City Age

"When did the City Age begin? Perhaps when the bulk of the world's survivors lived beneath the Traveler, rather than in the wilderness. Or when the Titans raised the first wall. Or at Six Fronts, when the City first faced coordinated, overwhelming attack - and repelled it decisively"

- Grimoire Description.

The City Age began after the Dark Age when the Last City was founded. Survivors of the Collapse began to appear, traveling to the sanctuary over which the dormant Traveler protects, and the City started to grow. Looking through various sources on the beginning of the Dark Age - which directly succeeded the Golden Age - as well as comments made by Ghost throughout most of the campaign missions, it can be assumed that the Dark Age and the ages that follow would have lasted for at least four centuries.

Faction Wars
Power struggles between various political factions for the support of the City's refugee masses escalate into a series of violent conflicts that later came to be called the Faction Wars. Rezyl Azzir, a great leader and champion during those days helped unite The Risen into a cohesive fighting force, and formed the Guardians, gaining him further fame. Together they end the bloodshed before the City is torn apart by civil war and focus on the new encroaching threat: the Fallen Houses. The Consensus, a representative body through which the factions could pursue their agendas peacefully, is subsequently formed to jointly govern the City with the Speaker at the head.

Shortly after the civil war the New Monarchy, a staunchly pro-City faction, forms to protect the City from all threats both without and within. Also during this time the first Titans construct and defend the City's walls.

Early City Age
The Battle of the Six Fronts became first major attack weathered by the City soon after the Faction Wars. Four orders of Titans defended six different approaches against an overwhelming enemy force, led by the Iron Lords. None of the orders faltered, and what could have been a disastrous defeat became instead a decisive victory. The legendary Titan and Exo Saint-14 rallied an army of Guardians to attack the Fallen surrounding the Last City following Six Fronts. His campaign is successful and Fallen attacks on the City temporarily abate. During the campaign, he personally fights and kills Solkis, Devil Kell.

The Vanguard deems the Ahamkara to be too dangerous and orders their extermination in the Great Ahamkara Hunt The Warlocks preserve some Ahamkara bones and fossils for study. .

Toland, the Shattered studies the Darkness and eventually goes mad, leaving the City in Exile.

The Awoken Queen’s brother is born in the Reef.

Pujari leaps from the Shores of Time and has a vision of the Black Garden, where he communes with the image of a Ghost claiming that the Traveler is another form of Darkness. Awestruck Ghosts returning from the Vault of Glass report encounters with ancient Vex, their casings built long before the age of humanity, and survivors of the Vault report sightings of ancient Vex—ancient in the sense that they have endured for eons. Convergent analysis from multiple Ghosts suggests that these Vex exist in our future. The Guardian Vanguard points out that time travel remains a mystery, and the continued existence of the Vex is not remotely a sure indication of humanity’s extinction.

Fragmentary glimpses and scattered reports suggest a Hydra of impossible capabilities dwells within the Vault of Glass, and legends say that the Oracles in the Vault of Glass foresee what is to come, a world as the Vex desire it—and that the Templar has the power to shape reality to match the Oracles’ design, expunging any threats.

Kabr, the Legionless, eventually pierces the Vex’s Vault of Glass on Venus with a group of Guardians, including Pahanin and Praedyth. He fashioned many weapons and armor pieces from consumed Vex technology and remnants after they became unable to defeat the Vex. He “drank of the Oracles” and placed within the Vault, before his death, the Aegis, a device created from his own Light and “the thinking flesh of the Vex”. Doing so required the Vex to take his Ghost, and infect his blood and brain. The Aegis has the ability to change Guardians' fates, and due to the time-bending nature of the Vault of Glass, exists in both past, present, and future.

The Battle of the Twilight Gap
The Kell of Kings, the ruler of the House of Kings, manipulates the combined might of the Fallen Houses into an assault against the City. The battle is joined in Twilight Gap, just outside the City's walls. Vanguard Commander Saladin Forge coordinates the City's defenses with his students Zavala and Shaxx. Though many Guardians fall in the ensuing battle, the united Fallen Houses are driven off with heavy casualties. In the aftermath of the Guardians' hard-won victory, the outermost sections of the City are evacuated and converted into fortifications, and the Vanguard decides to take a more proactive stance in fighting the forces of the Darkness by deploying strike teams against high value enemy targets.

In the aftermath of the Twilight Gap, numerous rogues and outcasts of the Fallen houses band together to form the House of Exile on the moon and start to plunder the Hive fortress there.

The Reef Wars
As Twilight Gap rages on Earth, the Awoken of the Reef ally with the Nine to subdue the powerful House of Wolves. Battles include the Hildian Campaign and the Raze of Amethyst. After their Kell Virixas is killed, a brutal civil war among the Wolves ensues which sees Skolas emerge as the new Kell. Following Skolas's capture at the Cybele Uprising, the Wolves surrender and swear fealty to the Queen of the Reef rather than be totally destroyed. The Queen seals their nobility in the Prison of Elders and allows the rest to serve as her personal guards and servants.

Following the Reef Wars, the Cabal commander, Valus Trau'ug attempts to authorize an invasion of the Reef. When he is denied by his superiors, Trau'ug massacres his own officers in an act of mutiny and leads his most loyal soldiers against the Queen. Trau'ug fails utterly as both he and his Broken Legion are interned in the Prison of Elders. Their ships end up as part of the Reef.

Holborn's Host investigates the Dust Palace on Mars, seeking a Warmind.

Battle of Burning Lake
The Hive invade Earth and make first contact with the Guardians. Though the Guardians beat them back, Shaxx unsuccessfully attempts to dissuade the Consensus from ordering a counterattack, realizing that the Hive's power needed to be understood before they could engage. He instead begins developing the lost art of swordsmithing, reverse-engineering the dreaded Hive blades for use by Guardians.

The Great Disaster
The Guardians launch an audacious offensive to reclaim the Moon from the Hive. The Hive Prince Crota, the son of their God-King Oryx, brutally repels the attack, personally leading the Hive's forces and killing scores of Guardians with his fabled sword. Humbled, the Vanguard orders a full retreat and declares the Moon off-limits, hoping that the Hive will lose interest and refrain from invading Earth.

Seeking to avenge their lost allies, Eriana-3 leads a fireteam of Guardians consisting of Eris Morn, Vell Tarlowe, Omar Agah, Sai Mota, and Toland, the Shattered return to the Moon to hunt down Crota. Though they succeed in destroying Crota's physical form, the Hive catch and preserve his soul. As the Guardians try to flee, they are killed one by one until only Eris remains. Eris survives in the Hive's tunnels for years before escaping and later becoming one of Ikora Rey's Hidden.

Andal Brask, the Hunter Vanguard, falls in battle with the vicious Fallen mercenary Taniks. Cayde-6 reluctantly assumes Brask's post in memory of his deceased friend.

The Concordat faction attempts a coup against the Consensus, fighting a battle against the New Monarchy at Bannerfall. In the wake of their defeat, the faction is ejected from the City. The Vanguard and the Speaker then approve the ascension of the Future War Cult to replace the Concordat.

The once noble hero Dredgen Yor, bearer of the Hand Cannon Thorn, begins his campaign of destruction, murdering fellow Guardians and civilians alike. His victims include the Crucible champion Thalor and the Hunters Jaren Ward and Pahanin. Yor is finally killed by Ward's son, the Hunter Shin Malphur and his hand gun The Last Word after a fateful duel.