Titan (moon)

"The great monuments of mankind's utopian Golden Age now lie toppled or half submerged within the rolling ocean that blankets the entire surface of Titan. All that remains is a flotilla of construction barges and a lone human habitat that serves as the perfect hiding place for some of humanity's scattered forces — and some far more sinister below"

- Website description

Titan is the largest moon of Saturn. It was one of four destinations that was Taken by the Witness at the end of Season of Arrivals.

Overview
Titan is covered by a methane ocean, its surface dotted by long-abandoned Golden Age structures such as the New Pacific Arcology that are slowly sinking below the waves. It has recently become infested by a new Hive sect, and is being picked over by scavengers from the Fallen House of Dusk.

Titan's methane ocean is inhabited by a variety of life-forms, including at least one massive sea-serpent like creature.

The Golden Age
During the Golden Age, numerous great cities such as New Pacific Arcology were built on Titan and became the envy of the rest of the Sol System. These cities were intended to be entirely self-sustaining due to the inhospitable nature of Titan's surface. Settlements on Titan were known to trade with other nearby worlds, such as Hyperion. Scientists also flocked to Titan to escape the stifling influence of organizations like Clovis Bray and carry out independent research. The moon was never terraformed by the Traveler, although 97% of New Pacific Arcology's residents hoped it would be chosen soon.

The Collapse
Titan was one of the first places in the Sol System to detect the arrival of the Darkness, and consequently one of the first places to experience the Collapse. A deep-space probe launched by a team under Dr. Shanice Pell encountered an inexplicable anomaly before losing contact with New Pacific Arcology. Not long after, the Darkness attacked Titan's arcologies by pulling on its oceans with a gravitational anomaly, deforming it into an oval and causing its tides to rise four times higher than normal. When the anomaly vanished, Titan was released back into its original shape, unleashing a massive tidal wave and quake which badly damaged the arcologies.

City Age
The moon's cities remained completely abandoned for centuries, slowly decaying and sinking into the methane ocean. Guardians such as Cayde-6 used Titan as a rest stop during journeys to and from the outermost reaches of the system. Shortly before the Red War, however, a new Hive sect colonized Titan's ruins. When a group of newly-Lightless Guardians under Commander Zavala fled to Titan, hoping to use it as a secret base from which to launch a counteroffensive against the Red Legion, they found New Pacific Arcology heavily infested and nearly gave up on their plan. Worse, Fallen from the House of Dusk had followed the Guardians from Earth, and began feuding with the Hive. Fortunately, thanks to the timely arrival of The Guardian, the support rigs outside the Arcology proper were sufficiently cleared to allow Guardians to secure the command center and City jumpships to refuel there.

Around the time of the Almighty's descent upon The Last City, the Pyramids themselves had finally reached the outer Sol System. After corrupting Pluto, Neptune, and Uranus, the Pyramids set their sights on Titan.

A month after the arrival of a Pyramid on Io, another Pyramid arrived on Titan, holding position outside of the New Pacific Arcology. It was the first of the newer Pyramids to start deploying Pyramid Scales on the Arcology, antagonizing the Hive and Fallen there.

Several months after the arrival of the Black Fleet, they caused the moon along with Io, Mercury, and Mars to mysteriously disappear, just as the Traveler healed itself.

Reappearance
Following the climatic battles over Earth and Neptune between the Vanguard Coalition and the force of The Witness, mainly the Cabal Shadow Legion, the Guardians received a surprise distress signal coming from Titan, specifically from Deputy Commander Sloane who had been missing since the moon disappeared after the Pyramids' initial arrival. Gathering a team involving the Guardian, Zavala, Saint-14 and Lord Saladin, the group head to Titan to find their comrade and bring her home. However, after arriving, the team encounters legions of Hive and Taken, all serving the Hive War God, Xivu Arath, who's voice thunders with her Battlesong. Despite the Hive god's forces, the Guardians were able to pinpoint Sloane's location but one kilometer down within the methane sea, forcing them to use a pressure device built by the Drifter, who had also traveled to Titan, to survive the deep pressure long enough to reach Sloane's position.

Arriving at Sloane's location, the team finds her alive but partially afflicted with Taken energies but she informs them at the distress signal she made wasn't made for her but for a massive underwater creature she befriended during her time away, named Ahsa. Sloane clarifies that Ahsa is an old enemy of The Witness and therefore bears valuable intel regarding their shared foe but to communicate with her clearly, she needs to strengthen her connection. The Drifter states he could use his Gambit tech along with the coral egregore that was growing in the menthane seas around them. Zavala approves of the mission to help Sloane with Guardians delving deep into the methane seas to gather what they need. In addition, the Guardians partake in salvage operations for the Vanguard and the Drifter, clashing with the Wrathborn Hive and Fallen from the House of Dusk that had disappeared when Titan vanished.

Locations

 * Green Dove Arcology
 * New Pacific Arcology
 * Siren's Watch
 * Methane Flush
 * Sinking Docks
 * The Rig
 * Cargo Bay 3
 * DS Quarters-2
 * Tidal Anchor
 * Deep Six
 * Pacifica
 * Solarium
 * Arboretum
 * Chasm of Screams
 * Festering Halls
 * Wormhaven

Trivia

 * One of the legends of the Nine states that they are ancient leviathan intelligences originating from either Europa or Titan.
 * Contrary to its depiction in Destiny 2, Titan's surface is actually mostly water and rock with methane and hydrocarbons being a chief component in its lakes as discovered by the Cassini–Huygens mission. Overall the lakes cover a very small percentage of the surface, making Titan drier than Earth.
 * The Last Days on Kraken Mare Lore book implies that Titan as seen in-game was a change brought on by the Darkness as it passed by the moon during the Collapse, though this does not explain where the liquid methane for the global ocean came from.
 * Sloane is seen on Titan with her face and arms exposed; given that Titan has apparently not been terraformed by the Traveler, and that methane becomes liquid at -161.49 degrees Celsius (-258.68 degrees Fahrenheit), it is unknown how she can survive without protective equipment.
 * In the Duress and Egress Lore book, Sloane responds with "because I moisturize" when questioned about this.
 * Titan is the second smallest public location in Destiny 2 after Mercury, with the second-lowest amount of Lost Sectors and Adventures as well. Much like the Moon in Destiny, which served as the Hive's main lair, most of the map takes place deep within Hive-infested dungeons that are not public spaces.
 * Before Shadowkeep, Titan was the only location in Destiny 2 not to feature Cabal as enemies in any capacity. Since then, the Moon has had no Cabal enemies on it either.

List of appearances

 * Destiny
 * Destiny 2