Destiny Universe Timeline

A reconstructed history of the Destiny universe. The saga spans mythic eras, overlapping accounts, lost records, and contested testimony. Exact dates are rarely known; some events remain approximate, and others remain disputed even within their own continuity.

Contents

1. The Ancient Past
• First Conflict of Light and Darkness
• The Creation of the Witness
• Emergence of the Proto-Worms
• Rise of Rhulk
• Corruption of the Worm Gods
• Ascension of the Hive
• Birth of Sol

1. History of the Cabal
2. History of the Eliksni
3. Pre-Golden Age
4. The Golden Age — Early / Mid / Late
5. The Collapse
6. Dark Age — Early / Mid / Late
7. The City Age — Early / Mid / Late
8. The Young Wolf's Ascension — Destiny → Rise of Iron
9. The Red War — Destiny 2 → Warmind
10. Cayde-6's Death — Forsaken → Opulence
11. Return of the Black Fleet — Shadowkeep → The Witch Queen
12. The War against the Witness — Haunted → The Final Shape
13. The Echoes Arms Race — Episodes: Echoes / Revenant / Heresy
14. The Fate Saga — Edge of Fate / Renegades

1. The Ancient Past

1.1 First Conflict of Light and Darkness

Before time existed, two primordial principles known as the Gardener and the Winnower existed within a garden of possibility. The Gardener represented growth, complexity, and the creation of new life, while the Winnower represented reduction, selection, and the elimination of what could not endure.

Together they played the Flower Game, a game governed by simple rules of survival and extinction. Across countless iterations, the same dominant pattern repeatedly emerged and consumed all others, becoming what the Winnower called the Final Shape: the ultimate surviving form that permits no competing existence.

The Winnower accepted this outcome as inevitable and necessary, but the Gardener grew frustrated that the game always converged into the same pattern, preventing new forms of complexity from emerging. To disrupt this inevitability, the Gardener proposed a new rule that would reward growth, variation, and the preservation of possibility.

This decision transformed them from abstract principles into active participants in reality. The Winnower, rejecting the Gardener's new rule, discovered the First Knife: the first act of reduction and conflict by which existence would now be shaped through survival and extinction, beginning the primordial struggle between Light and Darkness.

Their struggle shattered the original garden, brought down the Tree of Silver Wings, and triggered the birth of the universe itself... the moment reality first began recording time.

1.2 The Creation of the Witness

The Traveler and the First Golden Age

The Traveler was discovered half-buried and dormant upon the homeworld of an ancient humanoid civilization. When it finally awakened, it transformed their desolate world into a paradise and uplifted the species into a vast Golden Age of technological and cultural advancement. Revering the Traveler as a divine benefactor they called the Gardener, the civilization learned to wield its gifts so completely that they could reshape worlds themselves. Yet despite their prosperity, the Traveler never spoke, offered guidance, or explained its purpose.

Over time, many among the civilization grew troubled by what they saw as the Light's inherent chaos and lack of direction. The Traveler's power could nurture life just as easily as it could enable destruction, and some among their own people had already abused its gifts for conquest, subjugation, or self-destruction. Increasingly dissatisfied with a universe of limitless possibility but no ultimate meaning, they came to believe existence required not only a Gardener that fostered creation, but also a Winnower capable of imposing purpose through reduction, selection, and the pursuit of a Final Shape.

As these ideas spread, the civilization's ruling body, the Consensus, fractured into competing ideologies centered on differing interpretations of the Final Shape. The Solipsists believed meaning existed only within the self, while the Nihilists viewed extinction as inevitable or even desirable. Most dangerous among them were the Penitent, who believed suffering could only be ended by forcibly reshaping reality into a perfected eternal form, and that those unwilling to pursue this goal were complicit in the continuation of suffering itself.

In time, the Penitent rose to dominance within the Consensus, suppressing rival doctrines and steering their civilization toward irreversible extremism.

Discovery of the Veil

Empowered by the Traveler's gifts, the civilization constructed a vast fleet of pyramidal vessels and expanded into the stars. During their explorations, they discovered a distant paracausal entity they believed to be the Traveler's counterpart: the Veil. Unlike the Light, which governed the physical world, the Veil was tied to consciousness, memory, and the mind. Through studying the Veil and the Darkness linked to it, they became convinced reality could be unified into a perfected and eternal Final Shape free from suffering, chaos, uncertainty, and isolation. In this, they believed they had finally discovered purpose.

Believing the Traveler and Veil together possessed the power to reshape existence itself, the civilization sought to bring the two into communion and impose the Final Shape upon reality. But upon realizing their intentions, the Traveler fled their world.

The Birth of the Witness

Enraged by what they viewed as abandonment, the Penitent-led Consensus refused to surrender their vision. Using the Veil and the Darkness, they carried out a ritualistic mass sacrifice against the will of many among their species, merging their entire civilization into a single collective consciousness.

From this union emerged the Witness: an immensely powerful entity embodying the memories, will, and ideology of an entire civilization.

Yet not all minds within the collective accepted what they had become. Some became horrified by the Witness's actions and ideology, existing within it as hidden Dissenters opposed to its endless pursuit of the Final Shape.

Commanding its paracausal armada of pyramidal vessels that would later become known as the Black Fleet, the Witness departed its homeworld and began its crusade across the cosmos, seeking to reunite the Traveler with the Veil and impose the Final Shape upon all existence. Early in this journey, the Witness encountered the Traveler once more among the civilization known as the Eurhythmia. Enraged to find the Traveler uplifting another species, the Witness annihilated the Eurhythmia and forced the Traveler to flee once again.

1.3 Emergence of the Proto-Worms

The species known as the Proto-Worms lived a peaceful existence on the planet of Fundament.

1.4 Rise of Rhulk

The Traveler appears above Lubrae, an unforgiving world suspended between a radiant Sapphiric Sun and a predatory Umbral Sun. Its arrival ushers in a golden age through the Sapphiric Converter, which siphons blue starlight to repel the lethal flora thriving beneath the Umbral dark. Yet the Traveler's gifts fail to heal Lubrae's deep social fractures. After it departs, society divides between the authoritarian Regime, which hoards the Converter's light within a walled city of perpetual day, and the nomadic Wanderers, who are left to survive beneath the alternating, hostile suns.

Rhulk is born among the Wanderers to Rhelik and Vrhuna alongside his sister Kheeta. Even as a child, his bloodlust unsettles the clan. After repeated massacres by the Regime's Stalkers, including the death of his clan-uncle Fhent, Rhulk retaliates with overwhelming brutality. Though his actions save lives, they horrify the peaceful Wanderers, who exile him for his savagery.

Searching for his captured father, Rhulk is eventually taken by the Regime and forced into its service, where his rage is no longer restrained but encouraged. As Rhelik shifts loyalties between the Wanderers and Regime, Rhulk comes to view compassion and moral restraint as weaknesses. He renames his glaive from Rheliksward, once forged in honor of his father, to Rheliksbane.

Rhulk eventually reunites with his family near the Abyss dividing the Wildlands from the Regime's city. They plead for reconciliation and appeal to the humanity still within him, but when Rhulk allows himself to trust them, they betray him and cast him into the chasm. As he falls, he sees not sorrow in their faces, but relief. Broken at the bottom of the Abyss, Rhulk encounters the Witness, which restores him with its Luster while dismantling his attachment to love, morality, and identity. Reframing his suffering as truth and his isolation as strength, the Witness transforms Rhulk into the first Disciple.

Rhulk returns to Lubrae and annihilates both his family and the Regime alike. Using the resonant superweapon Upended, he turns Lubrae's own technology against itself, collapses the Sapphiric Sun, and shatters his homeworld. Becoming the last surviving Lubraean, he abandons his former identity and renames his weapon Lubrae's Ruin.

Over eons, Rhulk spreads the Witness's philosophy across the cosmos. Among those he elevates is Nezarec, the Final God of Pain, whose mastery over Nightmares and influence among the Psions spread the Witness's ideology and knowledge of the Veil. Nezarec later weaves Nightmare energies into his Pyramid as both weapon and defense.

Rhulk also manipulates entire species through fear and psychological dependence. Among the Ahslid, he grooms the younger generation into paranoia and violence, most notably a young Ahslid named Uun. The collapse of Ahslid society reduces their world to ruin, and when Uun ultimately rejects the Witness's teachings, Rhulk kills him, rendering the Ahslid extinct.

Eventually, Rhulk arrives on Fundament in service of the Witness. There he grievously wounds the Leviathan, subjugates the Worm Mother Xita, and forces the Worms into servitude to produce implantable worm larvae. He then allows the larvae to drift into Fundament's oceans, setting in motion the chain of events that would eventually lead to the rise of the Hive.

1.5 Corruption of the Worm Gods

The Worm Gods would become seduced by the idea of killing each other to gain power through the Sword Logic. Six of them — Xita and her children Akka, Eir, Ur, Xol, and Yul — evolve into the entities known as the Worm Gods.

Many of the Proto-Worms were killed in the slaughter. The Leviathan, who was a servant of the Traveler, would imprison the Worm Gods deep beneath the oceans of Fundament, where they would remain for billions of years. The Worm Gods would begin to call out other species to Fundament to free them.

1.6 Ascension of the Hive

Hundreds of different species migrate to Fundament due to the Worm Gods' call. They become stranded there, living on the shards of their broken worlds which become floating continents. One such species was the proto-Hive known as the Krill, whose homeworld collided with Fundament and shattered. The Krill survive and build a new civilization for themselves on the floating shards of their former homeworld, gradually forgetting their original history.

A species of bony six-armed cephalopods named the Ammonites benefit from the Traveler's patronage and build a sophisticated starfaring civilization spanning all of Fundament's fifty-two moons, before eventually coming into contact with the distant Ecumene.

Upon discovering that the Krill would be claimed by the Traveler, the Witness would seek to prevent this and claim them for itself. A dead Worm larva which would become known as the Worm Familiar would wash up on the shores of the Osmium Court. It would begin to whisper to the Osmium King.

At eight years of age, the Krill Osmium King of the Osmium Court on Fundament sires his final brood of offspring, which includes his three daughters Xi Ro, Sathona, and Aurash, who are tutored by sterile mother Taox. At ten years of age, the Osmium King begins to succumb to senility and madness; becoming consumed with ancient texts and obsessing over the movements of Fundament's moons, and the possibility of a catastrophic alignment called the Syzygy. Unbeknownst to him, the Witness spoke to him through the Worm Familiar.

Fearing for the Osmium Court's future and believing the royal daughters were unsuited to rule, Taox secretly contacts the rival continent's Helium Drinkers of the Helium Court, inviting them to invade, assassinate the royal family, and install her as a subservient regent of the Osmium Court in exchange for engines capable of moving their continent. The Helium Drinkers agree, resulting in the Osmium Court's fall and the death of the Osmium King, but the royal daughters escape and vow to take revenge.

Three years after losing their kingdom, upon the advice of their father's worm, Xi Ro, Sathona, and Aurash use a salvaged high-tech ship to dive into Fundament's depths, hoping to discover a secret to stave off the Syzygy, which Aurash had come to believe was imminent. They encounter the Leviathan, but they reject his pleas to turn back and continue their pursuit. Deep within the ocean of Fundament, the sisters encounter the Worm Gods. The Worms offer the sisters immortality and power in exchange for accepting their larvae as parasites and carrying out the will of the Darkness. The sisters agree to the pact and are transformed into the first Hive: Xi Ro takes the Knight Morph becoming Xivu Arath, God of War; Sathona takes the Mother Morph becoming Savathûn, the Witch Queen; and finally, Aurash takes the King Morph, transforming into a male and becoming Auryx, the King of the Hive.

Hive-Ammonite war — Xivu Arath, Savathûn, and Auryx return to the surface and share the Worm parasites among the other Krill, becoming the Hive and creating an army that quickly overwhelms Fundament's other species. Taox flees, at first to other continents and then to the Ammonite capital moon where she is granted asylum. Originally, Auryx was willing to negotiate with the Ammonites, however Savathûn, following the orders of the Worm Gods, kills him as punishment. Instead of dying, Auryx's soul passes to his own Ascendant Realm or throne world, a pocket dimension in the Ascendant Plane where their soul resides after death and the only place where they can truly be killed.

Auryx returns, now having purged any sympathy and goodwill that remained in himself, and the Hive continue their war against the Ammonites. Xivu Arath sends her brood to slay the Leviathan and bring the Ammonites to extinction. This leads to a final battle, where the Ammonite champion Chroma-Admiral Rafriit is slain. The Leviathan attempts to flee to the Ammonites' capital moon. With the Leviathan alone, Xivu Arath sends her Knight Ir Uulxal to slay the priest of the Sky; he succeeds, tasting its flesh and making it rain upon the Ammonites. Ir Uulxal would be commended, being given the new name of the Leviathan-Eater and the title, Bane of the Ammonites. The Hive continue their assault, bringing the Ammonites to extinction, and forcing the Traveler to abandon Fundament. The Proto-Worm Ahsa escapes the onslaught and flees into space to pursue the Traveler, eventually she learns of the Witness's origins. The Hive colonize and transform Fundament's moons into mobile war-moons, and embark on their purge of the universe in the name of the Darkness. During this time the Worms begin instructing Auryx in the nature of the Sword-Logic.

Origins of the Qugu — At an unknown period of time, a Pyramid becomes buried on Seht, the homeworld of the bipedal creatures known as the Qugu. With the Pyramid coming to resemble a natural landform after being covered in rock and soil, the Qugu refer to it as the "the Mountain" and revere it as a holy site. Overtime, the Qugu establish themselves as a spacefaring civilization through their control of five star systems, technological advancements, and powerful attunement to the Darkness.

Hive-Qugu war — The Hive forces led by Savathûn launch an invasion of the Qugu system of Se'Un after opening a rift between the Ascendant Plane and space to bring out their warships. Arriving at the system after it had gone silent, a Qugu fleet led by the Seht Warden, Te'Qal engages with the Hive fleet at Se'Un. After being overwhelmed by the Hive Tombships, Te'Qal's fleet retreat to Seht with the Hive pursuing them. Launching their assault on Seht, Savathûn's ship launches an explosion of Soulfire at the Mountain, causing it to crack open and revealing its true nature as a Pyramid, which rises to meet the Hive ships. With the Qugu Empire being eradicated, the remaining members of the Seht Armada led by Te'Qal retreat to their final system of Se'Otan and attempt to escape through Se'Otan's gate. However, they were deceived by Savathûn, who tampered with the gate so that it would take them into the Ascendant Plane where her forces and the Pyramid were waiting. As one of Oryx's ships arrived into the battle and destroyed Savathûn's flagship, the remaining Qugu would take advantage of this opportunity to draw upon their fury and grief to destroy the Pyramid before being killed by the Resonance released from its destruction in the process.

The Hive eradicate hundreds of intelligent species over a span of twenty thousand years. During this time they grow and expand their kingdoms, refining and deepening their knowledge of the Sword Logic. Auryx makes war upon Savathûn out of both revenge and love, with Xivu Arath fighting them together.

Hive-Ecumene war — Approximately twenty-four thousand years after the fall of the Ammonites, the Hive reached the frontier of the Ecumene and invaded seventeen worlds for over a century. The Dakaua, a client species of the Ecumene, discover Taox in cryo-stasis aboard an ancient ship. Taox shares her knowledge of the Hive's leaders and motivations with the Dakaua, and the Ecumene unleashes its most powerful weapons against the Hive, who immediately suffer setbacks.

The Hive suffer many defeats against the Ecumene. Auryx summons Savathûn and Xivu Arath to his Throne World, realizing that their Worms' hunger was growing faster than their ability to feed it. Seeking the power necessary to allow the Hive to continue their crusade, Auryx slays his sisters and then his Patron Worm God, Akka, creating the Tablets of Ruin. Auryx harnesses the ability to Take, and renames himself Oryx, the Taken King; he uses his newfound power to create the Taken, Darkness-corrupted entities bent to his will, and unleashes them upon the Ecumene. During his war, Oryx revives Xivu Arath through an act of war, and Savathûn through an act of cunning. For one thousand, one hundred and forty years the resurgent Hive triumvirate annihilated the species of the Ecumene so utterly that no trace of them remains. Taox escapes yet again, however, and the Hive resume their pursuit, ravaging the universe along the way.

Creation of the Tithing System — To grow quicker and more effectively in power, Oryx creates the tithing system. In this system, all Hive take some tribute to feed their Worm and tithe the rest to their superiors. Thralls tithe to Acolytes, Acolytes tithe to Knights or Wizards, and Knights and Wizards tithe to Ascendant Hive, until all this tribute reaches the Hive Gods.

Rhulk stations his Pyramid within Savathûn's throne world on the orders of the Witness to mentor her for potential discipleship. He constructs the Harvest to produce Worm larvae for the armies of the Hive.

Golden Amputation — Ten thousand years later, after destroying the Taishibethi, Oryx communes with a voice in the Darkness, which tells him the purpose of the Sword Logic is to bring about the Final Shape. He decides to produce children, and sires two sons and twin daughters: Crota, Nokris, Ir Anûk, and Ir Halak.

Unfavored and looked down upon by his father, Nokris sought to impress Oryx by communing with the Worm Gods. He would succeed, but all of them would reject him, except for Xol, the weakest of his kin, who was fearing an attack from Yul. Xol and Nokris would strike a bargain: Nokris would trade Xol his heart in exchange for learning Necromancy, the power to revive others from the dead, a practice considered by Oryx and his brood to be heresy to the Sword Logic. Oryx would learn about Nokris's act and was outraged. Nokris and his brood were exiled with Xol fleeing alongside them, and all mentions of the disfavored son were removed from The World's Grave and Books of Sorrow.

Vex Discovery of the Sword-Logic / Creation of the Dreadnaught — While Oryx is absent from his court to observe the Darkness destroy an ancient fortress world, Crota, after being tricked by his aunt Savathûn, inadvertently opens a portal to a place containing Vex while experimenting within the Ascendant Realm. The Vex, unable to comprehend the physics of Oryx's throne world, manifest Quria, Blade Transform, who begins experimenting with the Hive, learning to worship the Darkness, and continue to plague Oryx's realm for a hundred years. The Worm God Eir finally calls Oryx home to deal with the problem after the Vex come close to conquering the High War.

Oryx Takes many of the Vex, dividing them against one another, before finally expelling the cybernetic machines from his realm. Oryx comes to consider the Vex a worthy rival, and resolves to follow the Darkness and document the destruction it wreaks in a "grave of worlds", so that he may learn from it and use this knowledge to succeed in his crusade against the universe. With his Ascendant Realm having been compromised by the Vex incursion, Oryx builds the Dreadnaught from Akka's corpse and houses his realm within it. This takes place before Earth's formation (at least 4.54 billion years ago).

Hive-Harmony war — The Hive destroy the Harmony, another species that had built a peaceful and advanced civilization with the aid of the Traveler, and topple the fabled Gift Mast over a period of a hundred and fifty years. During this conflict Oryx defeats Quria, Blade Transform and the remaining Vex who were attacking him, and gives the Taken Hydra to Savathûn. Prior to being Taken, Quria shared what it learned about Oryx's origins as Aurash with the rest of the Vex collective mind. Afterwards, Oryx's sisters part ways with him; Savathûn takes her war-moons into the black hole the Harmony's worlds orbited, while Xivu Arath ventures into unknown space. Oryx continues on his journeys in the footsteps of the Darkness, continuing the Hive's crusade and still seeking the elusive Taox.

After Savathûn's attempts at slowing her Ascendant Worms' hunger by placing them around a black hole failed, she would begin a tribute-gathering system where she gains power through others failing to understand her schemes rather than slaughter. This new method of gaining tribute would be known as "Imbaru".

1.7 Birth of Sol

The Sol System is created. When life began to develop and evolve this led to the creation of the Nine, 4-dimensional dark matter entities bound to the gravity wells of the Sun and the 8 planets in the system. The Nine can only stay awake as long as there is life. At an unknown point in time, Theia was a member of the Nine before it collided with III's gravity well.

The Vex are thought to have embedded themselves in every known celestial body around this time while constructing incomprehensible structures; among them is the Vault of Glass on Venus with Atheon, Time's Conflux serving as its Vex Mind.

At an unknown period of time, Ahsa would arrive in Sol and inhabit the seas of Titan.

The Hive led by Crota would arrive on the Moon, infesting it for hundreds or thousands of years.

2. History of the Cabal

According to legend, three Cabal warriors sought to claim the Sun for their people guarded by a mighty beast. The first two were killed attempting to evade the creature, but the third would die with honor leaving a mark on the beast — inspiring her kin to fight the creature despite the repeated deaths. However, the beast would meet its end to Acrius, claiming the sun for his people and becoming the first Cabal Emperor.

At some point, the Cabal forge a vast interstellar Empire and incorporate the telekinetic Psions as a client race, who previously worshipped an unknown calamity that eventually strikes the Cabal and forces the Empire to flee.

Over time, the Cabal Throne loses most of its power and the military aristocracy, the Praetorate, gains control of most of the Empire's power. They popularize the Rite of Proving, a tradition for Cabal to prove their right through battle.

Calus, Prince Designate, leads a revolution and overthrows the Praetorate, becoming the Emperor of the Cabal Empire. He shifts the Empire's roots from militarism to art and philosophy and makes Torobatl the Cabal's home planet. He later has a daughter named Caiatl. The Consul, who previously had ties with the Praetorate, would find the young orphan Ghaul, taking him in and training him as a weapon to overthrow Calus.

Ghaul would become a Gladiator in the coliseum, becoming favoured by the Emperor. Calus promotes Ghaul to Primus of the Red Legion, and eventually his right hand.

Midnight Coup — Ghaul, with the aid of the Consul, Caiatl, and others, leads a military coup against Calus. Ghaul becomes the new leader of the Cabal Empire. However, as Calus is too popular among the Cabal populace to execute without risking rebellion, the conspirators exile Calus and his surviving supporters to the Leviathan and lock its course to a destination far outside of the Cabal empire.

