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MEMORIES: THE LIGHT & DARK SAGA
LOST IN TIME...
Year VI − The Arrival of the Black Fleet
Years after the Traveler awoke, the Black Fleet arrived and overpowered key locations in our Solar System. As a result, we had lost contact with several allies and lost significant territory. Titan, Io, Mercury and Mars have all mysteriously vanished only leaving behind anomalies of unknown energy.
Year VII − The Tangled Shore is off limits…
As the Vanguard and the Awoken dealt with Savathûn, a growing conflict between the Spider and Queen Mara Sov continue to escalate. In retaliation, Mara Sov sent her forces to deal with him, permanently. At this time, Guardians no longer have access to the Tangled Shore.
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THE TANGLED SHORE, OUTER REEF
REEF COLONY
The Tangled Shore is a collection of asteroids kept together with grappling hooks and cables. It is a lawless land within The Reef, where the Scorn settled after escaping from the Prison of Elders. The region is essentially a Fallen badland and is also home to a branch of Savathûn’s Hive that has crashed into the shore. Remnants of the Red Legion also are warring within the chaotic badland as well. The Fallen are currently going through a major civil war in the Tangled Shore, between the Scorn and House of Dusk. Additionally, a Fallen crime syndicate resides deep within the Shore, forced into hiding by the Scorn.
The Shore’s asteroids are pockmarked with caves, ramshackle pirate bases, and hidden shortcuts. A crashed warship filled with Hive is also present. The Shore was once ruled by a Fallen called The Spider, but the arrival of Uldren Sov sent him into hiding.
A massive ring-shaped complex of structures can be seen in the sky of the Tangled Shore, echoing a similar structure seen in the Dreaming City. It is believed to act as the portal to the Dreaming City, but is never seen in use.
Mara Sov’s Action Against the Tangled Shore
During the Savathun conflict in Year VI, Mara Sov was made aware of the Spider’s manipulations with the Crow, a new light Guardian who was once Uldren Sov, who was captured by Spider and had his ghost rigged with explosives to ensure he could not leave. It wasn’t until the Guardian struck a bargain to free the Crow of the Spider’s grasp, but Mara Sov would not take this action by Spider lightly.
Mara Sov ordered her Awoken forces to strike down Spider, and he went into hiding until the events of Season of Plunder. During this time, the Tangled Shore is now off-limits to the Guardians.
TITAN, MOON OF SATURN
NEW PACIFIC ARCOLOGY
During the Golden Age, numerous great cities such as New Pacific Arcology were built on Titan and became the envy of the rest of the Solar System. These cities were intended to be entirely self-sustaining due to the inhospitable nature of Titan’s surface. Settlements on Titan were known to trade with other nearby worlds, such as Hyperion. Scientists also flocked to Titan to escape the stifling influence of organizations like Clovis Bray and carry out independent research. The moon was never terraformed by the Traveler, although 97% of New Pacific Arcology’s residents hoped it would be chosen soon.
Titan was one of the first places in the Solar System to detect the arrival of the Darkness, and consequently one of the first places to experience the Collapse. A deep-space probe launched by a team under Dr. Shanice Pell encountered an inexplicable anomaly before losing contact with New Pacific Arcology. Not long after, the anomaly was determined to be such a threat that the entire planet was evacuated. The evacuation may have caused the Darkness to bypass Titan, as none of its structures bear visible battle damage, only wear and tear from a lengthy period of neglect.
The moon’s cities remained completely abandoned for centuries, slowly decaying and sinking into the methane ocean. Guardians such as Cayde-6 used Titan as a rest stop during journeys to and from the outermost reaches of the system. Shortly before the Red War, however, a new Hive sect colonized Titan’s ruins. When a group of newly-Lightless Guardians under Commander Zavala fled to Titan, hoping to use it as a secret base from which to launch a counteroffensive against the Red Legion, they found New Pacific Arcology heavily infested and nearly gave up on their plan. Worse, Fallen from the House of Dusk had followed the Guardians from Earth, and began feuding with the Hive. Fortunately, thanks to the timely arrival of The Guardian, the support rigs outside the Arcology proper were sufficiently cleared to allow Guardians to secure the command center and City jumpships to refuel there.
