The Last City

The Last City, in the shadow of the Traveler

"From across the ruined earth they came, seeking shelter from the storm."

— Grimoire description

The Last City, also known as the Last Safe City or simply the City,^[1] is the final bastion of humanity on Earth. The City was built under the shadow of the Traveler in the hope the Light would offer some protection from threats to Humanity.^[2]^[3] Construction of the Last City began after the Collapse^[4], marking the end of the Dark Age and the beginning of the City Age; most of humanity's survivors now live in the City, after previously being spread across countless hidden settlements across Earth.^[5] Many conflicts (such as the Battle of the Twilight Gap) were fought by the Guardians, under the command of the Vanguard, in order to keep the city and its people safe.^[6] The City is surrounded by a massive wall built by the first Titan Order to keep out enemies, such as the Fallen. The Tower, former headquarters of the Vanguard, rests on top of the wall.^[4] Although being successfully defended by the Guardians for centuries, the relative safety within the walls came to an end when Dominus Ghaul's forces invaded at the beginning of the Red War.^[7] The City was then occupied by Ghaul and his Red Legion before being liberated after a counteroffensive led by the Vanguard.

Government[edit]

"This isn't about the Traveler. This is about what happens when people come together without anyone to really lead them."

— Tallulah Fairwind during the Faction Wars

The City is inhabited by Humans, Awoken and Exos, who have cooperated with each other in the time following the Collapse, in order to build the City and its defenses.^[2] Due to no centralised government or leadership, the City became embroiled in a bitter faction war, until the Guardians stepped in and put a stop to the violence. Since this time, the City has been ruled by a Consensus of the factions, with the Speaker as its head and the Vanguard in an advisory position.^[8]

During the Red War, Dominus Ghaul's occupation of the City disrupted its governance. Although the Vanguard and Consensus survived, the Speaker was presumed dead following the City's liberation, and it is unclear who, if anyone, will fill his role. Another seat in the Consensus has been emptied during the events of Forsaken, with Prince Uldren Sov murdering the Hunter Vanguard Cayde-6 and leaving none to take up the mantle.

As of the events of Season of the Splicer, with one Consensus faction leader dead and the remaining two having been banished from the City, the sole governors of the Last City are the Vanguard leaders Ikora Rey and Commander Zavala.

History[edit]

The Beginnings[edit]

The City's skyline.

"The City is the last populated city on Earth and the last bastion for mankind and civilization. The City was built long after The Traveler gave its life to push back the Darkness, a small settlement slowly began to build where the Traveler hovers, where it slumbers. Mankind came together to build The City underneath the Traveler because it provide protection from the horde of the darkness."

— Website description

For centuries after the Collapse, humanity was divided into various settlements across Earth, with early Risen (later called Guardians) blessed with the Traveler's Light acting as warlords, bandits, or makeshift lawmen. However, following the foundation of the Iron Lords, humanity began to unite. Underneath the Traveler, with the guidance of the first Speaker, the Last City began to take root. It started as a small number of tents, but as more people and Guardians arrived in the area, the City began to grow, makeshift structures turning into fully-fledged buildings and increasing in number as the population exploded. After repelling various attacks on the fledgling city, such as raids carried out by the Fallen, construction on a wall surrounding the Last City began, with the help of Guardians, such as Zavala, Ikora Rey, and Shaxx.

At some point during the City's existence, the various factions and groups in the city fought one another for dominance in a conflict that nearly tore the city apart. However, the conflict was eventually ended when the Guardians intervened and stopped the fighting. The end of the Faction Wars saw the creation of the Consensus; a government consisting of representatives from the major factions, the Vanguard, and the Speaker serving as the city's leader.

Besides the Faction Wars, the City had been involved in two major conflicts during it's earlier years. The first being the Battle of Six Fronts, when four Titan orders defended the Last City's walls against six enemy approaches. The second and far more devastating conflict was the Battle of Twilight Gap, where the full might of the Fallen Houses descended upon the City with the goal of retaking the Traveler, but were eventually defeated by the Guardians after Fallen reinforcements from the House of Wolves failed to arrive due to the Queen of the Reef, Mara Sov's intervention.^[5]

The Taken War[edit]

A Guardian raid team challenges Oryx, The Taken King.

