Revision 5

Overview

Caliburn is the ruling faction of Demeniss in Crimson Desert, led by Duke Gabriel Caliburn. Once regarded as an upright and virtuous house, Caliburn's rise to power was built on a bloody massacre of King Thorel's loyalists, an event that permanently altered the political landscape of Pywel. The faction is the primary antagonist organization throughout much of the main story, with its agents and military forces creating conflict across multiple regions.

History and Rise to Power

Gabriel Caliburn was once regarded as an upright and virtuous man who served his people faithfully. Speculation still surrounds what drove him to such atrocities, but his insatiable hunger for power led him to orchestrate a bloody massacre of King Thorel's loyalists, seizing control of the Demeniss throne and crowning himself ruler. This event became known as the Blood Coronation.

The political fallout of Caliburn's coup extended far beyond Demeniss. His rise to power was significant enough to prompt the formation of a united front among the three major mercenary factions. Jian hastily united the Greymanes, the Black Bears, and the Jackals under one banner in response to the bloody rise of Gabriel Caliburn in the neighboring region.

Leadership

The Righteous Inquisitors

The Righteous Inquisitors serve as Caliburn's primary military and enforcement arm, led by Lucian Bastier. Originally established as an inspection body meant to prevent corruption within the kingdom, the organization degenerated into a force loyal only to Bastier and, by extension, to Duke Caliburn.

Known as Caliburn's harbinger of doom, Bastier led his army of Righteous Inquisitors to oppress the weak and crush anyone who opposed their cause. The Inquisitors are well-equipped soldiers found throughout Demeniss, and players encounter them frequently during Chapters 7 through 9 of the main story.

Story Role

Caliburn's influence extends across multiple chapters of the main story:

The Abyss Connection

Caliburn's leadership has a deep and dangerous connection to the Abyss. Lucian Bastier carried a hidden Abyss artifact that he consumed during his final confrontation, transforming into the monstrous Awakened Lucian Bastier. This demonstrated that Abyss corruption was not merely a source of power for artifacts and enchantments, but something capable of completely overtaking a person.

Gabriel Caliburn himself was ultimately consumed by the Abyss after fleeing through a portal. In the Abyss dimension, he became Corrupted Caliburn, a twisted version of himself that is one of the final bosses of the campaign.

Military Forces

Caliburn commands a variety of military units throughout Demeniss. Players encounter Caliburn soldiers, combat engineers, and Righteous Inquisitors in the field. Equipment associated with the faction includes:

• Caliburn's Plate Armor - Standard issue plate armor for Caliburn soldiers

• Caliburn's Plate Gloves - Armored gauntlets

• Caliburn's Plate Boots - Standard issue boots

• Caliburn's Captain Plate Armor - Officer-grade equipment

• Caliburn's Combat Engineer Cloth Armor - Light armor for combat engineers

• Caliburn's Mercy Pistol - Sidearm carried by Caliburn forces

See Also

• Gabriel Caliburn - Duke of Demeniss and faction leader

• Duke Caliburn - Detailed character page

• Corrupted Caliburn - Endgame boss form in Chapter 12

• Lucian Bastier - Grand General of Caliburn

• Awakened Lucian Bastier - Bastier's Abyss-corrupted form

• Cassius Morten - Caliburn agent who betrayed Calphade

• Demeniss - The region controlled by Caliburn

• Abyss - The corrupting dimension connected to Caliburn's leadership

• Factions - Overview of all factions in Crimson Desert

The Bastier Conspiracy

The faction's reach outside demeniss runs through a coordinated plan designed by Grand General Bastier, House Byron, and Marcel under Duke Caliburn's authority. Notes recovered from Windmere Manor lay the plan out in three steps. The conspirators expected each step to roll into the next without their own forces being seen on the field.

The plan succeeded as far as step three before Kliff and the surviving Greymanes began rolling it back. The fourth piece, an alliance with Delesyia, was secured through a separate bargain with the AI Hall that had quietly displaced the inventor marni; that bargain is what gave Caliburn the flying fortress and the super turrets that ring Fort Musket in the late game.

Foreign Lieutenants

The faction also leans on lieutenants who do not formally serve House Caliburn but who advance its goals for their own reasons. Myurdin, the warlord of the Black Bears, fits this pattern from the prologue raid onward. The cursed knight Fortin is another: hexe marie equipped him with her own soul-splitting trick so that he could defend an estate Caliburn's faction wanted to hold, and the same gift carried a built-in failsafe (his dark double executes him on defeat so he cannot be questioned). Several other Caliburn-aligned officers carry similar fatal failsafes, which is why so few of them are ever taken alive.

Bridge to Umbra

The political conspiracy is only the visible half of the faction. The other half is its connection to Umbra, the dark consciousness that lives inside the abyss. The Axiom Archive records that Umbra picked Caliburn personally as its avatar in cycle 72 of the world's recorded history. From that cycle on, every Caliburn action carries Umbra's design behind it. The Bloody Coronation, the Bastier conspiracy, the alliance with Delesyia, the assault on Fort Musket, and the kidnapping of the Dean of Scholar's Stone Institute are all aimed at one thing: forcing the abyssal gates open so Umbra's full power can spill into the world below.

The conspirators around Caliburn do not necessarily understand this. Bastier dies confessing only that he was "his chosen one," and refuses to explain whose. From his side, his loyalty was to the duke. From Umbra's side, the duke himself was an instrument. The faction is therefore best understood as a politically successful organization whose deeper purpose was set by something none of its officers, with the possible exception of Caliburn himself, were ever allowed to see.

Aftermath

After Caliburn falls in the abyss and Umbra is undone, the faction does not formally collapse. King Edward Thorel of Demeniss remains asleep at the end of the cycle, which means none of the surviving conspirators (notably Ada Marshall) can be tried or executed without him. Countess Azerian warns that another Demenissian bloodbath is expected once the king finally wakes and the houses settle accounts. In the meantime, Duke Wells holds Fort Musket and watches for desert tribes to the north, while Bastier's surviving Inquisitors fade back into the regional military structure.