Editing Leviathan (ship)

{{about|the personal ship of [[Emperor Calus]]|other uses|Leviathan}}

|name=The Leviathan

The '''Leviathan''' is a massive [[Cabal]] space vessel which  previously served as the personal pleasure craft of the exiled [[Emperor Calus]] and his [[Loyalists]].<ref>[https://www.pcgamesn.com/destiny-2/destiny-2-raid-guide/ Destiny 2's Leviathan Raid: everything we know about its ultimate challenge]</ref><ref>[https://gamerant.com/destiny-2-leviathan-raid-boss-escape// Destiny 2 Leviathan Raid Details Leak]</ref><ref>[https://www.vg247.com/2017/09/11/does-destiny-2s-mysterious-on-the-comms-quest-have-something-to-do-with-the-leviathan-raid// Does Destiny 2's mysterious On the Comms quest have something to do with the Leviathan Raid?]</ref><ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHu_X6wgJik/ Destiny 2 - Nessus Adventure: Invitation From The Emperor]</ref> It is the setting of the [[Leviathan (raid)|Leviathan]] and [[Crown of Sorrow]] [[Raid]]s, as well as the [[Leviathan, Eater of Worlds|Eater of Worlds]] and [[Leviathan, Spire of Stars|Spire of Stars]] [[Raid Lair]]s. The former takes place exclusively within the palace atop the ship, whereas the latter take place deep within its interior and around the tower situated on the top of the ship, respectively.

The Leviathan is a gigantic spaceship, being comparable in size to a small celestial body. It is used by Calus' Loyalists to consume entire planetoids, breaking them down so that their processed rubble may be mixed with nectar from a species of psionically-enhancing plant, producing a thick, purple substance referred to as "[[Royal Wine]]" to be consumed by the Emperor himself. A large palace where Emperor Calus and his servants reside stands on the upper surface of the ship, and two small artificial suns hover in place above the highest tower.

The Leviathan is formidably armed, carrying laser weapons, missile bombardments and fusion missiles powerful enough to destroy [[Cabal warship]]s in a single direct hit. These weapons use an unusual, immersive targeting system that may involve psionics. There is an energy that courses through the ship that can be utilized by certain items obtained {{Citation needed}}.

The Leviathan was constructed by the Cabal [[Praetorate]] at some point prior to Calus's reign as Emperor, when he was known as the Prince Designate. While the Leviathan was initially made to resemble the [[Landwhale]]s, it was designed to be in the shape of a scoop to consume planets so that it did not need to refuel. The Praetorate would then use the ship to careen the previous Empress of the Cabal around the corners of the Empire so that they would not have to deal with chaotic successors.<ref name="BLVD">'''Bungie (2023/2/28)''', ''[[Destiny 2]]: [[Lightfall]], [[Lore]]: [[Beloved (lore)|Beloved]] - [[Beloved (lore)#I am seven years old.|I am seven years old.]]''</ref>

===Calus's Exile===

On the night of the [[Ghaul's coup|coup]] that deposed him, Emperor Calus was arrested and quietly ushered aboard the Leviathan, where [[Dominus Ghaul]] and his co-conspirators intended him to remain in exile in perpetuity. The Leviathan's navigation system was locked onto a course that would take it far from the Cabal Empire's domain.  

 

After many centuries, the navigation system failed and the ship came to a halt; it had come upon a great expanse of utter nothingness, and could not plot a course through it. It was here that Calus claimed to have encountered something that overawed him, later revealed to be the [[Witness]] and its [[Black Fleet]], and resolved to become its herald. With the navigation system unlocked, Calus charted a course back to Cabal territory, collecting [[Shadows]] from various alien races along the way to enact his revenge against his usurpers.

The [[Reef]] armada regularly performed fleet maneuvers near the Leviathan as a show of force. Though target locks were established, no fire was exchanged on either side.

Wanting a Shadow to command the Hive, Calus bred [[Gahlran]] to wear a Hive artifact known as the [[Crown of Sorrow]]. However, Gahlran was driven mad by the Crown's power, as it was a trap laid by [[Savathûn, the Witch-Queen]]. Under the control of Savathûn, Gahlran summoned a massive Hive infestation, killing many Loyalists, and took control of the depths of the Leviathan's Menagerie. Now wanting his former Shadow put down, Calus called upon the Guardians once more, offering more riches and rewards upon their success. After a grueling struggle against the mad Shadow and the Hive's magic, the Guardians succeeded in killing Gahlran and retrieving the Crown.

Calus later honored the Guardians with a Tribute Hall established aboard his ship, and made them an offer to become his newest Shadows.