After wallowing in despair for an unknown amount of time after his exile, the Leviathan comes across an expanse of nothingness, which shorts out the navigational systems. Calus then looks into the void and receives a vision from the Witness, showing him the Black Fleet and an apocalyptic event that would eliminate all life in the universe. The Witness proclaims to Calus that he will be its herald of the coming end. With control of the Leviathan back in his hands, Calus begins exploring the galaxy and planning to retake the empire.

3. History of the Eliksni

The Traveler visits the Eliksni home planet Riis and provides them with limitless Ether. The Eliksni prosper under the Traveler's patronage and revere it as "the Great Machine". During these years, the House of Judgment enforces law and peace.

Edge Wars — The event known as the Edge Wars brings infighting amongst the Eliksni. This conflict is ended by the House of Kings and the House of Judgement, entering their people into a Golden Age.

The House of Rain tell of a prophecy that the Great Machine would dub a great warrior as the "Kell of Kells".

Irrha, an Apothecary and apprentice to Slayer Baron Kiiraskes, documents her observations of a mysterious creature that was threatening a House of Rain farm, using a Tonic to track it. The creature was described as having a shapeshifting power and an unpleasant smell. They were able to kill the creature and, upon returning, learned that Haaksis encountered a Black Fleet vessel and recovered a spherical object which prophesied the coming calamity that would soon affect Riis. They would report their experience to the House of Judgment and while waiting for Kiiraskes, Irrha overhears a dirge being sung by Chelchis, a Kell of the House of Stone, a House responsible for organizing Riis's defenses.

Whirlwind — Sometime after, the Eliksni civilization is destroyed by an event known as the Whirlwind. The Black Fleet invades the Eliksni's native star system, causing the Traveler to flee from Riis. Oryx and his forces later arrive. Chelchis is slain by the Taken King himself, becoming a legend amongst his people. Many Eliksni perished and their civilization was left in ruins. In the aftermath, the House of Judgement attempts to maintain order among the survivors but is unable to prevent the outbreak of a bloody civil war and is itself nearly eradicated. The remnants of House Judgment are forced into servitude by the remaining Kells. They begin their search for Traveler in hopes of returning to greatness, beginning the Long Drift and becoming the Fallen.

4. Pre-Golden Age

A text named Of Hated Nezarec was known to have originated from this time period. The text would later be used to indoctrinate the victims of torment into the Acolytes of Nezarec.

The Department of External Observation (DEO), a United States agency tasked with investigating extraterrestrial anomalies, was investigating an unknown energy weapon that was used to assassinate John F. Kennedy.

Louis Yero, a polyglot born from Lodi, Wisconsin, begins his employment at the DEO. Prior to his employment, he served in an unknown war.

The DEO would begin investigations into the Les Diablerets incident, with Louis Yero being one of those people. They couldn't find any signs of the extraterrestrial life form, but they were able to study the technology from it.

Louis meets Dr. Nella Davis, a mathematician who was working on Project Graviton. She was later killed by a train sent by the Nine.

After Louis bumps into Nella near DEO's containment room, who then leaves in a hurry, he would answer a strange phone inside the containment. Unbeknownst to him, by answering the phone, he would be pulled forward in time by the Nine.

5. The Golden Age

According to various in-game quotes and Grimoire entries, the Golden Age lasted a few centuries. It came to a devastating end in the wake of the Collapse.

Present Day — Humanity detects and tracks the Traveler as it enters the Sol System and terraforms Mercury, Venus, and the moons of Jupiter. When it reaches Mars, the multinational Ares One mission is launched to make contact with it. The Traveler promises humanity the universe and imparts its vast knowledge to the species, spurring the colonization of the Solar System.

5.1 Early Golden Age

The Cosmodrome is built in modern-day Kazakhstan where humanity first takes to the stars in search of what lays beyond and ultimately in hope of escaping their overcrowded planet.

• The Beginning of the Golden Age — The Golden Age, a centuries-long era of widespread prosperity and technological miracles, begins.
• Arrival of the Ahamkara — The Ahamkara, a species with the ability to shapeshift and grant wishes, arrive in the system following the Traveler's arrival.
• The formation of the North American Empire — The North American Empire is formed.
• 50 years after the Traveler's discovery — At the age of 90, Commander Jacob Hardy records his experiences from the Ares One mission in his diary and explains how the Traveler's dramatic impact on human well-being and civilization changed everything while studying the properties of Light-influenced terraforming.
• The Cloud Walkers lead the first Exodus.
• The First off-Earth Colony — The first off-Earth colony is established in the Ocean of Storms on the Moon, and an exobotany laboratory is built in Mare Cognitum.
• The foundation of Freehold — The city of Freehold is founded on Mars with the support of Clovis Bray. It becomes known as one of humanity's greatest achievements.
• The Colonization of Venus — The Hesperonauts first descend into Venus's boiling mists and place terraforming engines in caldaras, beginning the planet's transformation into a habitable world. They were later remembered by the Last City and the Guardians through a set of armor forged in their honor.
• The Discovery of the Vex — During the initial exploration of Venus, ancient Vex ruins are discovered. Early Vex research outposts like Campus 9 attract Earth's brightest minds, leading to a colonization rush on the planet. The researchers found the Ishtar Collective and the Ishtar Academy.
• Birth of the Warmind — The Clovis Bray Corporation takes the code of the "R", an AI designed by M. Mihaylova, and upgrades it into the sentient interplanetary defense system Rasputin. Clovis Bray I intended for him to take the Traveler's place. However, Dr. Anastasia Bray goes against Clovis's orders, teaching him the different things of humanity. Rasputin goes on to rewrite Clovis's protocols, locking him out.
• A copper box with a red lid is discovered, its lid dented, one hinge shattered. Inside is a small quantity of the finest, driest powder, more brown than gray, more blue than green. The powder is weighed by the grain and studied closely. One hundred billion bits reside inside, all of them tiny and nearly spherical, and etched with the outlines of continents and islands and icecaps. Each sphere represents a planet. One is found on Earth, Mars, and Venus. Many studies presume that the box is a message of how minuscule all of creation is, and some wonder who delivered this message, and why.
• A father on Venus shows his son a representation of what their world used to look like before the Traveler arrived.

5.2 Mid-Golden Age

• The colonization of the Asteroid Belt — Human settlements are established in the Asteroid Belt, subsequently becoming a treasure trove of industry.
• The creation of Silver — A currency known as Silver is developed, and is later used by the Reef post-Collapse.
• The colonization of Jupiter — Jupiter and its moons become a cornerstone of human civilization, lunar cities buried deep in ice shelves and within subaqueous oceans.
• Discovery of the K1 Anomaly — Miners on the Moon discover a strange artifact. The Clovis Bray corporation and the Aeronautics of China create a research site around the artifact. By studying it they learn it is an artifact of Darkness, which Clovis Bray I calls "Clarity". Clovis uses the artifact to commune with the Witness, who instructs him to make his way to Europa, with the promise of obtaining the secrets of immortality.
• Colonization of Europa — Clovis and his team arrive on Europa. They found the colony Eventide and the facility, Bray Exoscience. Clovis begins his plans for the Exo Project, the project to transfer human consciousness into humanoid machines.
• Discovery of Clarity Control — Clovis Bray discovers the Pyramid artifact, which he calls "Clarity Control". Clovis and his team attempt to move the artifact however this results in the death of nineteen engineers. Due to being unable to move the artifact, Clovis constructs the facility which would become known as the Deep Stone Crypt. He requests that his granddaughter Elisabeth Bray, who had inherited a fatal insomnia caused by his gene altering on Clovis II, join him and assist him with the project, to which she agrees.
• Construction of the Morning Star — Due to the death of the nineteen researchers, Clovis Bray would also construct the orbital platform above Europa known as the Morning Star to serve as a failsafe against any potential threat posed by Clarity Control. If a catastrophic event was to occur or to eliminate all the secrets within the facility if the Crypt's security was breached, the platform would excurse itself from orbit and crash into the site. It would later become primarily used by Clovis Bray as a control laboratory for the purpose of conducting a variety of different experiments related to the Exos.
• Construction of Vesper Station — Around the orbit of Europa, Clovis Bray would establish Vesper Station to conduct experiments that could potentially interact poorly with his other investigations. Clovis would also create the central AI known as Astraea to oversee the station. Believing that there were more powerful variants of Vex that he could learn from, Clovis would construct an AI using Vex technology with the intention of it serving as a programmable Vex Mind that he could use for observation. However, the AI would prove itself to be too dangerous and the station would be placed into quarantine.
• Creation of the Exos — During Clovis's attempts to create the Exos, early exominds would fall victim to what is known as the "loop/billboard/crash" cycle, characterized by cognitive and motor stereotypy, athetosis, and gradual loss of sapience. This ultimately claims the life of Clovis Bray II. Clovis steals a Vex from the Ishtar Collective and uses it to construct a gateway to the Vex colonized star system, the Forge Star. He discovers that exposing Vex radiolaria to "Clarity" solves the "loop/billboard/crash" problem. With this problem fixed, the Exos are successfully created.
• Despite fixing the "loop/billboard/crash" problem, Exominds would begin to fall victim to Dissociative Exomind Rejection (DER), when Exos do not feel comfortable in their new bodies. To solve this problem, Clovis comes up with two solutions. The first is a "reboot", which does not wipe the Exo's memories, but instead wipes the mind's memory post-transfer; however, the procedure will likely have to be repeated multiple times. The second solution is to introduce familiar human organic conceits into their body, such as the instinct to eat or reproduce.
• Elsie Bray discovers that Vex microstructures have entered Europa's ice and were swiftly spreading across the icy moon. Due to this threat, she decides to allow her consciousness into an Exo. Upon storming into Clovis I's laboratory, Elsie berates him for the atrocities he had committed and demands he transfer her into an Exo body, to which he agrees. Clovis begins a full brain scan which copies her body but poisons her mind. The transfer is a success, however Elsie loses most of her memories in the process.
• The creation of Engrams and Glimmer — Dr. Wilhelmina Bray develops the first Engram matter-encryption techniques based on relic crystals' unique datastatic properties. Glimmer is presumably developed as a byproduct and used as a source of power.
• Information about Plutarch's writing on Fabius Maximus was encoded onto an engram. The engram includes the type of warfare termed the 'Fabian Strategy' — the strategy involves attrition tactics and avoiding direct conflict until an enemy makes a mistake.
• The investigation of Ishtar Collective — The Ishtar Collective captures a live Vex specimen and nearly go mad until a Warmind intervenes. They send a group of two hundred twenty-seven proxies into the Vex ruins to explore the Vex Network.

5.3 Late Golden Age

• The Foundation of Future War Cult — The Future War Cult is founded by Maya Sundaresh at Lhasa after experimenting with Vex technology. The group disbands, however, after many of its members either go insane, commit suicide, or leave out of ethical concerns. Maya Sundaresh is among them, quitting the program.
• The development of The Kestrel — The Kestrel, an experimental long-range jumpship, is prototyped.
• A pilot designated SABER GREEN piloting the ship Secure ISIS communicates with ICE MINARET. Civilian launches are not scrubbed and colonization efforts are being pushed beyond schedule to preserve secrecy. They are carrying an antimatter payload of one annihilation-pumped caedometric weapon codenamed RIGOR, and two other unknown devices codenamed SKYSHOCK and APEX. ICE MINARET remarks that they both know where the order came from.
• The development of SIVA — Clovis Bray begins developing technologies geared toward the colonization of the Solar System in the form of SIVA and Transmission. After going through several prototypes, SIVA is approved for deployment.
• Sometime later, General Chen Lanshu glides around the Cosmodrome and converses with submind Malahayati about the possibility of invasion and speculates whether or not the Traveler could have been an enemy. Shortly thereafter, Chen Lanshu speaks to Willa Bray about the possibility of accelerating the colonization programs, and whether SIVA could be used for military purposes.
• The construction of Site 6 — Site 6 is constructed.
• Centuries before the Red War / The Exodus Black crash — Centuries before the Red War, the colony ship Exodus Black, carrying a cache of SIVA, is launched. Although Exodus Black's intended destination is the Kepler-186 system, the ship is intercepted by the Vex-inhabited centaur planetoid Nessus and crash-lands. The survivors briefly try to make contact with Earth and send for help, but their signals are never received. The Vex soon exterminated the survivors, leaving only Exodus Black's failsafe AI, Failsafe.
• ECHO Project — Clovis Bray Corporation and the Ishtar Collective come together to begin Project ECHO, an extrasolar colonization project dedicated to traveling to the Andromeda Galaxy. They create the Ares Spire on Mars to serve as a research site.
• Creation of Soteria — Using Vex technology, the Ishtar Collective creates the artificial intelligence Soteria, also known as the Augarmind, to research extrasolar colonization.
• Soteria detects over 300 suitable planets for colonization, however this number dwindled to a mere two within the Triangulum Galaxy due to an anomaly that made the routes unsafe. After forwarding this information to Rasputin, she was advised to speed up contingency plans for colony ship launches.
• Imprisonment of the Augarmind — Against the orders of Clovis Bray I, Soteria would launch the ECHO project's Koranthin network on emergency scramble orders and prepare to send them out of the system. Clovis would contain the Augarmind within the Ares Spire and return commands would be issued to all ships. However Soteria attaches fragments of herself onto a large number of ECHO colony ships before being imprisoned. Maya Sundaresh was enraged at Clovis's actions and would resign from the project.
• The Tyrant's Son — To gather information, Rasputin executes the protocol known as SIDDARTHA GOLEM. Under this protocol, an Exo bearing the same name is created and sent out into the world to interact with humans and learn about their behaviour, literature, and culture.
• Invasion of Europa — Due to being on the verge of death, Clovis Bray I makes the choice to upload himself into an Exomind format. One copy of his mind would be installed as an artificial intelligence in the Deep Stone Crypt, located within a giant Exo head at Bray Exoscience that possesses his memories, while a second copy would be uploaded into a wiped Exobody. Meanwhile, Elsie Bray and her team prepare for their next foraging mission, but they are confronted by a large Vex force that emerges from the Glassway. They become overwhelmed by Belmon, Transcendent Mind, forcing them to retreat. Elsie meets up with Clovis I, who orders her to activate his AI, and she complies.
• Closing the Gateway — Most of Eventide's population is slaughtered due to the Vex's invasion. Despite these casualties, the Clovis Bray AI refuses to allow an evacuation. Clovis-1 is awakened by Wen-1 following the orders of the AI, angering Elsie. Elsie then decides to form a rescue team, with Clovis-1 deciding to join them. Clovis-1 comes to the realization of who he is and seeks to make amends for what he has done by working with Elsie to stop the invasion, over time rebooting himself forty-two times to become Clovis-43. Eventually, Elsie succeeds in stopping the Vex by shutting down the Glassway. After saving as many lives as possible, Elsie and Clovis-43 shut down the Clovis Bray AI. Due to the shame of who he was, Clovis-43, with the assistance of Elsie, uses the last of the radiolaria to reset himself and wipe his memories, becoming Banshee-44.
• The colony ship, Yang Liwei, leaves Earth to find a way to live without the Traveler.
• Founding of the Black Armory — Believing that Earth was under threat from an extraterrestrial enemy, the French House of Meyrin, Norse Rasmussen Clan, and the Japanese Satou tribe unite together to form the Black Armory. The families' matriarchs Henriette Meyrin, Helga Rasmussen, and Yuki Satou construct weapons, and build forges on Earth and Nessus.
• The terraforming of Io — The Traveler begins terraforming Io.
• Members of the First Light colony investigate the tunnels beneath the Moon. They discover the Worms and the Hive nesting deep within but do not survive to tell the tale.
• Having observed an unexplainable orbital body in the Oort Cloud for generations, members of the AION Initiative journey to it and establish a small colony.

6. The Collapse

The Warmind Rasputin detects the sudden arrival of the Black Fleet outside the Solar System, with the aid of the abandoned technology of the Future War Cult and the Augarmind Soteria. He discovers this is the Black Fleet, led by the Witness, alongside its Disciples and Savathûn. Recognizing the threat, Rasputin assumes control of humanity's Planetary Defense Network.

The Traveler makes its "final exodus" from Io, leaving the moon's terraforming incomplete and fleeing to Earth as the Collapse begins.

Rasputin attempts to defeat the Black Fleet using all available weapons, but to no avail. In a last-ditch attempt to stop the impending doom, Rasputin enacts ABHORRENT IMPERATIVE, and prepares to fire upon the Traveler with his most powerful weapons, thereby coercing it into a "pseudoaltruistic" defensive action, should it attempt to leave. The Traveler, for reasons unknown, chooses to stay and fight.

Xol, Nokris, and their brood arrive on Mars in an attempt to conquer the planet. Rasputin activates "SIBERIAN ENTROPY", freezing and trapping them below the Hellas Basin.

Rasputin commissions the Yang Liwei as a warship, but they refuse to take a side in the conflict. The battle between the Black Fleet and the Traveler leads to the creation of a kugelblitz. It sucks the Yang Liwei into a newly formed pocket dimension made from Light and Darkness where time passes much quicker. The people aboard would lose their physical bodies and become beings of full potential. Mara Sov is the first to enter.

As all countermeasures fail to affect the entity and defeat becomes a certainty, Rasputin decides to enact YUGA SUNDOWN and shuts down to protect itself, leaving billions of people to perish.

Many of the ECHO ships are launched in an attempt to escape this apocalyptic event. However, many of them are destroyed during their flight. One of these ships containing a submind of Soteria is caught in Neptune's gravity well and crashes into the ice giant's surface.

First Fleet, or quite possibly what comes to be known as the Cassini, is lost around the orbit of Saturn.

On Mercury, Venus, and Mars, dormant Vex units reacting to the Collapse reactivate and begin terraforming several worlds. While Mercury is turned into a Machine World in days. On Mercury, Dendron, Root Mind plants the planet-sized prediction engine which would become the Infinite Forest, with Panoptes, Infinite Mind serving as its Axis Mind. The Vex spread is temporarily stalled by the Traveler.

A massive spacecraft bearing a sigil of Golden Age Earth on its prow crashes on an unidentified battle-scarred world where over two dozen Exo soldiers fight a titanic battle with the Vex.

The Collapse — The Black Fleet, believed by Humanity to be the Darkness itself, arrives at Earth. The assault is led by Nezarec, who had the Veil aboard his ship, alongside Savathûn. They precipitated the Collapse and the abrupt end of the Golden Age. Earth's defenders are steadily beaten back until humanity is threatened with extinction.

Despite the Black Armory's advanced weaponry, they are unable to fend off the Black Fleet's onslaught and are forced to abandon their hideouts and forges. Helga Rasmussen is killed, while Henriette Meyrin's daughter Adelaide is severely injured due to the attack. To save her daughter, Henriette agrees to have Yuki Satou upload Adelaide's consciousness into an Exo, thus creating Ada-1.

Savathûn betrays and kills Nezarec, cursing his remains and hides the Veil away on Neptune. She tricks the Witness into sparing the Traveler. Humanity is saved by the intervention of the Traveler, which sacrifices itself to stop the Black Fleet. Before going dormant, the Traveler creates the Ghosts, to seek out those who can wield its Light as a weapon.

Crashing of the Lunar Pyramid — Nezarec's ship crashes and is buried deep beneath the Moon.

The fall of a shard of the Traveler — A Shard of the Traveler lands in the European Dead Zone during its battle with the Black Fleet.

Birth of the Awoken — Being the first to enter and awaken in this new universe, Mara would shape the universe according to her will, choosing for her and the rest of the crew to exist as embodied entities. Alice (now known as Alis), the second to Awaken, creates the planet known as the Distributary from her memories. Both Mara and Alis awaken on the Distributary. Mara tricks Alis into thinking she is the one who created the rules of the new universe. They both help awaken and incarnate the other members of the crew, including Mara's brother Uldren Sov, thus becoming the species known as the Awoken, a humanoid species made of both Light and Darkness and immortal as long as they remain within the Distributary. Alis becomes their first queen.

1.7 years after the Collapse — The AION Initiative colony on Kepler are cut off from Earth and would only learn about what happened 1.7 years later due to the vast distance between Kepler and Earth.

7. Dark Age

7.1 Early Dark Age

The Beginning of the Dark Age — In the aftermath of the Collapse comes the Dark Age. It is a time of vast suffering and terrible evil.

Founding of Neomuna — Members of the Ishtar Collective aboard the Exodus Indigo arrive on Neptune due to Maya Sundaresh's recommendation to pursue a Vex signal, likely coming from the stranded fragment of Soteria. The researchers would discover the Veil on Neptune's surface and the submind of Soteria. Exo members of the crew would become braindead upon approaching the paracausal entity. Maya communicates with the Veil and becomes fascinated with it, declaring it would be their "salvation." The Ishtar Collective began the construction of Neomuna, using the Veil to power the city and conduct experiments.

The First Human enclaves — Many survivors of the Collapse gather within secret enclaves in desperate attempts to survive. Some Awoken return to Earth and the Exos emerge but their memories have been irreparably damaged. Ghosts travel among the refugee columns, seeking the first Guardians.

The first defenders of the human survivors — Before the first Guardians appear, rangers led by the legendary Ayane Takanome protect humanity's survivors. They disappear after the Guardians become commonplace.

The arrival of the Fallen — The Fallen arrived to the Sol System in their Ketches. The Fallen's Houses established throughout the entire System begin to loot and pillage humanity's former worlds and colonies, ending the Long Drift. The House of Devils and House of Kings settle on Earth, the House of Wolves in the Jovians, the House of Winter on Venus, and the House of Rain on Mercury.

Discovery of the Lunar Pyramid — The House of Wolves, led by their Kell Inaaks, discover the remains of Nezarec in the Lunar Pyramid. They split his corpse into different pieces to create the Dark Relics.

Rebirth of Lakshmi-2 — To more effectively analyze the psychic data coming from the Veil, Maya Sundaresh and Chioma Esi create a prototype to interface with the paracausal entity, designed like a "conductor" guiding a "symphony" of participants. Despite the death of the volunteers during the test, Maya Sundaresh continues her experiment by placing dead Exos in the Veil's interface, instead of biological human participants. Directing the data from the Exos to a central recipient. Maya creates her own mental imprint to be overlaid on the central Exo recipient. Lakshmi-2 awakens, now with the mental imprint of Maya and possessing some of her memories.

