Cabal Legions, wearing metal plates over a bodysuit of War Beast scales. The command structure and tactics of the Red Legion are more aggressive and agile than any Cabal Legion observed before, with deadlier weapons, advanced technology, and battle techniques. The Red Legion also has a handful of new units that operate in the field. Majors will typically wear silver armor, whereas Ultras wear gold armor.

Blood Guard

The Blood Guard

The Blood Guard is an elite unit of the Red Legion. Described as Dominus Ghaul's "chosen", they often serve as commanders of operations throughout the Red War and can also be found serving as bodyguards to high-ranking Cabal officers, and would die for their leader. They can be identified by their heavy, all-red armor, which often features prominent horsehair-like crests. The BloodGuard has members filling the roles of Legionnaires, Incendiors, Centurions, and Colossi and are frequently seen serving as an Honor Guard and around Red Legion Hardpoints or points of interest. It is heavily inferred that Blood Guards are also enforcers amongst the Red Legion to help carry out the will of the Dominus or acting Red Legion leader along with serving as a royal guard.

In Ca'our's short eight-month reign, the Blood Guard were encountered far more frequently in the field until his subsequent death when the Blood Guard began to fracture into individual lead cells as their primary purpose for existing had been shattered. The largest case was when several Blood Guard members defected to the "Unbowed Legion" in the form of Uprooted Red Legion. Considering the Legion's armor scheme with commanders and Ultras wearing Gold, along with the Guard's instability after his fall, it can be inferred Thumos was a commander of the Blood Guard if not its leader.

Members

Leadership

• Dominus Ghaul – (Dominus of the Cabal Empire and former Primus of the Red Legion)
  • The Consul – (Advisor to Dominus Ghaul, a key conspirator of the Midnight Coup)
  • Thumos, the Unbroken – (Commander of the Blood Guard)
• Val Ca'uor - (De facto leader following the immediate death of Ghaul)
• Psion Council - (Psion Flayer quartet behind the Almighty Crisis)
  • Inotam, Oblivion's Triune
    • Niruul, the Hollow Voice
    • Ozletc, the Sky Piercer
    • Tazaroc, the Sun Eater
  • Amtec (Missing in Action)
• Yirix - (Leader of the Psion Conclave)
• Empress Caiatl – (Current Empress of the Cabal Empire and heir apparent of the Red Legion remnants)

Primus Primus Cal'aug Valus Valus Dulurc Valus Kratorn Valus Lugurg Valus Pra'urg Valus Thuun Valus Traud, Proxy Valus Trusug Valus Zullug Combustor Valus Dishonored Valus Commander Commander Truvul Commander Yourg Val Val Bulgur Val Drueng Val Garurc Val Ghuusk Val Gul Val Leng Val Palusk Val Tragur Val Thum Val Urgus Bracus Bracus Drusk Bracus Eratl Bracus Ghir Bracus Ghurm Bracus Rulaitl Bracus Talurn Bracus Zahn Psion Flayers Barit, Imprisoned Flayer Kargen, the Technocrat Rudoc, Imprisoned Flayer Sheular, Psion Flayer Tomoc, Psion Flayer Urche, Psion Flayer Vrees, Imprisoned Flayer

Red Legion Blood Guard Bulurc the Destroyer Kreth, the Living Skyfire Pashk, the Searing Will Final Guard Straff Purifier Vurst Zhagal, Disgraced Colossus Enforcer Enforcer Karch Enforcer Korusk Enforcer Rusk Time Wardens Time Warden Borduros Time Warden Braghusk Time Warden Calid'Valof Time Warden Cratenug Time Warden Dranurgh Time Warden Legatul Time Warden Paranthul Time Warden Prectorus Time Warden Takronog Colossus Bruiser Thurn Burg, the Stellar Jailer Devourer Darg Dust-Choked Thrag Ghalar, The Fugitive Glomus, the Severing Slash Jagad, the Overwhelming Surge Kaaron, Blood Infernal Krusk, the Sol's Warden Moag, the Deafening Volley Prusk, the Unequaled Maul Ta'aul, Disgraced Colossus Taskmaster Vazar Tluam, Sister of Vrag Vrag, Sister of Tluam Magnar the Rockjaw Centurion Baurg, Blood Infernal Brann, the Unbent Blade Controller Gronn Drusk, the Crushing Fist Firebase Demolitionist Fortifier Yann Ghalak the Colossus, Forge Warden Kraug, the Undeterred Kurg, the All-Seeing Force Zarik, the Booming Voice Field Commander Kuskan, Forge Saboteur

