Osiris

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"Oryx-Dead-King. Oryx Dead King, 3 words, 9 word bursts over and over. Osiris?"

—Master Rahool¹

Osiris is an old Warlock and former Vanguard who was exiled from the City.

A veteran of Six Fronts, Osiris was a well respected warrior whose prowess at that battle convinced Saint-14 to recommend him to the Speaker as Vanguard Commander. He had also served as the Speaker's apprentice for a time.² However, his desire for truth about the purpose of Guardians and the nature of Darkness drove him to madness. His theories were not only considered borderline blasphemous, but he was also diverting Guardians and resources away from protecting the City and refugees, and towards chasing legends and rumors, such as the Vault of Glass; it's implied that he was the one who inspired Kabr, the Legionless into going into the Vault.³ He studied the Hive, in particular prophesying the coming of Oryx, and is also rumored to have come "too close to understanding the Vex".^4,5

His obsession with the nature of the Darkness and misuse of resources eventually drove the Speaker to exile him after the Battle of Twilight Gap⁶, as the Speaker believed he had become as obsessed with the Vex as Toland, the Shattered had with the Hive.³ He is described as having a cult of personality, and has a number of disciples, such as Brother Vance, who attempt to see how far the Light can be bent before it can be broken.⁷ Osiris himself seems to have vanished, even from those who follow him, some claiming that he is at once "alive and dead."³

Whether before or after his banishment, Osiris held council with the other two powers of the Solar System, the Queen of the Reef and The Nine. His arrangements with the Queen extend to his followers, explaining their presence in the Vestian Outpost.⁸ He also receives reports from Eris Morn⁹ and has employed the Sunbreakers to work for him.

The Disciples of Osiris hold a Crucible tournament in Osiris's honor called the Trials of Osiris, where they seek to recruit the toughest Guardians to their cause.

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Quotes:

• "Crota's spawn will snuff out the worlds of Light, and Oryx's coming shall be unfettered."¹⁰
• "Every end crawls from the same pit, rising from the schism to swallow matter, Light and life. It cannot be stopped, but here, it can be slowed. The Shrines of Oryx must be destroyed."⁴

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The Cult of Osiris Lore 

Why was Osiris Exiled? Its a story that begins with the Speaker. Osiris was actually an Apprentice to the him. On the Bond of the Exile it reads "They who entered the Speaker's chambers as master and apprentice were bitter rivals when they left." —Brother Vance. Sister Faora another of Osiris's Disciples once said "Was he exiled? Did he leave willingly? Was the parting angry? Peaceful? Is he dead? Alive? In a word: yes." Well The Speaker himself once reflected on their falling out.

What drives a Warlock to madness? Ghosts choose those suited to war and heroism to be reborn. By nature or circumstance they go to battle against the Darkness, and through this battle they learn how to use the Light. But Warlocks, by their nature, fight a second, internal war. This is the war to understand a universe of secrets— a world that expects Guardians to fight without full knowledge of what they are or what they might hope to achieve.

You were a mighty warrior. I watched you at Six Fronts, and heeded the call of Saint-14 to appoint you Vanguard Commander, even when the Concordat claimed to have records proving you were a Golden Age experiment mis-incarnated as a human by an inept Ghost. Saint-14 assured me you were just a man without much patience for confusing messages. I watched as you grew tired of strike missions and the grueling, unproductive sessions with the Cryptarchs. That was when I took you under my wing. I saw our future in you. But your curiosity was voracious— How much of a Guardian’s personality and memories were true? How much had been fabricated by their Ghost? Did Guardians share particular personality traits— a willingness to yield to authority, a tendency to do anything anyone asked for the promise of uncertain reward, a blind knight-errant mentality? Had the Traveler manufactured all of you as living weapons?

I admit, I found your questions divisive and disloyal, and I feared you might be capable of breaking our unity when the City’s position had grown so tenuous. Why divert attention away from the Traveler, our only hope?

