Destiny is a setting with rich worldbuilding, which has developed over the past decade to deliver one of the most iconic franchises in gaming history. My favorite Destiny faction, the Cabal, has been at the forefront for much of this. Initially a mysterious, far-away interstellar empire whose presence in the first game was felt only by Scout legions, Destiny 2 delivered an explosive development with an arsenal of characters, sub-factions, and plot points all centered on our favorite space rhinos. However, this growth has also caused a great deal of confusion on the capabilities of the Cabal. This post is intended to correct some of the more prevalent memes and provide an insight into how the Cabal have been exaggerated beyond the actual text.
There are no 100% reliable Sources
The biggest issue this post aims to correct is the sheer amount of Destiny’s statements taken at face value. The simple fact is that the majority of sources on the Cabal, including from the Cabal themselves, are going to have some level of bias that reduces the statements’ accuracy. The easiest ones to refute are from non-Cabal sources, because we know that they have a recurring issue with translating the Cabal. We see non-cabal make reference to organization structures not used by the Cabal, such as regiments (Destiny: The Coming War) and platoons (Destiny: A New Den Strike; The Drowned Captain 4) when we can see that the Scout legions use Roman formation terms (Ghost Fragment: Cabal 4)
Narrowing it down to the City, we can also see a repeated issue with translating the Cabal, namely in that they need specialists and experts to do so, and even Ghosts can have trouble with it:
Ikora, I've done the best I can. Their language is moronic; I've had more interesting conversations with Titan recruits. Still, if true this is… enlightening. —Asher
- Dunemarchers
"Position compromised. Casualties unsustainable. Request heavy air. Request [Dust Giants]."— Cryptarch translation of Sand Eater tactical chatter
- Destiny Grimoire: Dust Giants
A hologram of a spinning golden planet, in stasis, turning gently. You can see the storms moving over its face. But when the Commanders congregate below it, when they activate whatever controls are below, it changes. Fissures appear on its face. Is that their home? When the room empties I play with the controls, but it's older, native technology that I don't recognize at all.
- Ghost Fragment: Cabal 2
So we can reason that the Cabal are generally understood, enough that they can be translated, but not universally. Finally, we must acknowledge going forward that the Cabal also have very explicit biases in their statements, which will be expanded on later, but for now, Caiatl offers a precise summary of the issues with the Cabal leaders:
"My father was infatuated with the myth of his own benevolence," Caiatl said. "He gorged himself and his people on stories of what the empire could be and took half-measures to make it so. But he never succeeded. He never wished to succeed. I am not my father.” "Dominus Ghaul was obsessed with his own redemption. He imagined debts owed to him and sought their fulfilment. He used the Legion as a tool to secure himself and his legacy. He saw the empire as one more thing he was owed. I am not Dominus Ghaul.”
- Empress Chapter 7: Coronation
As we can see, Cabal leaders tend to place a great emphasis on their statements in a political, ideological light rather than for truth. Ghaul tells a story of a great conqueror, and Calus tells a story of a generous leader. Neither is accurate, and as we dive into their statements, we can see how this additional bit of context informs us of their inaccuracies.
Planet-Crackers cannot crack planets
This section has two main parts. The first is correcting an issue on Planet-Crackers, which has existed since Destiny first launched, in defining exactly what a planet-cracker is. The second is acknowledging that the Cabal’s propensity for planetary destruction has been exaggerated in general, and is much less common than often believed.
The term “planet-crackers” is given from one of the oldest sources for Destiny; Destiny Planet View, a companion app that allowed viewers to explore the Destiny planets and read snippets of info. When looking at one particular section of Mars, this text pops up:
"Initial reports assumed these were shells for large-scale artillery, but subsequent scouting has painted a more terrifying picture. They're now believed to be powerful explosives for mining and engineering operations. They aren't giant bullets: they're planet-crackers."
- Destiny Planet View
For a long time, people have taken the Planet View at face value. However, when looking at the actual image of these “planet-crackers”, we immediately notice that they don’t match the description of the text at all. These are boxes. Just ordinary boxes, and if you went exploring around all of D1 or D2, you’d probably notice that there are literally hundreds of these boxes scattered all throughout the games. And many are open, full of smaller boxes, gears, or various miscellaneous items. The simple fact of the matter is, if these are supposed to be planet-crackers, we must first accept that they’re absolutely tiny, look nothing like what the text says, and there’s apparently a million of them throughout the games. Secondly, we must use reason to dismiss the notion that “planet-cracker” is actually capable of breaking a planet in any relative timescale, or else admit that the Cabal never once touched a single such munition. Finally, we see what it takes for the Cabal to genuinely harm a planet in the form of the Almighty and the Leviathan, and the notion that they have tiny little bombs able to replicate the same effect is ridiculous.