Around the time of the Almighty’s descent upon The Last City, the Pyramids themselves had finally reached the outer Solar System. After corrupting Pluto, Neptune, and Uranus, the Pyramids set their sights on Titan.
A month after the arrival of a Pyramid on Io, another Pyramid arrived on Titan, holding a position outside of the New Pacific Arcology. It was the first of the newer Pyramids to start deploying Pyramid Scales on the Arcology, antagonizing the Hive and Fallen there. They eventually overtake the area.
IO, MOON OF JUPITER
ECHO MESA
In the final days of the Golden Age, the Traveler was in the midst of terraforming Io when it detected the Darkness approaching; The Traveler began to move to Earth in a defensive posture, leaving Io half-completed and flooded with the Traveler’s formatted energies. As a result of this, the Ionian climate and geography do not support traditional agriculture, meaning that some remnant of Io’s original atmospheric composition prevented the full growth of plants. The moon is still charged with the Traveler’s pure energy, which lingers in the atmosphere of the moon, visible from orbit. Echo Mesa, a mountain on Io, has become a popular pilgrimage site for Guardians. The Mesa overlooks a crater where the Traveler left behind a mysterious city-like structure.
The terrain of Io is covered in fossils, many of which closely resemble enlarged versions of ancient Earth organisms such as trilobites, ammonites, and dinosaurs. It is unknown whether these fossils are a by-product of the Traveler’s paracausal terraforming, or whether they point to some unrecorded history of transplantation between Earth and a more habitable Io in the distant past.
During the Red War, Io became a warzone for Guardian, Red Legion, Vex, and Taken forces. When the Red Legion arrived in the solar system they set up at Terrabase Charon, on Echo Mesa, and were met with resistance from the Vex and Taken forces there. Io was the final place that the Traveler influenced with Light in the Solar System, and as such is sacred ground to Warlocks. During the conflict, The Guardian travels to Io on Zavala‘s orders to find Ikora. After locating the Warlock Vanguard leader, Ikora sends the Guardian on several missions into a Cabal research base, ultimately revealing the Red Legion’s plans for the Traveler and the Light. The Cabal were mining out the remaining Light energy from the Traveler, which attracted the forces of the Taken and forced the Cabal to evacuate. During the Guardian’s time on Io, they also meet Asher Mir, an Awoken scientist fixated on the Vex, along with their activities on the planet.
A Vex structure known as the Pyramidion is found there, which was fought over by the Taken in another attempt to infect the Vex network like Oryx had with the Vault of Glass. The Pyramidion is described by Asher Mir and Ikora as a “conversion engine”, responsible for converting Io into a Vex Machine World and is believed to be one of many entry points into Vex space, where one of their Axis Minds performed experiments on captured Guardians. The Pyramidion is only accessible during the Curse of Osiris story mission, Deep Storage, and in the strike, The Pyramidion.
A hidden Warmind vault, JYS-2, was buried beneath Io’s surface and inadvertently uncovered by one of the Cabal’s drills. An unidentified active AI – implied through various details to be Rasputin – was still using the facility. Instead, it communicated via pre-Golden Age music and philosophical quotations, which proved to intrigue the Vex. This can be observed in the Adventure, Arecibo.
Following the destruction of The Almighty, a Pyramid touched down on the moon, disabling Rasputin and positioning itself above the Cradle, where a Tree of silver wings lay inside. It is unknown if the tree was always there or if the Pyramid spawned it. Just like with Titan, Mercury, and Mars, the Dark Fleet overcame Io with Asher Mir still on it.
MERCURY, SOL SYSTEM
THE LIGHTHOUSE
Following its transformation into a garden world by the Traveler, the planet was inhabited by humanity during the Golden Age. At this time, the planet was covered in grasslands and trees with pink leaves. During the Collapse, the Vex undid this transformation and completely changed Mercury into a Machine World within days of their arrival, using “Lighthouses” to flood the planet with Radiolaria to facilitate its transformation. Dendron, Root Mind arrived in a massive Vex construct to begin seeding the planet with Vex architecture and poisoning all life with Radiolarian fluid. Eventually, the Infinite Forest was created to serve as the Vex simulation farm, with Panoptes, Infinite Mind at its heart. The Sun itself, as seen on the planet’s surface, appears to be massive in size yet not blindingly bright—a possible result of Vex engineering.