"Our first priority must be to protect the City. Our Guardian got a good look on Phobos. Whatever it was, it turned Cabal against Cabal, wiped out their base in minutes."
"Until we understand what we're dealing with–"

— Zavala and Ikora discussing the Battle of Saturn

In recent years, the Guardians of the Last City began to reach out and take a more active role in pushing back the hordes of alien invaders threatening the Sol system. They Vanguard engaged in a war of resistance against Oryx, the Taken King, in response to his arrival in the system, and deployment of Taken troops to multiple planets, including Earth. This conflict would later be known as the Taken War. Fortunately, the Guardians were able to push Oryx and his Taken back, culminating in a raid that breached Oryx's Ascendant Realm on the Dreadnaught. This raid resulted in the deaths of Oryx's most powerful servants and the Taken King himself. However, these actions did not bring the war to an end, as the vanguard continued to fight against the lingering Hive and Taken presence in the System.^[9]

Transmission Crisis and SIVA's reawakening[edit]

"So what you're telling me is that an unknown substance or virus or curse is spreading among our Guardians." [...]
"For what it's worth, our Guardians aren't worried. It's a carnival out there."
"But you and I know—"
"We do."

— Ikora Rey and Shun Li

When the Owl Sector, a civilian scientific organization working alongside the Vanguard, found a strange mite had been infecting the Guardians' armor and replicating at an incredible rate, the Last City was put under quarantine restrictions. The civilians worked together with the Vanguard and Ikora Rey's Hidden to contain the outbreak, going as far as to reach out to the Reef's Techeuns for help and researching old Golden Age data logs concerning SIVA in hopes of finding a way to stop the epidemic. The cure was eventually developed thanks to the Owl Sector's liaison to the Vanguard Shun Li falling ill and serving as a test subject--though not without hazard to his life. It was later discovered the outbreak had been caused by the Devil Splicers meddling with SIVA they had discovered in the Plaguelands.

The Last City and the Vanguard did not initially take an active role during the events of the SIVA Crisis, the conflict instead being handled directly by Lord Saladin of the Iron Lords, Shiro-4, and the Guardian. Forces of the City did however later intervene when a Fallen plot to destroy the Bannerfall tower and leave the City vulnerable was discovered. With the Vanguard's help, the Guardian was able to drive out the Fallen, thereby securing the tower and by extension, the entire city's Wall.^[10] Near the end of the SIVA Crisis, the Vanguard and the City's forces became involved in a number of operations against old adversaries who had suddenly reappeared, such as Taniks, Omnigul and Sekrion, Subverted Mind. Overseen by Ikora Rey and "supported" by Cayde-6, the Guardians were able to destroy Taniks Perfected after he was resurrected by the Devil Splicers using SIVA, as well as prevent remaining Taken forces from controlling the repaired Vex Nexus Mind and slaying Omnigul before she could resume serving her now dead master.^[11]^[12]

The Red War[edit]

The City burning at the onset of the Red War.

Two years after the Taken War, the Cabal Empire launched a major invasion of Earth, headed by the commander of the Red Legion and emperor of the Cabal Empire, Dominus Ghaul. The Red Legion launched a massive surprise attack on the Last City, completely devastating the last bastion of Humanity and the Tower. During the inital attack, a massive cage of Cabal design was attached to the Traveler, which constricted its power and allowed the Commander of the Legion, Dominus Ghaul, to extract and use its Light for himself. This left Guardians cut off from the Light, thus severely crippling their ability to fight back against the invaders. Many inhabitants of the City were killed during the invasion, and its subsequent occupation. ^[13]^[14]

Several weeks after the Red Legion's occupation of the City began, a Vanguard counter-offensive led by Commander Zavala, Cayde-6, and Ikora Rey liberated the city. During the final battle within the City, the leader of the Red Legion, Ghaul, was killed and the stolen light was reclaimed by the Traveler, which had awoken for the first time since the Collapse. The Speaker was believed to have been killed during the occupation. As the Tower had been destroyed in the battle, the Vanguard and many other vendors were forced to relocate until the old Tower could be renovated. Strikes against priority targets continued to be directed and authorized from this new position.^[15]

Scourge of the Past[edit]

Insurrection Prime invading the Last City.