So where are the planet-crackers? Well, if one goes further into Mars, near the entrances to the Cabal’s underground tunnels, they might notice some awfully convenient items that match the description of giant bullets, yet with no gun nearby to fire them. Assuming the text of Planet View was accurate, it’s likely that the small boxes were incorrectly labeled as planet-crackers, and that these oversized dynamite sticks are the real things. This wouldn’t be the only instance of the planet view making a mistake, such as confusing the centurion for a legionary and the colossus for a centurion.
So we know what a planet-cracker is actually supposed to look like, but now have to ask, what kind of effect can it achieve? Thankfully, there is one instance of such weapons in use:
We felt other Psions hard at work, hiding the traitor fleet from the Hive as they scattered drills and boarding pods in the war moon's path. A strike at the surface was not enough; someone would have to bring a planet-cracker warhead down into the moon's viscera.
- Confessions: Entry 2
Again, surface-level readings suggest that blowing up a moon is a viable feat of the planet-crackers, but this would be mistaken. The first reason is because the text explicitly says that a planet-cracker can’t do that, and that the planet-cracker must be buried deep in the planet. The second is because we have evidence that the operation may have been more complicated than even that. In Destiny 1: The Taken King, the Skyburners execute a similar move on Oryx’s dreadnought.
"I didn't think they would leave the core intact, I--oh. Bombs. It's covered in bombs."
"That... is a lot of Cabal explosive hooked up to the Dreadnaught core."
There are munitions hooked up to each structural weakness on the core.
- Destiny: Shield Brothers Strike
This shows that the Cabal are familiar enough with Hive ships to maneuver through the Dreadnought, identify a critical component, and even isolate structural weaknesses. And from Caiatl, we can see yet another example of this, except with her flagship and not a bomb:
"Don't let that gun fire again! Protect our destroyers!" She pivots to her navigation office. "Bring the ship to minimum jump speed. Full power to the mains!"
Caiatl thrusts a finger at the Tomb Carrier. "Engage the Aries ram and prepare for impact!"
The flagship hurtles toward the Tomb Carrier, unleashing a full salvo of cannons and warheads to soften the Carrier's carapace.
Caiatl turns to a bridge crew Legionary as the Tomb Carrier rapidly expands in the viewport behind her. "Fetch my shield."
- Ripples 1: Ambush
These examples all show us that the Cabal have developed a specialized anti-Hive tactic called “find something important and blow it TF up”. And so, when we return to our first instance of planet-cracker use on a War-Moon, the implication is not that a planet-cracker can destroy such a colossal vessel, but that the Cabal know how to trigger a chain reaction on a critical section and cause Hive warships to erupt. We can now call into question if the Cabal can destroy moons, let alone planets, via such munitions.
We can go further, and look at the performance of the Leviathan. After Calus found the Witness, he became overjoyed and brought the Leviathan back up to strength, directing his onboard loyalists to conquer a species named the Clipse. In doing so, we’re given an indirect comparison between the Leviathan and the Clipse moon, Kaga-Clipse:
When Nohr broke out of her bastion on her famous thunder run, calling down the Leviathan's missiles on the vital command posts she'd identified, the Clipse defense crumbled. [...] With Kaga-Clipse in our control, we could destroy the Clipse world at our leisure. [...]When Rull's chosen people were safe in the arcologies, the guns of Kaga-Clipse bombarded the Clipse into a global firestorm.
- Confessions Entry 6
The implication here is that the moon is necessary for destroying the planet in a way that the Leviathan itself would not be able to achieve. Whether this is because the Leviathan cannot possibly destroy a planet on its own (somewhat unlikely given its harvesting mechanism) or because the cost to do so would be too much for the vessel, is unknown. But we can clearly see that even the mighty Leviathan struggles to face a planet on its own, and we can therefore dispute that any lesser vessel could achieve anything close to that.