Sometime after the arrival of the [[Pyramids]] in the Sol System, the Leviathan mysteriously vanished from the orbit of Nessus. [[Osiris]] investigated its disappearance, but found nothing hinting as to why the Leviathan left or where it was headed. Logs found aboard the ''[[Glykon Volatus]]'' suggested that the Leviathan had simply hidden at some location in the System while Calus performed his experiments.  

 

{{quote|The Leviathan is growing, changing, transforming. You are witnessing the death of one state of being... and the beginning of another.|[[Emperor Calus]]}}

Two years after its disappearance, the Leviathan returned to the [[Sol System]] in orbit of [[Luna]], having become derelict, dilapidated and heavily overgrown with [[Darkness]]-enhanced [[Egregore|flora]] similar to the ''[[Glykon Volatus]]''; the latter where Calus sacrificed countless [[Scorn]] to feed the extradimensional fungi. Calus had also forged a psychic connection from his ship to the [[Pyramid (Luna)|Lunar Pyramid]] beneath the Moon, turning the Leviathan into an extension of the dormant structure's influence and rousing the [[Nightmares]] to haunt his derelict vessel. Undead hordes of [[Scorn]] that Calus previously experimented upon would also infest the Leviathan and ally with the Loyalist Cabal. The Leviathan also changed in some yet unknown ways, as some hull parts can be found inside the ship, and Calus seems to say that now it is somehow alive. This was confirmed later by Calus when he admitted the Leviathan was once his prison, but he was now one body with the ship, able to feel the beings within the ship "wriggling through my innards".

Though the Guardians worked with Caiatl in severing the connections Calus was forging with the Lunar Pyramid, conquering the personal nightmares of Crow, Zavala and Caiatl herself, the former emperor nonetheless succeeded in his intent of entering the Pyramid and become a Disciple of the Witness. The Guardian and Caiatl, however, were able to prevent Calus from assuming control over the Lunar Pyramid and merging with its power, pushing the former emperor back. Nonetheless, Calus had given himself over to the [[Witness]], thereby becoming the herald of the Second Collapse. Since then, the signal the Leviathan was giving would go silent and Eris would speculate that it would take months to clear out the Nightmares that continue to haunt the massive vessel.

==Locations==

Unlike previous raid locations, areas within the Leviathan are not given unique names as they load in. However, as with locations within a [[Crucible]] map, certain rooms and areas have a unique name that is displayed beneath the player radar. However, this was changed in [[Season of the Haunted]] upon the return of the Leviathan where the regions of the Leviathan do appear as loading zones.  

*Menagerie

**[[Menagerie Depths]]

***[[Royal Theater]]

***[[Undercroft]]

*[[Statue Garden]]

**[[Celestial Observatory]]

*Prison Barge

**[[Emperor's Respite]] {{C|[[Crucible]] map}}

*[[Tribute Hall]] {{c|Landing zone}}

***[[Terminus]]

;[[Raid]]

;[[Raid Lair]]

;[[Crucible]]

;[[Arena]]

*[[The Menagerie]]

;Miscellaneous

*One idea for the Leviathan's origin, according to artist [https://www.artstation.com/dorje Dorje Bellbrook], was that the ship was inspired by creatures native to Calus' homeworld resembling large "[[Landwhale|land whales]]" that would travel along the ground and swallow anything caught in their path.<ref>'''ArtStation''': ''[https://www.artstation.com/artwork/D6Q1O Destiny 2: Cabal City-Eating Landwhale]'' (''"I thought it would be cool if Emperor Calus was inspired to make the Leviathan from a creature native to his home planet, a huge land whale that would slide across the plains and devour anything in its path."'')</ref>

**This would be partially confirmed in [[Beloved (lore)|Beloved]], which explains that the Leviathan was designed after the Landwhales, with its mouth serving as a scoop to consume planets.  

*The Leviathan is probably not as large as it seems as the planetoid that it is swallowing, Nessus, is only about 50km in diameter. Since the Leviathan is only a little bit larger than Nessus, it's assumed the Leviathan is meant to eat moons and planetoids, instead of entire planets. Although, Nessus may have been altered as it is more spherical and has a horizon when on the surface. However it should also be noted that considering the mouth is consistently shown to be twice as large as Nessus at a bare minimum, the Leviathan would have to be at least one hundred kilometers in size. When seen again orbiting Luna, the Leviathan is nearly overlapped by the Earth's Moon, which is 3,475 km in diameter, further showcasing that the Leviathan isn't as large as initially believed.

*Since the raids and raid lairs tied to the Leviathan were sunset with the release of Beyond Light and since the patrol destination of the Derelict Leviathan is no longer accessible with the release of Lightfall, it can be considered that the Leviathan is the only destination that has been vaulted twice in Destiny 2's lifespan.

**''[[Season of the Drifter]]'' {{Mo}}