"Siviks was after much more than simply stealing and abusing our forge. His gaze has turned to our most prized possession: a vault, filled with the finest wares the Black Armory has to offer. Our very soul resides in that vault."

— Ada-1

During the events of Black Armory, the city was breached by the Kell's Scourge, a brand new, anarchist faction of Fallen terrorists who sought to steal and harness Black Armory technology to rise against all Fallen orders. Their attack was the largest Fallen offensive on the City since the Battle of the Twilight Gap, and required a full team of six Guardians to raid their lair. The attack was neutralized when the Guardians confronted the source of the attack, Insurrection Prime, Kell's Scourge, who battled the Guardians with a massive war-mech, eventually being brought down by the combined efforts of the Guardian raid team.

The Almighty Crisis[edit]

The Almighty approaching Earth.

"Two years ago the Warmind Rasputin helped humanity defeat the Hive on the Martian frontier. On that day it swore to protect us. Now… it may be the only thing that can."

— Commander Zavala

Some time after the Red Legion's defeat at the The Sundial and return of legendary titan, Saint-14, the Psion Flayer Amtec, in a final desperate act, commandeered The Almighty and sent it on a collision course with Earth, hoping to annihilate the Last City. Thankfully, Commander Zavala and Anastasia Bray, with the help of Rasputin and the Guardian, were able to reactivate the Warmind's Seraph countermeasures. Mere days before the Almighty's collision with the City, Warsats bombarded the ship until it finally exploded in low orbit. Debris from the Almighty's core crashed along the side of a mountain near the city, unleashing a massive shockwave that inflicted minor damage to the New Tower. Ultimately, however, the Last City survived Amtec's plot.

The Darkness's Arrival[edit]

"Guardian, siege preparations are… they're ongoing. [...] The Tower's resources are stretched thin. I trust you'll maintain our front against the Pyramids."

— Commander Zavala to the Guardian

Unfortunately, this victory against the Cabal would prove short-lived as the Last City received reports of Pyramid-shaped vessels appearing over planets throughout the Sol System soon after. The Guardians, the Vanguard, and Last City officials soon confirm their worst fears: the Darkness had returned. Worse, Rasputin was silenced by the Darkness when it and Ana Bray attempted to fight back against this new threat with the Warmind's Warsat network, only to fail. As the Guardians worked with Eris Morn to discern the Darkness's intentions in the messages the Pyramid's send on Io, Zavala gathered the main City factions to formulate a plan should the Darkness turn hostile. Despite some initial squabbling, Zavala was able to reach a compromise with the factions, gaining their support in the establishment of Project Stronghold, the plan to fortify the Last City's defenses. Ikora Rey was put in charge of leading the City's siege preparations.

As the enemy circled in on the Last City, the Traveler reformed itself healing its Red War wounds in a splendid show of power, releasing a burst of Light to chase off the encroaching Darkness. Sadly, it was not enough to keep the Pyramids from taking Io, Mars, Mercury and Titan and leaving only mysterious singularities in their place. Deputy Commander Sloane, Brother Vance and Asher Mir were unaccounted for, having refused to evacuate from the assailed planets. With the Darkness calling Guardians to Europa, the Vanguard turned its eye toward the icy moon and focused all resources on stopping Eramis, Kell of a new Fallen house, from striking against the Traveler.

Clash of the Chosen[edit]

Empress Caiatl meets with Zavala and Osiris.

"I propose an alliance."
"Cabal don't ally. They conquer. She betrayed her father to Ghaul. Don't think she won't put a gilded knife in your back too."

— Empress Caiatl and Savathûn in Osiris's disguise

Forced to flee their home Torobatl destroyed by Hive under the lead of Xivu Arath, God of War, a massive Cabal fleet entered the Solar System and formed a base on Nessus. Empress Caiatl called Zavala and Osiris to discuss an alliance with them, offering her aid in battling both the Hive and the Pyramids if the City's leaders bowed to her and joined the Cabal Empire. When Zavala refused, a conflict broke out, with multiple champions seeking to prove themselves worthy of joining Caiatl's war council striking against vital targets like the Cosmodrome or the Deep Stone Crypt. Guardian forces battled them for weeks, and when a fireteam of three defeated Ignovun, Chosen of Caiatl in ritual combat, the Empress was forced to sign a peace treaty on Zavala's conditions.