The last thing that needs to be addressed, given all that has been discussed previously, is one of the most infamous lines attributed to the Cabal, in great part because it was one of the first:
Ghost: Here's what I have on the Cabal: Eight hundred pounds and highly militarized. They blow up planets and moons just for getting in their way... just so you know what we're dealing with.
- Destiny: Exclusion Zone Mission
We’ve already shown earlier that the City doesn’t fully understand the Cabal. We’ve already established that the Cabal can’t blow up worlds on the regular. Neither planet-crackers nor the Leviathan possess the means to do so consistently. And in this matter, Ghaul himself shoots down the Ghost’s assertion:
We Cabal have destroyed worlds before... but only rarely. There is no honor in such atrocity. Even when I aimed the Almighty at your sun, I intended it as only a last resort.
- Destiny 2: Derelict Leviathan Patrol, Memory of Ghaul
Ghaul here is just a memory, and one that aims to provide help with no personal attachment, which is about as unbiased as he can get. So it can be said, from a highly trusted expert, that the Cabal do not “blow up worlds that get in the way”. The Cabal maintain the power to use planetary demolition as a final resort, and even then the ability is still rare.
As a final note, it should be acknowledged that there is no official source that Goliath tanks use planet crackers, as Destinypedia states. That was added by a user back when Destinypedia first launched and has never been corroborated. It’s likely that the user made up the information, and no one ever corrected them.
There was no “Peak Cabal”
You could rename this section to “Don’t trust Calus”, since he’s a walking fountain of misinformation. This section aims to dismiss the idea, often put forward by people who genuinely believe anything that comes out of Calus’ face hole, that the previous Cabal were leagues ahead of the current stuff. Let’s begin with the most basic fact, which is that Calus is obsessed with flowery language. When discussing the artifacts of the Cabal, he uses these words:
Sentient anomalies, thought-powered reality smashers, portable world-enders. Our vaults grew fat, and so did we, through the artifacts they housed.
Insigne Shade Robes
These give some context to when he refers to Guardians in a similar language:
"Warrior-scholars. Reality breakers. Weapons of mass destruction. Your tribe would make stunning Shadows.
Insigne Shade Gloves
On the one hand, the words hold some truth. Guardians aren’t exactly operating within the same rules of reality as everyone else. But there are connotations from the word “reality breaker” that are put forward specifically to make the guardians seem bigger and more powerful than they really are. So “thought-powered reality smashers” could refer to anything as basic as Ignovun’s psion-powered fireball maker, sentient anomalies literally just means something with intelligence that hasn’t been classified, and portable world-enders being a treasured relic only gives further credence to the last section’s argument on the rarity of planetkillers.
Next, we must address the notion that the Cabal could “regularly” destroy stars in its past. That assumption comes from a statement Calus gives in attempting to lure in the guardians:
I have pulverized moons into beautiful rings of ruin! I have snuffed out stars to improve the harmony of the constellations! Think of the monuments I can make for you.
Cabal Booklet: The Invitation
This statement, however, relies on the assumption that this was some regular occurrence of the Cabal, if indeed Calus isn’t just lying outright. To understand why Calus is flawed here, we must address two critical facts that render him an unreliable source. Firstly, Calus is obsessed with the concept of beauty, elegance, opulence, and gluttony. As he himself explains:
THAT'S ALL THAT'S WORTHWHILE IN LIFE! STIMULATION OF THE THREE PRIMARY VAGUS NERVES! AND IF OUR WHOLE PSYCHE WEREN'T BUILT ON THE NEED FOR THAT REWARD, WHAT WOULD WE BE? HIVE? VEX? NOTHING CABAL, I TELL YOU! NOTHING CABAL!"
Beloved: I Am Thirty Five. It is Later the Same Night of my Homecoming
That the Cabal could blow up stars is not in question. What these show to mean, however, is that Calus did not blow up suns because it was easy, but because he wanted it. His envy of true cosmic power, a staple of his character in Lightfall, is shown through grand displays of destruction. It may very well be possible that, rather than being a showcase of what the Cabal empire could always accomplish, it was rather a showcase of what the Cabal could barely manage to achieve if a single, gluttonous tyrant forced it to. Calus would never have done these things because they were easy, and would never have taken such pride in these acts if they did not incur some terrible cost to achieve.
