Clash of the Chosen

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Previous:	Hunt for the Wrathborn Fall of Torobatl
Next:	Endless Night
Clash of the Chosen
Fronts:	Arcadian Valley, Nessus Rathmore Chaos, Europa Cosmodrome, Earth
Outcome:	Ignovun, Chosen of Caiatl is killed in a final Rite of Proving An armistice is signed between Empress Caiatl's Cabal Empire and the Vanguard The Vanguard becomes aware of Crow's true identity as a Lightbearer. Cabal deserters abandon Empress Caiatl's cause and defect to Emperor Calus's side The Glykon Volatus, a derelict Cabal vessel, is thoroughly investigated together with Caiatl and Savathûn, the Witch Queen, disguised as Osiris, leading to important intel on Emperor Calus's plans The Guardian recover Dead Man's Tale and learns of Katabasis's fate The Crown of Sorrow is discovered inside the Glykon and was used by Calus to control the Scorn as way to commune with a "Voice in the Darkness" The Psion conspiracy is exposed, leading to the formation of a Psion Conclave led by Yirix
Belligerents Humanity Vanguard Cabal Imperial Cabal Red Legion Psion Conclave Hive Hive Vex: Sol Collective Commanders Vanguard: Commander Zavala Lord Saladin Forge Savathûn (as Osiris) Amanda Holliday Imperial Cabal: Empress Caiatl Red Legion: Ignovun, Chosen of Caiatl Commander Dracus Basilius the Golem Val Ma'rag Ixel, the Far-Reaching Psion Conclave: Yirix Hive: Unknown Sol Collective: Unknown Strength Vanguard: Thousands of Guardians Dozens of Redjacks Imperial Cabal: Thousands of Imperial Cabal Cabal Hundreds of Imperial Carriers Thousands of Imperial Warships Red Legion: Thousands of Red Legion Cabal Psion Conclave: Dozens of Psions Light supressing technology Hive: Monstrosity Ogre Thousands of Hive Sol Collective: Integrator Hydra Thousands of Vex platforms Casualties Dozens of Guardians Dozens of Cabal commanders Thousands of Cabal Thousands of Hive Thousands of Vex platforms Civilian casualties Unknown

Caiatl: "The Darkness crowds the edges of this system. The Hive serves it. You'll fall to one, if not the other. My world did."

Zavala: "Empress Caiatl, I'm sorry for what you've lost."

Caiatl: "We have all suffered. I propose an alliance."

— Zavala and Empress Caiatl discuss the negotiations for an alliance.

Clash of the Chosen was a conflict between the Vanguard and the Imperial Cabal after Empress Caiatl entered the Sol System seeking to bring the Red Legion back into the Cabal Empire and convince Humanity to become her vassals for war against the Hive and Darkness. Both sides sought to prevent the conflict from erupting in open war through a series of Rite of Provings, resulting in one final rite between the Chosen champions of both sides to determine who dictated the terms of a treaty.

History

Failed Negotiations

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In the aftermath of the fall of the Cabal's homeworld and capital Torobatl, Empress Caiatl sought to gather the full remaining strength of the Cabal Empire by reclaiming the Red Legion from the Sol System. She also sought to bring Humanity and its Guardians into the Cabal Empire as full citizens to combine their strength against the Hive and Darkness. Commander Zavala and his advisor Osiris met with the Empress to discuss terms, but refused to bow before her. Zavala subsequently ordered a strike against Commander Dracus, a war criminal who aspired to become part of Caiatl's War Council, on Nessus near a recently deployed Imperial Land Tank Halphas Electus in order to secure information on what the Cabal's plans were.

The Vanguard put together a task force commanded by Lord Saladin Forge to combat the Cabal incursions and prevent them from reforming a command structure in the Sol System. Osiris joined the task force and brought in Crow as a recon expert, while Amanda Holliday was in charge of air support. The task force began gathering evidence on the Cabal's plans and how best to combat them, determining that disrupting the Rites of Proving that Caiatl was using to form her War Council could prevent a full-scale war from erupting. Saladin opposed this strategy, instead advocating for escalating the conflict and wiping out the Cabal entirely. Zavala refused to consider escalation as an option, arguing that the Vanguard could not fight such a war without heavy casualties leaving them vulnerable to the other foes.

The Golem's Ambitions

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Basilius the Golem would desire to join caital's war council. Seeking to learn the secrets of the Deep Stone Crypt, he and his soldiers would begin to claim ground from the Vex in the hope of finding it. Their efforts were fruitless, however, as they found no sign of the crypt. Basilius would continue hunting for information on exominds, however The Guardian arrived and challenged him in a Rite of Proving. Despite his Cabal reinforcements and his powerful weaponry, he would be slain by the guardians.