The Endless Night[edit]

The Last City shrouded by the Vex simulation.

"We are governed by a consensus. A democracy where the people have a say over what happens in their city. Or so we thought. But did you agree to shelter a mob of dangerous Fallen? The same Fallen that spent a century stealing from us, besieging our city, and destroying our families? Did you agree to suddenly forgive and forget? No. Ikora Rey decided, without the people's consent, to allow House Light inside our walls. These are not the actions of a democratic leader."

— Lakshmi-2 broadcasting on an open channel to the City's people.

A short time after, a Vex simulation began to affect the City, causing massive strains on the power grid among other issues. During this time, the Vanguard chose to give shelter to the Eliksni of House Light, while their leader, Mithrax assisted the Guardians in bringing the Endless Night to an end. Lakshmi-2, leader of the Future War Cult, publicly criticized the Vanguard's choice to grant the Eliksni asylum within the City, claiming they could not be trusted. Though Ikora Rey condemned her words, many citizens agreed with Lakshmi's sentiment, feeling unsafe and resentful about living side by side with the people who not that long ago had been the main threat to the City's very existence. With the help of Osiris (secretly Savathûn), Lakshmi-2 launched an attack on the Eliksni Quarter, using Vex portal technology. This resulted in a Vex incursion into the city, which was soon thwarted by the Vanguard with help from Saint-14 and Mithrax, Kell of Light. Shortly after the attack, and the death of Lakshmi-2 at the hands of the Vex, the factions (Dead Orbit and New Monarchy) fled the City while Future War Cult was disbanded with some of its former members defecting to the Vanguard due to their disgust towards Lakshmi's actions. At this time, the Vanguard has complete control over the City's government.

Preparing for the Second Collapse[edit]

Following the Endless Night and handling a siege within the Reef, combating the forces of Xivu Arath as the Awoken held the Witch Queen imprisoned, the Last City would soon struggle against new dangers, specifically the Lightbearing Hive of the Lucent Brood, led by Savathûn after she escaped the Reef. The revelation of the Hive, one of humanity's greatest foes wielding the Light rattled the Guardians to the core, especially as they soon learned that the Traveler willingly gave them the Light rather than stealing it as originally believed. Though the Guardians nonetheless prevented the Witch Queen from sequestering the Traveler away within her Throne World, causing the Traveler to briefly disappear over the Last City, they nonetheless had to prepare for the return of a being that commands the Black Fleet, The Witness, and prevent another Collapse from happening again.

Said efforts to prepare including making a formal alliance with Empress Caiatl and her Cabal. Despite getting off on a rough start with the Cabal Empress, Caiatl nonetheless agreed to aid the Last City against the Lucent Brood, thwarting their efforts to launch an invasion from the Scarlet Keep on Luna. Further, the Guardians aided Caiatl in hunting down insurgents and mutineers within her ranks, ultimately leading Lord Saladin to become a member of the Empress's War Council after a lapse in judgement from Crow. Later on, the Guardians would succeed in denying the Witness a powerful servant after they managed to slay Rhulk, a Disciple of the Witness, after they found him imprisoned within his own Pyramid in Savathûn's Throne World.

The Last City's Guardians would later on have to contend with the return of the exiled Emperor Calus and his ship The Leviathan, hanging derelict near Luna. The Leviathan was broadcasting a signal to the Lunar Pyramid, causing the Nightmare phantoms to resurge. Working alongside Caiatl in combating Calus and the Nightmares, the Guardians learned of the former emperor's intention to become the Witness's latest Disciple. Despite working to undo the connections Calus was seeking to forge with the Lunar Pyramid, he nonetheless succeeded in giving himself over to The Witness and therefore becoming the herald of the Second Collapse.

