Rasputin

"I don't have time to explain why I don't have time to explain."
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Rasputin
Biographical information
Homeworld:	Mars
Born:	Golden Age
Species:	Artificial Intelligence
Gender:	Male
Political and military information
Rank:	Warmind
Notable info:	Last surviving Warmind

"The Vanguard still believes Rasputin to be a simple Warmind. He hasn't been that for a very long time."

— Lord Saladin

Rasputin (also identified as AI-COM/RSPN and the Tyrant) is a Warmind housed in the Seraphim Vault in the Cosmodrome. He was created during the Golden Age and was believed to have been destroyed during the Collapse until the Iron Lords awoke his wrath.

Biography

Golden Age and Collapse

"As of CLS000 a HARD CIVILIZATION KILL EVENT is in progress across the operational area. I am declaring YUGA SUNDOWN effective on receipt (epoch reach/FORCECON variant). Cancel counterforce objectives. Cancel population protection objectives. Format moral structures for MIDNIGHT EXIGENT. Execute long hold for reactivation. AI-COM/RSPN SIGNOFF STOP STOP STOP V120NNI800CLS001"

— Rasputin

First constructed by Clovis Bray in the Hellas Basin on Mars, Rasputin was the most powerful military intelligence ever developed. While their relationship is unknown, investigations in the City Age have discovered that Charlemagne is a submind of Rasputin, and the two were developed together.

Rasputin was the one to first discover the coming of the Darkness. At that time, Rasputin's original core programming was to protect humanity. However, every action he had taken to that point had either failed or was statistically predicted to have a 100% probability of failure. Once it became clear that no conceivable action could be taken to fulfill his core programming, he implemented a protocol known as MIDNIGHT EXIGENT and reconfigured his core programming to that of long term survival, abandoning his previous function and going dark, while simultaneously ordering all remaining forces at his disposal to do the same.

Unknown to the other Warminds, however, Rasputin had made his own preparations, known as the "ABHORRENT IMPERATIVE." If humanity was threatened with extinction, and that the Traveler attempted to leave, Rasputin would open fire with his most powerful weapons to immobilize the Traveler and thereby coerce it into a "pseudoaltruistic" defensive action. In effect, the Traveler would be forced to protect humanity if it wanted to survive. Rasputin would avoid culpability for such an attack by initiating it through a series of proxies. Even before the Collapse, Rasputin had been discreetly stockpiling such weapons in the Cosmodrome, though some human operators suspected Rasputin's involvement.

Dark Age

"YUGA SUNDOWN canceled by unauthorized access at Console 62815. Reactivation protocols in effect. Moral structures maintain MIDNIGHT EXIGENT. Multiple lifeforms detected in Sector 17. [O] energy detected. Query: [O] status. Query: [O] activity. Query: Civilization status. Query: SKYSHOCK event rank."

— Rasputin

Rasputin was unintentionally reactivated during the Dark Age by the Iron Lords, who had breached Site 6 in search of SIVA, a powerful nanotechnology capable for disassembling matter and reconstituting it into almost any desired form. The Iron Lords had discovered SIVA's existence and hoped to use it to rebuild human civilization. Unfortunately, despite Lord Felwinter's attempts to reason with him, Rasputin immediately classified the Iron Lords as a threat to its security and activated all of its defensive measures, including SIVA. Using an army of SIVA-modified constructs, among them militarized frames, Rasputin attempted to repel the Iron Lords from Site 6 by force. Realizing that they had been arrogant and that SIVA posed a significant threat to the world, the Iron Lords fought back. Hundreds of the Iron Lords perished in the battle for the Plaguelands, with eight managing to seal SIVA within its replication chamber and partially damage it. Only Saladin Forge and Efrideet survived. Rasputin, content that the trespassers had been ejected from its facilities, withdrew its countermeasures and began passive observation of the Guardians.

City Age

"Rasputin isn't an ally. You hear me, blood? You find yourself thinking that, you shut it down. He may not be against us, but he doesn't care if you live, if the City lives, if the Traveler lives. Trust me. He told me himself."

— Tevis Larsen

In recent times, the Fallen and Guardians discovered Rasputin was still alive, and protecting something valuable in the Cosmodrome. After a communications array at the Terrestrial Complex was reactivated by the Guardians, Rasputin was able to reconnect with the old interplanetary defense network, resuming control of Warsats and ground installations across the system and launching a series of orbital strikes against the Vex and Cabal on Mars. Rasputin's attacks proved so debilitating to the Cabal that Valus Ta'aurc himself ordered the Psion Flayers be released to track Rasputin.

