“For centuries, I led the revels of my empire, and the stars themselves burnt sweet and clear. But in time the jealous and the tight-fisted rose up and sent me into exile.“—Emperor Calus

The war with the Red Legion has ended, Ghaul is dead and the Travler has reawakened after 100s of years, peace has returned to the city and once more guardians triumph. In all my years as a guardian I have yet to see a challenge we cant over come, we’ve shut down vex networks, killed hive kings and gods, restored the Iron lords and put a end to the Red legion. Im not just boasting about our achievements for the sake of it, Im not as pretentious as some hunters. Don’t get the wrong idea these victories have come with great lose, there are many fireteams and guardians who have feel preeminently due to lack of information on the proper subject matter, many guardians louse their ghost and die their last death due to “going in blind.” The unknown both fascinates me and terrifies me, but the last thing I will allow is my fireteam to suffer due to my pride.

Unlike previous excursions this one raises many red flags in my book because it wasn’t something found or past down, the guardians have been Invited  to take on the challenges of the Leviathan, the personal “ship” of the exiled Cabal Emperor Calus, and I use the word ship lightly because this “ship” can swallow moons and planets whole.

My fire teams plans on taking up this challenge within the next fort night, despite knowing so little of what awaits us and now Im here cramming as much informations as I can find on Calus like its the night before my light studies meditation and I decided to go out drinking with my titan friends the last 2 night instead of studying, I know … not very wise warlock, Regardless! There seems to be a plethora of information on Calus himself but none on what we might face, I only hope this is enough.

Calus is the former Emperor of the Cabal Empire, who was usurped by Dominus Ghaul many years prior to the Red War. Many years prior to the invasion on our the Solar system, Calus led a populist revolution among the cabal to eject the military aristocracy known as the Praetorate from power and became Emperor. At his side during the revolution stood his long-time friend and protector Shayotet , who stopped numerous assassination attempts on Calus. Under his rule, the Cabal Empire became a seat of all-encompassing hedonism and revelry. His accomplishments during that time included redistributing Praetorate wealth to the people, granting citizenship to the imperial Legions, and putting down various alien threats such as the Sindu, the Clipse, and the Psions’ OXA Machine. However, when the OXA machine was rebuilt by the savant Otzot, Calus was impressed enough by her genius to order the machine preserved and hold a festival in her honor, elevating Otzot to his court as Imperial Dreamer. His reign was not without personal troubles. Calus was wary of Umun’arath, and his General Evocate, for her paranoia and obsessive fixation on war. His own daughter and heir, Caiatl, grew up similarly despite his efforts.

One of Calus’s pleasures was the coliseum or gladiator pit if you will, one day an albino cabal gladiator made his first appearance there. His’s patient skill and unusual coloration soon made him a favorite of Calus’s, and the Emperor eventually made him Primus of the Red Legion, where his talents would be put to better use. Calus grew to love him like a son, and believed they were kindred spirits who both envisioned a newer, more perfect world. this warrior’s association with The Counsul and members of the Praetorate worried Calus, but not enough to take action. Behind Calus’s  back, he was in fact organizing a coup with the Consul and some of Calus’s closest friends and advisors: Umun’arath, Shayotet, Otzot, Moli Imoli, Iska’al, and Caiatl, an his name was Ghaul.

He launched his coup in the dead of night. With the Emperor too popular to simply execute, Ghaul, his Red Legion, and the Consul arrested Calus and an unknown number of supporters in his own court and exiled them aboard The Leviathan, taken far from the Empire along a pre-programmed course. On the Leviathan, Calus wallowed in despair for an unknown amount of time until a strange event shook him out of his stupor. The Leviathan had come up against an expanse of utter nothingness, shorting out the navigation systems and the course the conspirators had set. Calus looked into the void and came to an understanding, believing that it had chosen him to carry out a great victory on its behalf. From that point on, Calus was changed, and took control of his own fate. He sought revenge. With control of the Leviathan back in his hands, Calus set out on a long voyage of his own, “[plumbing] the secret places of the cosmos”, visiting strange realms and old ruins. This cemented both his conviction that his hedonistic philosophy was correct and his intent to retake his empire. Along the way, he gathered forces to strengthen his Loyalists. He created the shadows as his elite champions, allied with aliens such as the Clipse and the Sindu, and sent messages promising that whoever slew his conspirators would be given great wealth and glory. Eventually, he set a course for the Sol system, which the Red Legion was planning to assault. He sent his Shadows to assassinate Ghaul and failed, but he learned of other warriors in the system that might serve his purposes.

For an unknown period of time, Calus has been using the Leviathan to consume planets and grind their soil into dust to create “Royal Wine.” This is made by mixing the soil with a psionically-potent Royal Nectar, whichever Calus consumes to enhance his psionic powers.

I can only image what sorta of traps he has waiting for us but at least we know our enemy now. Soon we enter the belly of the beast, The Leviathan, I just hope we are ready.

Good luck to all guardians accepting Calus’s invitation, stay safe in there.