Fallen

"We have butchers at our gates, four-armed and eager for slaughter."

— Fallen Grimoire entry

The Fallen, known in their own language as the Eliksni, are an insectoid alien species that fights against the remnants of humanity, as well as the other races vying for control of the Solar System. Notorious scavengers and raiders, the Fallen seek to reclaim the glory of their ancient past by capturing the Traveler.

Overview

The Fallen are a nomadic race of pirates and scavengers descended from a once-great civilization. This is evidenced by their social organization into various Houses in the manner of nobility, the banners and flags of which are still flown like heraldry.^[1] The Fallen search the stars for artifacts of their lost civilization.^[2] They first arrived in the Solar System after the Collapse, arriving in their massive Ketches to loot and pillage humanity's former worlds, leaving grief and wreckage in their wake.^[3]

The Fallen are antagonistic toward the Cabal, Taken, Hive, and Vex, and are known to be in conflict with the latter two over territory and technology. They have ordinarily avoided the Cabal until the Taken War, when the House of Wolves attempted to make their new home on Mars using abandoned Cabal bases. They lack any type of established stronghold such as the Citadel or the Hellmouth, instead preferring to squat in ruins or inside their ketches.^[4]

History

The Fallen's name for their own race is "Eliksni".^[5] According to Variks, the Loyal, the Fallen once encountered the Traveler, or "Great Machine", before an event or entity called the "Whirlwind" (possibly the Darkness) destroyed their civilization. In the aftermath, the surviving Fallen became embroiled in a bloody civil war over their civilization's ruins, before achieving a tenuous peace and embarking on a journey into space to locate the Traveler in order to return to greatness once again. The Fallen eventually arrived at the Solar System shortly after humanity's Collapse, and rediscovered the Traveler on Earth.^[6]

The Fallen's overall approach to recapturing the Traveler has been aimless, however, due to the conflicting ambitions of the Kells. The House of Devils mounted a massive assault of the Last City not long after its founding, but the battle that became known as Six Fronts ended in a victory for the City, and the Devils have since focused their efforts on scavenging the Cosmodrome. The House of Winter conducted a guerrilla campaign against human settlements and Guardian expeditions, but their interest later turned to the Vex ruins of the Ishtar Sink, which in turn has resulted in a losing war of attrition with the Hezen Corrective. Outcasts from the larger Houses have banded together to form the House of Exile, which has taken to pillaging the human ruins and Hive temples of the Ocean of Storms. The secretive House of Kings is believed to be manipulating a number of other Houses with the long-term goal of seizing the Traveler from the Guardians; this scheme may have precipitated the Battle of the Twilight Gap, one of the few times any number of the Houses actively cooperated with each other.^[7] The Kings however, have kept to the shadows and have avoided major conflict with the City. Meanwhile, the House of Wolves was caught up in the Reef Wars with Awoken, which ended with the imprisonment of their nobility and Queen Mara Sov being crowned as their Kell.

In recent times, the Guardians have undertaken increasingly bold offensives against Fallen operations and leadership. The House of Devils has been decapitated, as its Kell, Archon, and Prime have each been slain; the House of Winter has similarly suffered a loss of its ruling triumvirate. The House of Kings' leaders are believed to yet live, but a number of its Barons have been assassinated. The anarchic House of Exiles has no real leadership to speak of, but efforts to acquire Hive technology have been thwarted.

An unexpected counterattack by the Fallen came in the form of the House of Wolves' rebellion against the Awoken. Their previous Kell, Skolas, returned and claimed the prophesied title of Kell of Kells, seeking to unite all of the Fallen Houses under his rule alone. Prowling Wolf Packs swarmed sites on various worlds, marshaling the other Fallen to pledge to Skolas' banner. The resurgent Wolves were broken through the efforts of the Guardians and Skolas was re-imprisoned and later killed, but some holdouts remained; the Wolves' old Prime later attempted to reassemble the House on Mars.

Biology

Fallen are a hardy species, and can survive in a wide range of environments without heavy armor or complex modifications to their physiology.^[8] Fallen have four arms, partable mandibles^[9] and typically wear a helmet with a built-in respiration apparatus.^[10] Through means either natural or artificial, the Fallen can regrow their arms if removed from their body.^[11] Their blood color is reddish purple.^[12]

Fallen depend on a substance called ether to survive, which only servitors can produce. Servitors convert scavenged matter and energy, presented to them ritualistically by the Fallen, directly into ether via unknown processes.^[13] While Servitors were revered in ancient times, they have now become a symbol of the degradation of Fallen society and their lost glory. Higher-ranking Fallen get a bigger ration of ether, and more ether allows Fallen to grow in size; this is why Captains are taller than Vandals or Dregs, and why Kells and Archons tower over other Fallen. In the description of the Elder Cipher we learn that the Kell of a house controls and distributes ether flow using their own personal cipher.^[14] When a Fallen is killed, a quantity of ether escapes its body and dissipates.^[15]

Houses

Fallen society is divided into a number of Houses, none of which are known to maintain friendly relations with one another,^[16] save for the House of Judgment, which was meant to live among the other houses and keep the peace. Each House is ruled by a Kell, who acts as the political leader of a House and commands a Ketch.^[3] Prime Servitors are exalted as gods among the Fallen, inspiring fanatical devotion from the House to which they belong and providing a steady supply of vital ether and new minor servitors. Archons serve as both high priests and chief engineers of a House, mediating between the Kell and the Prime Servitor in addition to overseeing maintenance of the House's machines. Houses require all three to be fully stable; without a Kell a House becomes prone to infighting, without an Archon a House's Prime Servitor is vulnerable to attack, and without a Prime Servitor a House cannot produce new servitors for ether.^[4]