With The Witness drawing near, time was running short for the Guardians as they sought to prepare. The Witness would make preparations of its own in freeing Eramis from her Stasis cocoon, in exchange for finding relics of the Dark Ages. The Shipstealer agreed to The Witness's demands, beginning with rallying the Old Crews, pirates of Fallen legend. The Guardians would learn of Eramis's return after doing the Drifter a favor in retrieving cargo on Europa he had been paid to smuggle into the Last City. Said cargo turned out to be Spider, having sought to escape the Reef after Mara Sov's return and learning of his ill treatment of her brother. Hearing of Eramis's goals, the Guardians work alongside Drifter, Spider (who the Vanguard had granted asylum within the Eliksni Quarter), Mithrax and his daughter Eido in combating the Old Crews. After months of fighting the pirates and gathering the relics, the Guardians learned that said relics were in fact pieces of a dead Disciple of the Witness, Nezarec, which Mithrax had known but out of shame, he kept that knowledge to himself, causing tension to brew between himself and Eido. Regardless, the Guardians thwarted Eramis's efforts as Mithrax used the relics to finally bring Osiris out of his coma, reuniting him with Saint-14. The Guardians would also donate the riches they plundered from the Old Crews to the Eliksni Quarter, increasing the quality of living for the House of Light and strengthening their relations with the Vanguard.

With Nezarec subdued and Osiris returned, the Guardians would later aid Ana Bray in restoring Rasputin, who had remained crippled since its last encounter with the Black Fleet. Unable to repair him on her own, Ana reluctantly heeded Osiris's advice in seeking out one of the Warmind's original creators: Clovis Bray I, her grandfather. As an AI within the Exo Creation Labs, the Guardians headed to Europa where they encountered not only Salvation Fallen but also Wrathborn Hive, leading them to suspect that Xivu Arath is seeking to consolidate her power within the Sol System. Worse they discovered that the Wrathborn had managed to gain partial access to the Warmind's defense systems and were seeking to corrupt Clovis Bray as well. After saving Clovis from the Hive and Fallen, Ana and Osiris inform the Bray patriarch of Rasputin's current state. Out of self-preservation and to ensure his legacy, Clovis agreed to aid his granddaughter in repairing the Warmind, though the scientist's arrogance and patronizing nature would aggravate the Guardians and the Vanguard.

After spending months of collecting submind data to help restore the Warmind, Ana's unorthodox method of using the Ghost of the Iron Lord Felwinter not only restored Rasputin at a quicker pace but it also allowed him to speak directly. This occasion brought joy to Ana but Rasputin would inform her and the Guardians of Clovis Bray's true agenda: The Bray Patriarch never built the Warmind to protect humanity but to help him assume control and have it actually replace the Traveler for in his mind, Clovis couldn't see anyone other than himself as humanity's savior. However, Ana Bray deviated from that original plan by teaching him the things Clovis found no value in such as music, history and art. These convinced Rasputin that humanity deserved protection, leading him to rewrite his protocols and lock Clovis out. Now though, Clovis is a digital mind like Rasputin and the Warmind revealed that Clovis's new plan is to use Rasputin to upload himself into the Warsat Network to assume direct control, becoming a machine god and the savior he envisioned himself as. Furious over her grandfather's lies and deception, Ana would cast Clovis out, despite his honeyed words and assurances, by having Rasputin downloaded into the Exo Frame that housed Clovis's personality on the H.E.L.M., deleting him, though his original AI still existed on Europa but confined.

With Clovis removed from the equation, Rasputin continued to guide the Guardians in gathering submind data for his restoration but a revelation from Mara Sov would leave him questioning on his next move. The Awoken Queen began to suspect that Xivu Arath's true goal was to allow the Guardians to restore Rasputin and use his arsenal to smite the Wrathborn, in which the following destruction would not only fuel her worm but also that of a ritual. A ritual to open a portal large enough to summon her endless armies to overwhelm Earth. Thus, the Vanguard Coalition's leaders agree that while they can't allow Eramis to hack into the Network, they can't leave the Warmind weakened either, as Ana pleaded her case that Rasputin was needed in combating the Witness. As a result, they agreed to repair Rasputin as originally planned but he be refrained from using his arsenal against Xivu Arath's forces.