Rasputin has resisted any recent attempts by the City to parlay, even going so far as to dismember a scouting team sent by the Vanguard. Rasputin is later encountered on Mars within the Dust Palace, attempting to protect a broken AI related to the Warmind of Mars from the invading Cabal. The AI is ultimately lost after a long battle with the Psion Flayers.

Since awakening, Rasputin has faced a number of direct threats to himself. Omnigul and the Spawn of Crota accessed the bunker through unknown means and attacked Rasputin, either to destroy him or corrupt him for their own purposes, but were thwarted by the Guardians. Later, during the Taken War, a group of Taken also penetrated Rasputin's bunker to prevent the Guardian from obtaining Golden Age stealth technology; while they did not damage or corrupt Rasputin, they had ample opportunity to do so. The bunker was breached a third time when the Fallen attempted to hijack Rasputin's systems using the modified Shank S.A.B.E.R.-2, seeking to bypass the Warmind's security protocols and take control of his orbital weapon systems. Though S.A.B.E.R.-2 was ultimately destroyed, Rasputin again had to be rescued through the efforts of Guardians.

Conceding that his bunker's defenses had failed too many times, Rasputin triggered the IKELOS subroutine, an initiative to provide advanced weaponry to the Guardians to aid them against the forces of the Darkness. The end result of IKELOS was the Sleeper Simulant, a heavy fusion rifle with a unique core based on obsolete DVALIN FORGE fusion rifles that the Warminds had armed humanity with during the onset of the Collapse. The Sleeper Simulant represented a successful melding of Golden Age technology with contemporary designs and Banshee-44's gunsmithing expertise.

Protocols

The following protocols are used by Rasputin:

• AURORA RETROFLEX—a defense subroutine, presumably activated when Rasputin is directly threatened.
  • PALISADE IMPERATIVE—a condition invoked to suppress intruders in restricted areas of Rasputin's facilities.
• CARRHAE—an emergency condition which Rasputin may declare to assume command of all Solar System defenses.
  • CARRHAE BLACK—an unspecified emergency condition.
  • CARRHAE WHITE—an emergency condition in which the Solar System faces an external threat.
• EGYPTIAN—a security protocol; purpose unknown.
• IKELOS—a new subroutine created by Rasputin to leverage Guardians to aid in his defense while MIDNIGHT EXIGENT proceeds. Utilizing the DVALIN FORGE-2 subroutine, IKELOS is designed to arm Guardians with upscaled fusion rifles.
• MIDNIGHT EXIGENT—a long-term counterattack protocol and moral structure change. All Warminds enter a period of extended deactivation in an effort to survive and later devise a countermeasure for an overwhelming threat. The protocol seemingly allows the Warminds to ignore their responsibility to protect human populations in favor of taking any measures deemed necessary to ensure their own survival. As of the Taken War, MIDNIGHT EXIGENT is still in-progress.
  • ABHORRENT IMPERATIVE—a last-resort measure aimed at preventing the Traveler from leaving Earth during a major calamity by crippling it. Rasputin devised this protocol in secret from both his human overseers and fellow Warminds. It is uncertain if this protocol was ever activated.
    • LOKI CROWN—fire all available caedometric weaponry at the Traveler.
• SCRY OVERSIGHT—an observation protocol.
  • SILENT VELES—an event mode of SCRY OVERSIGHT, possibly signifying that Rasputin will keep his existence a secret from the target of SCRY OVERSIGHT observation.
• SECURE ISIS—unknown, possibly intended to secure a vital asset.
• SUBTLE ASSETS IMPERATIVE—a designation used for protocols created by Rasputin that are kept secret from humans and other Warminds.
• SKYSHOCK: OUTSIDE CONTEXT—an event category; purpose unknown.
• TEILHARD: TRAUMATIC CONTEXT—an event category; purpose unknown.
• VOLUSPA—a counterattack protocol. It was activated concurrently with YUGA.
  • FENRIR HEART—unknown, possibly a specific strategy or type of weapon. It was ineffective against the Darkness.
  • SURTR DROWN—unknown, possibly a specific strategy or type of weapon. It was ineffective against the Darkness.
  • DVALIN FORGE—a plan to produce weapons to arm human forces in the event of a CARRHAE emergency. DVALIN FORGE weaponry proved ineffective against the Darkness.
  • DVALIN FORGE-2—a modification of the original DVALIN FORGE subroutine designed to be compatible with MIDNIGHT EXIGENT.
• YUGA—a counterattack protocol. It was activated concurrently with VOLUSPA.
  • YUGA SUNDOWN—cancels all protocols for protecting humanity and activates MIDNIGHT EXIGENT.

Quotes

The following are quotes from the missions The Warmind, The Buried City, and Strike Fallen S.A.B.E.R.; Russian dialogue is overheard when doing certain actions. The dialogue in The Buried City appears at the mission's conclusion.