Though much of Mercury is dominated by the Vex, others have managed to visit the planet, including the Cult of Osiris who maintains a camp there in the form of The Lighthouse. Flawless champions of the Trials of Osiris are permitted to visit the Lighthouse where they can find stores of Glimmer and other treasures, although the only rewards available are the ones in the chest at the edge. The Sunbreakers have their Forge here as well and the Cabal built an outpost at Vertigo, but have since mysteriously disappeared.
When Saint-14 tried to track Osiris on Mercury, Osiris’s trail caused him to get lost in the virtual expanse of the Infinite Forest. The Titan faced the Vex for several centuries, destroying thousands of them. Eventually, the Vex created an Axis Mind specifically designed to drain his Light. Though he destroyed the Mind, it succeeded in its mission by mortally wounding the legendary Titan and draining his Light. Out of respect, the Vex laid Saint-14’s body to rest in a tomb in a Simulant Future guarded by Hagios, Reverent Mind (Hagios meaning Saint) and surrounded by the melted shells of all the Vex he killed as a memorial to the grief he gave them. In Season of Dawn, his fate was altered by The Guardian, resulting in his eventual return to the City.
During the Red War, Mercury was partially fragmented to fuel the Red Legion‘s now-destroyed superweapon, the Almighty. Seemingly half of its mass now exists independently of the rest of the planet.
After Dominus Ghaul‘s death, the Vex began to gather on the planet. Osiris discovered that Panoptes had simulated a future where the Vex would achieve total victory in the solar system and wipe out all other life. Vex from the past and future were converging on this timeline to carry out their plan but were foiled by the Guardian. It is seen during the Vex’s campaign, the Cabal had also sent troops by the order of Val Ca’uor to the fields of glass where they would attempt to secure technology from the Vex but become bogged down in an attrition war.
The Combustor Valus and his crew would raid Pariah’s Refuge, kicking out the Vex inhabitants before being soon ended by the Guardian.
It is unknown how Mercury’s conversion to a machine world and partial fragmentation have harmed the consciousness within it. It is also heavily implied in the Dust lore book that it is the Nine who engineered the cut-off of the City’s satellites and defenses right before Ghaul’s surprise attack, in order to learn how to manipulate light from him. The Nine also mention how it was “punished” for this act, possibly being its fragmentation at the hands of the Almighty.
A month after the Almighty’s destruction at the hands of Rasputin, a Pyramid arrived on Mercury in a similar fashion to its counterpart on Io. From its position, the Pyramid blotted out the Sun and shrouded the Fields of Glass in its shadow. During a mass evacuation of the planets impacted by the Pyramids, Brother Vance opted to stay on Mercury when it vanished.
MARS, SOL SYSTEM
HELLAS BASIN
A harsh and deadly environment, Mars is now a desert world frequently plagued by dust storms. The Cabal forces have a presence on the planet in the form of their Exclusion Zone, as do the Vex, who are at odds with the Cabal. An indelible sign of the Cabal presence on Mars is the moon of Phobos, which has had its orbit dramatically altered by Cabal planetary engineering; it now fills a significant part of the sky. Even more disturbing is the discovery of large “planet-cracking” munitions among the Cabal’s already devastating arms. There is some degree of conflict as humanity tries to reclaim its former glory.
With the coming of the Traveler, rain-washed over Mars, and it was here that humans first encountered the spherical entity. Once, populating Mars had been nothing more than a dream for humanity but after its terraforming, a thriving metropolis named Freehold came to dominate the skyline – a bastion of human life in the red dunes. The Clovis Bray corporation had a major presence in Freehold, in addition to setting up their own private facilities, such as one in the Hellas Basin which acted as a tourist attraction and a site for research into Exo and Warmind technology, as well as the location for the core of the Warmind Rasputin.
With the coming of the Darkness, nearly all of Freehold was “swept away” and the sand claimed what remained. Today, Freehold lies buried beneath a mountain of sand, and its once-soaring skyscrapers are only visible.