Unfortunately, Eramis would succeed in gaining access to the Warsat Network, seeking to activate Rasputin's ABHORRENT IMPERATIVE protocol where all the Warsats will target the Traveler. With no time and no other option, Rasputin resolves to sacrifice himself with his AURORA SACRIFICE protocol to destroy the entire Warsat Network, denying Eramis her vengeance. As the Guardians battled aboard the Seraph Station to upload Rasputin, the heard reports of activity within the Last City: the Traveler was beginning to leave. Yet as it entered Earth's outer orbit, it ceased to move just as the Warsat Network self-destructed. Confused and angered, Eramis wondered why the Traveler didn't flee like it had with the Eliksni and so many other civilizations. The Witness answered, stating that the Traveler simply has nowhere left to run, as The Witness and its Black Fleet had arrived, stationed near Jupiter.

Despite the initial fear that the Traveler was leaving Humanity and their allies to fend for themselves, Zavala and Ikora believe that with Humanity standing alongside the Awoken, the House of Light and the Cabal loyal to Empress Caiatl, they will face and repel the forces of The Witness and its Disciples. They would fight to defend Earth from the forces of the Witness, but the defense fails as the pilots go down and the Shadow Legion begin operations to capture prisoners on Earth. They would also discover the existence of a Neptunian city after the Witness discovers the location of The Veil hidden away there and instructs Emperor Calus to find the Veil. Osiris and the Guardian follow the Shadow Legion fleet traveling to Neptune. In time, the Coalition would gain a valuable ally in the Cloud Strider Nimbus, but also learn that the Witness used the energies of the Veil to open the portal on the Traveler. Despite the setback, Guardians would raid the Witness's flagship terraformed by the Traveler and defeat Nezarec reborn through both Light and Dark.

The Guardians return to Earth to infiltrate the Pyramid outpost set up by the Shadow Legion and bypass its warding with the assistance of an Ascendant Scepter. Devrim Kay, Mara Sov, and Mithrax meet with them at the Farm and discover that Amanda Holliday has sent a distress signal in the EDZ. The Guardian follows her distress signal and defeats its warden. The Guardian and Crow rescue her from the outpost and report to Mara Sov, who coronate them as her Queensguard. Amanda then inform them of another outpost, this time in the Cosmodrome. They go to work to free more prisoners and defeat the warden in charge there despite its Psionic powers. They would then infiltrate an orbital prison ship and navigate the Ascendant Plane to bypass its defenses. They defeat the warden overseeing the orbital prison. Amanda and Mithrax discover a distress signal leading in the Tunnels and decide to pursue it. The Guardian arrives to assist them, meeting heavy resistance from the Shadow Legion. After dealing with a Tormentor named Vereziia, Reverent of the Witness and Taken reinforcements, the Guardian bypasses the prison facility's security system. Mithrax rescues the prisoners trapped there, but Amanda is killed in the facility's explosion. Zavala holds a vigil for Amanda in the Farm, with the Guardian, Crow, and Mara as its participants. Mara reminds the Guardian of the feeling of grief and to complete Amanda's mission to free more prisoners. Crow eventually forms a plan to break the Shadow Legion's grip on Earth. The Guardian would infiltrate the Shadow Legion flagship hanging in Earth while he, Devrim, and Mithrax would assist them in eliminating the forces occupying it. Crow detonates the charges set up in the hangar after the Guardian dispels the Pyramid beacons using balefires. The Guardian eventually scuttles the flagship using the powers sent by Mara to destroy the cooling fans and then the engines. They see the flagship blow up as the forces of the Coalition celebrate this victory. Crow explains that the Awoken's addition to the Coalition is justified alongside Caiatl's Cabal, the House of Light, and the people of Neomuna. They return to the Tower to receive a parting gift from the late Amanda Holliday and then gain the keys to her personal ship.

Districts[edit]

The City is divided into several districts, not all of which are known. Shuttles periodically transport passengers between the City's districts and the Tower.^[16]