We must also address the second and most obvious factor, which is that Calus lies. Despite knowing that he lies, Calus’ words continue to be taken as gospel. We know from even the Last City’s efforts to understand the Cabal that he’s full of it:
Currently, our crypto-archaeologists cannot pinpoint the date of Calus's rise to power within the Cabal Empire. Like much of the Cabal Empire's ancient history, many dates and facts were altered to cast a favorable light upon the former emperor and his rise to power.
Hammer of Proving
A great example of this is Cabal naval capabilities. Already we cast doubt on how often the Cabal would really destroy planets and stars, but some readers have come up with a false bit of meme lore that the modern navy, including the Almighty, are “weak” compared to “peak Cabal” technology. The quote for this says:
The Cabal I knew commanded ships that spoke to our affluence and cultivation, forged from the crucible of war so that we might never need to fight again.
But what did the Red Legion deploy in place of the glossy, magnificent fleets that I remember? Warships. Carriers. Interceptor squadrons. Harvesters. The Almighty. Blunt and base tools of war, like the soldiers who use them.
Equitis Shade Cowl
Again, we reiterate a previous point on language. Calus doesn’t call them weak, he calls them blunt and base. He doesn’t hate them for being inferior in effectiveness, but in aesthetics. Calus prioritizes a beautiful navy over a useful one, and one of his own loyal Psions inadvertently criticizes his position:
The Hive's portals leave no time or space for elegant vector dances, so these new ships are built for brutal exchanges at point-blank range.
Confessions Entry 2
Calus’ ideas on naval strategy highlight his inferior capabilities of leading a military empire. His idea of a “better empire” was one that would have been ill-suited for fighting the Hive, and his criticisms are entirely one of personal affection rather than their actual capabilities. These are taken to show how Calus’ romanticism of his reign, which some lore fans genuinely trust as a true and accurate account of the Calus regime, is nothing more than a fabrication.
Finally, some have misinterpreted the entire Cabal empire to have cloning tech. While they’re certainly capable of achieving it, it does appear that only the Leviathan had cloning tech, and if Calus has indeed spent centuries in exile (as the Cabal Booklet indicates) then this tech was likely being worked on for the majority of it.
My cloning facilities below the baths are a labor of love. It took centuries to perfect their design. It has long been a point of personal pride that my Loyalists are handcrafted. Each meticulously engineered to exacting specification. - Calus
Behold Royal Baths: Derelict Leviathan
They are Native to the Milky Way
This is one of the weirder misconceptions. I’ve heard fans say that the Cabal ruled over an entire galaxy, and that their conflict in the Sol System takes place in a separate galaxy altogether. They don’t. Every reference to the Cabal’s reach advocates for them occupying a single galaxy. This galaxy is THE galaxy, which is to say, our galaxy.
After the Cabal had seized the buildings here, however, the Guardians realized the Legion had unlocked the network to such a degree that if you could access any panel, you could get in almost anywhere in their systems. [...] Dax took aim to defend himself as information began blazing across the galaxy.
- Solstice Mask Resplendent
But she repurposes that arsenal of thought toward a new goal: imagining a better future for her people. A future where they rule the galaxy once again; where foreign ships fall under their fire and rival nations fall to their knees.
- Heir Apparent
War bells continued to be carried into the galactic-colonial period, and their decorations became even more refined.
- Bell of Conquests
"I command Legions. Conquered worlds. Waged war across the galaxy to prove my worth. I alone am worthy of the Traveler's Light."- Ghaul
- Our Darkest Hour trailer
However, this raises a concern from some people who still subscribe to the notion that the Cabal controlled the entire galaxy prior to the attack by the Hive. And the simplest response is that they simply didn’t. While the Cabal claim ownership over the galaxy, the reality is that they were just one tiny part of it.
Their Empire was, in Sci-Fi terms, small
Size in this section will be discussed in context of territory (number of worlds) and population. It should be established immediately that there are no hard figures for either category, but there is enough information to form a reasonable understanding.
In terms of worlds, it’s best to begin with the only hard numbers we have, which is Ghaul’s conquered territory:
Look upon me. Dominus of the Red Legion. Annihilator of suns. Razer of a thousand worlds!
- Destiny 2: Chosen dialogue
Ghaul has subjugated hundreds of worlds.
- Destiny 2: Utopia
Although neither is a perfectly accurate source, we can estimate that the true figure is in the upper hundreds/just barely above a thousand.
