Forsworn rebellion

The Forsworn rebellion is an ongoing civil war among the kyrian of Bastion, fought between the Ascended loyal to the Archon, and the dark kyrian Forsworn who are disillusioned with the current order. Originally led by the former Paragon of Loyalty Devos, the Forsworn resent the need for kyrian to let go of their former lives on their path to ascension, believing instead that they should embrace their old emotions and burdens. The Forsworn are also in league with the forces of the Jailer, although not all members of the rebellion are aware of this fact.

After their initial surprise attack on the Temple of Purity, the Forsworn gained control of many parts of Bastion while waging war against the Ascended of Elysian Hold. Eventually, they would even strike at the Spires of Ascension and the Archon directly, though the attack was defeated and Devos slain. Despite its failure to take control of Bastion, the rebellion has caused even the Archon to rethink the traditions which sparked the unrest.

Afterlives
The Paragon of Loyalty, Devos, would go on to create the Forsworn after her experience with the soul of Uther the Lightbringer upon his arrival in Bastion. Devos took Uther under her supervision and sought to personally oversee his path to ascension that all kyrian souls must undergo, but was shocked to discover that his soul itself had been wounded by the power of the Jailer, which should have been impossible. When Devos gave her warning to the Archon and the other Paragons, however, her worries were dismissed out of hand as contradicting the path. Shocked and angered by this reaction, the Paragon came to the conclusion that the path itself must be flawed to allow such an obvious warning to be ignored.

Returning to Uther, Devos carried out his ascension immediately. When the time was right, she ventured with Uther to retrieve the soul of the one who killed him, Arthas Menethil, and cast it into the Maw as vengeance. With this act, Devos committed herself to opposing the ancient ways of the kyrian, and set about creating the Forsworn to overthrow the old order of Bastion.

Rise of the Forsworn
In secret, Devos was able to recruit many other kyrian to her cause, including Uther and Lysonia, convincing them that they needed to seize control of Bastion from the Archon and her followers. At some point, the former Paragon of Loyalty also made contact with the Jailer and learned of his imprisonment in the Maw, which she felt to be an injustice and further proof of the Archon's betrayal. Devos would align her new faction with the Jailer's interests, even providing him ascended kyrian to serve as Mawsworn. As the Forsworn prepared to make their move, their fellow kyrian remained totally unaware of the threat.

An anima drought planned by the Jailer would eventually sweep through Bastion and the Shadowlands, while souls destined for these realms were diverted to the Maw. This shortage of anima and aspirants caused unrest among the kyrian; many aspirants began having more serious doubts which they could not overcome. At the Temple of Purity, aspirants at risk of falling to these burdens were sent to the Temple of Loyalty to be bolstered, not knowing that it had since become the base of the Forsworn in Bastion. Far from reassuring doubting kyrian, Devos and her allies encouraged their attachment to their former lives and offered them a place in the Forsworn ranks, swelling their numbers.

When the dark kyrian chose to strike, they did so at the Temple of Loyalty in southeastern Bastion, having first sabotaged the wards in Elysian Hold that guarded the temple against attack. Devos's Hand of Doubt, Lysonia, would lead the assault. Taking the temple's defenders completely by surprise, the Forsworn swept into the temple and killed or captured most of its denizens. Only Eridia and a small force held out against the attack, though they soon began to strike back at the invaders. Eventually, Eridia confronted Lysonia at Purity's Pinnacle and battled her above the temple. Lysonia would have won if not for the intervention of the Paragon of Purity Vesiphone, who arrived and forced her to retreat.

Now alerted to the threat, the Ascended and their allies now began to investigate the Forsworn presence, before reporting to the Archon and Paragons (including Devos) at Elysian Hold. Meanwhile, the Forsworn also sabotaged the ward protecting the Temple of Courage in Bastion's west, leaving the site open to attack. The dark kyrian had coordinated with the House of Constructs of Maldraxxus, also allies of the Jailer, and the Maldraxxi now launched a devastating attack on the temple. Caught by surprise, the temple was quickly overrun and razed, although the Paragon of Courage Xandria would lead a counterattack that dealt with the invasion force.

Despite the high-profile actions of the Forsworn, Devos managed to avoid suspicion and remained the Paragon of Loyalty to her brethren.

Battle for the Spires
As the Forsworn continued to wage war on the Ascended throughout Bastion, the Archon decided that remaining anima stores should be directing toward creating new ascended kyrian to bolster their ranks. The chosen aspirants were first sent to complete their trials at the Court of Elation, only to find the area occupied by the Forsworn. The aspirants would eventually push through the rebels to complete their trial, and returned to Elysian Hold victorious for their ascension.

As the ceremony was underway, with the Archon and Paragons gathered at the Crest of Ascension, Devos suddenly interrupted the proceedings by striking at the Crest and shattering it. The Paragon of Doubt then confronted a shocked Archon to reveal her betrayal and leadership of the Forsworn, before signaling for a gathered force to attack Elysian Hold and the Spires of Ascension. Forsworn swarmed the city in force, catching many of the Ascended by off guard, and a desperate defense was mounted. The attack on the Hold was the first to be pushed back, as the kyrians' mortal allies pursued Devos into the Spires, as the Paragon fought the Archon for control of the city.

In the battle for the Spires of Ascension, many kyrian were slain on both sides but the defenders were able to overcome some of the most powerful Forsworn forces including Kin-Tara, Ventunax, and Oryphrion. At Archon's Rise, these defenders also joined the Archon in a desperate battle against Devos herself as the fallen Paragon tried to obtain the Archon's Spear to seize control of the Spires. Devos was killed in the ensuing battle, ending the assault and dealing a major blow to the Forsworn. Afterwards, the Archon would express regret at the Paragon's demise, and admitted that parts of the old order may need to change once the threat of the Jailer was dealt with.

Rebuilding the Crest
After Devos's demise, her Hand of Doubt Lysonia succeeded her as leader of the Forsworn, and continued the campaign against the kyrian loyal to the Archon.

The failed attack on the Spires of Ascension had left the Crest of Ascension destroyed and thus unable to create any new ascended for Elysian Hold. To remedy this, work began on building a new Crest which could be empowered to create even stronger ascended than before. The Forgelite Prime Mikanikos would travel to the Eternal Forge in northern Bastion to get the tools and materials needed for the task, namely the hammer known as Phaestus, Genesis of Aeons. Under Overseer Atticus, the Forsworn had since occupied the facility and began using it to construct an army of dark centurions for their war against the Archon. In addition to recovering the hammer, Mikanikos also ensured that the Forsworn occupying the forge were decimated by a new centurion prototype.

With the Crest physically rebuilt, the Ascended began to hunt down powerful artifacts from the other realms of the Shadowlands to empower it.

Other hostilities
The Forsworn would make determined efforts to eliminate one of Bastion's strongest defenders in the form of the centurion colossus Heraclor, with Paragon Xandria sending allies to prevent this. The rebels would also attack a colossus as part of a battle for the Vestibule of Eternity, led by Andromede. With the aid of mortal allies, the kyrian were able to repair the colossus and use its weapons to blast a path to Andromede, before eliminating her. Other colossi, such as Valinor, were successfully converted by the Forsworn and had to be defeated by the Archon's forces.

The battle against the Forsworn's House of Constructs allies at the Temple of Courage continued after the initial attack. The Ascended would eventually work with their own Maldraxxi allies in the form of Alexandros Mograine and the House of the Chosen to end any further threat at the temple and take the fight to Margrave Gharmal in Maldraxxus.