Venus

Venus is the second planet in the Sol System, and the largest terrestrial planet apart from Earth.

Overview
With the coming of the Traveler, Venus' toxic air was 'cleansed' and the world was swiftly colonized by humanity during the Golden Age, becoming known as a "paradise". Venus is now a hostile world. Sulfuric gasses are vented from the surface of the planet, and crackling lightning flashes through the sulfuric yellow sky. All the while, jungle and overgrowth has claimed the remnants of the scientific research settlement once held here by humanity.

The ruins of Venus feature energy relays used by the Vex, which are powered by a heavily protected Nexus far below the surface and are believed to be part of an ancient network that, if fully reawakened, could turn the planet itself into a system the Vex could control. Both the ancient Vex ruins, and the more recent human structures are now choked in vegetation, although humanity has managed to regain a presence there. But despite this, the forgotten cities are slowly being swallowed up by the Venusian ocean and in their place; the towering Vex Citadel now draws the eye—a hulking, obelisk Jenga tower of bizarre geometric shapes. Its purpose remains unknown, but the robotic Vex unceasingly defend it.

The Fallen House of Winter also has their Lair on Venus, adding to the number of hostile forces already present on the planet.

The Ancient Past
Long before the evolution of humanity, Venus and the other planets of the Sol System served as gravitational foci for interstellar streams of dark matter particles. When life evolved elsewhere in the System, the movements of lifeforms created perturbations in these looping streams, which caused the dark matter loops to "awaken" into consciousness. These nascent consciousnesses would one day become known to Humanity as the Nine.

Golden Age
When the Traveler came to the Sol System, it terraformed Venus, transforming its surface from a corrosive and superheated wasteland into a lush jungle, filled with life.

During the initial exploration of Venus, ancient ruins predating humanity's existence were discovered, leading to a colonization rush by some of Earth's brightest minds. It has been acknowledged that the ruins came from another Venus in a different reality. Following the Collapse, the Vex lay claim to those ruins and began protecting them for unknown reasons.

City Age
The Ahamkara had a strong presence on Venus during the City Age, and appeared to be engaged in terraforming the planet for unknown purposes. The nature of the changes wrought by the Ahamkara are unclear; according to Eris Morn, eyewitnesses disagreed over what they saw, or the order in which events had occurred. During the Great Ahamkara Hunt, a "paracausal phenomenon" appeared over the Ishtar Academy which prompted at least one Guardian who witnessed it to apparently attempt permanent suicide. Ultimately, the Ahamkara were exterminated on Venus by the Guardians, although their skeletal remains continued to telepathically influence those who encountered them.

Sometime at the start to the Red War, the Red Legion came to Venus. This can be found out by scanning a small radar dish in the gulch of the EDZ. Why they came and the status of their occupation is unknown, but it can be presumed that it was a further effort of combating and stealing from the Vex like on Nessus and the forces sent to the Black Garden's gate on Mars.

Locations

 * Ishtar Sink
 * Ishtar Academy
 * Ishtar Commons
 * Hall of Whispers
 * The Archive
 * N/Gen Branch
 * Dig Site 4
 * The Nexus
 * Ember Caves
 * Winter's Lair
 * Ash Coves
 * The Cinders
 * Wintership Simiks-Fel
 * Winter's Run
 * The Citadel
 * The Juncture
 * The Terminus
 * The Shattered Coast
 * Headlands
 * Ishtar Cliffs
 * Waking Ruins
 * Vault of Glass
 * Trial of Kabr
 * Templar's Well
 * Gorgon's Labyrinth
 * Glass Throne
 * Campus 9
 * Endless Steps
 * Echo Chamber
 * Asylum
 * The Last Exit
 * Maat Mons
 * Infinite Descent
 * Shores of Time
 * Pomona Mons
 * Floating Gardens

Trivia

 * The Ishtar Sink is placed somewhere along the southeastern coast of the Ishtar Terra, one of four highland continents of Venus and just south of the north pole.

List of appearances

 * Destiny
 * House of Wolves
 * The Taken King
 * Destiny 2