And then it got worse, dabbling in thanatonautics, Ahamkara-lore, chasing after Xur and the tricks of the Nine. Launching expeditions into the Reef and beyond at a time when ships were irreplaceable. Your quest split Guardians along ideological lines. This was your greatest crime: Hunters chose to pursue your visions instead of protecting refugees, Titans assembled teams to chase the legendary Vault of Glass instead of striking the Fallen, and Warlocks turned away from the study of the Traveler in favor of your ultimate obsession… learning the exact nature of the Darkness.

When debate became argument, and argument became acrimony, I realized you had already become a cult of personality, attracting Guardians who wanted a clear idea of why they were fighting, what they faced, and how they would ultimately win.

I don’t know where you have gone, but I can no longer send Ghosts out to find you. Some come back— with tales of your death or how you went seeking answers from the far reaches of space and time. That you found a way to explore the Vex gate networks. That you’ve made breakthrough after breakthrough as to their origins— theories that a Guardian could not be simulated, that the Traveler might be an onto former or a god-incubator, that the Vex had diverged into multiple groups in order to secure ‘an end state for every possible configuration of reality’.

I fear you have become as obsessed with the Vex as Toland was with the Hive. I’ve heard your own insane prophecies about pits and dead Hive kings. And of Crota, which now I cannot deny.

I hear stories of Lord Shaxx meeting with fireteams of Warlocks who have no shadow and never blink. Of jumpships slipping into the Reef on cold trajectories and meeting no intercept. Of questions hidden in matter engrams and answers decrypted on distant battlefields.

Perhaps you are still out there. If this reaches you, I would very much like to speak with you, to hear your theories in your own words.

Perhaps what drives a Warlock to madness is truth.

The Speaker says that ghost comeback with stories of Osiris's Death and how Osiris figured out the secrets of the Vex gates. Sister Faora said is Osiris dead or alive and simply answers yes. Is it possible that the great Osiris died but somehow through the vex network is still alive and communicating? Standing by Brother Vance he seems to speak to Osiris as if he still lives. Its as though Osiris is in a state of Temporal flux.

Now something that may surprise you is Brother Vance is actually blind. If you hang around Vance long enough he will tell you quite alot. He will say "I may be Blind Guardian but I know you are there" and "I lost my sight long ago but there are other senses". The interesting thing about this is though is why he is Blind. In the Cult of Osiris there are 2 important documents. The Parables of the Allspring and the Fractal Scrolls. Parables themselves are short stories meant to teach Moral and Spiritual lessons. One thing mentioned in the Parables is on the Sniper rifle the Eye of Sol which means the Eye of the Sun. "The sun took my sight, so the Sun became my eyes" Brother Vance has all the Candles around him for a reason. They help him concentrate. This may be related to the time they spent in Exile on Mercury. Yes I said They. When Osiris was exiled he didn't seem to go alone.

In the Fractal scrolls it says "Many followed him when he left—if not with their feet, then with their hearts." Osiris took his disciples to Mercury... But Brother Vance will tell you none of them are ready for Mercury. What the Vex did to the planet left lasting changes. Legends say that Mercury was once a garden world. Now its surface, baked in the Sun's glare, is honeycombed with forgotten Vex structures. Executor Hideo himself went there, This is what he reported.

There was no one there when we arrived. We approached peacefully and kept our weapons holstered. The sights we saw… Executor, Mercury is a beautiful place, and forbidding. On descent we mapped sprawling patterns of Vex light, an entire metropolis of unknown purpose. The Spires strobe with lightning. A mist of burnt rock or some other effluvia blows across landscape cut into circuits the size of cities. There is an atmosphere, as in all post-Traveler records. The Vex have not disposed of it.

From the surface the Sun is too large and too dim. Perhaps it is the influence of the Vex constructs distorting the image. Perhaps Mercury is in many places at once. We stood for some time staring into the solar fire. I hold myself responsible for the delay.