Anchor District
Botza District - an abandoned area within the Last City that houses the long lost Vault Ebisu of the Black Armory, and staging grounds of the Scourge of the Past Raid. As of Season of the Splicer, it houses the headquarters of the House of Light and now goes by the name "The Eliksni Quarter".
City Perimeter - the land surrounding the City proper, just beyond its walls. Also known as the City Outskirts. Twilight Gap, a valley where the City's Guardians repelled a Fallen invasion force, is located here.
Core East^[16]^[17]
Core South^[16]
District 125^[16] - an area where maglev train rails are located; the Praxic Warlock Aunor Mahal is known to have derailed a train and crashed it into an abandoned warehouse in an attempt to stop the Shadows of Yor hiding there.^[17]
Midtown - an isolated and abandoned location of the City used as a Crucible arena during the Red War.
Military District - the location of the Future War Cult clubhouse.^[16]
Peregrine District - site of the Guardians' incursion to assassinate Dominus Ghaul during the Red Legion's occupation.^[18]
Ridgeback District
Riverside District - an area from where the transformation of the Traveler could be observed, as the Traveler healed its wounds sustained in the Red War and chased off the ecroaching Darkness.^[19]
The Core - the City's central area, directly beneath the Traveler. The Hall of Consensus is located here.^[16]
Umbral District
West District - an area where the Tex Mechanica foundry is located.^[20]

After Twilight Gap, the districts nearest the City walls were abandoned.^[21] Many districts were also entirely obliterated by the Red Legion's invasion and occupation of the City. To replace them following the City's liberation, blueprints with modular designs for housing and storefronts were drawn up by City engineers.^[22]

Locations[edit]

Bannerfall (Crucible map)
Botza District
Midtown (Crucible map)
The Tower
- Courtyard
  - Bazaar
    - Annex
  - Hangar
- Tower Plaza
  - Tower Hangar
  - Tower North
  - Tower Watch
  - Passage
  - Ventilation
  - Vault
  - Tower Ruins
H.E.L.M.

City-based organizations[edit]

Consensus Factions[edit]

Dead Orbit (formerly)
Future War Cult (formerly)
New Monarchy (formerly)
Concordat (formerly)

Guardian organizations[edit]

Weapon Foundries[edit]

Other[edit]

Raid[edit]

Scourge of the Past

Trivia[edit]

The location of the City has been the source of much speculation. One theory, based on the movements of the Sun and the local geography, suggests that the City is located in Nepal.^[23] Other theories place the city in southwestern Canada, northern Chile, and in the southern Andes range on the border between Chile and Argentina or it could be located somewhere in the Caucasus mountains in Russia based on the Cosmodrome's relatively nearby location during A Guardian Rises closing cinematic. In the lost Cryptarch mission, Amanda refers to the EDZ as "Back across the Pond" Indicating the City being in North America. Based on the Mountainous Terrain, it's possible the Last City could be around Denver, Colorado, or Colorado Springs.
- Suraya Hawthorne makes a similar notion in one of the EDZ adventure missions, stating that when she heard the city's distress signal she flew across the ocean to help. This does indeed place the city on the North or South American continent. Since she was running supplies in the EDZ when the signal came through and flying to anywhere in Europe, Russia, Asia, and Africa from there would not have required her to cross any oceans.
- After the first mission of the Forsaken campaign, Amanda Holliday states that her mother died crossing the Panama Ravine on their way to the Last City, with her father dying just outside its gate. Given this, and her extremely Southern United States mannerisms/accent, it's reasonable to assume that the Last City is somewhere in South America.
- In addition to the above, the lore tab for the Colony exotic grenade launcher mentions that a man died of a terciopelo snake bite near the City. Terciopelo snakes, also known by the scientific name Bothrops asper, naturally range between southern Mexico to northern South America, further supporting that the Last City is in South America.
- Orin states that the City is south of the Sinaloan Ruins, presumably in Mexico, and that part of the reason the Fallen steer clear is because there are too many parasites, adding yet more to the claim that it is located in South America.^[24]^[25]
- During the Season of the Seraph Exotic Mission Operation: Seraph's Shield, the Traveler and the Last City are situated where Santiago, Chile would be.^[26] Whether or not that this confirms the location is left unknown.
Curiously in Destiny 1 and 2, Signs around the tower and the New Tower are typically placed in three languages. The first being English, the next Portuguese, finally Chinese. This suggests that the primary ethnic groups of the Last City are of English, Latin-American, and Asian heritage.
In Destiny 2, there is a secret room of the Daito weapon foundry, the company that manufactured the Jade Rabbit Scout Rifle, accessible through a ventilation shaft in the Hangar area of the Last City. This room contains a Ghost scan of a computer journal of Ana Bray, who is featured in the Warmind expansion.