Taox

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Taox
Biographical information

Homeworld:

Fundament

Species:

Krill

Gender:

Female

Political and military information

Affiliation:

Osmium Court

Rank:

Osmium-mother

Notable info:

Tutor to the Osmium Heirs
Helium Drinkers' Regent of Osmium Court
Aided the Ammonites and Amiable Ecumene against the Hive

 

"I alone see the patterns of survival. [...] Alone I must act to save my kingdom."
— Taox[1]

Taox was a Krill female who once tutored the Osmium King's three daughters, Xi Ro, Sathona, and Aurash. She betrayed her King to save the Osmium Court's people from extinction, in doing so unwittingly dooming her entire species to slavery by driving the exiled heirs to seek out the Worm Gods.[2]

She is the only known survivor of the original Krill, having avoided Worm symbiosis completely, and managed to evade the Hive through their long crusade. Oryx considered her to be of little importance.[3]

Biography

Fundament

Taox was a sterile Krill Mother of the Osmium Court, a floating continental nation of the Jovian Fundament, and tutor to the royal offspring of the Osmium King. She also designed and built immense engines to move the continent from place to place.[1] She instructed the last three daughters in the ways of governance, rulership, and the philosophy of the Timid Truth, and was held in high esteem by Xi Ro,[4] but feared for their individual weaknesses.[1] Because of her sterility she was above petty political intrigue and could see the greater picture without distraction.[1]

When the Osmium King's mind began to crumble due to his advanced age, Taox realized she could not put off the truth any longer. Her King was dying and had no suitable offspring left to lead their Court and protect them from the dangers of Fundament. She despaired over Xi Ro's inability to lead, Sathona's inability to fight, and Aurash's endless curiosity keeping her from the mundanities of rulership. In desperation she turned to the Osmium Court's enemies, the Helium Drinkers, who had recently begun raiding them and exacting punishing tribute, and wrote a letter offering to sell her people's sovereignty in exchange for survival.[1] The Drinkers accepted her request and invaded, killing the Osmium King, conquered the Osmium Court, and installed Taox as Regent; unfortunately, her three students escaped and fled into the depths of Fundament. The sisters swore vengeance,[5] with Xi Ro personally promising to slay the Traitor.[6][7][8]

For two years[9] Taox ruled the Osmium Court for the Drinkers, presumably building them also a set of engines to move their continent in tandem with hers. When her three students returned as terrible conquerors, transformed by the Worms into the first Hive,[10] Taox rallied the survivors of both Osmium and Helium Courts and fought back as the Refusalists, eventually fleeing to the other continents of Fundament and gathering other reinforcements, but failed to stand against the inexorable advance of the Hive.[11][12] Taox and whomever else was with her took to outer space, fleeing amongst the fifty-two moons for sanctuary, and were granted asylum by the Ammonites.[13] She presumably provided tactical intelligence and information of her students, their motivations, and intentions, to the Ammonite Satellite Congress, as the cephalopods were able to push the Hive forces all the way back to the sixth moon.[14] The Worm Gods told Auryx that Taox mocked him for his weakness.[15]

Taox's letter to the Helium Drinkers was later found and incorporated, or perhaps reproduced, in the Books of Sorrow during the Hive's conquest of Fundament. Savathûn later graffitied a notice into the Books themselves, saying they are full of lies.[16] Either this is part of Savathûn's worm-driven oath to practice cunning and deceit, or Taox's letter and/or its exact contents as recorded in the Books were a forgery.

The Ecumene

When the Ammonite civilization fell to Auryx, Taox put herself in cryo-stasis on a spaceship and fled the Fundament star system,[17] eventually leaving the local galaxy entirely and, over twenty four thousand years later, came across the Amiable Ecumene. Mercenary explorers, working in the employ of the Dakaua Nest, discovered her spacecraft and brought her to the attention of the Dakaua who promptly informed the Ecumene Crisis Council; there she provided intelligence again on the Hive and their commanders, who had already been waging war with them for the past century.[18] In spite of her assistance, one hundred and forty years later, the Ecumene was shattered, and over a thousand years later rendered completely extinct. Taox escaped again, the only survivor of their destruction.[19]

At some point during or after the obliteration of the Ecumene, knowledge of Taox entered the group mind of the Vex; the Hydra Vex Mind Quria, Blade Transform used her information to create an imperfect simulation of Aurash in its final confrontation with the Taken King.[20]