Gladiator Callan, the Suffering Blood Cleaver Incendior Ordnance Keeper Tulg Thox, the Smoldering Wasp Zerz, the Unstoppable Weight Legionary Defender Born Defender Hahn Investigator Tosusk Investigator Prurg Kashur, the Infinite Blaze Raktar, the Unrelenting Warden Derg Phalanx Lurg, the Burning Shield Security Chief Kolg Than'grot, Loyal to Caiatl Psions Curator Arrox Cyronax Former Red Legion Basilius the Golem Baurisk, Envoy of Savathûn Commander Dracus Daazaz Dar, Unbowed Legion Disgraced Bracus Garut Gra'am Grask, the Consumed Ixel, the Far-Reaching Mouvurg, Unbowed Legion Shogmar, Unbowed Legion Val Eralus, the Obedient Val Ma'rag Yächaar, Bound to Sedia

Command structure

Scorpius — mechanical turrets that are deployed by the Red Legion and Loyalists. These turrets unleash a barrage of ballistic fire upon their targets. Honored Scorpius Volcanic Scorpius War Beasts — vicious, four-legged Cabal creatures who debut in Destiny 2 7th Company War Beast Honored War Beast Hound of the Cleaver Unstable War Beast War Hound Psion — non-Cabal slaves that have powerful psionic abilities and clairvoyance. They are armed with Slug Rifles or Cabal Headhunters. They can move around quicker than other Cabal units. 7th Company Psion Blooded Psion Bonded Psion C-Block Blood Psion Corrupted Bonded Psion Electron Controller Flayer Aspirant Honored Psion Infiltrator Psion Interceptor Pilot Keymaster Psion Optus Psion Phased Psion Psion Commander Psion Courier Psion Flayer Psion Operant Turret Machinist Legionary — frontline heavy infantry that form the backbone of the Cabal military. Equipped with jump jets, and armed with either a Slug Rifle, (common), Projection Rifle (rare), or Cabal Slug Shotgun. 7th Company Legionary Blood Guard Bulwark Blood Guard Close Protection Blood Guard Legionary Blood Guard Security C-Block Blood Legionary Deserter Legionary Exiled Launcher Gloryseeking Legionary Honored Legionary Illicit Slug Shooter Mercury Conqueror Outlawed Sniper Phased Legionary Unsanctioned Blaster Zarik's Protector Phalanx — defensive troops that create impenetrable walls for support. Equipped with Slug Rifles, Cabal Slug Shotguns, and Cabal Shields. 7th Company Phalanx C-Block Blood Phalanx Honored Phalanx Mercury Conqueror Ouragos Phalanx Subterranean Hydration Officer Thunder Phalanx

