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The Red Legion is the main antagonistic faction of Destiny 2's main campaign story. They are an elite legion of the Cabal Empire that invaded the Solar System in order to seize the Traveler's powers for themselves.
They are commanded by Dominus Ghaul and are extremely loyal to him, having served Ghaul for centuries and aided in his coup against the Cabal's previous ruler Calus.
The Red Legion was deployed to the Sol System after the Cabal's previous scout legions were decimated by Oryx during the events of Destiny: The Taken King. They hold the distinction of being the only faction to have successfully conquered the Last City, albeit only temporarily. According to Ikora and the Consul, the Red Legion has never been defeated prior to their conquest of the Last City.
Following their first defeat and the death of Ghaul, the Legion temporarily came under the command of Val Ca'uor until his demise aboard the Leviathan. These events left the Legion leaderless and demoralized as they continued to suffer from more losses. Eventually, the Red Legion came under the control of three Psion Flayer sisters.
History[]
Background[]
During Emperor Calus's reign, he gave command of the Red Legion to a gladiator named Ghaul. Over time, the Red Legion became more loyal towards Ghaul than Calus. During Ghaul's coup, the Red Legion marched on Calus's palace and deposed the Emperor during a late-night court celebration. Due to Calus's popularity among the Cabal's people, they were unable to execute the former Emperor and ultimately exiled Calus aboard the massive starship Leviathan.
Under Dominus Ghaul's reign, the Cabal militarized heavily and began a campaign of invasion and destruction throughout the galaxy. During this period, the Red Legion conquered hundreds of worlds. Any world which resisted was destroyed by the Almighty, a superweapon capable of destroying suns.
Prelude to the Red War[]
During the Taken War, the Cabal's forces in the Sol System were crippled overnight by the arrival of Oryx, the Taken King. Most of the Cabal's legions—including the Skyburners, Sand Eaters, Dust Giants, and the Blind Legion—were either killed or Taken by Oryx to replenish the forces he lost against the Awoken's fleet. In addition, the Cabal was forced to abandon their headquarters on Phobos.
Under orders from Dominus Ghaul, the Skyburners crashed a Cabal warship into the hull of Oryx's Dreadnaught in a desperate attempt to kill Oryx and seize the Dreadnaught's technology. Failing to accomplish this, the Skyburners sent a distress signal to Ghaul. Receiving the Skyburners' distress call, Ghaul mobilized the Red Legion and prepared for an invasion of the Sol System.
Taking the Last City[]
Prior to their invasion, the Red Legion sabotaged all of the Last City's satellites and outer defenses. Using a storm as cover, the Red Legion's arrival was completely undetected by humanity. Catching the Vanguard by surprise, the Red Legion launched a blitzkrieg against the City, destroying the Tower and forcing many citizens to evacuate. During the attack, the Legion attached the Traveler Cage onto the Traveler and drained all of its Light, cutting off the Guardians from their source of power. As the battle progressed, Ghaul's command ship, the Immortal, bombarded the remains of the Tower with Ripper Pods and missiles. Late in the battle, The Guardian boarded the Immortal in an attempt to destroy the ship's shield generators. This ultimately had little effect as by the time the Immortal's shields went down, the Red Legion had successfully conquered humanity's last bastion. Following their victory, the Red Legion forced most of the Guardians into retreat and executed any that remained in the City.
Occupying the Sol System[]
With both the Last City and the Traveler firmly under Ghaul's control, the Red Legion's forces were then deployed throughout the Solar System. Most notably, the Red Legion turned the tide in the Cabal's centuries-long war against the Vex. They invaded planets controlled by the Vex, such as Mars, Mercury, and the moon Nessus, and even destroyed the Gate to the Black Garden. They also established a base on Io and began drilling the moon. The Legion would also come into conflict against the House of Dusk, who fought against the Legion using guerilla warfare. In addition, the Red Legion also invaded the Reef and came into conflict with the Reef's Awoken and the Scorn. In order to sustain their military operations, the Red Legion hired Bracus Zahn, a Cabal arms dealer, to supply them with weapons. After securing the Last City, Ghaul had the Almighty positioned near the Sun and used its energy beam to link with the Sun in preparation for annihilating the entire star system. The Almighty broke down half of Mercury's mass into fragments that it used as fuel for its beam.