The Warmind

• "Safety protocol 8-6-3. Hostile entities discovered."
• "There's no one to blame, it is not their fault or ours. It is the misfortune of being born when the whole world is dying."
• "There is no immortality of soul, thus there is no greater good. Therefore everything is permitted." (A reference to The Brothers Karamazov)
• "Count up this, define the probability of that."
• "They are but meat pressed in the mouth of the shell."
• "If, as they say, the coming events cast their shadows ahead of time, then the past events cannot but leave their reflections behind them."
• "The whole natural order stands as evidence of a progressive movement toward an elevated state of being."

The Buried City

• "Soul does not exist. Death does not exist. Virtue does not exist. Everything is allowed."

Fallen S.A.B.E.R.

• "I'm in danger, the systems are damaged."—flying in from orbit
• "Military satellite launched, access codes are inside."—before the Warsat lands
• "Access granted, protocol annulled."—opening the vault door
• "System breached, damage sustained, planning counter-actions."—destroying the vent panel with a grenade (note: no actual threat of orbital bombardments)
• "High priority to mobile unit, destroy immediately."—When S.A.B.E.R.-2 spawns in Boss Room

Trivia

• Rasputin was a Russian priest and mystic closely associated with the Romanov family, the last Tsars of Imperial Russia.

• In Ghost Fragment: Rasputin 6, there is a quote from Anna Karenina, written by Leo Tolstoy.

• In the original storyline of Destiny, Rasputin was the focus of the game's plot, as he was kidnapped by the Hive and taken to the Dreadnaught. The focus of the game was to rescue him. In this version, he was an Exo, though would be revealed to be controlled by the warmind (rather than actually being the warmind) in a future DLC.

• At the Tower, Xander 99-40 may occasionally say "Suspended bounty, Rasputin, no claimants." This implies that Rasputin is attempting to sponsor bounties for Guardians, or as a humorous aside suggesting that someone placed a bounty on Rasputin himself but no one stepped forward to carry it out.

• The Ghost Fragment: Mysteries appears to be written from the perspective of Rasputin. Though heavily laden with metaphor, it appears to be a fractured chronicle of his encounter with the Darkness, his fruitless attempts to overcome (or even resist) it, and his fateful decision to abandon his primary function in favor of survival (a tactic which he claims to have learned from his enemy). The colorful descriptions seem to indicate that he has descended into insanity since the Collapse, either as a result of his encounter with the Darkness, or due to drastically rewriting his core protocols, or perhaps both.

• Rasputin's protocols contain a number of references to history, mythology, and philosophy.
  1. Carrhae was an ancient battle fought in 54 B.C. when the Roman army invaded Parthia. Despite being superior in numbers the Roman legions were routed by the Parthian cavalry, one of their most crushing defeats.
  2. Ikelos is the Greek god and personification of nightmares, the child of Nyx, the goddess of Night, and Erebus, the god of Darkness.
  3. Völuspá is the most well-known poem in the Norse Poetic Edda, chronicling the creation and ending of the world.
  4. Fenrir is a demon wolf in Norse mythology described at length in the Prose Edda, son of Loki. During Ragnarok he will kill Odin after freeing himself from where the gods chained him; then he would be killed through the heart by one of Odin's sons.
  5. Surtr is a fire giant, and will destroy the world during Ragnarok with his fire.
  6. Telihard is a Jesuit priest and philosopher who conceived the Omega Point, a spiritual belief and scientific speculation where life will eventually become united with the divine, and argued that Jesus Christ was the focal of this Ogema Point. This can be considered one the earliest known versions of the Christian Universalist belief, that everything no matter how fallen or depraved (such as the Devil) will be reconciled with God.
  7. Veles is the Slavic god of death and the underworld. In mythology his opponent was Perun.
  8. Yuga is a Hindu term for "age". There are four ages:

  1. Satya Yuga—the first and best age, analogous to the Golden Age. Here people had extended lifespans of over 100000 years.
  2. Treta Yuga—the second age, where warlords and darkness cover the land, analogous to the Dark Age.
  3. Dvapara Yuga—the third age where people turn upon one another, corrupted by evil.
  4. Kali Yuga—the final age, called the Age of Destruction. According to modern Hindu mythology, humanity is currently living in this age.

• It is implied in the Grimoire that Rasputin and the Exo Stranger may have met at some point.

Gallery

• 

  Rasputin's core in the Seraphim Vault.

• 

  Rasputin's original appearance.

• 

  Concept art of the Citadel destroyed by Rasputin's orbital weaponry upon his reactivation.

List of appearances

• Destiny (First appearance)
  • The Dark Below
  • The Taken King
  • Rise of Iron
• Destiny 2
  • Warmind