Incendior — pyrotechnic Cabal units who debut in Destiny 2. They are armed with Cabal Magma Launchers. 7th Company Incendior 7th Company Legionary (Although named as a Legionary, it has the body archetype of an Incendior) Blood Guard Centurion (Although named as a Centurion, it has the body archetype of an Incendior) Blood Guard Incendior C-Block Blood Incendior Dishonored Incendior Fortification Substrate Enforcer Honored Incendior Mercury Conqueror Retrieval Specialist Revered Incendior Shieldbearer Incendior Star Incendior Unstable Incendior Unstoppable Incendior Gladiator — large cleaver-wielding Cabal who debut in Destiny 2. They are armed with Cabal Severus. Cargo Security Chief Esteemed Bruiser Honored Gladiator Phased Gladiator Centurion — field commanders and special operation troops of the Cabal. Equipped with a Solar Shield and jump jets, and armed with either a Projection Rifle (common), Slug Rifle (rare), or an Cabal Bronto Cannon (common). 7th Company Centurion Artillery Operations Commander Blood Guard Centurion Blood Guard Exemplar Blood Guard Security C-Block Blood Centurion Deceived Centurion Elite Mercury Conqueror Field Evaluator Firebase Demolitionist Halphas Honorguard Honored Centurion Infiltrator Valus Mercury Conqueror Powerhouse Centurion Plentiful Centurion Psionically Enhanced Centurion Revered Centurion Shieldbearer Centurion Supreme Centurion Time Warden Colossus — elite heavy infantry units that lead the battle with their own ferocious size and strength. Armed with a Heavy Slug Thrower or a Cabal Slug Launcher, and have the ability to fire homing missiles from pods on the back of their armor. Can also unleash a three-hundred-sixty-degree melee attack to inflict tremendous knockback and serious damage. Barrier Colossus Brawl Gladiator (Although named a Gladiator, it has the body archetype of a Colossus) Deceived Colossus Elite Mercury Conqueror Excavator Valus Honored Colossus Keymaster Colossus Phased Colossus Prisoner Extraction Expert Revered Colossus Ruination Colossus Supreme Colossus

Gallery

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  A reference sheet for a Red Legion Legionnaire, Centurion, and a new Cabal enemy that would later become a Gladiator.

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  Concept art of a Red Legion Legionnaire.

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  A Red Legion Phalanx.

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  Concept art of a Red Legion Centurion.

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  A Red Legion Colossus patrolling in the wake of the destroyed city.

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  Red Legion troops battle the Vanguard.

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  Red Legion soldiers on the battlefield.

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  Red Legion soldiers under the command of Bracus Zahn.

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  Ghaul's Red Legion warship along with smaller Red Legion Threshers looming over the Last City.

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  Red Legion carrier ships.

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  The symbol of the Red Legion.

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  A Red Legion Legionnaire.

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  A Red Legion Phalanx.

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  A Red Legion Centurion.

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  A Red Legion Colossus.

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  A Red Legion Psion.

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  A Red Legion Psion hiding in a bush waiting to fire.

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  Psions along with an unknown Psion Flayer gathering intel from a Vex Conflux.

Trivia

• The Red Legion is the first Cabal force to travel to Earth and succeed in attacking the Last City. They use more advanced technology in stark contrast to the Cabal scouts who were originally deployed to the Solar System in Destiny, evidence of the Cabal Empire's advancements after the original scouting party had been deployed.
• The Red Legion have been known to deploy via drop pods launched from their carriers, rather than mainly using the Harvester drop ship like their predecessors.
  • However after the war's conclusion, the Red Legion began to use Harvesters more and more often until it became their primary deployment tactic on par with Drop Pods.
• The Red Legion is by far the biggest Cabal force the Guardians have ever faced.
• The Red Legion is the first Cabal force encountered to use Threshers, War Beasts, Incendiors, and Gladiators.
• Upon closer inspection of Red Legion soldiers, it can be seen that soldiers belonging to the Red Legion seem to undergo cybernetic augmentation, with the fingers of Phalanxes being replaced with metal claws and Psion's having their helmets fused into their skulls.
• The design and artstyle of the Red Legion have striking similarities to the design and artstyle of The Banished from Halo.

List of appearances

• Destiny 2 (First appearance)
  • Curse of Osiris
  • Warmind
  • Forsaken
    • Season of the Forge
    • Season of the Drifter
    • Season of Opulence
  • Shadowkeep
    • Season of Dawn
    • Season of the Worthy
    • Season of Arrivals
  • Beyond Light (Mentioned only)
    • Season of the Hunt (Mentioned only)
    • Season of the Chosen
  • Lightfall
    • Season of the Deep (Mentioned only)
    • Season of the Wish (Mentioned only)
  • The Final Shape (Mentioned only)
• Destiny: Warmind (comic)