Defeat of the Red Legion[]
In order to stop the Almighty from destroying the solar system, the Vanguard made plans to shut down the superweapon. The Guardian then infiltrated a landed Cabal carrier and killed its commander Thumos, the Unbroken. After killing Thumos, The Guardian attacked Thumos's base and fought a three-way-battle against the Red Legion and the House of Dusk. After stealing Thumos's ship, The Guardian boarded the Almighty and disabled the superweapon. As The Guardian disabled the Almighty, the Vanguard led a counter-attack in an effort to retake the Last City. A massive battle broke out between the Guardians and the Red Legion's occupation force. As the battle progressed, Ghaul began to absorb some of the Traveler's Light himself and battled against The Guardian. Following the Traveler's reawakening and Ghaul's death, the Red Legion was defeated for the first time in its history and was forced to retreat.
New Leadership[]
Attacking the Leviathan[]
In the aftermath of Dominus Ghaul's death and the loss of most of the Red Legion's high-ranking officers, Val Ca'our became the new commander of the Red Legion. Unfortunately, Ca'our's reign didn't last long. About eight months after the arrival of former Emperor Calus aboard the Leviathan, Ca'our attempted to assassinate Calus and seize control of the Leviathan for himself. He gathered a large fleet and assaulted Calus's ship. Ca'our would ultimately fail, only managing to destroy a robotic double of Calus before being killed himself by a fireteam of Guardians summoned by Calus. Many of the Red Legion's ships were also destroyed by the Leviathan's weapons during the battle.
Rewriting History[]
Eventually, the Red Legion came under the leadership of three Psion Flayer sisters. Seeking to change history, three of the sisters took control of Osiris's Sundial on Mercury and attempted to change the past so that the Red Legion would be victorious. The Guardian foiled this attempt and killed the three Psion sisters.
Nothing Left to Lose[]
After suffering many defeats and setbacks, the Red Legion becomes increasingly desperate to defeat the Guardians. Under the orders of Amtec, the last surviving Psion Flayer sister, a team of Psions and Cabal salvaged the Almighty and set the superweapon on a collision course with Earth. When Vanguard leader Zavala and Guardian Ana Bray boarded the Almighty, the Red Legion destroyed all of the vessel's navigation systems, steering, and engines. With no way to stop the Almighty, the Vanguard decided to rearm the ancient Warmind Rasputin.
Utilizing its arsenal of missile silos, Rasputin successfully destroyed the Almighty before it could crash into the Last City.
Arrival of the Empress[]
Following the destruction of the Almighty and the disappearance of Amtec, the Red Legion had been reduced to a mere shadow of its former glory with control of the legion now divided between various self-serving commanders. However, all of this would change following the unexpected arrival of Caiatl, the newly-crowned Empress of the Cabal Empire.
Having lost the Cabal homeworld, Torobatl, to a Hive invasion led by Xivu Arath, Caiatl took the surviving Cabal from her homeworld and traveled to the Sol System in hopes of reclaiming the Red Legion's warriors for a future campaign to retake Torobatl. Arriving only to find the Red Legion reduced to a few holdouts, Caiatl instead attempted to forge an alliance between the Cabal and the Guardians. When the Guardians' leader, Commander Zavala, refused after she demanded they bow to her, Caiatl used ancient Cabal traditions to invoke the Rite of Proving and ordered the remaining Red Legion forces to participate in war games meant to choose which Red Legion commander would be worthy of joining her war council. However, the Guardians interfered with these war games and killed all of Caiatl's aspiring council members. After Caiatl's own champion was defeated in ritual combat by the Guardian, Caiatl conceded defeat to Zavala and made peace with the Guardians while also ordering the Red Legion's forces to leave Earth.
Despite the Empress' orders, some of the Red Legion's soldiers chose to disobey her and continue their war against the Last City. These troops were considered a rogue faction by the rest of the Cabal and the Guardians were given permission by Caiatl to deal with them as they pleased.
Military and Technology[]
The technology used by the Red Legion is considerably more advanced than the technology used by the Cabal legions in the first Destiny game. In addition, the Red Legion has soldier variants not seen in previous Cabal legions, such as Gladiators and Incendiors. Additionally, the Red Legion makes use of War Beasts and has a smaller variant of the Harvester gunship called the Thresher.
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