Dreadnaught

The Dreadnaught and its fleet approaching Saturn

"My throne world is vulnerable. I am going to move it."
"Where?"
"Into a mighty dreadnaught. I shall keep my glorious mind cosmos inside a titanic warship."

— Oryx and Kagoor

The Dreadnaught is a massive Hive spaceship that serves as the fortress of Oryx, the Taken King. Accompanied by a fleet of Hive warships and Tombships, the Dreadnaught has entered into orbit around Saturn while Oryx prepares to enact his revenge against the Guardians for killing his son.^[1]

History

According to an analysis by Ghost, the Dreadnaught may pre-date the formation of the Earth, making it at least 4.54 billion years old.^[2] Part of the Dreadnaught's construction is made from the corpse of the Worm god Akka, whom Oryx had previously slain in order to learn the power to Take. Due to an invasion by the Vex, Oryx turned the High War, his Ascendant Realm, "inside out" by tying it into the structure of the Dreadnaught. In effect, his Ascendant Realm is located within the Dreadnaught itself, making his Ascendant Realm more mobile.

The Dreadnaught has a massive parabolic dish built into its side nearest the bow, which appears to be the emitter of some sort of super-weapon, capable of decimating fleets and even destroying a portion of Saturn's rings. As the weapon charges, energy travels laterally along the Dreadnaught's hull from each end until it reaches the dish, where it is collected and released in a devastating spherical pulse that expands outward from the ship, destroying or severely damaging anything in its path.^[3] This weapon is essentially the same as an Oversoul death impulse; because the Dreadnaught itself is Oryx's Ascendant Realm, it is capable of lashing out in the physical realm using a paracausal blast.

The Dreadnaught is a massive destination with its own Patrol mode and other activities. The Dreadnaught includes many raid-like secret locations and puzzles that players can revisit and solve to earn special rewards. Players will not only have to find a way inside the Dreadnaught in story missions, but also plant the beacons to be used later in patrol.^[1] Though it is a Hive ship, it is defended primarily by Oryx's personal army of Taken. In addition, a Cabal strike force has breached the interior and can be encountered engaging both the Hive and Taken.^[4]

Activities

Patrol

Story Missions

Strikes

Raid

King's Fall

Crucible

Cathedral of Dusk

Locations

Hull Breach (Public location)
Mausoleum (Public location)
Dantalion Exodus VI
The Bridge
The Narthex
Trenchway
Altar of Oryx
The Founts
The Asylum
The Hanging Crypts
Hall of Souls (Public location)
- Court of Oryx (Public Event)
- The Crux
Cathedral of Dusk (Crucible map))

Secret Chests

There are a number of chests hidden within the Dreadnaught that can only be opened with keys. To obtain the keys, one needs to kill Hive in the Hull Breach area until one drops the Wormsinger Rune. Use the rune on a console inside one of the side rooms in the Hull Breach area to summon a Hive Ogre champion. Killing the Ogre drops a Wormfeeder Rune; killing fifty more enemies turns the rune into one of nine keys which are used to open any of the chests below:

Breach—"Near the breach where foes invade, nestled with worms in a cave." Requires Key of Eir.
Breach—"Near the breach but down below, where only heroes dare to go." Requires Key of Ur.
Breach—"Not the breach, but on the path where lords and princes feed their wrath." Requires Key of Xol.
Court of Oryx—in a cave near the Court, "along the road where maggots pave." Requires the Key of Akka.
Court of Oryx—in an area near the Court, "where debts are paid, on the ledge where faith is laid." Requires Key of Yuul.
Court of Oryx—"In the Court of Oryx and just below, where but the bravest dare to go." Requires the Key of Gnashing Teeth.
Mausoleum—"In the Mausoleum find the key where maggots lurk blind." Requires Key of Maggots.
Mausoleum—"Along the Mausoleum walk, toward the Breach where invaders dock." Requires Key of Wyrding.
Mausoleum—"In the Mausoleum, 'tween a path the living have not seen." Requires Key of the Spawn.

Trivia

Fan theories abound as to the actual size of the Dreadnaught. Recently, a devoted fan used known data about Saturn's rings and recently investigated comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko's size to estimate that the Dreadnaught is approximately between 3444 to 3500 kilometers (2140.002 to 2174.799 miles) long. To put that in perspective, that is equivalent to the width of the continental United States, or the size of Earth's Moon,^[5]^[6] making it the largest ship to appear in science fiction, surpassing even the 160 kilometer Death Star II of Star Wars.

Gallery

Taken Fleet Concept Art
Dreadnaught Concept Art
Concept Art of the battle between Awoken fleet and the Dreadnaught
Concept art of the Dreadnaught's main cannon
A Render of the Dreadnought
Another Render of the Dreadnought
Render of the Dreadnought's main weapon
Inside the Dreadnaught
An outdated Director map of the Dreadnaught
The Dreadnaught's main weapon, firing.
The energy pulse from the Dreadnaught's main weapon, destroying everything in its path, including a pair of smaller Hive ships that were caught in its radius.
Hull Breach
Trenchway
The Founts
The Hanging Crypts