Infinite Forest

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Infinite Forest
Overview
Planet:	Mercury
Enemy factions:	Descendants House of Dusk (simulated) Precursors Red Legion (simulated) Savathûn's Brood (simulated) Sol Collective House of Rain (simulated)
Hostile races:	Vex Cabal (simulated) Hive (simulated) Fallen (simulated)
Connecting areas:	Infinity's Crown Simulant Future Simulant Past Simulant Present Vestibule
Gameplay
Area type:	Private
Public Events:	N/A
Patrol beacons:	N/A

"An infinity of possible worlds, so perfectly simulated as to be indistinguishable from the experiences I once called "reality." I can touch them, taste them, pass lifetimes in them! They grow within this machine like fruit upon a tree — no, a forest of trees, its fractal expansion nigh unmeasurable. [...] What an awful, destructive machine this is. I must know everything about it."

— Osiris

The Infinite Forest is a planet-sized machine located within the hollowed-out core of Mercury, accessible through a gateway in the Fields of Glass. It is a "simulation engine" which simulates an uncountable number of potential past, present and future realities, which the Vex use to plan their actions in the current timeline.

The Infinite Forest was overseen by Panoptes, Infinite Mind until its destruction at the hands of the Guardian and Osiris. Simulated versions of Dendron, Root Mind created by Osiris have since attempted to take control of the Forest, but have been destroyed by The Guardian before they could assume the role.

Overview

The main entrance of the Infinite Forest, known as the Infinite Gate, is a triangular portal at one end of a circular platform in the Fields of Glass. The portal leads to a "debug chamber", which appears as a short hallway with portals on either end. While passing through this chamber, a visitor may notice waves of light scanning across their body as they pass from the "real" universe to the simulation space of the Infinite Forest. With a sufficient understanding of Vex technology, entering or leaving the Infinite Forest is possible without using any physical gateways.

Traversing the debug chamber leads to the "hub" area of the Infinite Forest, located in what appears to be either the actual interior of Mercury or a simulated version of it. This area contains four tower-like structures with gateways, three of which lead to different periods within different simulations, and one that leads back to Mercury's surface. The sleek, futuristic tower to the left of the entrance leads to the distant past where Mercury is a lush garden world; the tower directly across the entrance is composed of conventional Vex architecture and leads to iterations of the present; and the crumbling, darkened tower to the right of the entrance leads to the far future, where the Sun is long dead along with all life in the Sol System, and the Vex have achieved Convergence.

The Infinite Forest's simulations extend beyond Mercury, potentially encompassing Mars, Earth, and the rest of the Sol System or even beyond. The Forest can even simulate realities where the Infinite Forest did not even exist. Osiris and Sagira once even attempted to simulate the Hive's Homeworld.

The Vex can manipulate virtually any variable within these simulations, including how long the simulation itself lasts or whether it repeats itself. They can even set such simulations on timers for however long they last and within such space, they can alter the Geometry. Osiris comments on how fascinating the simulation is with its combination of constants and variables, rigid structure in movement, dynamism in engagement, everything within a strict framework. The Vex can focus processing power on particular simulations within the Forest, whether to create a perpetual feedback loop to establish a benchmark dataset or assess if certain individuals are vital to their strategy.

As Guardians move toward the main towers, they may encounter simulated Cabal, Fallen, and Hive, as well as Vex, and must defeat disguised units called "Daemons" to generate new pathways and advance. These pathways change randomly every time one enters the forest. Within the Forest's past, present and future simulations, Guardians will continue to encounter simulated enemies from the other races; for example, in far future simulations where the Vex have triumphed, Guardians may also find simulated Fallen survivors, which the Vex study to obtain tactical information such as the Fallen's patterns of retreat. Entities from the "real" world may also become trapped within the Forest, as seen when Red Legion soldiers became stuck within a cyclically looping simulation. Simulated entities within the Forest have also been noted to be capable of escaping into the physical universe.

