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The Taken War was a major, system-wide conflict fought between the Hive, lead by Oryx, the Taken King, and all other races in the system. The war began as a direct result of the Guardians slaying Oryx's son Crota, to stop an attempted invasion of Earth. Oryx brought his fleet to Saturn, and began blighting the system with his Taken forces. The war ended only once Oryx himself was killed for good.
Events
Battle of Saturn
The Awoken of the Reef were the first to respond to the invasion. Queen Mara Sov gathered her fleet to engage the Dreadnaught, Oryx's capital ship, directly. When conventional weapons failed, the Queen and her Techeuns unleashed the Harbingers, energy weapons of mysterious power. While they tore through the lesser Hive ships, the Dreadnaught was unscathed. Oryx released his own superweapon, an energy blast that obliterated the Queen's fleet. Mara's ship was hit by the blast. Though no body was recovered, she was assumed dead, and Petra Venj was named Queen Regent.
Discovery of the Taken
Oryx began blighting the system, beginning on Phobos. The Sky Burners stationed there discovered strange activity and began to investigate; shortly after, huge numbers of Cabal were being taken and made to fight their comrades. Primus Ta'aun ordered a mass evacuation, which caught the notice of the Vanguard. Fearing the activity was a prelude to an attack, they sent the Guardian to investigate. The Guardian was confronted by a vision of Oryx, who declared his intention to eliminate the Guardian and unleashed his Taken upon them. The Guardian barely escaped just as more Taken overwhelmed the base.
Boarding the Dreadnaught
As the Vanguard debated on how to fight back against Oryx, Eris Morn warned Commander Zavala that the Taken were unlike any foe they had faced before, and that Oryx's army would only grow unless he's stopped. Cayde-6, meanwhile developed a secret plan to board the Dreadnaught, using stealth technology he stole from Rasputin. After helping the Guardian outfit Eris' ship, the Guardian managed to slip onto the Dreadanught and establish a beachhead. They discovered that Oryx was waiting behind a rupture, but only an ascendant Hive could enter the rupture. To become ascendant, the player needed to gather Crota's essence; by collecting a shard of crystal from the Chamber of Night, and using the same stealth technology from Rasputin, the Guardian snuck into Crota's netherrealm and stole the essence in the middle of Crota's death ceremony. Though they were discovered and nearly killed, the Guardian succeeded in excaping. Returning to the Dreadnaught, they entered into Oryx's inner sanctum, and battled with Oryx. Unable to defeat the Guardian, Oryx retreated to his throne realm, leaving behind his sword, Willbreaker.
Second Phase of the War
Though Oryx vanished from the material realm, he continued to blight the system. Only by attacking the source of the blights on each planet could the Vanguard direct their attention on ending Oryx himself. The Reef aided the City in this phase of the war, helping to clear blights on Earth, Venus, and Mars. However, the Reef was also interested in looking for signs of the missing Queen, and preventing an opportunistic House of Wolves from rising to power again.
The King's Fall
With the blights eliminated, the Vanguard made preparations to once again enter the Dreadnaught, and slay Oryx for good.