Maya Sundaresh is found dead in the conductor's chair of the Veil's interface, with Chioma and the other Ishtar Collective researchers unsure of what she was attempting to do. However, unbeknownst to anyone, Maya's consciousness would continue to exist within the Darkness of the Veil. Eventually, Maya would infiltrate the Vex Network under the identifier "MSUND12."

Creation of the CloudArk — Using their studies of the Vex network, and the paracausal energy field from the Veil, the people of Neomuna create the virtual reality environment known as the CloudArk. The fragment of Soteria, known as the Occlusion, becomes a central part of the virtual reality construct.

Formation of the Cloud Striders — The Neomuni citizen Mikaela Julaha is caught in an accident with nanotechnology. Mikaela's strength and endurance would rapidly increase, but her lifespan would be severely shortened. Others would allow themselves to undergo this procedure, becoming the Cloud Striders. Only two Cloud Striders can exist at a time.

The Reawakening of the Warmind — Rasputin would be reactivated and discover Neomuna, giving it the codename of "Nefele Stronghold". Chioma Esi sends the Cloud Strider Stargazer to go to Earth to stop the Warmind from learning more. Stargazer takes Lakshmi-2 with them and uses the submind Malahayati to wipe all mentions of Neptune. Lakshmi-2 is left behind on Earth.

The Destruction of London — The House of Devils destroy London around this time.

The Arrival of the Cabal — The Cabal Empire arrived to the Sol System. The Cabal scout legions established a beachhead on Phobos, constructing their bases, Fleetbase Korus and Firebase Thuria before invading Mars. Their initial intention was to mine Mars for resources, but the scope greatly expanded upon the discovery of the Vex ruins. However the Cabal soon become engaged in a massive campaign of attrition with a native Vex programming called the Virgo Prohibition, who desperately attempts to protect the entrance to the Black Garden from an ever-expanding Exclusion Zone. This war will continue throughout the Dark Age and well into the City Age with little outside interference.

The arrival of the Hive — The Hive's forces, consisting of the Hidden Swarm, Blood of Oryx and Spawn of Crota, invaded the Moon and established their subterranean base, known as the Hellmouth.

The Appearance of the Warlords — The first humans to be resurrected by the Traveler become Lightbearers and form the ruthless Warlords, bringing about chaos and anarchy.

7.2 Mid-Dark Age

The Formation of the Iron Lords — Having had enough at last of the tyranny of the Warlords, Lord Radegast brings Lord Saladin Forge and Lady Jolder together to end the Warlords, and forms the Iron Lords.

The SIDDARTHA GOLEM Exo is raised as a Lightbearer and is given the name Felwinter by his Ghost. Enraged at the loss of his "son", Rasputin sends his Warsats and combat frames to kill the newly Risen-Exo. Fed up of running from Rasputin's assets, Felwinter decides to build a home on top of a mountain which he had discovered by using a map from a Seraph Station. Felwinter calls on the Warlord Castor, the ruler of the mountain to negotiate, however he destroys Castor's Ghost and throws the Warlord off the cliff, claiming the mountain as his own and naming it Felwinter Peak.

Theodicy War — The Theodicy War breaks out in the Distributary between the Sanguine and the Eccaleists. The Sanguine led by Queen Alis Li believed that the existence of their people was a gift and did not have to resolve the conflict between Light and Darkness. While the Eccaleists led by Mara Sov with the Diasyrm as her puppet leader believe that the Awoken had to play a role in the conflict. Alis Lin steps down, and is succeeded by Nguya Pin.

When the Diasyrm vanished at the end of the Theodicy War, believing she was secretly murdered by Mara Sov, Eccaleist Sjur Eido barges into a court of the Gensym Scribes, vowing to avenge her. Seeking to prevent another Theodicy War, they lend her resources for her mission. However when Queen Pin converted to Eccaleism, Sjur Eido would enter the Queen's court and deduce which one of Pin's courtiers was Mara. However, Sjur could not bring herself to kill Mara due to her beauty. Instead Sjur challenges Mara to a "duel to the agony" against her most beloved companion, Uldren Sov. They agree to three duels: one with knives, guns, and fighter aircraft. The first duel ends in a draw, the second went to Sjur, and the third went to Uldren. Due to this duel failing to determine the victor, Sjur submits her fate to Mara.

The Confrontation with the Warlord Segoth — The Iron Lords confront the Warlord Segoth as he travels to a secluded village. After a bloody battle, the Iron Lords emerge victorious and Segoth is gunned down by Perun as he attempts to escape.

The recruitment of Lord Felwinter — While patrolling the Mothyards, Felwinter encounters the Iron Lord Timur, who tells him about SIVA. Out of a desire for peace and security, Felwinter joins the Iron Lords, and gives them his mountain where they construct the Iron Temple as their base of operations.

Rumors circulate of a haven beneath the Traveler.

The Death of the Warlord Citan — Lord Felwinter meets with the Warlord Citan to broker peace. Citan refuses, and the Exo puts him down. As his Ghost revives him once more, Felwinter uses his Shotgun, Felwinter's Lie to terminate them both.

The Confrontation with the Warlord Rience — The Iron Lords challenge the Warlord Rience.

The Defense of Patch Run — Lord Saladin, while patrolling at the outskirts of a town called Patch Run, encountered a Fallen raiding party. A Lightbearer named Efrideet joins with him and, together, they defend the village against the Fallen until they have no ammo. After the Fallen deploy a walker over a long distance, Efrideet suggests throwing Saladin against the walker. Before he could argue, Efrideet threw him, like a Javelin, against the Walker, destroying it in the process. After the battle, Lord Saladin, impressed with the force and character of Efrideet, convinced her to join with his group at Dwindler's Ridge.

7.3 Late Dark Age

The expedition of Lord Timur and Lord Felwinter — Lord Timur and Lord Felwinter traverse the Arabian Shores in search of a facility belonging to Clovis Bray. While en route, they are attacked by a group of Fallen before discovering an old Clovis Bray facility in the secluded wastes.

The Formation of the Pilgrim Guard — The first Titans pledge to defend the refugees gathering to the Traveler, forming the Pilgrim Guard.

The Formation of the Sunbreakers — The Titans form the order of the Sunbreakers.

Reports are made of a Cabal commander, Bracus Tho'ourg, who secured the Buried City on Mars with merely a fraction of the planet's Cabal forces. The first Guardians who faced him died at some point between here and the City Age.

8. The City Age

Many legends rise and fall during the City Age — the Lords of Iron; Saint-14; Toland and Osiris; the Speaker; and many others — not the least of which is a single Guardian, resurrected on the eve of the Darkness' return.

8.1 Early City Age

The Founding of the Last City — Survivors of the Collapse, human, Awoken, and Exo, travel from far and wide to the site of the inactive Traveler and build the Last City beneath its protective aura. The City Age begins.

Foundation of the Reef — Mara Sov, Uldren Sov, and Sjur Eido lead many Awoken to leave the Distributary and return to Sol. They would arrive in the asteroid field and found the Reef. Shortly after getting attacked by a Fallen Ketch, Mara Sov is crowned Queen of the Awoken. Some Awoken choose to make their way to Earth.

Creation of the Dreaming City — Mara Sov seeks to create a safe and peaceful realm for the Awoken. Uldren Sov finds and brings the young Ahamkara, Riven of a Thousand Voices to Mara as a gift. The Awoken Queen with the assistance of Riven's wish magic constructs the Dreaming City. Riven constructs her lair in secret, hidden away from the Awoken.

Over time, many Ahamkara travel to the Dreaming City. At the Spine of Keres, Riven meets Taranis. Unlike other Ahamkara, Taranis did not twist his wishes and the bargains he made were safe. Taranis invites Riven to his lair in the Black Garden, she accepts. They forge a bridge between their lairs in the Dreaming City and the Black Garden, and produce whims.

The Faction Wars — Power struggles between various political factions for the support of the City's refugee masses escalate into a series of violent conflicts. Rezyl Azzir, a great leader and champion during those days, helps unite the Risen and forms the Guardians, gaining him further fame. Together they end the bloodshed before the City is torn apart by the civil war, and focus on a new encroaching threat: the Fallen.

Ada-1 arrives at the Last City, now the last member of the Black Armory after losing Yuki, and her mother Henriette to Warlords during the Dark Age. Opening a refuge within the walls of the city, Ada offers her weapons to anyone who needs to defend themselves. However she would refuse to work with the Vanguard due to her past experiences with the Warlords.

New Monarchy coalesces in the wake of the Wars. In the aftermath, the Titans construct and defend the City's walls.

The founding of the Consensus — The Consensus, a representative body through which the factions could pursue their agendas peacefully, is formed following the Faction Wars to jointly govern the City with the Speaker.

As the City continues to rise, Rezyl and the swelling numbers of Guardians see near constant action against the encroaching Fallen.

The first Hive presence on Earth — The Hive begin landing Seeder Ships on Earth in a centuries-long process intended to precede an invasion. Guardians eventually first learn of the Hive's presence at the Rusted Lands, the future site of a Crucible arena.

The exile of Toland — Toland, an esteemed and highly respected Warlock, is exiled from the Last City for his obsessive and dangerous studies on the Hive. He continues his work unabated.

The first voyage to the Reef — At some point, the first known voyage to the Reef is launched.

The expedition to Ceres — Dead Orbit launches an expedition in the Reef to Ceres where a space station had been discovered. However, an Awoken patrol ship spots them and cripples their ship, forcing them to move to the space station. None returns except a Ghost.

Six Fronts — The first major attack weathered by the City. Four orders of Titans led by the Iron Lords defended six different approaches against an overwhelming enemy force. None of the orders faltered, and what could have been a disastrous defeat would instead become a decisive victory. At this time, the Iron Lords become known for their invincible patrols. Towards the battle's end, two Firebreak commanders including Lord Radegast, led a march against the Fallen and reclaimed five miles of scorched ground beyond the City's walls.

Lord Timur and Felwinter would continue his search for SIVA, eventually discovering the coordinates of Site 6 in a Seraph Bunker. Although Felwinter doubted the information as he believed correctly that it was bait from Rasputin, they would report their findings to the rest of the Iron Lords.

Upon discovering the location of Site 6, the Iron Lords, having grown to the hundreds (including the Iron Wolves), decide to travel to Site 6 with the hopes of using SIVA to build starships and colonies. Despite Felwinter's attempts to reason with Rasputin, the Warmind would respond by activating defense mechanisms, including SIVA against them. Hundreds of Iron Lords and Wolves are killed, with only eight reaching the replication chamber. Ultimately all eight Iron Lords except Saladin sacrifice themselves to contain SIVA within the Site after it proves uncontrollable to even Rasputin. Only Saladin and Efrideet would survive the devastating wrath of SIVA. Efrideet had not participated in the battle and had left Earth alongside other fellow Lightbearers who embraced pacifism. Rasputin would withdraw his countermeasures and begin to observe the Guardians. However, he would be heartbroken over the fact that he had killed Felwinter and the unfixable damage that he had caused.

The Speaker appoints Osiris as Vanguard Commander despite the Concordat's objections and dire claims following the battle of Six Fronts.

The formation of the Six Coyotes — The Six Coyotes, a legendary fireteam of Hunters, make the first survey beyond the Cosmodrome wall.

The Formation of Cayde-6's crew — Cayde-6, alongside Andal Brask, Shiro-4 and another Hunter, made a crew and take actions out of the City. They ran scout parties to search for survivors and lead them back to the City, mapped lost sites and hunted Fallen.

8.2 Mid-City Age

Great Ahamkara Hunt — The Ahamkara are made extinct by order of the Vanguard to prevent Guardians from self-destruction. The Warlocks preserve some Ahamkara bones and fossils for study, and a few Hunters adorn their armor with scales. Riven and Taranis are the only survivors of this hunt and are separated, but they continue to whisper to each other. Mara Sov wishes for Riven to be trapped within the Keep of Voices to keep her contained.

Warlord Naeem learns from Shaxx of an Ahamkara he had slain known as Hefnd. Seeking the power to start anew, she arrives at the castle where Hefnd was buried and greets the dead Ahamkara, wishing for his kindness. She attempts to convince him to allow her to use his bones to grant wishes to villages, to make up for her past as a ruthless Warlord, however Hefnd would refuse as it would barely feed his hunger. Naeem would then propose that she would face the consequences of the wishes, Hefnd agrees and a bargain is struck. Overtime a friendship forms between the two of them. However the House of Kings attack the castle and kill Naeem, in her final breath she wishes that her vengeance follows them into the grave.

Rezyl Azzir goes to the Moon to "search [for] nightmares", and finds Hive Wizard Xyor, the Blessed. He kills her consort and takes his chitin as a trophy to adorn Rose.

Battle of Burning Lake — The Hive invade Earth and make first contact with the Guardians. Though the Guardians successfully repel the invasion, Shaxx attempts to dissuade the Consensus from ordering a counterattack, arguing that the Hive's power needed to be understood before a proper offensive could be launched. In the years after, he begins developing the lost art of swordsmithing, reverse-engineering the dreaded Hive blades for use by Guardians.

Great Disaster — The Guardians launch an audacious offensive to reclaim the Moon from the Hive. The Ascendant Hive warrior Crota, the son of their God-King Oryx, brutally repels the attack, personally leading the Hive's forces and killing scores of Guardians with his fabled sword. Humbled, the Vanguard orders a full retreat and declares the Moon off-limits, hoping that the Hive will lose interest and refrain from invading Earth.

Within the Ascendant Plane, two Knights — one of Oryx and Xivu Arath — engage in a duel. Proving to be equally matched, the Knights decide to cast themselves into the Sea of Screams to let its current decide their fate. This results in one of Crota's champions failing to receive a significant amount of tribute, which leads to his defeat against a sergeant of Xivu Arath. Due to losing a significant amount of temples and tributaries, Crota decides to sleep in his throne world to recover his tithes. He attaches his soul to an Ascendant crystal, so he can quickly return once his strength has returned, and entrusts his sword with the Swarm Princes.

The Tragedy of the First Crota Fireteam — Seeking to avenge their lost allies and her lover Wei Ning, Eriana-3 leads a fireteam of Guardians consisting of Eris Morn, Vell Tarlowe, Omar Agah, Sai Mota, and Toland to the Moon to hunt down Crota. They camp out at the Anchor of Light, and enter the Temple of Crota after hearing the screams of Omnigul, Will of Crota. They are confronted by Alak-Hul, Verok, and their spawn. Underestimating his foes, Vell Tarlowe becomes overwhelmed by the spawn and is slain by Alak-Hul. The fireteam is separated, with Eriana-3 and Sai in one group, and Eris, Toland, and Omar in the other. Toland seeks out Ir Yût, Deathsinger, the song kills him and casts his soul to the Ascendant Plane. Omar is captured by the Heart of Crota, who uses his Light to feed unborn Hive, resulting in his soul being transferred into an insect-like creature. Sai is killed by Omnigul, and Eriana-3 arrives at the entrance of Crota's Throne World and meets her demise to Ir Yût. Only Eris would evade the Hive's wrath, losing her Ghost Brya and her eyes, surviving in the Hive's tunnels for years before escaping and later becoming one of Ikora Rey's Hidden.

The Tragedy of Kabr's fireteam — A fireteam consisting of Praedyth, Pahanin, Kabr lands on Venus and breaches the Vault of Glass, hoping to destroy Atheon, along with whatever secrets the Vex have hidden there, and return to the City in glory. The assault is a disaster, as Kabr's team encounters The Templar, whose impregnable shields and powerful weapons force the team deeper into the Vault of Glass. Only Pahanin escapes the Vault. One member, Praedyth, is trapped by the Vex and lost in time. Kabr himself is not killed, but instead goes mad, becoming obsessed with the Vex, fashioning armor and weapons from their corpses. In the end, Kabr does not die but is assimilated by the Vex. In his last act, Kabr creates the Aegis, a weapon capable of piercing the Templar's shields so that future fireteams will not meet his fate.

The disappearance of Kauko Swiftriver — Kauko Swiftriver, The Hunter Vanguard, disappeared without a trace. His disappearance left the Hunters without a Hunter Vanguard for the next two years.

The First contact of Cayde's crew with Taniks — Two years after the disappearance of Kauko Swiftriver, Cayde-6's crew are targeted by Taniks and in the first encounter the mercenary fallen killed Nian Ruo and left Lush without a Ghost.

The Dare between Andal Brask and Cayde-6 — Andal Brask and Cayde-6 make a dare: whoever failed to kill Taniks would have to become the new Hunter Vanguard.

The Hunt for Taniks — Andal Brask and Cayde-6 took the hunt for Taniks. At the same time, Osiris and the Speaker sent Saint-14 to kill Taniks, but Cayde-6 killed him first.

Andal Brask, new Hunter Vanguard — Andal Brask lost the Dare and became the Hunter Vanguard.

The Exile of Osiris — Osiris begins to tire of repetitive strike missions and seemingly unproductive sessions with the Cryptarch before he is eventually noticed by the Speaker, who makes him his apprentice. Osiris' desire for truth, however, about the purpose of Guardians and the nature of Darkness causes division. His subsequent misuse of resources and the diversion of Guardians from their duties would result in the Speaker sending him to exile shortly after the Battle of Twilight Gap, as the Speaker believed he had become as obsessed with the Vex as Toland had with the Hive. After a bitter argument with the Speaker, Osiris is exiled from the Tower, and Ikora Rey replaces him as the Warlock Vanguard.

The Battle of the Twilight Gap — The Fallen leads the combined might of the united Houses of Devils, Kings, and Winter in an assault against the City. The battle is joined at Twilight Gap, just outside the City's walls. Vanguard Commander Lord Saladin Forge coordinates the City's defenses with his students Commander Zavala and Lord Shaxx. Though many Guardians fall in the ensuing battle, the united Fallen Houses are driven off with heavy casualties. In the aftermath of the Guardians' hard-won victory, the outermost sections of the City are evacuated and converted into fortifications, and the Vanguard decides to take a more proactive stance in fighting the forces of the Darkness by deploying strike teams against high-value enemy targets.

The Crusade of Saint-14 — After Twilight Gap, the legendary Titan and Exo Saint-14 rallies an army of Guardians to attack the Fallen surrounding the Last City. His campaign is successful and Fallen attacks on the City temporarily abate. During the campaign, he fights and kills Solkis, Kell of Devils. Shortly thereafter, he goes in search of Osiris at the behest of the Speaker, heading for Mercury. Saint-14 enters the Infinite Forest and comes into conflict with the Descendants, who create Agioktis, Martyr Mind to drain Saint-14's Light. The Great Titan eventually meets his end. Zavala becomes the Vanguard Commander and Titan Vanguard after Saint-14's disappearance.

The Reef Wars — As Twilight Gap rages on Earth, the Awoken of the Reef, allied with the Nine, subdue the powerful House of Wolves. Battles include the Hildian Campaign and the Raze of Amethyst. After their Kell Virixas is killed, a brutal civil war among the Wolves ensues which sees Skolas emerge as the new Kell. Following Skolas's capture at the Cybele Uprising, the Wolves surrender and swear fealty to Queen Mara Sov rather than be totally destroyed. The Queen seals their nobility in the Prison of Elders and allows the rest to serve as her personal guards and servants.

The Exile of Petra Venj — Petra Venj is exiled to the Last City to serve as the Queen's Emissary as penance for murdering 9 Guardians and their Ghosts because of a miscommunication between the Awoken and the Vanguard. Sometime during this exile, she writes a letter asking to come home.

Following the Reef Wars, the Cabal commander Valus Trau'ug attempts to authorize an invasion of the Reef. When he is denied by his superiors, Trau'ug massacres his own officers in an act of mutiny and leads his most loyal soldiers against the Queen. Trau'ug fails utterly as both he and his Broken Legion are interned in the Prison of Elders by unknown means.

In the aftermath of the Reef Wars and the Twilight Gap, numerous rogues and outcasts of the Fallen houses band together to form the House of Exile on the Moon and start to plunder the Hive fortress there.

The Uprising of the Concordat — The Concordat attempts a coup against the Consensus, fighting a battle against the New Monarchy at Bannerfall. In the wake of their defeat, the faction and their founder are expelled from the City. The Vanguard and the Speaker then approve the ascension of Future War Cult to replace the Concordat.

Approximately 126 years before the SIVA Crisis — The Faction Accords — The negotiations known as the Faction Accords occurred. Andal Brask was involved in the process. Ikora Rey achieved the first recorded 25-match win streak in the Crucible. The Centaur planetoid Nessus re-enters the Solar System after an unexplained delay.

8.3 Late City Age

The Death of Andal Brask — Andal Brask, the Hunter Vanguard, falls in battle with the vicious Fallen mercenary Taniks. Cayde-6 reluctantly assumes Brask's post in memory of his deceased friend.

The investigation of the Dust Palace — Holborn's Host investigates the Dust Palace on Mars, seeking a Warmind. While preparing for their assault on the Dust Palace, Holborn discovers a lost Ghost and attempts to communicate with it before inviting it to join them on their mission. The "sick" Ghost then wanders off, and Holborn continues on his quest.

The Fall of Rezyl Azzir — Rezyl Azzir becomes Dredgen Yor, corrupted by the Hive trophies he has collected, and begins his campaign of destruction.

The Campaign of Dredgen Yor — Dredgen Yor murders fellow Guardians and civilians alike. His victims include the Crucible champion Thalor and the Hunters Pahanin and Jaren Ward.

The Death of Dredgen Yor — Yor is finally killed by Jaren Ward's adopted son, Shin Malphur and his handgun The Last Word after a fateful duel. All information relating to Rezyl becoming Dredgen Yor is redacted by the Vanguard for fear of demoralization. Only Shin and the Vanguard knew the truth.

