So. Cayde-6. The fifth hunter vanguard, member of the elusive hunter group led by Andal Brask, and close friend to us; the guardian. Cayde-6 is known for many things; his gambling problem; status of vanguard; being a bit too talkative. But regardless today, we honour his story. [b]For this post I will be focusing on Cayde as a guardian. Nothing about his direct workings for Clovis Bray or his human or exo (pre guardian life) unless I mention his journals.[/b] At a gathering in memory by Cayde-6, Shiro-4’s ghost recounts the tale of Cayde’s resurrection and his first death in the lore page “A Hero’s requiem” in the lore book ghost stories: [quote]"BOOM! I wake up. Groggy. Confused. Hungover. It's the same for us all, so that initial shock's nothing new. Sundance is in my face, and I'm freaking out. My brain works, but I don't remember a thing 'cept that I seem to be a functioning life form—I'm human, I'm a man. And then my mind starts reeling a thousand miles a minute. BOOM-BOOM-BOOM. Like I'm downloading the 'Idiot's Guide to Basic Human Existence.' Cool. Great. Still can't remember anything. And I sure can't wrap my head around the talking, floating magic robot orb-thing jabbering in my face. I'm freaked. So, I freaked. Smacked her to the ground. Hard… And I ran. "I'm runnin'. She's runnin'… Or, ya know, whatever she's doin' since she doesn't have any legs… She's right behind me, going, 'Wrong way! Wrong way!' She's screaming. I'm screaming. Whatever she's yelling, I just keep running. It's night. Did I mention that? It's nighttime and my eyes are still adjusting. So, I'm runnin', I'm runnin'. Can't see. Can't remember. Scared to death. Confused as all get-out. And then— "I fall. I'm straight up falling. Just like that, I ran… Right. Off. A. Cliff. It wasn't a short drop. I bounced… so many times. Felt each and every one. Till I didn't. Till it all went black again. And then… "BOOM! I'm back! She got me right up on my feet. Just like she always does. And that, my dudes, was the start of a beautiful friendship."[/quote] So. That’s his first. We know that he then went on to join the city. Arriving at some point after the battle of six fronts as indicated by the Zavala origin cinematic. The battle shows fallen attacking the city with Cayde being there amidst the battle, to then go on to show walls being constructed. Placing this wall building scene after the battle of twilight gap. Cayde eventually goes on to join a group of hunters. Shiro-4 and Andal Brask being the two most memorable ones. They’d run scouting missions and collect supplies for the city. Taking some for themselves. With Kauko Swiftriver declared MIA and no dare to be found, a hunter Vanguard spot empty, and ether bounties places on Cayde and his crew, shit started to hit the fan. These quotes from lore pages “raise”, “turn” and “winner take all” from the man they call Cayde lore book: [quote]Taniks took the gig. Only we didn't know. There'd been stories of a renegade Fallen dropping bodies, but nothing ever concrete, so we just brushed them off as more of the same. Nothing we couldn't handle, even on an off day. I mean, we were all aware the Fallen were dangerous—big-time threat, each day, every day. But a solitary Fallen boogeyman, free of House, cutting down Guardians one by one? Ha, yeah right. Until "yeah right" was standin' in front of us. First impression… He was a big boy. Bad attitude. Second… He was standin' over the body of Nian Ruo. Didn't know her well, but we'd done a few runs. That day was supposed to be an in-and-out'er. But then… Taniks. Nian never got back up, and Shiro's boy Lush lost his Ghost—full-on RTL, returned to Light. Gone and done. The whole scene was a blur. Lost our haul and hauled our butts outta there. Still not sure how we lost Taniks and his boys. Just lucky we did. 'Course, ditchin' that troublemaker wasn't the end. Shiro and I got back, filled Andal in on the what-went-down soon as we found him. This was before his Vanguard days. He'd been running a second grab on a cache out west. Wasn't back till the next night. We told him about Nian. Lush was freaking out about his Ghost. Couldn't blame him. Still can't. Then we did the dumb thing. We got -blam!-.[/quote] [quote]That first night back, Andal and I were up late. Not a new thing. He drank. I drank. He got tanked. I'm a robot. And we made the pact. Dare issued and accepted. See, there was that opening on the Vanguard, Hunter slot. We both wanted Taniks. Only one would get the killing blow, and the glory. The loser had to hang 'em up… and lock themselves away in a Tower. Leave the lonely roads to real-dealers. We both laughed. Wow. I wish I could hear him laugh again. Just once. Funny how all the cool kids leave the party too soon.[/quote] [quote]When Andal and I made our bet that wasn't a bet but really a dare… THE Dare… we were eager and ready to track Taniks and hit him with some payback. I had the good luck of finding Taniks first. Had the good luck to kill him, too. So I thought.[/quote] Between this and...well the next section...Cayde and his crew would work about. Using Andal to their advantage. Lore page “flop” reads: [quote]When Andal joined the Vanguard, he was our inside man. It was a sweet deal—he would drop intel on new stashes or Fallen movements, and Shiro and I would jump the gun, hit 'em first, claim what we could, deliver the rest to the City.[/quote] Cayde would also go to show the vanguard of the Fallen House of Kings arrival for Twilight gap as shown in the fall of Osiris comics. What followed these events. Well. It’s what roped Cayde into the Vanguard. For those who don’t fully get who Taniks the scarred is, allow this D1 meme to fill you in: [quote]Taniks has no House. He kneels before no banner, owes allegiance to no Kell. He is a murderer, and very good at what he does.[/quote] Taniks Wasn’t dead. Cayde-6 put him down. But not out. Andal got word of this when he struck again. And went to try finish it. And of course we know how this ends. Andal died. Cayde took his place and his cloak. Cayde then set up his dare and quickly became the hunter vanguard. Many things would happen now. The great hunt, the Great Disaster, the Taken war, the SIVA crisis and the Red War. Then we get to the hunt. Or Cayde’s six as people may choose to call it. Cayde-6, Suraya Hawthorne, Banshee-44, Petra Venj, Jin and Nadiya. They went into the tangled shore and captured them all. Fikrul. Kaniks. Reksis Vahn. Yaviks. Pirrha. Araskes. Hiraks. Elykris. And then Uldren. Cayde helped put them all away. But we know what happened then. The prison break. Variks released everyone. Uldren and his barons free. Cayde came to help clean up. And it cost him his life. The rifleman took out his ghost, Sundance. A well placed hit from the hangman sent his mortal body flying through a wall. And then came Uldren. Who killed Cayde with his own gun. Ace. Cayde went home that day. But we got revenge. Ikora. Zavala. Amanda. Banshee. Petra. We all got revenge. Even to this day. A little over half a year has gone since his death. And we still mourn. His memory has been honoured all over the tower. His friends gathered to celebrate his life. And mourn his death. His ghost’s corpse is even being connected to murder from someone within the tower. But that’s for another day. Cayde’s debts are fulfilled. He’s played his last hand.