Devil Splicers

"That which we were, we are no more. That which we are is undefined. We make our new selves. We need not machines, because we are machines. ~consume enhance replicate~"

- Aksis

The Devil Splicers belong to a radical sect of the Fallen House of Devils' Splicers who became obsessed with godhood with the discovery of SIVA, a nanotechnology capable of altering the material world. Realizing this could make them closer to the "machine-gods" that they had always worshiped, the Devil Splicers immediately began infecting their fellow Devils with SIVA.

Their weaponry is Solar-based, with red-colored energy instead of the typical blue Arc-based. This is likely because of SIVA augmentation.

History
"Fellow Houses. Fellow Eliksni. We have found the means to apotheosis, to become machines. SIVA can make you strong, but we can show you how to wield it, to free yourself from the bonds of Ether. Find us in the wasteland and bring us an offering of SIVA. In return, we will bring you to our chamber of perfection. And we will free you."

- INTERCEPTED FALLEN SIGNAL.

The history of the Devil Splicers is mostly unknown besides belonging to the Fallen House of Devils. They worked like other Splicers of other Fallen Houses; working to improve their houses weapons, technology and evolve their species. The Splicers, like the rest of their House, grew desperate after the loss of their House's Kell, Archon and Prime Servitor at the hands of the Guardians of the Last City. However, a disgraced machine priest, Aksis, returned and claimed the title of Archon finally bringing a sense of leadership back to the Devils. With Aksis and his followers in power, the Splicers redoubled their efforts in pillaging the Cosmodrome of Old Russia to find any piece of Golden Age technology to hopefully turn the tide. Their efforts proved fruitful as they found SIVA, a nanotechnology sealed away by the Iron Lords.

While the conventional leadership believed they have found a new machine to worship as a god, the younger more ambitious sect of the Splicers saw this technology as something else; a means to transcendence. The Devil Splicers believed they could use SIVA to become the machines they worship. Aksis was the first to do so, reaching apotheosis and becoming more machine than Fallen, achieving what the Splicers had long endeavored, freedom from subsistence on ether. The Splicers under Aksis then used SIVA to bring back the Devil's Prime Servitor, Sepiks, to prove the technology's worth to the rest of their brethren. However, since SIVA is completely new to the Fallen, the Splicers sought the means to control and understand it. Therefore, they traveled to Mars, taking a risk with the Cabal, to learn from Clovis Bray's archives as they were the original creators of SIVA. The Fallen were able to gain a basic understanding from the archives but a Cabal counterattack arrived and drove them away, preventing them from learning anything more of value.

With what they've learned, the Fallen were able to find Site 6, the replication center for SIVA, in the Plaguelands and reactivated it to produce more for themselves, twisting the land into their headquarters in the process. While learning about SIVA, the Devil Splicers also learned about the original Iron Lords that sealed SIVA away and believed that they could learn more about SIVA from the Iron Lords fortress of the Iron Temple. With a force of Devils under the command of Sepiks Perfected, the Fallen hoped to gain more knowledge of SIVA from within and destroy the temple to ensure the Guardians couldn't find a way to stop them. However, Lord Saladin learned of their plan and lead the Guardian to Felwinter Peak to defend the temple. Despite the Fallen's numbers and Sepiks' new powers, they failed to breach the temple. However, Sepiks survived, thanks to SIVA's regenerative powers, and fled into hiding. The Devils' attack on the temple would begin the conflict called the SIVA Crisis, the battle between the Devil Splicers and the Guardians.

Meanwhile, the Devils and their Splicers breached the Cosmodrome Wall to gain a better entry into the Plaguelands and to melt down the wall's metal for processing. With SIVA, the Devils were even able to drive both the House of Kings and the Hive out of their holdouts, leaving the majority of Old Russia under the Devils control, though the Hive continued to harass the Splicers despite their new abilities.

However, the Devil Splicers rise to prominence would be short-lived as the Guardians, under the guided leadership of Saladin and Shiro-4, destroyed the Splicers' connection to SIVA and breached their defenses in the Archon's Forge. As the Guardians entered Site 6 and faced the SIVA-corrupted Remnants of the Iron Lords, the Splicers joined them to prevent the Guardians from initiating the replication centers self-destruct sequence. Their efforts were nonetheless in vain as the Guardian defeated the Remnants and destroyed the replication center, thereby preventing the Devil Splicers from making anymore SIVA. However, the Splicer's still had a substantial amount of SIVA left and with Aksis and Sepiks still alive, the Devil Splicers remained a significant threat.

