Crota's Assault
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Crota's Assault was a major conflict fought between Hive forces led by Crota, Son of Oryx, and the Guardians of the Last City. It began when the Disciples of Crota led by Omnigul, Will of Crota began their plans for their master's return, in response Eris Morn would call upon the Guardians to bring an end to the threat. The conflict ended with the victory of the Last City. With the death of his son, Oryx, the Taken King would begin his arrival to Sol.
Events
Prelude
For many years, the Hive have laid in wait within Earth's moon Luna, slowly building up their army and constructing their fortress, the Hellmouth. The Hive Prince, Crota, led the Hive broods in the Sol System, preparing them for an invasion of Earth to overwhelm Humanity and destroy the Traveler. The Last City and its Guardian protectors never knew of Crota or the Hive until the Battle of Burning Lake, humanity's first clash with the Hive. Narrowly, the Last City prevailed against the Hive, which convinced the Factions of the Consensus to launch an assault upon Luna to retake the moon from the Hive. Lord Shaxx, the handler of the Crucible and a participant of the Battle vehemently voiced against the invasion, citing that the Last City barely won against the Hive and they needed to understand the Hive's powers, such as their Light-draining swords. Despite his objections, Zavala of the Vanguard proceeded with the preparations to launch the attack.
True to Shaxx's predictions, however, the Guardians were overwhelmed by the might of Crota's Spawn and of their dark powers, with thousands dying. Crota himself would appear and rout the remaining Guardians, personally slaying the legendary Titan Wei Ning. With the invasion lost, the Vanguard ordered a full retreat and the battle would be called the Great Disaster. Since then, the moon had been declared off-limits by the Vanguard with only the most experienced of Guardians allowed to venture to Luna. The only other party to remain on the moon would be the Fallen House of Exile, made up of the malcontents and renegades of other Fallen houses after their sparking defeat at Twilight Gap. They attempted to carve out a realm for themselves on the surface of the Moon, in spite of the heavy Hive presence, squatting near the ruins of old Moon bases from the Golden Age, and conduct raids against the Hive for any valuable relics.
Though the Hive won a grand victory, Crota's plans would be put on hold due to unexpected circumstances. Within the Ascendant Plane, two Knights - one of Oryx and one of Xivu Arath engaged in a duel in honor of their respective masters. The duel ended in a draw, but both flung themselves into the depths of an abyss, and so the Knight of Oryx failed to make his tribute to a champion of Crota. This setback cost Crota's champion a significant tribute at the necessary time and thus led to his defeat in a duel against a sergeant of the God of War. Having suffered a major loss of his temples and tributaries to feed his Worm, Crota judged it best to sleep upon his throne world and recover his debts while his soul remained tethered to an Ascendant crystal, giving him a quick means of return to the real universe once his strength was restored.
Eriana-3's Vengeance
Despite the Vanguard's order to retreat from the moon, some Guardians desired vengeance against the Hive for the slaughter of their fellow Guardians. One in particular, Eriana-3, personally sought revenge against Crota for killing Wei Ning and gathered a formidable team with the explicit goal of assassinating the Hive Prince himself. This team included Eriana's friend Eris Morn, the exiled Warlock and expert on the Hive, Toland, the Shattered, who possessed knowledge that could help them solve Crota's apparent immortality, the two Hunters Omar Agah and Sai Mota and the Titan Vell Tarlowe. With her team assembled, Eriana ventured to the Moon to take out Crota and his followers. However, as they journeyed through the darkness of the Hellmouth, Eriana found her team hunted down one by one by Crota's lieutenants, such as Sardon and Omnigul. Vell Tarlowe would find himself overwhelmed by a swarm of Thrall before being personally killed by Alak-Hul, the Darkblade. Toland attempted to forge a dialogue with Ir Yût, the Deathsinger. It is unclear how their exchange actually went, but it resulted in Toland being unsung from his biological form and banished to the Ascendant Plane as a spirit.