The site we were invited to is clearly a Cult of Osiris camp. We found stores of Glimmer, equipment, and books. A grounded ship of conventional design rests unguarded. The architecture is clearly, self-evidently Vex, but it has been ornamented extensively with fabrics and ritual objects of unknown provenance.

I became convinced during the inspection that we were being watched. We ordered our Ghosts to stay close. One of my Fireteam suggested we search for connections to the Trinary Star cultists, but if they exist we couldn’t see them.

We inspected the carvings and trinkets left by the Osiris cultists. All of us began to depart from ordinary experience. My Exo teammate described the sense that she was buried beneath an enormous, operating mass— locked up in a tiny crevasse at the bottom of a labyrinth or mechanism. My Awoken teammate felt an ongoing sense of deja vu: her actions were precessed by an infinite echo, an anticipation of all her choices. She became volatile and erratic. She insisted that we were surrounded.

I remember a low ringing sound and a sense of numb filth, like gravel rubbed into a wound. I experienced a sense of immanence, as if I was bleeding into the world around me. It was uncomfortable and profoundly alienating. I perceived all my actions as determined and inevitable.

My Ghost commented that the Traveler had made something of this world, and then Vex had eaten that something.

We gathered the treasure left for us and departed as quickly as we could. This concludes my report. May it bring some advantage to our cause.

It seems that the Vex Network leaves you with a sense of Perpetual Deja vu. This makes complete sense when you think about the Vex and how they travel through time itself. The Machines on the planet have left a lasting effect. While on Mercury, Osiris seems to have come up with a need for a special fireteam. Brother Vance will tell you "If you seek Osiris you must begin with the Trials. He has left his Disciples in locations to search for such a team. This is a encrypted message Between two of Osiris's people.

My brother, Despite all of Shaxx’s work with the Crucible, we must accept that the Tower may never be ready to accept the Trials. But, as many Guardians flock to the Reef, we are suddenly presented with not one opportunity, but two. Go to the Reef. Tell Guardians your story. Give passage to any Guardian that requests it. If the Tower learns of this, do not fear. If they know of the Trials, the Tower will not suspect your other motive for dwelling so close to the margins between Light and Dark. Your sister, Faora

More of Vance's Dialogue is "Why do you make me deal with this Shaxx, Master... is it a test? He will even ask if you are the one who faced Crota? Osiris is not only looking for a good fireteam but one that has entered a Hive Realm and returned victorious.

The Cult of Osiris wants something. Whatever it is, it might be obtained through violence. The Trials are a competition built to identify Guardians who never lose. Unlike solitary Toland, Osiris left a network of acolytes and admirers who carry on his work. The Cult invites only select Guardians to their tournament, and only in teams of three. The Cult wants effortless teamwork, inexorable momentum, and something else: consistency, perhaps, or luck, or fate. Any fireteam that loses three matches is ejected from the tournament.

Brother Vance also raises 2 curious question to me. The first question He ask you is "What does he say about the Nine?" Now I've always thought the Speaker wanted the Nine to help. That the Nine were some kind of Major power on the edge of the Solar system. Well on several pieces of the Trials gear it states "Don't you find it strange that the one called The Speaker rarely has anything useful to say?" —Sayings of the Disciples. It is odd that the Speaker with his Vast Knowledge of the Traveler seems to be nothing more than a Spiritual Leader rather than a Practical one. The second question Vance ask is this: "Ask yourself, what would you do if the Speaker was proven a charlatan".

Source

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Footnotes:

1 -  Tower NPCs Breakdown: The Jovians, Osiris, The Great Pyramid, Sun Legion, Ragnarök, etc. (Part 2)
2  - Item Description: Bond of the Exile
3  - Grimoire: Osiris
4 -  Shrine of Oryx story mission
5 -  Item Description: Tread of the Hezen Lords
6 -  Item Description: Mark of the Exile
7 -  House of Wolves
8 -  Quotes: Brother Vance
9 -  Grimoire: The Road to King's Fall
10 - Grimoire: Spawn of Crota