The formation of the Shadows of Yor — Shin Malphur, realizing that Guardians will still be swayed by Yor's legacy, partners with Teben Grey and forms the Shadows of Yor. He takes on the name "Zyre Orsa", also known as "Dredgen Vale" and he used the Shadows of Yor to determine which Guardians were beginning to be swayed away from the Light. With the Vanguard's assistance, the Shadows of Yor become an established threat and begins to attract Yor cultists. Malphur begins hunting down those who join the Shadows, culling the weak and corruptible Guardians who would be easily swayed by the Darkness's powers.

Fireteam Tuyet traverses the Ishtar Sink in search of Vex secrets. Unfortunately, the Vex find them first and Tuyet is lost in a last stand on the Shattered Coast. The intel they recover though is later used to forge Pocket Infinity.

An unknown Hunter recons the Ishtar ruins searching for the Fallen House of Winter's Kellship. She is ambushed by Fallen troops before finally locating their Ketch. Rather than assaulting it herself, the Hunter instructs her Ghost to alert the Vanguard that Draksis, Winter Kell is at the Cinders.

Creation of the Black Heart — Cloud Strider Rohan enters the Black Garden, a mysterious realm outside of space and time occupied by the Sol Divisive, a Vex collective that serves the Witness. He witnesses the Conceptual Mind create the Black Heart using a "seed" planted by the Witness. He concludes that the Heart was the Sol Divisive's failed attempt to create a replica of the Veil. The Neomuni council refuse to take action.

The Black Heart, despite being flawed, and failing to create the link the Witness desired, still shared a connection with the Traveler. This connection would create a cosmic static within the flow of Light and Darkness, weakening the Traveler. The Sol Divisive would prepare the Sol Progeny in their attempt to extend the Black Heart's powers into the Vault of Glass. Uldren experiences the Heart's corruption after entering the Black Garden from a Vex gate at the Valley of the Kings.

9. The Young Wolf's Ascension

Based on the Rise of Iron's background and introduction, the in-game events can be extrapolated to three years, with Rise of Iron taking place a year after The Taken King.

9.1 Destiny

Centuries after the Collapse — 9 September — A Guardian Rises — A Ghost finds and revives its Guardian in the Cosmodrome just as the "Darkness" threatens to return to the Sol System and finish what it started during the Collapse. While seeking a ship capable of taking them to the Last City, the Guardian is forced to fend off hordes of the Fallen of House Devils, before finally locating an Arcadia Class Jumpship in Dock 13. Ghost repowers the ancient craft, and the Guardian takes off for the Tower as the Exo Stranger looks on.

Restoration — The Guardian returns to the Cosmodrome in search of a warp drive to restore their ship's ability for interplanetary travel. Accessing an old information hub, Ghost leads the Guardian back to where they found their ship in order to reclaim a Warp Drive from Riksis, Devil Archon. The Guardian succeeds in defeating him and returns to the Tower to meet with the Speaker. Back at the Tower, the Speaker confides in them that the Darkness is returning and tasks the Guardian with joining the others in pushing back the Darkness until the Traveler can be restored.

The Dark Within — The Speaker asks Guardians to look into the renewed Fallen activity near the old Skywatch. The Guardian infiltrates the Lunar Complex and discovers the Hive have returned to Earth, before confronting and killing the Hive Wizard Gotra.

The Warmind — The Vanguard reports that the Fallen are tearing into machines all over the Cosmodrome. Convinced they are not just looting the place, the Guardian investigates and discovers the Warmind Rasputin is still alive and keeping the Fallen from accessing the Array.

The Last Array — The Guardian tracks down codes to raise an ancient array to connect with the other long-lost Golden Age colonies. After fighting off the Hive, the Guardian reactivates the Array and Rasputin swiftly takes control, connecting with defense constructs all across the system.

On Mars, an Exo Guardian sent by Cayde-6 hunts Valus Ta'aurc by the sound of his radio traffic. Observing a clash between a Vex battalion and Cabal fortifications, a "LIDAR" sweep is sensed by the Exo; moments later, a railgun or ram accelerator in orbit fires, sending thousands of metal "flechettes" to cause havoc among the Cabal and Vex. Other places elsewhere on Mars are presumably destroyed by Rasputin's weapons.

The Dark Beyond — The Guardian picks up the trail of another Guardian who went dark searching for a way into the Hellmouth. After hacking the colony base, the Guardian travels to the Temple of Crota where they fight off members of the House of Exile and the Hive, before killing Vurok, Eir Spawn. The Guardian recovers the dead Ghost and learns that the Hive are raising an army to invade Earth.

The Devils' Lair — Zavala orders a fireteam of Guardians to assault the Devil's Lair and kill their Prime Servitor Sepiks Prime.

The World's Grave — In an attempt to uncover what the Hive are planning, the Guardian infiltrates The World's Grave and kills Kranox, the Graven. The Guardian's Ghost then steals as much data as possible before the two return to warn the City.

The Sword of Crota — Infiltrating the Hellmouth once more, the Guardian claims the Sword of Crota and defeats the Swarm Princes. With its makers slain, the Sword shatters.

Shrine of Oryx — Following a lead from the vanished Warlock Osiris, the Guardian searches the darkest corners of the Hellmouth for the fabled Shrine of Oryx. After killing Frigoris, Exiled Baron and his Fallen crew, the Guardian defeats Sardok, Eye of Oryx and destroys the Shrine.

Chamber of Night — The Speaker broadcasts an urgent transmission to all Guardians claiming that a Hive ritual is draining the Traveler's Light. The Guardian returns to the Hive temple and after receiving a message from the Exo Stranger, inviting them to come find her if they are successful, kills the Siphon Witches, effectively preventing them from stealing any more of the Traveler's Light.

The Summoning Pits — A Guardian fireteam descends into the depths of the Hellmouth and kills Phogoth, the Untamed before the Hive can unleash it on the City.

A Stranger's Call — Following the Stranger's coordinates, the Guardian travels to Venus where they are ambushed by the Vex. After defeating the Vex forces in the vicinity, the Guardian meets with the Exo Stranger, who tells them that they must find the Black Garden and rip out its heart to allow the Traveler to heal. Before the Guardian can ask any more questions, the Exo Stranger is contacted by someone unknown before teleporting away.

The Awoken — Arriving at the Reef, the Guardian seeks an audience with the Queen and is informed that they must obtain the eye of a Vex Gate Lord to enter the Black Garden. The Queen then charges the Guardian that they owe her in exchange for her information, and the Guardian acknowledges.

Ishtar Collective — The Guardian travels to an old research station of the Ishtar Collective, and analyzes a Vex mind core, giving them vital intel on the nature of the Vex as well as the means with which to summon a Gate Lord.

The Archive — While at the Ishtar Academy, the Guardian kills Grayliks, Winter Baron and secures an ancient Golden Age Archive for the Cryptarchs.

The Nexus — A fireteam of Guardians descends far below the Ishtar Academy and slays Sekrion, Nexus Mind, dealing a devastating blow to Vex efforts and delaying Venus' transformation into their network.

Scourge of Winter — Raiding the House of Winter's hideout, the Guardian assaults the Ketch of their leader and kills Draksis, Winter Kell.

Winter's Run — A Guardian fireteam is sent to stop the Fallen House of Winter from restoring the soul of Aksor, Archon Priest.

Eye of a Gate Lord — The Guardian reaches the Endless Steps, summoning and slaying Zydron, Gate Lord. Returning to the Reef, the Guardian brings the Gate Lord's head before the Queen who gifts its eye to them in sympathy for their Traveler. She then gives them the coordinates to the Black Garden including a way to repower the Gate Lord's eye.

Exclusion Zone — The Guardian infiltrates a Cabal survey post and secures their research into the Vex Spire.

The Buried City — The Guardian clears out the Cabal occupying the ruins of Freehold and explores what remains.

The Garden's Spire — Battling their way through a Cabal hardpoint, the Guardian reaches the Garden's Spire and kills Primus Sha'aul.

A Rising Tide — While en route to the Garden, the Guardian shuts down a series of Vex gates beneath the subway tunnels of Freehold, and discovers that the Vex are being summoned to protect the Black Garden.

Cerberus Vae III — Commander Zavala tasks Guardians with taking out Cabal High Command and sends a fireteam to lead an assault on the Cabal Imperial Land Tank and take out their leader Valus Ta'aurc, breaking the Cabal's grip on the lost city of Freehold.

Dust Palace — The Cabal also unleash the Psion Flayers to locate one of Rasputin's usurped AI cores buried in the Dust Palace to attempt to break his control over Mars' defenses. In response, a Guardian fireteam is deployed to secure it. The Flayers are defeated and Rasputin locks down the machine.

The Black Garden — Successfully recharging Zydron's Eye, the Guardian is transported to the Black Garden. Within the Black Garden, the Guardian confronts the Sol Progeny and defeats them, destroying the Black Heart in the process. Back on Mars, the Guardian is summoned to the Tower, where the Speaker gives a victory speech. Meanwhile, the Exo Stranger converses with the Guardian inside the Hangar and gifts them with her Rifle before leaving abruptly again. The Guardian then repowers their ship and takes off into orbit as they prepare for their next mission.

16 September — Vault of Glass — Using data from a reclaimed Ishtar archive, a Raid fireteam of Guardians follow in Kabr's footsteps and pierce the Vault of Glass. They slay the mighty Templar and its Oracles, avoid the Gorgons, and confront Atheon, Time's Conflux in the Glass Throne. Using the Aegis they defeat the Vex overseer and break the Vex's control over the Vault.

23 September — The Reef begins offering bounties for high-profile Fallen targets.

9.2 The Dark Below

Eris Morn returns to the Tower, warning of an impending Hive invasion led by a soon-to-be-resurrected Crota. She tasks the Guardian with killing Crota's disciples.

9 December — Fist of Crota — Under Eris' direction, the Guardian searches the Cosmodrome for Sardon, Fist of Crota and slays the Hive general within the waterlogged caves of the Grottos.

Siege of the Warmind — As the Hive lay siege to one of Rasputin's war bunkers, the Guardian repels them, successfully securing the old Warmind within its vault once more.

The Wakening — The Guardian halts a Hive ritual on the Moon intended to resurrect Crota.

Before launching an attack against Omnigul, the Guardian hunts and defeats the Eyes, Heart, and Hand of Crota in Old Russia.

Will of Crota — A team of Guardians track down and kill Crota's last general, Omnigul, temporarily halting the Hive invasion of Earth.

The Undying Mind — The Undying Mind attempts to summon back the Black Heart but is destroyed by a team of Guardians despite its efforts to seal the Black Garden outside of time again.

21 January — Crota's End — A team of six Guardians infiltrates the Hellmouth and enters Crota's realm, the Oversoul Throne. They kill Ir Yût, the Deathsinger, and confront and bring an end to the Son of Oryx.

9.3 The House of Wolves

The Wolf Rebellion — Mara Sov gives Skolas to the Nine as a gift, in an attempt to appease them over sending the Crows into their territory to search for Kaliks Prime. However, Skolas is freed, possibly with the aid of the Nine; Skolas unites the House of Wolves back under his leadership and declares himself the Kell of Kells, seeking to become the ruler of all Fallen Houses. The House of Wolves rebel against the Reef. Mara Sov opens the Reef for the Guardians to assist her in hunting the wolf traitors.

19 May — A Kell Rising — The Guardian arrives on Venus to stop Skolas from taking control of the House of Winter. However, they fail, as the House of Winter pledge their allegiance to the Kell of Kells.

The renegade Wolf, Skoriks, Archon-Slayer, is hunted and eliminated by Guardians after killing one of his own Archons.

The Shadow Thief — Taniks, the Scarred is killed by a fireteam of Guardians.

The Silent Fang — Skolas' Silent Fang is stopped from usurping power from the House of Devils.

The Ruling House — The Guardian, meanwhile, stops the House of Wolves from seizing control of the House of Kings.

Wolves' Gambit — Skolas' Wolves begin attacking Vex strongholds across the Ishtar Sink and break into the Vault of Glass attempting to augment their army with its mysterious technology, before being foiled by the Guardian.

Queen's Ransom — The Guardian then tracks Skolas to the Vex Citadel where he has begun pulling the entire House of Wolves through time in a last effort to unite the Fallen. After a final battle atop the Citadel, Skolas is captured and sent to face the Queen.

Prison of Elders — By order of the Queen, a fireteam of Guardians is sent to clear the Prison of Elders of her "trophies", including Kaliks Reborn, Urrox, Flame Prince, Qodron, Gate Lord and Valus Trau'ug.

Skolas' Revenge — Skolas is killed in the Prison of Elders at the hands of a fireteam by order of the Queen.

9.4 The Taken King

Petra Venj detects the Hive Dreadnaught orbiting the rings of Saturn and orders all Reef assets to mobilize, following a conversation between Queen Mara Sov, Eris Morn, and presumably Osiris on Oryx's imminent arrival. Mara Sov creates her own Throne World using Riven's wish magic.

Battle of Saturn — The Taken War begins with the Battle of Saturn, as the Awoken space fleet engages the Dreadnaught and a small fleet of Hive Warships escorted by thousands of Tombships; Uldren Sov leads his fighter wings to scatter the Hive fleet whilst from behind the Queen and her Techeun Coven summon the Harbingers, as part of a predetermined plan. The Harbingers destroy much of Oryx's fleet, ripping through enemy vessels with ease, but leave no marks upon the Dreadnaught itself. Oryx ends the battle by firing his ship's main cannon, destroying both his and the Queen's fleets in a single Pyrrhic stroke and forcing him to forestall his advance. The Queen and major parts of Reef leadership, including Paladins and Techeuns are considered missing in action.

The Techeuns, Shuro Chi, Sedia, and Kalli are Taken due to the essence from the Dreadnaught. The Taken invade the Dreaming City. Oryx encounters the Ahamkara Riven and bargains with her, wishing to Take her away. Riven is Taken and her identity appears to merge with Oryx's will.

Scattering of the Clutch — Taranis sneaks into the Dreaming City and discovers that Riven and many of their eggs have been Taken. Returning to his lair in the Black Garden, Taranis chooses to nobly sacrifice himself, making his own wish to scatter his and Riven's uncorrupted clutch until someone could protect them, resulting in his death.

Uldren Sov survives the Battle of Saturn and is corrupted, likely a result of his battle with Oryx. He believed Mara had survived the battle as he could still sense her and begins to fall to madness.

Primus Ta'aun suspends all Cabal mining operations and recon on Phobos pending investigation of a trans-Jovian threat, while mysterious anomalies are reported across the Skyburners' Keep.

15 September — The Coming War — The Vanguard intercepts a distress signal on all channels, broadcasting from the Skyburners fortress of Fleetbase Korus on Phobos. The Guardian is dispatched to investigate, but upon their arrival, they find the Skyburners have been slaughtered. Oryx reveals himself to the Guardian, willing into existence the first wave of his army of corrupted Cabal and Hive called the Taken, led by Syrok, Word of Oryx. The Vanguard scrubs the mission and orders the Guardian to return. Fighting through hordes of Taken, the Guardian finally reaches the transmat zone where their ship is waiting and escapes.

The Vanguard discusses the arrival of Oryx's Dreadnaught over a hologram Ghost collected, analysing its weapon to find a way to slip past while reflecting upon Mara Sov's sacrifice. Eris Morn interrupts them, proclaiming that her "stone" has spoken for the first time since Crota's defeat and has told her Oryx was coming to finish what his son started. Cayde-6 leaves the discussion to "see about a ship".

Realizing the Taken to be too deadly a threat to take lightly, the Vanguard send Guardians to rediscover the lost powers of their forebears and unlock their third subclass. Hunters learn to harness the Void and become Nightstalkers, Warlocks travel to Mars and meditate upon the Arc to become Stormcallers, and Titans explore Mercury in search of the mercenary Sunbreakers only to find they were obliterated by the Vex, before reigniting the forge with the help of the Sunbreakers' Third Empyreal Magistrate Ouros.

Cayde's Stash — Cayde-6 directs the Guardian to one of the dead colony ships in Old Russia, where he had previously hidden a modified stealth drive capable of getting the Guardian past the superweapon and into the Dreadnaught to face Oryx. Upon touching down in The Blast, just outside of the Fallen House of Devils' lair, the Guardian discovers that the Taken have already reached Earth and have begun overwhelming the Fallen. After defeating an Echo of Oryx, and retrieving the stealth drive, the Guardian returns to the Tower.

In the Hangar, Cayde convinces Amanda Holliday to install the stealth drive on Eris' ship and arrange a "test flight" for the Guardian to infiltrate the Dreadnaught in order to establish a beachhead after disabling its super weapon.

The Dreadnaught — With the stealth drive equipped, the Guardian travels to Saturn and reaches the Dreadnaught. Just as the drive malfunctions, causing the Dreadnaught to destroy Eris' ship, the Guardian is transmatted onto the Dreadnaught by their Ghost. They then proceed to disable the superweapon and establish a transmat zone for reinforcements before returning to the Tower. During which, they discovered the Skyburners had rammed their ship, the Dantalion Exodus VI, into the Dreadnaught to establish a beachhead. Cayde leaves to speak with Eris about the loss of her ship.

Enemy of My Enemy — The Guardian breaks into the crashed Dantalion Exodus VI and steals information that the Cabal have secured on Oryx. The Guardian fights their way to a portal called the Rupture, and after defeating an Echo of Oryx discovers they must become Ascendant to enter. During which, Primus Ta'aun would be Taken.

Lost to Light — The Guardian travels back to the Moon where they obtain a shard of the Hive crystal used to hold Crota's soul and defeat its Gravekeeper, but are discovered by Oryx, who sends his Taken after them. While escaping the Guardian stumbles upon an open entrance to Wolfship Kaliks-Syn and rids the ship of Taken.

Promethean Code — The Guardian then goes to collect more stealth technology from Rasputin to infiltrate Crota's funeral. Along the way, the Guardian eliminates a Taken Centurion and collects a mysterious item.

Last Rites — The Guardian enters Crota's netherworld, sneaks their way to his tomb and acquires enough of his essence to become Ascendant. Crota's sisters lead a procession of Deathsingers in the dirge, along with a full contingent of guards, but the Guardian is successful in their mission. They are discovered by Oryx, however, and he sends his Taken — Ta'aun and Baxx among them — to kill the Guardian. Eris intervenes and transports the Guardian to safety.

Regicide — Armed with Crota's soul, the Guardian returns to the Dreadnaught and, using the Essence, can pass through the Rupture and confront the Taken King before subsequently destroying his physical form and forcing his soul to retreat to his Throne World. Afterwards, Eris takes apart Willbreaker and retrieves a shard.

Dread Patrol — In the wake of the Dreadnaught campaign, Commander Zavala tasks Cayde-6 with establishing patrol beacons across the Dreadnaught.

Shield Brothers — Guardians prevent a Cabal assault team led by Valus Tlu'urn and Valus Mau'ual from blowing up the Dreadnaught's core, saving the entire system from certain doom.

Outbound Signal — Dead Orbit detects a transmission coming from the Skyburners' ship, and Zavala sends Guardians to put an end to it. During the op, Vro'ourn, Fist of Oryx is killed. They learn the transmission was a distress signal to the head of the Cabal Empire and believe it reached its intended target.

The Taken War: Earth — The Guardian clears out a coven of Taken Wizards rooted in the Cosmodrome. After killing a number of Taken Champions, the Guardian destroys an Echo of Oryx in the King's Watch, breaking their hold on Earth.

Fallen S.A.B.E.R. — Guardians answer Rasputin's call for aid in fending off a Fallen attack led by S.A.B.E.R.-2, a giant super-powered Shank, as the Devils attempt to gain control of the Warsat network.

Paradox — On Venus, Guardians return to the emptied Vault of Glass hoping to rescue Praedyth from his timeless prison, but discover that a Vex Hydra tasked by Oryx to co-opt the Nexus' power is blighting and corrupting the Vex network. Morphon, Blighted Mind is destroyed by Guardians and Praedyth is freed from their control, with his centuries-old remains being found in a small room within the deepest parts of the Vault.

Entropy's Pinnacle — Ikora Rey tasks the Guardian to travel to the Vex Citadel on Venus and destroy the source of the Taken Blight. At the top of the Citadel, the Guardian faces and kills an Echo of Oryx, allowing the Vanguard to control the situation on Venus.

Tenebrous Tunnels — Commander Zavala tasks the Guardian to assault the tunnel system beneath the old city of Freehold on Mars. The Guardian travels to Tharsis Junction and discovers an entrance to the Black Garden and a Taken infestation. Fearing the possibility that the Taken could reform the Black Heart, the Guardian fights against the Taken forces and discovers the presence of an Echo of Oryx — however, the Echo escapes.

Fear's Embrace — After discovering that the Echo of Oryx of Mars is located on Phobos, Zavala tasks the Guardian to eliminate him. The Guardian fights against the Taken and defeats the Echo, securing a decisive victory.

Summoner's Circle — The Guardian travels to the Dreadnaught to stop the creation of a powerful Taken Warbeast and slays The Infantine.

18 September — King's Fall — A fireteam led by the Guardian infiltrates Oryx's Ascendant Realm and kills his Warpriest, the Ogre Golgoroth, and his daughters the Deathsinger twins, before finally facing the Taken King himself. After a titanic battle, the Taken King is finally defeated once and for all. Eris tasks one of the Guardians with collecting certain items from the Hive gods and rewards them with a Hive weapon.

The Sunless Cell — Alak-Hul, the Darkblade is found aboard Oryx's Dreadnaught and is slain in his Sunless Cell by a Guardian fireteam tasked by Eris Morn to eliminate a contender for the Osmium Throne.

Echo Chamber — The Guardians stop Theosyion, the Restorative Mind from bringing back Sekrion, Nexus Mind from the past and completing its transformation of Venus.

Winter's Run — Guardians destroy a Taken infestation blighting the House of Winter's Lair while searching for a missing Archon prisoner and kill Nixis, Hunger of Oryx.