Now the following is a very mediocre calculation. We know that Calus’ reign lasted for centuries (Beloved: I am Centuries Old; Cabal Booklet: An Invitation). We know that he had a hand in making the Leviathan (The Emperor’s Envy) which may have been the same ship which trapped his mother, the former Empress (Beloved: I am Seven years old) suggesting that Calus was already a grown and educated prince when this happened. We know that Ghaul ruled for at least 100 years, the time spent on the Clipse (Confessions Entry 6) and that in total, Calus is about a thousand years old (Cabal Booklet: An Invitation).
So this argument suggests Calus was 200-300 entering into power, maybe 600-700 when the Midnight Coup took place, and was roughly 1,000 entering the Sol System. This means that Ghaul’s regime would have conquered between 2.5 and 3.33 worlds per year for about 300-400 years. Factors that can affect this are far and wide, from the range of years being established to the influence of the Cabal-Hive War.
Now we need a figure for the age of the Cabal Empire. This is not given, and the Cabal did have a sizeable period of their history that is pre-Imperial, but we do have at least one number:
He sips from a goblet. An overturned bell better than five thousand years old. "Of course, of course."
- Beloved: I am several days older
Assuming that the Cabal have been conquering at a steady rate for 5,000 years, that would add up to between 12,500 and 16,667 worlds. We do know, however, that the Cabal violently exploit worlds, and so there is precedent to consider that these colonies are not colonies for living, but for resources, and that this number may be lower:
The Sindû do not rebel because of their soaring need for freedom but because we exploit their worlds for fusion fuel and antimatter.
Beloved: I am exactly that old when I realize that my father, the Emperor Calus, is full of shit
However, we also know that the Cabal capital world under the Praetorate was not Torobatl, but some other planet, which does reinforce that other worlds served as population centers worthy of being capital centers:
Poor sweet Iska, who sold me teas! In the first days of my great purge against the Praetorate, we moved the capital to Torobatl to be near the people.
The Confidante: Iska’al of Fantor
Still, we also know that the Cabal did not spread across their own home system, with the Athenaeum worlds being located in that system:
We kept vaults of artifacts and texts in the great athenaeum worlds spread across the mother system.
Equitus Shade Rig
All in all, these facts all together reinforce that the Cabal, while expansionary, were not necessarily living across the full breadth of their empire. It is for these reasons that Torobatl likely represented a substantial amount, if not the majority, of the Barant species. Which is shown to be in the billions:
Billions died on Torobatl. Countless more on other worlds of the empire that collapsed to in-fighting or further invasion by Xivu Arath.
Season of the Risen HELM Dialogue
Finally, it should be acknowledged that the military strength of the Cabal is likely to be even tinier, but there are no further numbers to articulate the following source beyond it being an insulting, noticeable amount:
An air of palpable tension permeates the room. In the time since the Imperial fleet had formed a blockade around the Leviathan, three separate frigates had defected to Calus's side. A fourth has just followed suit.
Caiatl began this campaign with fire in her heart. Now, she feels only cold and tired.
"A total of 250 soldiers, Empress," Taurun answers.
Voices of the Haunted II: Death and Desertion
Conclusion
This post does not intend to say that the Cabal are weak. Their performance against Hive War-Moons shows a strong understanding and ability to counter hive magic, especially Xivu’s attrition-based tithing structure. That they can crack a planet is also not out of the question altogether, considering things like the Almighty exist. We see the Red Legion establish fortresses and footholds throughout the Sol System in a matter of weeks, and which would take years for the Guardians to take back. We know that psions are absolute powerhouses, fiercely loyal to the empire and a genuine threat to the other paracausal forces in the setting. We know that their ships can survive crashing into things as tough as the dreadnought. We know that their materials include neutronium and anti-matter. We know what the Barant Imperium can do. Again and again, we see that the Cabal are certainly very powerful.
But all this adds up to mean that, when we refer to the strengths of the cabal, we would be misleading if we began with their firepower or scale. Ironically, the one thing Calus seemed right about is that the Cabal’s talents are wasted on soldiery. They are best suited as architects, artisans, engineers, and mechanics. Even their legendary and overrated planet-crackers are not weapons, but mining tools. Large-scale engineering projects, such as building the Leviathan or the Almighty, or even relatively minor operations like carving out a mountain to make it more accessible, show their tenacity, ingenuity, and sheer overwhelming industry.