Below the upper echelon of House leadership are the Barons and Captains and the individual crews they command. Captains are Fallen who have managed to gather a following of a number of Vandals and Dregs, who serve as the Captain's crew, commanding respect through brute force. Most Captains swear fealty to a certain House, but some operate independently. A step above Captains in rank are the Barons, who possess a Skiff as well as lead a crew.^[4]

The majority of Fallen Houses consist of Vandals and Dregs. Vandals serve as both seasoned infantry and skilled workers. They aspire to become Captains and one day lead crews of their own. Dregs are the lowest class in Fallen society. Docked of their lower pair of arms in a ritual of humiliation and obedience, Dregs zealously fill the roles of shock troops and menial laborers in crews. The life expectancy of a Dreg is notoriously short, but those few who survive to be promoted to Vandals are permitted to regrow their arms.^[4]

Known Houses

House of Devils—Earth
House of Exile—Moon
House of Judgment—The Reef
House of Kings—Earth
House of Rain—Believed extinct, destroyed by the Whirlwind
House of Scar—Unknown, possibly destroyed by the House of Winter
House of Stone—Unknown, possibly extinct
House of Winter—Venus
House of Wolves—Unknown outer system worlds (formerly), Ceres (formerly), The Reef (formerly), Earth, Moon, Venus, Mars

Named Individuals and Mini-bosses

Encountered

Major Characters

Wanted Bounties

Mentioned only

Chelchis, Kell of Stone
Irxis, Wolf Baroness
Kaliks-4
Kaliks Prime
Parixas, the Howling
Simiks Prime
Skriviks, the Sharp-Eyed
Solkis, Devil Kell
Virixas, Kell of Wolves
Eramis The Shipstealer, Baroness of Devils

Command Structure

Kell
Archon
Baron
Captain (Arc Shield)
- Elder Captain
- Noble Captain
- Queenbreaker Captain
- Reaver Captain
- Scorch Captain
- Silent Fang
- Watch Captain
- Wolf Captain
- Wolves' Guard
Vandal
- Elder Vandal
- Kell's Guard
- Stealth Vandal
  - Stealth Elite Vandal
  - Wolf Stealth Vandal
- Salvage Boss
- Survey Boss
- Twisted Claw
- Queenbreaker Vandal
- Reaver Vandal—Major
- Wolf Melee Vandal
- Wolf Vandal
Dreg
- Archon Servant
- Dreg Lead Scout
- Feral Dreg
- Reaver Dreg
- Wolf Scavenger

Technology

Armament

Vehicles

Automata

Fallen Walker
- Elite Devil Walker
- Noble Devil Walker
- Noble Iron Walker
- Noble Winter Walker
- Noble Wolf Walker
- Wolf Walker
- Elder Wolf Walker
Servitor
- Elder Servitor
- Ether Runner
- Spy Servitor
- Trawl Servitor
- High Servitor
- Pilot Servitor
- Prime Servitor
- Wolf High Servitor
- Wolf Servitor
Shank
- Elder Pit Shank
- Elite Shank
- Exploder Shank
- Noble Shank (Solar Shield)
- Noble Pit Shank
- Pit Shank
- Reaver Shank
- Repeater Shank (Turret Shank)
- Sensor Shank
- Surveillance Shank
- Tracer Shank

Other

Alphabet

In addition to Fallen glyphs, Bungie has released a number of images with examples of Fallen writing, including a number of unique letter combinations.^[18]^[19]^[20]

Trivia

Their mechanized vehicle units carry overtones of Japanese mecha, and their ships appear like rusted futuristic submarines.^[21]
According to GameInformer, The Fallen cooperate with both Cabal and Vex forces, who are in fact enemies with one another as seen on Mars.^[22] This has yet to be shown in-game, as the Fallen House of Winter is at war with the Vex on Venus, and the House of Wolves later came into conflict with the Cabal.
A T-shirt, featuring a Fallen Glyph with various examples of Fallen script in the background, was previously available in the Bungie Store prior to the game's launch. This shirt was also made available at PAX 2013 where its creator, Bungie graphic designer Elliot Gray, gave a little insight into the story behind its creation to a fan who asked him the meaning of the symbols. He indicated that he had used the names of several of the game's developers for the background, then pointed to one name in the corner and indicated that it translated into "Ondarius", which he stated was the name by which one of the Great Houses referred to themselves, although he didn't elaborate on which House it was.

Gallery

A Fallen "glyph."
A Fallen in front of a Fallen Walker.
A Fallen Dreg.
A Fallen Vandal.
A Fallen Captain.
Another Fallen Captain, displaying the colours of the House of Winter.
Fallen dropships over Old Russia.
A Fallen pirate ship with 2 Fallen dropships.
Sketch of a Fallen's face up close.
Concept arts of Fallen vehicles.
Concept art of Shrapnel Launcher and Shock Pistol.
Concept art of Fallen stasis capsule.
Glyphs that make up the Fallen alphabet.
Fallen Captain, saying "Welcome" in 5 languages, including its own.
Inverted image of writing on Fallen T-Shirt available at the Bungie Store. Note the translations show the names of various Bungie employees on the Destiny development team, as well as the name "Ondarius".
Example of Fallen writing, demonstrating how certain characters combine. Translation: "THE FA LL EN"