Donovan Morgan

**Donovan Morgan**-- more usually simply referred to by his surname-- is a supporting character in *The Wahei Transcripts*. He is a member of Wahei's fireteam and one of her closest allies. A fierce warrior, Morgan is known to dip into wielding Darkness, but has continually expressed his loyalty to the defense of mankind and its allies. Despite this declaration, he is frequently at odds with the Praxic Order. His Ghost is named **Eyeball**.

### Appearance

Morgan is a tall, broad-shouldered human male, standing over two meters tall, with dark hair shaved on the sides and trimmed close on the top of his head. He is frequently unshaven, nearly always sporting at least stubble. He bears a set of pre-Risen scars across his face, one of which goes through his right eye. While the scarring to his eye leaves that eye looking blind, he was rezzed with full vision in both eyes.

In terms of armor, Morgan has a tendency to shift between different sets as time passes, and lately has borne armor patterned off of Cabal Ascendancy decoration ("Tusked Allegiance"), along with a Torobatl Celebration Mask, usually colored in monochrome shades with splashes of crimson.

Eyeball, his Ghost, favors a basic shell, white in coloration, with his core painted black, to resemble his namesake.

### Personality

Morgan can come across as a gruff, stern person, but by his own admission, he doesn't get on with people when they first meet. It takes him time to "unclench" and be more approachable, as he typically only does so with friends and trusted fireteam members. Once he develops trust for someone, he will staunchly defend them, even if evidence mounts that they may not be trustworthy.

He has a tendency of peppering his speech with swear words, which always gets him admonished for his language, but Morgan will rarely apologize for it.

Morgan is fiercely loyal to his friends and his "mission" of protecting mankind, and has been heard to say that "all options are on the table" in more recent months, after the arrival of the Black Fleet and knowledge of the Witness spread through the Guardian ranks. His willingness to use Dark abilities such as Stasis has put him at odds with the Praxic Order, who once unflatteringly compared him to the Drifter. Morgan clarified the difference between himself and the Drifter: "At the end of the day, he's just a Lightbearer, while I am a Guardian." Morgan has shifted his approach to Light and Darkness by considering them both amoral forces of nature, merely tools in the arsenal, while the entities that represent those forces-- the Traveler and the Witness-- very much have their own morals, which aren't necessarily aligned with mankind's approach to morality.

Morgan had issues adjusting to more recent alliances with "enemy" races such as the Eliksni and Cabal, but he has made strides in trying to be less prejudiced toward them. This has come easier for him with the Cabal, developing a respect for their culture and traditions, to the point where he didn't grumble too much when he was appointed as a liaison between the Vanguard and Empress Caiatl's Cabal Ascendancy. He hates the Hive, and would prefer not to deal with them, but unfortunately, he has become a victim of his own success in dispatching them, and is usually one of the first to be sent in to deal with Hive emergences. Morgan always complains that he gets nightmares after going into Hive spaces.

While Morgan is a steadfast operative for the Vanguard, he does not always deal well with authoritarian outlooks and approaches. His clashes with the Praxic Order are the most visible of this aspect of his character. Dogmatic beliefs and rigid adherence to a black-and-white viewpoint sit badly with him, and will always get him into a mood to argue and fight over it.

### History

Morgan was first Risen approximately a hundred years prior to the Red War, somewhere on what was left of the British Isles near the EDZ. He reclaimed his first life's name from a set of dog-tags he was carrying. He spent much of his journey across the world to the Last City-- choosing to go by foot, even when other means of transport made themselves available-- battling the Fallen along the way, witnessing some of the atrocities they have committed. He arrived at the City not long before the Battle of Twilight Gap, distinguishing himself in that conflict. Over the next few decades, he alternated between field work and Wall duty.