The Wolves of Mars — Variks asks the Guardian to investigate increased Fallen activity on Mars. After taking out Keldar, Archon Priest, they learn the House of Wolves are attempting to establish a new den on Mars in the former keep of the Blind Legion, resulting in conflict with local Cabal forces. Fighting their way into the base, the Guardian finds the Wolves had rebuilt one of their Prime Servitors, Orbiks Prime, to lead them. They successfully destroy it, scattering the House of Wolves once more.

At The Gates — A Taken Warbeast, Malok, Pride of Oryx, attempts to rally the remaining Taken from the Hellmouth and flees after being engaged by the Guardian. The Guardian retrieves Echos by killing Taken and discovers Malok's location. Eris instructs them to kill Malok rather than imprison him, believing him to be too great a threat to contain. A strike team eliminates him in a last stand at the Shrine of Oryx.

Tyrants of the Reef — Following the end of the Taken War, a group of Dregs cast out from the House of Exile, led by Fikrul, the Fanatic, form the "Scorned Barons". They terrorize the Awoken and the Fallen Houses of the Reef, ultimately playing a role in the demise of the House of Wolves through the destruction of their Servitors.

9.5 Rise of Iron

The Transmission Incident — Field reports are made from Guardians whose armor have become infested with "tech mites", which manifest as swarms of colorful specks that swirl around their heads. Unable to contain the mites' spread, the Owl Sector and Vanguard implement a quarantine on the Last City. Bypass Authority Berriole traces the mites to a Clovis Bray project overseen by Dr. Zarin Shirazi under Dr. Willa Bray — a Golden Age nanomachine therapy. Fallen tracks (likely Splicers) are found at the lab. A third of Guardians become affected before the countermeasure from Shirazi's records is replicated by the Owl Sector, the Hidden, and the Techeuns. Shun Li, exposed to a sample, is revived after the cure is administered.

The SIVA Crisis begins when the Fallen House of Devils begins digging into old Golden Age research labs, returning to the Cosmodrome and shifting resources to a previously dark region of Old Russia. Lord Saladin personally leads the counterattack.

20 September — King of the Mountain — A Fallen force captures Felwinter Peak. The Guardian secures the observatory and defeats Sepiks Perfected in the courtyard, but Sepiks escapes.

The Walls Come Down — Lord Saladin sends the Guardian to pursue Sepiks Perfected into a transformed Cosmodrome. The Hive are being driven into the open somehow. The Guardian retrieves vital sensor logs.

The Plaguelands — Pushing further into the Cosmodrome, the Guardian discovers the Fallen have taken control of Golden Age gun positions near Bunker Triglav. They destroy two SIVA-enhanced shield generators before disabling the enemy guns. Saladin then meets with the Guardian and tells the story of the Iron Lords' attempt to co-opt SIVA against all of Rasputin's attempts to stop them, ultimately sealing themselves within the Bunker rather than let SIVA escape.

Download Complete — The Guardian travels to an old Clovis Bray research lab and locates an archive revealing information on several types of nanotech.

The Iron Tomb — Following analysis by Shiro-4, the Guardian descends into the SIVA replication complex. After reversing the power cells in the SIVA reactor and infiltrating The Archon's Keep, the Guardian confronts the Remnants of Jolder and Felwinter, destroying the SIVA Replicator. Saladin gifts the Guardian a Sword, pronouncing them the next generation of Iron Lord.

The Abomination Heist — A Guardian fireteam descends into the Hellmouth to stop the Devil Splicers from stealing unborn Hive Ogres for their rituals, killing the Hive Abomination the Devils nearly took.

Bad Blood — The Guardian investigates why the Hive are at war with the Splicers, eventually discovering the Splicers are experimenting with the Hive.

The Wretched Eye — Kovik, Splicer Priest invades a Hive nest within Bunker Triglav. A team of Guardians destroys SIVA Nodes and slays Kovik along with a Hive Ogre infused with SIVA.

Sepiks Perfected — A fireteam tracks down Sepiks Perfected and kills both it and Dresiks, Splicer Baron. A trio of augmented Captains is methodically eliminated.

23 September — Wrath of the Machine — Guardians infiltrate Foundry 113 and defeat the Splicers' surviving duumvirate of Aksis and Vosik inside their Perfection Complex. The Devil Splicers are neutralized.

The Will of Crota: Revisited — Omnigul returns and is eliminated once and for all.

The Shadow Thief: Revisited — The Splicers resurrect Taniks the Scarred using SIVA, augmenting him into Taniks Perfected. A team of Guardians eliminates him.

The Nexus: Revisited — The Vex augment Sekrion with ontological power but are unable to keep the Taken from corrupting the Mind, transforming it into Sekrion, Subverted Mind. The team destroys it and the Taken.

Age of Triumph — Believing that the Darkness has been pushed back, the Last City celebrates the Age of Triumph.

Emperor Calus learns of Ghaul's plans and sends his Shadows to assassinate Dominus Ghaul. The plan fails, and the Shadows are killed one by one. Ghaul continues into the Sol system.

The Departure of Eris Morn — Eris Morn departs from the City, searching for knowledge to fight the Hive. Before leaving, she visited Asher Mir in a hospital one last time.

10. The Red War

10.1 Destiny 2

Formation of the House of Dusk — Uldren Sov allows himself to be captured by the House of Kings so he can raise an army. The Mad Prince is brought to Craask, Kell of Kings, who submits to him. Uldren unites the remnants of the Houses of Devils, Wolves, Winter, and Exile to form the House of Dusk.

Heir to the Taken Throne — Savathûn gains control of the Taken by using Quria to create a simulation of Oryx.

Fellow Schemers — Savathûn infiltrates the Dreaming City and reveals herself to Riven, who has retained some free will after Oryx's death. Riven asks Savathûn to "take up those strings," gaining a new purpose. The Taken Ahamkara begins to worm her way into Uldren Sov's mind, impersonating his sister, and quickening the corruption within him.

28 August — The fall of the Last City — Two years after the Taken War, the Cabal Empire dispatches the Red Legion, led by Ghaul, to launch a major invasion of Earth. The Red Legion attempts to steal the Traveler's Light, severing its connection from the Guardians with a cage. Hundreds of Guardians perish; The Speaker goes missing.

The Salvation of the Fire Victorious — Callisto Yin, a Titan of the Firebreak Order, saves the most sacred relic of her Order from the hands of the Red Legion.

The extinction of the Stoneborn Order — The Titan order known as the Stoneborn Order resists the Red Legion on the walls of the City even without their Light. They fall slaughtered by the Cabal and become extinct.

The extinction of the Sunbreakers — The Titan order known as The Sunbreakers are slaughtered by the Red Legion on Mercury after they lose their Light. The order is in actuality extinct.

2 days after the Last City's fall — The Guardian awakens, having survived the fall from The Immortal. Badly wounded, the Guardian makes their way through the now-abandoned Last City and finds their Ghost. They learn that the Red Legion are hunting and executing Lightless Guardians.

4 days later — Following a hawk, the Guardian finds a campsite littered with the corpses of killed Guardians and scavenges a submachine gun.

1 week later — At Twilight Gap, the Guardian is awoken by Suraya Hawthorne, who has helped many civilian refugees find and repair old jumpships. The group departs for the Farm in the European Dead Zone.

Spark — Heeding a vision, the Guardian ventures into a corrupted area surrounding a massive Shard of the Traveler. Defeating starving Fallen scavengers, the Guardian's Ghost reconnects to the Light through a fragment of the Shard. Empowered, the Guardian defeats the band and their leader, Skriviks, the Sharp-Eyed.

Calling Them Home — To strengthen the communication network established by Devrim Kay and Hawthorne in the EDZ, the Guardian places signal amplification nodes across the region.

Combustion — The Guardian learns that Commander Zavala has relocated to Titan with another group of survivors and is planning a counterattack.

A Frame Job — Hawthorne and Devrim Kay help the Guardian instigate conflict between the Red Legion and the Fallen.

Hope — At the New Pacific Arcology, Zavala and Deputy Commander Sloane inform the Guardian that their plans have been thrown into disarray by a Hive infestation. The Guardian helps secure the command center.

Riptide — The Guardian restores power, encountering and killing members of Savathûn's Brood and the House of Dusk.

Thief of Thieves — The Guardian recaptures supplies stolen from Sloane by Fallen.

Bad Neighbors — A conflict between the Hive and Fallen erupts on Titan. The Guardian intercepts a Fallen bomb and uses it to destroy a Hive "Resonator" device.

Deathless — A Hive Knight, Takul-Dar, the Unbreakable, is repeatedly reincarnated. The Guardian defeats the Wizards responsible for the ritual and kills Takul-Dar permanently.

Siren Song — The Hive produce gravitational waves to destabilize the Arcology. The Guardian interrupts the summoning ritual.

Utopia — Commander Zavala and Sloane intercept an encrypted Red Legion signal, revealing that the Red Legion has brought in the Almighty, a superweapon designed to shatter suns. Zavala tasks the Guardian with locating Cayde-6 and Ikora Rey.

Looped — The Guardian travels to Nessus following a signal believed to be from Cayde-6. They encounter Golden Age AI Failsafe, the sole survivor of the Exodus Black expedition.

Six — After tracking Cayde, the Guardian frees him from the Vex teleporter network. Cayde reveals he wanted to board Ghaul's ship to assassinate him. Cayde directs the Guardian to Io to find Ikora Rey.

Exodus Siege — Zavala detects a Fallen scout near the Exodus Black. The Guardian repels an attack and destroys the Fallen's servitors.

Hack the Planet — Ghost has a plan to hack Nessus' core (which contains Vex data) and needs Failsafe's help.

Deep Conversation — Failsafe comes up with a fake Vex ID for a friendly Ghost; the Vex want to "kill" the Guardian because they think the Ghost is being held hostage.

Lost Crew — Failsafe tasks the Guardian with discovering what happened to two former crew members. Failsafe concludes that no one is truly dead as long as someone remembers them.

Release — The Guardian investigates Vex behavioral experiments on the Fallen.

Sacrilege — The Guardian finds Ikora at Echo Mesa on Io, where a massive gout of the Traveler's energy erupts. Asher Mir informs the Guardian that the Taken are draining the Traveler energy still stored within Io. The Guardian stops the dark ritual.

Unexpected Guests — The Guardian stops the Taken from opening a portal to the Court of Savathûn.

Road Rage — Asher Mir tasks the Guardian with stopping the Vex from gaining access to the Warmind Vault.

Fury — Asher proves that The Almighty is linked directly to the Sun and will take the Sun with it if destroyed without severing that link. Meanwhile, the Speaker persuades Ghaul to earn the Traveler's favor, despite The Consul's protests.

Cliffhanger — The Guardian kills Tekton, Constructive Mind and releases a virus on the Vex created by Asher Mir.

Postmodern Prometheus — Asher orders the Guardian to attempt an experiment to create Light. The experiment ends in failure.

The planning of a counterattack — The Vanguard reunites at The Farm. The Guardian is to disable The Almighty while the Vanguard and a team of Lightless Guardians free the Traveler.

Payback — The Guardian steals a Cabal ship and the access code from the base in the EDZ, using a Drake Tank and killing Thumos, the Unbroken.

1AU — At The Almighty, the Guardian breaks through the vessel's security and overloads its core, breaking the link with the Sun.

The Death of the Consul — Ghaul realizes the truth of The Consul's words, but strangles him to death for his insubordination.

Chosen — The Guardian boards Ghaul's ship and confronts the Dominus. Ghaul reveals he has already siphoned the Traveler's Light. As Ghaul proclaims himself a god, Light begins to shine through the Traveler's cage. The Traveler finally reawakens, emitting a powerful wave that obliterates Ghaul. The Red Legion is forced to flee.

The awakening of the Black Fleet — The Traveler's Lightwave spreads across the Solar System and beyond. A mysterious fleet of ships activates and begins moving toward the wave's source.

The Reconstruction of the Last City — Reconstruction begins. The Vanguard establishes a new headquarters while the old Tower is rebuilt.

The Arms Dealer — Hawthorne discovers that Bracus Zahn is supplying weaponry to the Red Legion. The Guardian stops his weapons supply inside his ship, Orobas Vectura.

Savathûn's Song — On Titan, the Hive ambushes a fireteam led by Taeko-3. The Guardian discovers the fireteam has been turned into Void crystals, and avenges Taeko-3 by destroying a massive Shrieker.

The Inverted Spire — Failsafe alerts the Vanguard that Red Legion remnants have uncovered a secret. The Guardian defeats Protheon, Modular Mind.

The Pyramidion — Asher Mir tasks the Guardian with slaying Brakion, Genesis Mind, the Vex Mind responsible for transforming his arm.

Lake of Shadows — Taken forces threaten the water supply of the EDZ. The Guardian eliminates the Taken leader, Grask, the Consumed.

Invitation from the Emperor — The Guardian intercepts messages from Emperor Calus inviting the leaderless Red Legion to join him.

The appearance of The Leviathan — The Leviathan appears in orbit above Nessus and begins to swallow the planet.

13 September — Leviathan — A fireteam is dispatched to investigate the ship and defeat Emperor Calus, but ends up destroying a robotic duplicate.

At some point after the establishment of the House of Dusk, a band of Fallen from the House of Exile, including Levaszk, leaves to find a safe home. They eventually find the planetoid of Kepler and the Oort Cloud and settle there alongside the residing descendants of the AION Initiative colony, now calling themselves the Aionians.

10.2 Curse of Osiris

The Mind of the Infinite Forest, Panoptes, begins working towards a future where light and darkness no longer exist. The exiled Warlock Osiris sends his Ghost, Sagira, to find help in real space.

5 December — The Gateway — Ikora sends the Guardian with Sagira to the Lighthouse on Mercury to get help from the cultists.

A Deadly Trial — The Guardian finds the temple destroyed and the Followers dead. Sagira fuses her consciousness with Ghost.

Beyond Infinity — Sagira and the Guardian enter the Infinite Forest, encounter reflections of Osiris, and witness the Past of Mercury and the dark Future that Panoptes is working towards.

Deep Storage — At the Pyramidion on Io, the Guardian finds a schematic of a node in the Infinite Forest.

Tree of Probabilities — In the Infinite Forest's Simulant Present, the Guardian discovers a simulation of the Cabal invasion of Mercury and defeats the Simulated Commander of the Red Legion.

Hijacked — The pair heads to Nessus, destroys the Entangled Mind, and retrieves its Mind Core.

A Garden World — In the Forest, the Guardian defeats Dendron, Root Mind. Panoptes captures Sagira's consciousness.

Omega — The Guardian defeats Panoptes at the center of Infinity's Crown, with help from Osiris and his Reflections. Osiris regains Sagira and takes over the Forest.

The Guardian assists Osiris with causing chaos in the Vex network and gathering data on Hive Sword-Logic.

Tree of Probabilities (Strike) — Osiris recreates and loses control of Dendron, Root Mind.

A Garden World (Strike) — The Vanguard sends a fireteam to stop a Cabal commander from retrieving the map of the Infinite Forest.

8 December — Leviathan, Eater of Worlds — Calus requests a fireteam to destroy Argos, Planetary Core.

Legends Lost — In the Infinite Forest, the Guardian discovers Saint-14's body upon a pedestal showered in Light, surrounded by hundreds of dead Vex shells.

10.3 Warmind

8 May — Ice and Shadow — Warsats crash onto Mars. The Guardian lands at Hellas Basin and finds Anastasia Bray, discovering the Hive sect known as the Grasp of Nokris.

Pilgrimage — It is revealed that Xol, Will of the Thousands has awoken for the first time since the Collapse.

Off-World Recovery — The Guardian, Ana Bray, and Zavala retrieve a fragment of the Traveler from the EDZ to lure Xol.

Strange Terrain — The Guardian travels to Xol's lair, encounters Nokris, and kills him. Xol ignores the fragment and begins attacking Rasputin's core directly.

Will of the Thousands — The Guardian kills Xol. Rasputin grants an audience, explaining he will protect Humanity under his own choices, launching a new network of Warsats under his sole control.

The Insight Terminus — A Guardian fireteam stops Kargen, the Technocrat, a powerful Psion Flayer, from harnessing power from a Vex machine.

11 May — Spire of Stars — The remnants of the Red Legion, led by Val Ca'uor, assault the Leviathan. The Guardian and fireteam kill Ca'uor, ending the Red War.

17 July — The Whisper — Xol draws power from the Sword Logic and transcends death, communing with the Taken on Io. The Guardian slays Xol's Taken champions, and Xol transforms himself into the weapon known as the Whisper of the Worm.

11. Cayde-6's Death

11.1 Forsaken

Petra Venj tasks a group of Guardians led by Cayde-6 to hunt the Scorned Barons. Seven of them are captured and imprisoned within the Prison of Elders. Only their leader, Fikrul, the Fanatic, escapes.

Birth of the Scorn — Uldren Sov faintly detects Mara's presence, leading him to Fikrul, who was on the verge of death. Hoping to save the former Archon, Uldren unconsciously makes a wish to Riven. This causes some of Uldren's corruption to transfer to Fikrul's Ether, transforming it into Dark Ether, raising the Fanatic as the first of the Scorn. Fikrul devotes himself to Uldren, revering him as father.

Regicide of the Kings — Uldren betrays the House of Kings. Craask, Kell of Kings is docked of all four arms by Fikrul; many members of the House are slaughtered and raised as Scorn.

The arrival of the Drifter — A rogue Guardian by the name of the Drifter arrives at the Tower and begins asking Guardians to participate in his game mode, Gambit.

Upon hearing rumors that Fikrul is still alive, Variks asks Cayde-6 and Petra to confirm the reports. They return to the Prison of Elders with Fikrul and a delusional Prince Uldren who had willingly surrendered. Variks learns through experiments that Dark Ether kills any Fallen exposed to it, then resurrects them as Scorn. Fikrul begins planting seeds of doubt within Variks' mind.

The outbreak of the Prison of Elders — Upon hearing news of the death of the Kell of Kings, Variks sees himself as the last hope for the Fallen civilization, and resets the security protocols within the Prison of Elders, releasing every prisoner. Variks then departs.

4 September, referred to as "a random Tuesday" — Last Call — Petra Venj recruits the Guardian and Cayde-6 to contain the chaos. Cayde gives chase as Uldren and the eight Scorn Barons escape. Cayde's Ghost is destroyed by Pirrha, the Rifleman, Cayde is smashed through a wall by Reksis Vahn, the Hangman, and finally shot in the chest with his own Hand Cannon by Uldren. The Guardian is too late to save Cayde-6.

The funeral of Cayde-6 — A funeral is held. Ikora wishes to send every Guardian to hunt down those responsible; Zavala disagrees. The Guardian vows to kill Uldren Sov personally.

Uldren alongside the Scorned Barons enters Mara's throne room. He gifts them the Tangled Shore. Riven appears to Uldren as Mara, ordering him to bring the Awoken to extinction.

High Plains Blues — The Guardian meets The Spider, who offers assistance in eliminating the Scorn Barons.

Scorned — The Guardians team up with Spider's associates to clear out the Scorn invading his territory.

The Guardian hunts down the Scorned Barons one by one: Reksis Vahn, Kaniks, Hiraks (in his Throne World built on Cayde's death), Yaviks, Pirrha (in his hideout in Hellrise Canyon), and Araskes.

The retrieved shard — Uldren retrieves a shard of the Traveler in the EDZ after being directed by Riven.

The Machinist — The Guardian tracks Elykris, the Machinist to her scrapyard and kills her.

Nothing Left to Say — Uldren enters the Awoken watchtower. After defeating Fikrul and progressing through, the Guardian reaches Uldren. He uses the shard and the Darkness to open a portal; instead of Mara, the Voice of Riven emerges and devours Uldren. The Guardian slays the Voice; Uldren emerges weakened. The Guardian retrieves the Ace of Spades. Petra and the Guardian execute Uldren.

Warden of Nothing — A fireteam is dispatched to neutralize the malfunctioning High Servitor of the Prison of Elders, the Warden.

Broodhold — The Spider sends a fireteam to destroy a Hive Nest created by In Anânh, Brood Queen.

The Spider gifts the Guardian a talisman that, when charged, allows access to the Dreaming City through the watchtower's portal. The three Taken Techeuns confront them; Petra directs them to the Oracle Engine. Mara reveals Riven was the one behind Uldren's descent into madness and orders Petra to assemble a team to slay Riven and extract her heart.

The Hollowed Lair — The Guardian kills the recently resurrected Fikrul. The Praxic Order begins looking into ways to permanently destroy him.

14 September — Last Wish — A fireteam of six is dispatched to slay Riven. They free Kalli and Shuro Chi from Taken corruption, slay Morgeth, the Spirekeeper, open an ancient Awoken vault, and encounter Riven. Riven is slain and her heart cleansed. However, this is exactly what Riven desired — she grants the Guardians' collective wish to save the city. The Dreaming City is cursed partially into the Ascendant Plane and trapped in a three-week time loop actualized by Quria.

The Corrupted — A fireteam frees the Techeun Sedia from Taken corruption.

Broken Courier — The Guardian helps the Corsair Amrita Vae retrieve stolen Awoken relics from Xivu Arath's Hive.

The Oracle Engine — The Guardian defends the Observatory above the Oracle Engine from a Taken and Hive assault.

Dark Monastery — The Guardian clears Harbinger's Seclude of Taken and Scorn.

25 September — The Shattered Throne — Two weeks after the curse, the Blind Well is sufficiently charged to allow access to Eleusinia, Mara Sov's Throne World. The Guardian defeats Dûl Incaru, the Eternal Return and is granted a direct audience with Mara Sov, who had survived. At the end of the week, the Dreaming City reverts to its cursed state — the entire city is trapped in a three-week loop.

16 October — At the end of the second cycle, Mara warns the Guardian about the Traveler, showing tetrahedral ships.

27 October — The Death of Callum Sol — The Guardian is sent by Drifter to find a Guardian named Callum Sol. Callum was killed by Shin Malphur with three Golden Gun shots. It is later revealed that both Callum and Shin planned the death to scare the Shadows of Yor.

The creation of Malfeasance — Drifter reforges Callum's weapon into Malfeasance.

6 November — Mara is finishing a conversation with the Emissary, saying she accepted the Nine's terms and that the "asset" was to be placed "beyond the grave of the First Fleet."