Eriana attempted to continue on with the mission, managing to reach the Oversoul Throne but like her comrades, she would meet her end at Crota's hand, leaving her vengeance unfulfilled. Eris Morn, however, remained the sole survivor of her wayward team and though she managed to evade the Hive within their own domain, she was changed forever from the experience, such as losing her Light and her own eyes. Though she would finally emerge from the Hellmouth, she became obsessed with gaining revenge on Crota and the Hive for the loss of her friends, leading the former Lightbearer to gather all the knowledge she could prepare the Guardians in the event Crota should prepare emerge once more.
The Dark Below
Many years later, Eris Morn would find evidence that the Hive were stirring, likely in preparation of Crota's return but her warnings to the Vanguard would often be dismissed as they often viewed her warnings as madness. Some Guardians however, including one who would be called the Young Wolf, listened to her warnings and agreed to help her in thwarting the Hive's schemes. Firstly, Eris Morn had the Guardians target Crota's consort, Omnigul, who planned on corrupting the Warmind Rasputin into serving the Hive. Forming a strike team, the Guardians succeeded in saving Rasputin, drive Omnigul out of hiding and take her out, depriving the Spawn of Crota a valuable leader. Further, the Guardians succeeded in hunting down the feared Swarm Princes and their leader, Sardon himself. The loss of their army's leaders led to the Hive to fall into disarray and granted the Last City more time to prepare. These victories also led the Vanguard to reconsider their views of Eris, now taking her knowledge of the Hive seriously.
To prevent Crota from returning to the material plan and likely lead his armies himself, Eris guided the Guardians back to the Moon where the chamber housing Crota's soul was located in midst of a summoning ritual. Due to the Guardians disrupting the ritual, the crystal tethering Crota's soul in the Chamber of Night would be sent back to the Ascendant realm, banishing his shadowy presence from the physical world and thereby preventing his corporeal return. Though the Vanguard viewed this victory as a sigh of relief, Eris Morn however, believed they had only delayed the inevitable. Unless Crota himself is slain, he will return to complete his conquest. Thus, Eris Morn organizes the Guardians to form a Raid team to breach into the deepest pit of the Hellmouth so they confront the Hope-Eater.
Crota's End
After forming a Raid team, the Guardians followed Eris's guidance of entering the Hellmouth, venturing the dark corridors and evading the Hive before reaching the gates of Crota's domain. Entering into Crota's Ascendant Realm, the Guardians clashed with the Hive Prince's army of Ascendant Hive before confronting Ir Yût, the Deathsinger. Yet despite the Hive Wizard's magic, the Guardians silenced the Deathsinger before working to summon Crota himself.
Using Crota's Ascendant Crystal, the Guardians summoned the Hope-Eater within his personal domain and battled. However, though the Guardians put up a fight, it became clear that conventional means had no effect on Crota. In desperation, the Guaridans turned Crota's own Sword-Logic against him with the Cleavers of his fallen Blades, actually wounding him. The battle grew more heated as Crota attempted to use the full force of his Oversoul to destroy the Lightbearers but the Guardians persevered and using his own sword, slayed the Hive Prince once and more all.
Aftermath
The Last City regarding Crota's death as a celebration, as the Guardians finally avenged all those the Hive Prince had killed, and dealt the Hive their first real defeat in centuries. Eris Morn herself was pleased that Crota was killed, thanking the Guardians for helping her claim her vengeance, but she became concerned what ramifications Crota's death would bring and thus sought out more Hive knowledge to prepare.
The Hive in the Sol System would be left in disarray following Crota's death but holdouts of the Hive on Earth and Luna would remain that Guardian patrols would continue to handle. However, within his final moments, Crota called out across the stars and his call would be heard by his father Oryx, the God-King of the Hive. Learning of his son's death at the hands of the Guardians, Oryx was left infuriated leading the Taken King to travel aboard his Dreadnaught to the Sol System to avenge his son and wipe out the Light's last hope. The arrival of Crota's father would begin the Taken War that would engulf the system but once more thanks to Eris's guidance, the Guardians succeeded in beating back the Taken King before slaying Oryx within his Ascendant Plane, denying Oryx his vengeance, depriving the Hive of their God-King and saving the Sol System.
List of appearances
- Destiny
- The Dark Below (First appearance)