He was part of the fireteam that went into the Lunar Hellmouth to battle and slay Crota, and then later to storm the Hive Dreadnought and take the fight to Oryx. Morgan did not enjoy either of these conflicts, but still frequently found himself responding to Hive flashpoints. During the Red War, he helped evacuate civilians, but when Lightloss struck him, his convoy was forced to go to ground and hide. Despite the lack of Light, Morgan still fought as hard as he could to defend his charges. After the City was taken back, he went back to his usual routine of alternating field work and Wall duty, until the Prison of Elders riot broke out.

Morgan was one of many Guardians that went to the Reef to hunt Uldren Sov, though the kill went to someone else. He then started to take bounties on the Tangled Shore and across the system, hunting down the escaped prisoners. He also began to take part in Drifter's Gambit, becoming a trusted member of Drifter's Crew. While he and Drifter don't always agree on their philosophies, they reached an understanding. Morgan wasn't going to abandon humanity, if push came to shove, but he also understood that Drifter would do what he had to survive, which would include leaving behind anyone and everyone, and there was no ill will between them.

When the Black Fleet arrived in Sol, Morgan was kept abreast of what his teammate Wahei Ohr was doing in her "quest for insight," though did not have many dealings with her in that time. When Aunor Mahal approached him in the hopes of convincing him to bring her in, Morgan angrily shot her down-- both figuratively and literally-- and refused to give up his teammate, reiterating his trust that Wahei knew what she was doing. This antipathy for Mahal persisted for quite some time afterward, though things cooled somewhat following the Endless Night conflict, when Mahal requested his assistance in passing information to Wahei and offering to lend assistance in taking down the Shadows of Salvation.

During the Battle of Eventide, Morgan personally battled The Ruiner to a standstill, keeping her occupied while the rest of the team combatting the Shadows of Salvation dealt with other members of the cohort. In the end, Morgan deliberately took an injury from the Ruiner long enough to temporarily immobilize her with Stasis, allowing his teammate Rega-7 and ally Revenant-19 to stagger her and then blast her into a pool of radiolarian lava. He captured the Ruiner's Ghost and the Ghost of Dredgen Bog, which he later turned over to the Praxic Order.

Since then, Morgan has resumed his usual routine, and has become a liaison between the Vanguard and the Cabal Ascendancy. He provided protection for Queen Mara Sov and the Techeuns during the exorcism of Savathûn's Worm, and later led several sorties into her Throne World and then the derelict *Leviathan*, including Operation: Catharsis. With the return of Eramis and the re-emergence of the "Old Crews" (Pirates), Morgan aided the Drifter in rescuing the Spider from House Salvation and received captaincy of Spider's former ketch, later rechristened the *Skyspear*, and took on a role of pirate-hunter for the nascent Coalition.

### Abilities

**Light Mastery:** Morgan has mastered all three types of Light wielded by Titans. He most commonly uses Solar, and prefers the Burning Maul to the Hammer of Sol, but he will switch between the types of Light at will and as needed.

**Stasis User:** Morgan acquired a Splinter of Darkness and spent some time on Europa learning to wield it. He can also swap from Light to Darkness at will and as needed.

**Auto Rifle Mastery:** Morgan prefers auto rifles over most other primary weapons for their rate of fire.

**Shotgun Mastery:** Morgan likes to keep a shotgun around for close encounters. He favors slug shotguns for their stopping power.

**Melee Proficiency:** While Morgan will favor using firearms and weapons above all else, he is an accomplished brawler and has no compunctions about punching things. He was able to keep up with, and at some points temporarily overcome, the far more experienced Ruiner in hand-to-hand combat.

**Speed Strategist:** Morgan does not often take charge of planning operations, but in the heat of battle, he can come up with quick, effective strategies on the spot, showing an intuitive grasp of whatever Warlock knowledge has just been imparted.

### Equipment

As noted above, Morgan favors auto rifles and shotguns, and will go for either heavy machine guns or rocket launchers to fill his heavy slot.

His preferred loadout as of late has been a Gnawing Hunger, Fortissimo-11, and an Ascendancy.