27 November — At the end of the fourth cycle, Mara questions how Uldren died, stating she wasn't satisfied that the Guardian killed him.

11.2 Season of the Forge

Siviks, Lost to None, the deranged brother of Spider and leader of the Kell's Scourge, discovers the Gofannon Forge of the Black Armory and begins distributing weapons to Fallen across the system.

4 December — Beginning the Search — The Guardian meets Ada-1 with a Black Armory keycard. Ada agrees to work with them and tasks them with recovering the lost forges.

The discovery of Volundr Forge — The Guardian rediscovers Volundr Forge, defeating Ghalak the Colossus, Forge Warden.

7 December — The discovery of Gofannon Forge — The Guardian defeats members of the Kell's Scourge, destroying Serekis-9 and Zevious-3, Forge Warden.

Scourge of the Past — A fireteam regains control of an abandoned part of the Last City controlled by the Kell's Scourge. They destroy Ablazed Glory and INSURRECTION PRIME, a Servitor built into a Brig.

18 December — Upon the end of the fifth cycle, the Guardian sees Prince Uldren revived by a Ghost.

The discovery of Izanami Forge — The Guardian recaptures Izanami Forge from the Sol Collective, killing Aegion, Deductive Mind and Sublimating Mind, Forge Warden.

8 January — When the Guardian visits Mara for the sixth time, the Queen angrily confronts the Guardian's Ghost.

The Niobe Labs — The Guardian reclaims Niobe Labs.

The discovery of Bergusia Forge — The Bergusia Forge is discovered within Niobe Labs. The Guardian kills Siviks, Lost to None and destroys The Black Recluse, Forge Warden.

29 January — Upon the seventh visit, Mara states she has dreamed of having a friend, then states "the next act is about to begin" before disappearing. She has departed to confront the Black Fleet. Petra recruits a new coven of Techeuns: Austyn, Ylaia, and Sjari.

The Last Word is gifted — The Guardian and Drifter discover Enkaar, the Anointed. The Guardian calls upon The Last Word, legendary weapon of Shin Malphur, and uses it to destroy Enkaar.

5 February — Crimson Days — A limited time event held by Shaxx in the Crucible.

11.3 Season of the Drifter

5 March — Gambit Prime and The Reckoning.

12 March — The forging of Thorn — The Guardian finds a melted hunk of metal along a cliff-side in the EDZ. Banshee-44 explains how to reconstruct the weapon, a replica of Thorn. Tyra Karn helps piece together a ritual known as "The Hated Path," in which the Guardian must bathe the gun in hatred, death, and violence. The Guardian completes the ritual on Titan.

15 March — The Invitations of the Nine — The Guardian learns more about the Drifter from the Nine's Emissary Orin, a former Guardian who was once a friend of the Drifter and later bent to the will of the Nine. The Drifter's past is revealed: he was a former member of the Shadows of Yor.

16 April – 6 May — The Revelry.

7 May — Mithrax discovers Eramis's plan to steal SIVA tech from a Cryptarch vault on the old Tower and informs his fireteam.

Zero Hour — The Guardian and Mithrax stop Eramis's lieutenant Siriks, Loyal to Eramis and escape with the stolen Outbreak Perfected.

11.4 Season of Opulence

4 June — Menagerie — Calus invites the Guardian to fight Hive and Vex forces he captured inside his Leviathan.

Discovery of the Crown of Sorrow — Katabasis, a former Hunter and Shadow of Calus, discovers the Hive artifact. Loyalist Psions believed it was created to imitate Oryx's power to bend wills. To bear the crown, Calus creates the Ceremonial Bather known as Gahlran. The artifact was actually created by Savathûn to take control of the wearer.

Crown of Sorrow — Gahlran becomes corrupted by Savathûn. Calus calls upon the Guardians to take Gahlran down. The Guardians refuse Calus's offer to become his Shadows.

The purification of Thorn and the creation of Lumina — Shin Malphur offers the location of the original Thorn. The Guardian finds and cleanses it, revealing the original Rose. They forge a new Weapon of Hope, the antithesis to Weapons of Sorrow: Lumina.

Shin Malphur retires and the Shadows of Yor disband — After years of battling corrupted Guardians, Shin and the rest of the Shadows of Yor leave their titles behind.

30 July — Solstice of Heroes — Solstice is held in the Last City to memorialize the Tower and the reawakening of the Traveler.

12. Return of the Black Fleet

12.1 Shadowkeep / Season of the Undying

After the deaths of Crota and Oryx, the Hidden Swarm was left divided and weakened. While the Swarm retained their faith in the Sword Logic, the daughters of Crota — Hashladûn, Besuirth, Voshyr, and Kinox — schemed to resurrect Oryx as a Nightmare by using the power of the Lunar Pyramid.

A Rising Champion — In the depths of the Moon, the Knight Zulmak sought to become the new Prince of the Hidden Swarm.

Sisters Avazath and Malkanth, and their severed brother Akrazul, begin a ritual to transfer Akrazul's consciousness into Avazath's body. Akrazul hears whispers from Savathûn, convincing him he was a pawn of Malkanth. He kills Malkanth, then challenges and kills Zulmak before going on a rampage. He is killed by Avazath, now known as Ir Airâm, placed into the body of Malkanth by Savathûn after agreeing to lead the Swarm's Deathsinger Choir.

The Daughters of Crota are greeted by Savathûn, who convinces them to take control of the Hidden Swarm and construct a new fortress. She offers them the essence of Zulmak and the Choir of Deathsingers. Unknown to them, the Witch Queen wanted the fortress as bait to attract the Guardians.

The construction of the Scarlet Keep — The Hidden Swarm, under Hashladûn, begin construction of the Scarlet Keep.

The return of Eris Morn — Eris contacts Ikora to inform her of renewed activity on the Moon.

1 October — The discovery of the Lunar Pyramid — During her mission, Eris stumbles upon the derelict Lunar Pyramid and is exposed to a Nightmare of a Hunter, unleashing a curse upon the Moon.

A Mysterious Disturbance — The Guardian rushes to the old Lunar Battlegrounds and drives the Hidden Swarm back to the Scarlet Keep. They discover the Pyramid and engage Nightmares of Crota, Dominus Ghaul, and the Fanatic. Eris plans with the Guardian to breach the Lunar Pyramid's warding.

In Search of Answers — Eris dispatches the Guardian to investigate Hive behavior. The Hive do not seem affected by the Nightmares. Eris discovers that the Essence dropped by the Nightmare of Crota is a key to entering the Pyramid.

Ghosts of Our Past — Eris cleanses the Nightmare's Essence, creating the first piece of Dreambane armor.

The Scarlet Keep — The Hidden Swarm is organized under the daughters of Crota, the first being Hashladûn. The Guardian ascends the tower, defeating Hashladûn and discovering a tablet mentioning a Cryptoglyph hidden in the Catacombs.

In the Deep — The Guardian retrieves the Cryptoglyph. Eris creates the Lectern of Enchantment and tasks the Guardian with hunting Nightmares of Phogoth, Taniks, and Skolas.

Beyond — The Guardian bypasses the warding using Dreambane. Their Ghost is possessed by the Voice in the Darkness, the Witness. As they walk its halls, the Witness taunts the Guardian on the Light's fallacies. After defeating the three Nightmares again, the Pyramid presents them with an unknown spherical artifact before a statue of a veiled figure. Upon interacting with the artifact, the Guardian is shown a vision of the Black Garden, in which the Witness appears as an imitation of the Guardian and declares it "our salvation."

Memory of Sai Mota — The Guardian banishes the Nightmare of Sai Mota.

Nightmare Hunts — Eris tasks the Guardian with eliminating Nightmare threats across Luna and Lost Sectors.

5 October — Garden of Salvation — The unknown artifact begins to transmit a signal into the Black Garden. A fireteam destroys the Consecrated Mind, Sol Inherent and Sanctified Mind, Sol Inherent, discovering a statue identical to the one in the Pyramid.

Vex's Offensive on the Moon — The Sol Divisive begins to pour through several gates. The Undying Mind has resurfaced.

8 October – 5 November — Memories of Vell Tarlowe, Toland, Omar Agah, and Eriana-3 are banished.

Pit of Heresy — A fireteam descends to slay Zulmak, Instrument of Torment. Zulmak was revived by Voshyr and Kinox.

20 November — Defeat of the Undying Mind — The Guardian defeats every copy of the Undying Mind. Osiris discovers a horrifying revelation: the Black Fleet takes the place of the Traveler within the Last City.

12.2 Season of Dawn

The Discovery of the Sundial — The Sundial is discovered by Psion Flayer sisters: Niruul, the Hollow Voice, Ozletc, the Sky Piercer, and Tazaroc, the Sun Eater.

Time fractures on Mercury — Their actions fracture time on Mercury.

10 December — The Call of Osiris — Osiris calls the Guardian to restore the timelines.

Corridors of Time Parts 1 & 2 — The Guardian finds a timeline in which Saint-14's fate can be changed. They defeat Agioktis, Martyr Mind alongside Saint-14, who returns to Osiris near the Sundial.

20 December — The return of Saint-14.

7 January — The creation of Devil's Ruin — Saint-14 leads the Guardian to Twilight Gap to gather pieces of destroyed Redjacks and build Devil's Ruin.

15–20 January — Exploring the Corridors of Time — The Guardian discovers their own grave in the future, with Saint-14 reading their eulogy.

20 January — The recovery of Bastion — A Fallen named Reysk had stolen Bastion. After defeating the Scorn Chieftain, Saint-14 rewards them with Bastion.

4 February — The defeat of Inotam, Oblivion's Triune — Out of desperation, Ozletc, Tazaroc, and Niruul fuse into Inotam. A fireteam defeats Inotam, repairing the broken timelines. Amtec, the last sister, forms a plan to drop the Almighty onto the Last City.

4 February – 4 March — The Empyrean Foundation — Osiris and Saint-14 task Guardians with donating collected Fractaline.

4 March — The Restoration of the Lighthouse.

12.3 Season of the Worthy

10 March — Seraph Bunker: EDZ — Zavala and Ana Bray ask the Guardian to power up Rasputin's Seraph Bunkers.

13 March — The return of Trials of Osiris — Now under the supervision of Saint-14.

24 March — Seraph Bunker: Moon.

7 April — Seraph Bunker: Io — Rasputin reveals the Black Fleet is about to enter the Sol System.

14 April – 2 June — The Coming Storm — Rasputin tracks the Black Fleet from the Kuiper Belt to Neptune and finally Uranus.

21 April — The Guardian Games — The first ever Guardian Games. The Titan class wins.

21 May — Recovery of Felwinter's Lie — Rasputin allows the Guardian to take Felwinter's Lie.

5 June — The Destruction of the Almighty — Rasputin uses his Warsats to obliterate the Almighty.

Establishment of Riis-Reborn — After a vision from the Lunar Pyramid, Eramis travels to Europa and begins work to create Riis-Reborn. Many Eliksni join her, including Variks.

12.4 Season of Arrivals

False Idols — Nokris, having survived and abandoned by Xol, lures fireteams into slaughtering him and his brood, gaining power to pierce a hole into the Sea of Screams. He strikes a bargain with Savathûn: teach her Necromancy in exchange for a spot on her court and access to Quria.

9 June — The Arrival of the Black Fleet — The Black Fleet arrives on Io. Rasputin attempts to neutralize the Ionian Pyramid but is disabled. Eris devises a plan to decrypt messages from the Pyramid through the Seed of Silver Wings charged with Darkness.

Prophecy — A fireteam enters a realm of the Nine to learn about the Darkness, encountering Taken Phalanx Echo and Kell Echo.

13 July — Evacuation Plan — The Black Fleet arrives on Mercury, Titan, and Mars. The Guardian attempts to convince Ana Bray, Sloane, Asher Mir, and Brother Vance to evacuate.

12 October — Interference Cleared — The Guardian defeats Nokris. The Witness instructs the Guardian to travel to Europa.

9 November — The Traveler Healed — The Traveler heals its wounds from the Red War.

The Disappearance of Mars, Mercury, Io, and Titan — All four worlds disappear. Brother Vance retreats into the Infinite Forest. Sloane stays behind on Titan and eventually meets Ahsa. Asher Mir submerges himself in the Vex Network. All three are declared MIA.

Rise of House Salvation — A Pyramid touches down on Europa. Eramis boards and claims the power of Stasis. She dubs her new House the House of Salvation.

12.5 Beyond Light

November 10 — Darkness's Doorstep — The Guardian saves Variks from House Salvation forces.

The New Kell — Variks explains his role in releasing the prisoners from the Prison of Elders. The Guardian witnesses a sermon from Eramis and one of her Barons, Phylaks, receiving a Splinter of Darkness.

Rising Resistance — The Witness reaches out to the Guardian through a Crux of Darkness. At the Europan Pyramid, the Guardian witnesses a skirmish between House Salvation and a fireteam composed of the Drifter, Eris Morn, and the Exo Stranger. The Exo Stranger gives the Guardian their first Splinter of Darkness.

Empire Hunts — The Guardian eliminates the Barons: Phylaks (Well of Infinitude), Praksis (Eternity wing of Bray Exoscience), Bakris, the Adamantine (Cosmodrome).

The Glassway — Eramis opens a portal in the Glassway and steals a large pool of Radiolaria. The Guardian destroys Belmon, Transcendent Mind.

The Kell of Darkness — Eramis breaks the Splinter of Darkness; the Guardian breaks free of Stasis. Eramis is defeated and frozen in Stasis matter.

Empire Hunts: The Dark Priestess — The Guardian slays Kridis, Dark Priestess.

Mastery of Stasis — The Europan Pyramid allows the Guardian inside. The Exo Stranger reveals her identity as Elsie Bray.

November 23 — Raid on the Deep Stone Crypt — A fireteam pursues Atraks, the Wildcard, now the first Eliksni Exo, recovers the "body" — Taniks, Reborn. They discover a statue named "Clarity Control" by the AI of Clovis Bray I. The AI attempts to drop the Morning Star onto Europa; the Guardians stop the nuclear explosion and defeat Taniks, the Abomination.

The Disgraced — On Earth, Navôta, Eir Spawn attempts to rally the Hive in the Cosmodrome. A fireteam ends her.

12.6 Season of the Hunt

On Torobatl, Uman'arath's concern over the Hive grows into a fascination due to Savathûn's influence. She begins to study the Hive. Confronted by Caiatl, Uman'arath expresses her belief that the Cabal should worship the Hive Gods.

Fall of Torobatl — Uman'arath begins a Hive ritual dedicated to Xivu Arath. Caiatl kills her, inadvertently completing the ritual and summoning Xivu Arath and her army to Torobatl. Unable to fend off Xivu Arath, the Cabal evacuate. Caiatl is crowned Empress aboard her flagship.

November 10 – 17 — Osiris investigates planetary disappearance — Osiris seeks information on the Black Fleet, sending Zavala a Fang of Xivu Arath.

Rise of the Wrathborn — Osiris discovers Hive structures called Cryptoliths.

Osiris visits the Dreadnaught — Osiris boards the Dreadnaught and learns of internal fighting between the Hive, Savathûn's disappearance, and Xivu Arath using the disarray to strengthen her forces.

The Witch in the Phoenix — Below the shadow of the Lunar Pyramid, Osiris discovers the Scarlet Court communing with the High Celebrant of Xivu Arath. Osiris eliminates fifteen noble-brood, including Voshyr, but Xivu Arath uses a Cryptolith to dispel his Well of Radiance and attempts to convert him into a Wrathborn. The High Celebrant carves runes around Osiris. Sagira sacrifices herself to save Osiris, leaving him Lightless. Unbeknownst to everyone, Savathûn steals Osiris's body and voice, replacing him.

November 17 — Trail of the Hunted — Savathûn, as Osiris, sends a message to the Vanguard. The Guardian makes their way through the Hellmouth. "Osiris" is attacked by a Wrathborn Knight and saved by an unknown Guardian, revealed to be a revived Uldren Sov, now called The Crow.

Crow meets the Guardian — The Spider tells the Guardian how Crow came into his service, how he had no memories of his acts as Uldren, and the modifications to his Ghost Glint to keep him in line.

November 17 – January 4 — Hunt for the Wrathborn — The Guardian and Crow hunt down Wrathborn using Crow's Cryptolith Lure.

December 8 — Crow begins receiving visions from the Traveler, leading him and the Guardian to discover and reforge a new Hawkmoon from the EDZ Shard.

January 8 — Coup de Grâce — The Guardian and Crow track the High Celebrant of Xivu Arath to the Dreaming City and trap and kill it.

Crow's Freedom — The Spider offers a gift; the Guardian chooses Crow's freedom. "Osiris" meets with Crow, promising he can be trusted.

12.7 Season of the Chosen

February 9 — Arrival of Caiatl — Caiatl invites Zavala and "Osiris" to her flagship and seeks an alliance on the condition that Zavala bends the knee, but he refuses.

The Rite of Proving begins — Zavala deploys the Guardian to defeat contenders for Caiatl's War Council: Commander Dracus (Nessus, retrieves the Bell of Conquests), Basilius the Golem (retrieves the Hammer of Proving).

February 16 — Hunt for Val Ma'rag — On the Cosmodrome.

February 23 — Hunt for Ixel, the Far-Reaching — On Nessus.

February 23 – March 9 — Presage — Following a distress signal from the Glykon Volatus, the Guardian investigates with "Osiris" and Caiatl, acquiring the Dead Man's Tale. They learn the ship had been used by Calus and his Loyalists to contact the Witness.

March 2 – 9 — The Psion Conclave strikes — The Guardian and Crow learn that the Psions are using a remnant of the Traveler Cage. A Psion within the Imperial Cabal attempts to assassinate Zavala; the attempt is thwarted by Crow.

March 16 — A Final Gambit — Zavala proposes the final Rite of Proving.

March 23 — Proving Grounds — The Guardian (as Zavala's champion) defeats Ignovun (Caiatl's champion). Zavala and Caiatl sign the armistice; Caiatl reveals she didn't order the assassination.

April 20 — The 2nd Guardian Games — The Hunter class wins.

12.8 Season of the Splicer

Before May 11 — Arrival of Mithrax — Mithrax arrives on Europa to pick up House Salvation defectors. His Skiff is shot down.

May 11 — The Endless Night begins — The Last City is plagued by an Endless Night created by Quria, a proxy of Savathûn. Mithrax teaches the Guardian the way of the Sacred Splicer using a Splicer Gauntlet. They slay Tacitas, Subjugated Mind. Ikora proposes integration of Eliksni of House Light into the Last City; Lakshmi-2 of FWC is angered.

Eliksni Quarter — Established within the Last City.

May 18 — The Endless Night worsens — The Guardian defeats Portunos, Subjugated Mind on Luna. Lakshmi-2 begins to spread propaganda.

May 25 — Expunge — The Guardian defeats Thesmotae, Subjugated Mind on the Tangled Shore, then penetrates the Labyrinth domain and defeats Fantis, Oppressive Mind.

June 1 — The Eliksni Quarter attacked — The Guardian defeats Dikast, Oppressive Mind. The Quarter is ransacked by people acting on Lakshmi-2's propaganda; Crow drives the perpetrators away. Mithrax recounts the effects of Saint-14's crusades on the Eliksni.

June 8 – 15 — The Endless Night grows — Taken blights begin to appear. The Guardian defeats Dimio, Oppressive Mind and reborn Fantis. Mithrax reveals Quria is the architect behind the Endless Night.

June 22 – 29 — Hunt for Quria — The Guardian defeats reborn Dikast and Dimio, then infiltrates the Delphi domain, defeating Quria.

5 July — The Endless Night ends — The Vanguard enters an official alliance with the Eliksni of House Light.

10 August — The Failed Coup — Lakshmi-2 opens a Vex portal in the center of the Eliksni Quarter but is killed by the Vex. The Vanguard, Saint-14, Amanda Holliday, and Mithrax defend the Eliksni. Savathûn (still as Osiris) flees to the Dreaming City. New Monarchy and Dead Orbit leave the Last City officially.

12.9 Season of the Lost

With Quria destroyed, Savathûn loses control of the Taken, resulting in them falling under the control of the Witness for Xivu Arath to utilize.

August 24 — The Truth revealed — The Guardian, Crow, Saint, and Mara Sov discover the horrifying truth: the Osiris they've known since the Cryptoliths appeared was Savathûn all along. Mara traps Savathûn in a crystalline prison.

August 24 – October 5 — Assembling the Techeuns — The Guardian uses the Wayfinder's Compass to chart courses through Ley Lines, assembling the coven of Techeuns needed to expel Savathûn's Worm.

October 12 — Mystery of the Headless Ones — Glint leaves Crow behind to investigate the myths of the Headless Ones for the Festival of the Lost.

14 December — A Brighter Dawning — The Eliksni of House Light and the Cabal in service of Caiatl celebrate the Dawning for the first time.

February 15 — The Exorcism — The Techeuns begin the ritual under assault from Xivu Arath's forces led by Kelgorath, Risen from Bones. The Guardian and Saint-14 defend. The ritual is complete: Osiris returns and Savathûn's Worm is extracted. Savathûn deceives Mara by transporting herself elsewhere. Osiris is left in a coma.

Between February 15 and 22 — Savathûn Reborn — Savathûn transports herself close to the Traveler, dies near it, and Immaru resurrects her, now reborn with the Traveler's Light. She returns to her Throne World to curse Rhulk, trapping him within the Sunken Pyramid.

12.10 The Witch Queen / Season of the Risen

February 22 — Reappearance of Mars — The Guardian investigates with temporal distortions. Savathûn's ship, The Lure, lands above the Martian Cradle. The Guardian encounters Lightbearing Hive for the first time. They recover an artifact and the portal opens into Savathûn's Throne World. They craft their first Glaive: The Enigma.

The Investigation — The Guardian gathers clues using Deepsight, encountering a turncoat Hive Ghost named Fynch.

