Nessus

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There is more information available on this subject at Nessus on the English Wikipedia.

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A planetoid with an irregular orbit, converted by the Vex for reasons unknown.

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Nessus
Astrographical
Star, position:	Sol, outer system
Physical
Diameter:	60±16 km, 37 mi (pre-conversion)
Orbital period:	122.30 years (pre-conversion)
Surface temperature:	—217°C (pre-conversion)
Societal
Demonym:	Nessian
Population:	Vex, Fallen, Cabal

"Lush with giant twisted trees, deep caverns, waterfalls, and silver swamps, the origin of this planetoid remains unknown. What is clear is that the Vex have nearly transformed the entire planetoid into a Machine World, above and below the surface. For those Guardians willing to brave the dangers and explore the myriad of mysteries, treasures beyond the imagination await."

— Website description

7066 Nessus is a Centaur minor planet with an irregular orbit. At perihelion, Nessus is closer to the Sun than Uranus; at aphelion, Nessus moves into the Kuiper belt. It is a place where light is scarce.

History

At some point, the Vex arrived on Nessus and, overseen by the Vex Mind Argos, Planetary Core, began converting the Centaur into a Machine World to use to store defunct digital data.

During the Golden Age, the Colony ship Exodus Black crashed on Nessus on its way to Kepler-186, much to the surprise of its crew as it wasn't meant to be in their flight path. However, according to the ship's AI Failsafe, the ship's crash may have been due to their orbital momentum (referred to as a four-vector, for the dimensions of space and time) being folded away into six extra dimensions, presumably by the Vex. As the Exodus Black's crew attempted and failed to contact help, they and the colonists onboard were subsequently either captured and experimented on (such as stealing the memories of the captain) or killed by the Vex. Unable to contact help, Failsafe, became dormant until she was awoken by the arrival of Cayde-6.

Approximately 126 years before the SIVA Crisis, Nessus re-entered the Sol System after an unexpected delay. By this time, the Vex had converted 92.014% of the Centaur.

Red War

Following the Red Legion's invasion of Earth, they began to mobilize their forces across Nessus in an attempt to uncover any secrets it harbored, setting up drilling platforms, shipyards and bases such as Firebase Echo. During this mobilization, they came into conflict with the local Vex population as well as the Fallen House of Dusk, which was scavenging whatever they could from the remnants of the Exodus Black.

Following the death of Dominus Ghaul, the former Cabal emperor Calus arrived at the Sol System and began to consume sections of the planetoid with his flagship, the Leviathan. Doing so caused Argos to be sucked into the Leviathan's vacuum alongside a squadron of Vex, forcing Calus to call upon the Guardians to be rid of the Vex Mind for good. With the destruction of the Axis Mind, the conversion of the planetoid has been permanently halted, but the Leviathan continued to slowly consume Nessus into Royal Wine.

In addition to the return of Emperor Calus, the Guardian would work with Failsafe on numerous missions, including stopping several Vex experiments and stealing data from them, as well as preventing the Fallen from attacking her wreckage.

When working with Sagira to save Osiris from the Infinite Forest, the Guardian would track down an Entangled Mind on Nessus to use its eye to find his location.

Post-Red War

When the Kell's Scourge began using the Lost Forges, they were intercepted smuggling Black Armory tech from the planet. Following their trail led the Guardians to the Gofannon Forge in the ruins of the Exodus Black. The Guardians reclaimed the Forge from the Scourge's hands and kept defending it from their attempts to reclaim it. Following a set of Vex coordinates brought the Guardians to the Izanami Forge, which was being integrated into the Vex structure. The Guardians reclaimed this Forge as well and defended it from the encroaching Vex.

When the Black Fleet arrived, Nessus was one of the few worlds in the outer system that was left untouched by the Pyramids. However, sometime after their departure, Calus and the Leviathan mysteriously disappeared from Nessus's orbit, leaving the Machine World only partially consumed.

Some time afterwards, Calus's daughter and current leader of the Cabal Empire, Caiatl, arrived in the Sol System with her legions. Nessus was the first world to be invaded, with an Imperial Land Tank being deployed in the Arcadian Valley. It was here where her forces and the Guardians first clashed against one another in a bid for dominance over the system.

Over the ages, many Fallen Pirate Crews hid their treasures on the planet. These would be sought after by The Guardian as they fought against the crews that sided with Eramis, Kell of Darkness in her search for the relics of Nezarec. This closeness also made Mithrax, Kell of Light realize that the Vex sought to punish him for his intrusion into their Network during the Endless Night, and made him decide to avoid the planet in the future.

