[i][b][u]Crucible Arenas[/u][/b][/i] [u][b]Asylum[/b][/u] [u]Primary Text:[/u] [i]"There used to be life here. Now it's just overgrowth."[/i] [u]Secondary Text:[/u] AREA DESIGNATION: Asylum LOCATION: Ishtar Sink, Venus Before the Collapse, this would've been just another stop on the subway line between Clovis Bray's Venus arcology headquarters and the Academy campus by the shore. Now, it's a grim reminder of the lives, the dreams, and the progress we lost when the Darkness came. For the Guardians of the Crucible, it's a place to sharpen their blades in the shadow of the Vex, an enemy who knows no such sentimentality. [b]Arcology; is a field of creating architectural design principles for very densely populated, ecologically low-impact human habitats.[/b] [u][b]Blind Watch[/b][/u] [u]Primary Text:[/u] [i]"Dry as the bones you'll break."[/i] [u]Secondary Text:[/u] ARENA DESIGNATION: The Blind Watch LOCATION: Meridian Bay, Mars The Blind Watch was once a clandestine Guardian outpost on the outskirts of Freehold, used to monitor Cabal activity in and around the Buried City. After the Cabal consolidated their forces nearer their fortified Exclusion Zone, the site was reclaimed by the Crucible as a combat training ground. [b]Freehold is under Cabal control. I would like to know who occupied the outpost, before Shaxx and his Redjackets commandeered it.[/b] Resting atop an old Clovis Bray science facility, the Blind Watch allows Guardians to acclimate to the harsh Martian environment, while maintaining a combat ready presence should the Cabal ever begin to mobilize. [u][b]Meridian Bay[/b][/u] [u]Primary Text:[/u] [i]"A great city is a place where man competes with the Gods." - Alton Bray, "Trials and Triumphs"[/i] [u]Secondary Text:[/u] Under the shifting sands of Meridian Bay are the ruins of the magnificent Freehold, a testament to the glory of the Golden Age. Great secrets remain hidden in its crumbling towers. [b]Accepting suggestions that dark areas on the surface of Mars were seas or oceans, French astronomer Camille Flammarion named a dark area at that point "Sinus Meridiani", literally "Meridian Bay." Since flyby and orbital spacecraft imagery of Mars began to become available in the 1960s, dark-light albedo features on the planet have seen shifting of names to reflect the true nature of the topography, and Sinus Meridiani consequently was given a new designation, Terra Meridiani ("Meridian Land"). However, the older and the newer designations are both in current use.[/b] [u][b]Skyline - Meridian Bay, Mars[/b][/u] [u]Primary Text:[/u] [i][None][/i] [u]Secondary Text:[/u] ARENA DESIGNATION: Skyline LOCATION: Buried City, Mars This Clovis Bray center served as a hub to several company assets across Meridian Bay and beyond. Though a transit system connects the various Bray facilities, the exact breadth of the network has been lost to time. The Vanguard intends to shed light on the mystery. [b]I will be commissioning Alexander Kourakis or Kira Kojima to lead an expedition into the subway and transit systems of the Clovis Bray Facilities.[/b] After the role Clovis Bray tech played in Earth’s SIVA Crisis, Commander Zavala wants no stone unturned when it comes to the Golden Age conglomerate. But for now, Vanguard researchers have learned all they can from Skyline. It’s Lord Shaxx’s turn to scrutinize it. [u][b]The Buried City[/b][/u] [u]Primary Text:[/u] [i][None][/i] [u]Secondary Text:[/u] "I wish I could walk the halls of Clovis Bray. Losing their machines to Rasputin is unfortunate, but we still have access to so much we thought we'd lost. This is the dawn of a new era for us." - Master Rahool [b]When the Guardians reactivated Rasputin and opened the last Array station in the mission, The Last Array, they freed Rasputin to spread across the solar system again. Rasputin took this has his opportunity to find and secure Mars' warmind for himself. Thus, making it impossible to access the files of the various Clovis Bray memory banks.[/b] [u][b]Download Complete[/b][/u] [u]Primary Text:[/u] [i]“The Vanguard has known for some time that the Fallen were exploring the Cosmodrome for lost technology. Now we know that they were digging for one treasure in particular – SIVA. The data from Clovis Bray was their map.[/i] [b]The House of Devils came into possession of the information necessary to find SIVA. How they came into possession of it, is yet a topic of much discussion between Saladin, Tyra Karn and Shiro-4. Not only this, but if SIVA was conceived and developed on Mars ... how did it get to Earth? Who created the SIVA replication chamber that the Iron Lords sacrificed all to reach, then seal?