Meanwhile, as the Devil Splicers became closer to "godhood", they recklessly began experiments to destroy their enemies and create new weapons. Under the direction of Kovik, Splicer Priest, the Splicers began to capture and experiment on the Hive, either to enslave the Hive or harness their biology. In this act, the Hive furiously began an all-out war with the Splicers. The Guardians intervened to prevent the Splicers from gaining control of the Hive or to create the weapons, as they feared such experiments could mean the end for the Last City. The Guardians were able to stop the splicers by killing Kovik and putting a stop to their assaults on the Moon for more test subjects.

Ultimately, the power of the Devil Splicers came to end when the Guardians, now a new generation of Iron Lords, attacked the Devil Splicers lair, killed their second-in-command Vosik, the Archpriest, destroyed Sepiks for good in a strike, destroyed their Siege Engine's and finally their leader, Archon Aksis in his own Perfection Complex. With Aksis and his followers gone, the new Iron Lords ended the threat of the SIVA-mutated Devil Splicers.

Months after the loss of their Archon and Site 6, the Splicers sought to regain their advantage but lacked the leadership to do it. In desperation, the Splicers proposed an alliance to the crew of the mercenary, Taniks, the Scarred. To cement their alliance, the Devil Splicers used SIVA to resurrect Taniks as Taniks Perfected. Though Tanik's mind was overtaken by SIVA his leadership and ruthlessness remained, giving them the advantage they needed. Unfortunately, their efforts were discovered by Variks, the Loyal who relayed their plans to the Vanguard. The Guardians led a Strike on the Moon against the Splicers, Taniks' crew and the Hive who were harassing them. Despite their efforts and Taniks's new abilities, they failed. With Taniks dead again, the Splicers were left broken and leaderless once again.

As a result of the Devil Splicers humiliating and crushing failures against the Guardians, the entire House of Devils abandoned Old Russia leaving behind only small pockets of forces. While being monitored by the Guardians, these forces encountered some of the House of Kings, frightening them.

Command Structure
The command structure and tactics of the Devil Splicers is generally the same to their generic House of Devils counterparts, albeit more dangerous, zealous and with minor differences. For example, Splicer Priests fight generally like Captains but have more powerful shields and/or weapons.


 * Splicer Dreg—cannon fodder enemies equipped with mechanical peglegs to increase their speed and armed with SIVA Charges for grenades. Their pistols now fire bolts that travel in a zigzag pattern for unpredictability.
 * Splicer Reaver Dreg
 * Enhanced Dreg
 * Perfected Dreg


 * Splicer Vandal—rank and file troops that are capable of entering a berserker rage. At low health, they will start regenerating a large portion of the health they lost and run towards the player to land a devastating melee attack. Armed with Shock Rifles that have higher ballistic velocity and Wire Rifles that fire in bursts.
 * Splicer Reaver Vandal
 * Enhanced Vandal
 * Perfected Vandal
 * Splicer Shank Master
 * Splicer Scout
 * Splicer Operative


 * Splicer Captain—crew commanders that now have a Void shield instead of Arc. More unpredictable teleportation and are more likely to carry Scorch Cannons.
 * Splicer Reaver Captain
 * Splicer Scorch Captain
 * Shock Captain
 * Null Captain
 * Enhanced Captain
 * Fused Captain
 * Splicer Priest
 * Perfected Captain

Automata

 * Splicer Shank—repair and patrol drones that fire and move faster than their regular Fallen counterparts.
 * Splicer Reaver Shank
 * Perfected Shank
 * Voltage Eater
 * Splicer Servitor—artillery suppression machines equipped with a directed Solar energy weapon that has a higher fire rate and tracking abilities as opposed to its non-Splicer counterpart.
 * Splicer High Servitor
 * Enhanced Servitor
 * Perfected Servitor
 * Splicer Emissary
 * Shock Servitor
 * Scorch Servitor
 * Null Servitor
 * Splicer Walker—heavily armored tanks armed with a main cannon that fires homing clusters of explosive rounds and Splicer Seekers. Capable of summoning SIVA Nodes for area denial.
 * Perfected Walker

Vehicles

 * Splicer Skiff—Splicer variant of the regular Fallen Skiff used to deploy troops on the battlefield, but is equipped with Solar turrets instead of Arc.
 * Siege Engine—massive artillery vehicles used to smash down The Wall. One can be encountered in the Wrath of the Machine Raid.
 * Splicership Menkis-Syn--The Ketch of the Devil Splicers.

Notable Members

 * Aksis, Archon Prime
 * Dresiks, Splicer Baron
 * Kaviss, Splicer Captain
 * Kovik, Splicer Priest
 * Meksis, Siege Engineer
 * Rahndel, the Perfected
 * Sepiks Perfected
 * Taniks Perfected
 * Vosik, the Archpriest

List of appearances

 * Destiny
 * Rise of Iron