Mars would be subject to incursions from multiple alien races, being the Cabal, the Vex, and the Hive. The former two would find each other at odds in an attrition war in Meridian Bay, the area surrounding Freehold, with the Cabal vying to mine resources and study the Vex artifacts and structures in the area, which include the massive gate to the Black Garden. A Hive sect known as the Grasp of Nokris would attempt to invade the Hellas Basin, only to be frozen in ice by Rasputin’s defensive SIBERIAN ENTROPY protocol for the years to come.
When the Red Legion arrived in Sol, breaking the Cabal-Vex stalemate in Meridian Bay was one of its priorities. The Vex are hard-pressed and have lost multiple gates, including the Black Garden gate. The whole of Meridian Bay is now under total Red Legion control.
With the awakening of the Traveler at the end of the Red War, the ice caps on Mars began to thaw, extending to the iced-over Hellas Basin. This would also thaw the invading Grasp of Nokris, prompting Rasputin’s newly-awakened core intelligence to deorbit Warsats as a defensive measure, inadvertently attracting a defeated Red Legion looking to scavenge technology to strike back at the Guardians who denied their victory.
Two years later, a Pyramid would arrive on Mars, mirroring one of its counterparts which arrived on Io a month earlier, disabling Rasputin in the process. There was recently a signal that was coming from a device in the Clovis Bray Facility; Guardians went to investigate to find an individual’s journal whose name is Helsom. Ana described him as a Xenoarchaeologist who believed in possible contact with extrasolar species and humanity. She contemplated if he ever found what he was looking for, he remained on Mars since the Collapse happened.
Mars was eventually overcome by the Darkness and it, along with several other locations, vanished for a time. Ana Bray had moved operations to the Tower during the Evacuation while she worked on fixing Rasputin.
After the conflict with Savathun, Mars suddenly reappeared although heavily influenced by dark energy. Guardians have limited access to the planet while the Vanguard investigates.
THE LEVIATHAN
CABAL WARSHIP
The Leviathan is a massive Cabal space vessel that serves as the personal pleasure craft of the exiled Emperor Calus and his Loyalists. It is the site of the Leviathan and Crown of Sorrow Raids, as well as the Leviathan, Eater of Worlds and Leviathan, Spire of Stars Raid Lairs. The former takes place exclusively within the palace atop the ship, whereas the latter takes place deep within its interior and around the tower situated on the top of the ship, respectively.
Construction
The Leviathan was constructed at some point prior to or during Calus’ reign as Emperor. According to Calus himself, the ship was modelled after “a mythical beast from the dreams of worms”, possibly the Leviathan of Fundament. Its original function, whether a prison barge, warship, or pleasure craft, is unclear.
Calus’s Exile
- “This Leviathan. This prison ship. I will remake it, as I have been remade. No longer will it represent a mythical beast from the dreams of worms. It will serve as an icon for my newfound gluttony.“
- — Emperor Calus
On the night of the coup that deposed him, Emperor Calus was arrested and quietly ushered aboard The Leviathan, where Dominus Ghaul and his co-conspirators intended him to remain in exile in perpetuity. The Leviathan’s navigation system was locked onto a course that would take it far from the Cabal Empire’s domain. After many centuries, the system failed and the ship progressed no further; it had come upon a great expanse of nothingness, and could not plot a course through a place that did not exist. It was here that Calus claimed to have encountered something that overawed him, potentially the Darkness itself, and resolved to become its herald. With the navigation system unlocked, Calus charted a course back to Cabal territory, collecting Shadows from various alien races along the way to enact his revenge against his usurpers.
Post-Red War
- “The Cabal seat of power now resides in orbit ’round Nessus. In a giant fish.“
- — The Drifter
Following Dominus Ghaul’s death during the Red War, The Leviathan arrived in the Solar System and began consuming the planetoid Nessus.
Sometime after The Leviathan began consuming Nessus, it sucked up a powerful Vex mind: Argos, Planetary Core, which projected a shield to protect itself, while simultaneously clogging The Leviathan. The Vex mind was only removed through the intervention of a Guardian fireteam. After the death of Xol, Will of the Thousands, the Red Legion, led by Val Ca’uor, attempted to take control of The Leviathan and kill Emperor Calus, only to be stopped by another fireteam of Guardians.
Forsaken
The Reef armada regularly performs fleet maneuvers near the Leviathan to intimidate Calus that any action he takes can be met with equivalent force. Though target locks are established, no fire is exchanged on either side.