[/b] [u]Secondary Text:[/u] “Now those same prototype files will be the Guardian’s key to victory. Shiro and I are already working on a defense that will protect Saladin’s ’Young Wolf’ in the final battle.” Tyra Karn [b]We encounter no House Devils at any point in this mission. Just platoons of Cabal. Clearly, the Devils were far more interested in implementing SIVA, then covering their tracks. The fallen casualties in this information raid from the heart of Cabal territory could only be described as momentous.[/b] [u][b]Transmission[/b][/u] [u]Primary Text:[/u] [i][None][/i] [u]Secondary Text:[/u] The things that possessed us, that called themselves Magnificence, Brilliance, Splendor, Fortitude, and Glory, have decomposed and passed into memory. The Owl Sector, who watch over us with spread wings, are at rest again. While the gifts of Clovis Bray’s research were many and valuable, Dr. Shirazi’s notes describe terrible things. That they only enhanced our cognition is fortunate. But they were also unstoppable. What will we do when something more harmful touches us? —Ikora Rey [b]Dr.Shirazi's notes and dictations will be next on my table, Once I have finished this partition with the Ghost Fragment containing more information on the Bray family. But, First, a brief summation of Dr. Shirazi; A scientist employed by the Clovis Bray organisation, employed with the purpose of carrying out supposedly various experiments with the goal of creating more resilient colonists.[/b] [u][b]Ghost Fragment: Cabal[/b][/u] [u]Primary Text:[/u] [i][None][/i] [u]Secondary Text:[/u] I have stayed with the Cabal, even as the Light in me dims - I have been too far from the Traveler for too long. If I am not destined to find my own Guardian, at least I can inform the City of what I've learned. [b]This grimoire is told from the perspective of a Ghost. This also shows that Ghosts will lose their Light ... most likely resulting in their death, as they are born of Light, it is very unlikely they could survive without it. However, this does not specify an exact amount of time that this would have taken.[/b] I thought Mars would be the place to find a Guardian. The sand preserves everything well, and Clovis Bray had been famous for attracting talent. The brave, the brilliant, the footloose, those restless on Earth and itching for fame. I stowed away aboard a Mars scout ship, hoping. [b]Clovis Bray sounds familiar to classical tales of Florence, Italy, home to the great inventor Leonardo Da Vinci. A place of free-thinkers, rebels and heretics. Where progress was celebrated and encouraged. Is it any wonder, that SIVA was conceived here?[/b] No luck. The sand ate everything. Clothes from skin, skin from bone. It was as if there were never any people here at all. I have been through every broken window in every building. Nothing. That is, no Guardian material. And no ride back to Earth. The scout was long gone. [b]There does not seem to be any evidence that a Guardian has been resurrected on Mars... this statement will remain pending until confirmation can be established.[/b] What I did find, however, was a way into the Cabal Warbase. Their runty piggish eyes are too dull to see me, as long as I stay out of their defense systems. The Psions are a different matter: Too quick, too clever, throwing their minds around like hammers. I creep around walls, or dig into a heap of canisters and watch from there. [b]Evidence that the Psions have some kind of psychic ablilities... More studies must be done to establish the extent of the Psions and Psion Flayers power.[/b] There is a vast Empire behind these creatures, many star systems away. Some pledge allegiance to that far Empire, obeying their ancient marching orders. Some do not. They disagree among themselves about the answers. I wish arguing Cabal on no one. They slam their plated bodies into each other with horrendous roars. Intelligence gathering has never been so painful. [b]Dissension within the ranks of the Cabal seem to keep them from being a united, driving force. If I were the leader of the Cabal Empire ... I would not shy from conquering the solar system. I would arrive with a vast armada and push hard at the defenses of the Guardians. First, obliterate the Reef, the Guardians only true allies. Then focus all might on the Traveler and the Last City. With their source of power and morale eradicated, the Guardians would slowly fall. Then, turn to the dissenters. The ones who bicker and slow the march of the Empire, and dispense harsh punishments to remind all the troops that they are all held responsible for every victory, and every failure.[/b]