The passage of time within the Forest does not necessarily match the speed at which time passes in the outside universe; even if one spends an immense amount of time within the Forest, upon exiting they may find that no time has passed outside. Confluxes can manage the variable timestream of individual simulations.

Simulation Blooms and Simulation Seeds are physical objects that can be found in and outside of the Forest, with the latter making up the structure of the Forest itself. Simulation Blooms can potentially develop into their own self-contained realities.

The Haunted and Verdant Forests

While the City celebrated the Festival of the Lost in the year after the Red War, the Infinite Forest began exhibiting strange behavior, generating darkened simulations inhabited by simulated entities known as "Terrors".

Later, a part of the Forest started to exhibit an environment of lush flora, referred to as the Verdant Forest, greenery during The Revelry.

History

The Golden Age

The construction of the Infinite Forest engine began during the Golden Age, while Mercury was still a garden world and the Vex had only recently arrived. The algorithm used to generate the Forest was housed within the Gardener's Spire, overseen by Dendron, Root Mind. Panoptes, Infinite Mind was tasked with managing and interpreting the Infinite Forest's simulations to inform the Vex's strategies in the "real" universe.

City Age

Following his defeat of Solkis, Devil Kell, Saint-14 received word that Osiris had ventured to Mercury to investigate the Vex's activities. Fearing that the exiled Warlock would instigate a full-blown war with the Vex, Saint-14 followed Osiris to Mercury and went looking for him in the Infinite Forest. For years, he battled a horde of Vex within the Forest and was eventually confronted by Agioktis, Martyr Mind, a Vex Mind specifically designed to drain his Light. Though Saint vanquished the Mind, he succumbed to his wounds and died his final death. After which, the Vex would construct a tomb for him within the simulation, seemingly as a gesture of respect.

Curse of Osiris

After the Traveler released a pulse of Light after the Red War, the gateway to the Infinite Forest was reactivated. Around this time, Osiris and Sagira were in a simulation of the Vault of Glass. Osiris peered into the possible futures projected by the Vex and was startled to see that the Traveler's awakening had created a new path for the Vex to achieve their ultimate goal of Convergence. With Panoptes' gaze able to see Sagira's Light, Osiris was left with no choice but to send her out of the Forest. Despite suffering injuries, she was successfully recovered by Ikora's Hidden. The Guardian would then take Sagira's Shell and they would travel to the Infinite Forest to figure out what is going on. They realized that they could not get in unless it was Sagira's ghost, her Light would later fuse with their ghost's and gain access to the forest.

When inside, the Guardian encountered Light-constructed reflections of Osiris, they fought their way through Mercury's past, seeing how the Vex corrupted the planet and the dark future that Osiris saw. They then realized that they had to defeat the Axis Mind Panoptes to forestall the future from happening.

After going to Io's Pyramidion to try and get a map to Panoptes' location in the forest, they then went into Mercury's past to get its location then before the forest was made. Panoptes would appear and capture Sagira and expel the Guardian from the forest. Ikora would then assist the Guardian in entering the forest again, where they would finally confront Panoptes one more time, with the aid of Osiris, preventing the Guardian from being erased, they managed to defeat the Axis Mind, with Osiris and Sagira returning to the forest and under new management.

Later on, the Guardian would return to the forest to aid Osiris and Sagira with two issues that have sprung up. With Osiris recreating the Dendron, Root Mind that gained sentience and attempted to regain control of the forest, and a Cabal invasion glitch where they attempt to steal world-ending tech, the Guardian promptly ended both issues.

Season of the Dawn

Osiris would later return to the Forest to monitor its simulations, and as he and Sagira entered the realm, it appeared pitch black. Thinking something may have gone wrong, they contacted Ikora. She informed them of the war on the Moon and the Vex invasions, and that the Guardian had ended The Undying Mind. Osiris in turn, notified Ikora that when the Mind was destroyed it changed the course of history and futures.