Battle for the Cosmodrome

The Cabal soon opened a new front in their war when they sought revenge against the Hive for the fall of their homeworld Torobatl. Val Ma'rag sought vengeance and a place on Caiatl's War Council by assaulting the Hive nests in the abandoned Cosmodrome of Old Russia on Earth. Establishing a makeshift firebase in the ruins of the Lunar Complex, Ma'rag led his forces into the Hive warrens before being surrounded in Skywatch. The Vanguard's attention was drawn by the Cabal's presence on Earth and they sent in a team to eliminate Ma'rag. Although the Val was defeated, the Cabal continued to reinforce their position in the Cosmodrome to destroy the Hive.

With the continued presence of the Cabal and Hive threatening Vanguard control of the region, Shaw Han was tasked by Zavala to keep the region secured, as it remained a key source of new Guardians found by Ghosts. He was provided with Redjacks to help defend their holdings. During a battle in the Mothyards, Shaw's lines were pushed back as the Cabal established entrenched machine gun positions and repeatedly charged his defensive positions. He requested reinforcements from the Vanguard, resulting in Saladin himself arriving to aid Shaw with Amanda providing air support. The two Guardians held the line while Amanda launched the Titan Siegfried from her jumpship to smash into the Cabal's fortifications with the Fist of Havoc.

Psion Conspiracy

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Ixel, the Far-Reaching was the next to try and join caital's war council. She and a conspiracy of psions would seize a Vex prediction engine and begin using it's oracle-like powers. However, The Guardian interupted them and Yirix was forced to destroy the machine to cover their tracks. Ixel then fought the guardians in a Rite of Proving, but, despite her psionic abilities and her cabal warship's missiles, she was slain by The Guardian.

The Final Proving

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After all the Rites of Proving were complete, Commander Zavala challenged Caital to one last battle. The Guardian was sent to fight Ignovun, Chosen of Caiatl, and the winner's rule would determine the outcome of the Clash of the Chosen. After fighting through cabal outside the Halphas Electus, The guardian breached the inside. Fighting through the vehicle bay, the guardians disabled the tank's systems using power cores. After this, they finally arrived at Ignovun's arena. Despite his psionic powers, he too fell to the guardians leading Caital to honor her word and begin negotiations with the vanguard concerning an alliance.

Aftermath

Following the Guardians' victory in the Rite, Empress Caiatl met with Commander Zavala and the Crow aboard a neutral vessel to finalize their treaty. With a ceremonial blade, Caiatl bound their treaty in blood and proceeded to hand the blade over to the commander. However, dissenters and traitors within Caiatl's ranks disagreed with their empress's calls for peace with humanity, being responsible for the first attempt on Zavala's life, and thus conspired to continue the war to avenge themselves over their repeated losses and failures, led by Yirix. With a Psion sniper using Light-restraining technology that they stole from the Lasty City's weapon foundries, Zavala's Ghost was disabled, leaving him vulnerable, granting the sniper the opportunity to strike. Fortunately, having accompanied the commander, Crow managed to save Zavala, taking the shot instead, though this revealed himself as Uldren Sov to the commander. When that failed, the psion carrying the blade attempted to finish the job himself but was thwarted by Empress Caiatl herself, slamming the traitor to the ground, instantly killing him. Professing her innocence, the Empress ordered her guards to find the other attackers as she able to finish the peace treaty with Zavala.

Though the armistice officially ended the war between humanity and the Cabal Empire, the traitors and dissenters with Caiatl's forces refused to accept it, even as the Empress disavowed those who valued personal honor over the good of the empire, personally executing one of the conspirators. As such, Caiatl decreed that any who wish to continue fighting the Last City will be left to face the Vanguard's justice, thereby allowing the Guardian to handle these rouge cabal without reprisal. The armistice also brought a sense of hope within Zavala that he could forge an actual alliance with the Cabal Empire against the Black Fleet that had returned within the Sol System, having come to a respectable understanding with the Empress.

With her assassination attempt thwarted, the traitor Yirix remained determined to achieve vengeance in the name of Amtec and her fallen sisters, gathering the dissenters into her ranks to prepare her next move. She would use these traitors as the main force in her operations to spread propaganda against Empress Caiatl, supposedly being supplied and supported by Caiatl's father, the former Emperor of the Cabal, Calus.

List of appearances

• Destiny 2
  • Beyond Light
    • Season of the Chosen (First appearance)
    • Season of the Lost (Mentioned only)