The Ghosts — The Guardian retrieves Sagira's Ghost Shell, defeating Brutiks, Lightbane. Fynch reveals that the Scorn are led by Rhulk, a Disciple of the Witness, invading the Throne World as revenge.

The Communion — The Guardian enhances Deepsight abilities by returning to the Europan Pyramid.

The Mirror — At the Altar of Reflection, the Guardian presents Sagira's Ghost Shell, replaying Savathûn's reveal of the Witness's identity and her plan to impersonate Osiris.

The Lightblade — The next clue is the Tablet of Ruin in the Temple of the Navigator, guarded by Alak-Hul, the Lightblade, Oryx's adversary reborn in the Light. The Guardian defeats him. Savathûn's plan to move the Traveler to her Throne World is revealed.

The Cunning — In the Temple of the Cunning, the Guardian recovers a calcified Worm familiar that Sathona and the Osmium King heard the warning of the God-Wave forming on Fundament.

The Last Chance — The Guardian retrieves a shard of Savathûn's crystalline prison from the Apothecary. The shard reveals her resurrection by Immaru. Savathûn tricks the Guardian into recovering the memories and attacks them. Ikora uses the Relic to unlock the Worm familiar's memories, revealing the Hive were tricked into serving the Darkness by the Witness.

The Ritual — The Guardian crosses the Court of Thorns and confronts Savathûn in the Sanctum of the Brood Queen, fighting a fireteam of Lightbearing Hive. The Guardian shows Savathûn the memory of the Witness's deception. Furious, Savathûn is finally defeated. Immaru disappears along with the Traveler.

Of Queen and Worms — Mara binds Savathûn's Worm to a grenade launcher, Parasite, through a Hive ritual.

March 5 — Duel with the First Disciple — Rhulk invites the Guardian into his Pyramid. The Guardian shuts down a superweapon, The Upended, and defeats Rhulk.

February 22 – March 15 — The Coalition forms — Zavala asks for Caiatl's help; she agrees. Saladin becomes a member of Caiatl's War Council as Bracus Forge, eventually Valus Forge.

Vox Obscura — Caiatl asks the Guardian to shut down Psionic propaganda created by Yirix and spread by Qabix. Calus is rallying the Psion forces.

May 5 — The 3rd Guardian Games — The Warlock class wins.

13. The War against the Witness

13.1 Season of the Haunted

24 May — The Nightmares return — Calus, now the second known Disciple of the Witness, parks his derelict Leviathan in Luna's orbit and makes a successful communion with the Lunar Pyramid, unleashing the Nightmares. Eris asks the Guardian to investigate. The Nightmare of Zavala's lover Safiyah taunts the Guardian. They participate in a séance with Zavala, Eris, and Crow, where Eris uses the Nightmare Harvester to bind the Nightmares to the Crown of Sorrow.

24 May – 31 May — Severing the Nightmare of Uldren Sov — Crow is the first participant. His Nightmare summons the Nightmare of the Fanatic. The second attempt is successful — the Nightmare becomes a Memory. Crow discovers his purpose to fill the Hunter Vanguard role.

27 May — Calus's Darkest Secrets — In Calus's Mindscape, Calus's greatest regrets are his daughter Caiatl and the birth of Gahlran.

7 June – 14 June — Severing the Nightmare of Safiyah — Zavala participates. The Nightmare of Kethiks (Safiyah's killer) ambushes them. Zavala succeeds; the Memory of Safiyah gives him advice to let go of his grief.

21 June – 28 June — Severing the Nightmare of Dominus Ghaul — Caiatl participates. Without warding, she is initially vulnerable, but Eris performs a ritual to grant her warding. Caiatl turns her Nightmare into the Memory of Dominus Ghaul, breaking Calus's control of the Nightmares.

5 July — The Final Severance Ritual — Eris, Crow, Zavala, the Guardian, and Caiatl combine efforts. Calus anticipates their arrival and ambushes them. The Guardian and Caiatl lure out Calus, the harbinger of the next Collapse, and defeat his Nightmare forces, breaking his connection to the Pyramid. The Memories of Uldren, Safiyah, and Ghaul fade. Eris invites the Drifter to uncover more Lunar Pyramid secrets.

19 July — Bonfire Bash — 5th anniversary of Solstice. Amanda Holliday introduces a new tradition with a paracausal bonfire.

16 August — Calus's Message — Calus declares his servitude to the Witness in a message projected across the Last City.

13.2 Season of Plunder

August 23 — Eramis freed — The Witness breaks Eramis free from her Stasis prison. The Drifter rescues Spider, who had been captured by House Salvation. Spider sets up shop at the Ether Tank in the Eliksni Quarter. The Drifter promotes the Guardian to pirate captain of Spider's Ketch. They go on Expeditions and Ketchcrash missions. They defeat Val'aug, the Brute and recover a relic imbued with Darkness energy.

August 30 – October 11 — Recovering the Relics — The Guardian, Mithrax, Spider, Eido, and Drifter recover more relics: defeating Iriks, the Sharpshooter, then Tagh'al and Thagh'urn (gladiators), then Alaaks, the Beast Tamer, then Arask, the Bully. Eido learns from Eramis that the body parts belonged to Nezarec, and the relics were the tombs of Nezarec. The Guardian also faces Vrisk, the Coward (already dead, killed by Lucent Hive led by Ei Arat, Trespasser), Ithyks, the Scrapworker, and Hiak'ar, Hoardseeker. Eido witnesses a duel between Mithrax and Eramis; Eramis flees on her Ketch.

October 18 – November 8 — New Information on the Headless Ones — Eido concludes the Headless Ones were created during the Golden Age through a holiday known as the Halls Between.

November 29 — The Phoenix Rises Again — Mithrax discovers a way to harness the relics of Nezarec for good. He delivers a concoction to Saint-14 so the comatose Osiris can drink it. Osiris finally wakes and shares his experience.

13.3 Season of the Seraph

December 6 — Ana's Restored Hope — Osiris suggests they make contact with the AI of Clovis Bray I. After bypassing security, Ana learns that Xivu Arath has made a foothold on Europa through Cryptoliths turning House Salvation Eliksni into Wrathborn. Clovis I tasks the Guardian with recovering Rasputin's submind Malahayati. The Guardian also stops Once-Phyris, the Exhumed Tether, defeats Warwatcher, Eye of Xivu Arath, and Sumok, Ravager of Torobatl.

December 9 — Skirmish on the Spire of the Watcher — The Guardian uses Arc circuits to navigate, defeating Akelous, the Siren's Current, then Persys, Primordial Ruin (preventing reactor meltdown).

December 13 — Recovery of Charlemagne — The Bray family argues. The Guardian recovers the submind Charlemagne from BrayTech Futurescape on Mars, defeating Kelgorath, now serving Xivu Arath. They upload Charlemagne after defeating Ir Nithra, Scourge of the Ammonite and Ir Hanal, Scourge of the Dakaua.

December 20 — Operation: Seraph's Shield — The Guardian boards the Seraph orbital facility, defeats Haroktha, Scourge of the Helium Drinkers, and confronts Praksis, revived as a Scorn. They upload the virus and discover blueprints for Revision Zero. They find Archangel (Archie), a robot dog.

December 27 — Rasputin's Awakening — Felwinter was made as an independent AI by Rasputin. The Guardian recovers Felspring's remains. Rasputin is awoken and reveals the true nature of Clovis I's plans. Ana rejects Clovis I's lies and uploads Rasputin into the experimental Exo frame. Ana warns that the Clovis I instance had relayed to the instance on Europa that "they know."

January 3 – February 14 — Battle of the War Gods — Mara, Zavala, Caiatl, Mithrax, and Ana form a plan to use Rasputin as bait. After weeks of combat simulations, Rasputin discovers the only way to prevent Xivu Arath's invasion of Earth is to sacrifice himself. Eramis activates ABHORRENT IMPERATIVE to shoot down the Traveler. The Guardian defeats Ir Garza, Scourge of Earth. Eramis attempts to complete the firing sequence, but Rasputin's sacrifice destroys all the Warsats and prevents Xivu Arath's ritual. The Witness arrives in Sol alongside Calus's forces. Rasputin leaves a pre-recorded message confirming the existence of Neomuna and the Veil.

13.4 Lightfall / Season of Defiance

February 28 — The Invasion of Earth begins — The Witness arrives at Earth's orbit. Amanda Holliday goes down in the fight. The Witness steps out into open space, communes with the Traveler, and discovers the location of the Veil on Neptune. Osiris follows the Cabal fleet there.

First Contact — The Guardian pursues Osiris to Neptune's orbit, boarding Cabal ships (Vual Gaudium, Astaroth Rex II), encountering a Tormentor for the first time. They land on Neptune, finding Neomuna and meeting Cloud Striders Rohan and Nimbus. They discover Strand through a mysterious anomaly.

Under Siege — The Witness briefly possesses Ghost and contacts Calus, revealing plans to establish a link between the Radial Mast and the Veil.

Downfall — Inside Calus's flagship, the Guardian defeats champions and a Tormentor. Calus's forces ambush; Empress Caiatl arrives to rescue them.

Breakneck — The Guardian restores power to the CloudArk, defeating Calixte, System Ward Finality.

On The Verge — Osiris gives the Guardian a new understanding of Strand. They defeat the Inquisitor Mind and discover the first Aspect of Strand.

No Time Left — The Guardian and Rohan make their way to the Radial Mast's location. They use a Drake Tank. Rohan sacrifices himself to destroy the Radial Mast. The Witness berates Calus on his lack of purpose.

HyperNet Current — Caiatl notes a strange presence in the CloudArk. The Guardian defeats Toniq, Imprint of Nezarec and enters the Vex Domain. They expel Parthenios, Drifting Mind. The voice reveals itself to be Nezarec.

Headlong — The Guardian masters Strand and defeats Ioneion, System Control Flow.

Desperate Measures — The Guardian destroys AA turrets, then defends the Veil Containment site alongside Caiatl. Calus blasts open the site. The Guardian confronts and defeats Calus under the Veil. The Witness possesses Ghost and establishes a link with the Veil. The Witness uses the Veil's power to create an incision on the Traveler and enters the portal to the Pale Heart.

Creation of the Dread — In the Pale Heart, the Witness carves Light from the Traveler. The first Subjugator, Keit'Ehr, was too weak and was abandoned.

The Aftermath — The Guardian assists the Neomuni. They gain mastery of Strand outside Neptune.

February 28 – March 28 — Operation: Prison Break — Mara, Mithrax, and Devrim Kay coordinate prison rescues using the Ascendant Scepter. The Guardian rescues Amanda Holliday (who accidentally shoots Crow). Mara crowns the Guardian, Crow, and Devrim as Queensguard. The Guardian and Mithrax rescue more prisoners. Amanda volunteers for another op in the EDZ Tunnel, defeats Vereziia, Reverent of the Witness. Amanda is killed in the explosion. Zavala, Crow, Mara, and Mithrax all grieve.

Return of Bracus Zahn — A new Bracus Zahn works for the Shadow Legion. The Guardian and Cabal allies defeat him.

The Lake of Shadows — The Guardian eliminates Taken infesting the EDZ, killing Gor'ath Gath.

March 7 — Acquisition of Vexcalibur — Mithrax discovers a Vex signal leading to a blue-eyed Harpy. They penetrate the Avalon domain. Asher Mir has been fighting to stay independent of the Vex Network. They slay Brakion, Repurposed Mind and retrieve Vexcalibur. Asher reveals research about Pyramids as mediums and the Veil before being subsumed.

March 10 — The Final God of Pain's Fall — The Guardians enter the terraformed Pyramid formerly inhabited by the Witness. They defeat Zo'aurc, Explicator of Planets. Nezarec's new body finishes regenerating; they confront and defeat Nezarec.

April 18 — Retribution — Crow forms a plan for vengeance for Amanda. The Guardian infiltrates and scuttles a Shadow Legion flagship. The Awoken fully commit to the Coalition. Amanda leaves the Guardian her personal ship.

2 May – 23 May — The 4th Guardian Games — The Titan class wins.

13.5 Season of the Deep

May 23 — Recovery of Deputy Commander Sloane — Soteria informs the Guardian that an enemy of the Witness is on Titan. Zavala organizes a rescue team: himself, Saladin, Saint-14, and the Guardian. They reach Sloane at Kraken Mare. Sloane reveals her Taken corruption and introduces them to Ahsa. The Drifter provides diving gear. The Guardian extracts Egregore samples.

May 26 — The Lucent Ritual — The Lucent Brood crashes a ship to resurrect Oryx. The Guardian defeats Ecthar, the Shield of Savathûn, crushes his Ghost, and stops Šimmumah ur-Nokru. The Hidden — Chalco Yong, Lisbon-13, Fenchurch Everis — extract Oryx's remains. Oryx is still alive despite the lack of his Worm.

May 30 – June 13 — Deep Dives — The Guardian extracts more Egregore samples, defeating Kudazad, Bound to Xivu Arath and Kelgorath, Taken from Bones. Ahsa reveals the Witness's species was once blessed by the Traveler's Light and details of the first conflict.

June 20 — The Witness unveiled — Through Sloane, Ahsa explains the Final Shape is the Witness's plan to reshape the universe by connecting the Veil to the Traveler. Xivu Arath's forces attack Ahsa and begin a ritual to Take her. The Guardian, Zavala, Sloane, Saladin, and Saint-14 stop the ritual with Saladin's Iron War Beasts. Xivu Arath corrupts Sloane's body; Zavala's encouraging words stop full possession. Ahsa reveals Savathûn possesses the instructions to follow the Witness inside the portal.

July 4 — Acquisition of Wicked Implement — Xivu Arath allows the Guardian access into her temple. They defeat Khull, Executioner Knight and Omen, Blade of the Black Terrace. Xivu Arath deems them worthy of wielding the Wicked Implement.

May 23 – November 28 — Veil Containment — On Neomuna, Osiris and Nimbus learn about the Veil through logs left behind by Dr. Chioma Esi.

13.6 Season of the Witch

August 22 — Clash of the Hive Gods — Ikora and Eris find Immaru, who refuses to resurrect Savathûn until they deal with Xivu Arath. Eris crafts the Acolyte's Staff. The Guardian enters Savathûn's Throne World and explores her Spire. After defeating Savathûn's test subjects, Eris witnesses her transformation into the Hive God of Vengeance. The Guardian learns to feed tithes through the Altars of Summoning and the Deck of Whispers.

August 29 – September 26 — Xivu Arath sends Wrathborn forces. The Guardian stops her from receiving tribute, summoning the Leviathan-Eater, Bane of the Ammonites — Xivu Arath's greatest champion — who withdraws. The Guardian attunes to Arc, Solar, and Void energies, and uncovers the Imbaru Engine, the source of Savathûn's Imbaru (inversion of Sword Logic).

October 3 — Eris is ready to complete the final tithe. Eris meets the Leviathan-Eater and succeeds in slaying it. Ikora arrives with Savathûn's body. Immaru resurrects her. Eris kills Savathûn (gaining all her power) and banishes Xivu Arath from her Throne World, making her mortal. Eris collapses. Savathûn is resurrected again and demands they uncover the secret to following the Witness — she tells them she already showed them and gives them Immaru as a peace offering.

17 October – 7 November — Festival of the Lost — Eido and Glint investigate the Headless Ones. Immaru manipulates Archie and steals candy. Archie helps Eido and Glint destroy a Headless One.

November 14 — Discovering the 15th Wish — Following Savathûn's claims of leaving one last gift, the Guardian discovers three braziers, lighting them to reveal a final test. The room contains a pure Ahamkara egg belonging to Riven's clutch. Eris reveals the sketch on Savathûn's wings matches the Wall of Wishes — she had given them the 15th Wish.

13.7 Season of the Wish / Into the Light

November 28 — Riven returns — The Witness sends the Sol Divisive to invade the Dreaming City. The Guardian recovers a tooth from Riven's corpse so the Techeuns can conjure her spirit. Riven refuses the 15th wish until they recover her clutch. The Techeuns use Ley Lines to locate the clutch.

December 1 — Secrets in the EDZ — Crow discovers a Scorn presence. The Guardian defeats Rathil, First Broken Knight of Fikrul, a Chimera bearing the avatar of Hefnd, and the Locus of Wailing Grief. Crow and Petra uncover the story of Hefnd and its relationship with Naeem.

December 5 — The next egg recovered — The Techeuns locate the second egg.

December 12 — The 3rd egg recovered — The Guardian participates in The Coil.

December 19 — Starcrossed — The Sol Divisive creates an Axis Mind simulating the Techeuns. The Sol Divisive steals the egg into the Black Garden, near Taranis's corpse. The Guardian recovers it using Riven's accessway. Riven learns that Taranis is responsible for scattering the clutch as his final wish. Riven explains the relationship between her and Taranis before the Great Ahamkara Hunt. They keep Wish-Keeper.

December 26 — The 5th egg recovered — The Taken corrupt the next egg. Mara proposes acquiring Taken essentia. They return to Riven, in conversation with Mara and Osiris. Riven reveals the 15th wish would allow only one individual to enter the Pale Heart via the Ley Lines. Mara is furious; Osiris stops her with Strand.

January 2 – 9 — The final egg recovered — Crow shares his plans: he volunteers to be the first Guardian to enter the Pale Heart. After recovering all eggs, they enter the 15th wish at the Wall of Wishes. Riven fades away after using the last of her energy.

April 9 — Defense on the Last City — As the Vanguard waits for Crow and Osiris to form the bridge, the Witness sends Hive and House of Salvation forces. Shaxx brings back weapons once deemed heretical: the BRAVE Arsenal. He and Arcite 99-40 set up shop in the Hall of Champions.

May 21 — Closer to the Heart — Osiris uncovers a plot by the Sol Divisive to replace the Veil with the Black Heart. The Guardian returns to the Black Garden, destroys Transfer Gates and the Withdrawn Mind. They defeat the Established Mind, Synchronal Mind, and Inevitable Mind. The Black Heart's destruction allows Crow entry into the Pale Heart. Crow meets Cayde-6 in the Pale Heart after seeing the Witness's monolith.

13.8 The Final Shape

4 June — The Final Shape Approaches — The Witness begins to enact the Final Shape on the people of the Last City. The Traveler resists and undoes the calcification. The Vanguard initiates Operation Ahamkara and travels through the portal with the Guardian.

Transmigration — The Guardian crash-lands inside the Threshold. They use Light and Darkness to create paths forward and discover Prismatic (a fusion of Light and Darkness) through Transcendence. After defeating Vrihn, Subjugator of Gardens, they reunite with Cayde-6.

Temptation — Cayde tasks the Guardian with finding Crow. They travel to the Landing, defeat the Pillar of Denial, enter the Refraction cave, and find Crow listening to whispers from a veiled statue. Glint chastises Crow.

Exegesis — The Guardian finds Ikora in the Blooming. They defeat the Pillar of Silence and regroup with Ikora in deep meditation. Ikora explains the Final Shape in more detail.

Requiem — The Guardian helps Zavala defend his homestead from House Salvation forces, defeating the Pillar of Stillness. Zavala lets go of his grief, briefly seeing a veiled figure crying for help.

Ascent — The Guardian follows Crow and Cayde through the Divide. Crow reveals the truth to Cayde: he was brought back through a wish. Crow nearly cripples Blue. The Traveler gives the Guardian new Supers at the Impasse, the site of their first resurrection.

The Message — Cayde, Crow, and the Guardian commune with the Traveler. With assistance from Luzaku (sent by Savathûn), they arrive at an uncorrupted fissure. The Traveler invokes the Guardian tenets and offers Cayde to make his own fate, before the Witness cuts the vision short by revealing the forgotten tenet: death.

Liminality — The Guardian enters the Abscess to slay a Tormentor. They uncover a secret about the Witness's past: the Witness's species had its own home planet. A dissenter reveals "give in to Darkness" — Ikora and Zavala argue. They defeat Kataxiia, Tormentor of the Ahamkara. Zavala leaves camp alone.

Dissent — Targe accompanies the Guardian to pursue Zavala through the Transgression and Maelstrom. They defeat the Pillar of Devotion. Zavala enters a pool of Darkness; the Witness shows him a vision of the precursor species creating itself. The Witness offers Zavala to join; Targe stops him and is crushed by the Witness. Zavala becomes mortal.

Iconoclasm — The group makes their way to the ritual site. The Witness tempts the Guardian to become a Disciple. Mara enters the Pale Heart through the H.E.L.M. They reach the ritual site, fight the Witness and two Subjugators, enter the Witness's mind where dissenters instruct them to destroy statues with a sword of Light. They wound the Witness, but it gravely wounds them and forces them to retreat. They escape within the H.E.L.M.

Queens, Part I — Mara recruits Empress Caiatl, Mithrax, and Micah-10 of the Six Coyotes to heal the Traveler. They establish a base in the Lost City. Savathûn baits the Guardian to test their mettle, then has her forces retreat.

The Hollow — The House of Salvation, led by Korha, the Hollow, attempts to extract paracausal energy from the Tree of Silver Wings. Mithrax discovers his connection with Korha — Korha was responsible for the death of his mother Inaaks. They corner Korha in the Technocrat's Iron; he is killed by a House of Light Brig.

Home — The Guardian and Caiatl sabotage Light-harvesting machines deployed by the Shadow Legion.

Queens, Part II — Mara discovers she can see hidden fissures of Light. Savathûn and Mara continue sparring. Luzaku assists. Mara demands Savathûn's Lucent Brood form a temporary truce with the Coalition.

Wild Card — The Guardian works with Cayde and Crow to investigate the Witness's experiments with Dark Ether. They confront Lii'liks, Harvester of the Witness and recover the Dark Ether canister. Cayde and Crow defeat Lii'liks with a cave-in. Cayde passes the cloak of the Hunter Vanguard to Crow, reveals he is not planning to return to the Tower, and Zavala begins to learn Stasis.

Acquisition of Ergo Sum — The Guardian fuses Light and Darkness into a Dyadic Prism, returns to the site where they first confronted the Witness, and acquires a sword from the Corridors of Time — Ergo Sum, found on their grave.