As the duo returned to their current position in the Infinite Forest on a simulated future Mercury, they found that everything was pitch black, there were no stars, and the void reached as far as the Traveler and likely beyond. The purple twilight of the Sun from the Dark Future was unseen and the shimmer from the Forest was gone. Arriving at the location of the The Last City, they found that the City had been replaced by a massive obsidian monolith at the center of a dust storm, with the Traveler nowhere to be seen. Sagira informed Osiris that the predicted future would likely come to pass in about two to three decades depending on a multitude of variables, with acceleration potentially caused by the "actions of mutual friends".

With the incursion of the Red Legion led by the three Psion Flayer Sisters, they sought a reality where they won the Red War, one of them included either the usage of the Infinite Forest or its destruction, either case, Osiris wanted the Guardians to stop them or it would have detrimental effects on the timeline.

We would later use the Sundial to save Saint-14 from the Infinite Forest, changing the past and preventing his death. He would later exit the forest at some point in Mercury's past and return to the City to defend it and learn from the history he was absent from.

Later, the Guardian would return to Osiris and he would thank them for cleaning up his messes and congratulate them on their rescue of Saint-14. He would explain what he had witnessed in that future, he had seen the destruction of the Universe at a sub-atomic level, nothingness remained. He had hoped that our actions with The Sundial would have prevented this, for he believed that no power or gun could stop that emptiness.

Season of Arrivals

During the Festival of the Lost, Eva Levante sends the Guardian to go see The Spider about helping him with some favors. He mentions that, at some point, the House of Kings led a salvage operation on the Dreadnaught and while on the way back, the Vex slew the salvage crew, managed to simulate their salvaging party, and were able to take what the Fallen had found. The Guardians were tasked with heading to the Forest to retrieve what the Vex had been simulating.

At the end of the Season of Arrivals, after Zavala issued evacuation orders for all contacts on Pyramid-sieged planets, the Guardian set off from Mercury, leaving Brother Vance alone. He made his way from the Lighthouse to the gate of the Infinite Forest, entering with his Infinite Simulacrum, attuning it to the crack in the Forest itself, and sealing it from within to keep the Pyramid Ships from accessing it.

Afterwards, Mercury would be one of four worlds abducted by the Black Fleet and the Infinite Forest would be taken with it.

Locations

• Vestibule
  • Infinity's Crown
  • Simulant Past
    • Gardener's Spire
    • Radiant Cliffs (Crucible map)
  • Simulant Present
    • Atlas Grove
    • The Burning Shrine (Crucible map)
  • Simulant Future
    • The Burnout (Crucible map)
  • Fragment (Crucible map)
  • Convergence (Crucible map)

Trivia

• It is mentioned during the Tree of Probabilities that simulations of the Cabal could escape the Forest with world-ending Vex tech. This would imply that Simulations can enter the physical universe.
• From a few bounties when the Haunted Forest was created showed many similarities or likely the same feats of the Vex capable of creating Nightmares that prey on our greatest fears, Ikora even asked if they would created shade of ourselves.
• The Taken and the Scorn are the only two enemy races that were not simulated in the Forest.

Gallery

• 

  The Haunted Forest Iteration

• 

  The Verdant Forest Iteration

List of appearances

• Destiny 2: Curse of Osiris (First appearance)
  • Forsaken
  • Season of Opulence (Mentioned only)
  • Shadowkeep
  • Season of Dawn
  • Season of the Worthy (Mentioned only)
  • Season of Arrivals (Mentioned only)
  • Season of the Hunt (Mentioned only)
  • Season of the Lost (Mentioned only)
  • The Witch Queen (Mentioned only)
  • Lightfall (Mentioned only)
  • Season of the Deep (Mentioned only)
  • Into the Light (Mentioned only)
  • Episode: Echoes (Mentioned only)
• Destiny: Fall of Osiris (Mentioned only)
• Bitter (Mentioned only)