A Shadow Gone Mad
Wanting a Shadow to command the Hive, Calus breeds Gahlran to wear a Hive artifact known as the Crown of Sorrow. However, Gahlran is driven mad by the Crown’s power, as it was a trap laid by Savathûn, the Witch-Queen. Under the control of Savathûn, Gahlran summons a massive Hive infestation, killing many Loyalists, and taking control of the depths of the Leviathan’s Menagerie. Now wanting his former Shadow put down, Calus calls upon the Guardian and their allies once more, offering more riches and rewards upon their success.
After a gruelling struggle against the mad Shadow and the Hive’s magic, the Guardians succeeded in killing Gahlran and retrieving the crown. With the artifact back in Calus’ possession, he orders his Psions to continue studying the runes found underneath it to find a way to prevent anyone else who would wear it from falling to its madness and to also leave its ability to control the Hive intact.
Calus later honours the Guardians with a Tribute Hall established aboard his ship and offers them to become his Shadows of Earth.
Presage
After the Darkness Fleet overcame multiple planets in the solar system, Calus and his Leviathan vanished, nowhere to be seen. Sometime during the conflict between Empress Caiatl and the Guardians of the Last City, a distress signal was discovered on the outer edges of the Reef, which led Caiatl’s forces, as well as Guardians, to an abandoned derelict known as the Glykon Volatus. The Guardian is tasked by Zavala to respond to the distress signal recovered in the EDZ and rescue Katabasis aboard the ship in exchange for his rifle. Osiris accompanies the Guardian on their outing, with Caiatl lending her assistance as she searches for the whereabouts of Emperor Calus.
Fluorescent spores and Egregore fauna infest the interior of the ship, with the remains of Cabal Legionaries and Scorn Stalkers scattered throughout the various areas. The Glykon Volatus has been overrun with Corrupted Scorn and is being led by the Locus of Communion, the mutated result of Calus’ attempts at communing with the Darkness through the Crown of Sorrow. The team heard numerous voices of the dead several times while navigating through the ship such as Sagira, Cayde-6, and Uldren Sov. Upon reaching the boiler room, the Guardian successfully defeated the Locus of Communion and traversed through further vents to reach the bridge of the ship. Once there, the team discovered that Katabasis had died and his corpse was strung up by the Egregore, slowly siphoning the Light from his body; his rifle was lain on the ground next to the fauna.
After numerous expeditions to the ship and uncovering each of the smuggling compartments revealed by the Captain’s Log pieces, the team discovered the Crown of Sorrow underneath the bridge of the ship. Osiris noted that the Crown was ‘listening’ and had been altered from its original design of possessing the wearer to assimilate two entities together. He also wished to recover this and return it to the Tower for further inspection, but Caiatl strongly objected.
THE LEVIATHAN: TRIBUTE HALL & RAID LAIRS
THE MENAGERIE
The Menagerie is a location within the Leviathan. It is unlocked after acquiring the Chalice of Opulence from Benedict 99-40 in the Tower and completing the following questline. Calus describes it as the oldest deck in the Leviathan, and it was his home in exile. It now serves as an enclosure to all the different species Calus collected amidst his journeys, including the Hive, Vex, and Arkborn, and pits them against the Guardians invited aboard for their pleasure and glory as well as his own entertainment. This challenge was offered by Calus during the Season of Opulence.
BLACK ARMORY FORGES
WEAPON FOUNDRY
The Black Armory is a secret weapon foundry founded during the late Golden Age. Its sole surviving member, Ada-1, secretly maintains its wares within the walls of the Last City. The weapons designed and created are of the highest quality and are therefore highly sought after by the Kell’s Scourge. It is for this reason that the Black Armory has maintained in secrecy for centuries until Guardians aided Ada in reclaiming their lost forges and safeguarding it from the Scourge and their leader Siviks, Lost to None.