Legacy

Taox's ultimate fate is unknown; she passed out of history after the destruction of the Ecumene, with Oryx mentioning her offhandedly to his son, Crota,[21] and musing the possibility that she may have died without giving it much consideration.[3] Crota was not oath-bound to hunt and kill her, and in any event she was never found by the Hive.[21]

Her name has since entered into the Hive lexicon as a paradoxal term, entaoxuanna, "the first doubt, the oldest doubt", an acknowledgement of Taox's teachings of the Krill's original philosophy the Timid Truth.[22] The story of Taox is known to Emperor Calus, as he studied the legends of the Hive's origins.[23]

Personality and traits

Taox was held in high esteem by Xi Ro,[4][6] and likely by the other two daughters, in her position as tutor of the heirs. She was possessed of a strong sense of civic duty, even when that duty led to betrayal and murder, and a moral code that nonetheless haunted her when she transgressed it.[1]

She also possessed qualities of leadership,[12] leading the peoples of the Osmium Court in the absence of the King and the royal daughters,[9] and when her students returned to conquer the world she alone stood against them.[11][12] She was willing to impart any useful information to potential allies in the hopes that her mistakes would be halted, showing a willingness to work alongside others for the greater good.[13][18]

Trivia

  • The origin of the OXA Machine (also known as OX[T]A) may lie with Taox. As discussed in the Lightfall Collector's Edition lore book (Beloved) for Caiatl, Caiatl's name comes from "the oldest myths in that archive". The OXA is also said to "record the story of the galaxy, and to prophesize what may yet come" and "the doomed and the damned left the record of their downfall in the OXA".[24] With this information, it can be surmised that Taox may have had a hand in creating a more permanent record of the Hive that other civilizations may come across, preparing them for an encounter, considering that Taox is unlikely to live forever as a pure-blood Krill.

List of appearances

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Bungie (2015/9/15), Destiny: The Taken King, Grimoire: II: The Hateful Verse
  2. ^ Bungie (2015/9/15), Destiny: The Taken King
  3. ^ a b Bungie (2015/9/15), Destiny: The Taken King Grimoire: Calcified Fragments: Insight
  4. ^ a b Bungie (2015/9/15), Destiny: The Taken King, Grimoire: I: Predators
  5. ^ Bungie (2015/9/15), Destiny: The Taken King, Grimoire: II: The Oath
  6. ^ a b Bungie (2015/9/15), Destiny: The Taken King Grimoire: IV: Syzygy
  7. ^ Bungie (2015/9/15), Destiny: The Taken King Grimoire: VII: The Dive
  8. ^ Bungie (2015/9/15), Destiny: The Taken King Grimoire: VIII: Leviathan
  9. ^ a b Bungie (2015/9/15), Destiny: The Taken King Grimoire: VI: Sisters
  10. ^ Bungie (2015/9/15), Destiny: The Taken King Grimoire: X: Immortals
  11. ^ a b Bungie (2015/9/15), Destiny: The Taken King, Grimoire: XI: Conquerors
  12. ^ a b c Bungie (2015/9/15), Destiny: The Taken King, Grimoire: XII: Out of the Deep
  13. ^ a b Bungie (2015/9/15), Destiny: The Taken King Grimoire: XIV: 52 and One
  14. ^ Bungie (2015/9/15), Destiny: The Taken King Grimoire: XV: Born As Prey
  15. ^ Bungie (2015/9/15), Destiny: The Taken King Grimoire: XVII: The Weakness Verse
  16. ^ Bungie (2015/9/15), Destiny: The Taken King Grimoire: XLI: Dreadnaught
  17. ^ Bungie (2015/9/15), Destiny: The Taken King Grimoire: XIX: Crusaders
  18. ^ a b Bungie (2015/9/15), Destiny: The Taken King Grimoire: XXV: Dictata ir Dakaua
  19. ^ Bungie (2015/9/15), Destiny: The Taken King Grimoire: XXIX: Carved in Ruin
  20. ^ Bungie (2015/9/15), Destiny: The Taken King Grimoire: XLIII: End of Failed Timeline
  21. ^ a b Bungie (2015/9/15), Destiny: The Taken King Grimoire: XXXVI: Eater of Hope
  22. ^ Bungie (2023/8/22), Destiny 2: Season of the Witch - Lore: Lore:Sororicide#XI—Eris Morn—They Drink Strong Poison|XI—Eris Morn—They Drink Strong Poison
  23. ^ Bungie (2019/6/4), Destiny 2: Season of Opulence Confessions: Entry IV
  24. ^ Bungie (2023/2/28), Destiny 2: Lightfall - Lore: I am thirty-five years old.
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