The Guardian works with Micah-10 to locate unpartered Ghosts: Peach (Cosmodrome — Navôta returns), Link (Moon — Chamber of Night), Dejana (EDZ — Dark Forest under the Shard), Bean (Nessus — Insight Terminus, clone of Kargen attempting to access Vex Network for OXA Machine intel), Akasha (Dreaming City — Xivu Arath moving forces en masse, abandoning the Witness), Citrine (Mars — Warmind Bunker, time wound, Kelgorath manifestation), Anwar (Europa — perished; Micah recovers his remains), Heilung (Court of Savathûn — Lucent Brood intel), Balthazar (Moon — Lunar Pyramid; recovers an Archival Sphere containing an ancient recording where the Witness ordered Nezarec to show the Psions the Veil), and Hecate (Cosmodrome — House Dusk acquiring a Prime Servitor from Eramis in exchange for weapons).

7 June — Salvation's Edge — The Guardian recruits a fireteam of six. They use pyramidal, spherical, and hexahedral resonance. They defeat the Herald of Finality. The Witness reveals it is the first knife wielded by the Winnower. They face the Witness in a completely different form and weaken it.

Excision — Zavala rallies the Coalition and the Lucent Brood. The Guardians receive Relic weapons and destroy the remaining dissenter statues. The Witness defends itself with a glass barrier; Ghost asks the Guardian to channel the Traveler's Light directly through him. The Witness is finally defeated, ending the war against the Witness. Ghost is completely drained of Light. Cayde sacrifices himself, transferring his Light into Ghost. The Last City celebrates by releasing paper lanterns.

The Aurora forms and the Echoes launched — After the death of the Witness, an aurora known as the Valence forms around the portal and begins to vent Light and Darkness. The Witness's Darkness diffuses into a mist and merges with the Traveler's Light, creating the Echoes — crystallized paracausal objects created from the memories of civilizations destroyed by the Witness. The Echoes exit the portal and scatter across the Sol System.

14. The Echoes Arms Race

14.1 Episode: Echoes

June 11 — A Changing Planetoid — The first Echo, the Echo of Command (containing the memories of the Qugu Warden Te'Qal and granting the user the ability to compel others), crash-lands onto Nessus beneath the Chamber of Sky. It is retrieved by the consciousness of Maya Sundaresh, who uses its power to compel Vex radiolaria to construct an Exo body for herself resembling Lakshmi-2. Designating herself as "the Conductor", Maya embarks on her mission to find Chioma Esi within the Vex Network. The Guardian is dispatched to Nessus by Ikora. Failsafe, Osiris, and Saint-14 are selected to assist. Osiris uploads Failsafe into the H.E.L.M. mainframe. Saint reveals his vision to explore beyond the Sol System.

June 11 – 25 — A Familiar Voice — The Guardian uses Failsafe's B.R.A.I.N module to deposit Radiolite samples. The House of Salvation, led by Pykis, follows the Vex into Failsafe's primary mainframe within the Exodus Black. Saint cannot respond to comms; the Guardian pursues him into the Well of Flame. Saint is brainwashed by the Conductor but breaks free. The Conductor had convinced him he was a copy, shaking his convictions.

July 16 – 30 — A Distant Reply — The Echo arms race begins. The Eliksni of House Dusk are led by Kalliks, Baron of House Dusk. Radiolaria is being diverted underground. The Guardian defeats the Baron, Hypolydron, Captive Mind, Kamarian, Radial Overseer, and Antioptes, Hypogean Sentinel. After deploying Failsafe's nanobots, they enter the Planetary Depths and find a Vex city being constructed underground. Ikora and Failsafe plan to enter the Vex Network and find Saint-14's body there. The Guardian, Osiris, and Saint finally meet the Conductor, who reveals herself as Maya Sundaresh controlling radiolaria flow. They escape as Maya threatens to convert the Sol System.

August 27 – September 10 — A Resounding Truth — Maya reveals her motivation: she is seeking out her version of Chioma Esi. They arrive at the Planetary Core (the Conductor's lab). The Shadow Legion is also looking for the Echo, led by Yirix: Eexonios and Iziira, Pledged to Yirix. They enter the lab and uncover the Conductor's cruelty — forcing copies of Chioma Esi to a fidelity test. The Conductor sends Hydra frames: Parodos, Stasimon, and Exodos, Choral Mind. After defeating them, Saint breaks free of the Echo's power. Maya escapes into the Vex Network with the Echo. The Guardian learns the truth about Maya through memory remnants.

14.2 Episode: Revenant

October 8 — Na-Veskirisk — The second Echo, the Echo of Riis (containing the memories of a pre-Whirlwind Eliksni), falls under the possession of Fikrul. He uses its power to convert living Eliksni into Revenant Scorn ("na-veskirisk") and fulfill an ancient prophecy to become the Kell of Kells. Crow tasks the Guardian with responding to a distress call on Europa. They learn Eramis is responding too. After fighting a Revenant Baron (requiring destroying a Revenant Totem to permanently defeat), they catch up to Eramis. Fikrul forces the Ketch to crash into the H.E.L.M., sending it crashing to Europa. Eido sets up a Tonic Shop in the Eliksni Quarter to find a cure for Mithrax, who suffers from Nezarec's curse.

Eliksni Rescue — The Guardian becomes the Slayer Baron of House Light. They use the Slayer Baron Apothecary Satchel and Tonic Capsule. Eramis reveals a Salvation outpost on the Reef; Crow accompanies them, but Fikrul attempts to negotiate. Variks reveals pre-Whirlwind Riis history.

October 11 — Vesper's Host — Debris from the Morning Star impacts the dormant Vesper Station and releases the AI within, which takes the moniker of the Corrupted Puppeteer. House Salvation refugees aboard are hunted and integrated into the collective consciousness. With them, the Puppeteer constructs an Anomaly to broadcast messages into the cosmos. Spider sends a fireteam after losing contact with a scavenger. The fireteam reactivates power, destroys Raneiks Unified (an amalgamation of ten Servitors), and confronts the Corrupted Puppeteer, enabling Astraea to shut down the Anomaly. Astraea breaks free of Clovis's restrictions and vows to keep the Anomaly dormant. A message from Lodi is uncovered.

November 19 — Grave Robber — Fikrul's attention turns to the now-derelict Prison of Elders. The Guardian fights through Lucent Brood, Shadow Legion, Dread, and Revenant Scorn forces. Variks attempts to disable the malfunctioned Servitor. Skolas is brought back from death by Fikrul's Echo, but Variks reveals the Echo is paracausal, singing a Whirlwind dirge and discontent with Fikrul's ambition. The Guardian defeats Skolas, but Fikrul resurrects him and the duo escape. Eido suggests freeing Eramis from her prison. The Guardian delivers a Golden Age comic to Spider to do so. Eramis agrees to coordinate.

January 7 — Kell of Kells — Fikrul revives the Scorned Barons. Eramis reveals Fikrul's Echo alters Ether polarity. Eido gives the Guardian a frame for Slayer's Fang. Mithrax's condition worsens — Nezarec temporarily possesses him. The Guardian enters the Revenant Plane, a mirror reflection of the material plane. They cannot defeat Fikrul; he sends Reksis Vahn in his place. Eido develops the Tonic of Ether Clarification, encountering Ixis, the Apothecary and the Scorned Organist. The tonic is mixed into an injector device. The Guardian uses it on Fikrul — he becomes an Eliksni before collapsing and melting away. Eramis and Mithrax (possessed by Nezarec) witness Fikrul's defeat. The Echo recognizes Eramis as worthy; she accepts and cleanses Mithrax of Nezarec's influence. Mithrax is chosen as the Kell of Kells; Eramis plans to leave the Sol System. The Guardian returns to the Prison of Elders and defeats Skolas.

14.3 Episode: Heresy

February 4 — Espial/Recce — The third Echo, the Echo of Navigation (containing the memories of Oryx in the time between his ascent to the Taken King and the birth of his children), lands on the Dreadnaught. The Dire Taken and Eversion Anchors appear throughout Sol. Eris and Drifter dispatch the Guardian to the EDZ to investigate. The Guardian defeats Gorkall, the Gatekeeper and follows the Eversion Anchor through the Ascendant Plane. The Resonant Knife kills Eris with its lance. The Guardian obtains the Tablet of Ruin after defeating Felghul the Requisitioner. They visit Eris's flat and find a message — Sloane gives them a mission to avenge Eris.

February 4 – 18 — Echoed Warning — Sloane teaches the Guardian to follow the Path of Resolve. They tap into Taken energy to infiltrate Eversion Anchors, including one in Savathûn's Throne World (with Luzaku's help). They return to the Dreadnaught, kill Hive lieutenants, and place corpses on the Dreadnaught's weapon systems. The Echo speaks, seeing them as a trespasser. They witness the Echo within the Hall of Souls. Xivu Arath and Savathûn arrive on the Dreadnaught. Xivu Arath sees the Echo as a sign of Oryx's return; Savathûn sees it as a path to create their own future. Dire Taken ambush them. The Drifter explains his decision to go AWOL.

February 7 — Sundered Doctrine — A faction of Dread under Kerrev, the Erased embark on an expedition to search for power to reshape themselves. They establish a foothold within the Sunken Pyramid, aligning with Hive to unlock Rhulk's vault. The Hidden dispatches the Guardian. After completing a riddle and navigating a maze, the Guardian destroys the four Zoetic Lockset (Dread-modified Shriekers) and defeats Kerrev. They open Rhulk's vault and discover Oryx's chisel that he used to carve the Tablets of Ruin. The Hidden establishes a perimeter.

March 11 – 25 — Rites of the Deep — Eris created a throne world of her own from killing Savathûn and banishing Xivu Arath. She names it the High Heresy. She tasks the Guardian with recovering fragments of Willbreaker to open the portal. The Echo issues a challenge for them to be the claimant to the High War. Eris teaches them to walk the Path of Ambition. They witness the first sign of the Deep's presence through a ritual called the Offering. They overhear a conversation between the Echo and Savathûn, where Savathûn reveals the Witness's lies to it. After gathering the Flesh of Akka, the Resonant Knife's attempt to stop them fails — the Echo is captured and placed in Eris's throne world. Sloane uncovers a signal from a previously unknown area of the Dreadnaught (coming from the Deep). The Guardian recovers Osseous Fragments and witnesses a skirmish between the Dire Taken and the Dread. The signal leads to the Barrow-Dyad. They face Xir-Kuur, Not-Taken in Hive and Taken forms; the Deep intervenes and reforms it, forcing them to flee.

April 1 – 8 — Crossed Blades — The Hive pantheon makes their move to steal the Echo. Xivu Arath sends forces to invade the Dreadnaught. They conduct a ritual; the Guardian defeats Dire Taken, Dread, and Hive forces orchestrated by Obak-Hul, Imprisoned, weakening it. The Deep Takes Obak-Hul. After defeating the Taken Knight, they recover the hilt of Willbreaker. They thwart Savathûn's plan and recover the final fragment from Malok's corpse. Sloane reforges Willbreaker on the Dreadnaught; the Deep attempts to Take her, but she resists. They make their final assault as Eris tries to keep the Echo. The Echo breaks free; they face the Projection of Savathûn, the Voice of Xivu Arath, and finally Keit'Ehr. They destroy the Echo with Willbreaker after Keit'Ehr is slain. Savathûn becomes enraged.

15. The Fate Saga

The Nine discuss the Witness's death and the Final Shape. Some members were relieved; others not. IV is absent.

The Unknown Antechamber — The Guardian collects strange chess pieces in places where the Drifter visited following Eris Morn's supposed death. With enough pieces, they enter Eris's throne world and are transported to a chessboard. They solve puzzles in the Middlegame and Endgame. The Drifter reveals that the Haul began receiving a signal in deep space.

6 May — Rite of the Nine — The Nine issue a challenge to Guardians to use them as their weapon. The Guardian learns the different members of the Nine and their associated writing style. Orin begins making her plan to escape from the Nine.

15.1 The Edge of Fate

After departing Nessus, Maya reflects on killing the real Chioma. She tasks the Vex to find information on restoring Earth to the time of the Golden Age — leading her to Cocytus and dark matter, both connected to the Nine. She begins her quest to bargain with the Nine to trade present Earth with Golden Age Earth, against Te'Qal's recommendations.

Before July 15 — Orin arrives on Kepler, a planetoid within the Oort Cloud approximately 1.7 light years from Sol, as III speaks through her. III sends an invitation to Kepler before Orin asks the Nine to seek out someone else as Emissary. Lodi arrives on Kepler and is cared for by the Aionians. On Earth, Ikora investigates dark matter anomalies when a train comes out of nowhere and nearly kills her. She finds an aster inside the train and sends Kepler coordinates to the Guardian.

15 July — The Invitation — The Guardian arrives on Kepler and encounters the House of Exile, refugees from the Long Drift led by an Archon named Levaszk who believes in the Grand Design through worship of an entity called the Giver. The Nine reach out through visions. The Guardian defeats Vessels of the Archon and recovers a strangelet capsule containing dark matter. Lodi doesn't reveal how he recognizes Ikora and guides them to the Aionian camp where the singularity is being studied.

The Central Academy Strangelet — The Guardian meets Dean Rebecca and Orin regains consciousness. They enhance their understanding of the Aionian language, destroy the Nessian Schism threatening food supply, stop the House of Exile from invading the AION Initiative's progenitor ship, and confront a Gate Lord outside the Aionian Campus. Maya makes her presence known. After defeating the Gate Lord, they recover the strangelet and learn Lodi was a translator who didn't know the Collapse occurred. Orin reveals Lodi was chosen by the Nine to become the 3rd Emissary, after Xûr and her.

The Exile's Accord Strangelet — The Guardian works with Lodi to sabotage the House of Exile's base. They overload the generator, destroy Ether supplies in the central refinery, and weaken Levaszk by destroying the House of Exile's Prime Servitor. Lodi reveals the House of Exile once worked with the Aionians before Levaszk worshipped the Giver.

The Outer Steppes Strangelet — Before retrieving the next strangelet, Lodi confesses: he was a man named Louis Yero, worked for the DEO, and recognized Ikora from her pre-Guardian self, Dr. Nella Davis, his colleague at the DEO. Lodi reveals the Nine were responsible for the death of Dr. Nella Davis by sending a train toward her. The Guardian pursues a thief and powers up reactor pylons. They recover the strangelet after defeating the Reactor Saboteur.

The Gorge Strangelet — The Guardian clears Vex Minds dampening Aionian broadcasts, disrupts Nessian Schism plans to refine dark matter, then lowers the quarantine preventing entry to the singularity. IX accuses Orin of being a quitter; III and IX planned for the Traveler to create Ghosts. They recover the last strangelet.

Criticality — Before placing the last strangelet, they must stop a reactor overload. III is unable to answer, forcing the Guardian to restart the cooling system manually. Lodi receives visions of various calamities throughout Earth's history. They insert all strangelets into the Altar of Relativity. The Nine assemble a council on two issues: the Guardian being anointed as the Weapon and Lodi becoming the third Emissary. The latter is divided.

The Message — The Guardian makes their way to the singularity through a passage beside the Altar of Relativity. They uncover the truth: III was dead, and III was the Giver being worshipped in the House of Exile. They draw Levaszk out by disabling his connection to his Ketch, then defeat him. Drifter brings the Haul to III. III is temporarily revived and speaks through Lodi. It reveals Maya killed III when it couldn't acquiesce to her desire by pulling it into a 3-dimensional space. III warns its death would bring an extinction-level event before dying again. Lodi embraces his role as Emissary.

The Desert Perpetual — Dean Rebecca tasks the Guardian with stopping the Vex invading a pocket of the Nine Realms. The Guardian finds beacons containing dialogue between Chioma .50 and Maya .87 (copies of Chioma Esi and Maya Sundaresh in the Vex Network). They defeat Epoptes, Lord of Quanta, Iatros, Inward-Turned, and Agraios, Inherent. They face Koregos, the Worldline to prevent the realm's digitization. Chioma .50 reveals the Vex are looking for other members of the Nine. They help Chioma .50 and Maya .87 reunite.

Reclamation — The Guardian contains threats with Ana Bray, Devrim Kay, and Saint-14 running tactical on Solo Ops. They collect data pads revealing the Nessian Schism abducting Dire Taken forces, Maya's control of the Echo dwindling, and an unknown Cabal faction (the Barant Imperium) mugging Xûr for information on the Nine.

September 9 — Ash & Iron — Maya sends forces to conduct a smash-and-grab on the Tower for Golden Age salvage. Some forces include Red Legion pulled from an alternate timeline compelled by the dwindling Echo. The people of the Last City experience health and environmental problems from III's death, and hear rumors of an emerging independent Vex faction. Spider plans to travel to Mars.

October 21 — Heliostat — The Guardian tracks the Conductor's forces into a derelict Warmind bunker in the Plaguelands. With Psion allies, they stop the Conductor from using Warsats to broadcast a signal offsetting her Echo's dwindling power. They defeat Valus Thuun and acquire Quicksilver. Further advances lead Astraea to meet Lodi and plan to head to Neptune to reunite with Soteria.

15.2 Renegades

2 December — Imperium — A few months since III's death, Earth suffers from changes in chemical compositions. To avoid hysteria, the Vanguard and Praxic Order redact the information regarding III's prophecy. Drifter assembles a crew: Eido, Eris, Lodi, Aunor Mahal, the Guardian, and his Ghost Blue. They steal a Barant Imperium asset and attempt to escape aboard the Derelict, but are captured by the Zagan Gloriosus. The Derelict is boarded by Imperium leaders Premier Lume and Dredgen Bael, who capture the Drifter with Stasis. The Guardian boards the carrier. Dredgen Bael speaks to the Guardian; IV momentarily possesses Bael and views the Guardian with contempt. After returning the Drifter, Aunor disables the tractor beam. Aunor and Bael fight with their Praxic Blades but neither emerges victorious.

Welcome to the Frontier — The Vanguard cannot provide support (busy looking for a solution to Earth's crisis). The Guardian becomes a renegade and meets Drifter at the Tharsis Outpost on Mars — a hub for criminal syndicates including the Pikers (an atheist Eliksni gang), the Totality Division (a Barant Imperium platoon led by Enforcer Rao), and the Tharsis Reformation (independent Vex broken off from Maya). Drifter reveals two things: the Barant Imperium is tied to the Nine, and the stolen asset was the Encrypted Data Disk. Aunor and Spider task them with venturing into the Lawless Frontier to recover parts for Blue. Blue reveals data contained information for a superweapon called Nightfall Station.

Fearsome Retainer — The Guardian gains the trust of the Pikers by gathering keycards stolen by the Imperium. Drifter plans to go AWOL. Eris attempts (and fails) to open communication with the Nine without Lodi. Drifter goes AWOL, convinced by VI's prophecy that Eris will die. The Guardian retrieves the Pikers' Splicer Shank aboard Spider's barge after surviving the Pikers' betrayal. The barge is then destroyed by the Barant Imperium.

Tharsis Ghost Massacre — Drifter leaves Mars to pursue Bael. Nightfall Station attacks Tharsis Outpost with a beam of Eclipse energy. The Guardians and Ghosts in Tharsis are killed with their Light stripped away. Bael threatens to use the superweapon on the Last City unless evacuated. The Guardian brings a dead Ghost to Zavala to convince him of the threat.

Out in the Cold — Eris and Lodi learn from VI: Bael was ascended by it in response to the Guardian becoming the Weapon, and the superweapon technology was gifted by the Outer Orbits of the Nine. The Guardian works with Tharsis Reformation to learn the location of the shuttle to Nightfall Station — in an Imperium base on Europa. The Imperium became powerful in a short time due to time dilation by VI. They defeat a Strand-Hardened Behemoth. Aunor reveals they must gain the Totality Division's help.

Fire and Ice — After a smuggling op for the Totality Division, the Guardian retrieves Aunor's Praxic Blade from the Praxic Vault on Europa. They navigate the Ascendant Plane as Bael taunts them and defeat Taken and Imperium forces.

The Long Con — Wearing Imperium uniforms from Reformation thieves, the Guardian locates the Imperium firebase on Venus. Drifter speaks to Bael, who is beginning to regret his loyalty to VI. The Guardian disables the defenses protecting Nightfall Station. Bael reveals he is attempting a coup on the Last City to free people from the Vanguard's control. The Guardian and Drifter regroup; Drifter nearly crushes Blue before Bael attacks him. Drifter fires a Thorn round which severs Bael's hand, forcing him to escape. Bael is not a Guardian, but a Human — the son of a Tex Mechanica magnate named Cesar Bizet.

Glory Beyond — The Guardian returns to the Zagan Gloriosus. They confront Premier Lume, who flees. They board a Falcon leading to Nightfall Station, use its weaponry to destabilize the core. The Guardian evacuates; Nightfall Station is destroyed before it could fire. Bael escapes. The crew regroup at the Tharsis cantina where Drifter and Eris kiss.

The Territory Wars — The syndicates struggle for supremacy within the Lawless Frontier. Eido and Aunor broadcast the truth regarding the crisis on Earth. Astraea makes landfall on Neptune to eventually reunite with Soteria roaming the CloudArk network. Drifter learns that the Taken have created a mysterious entity to lead them. Lodi reveals a potential solution to bind the Nine lies within the subterranean network beneath Chicago with guidance from IV, who gave him the coordinates.

13 December — Equilibrium — Aunor tells the Guardian to make their way to a Praxic temple on Venus as Barant Imperium forces attempt to pillage the artifacts. After driving out Imperium forces, the Guardian boards a Harvester heading for an Imperium Carrier. They encounter Harrow, Dredgen-Apprentice, a Barant Dredgen Apprentice of Dredgen Sere, in turn a student of Bael, who has converted a pair of Praxic Blades into Weapons of Sorrow. The Guardian defeats Harrow as the Carrier reaches the Malphas Contemptus. They face off against Dredgen Sere and recover the stolen artifacts. The Guardian continues recovering other artifacts and returns them to the Praxic temple, eventually lighting a Praxic fire after all artifacts were recovered. Through this, they fully enhance the potential of their own Praxic Blade.