The Black Armory was founded at the end of the Golden Age by three families: French House of Meyrin, Norse Rasmussen Clan, and Japanese Satou Tribe; each bringing elements of their native heritage to the Armory’s designs. The clans’ matriarchs, Henriette Meyrin, Helga Rasmussen, and Yuki Satou, believed that the Earth is about to be invaded by some extraterrestrial enemy and agreed to manufacture and stockpile advanced firearms to ensure the survival of their families. They built several Forges and were selling some weapons to compensate for their expenses; Helga Rasmussen, previously of Clovis Bray, ran the business side of things. The Armory’s precautions failed when the actual Collapse started; their superior firearms provided little protection against the Darkness onslaught. After one of the attacks by some monstrous minion of the Darkness, the group had to abandon their hideout and leave their Forges behind. Henriette’s daughter Adelaide was severely injured in the attack, and Henriette reluctantly agreed to Yuki Satou’s proposal to upload Adelaide’s conscience into an experimental Exo body, thus creating Ada-1. Ada-1 served as a mobile forge, being able to create and upgrade Black Armory weapons with her bare hands. Unfortunately, unique weapons produced by Ada-1 turned out to be the group’s bane in the post-Collapse world, as they attracted multiple bandits and robbers, including some Risen proto-Warlords. Eventually, every other member of the group perished with only Ada-1 remaining. She ended up hiding in the Last City, remaining secretive and distrustful of any Lightbearers, even the Guardians.
The Black Armory has forges located across the system, where the original founders used to create their legendary weaponry.
- Volundr Forge is located in the EDZ on Earth and is currently held by remnants of the Red Legion following the Red War.
- Izanami and Gofannon Forge were aboard the Exodus Black during its voyage, and are thus now located on Nessus. The former has been secured by the Vex, whilst the latter was been tampered with by the Kell’s Scourge.
- Bergusia Forge is located deep in the restricted Niobe Labs within the European Dead Zone and is the only forge to create the Obsidian Accelerator. It was claimed by the Guardians after fighting off Kell’s Scourge.
In addition, the Black Armory possesses a large Vault containing a large number of their weapons and have taken great care to ensure it stays a secret from those who would misuse their weapons. However, when weapons and technology belonging to the Black Armory were reported stolen by the Kell’s Scourge, Ada-1 reluctantly forms a partnership with the Guardians to ensure the safety of her foundry’s forges and prevent the Fallen from finding the Vault. Ironically, the Vault is located in the Last City and it is where the Guardians face off against Kell’s Scourge and Insurrection Prime to prevent them from breaching the Vault.
After succeeding in bringing down Insurrection Prime, the Guardians managed to confront Siviks at the Niobe Labs, protecting its technology and secrets from Siviks’s thievery. After a struggle, the Guardians finally killed the Kell’s Scourge’s leader and retrieve the requirements to finish the Izanagi’s Burden Sniper Rifle. Grateful in their efforts on the Black Armory’s behalf and breaking the Kell’s Scourge, Ada-1 grants the weapon to the Guardian.
THE RECKONING
THE HAUL, DRIFTER'S VESSEL
The Reckoning is a cooperative Arena activity co-organized by the Nine and The Drifter. It takes place within the Haul, the object towed behind the Drifter’s ship.
Operating on a series of ‘Tiers,’ the Nine challenge the Guardians by sending an onslaught of Taken that must be destroyed to gain strength over the dark forces at play. Guardians could also wager motes that were available from Drifter’s Gambit Prime to earn loot should they succeed and impress the Nine.
- Tier I required the Guardians to destroy as many Taken as quickly as possible to summon a Taken boss.
- Tier II continues from the previous encounter, except the Guardians proceed across a dimensional bridge that must be created by standing at creation points. Taken forces would continuously spawn in an attempt to thwart the efforts of the Guardians.
- Tier III would summon a powerful boss after completing the Tier I and III encounters. Depending on the week, Guardian’s would either face The Likeness of Oryx or two powerful Axe Knights. Only the strongest of Guardians would emerge victoriously.
THE FARM
OUTSKIRTS OF THE EUROPEAN DEAD ZONE
The Farm, also known as the Guardian Camp, was a social space located in the European Dead Zone on Earth.
Following the Red Legion‘s invasion of the Last City and the destruction of the Tower, the surviving Guardians regrouped at an outpost in the European Dead Zone with the help of Suraya Hawthorne. This remote sanctuary was located within sight of a massive shard of the Traveler that was broken off during the Collapse.
After Ghaul was defeated and the Last City liberated, most of The Farm’s vendors relocate to a new headquarters. The only vendors and services that remain are the postmaster, vaults, and Cryptarch Tyra Karn.
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