The Echo's Appearance

After the Coalition defeated the Witness within the Pale Heart, paracausal artifacts called Echoes were created from a collision of Light and Darkness. The first Echo, the Echo of Command, would land on the planetoid, and be claimed by a mysterious entity called the Conductor begins to mobilize the Vex, albeit with some behaviors never seen before on other Vex collective; as a result, Nessus begins to undergo a transformation brought about by the Echo's presence. Ikora tasks the Guardian with investigating the mysterious disturbance on the planetoid with Osiris, Saint-14, and Failsafe running tactical. While tracking down the Echo's impact site into the Chamber of Sky, they fight a new Vex collective distinguishable by a silica structure around their neck. After fighting through the new collective and uploading Failsafe into the H.E.L.M. mainframe, they continue their investigations by collecting Radiolite samples and uncovering an entrance to the Vex Network within the Well of Echoes. As they continue their investigations, they discover that the Echoes arms race has begun when the Eliksni from the House of Salvation were able to enter Failsafe's mainframe within the Exodus Black, led by Pykis, House Salvation, and the Eliksni of the House of Dusk, led by Kalliks, Baron of House Dusk, allied themselves with the Shadow Legion. They are forced to conclude their investigations when Saint falls under the possession of the Conductor. They follow his last known coordinates into the Well of Flame. They were able to find him, but he began to question whether he was the real Saint. Realizing the danger of Saint's situation, they shift their attention to unraveling the Conductor’s motives.

Locations

• Arcadian Valley (Destination)
  • The Tangle
    • Well of Dust
    • Well of Echoes
      • A Hole in the Well
    • Virgo Conduit
    • Chamber of Stone
    • The Mists
      • Vinculum Cell
      • Quiet Epiphany
    • The Fissure
    • Ancient's Haunt (Lost Sector)
  • The Cistern (Landing Zone)
    • Pools of Luminance
    • Well of Flame
      • Aqueducts
      • Planetary Depths
      • Planetary Core
        • Adytum
        • Vex Jungle Construct
        • Ishtar Research Facility
        • Ancillary Transit Nexus
        • Aberrant Code Containment
        • Networked Simulation Archive
        • Refraction Construct
    • The Anchor
      • Excavation Site VII
      • The Inverted Spire
    • The Conflux (Lost Sector)
    • The Shimmering Pools
  • Watcher's Grave (Landing Zone)
    • Chamber of Water
    • Sol Conduit
    • Infantry Concourse
      • Halphas Electus
        • Proving Ground
  • Artifact's Edge (Landing Zone)
    • Lost Fuselage
    • The Orrery (Lost Sector)
  • Hallows
    • The Tor
    • Sunken Cavern
      • Well of Giants
  • Exodus Black (Landing Zone)
    • Chamber of Sky
    • Prodromus Down
    • Well of Stars
    • The Rift (Lost Sector)
  • Glade of Echoes
    • EX-077 Command
    • The Carrion Pit (Lost Sector)
  • Endless Vale (Crucible map)
  • Firebase Echo (Crucible map)
  • Legion's Folly (Gambit map)
• Arcadian Strand
  • Distant Shore (Crucible map)

Trivia

• In early development, The Myriad was a working title for Nessus.
  • This makes sense, as Nessus could be described as a myriad in many manners. It contains mixtures of Fallen, Vex, and Cabal technologies, and is strongly influenced by all of those species. It is covered in mixtures of Fallen scavenged structures, Vex ruins and strange constructs, scattered bits of the Exodus Black, Cabal drills and structures, etc.
  • It is also one of a "myriad" of smaller barely-notable objects in the vicinity of the outer planets.
• The Vex who reside on the planet bear slight technological and physical differences from those across the rest of the Sol System.
• Large parts of Failsafe's ship, the Exodus Black, can be found along parts of Nessus. Scannables in the area indicate that Failsafe's crew tried to escape and survive, but died due to a lack of food and supplies.
  • Failsafe's crew do refer to the presence of the Vex, suggesting that the cyborgs were present when they arrived. Failsafe referred to the fact that she had been on Nessus long enough to see the Vex take over the entire planet, convert approximately 92% of it into a machine world like Mercury, and kill all life forms.
  • Armor and various lore pieces from Nessus have even suggested that the original crew of the Exodus Black was headed for Kepler 186f, a habitable planet very far from the Sol System. Some unknown force (possibly Vex technology) caused the ship to lose control and veer towards Nessus, which was near its path at the time. The engines and some parts of the ship malfunctioned, resulting in a crash landing. That was when the crew of the Exodus Black would face the Vex and meet their ends.
• Some birds and small animals can be seen flying over and around areas on Nessus. Plant life also exists there. It is unknown whether Nessus actually held life before the arrival of the Vex. Neither Ghost nor the other Vanguard members suggest that the Traveler terraformed it, however, some scannables give evidence that the life on Nessus is artificial, being created by the Vex for unknown purposes.
• Piror to the introduction of Neptune with the release of Lightfall, Nessus was the farthest location the Guardians have traveled to in the Destiny series.
• Following the death of the Witness, the creation of the Echoes and the appearance of the Conductor, the Vex that inhabit Nessus have separated from the Sol Collective and become a new sect, the Compelled Collective.

Gallery

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  Nessus orbit.

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  An alien forest on Nessus

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  Concept art

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  The Leviathan consuming Nessus

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  The surface of Nessus, as seen from the Leviathan

List of appearances

• Destiny: Age of Triumph (First mentioned)
• Destiny 2 (First appearance)
  • Curse of Osiris
  • Warmind
  • Forsaken (Mentioned only)
    • Season of the Forge
    • Season of the Drifter (Mentioned only)
    • Season of Opulence
  • Season of the Hunt (Mentioned only)
  • Season of the Chosen
  • The Witch Queen (Mentioned only)
    • Season of Plunder
  • Lightfall (Mentioned only)
    • Season of the Deep
  • The Final Shape (Mentioned only)
    • Episode: Echoes