Forum:Saphix

"The Darkness showed me the Light, but the Vex showed me salvation"

- Saphix

Saphix was a former Guardian and the first to retain his consciousness after being infected with radiolaria. He is also one of many Guardians that were able to control the powers of the Darkness. He is currently leading the Oxian Almighty.

Resurrection
"Imagine sleeping for a little while, and then that slumber is interrupted. Not only are you awake, you are impaled and you don’t know why you exist."

- Saphix recalling his resurrection

During a Ghost’s journey to resurrect a Guardian, it stumbled upon a corpse impaled by a pole. The corpse split apart from panic, giving him his first death and causing a sense of shame in the ghost.

During their venture in the Cosmodrome, the recently resurrected Risen began to ask questions to the Ghost, some of which involved the giant orb in the sky. The Ghost replied by calling it the Traveler, and was one of many elements of his resurrection. Through this the risen was able to have a vague explanation of the Traveler, and so sought to find it.

One of his questions was about the opposite of the Traveler. The ghost claimed that it was a complicated subject, but was able to give him a brief talk about the Darkness. The ghost remained quiet for the remainder of the time, but left the risen to his thoughts, and so started imagining more complex functions for the Darkness.

The Traveler and Ideals
When the lonesome Guardian and his Ghost arrived under the Traveller, they were able to see a small settlement that took place there. He was invited by the Speaker, and asked if he was able to converse with it. The Speaker rod him that the Traveler was inactive, slowly regaining its original strength. The risen was confused on why he was chosen to be brought back. The Speaker said he did not know, but he assured him that the Traveler put its trust in the ghosts.

Later, the Guardian was packing his supplies for a mission. The idea of harnessing the Darkness gnawed his mind, turning it into obsession. He wanted to seek something that could attain the energy of the Darkness. His ghost refused to let him, but he couldn’t stop the obsession, and pleaded with his ghost to help him. Through this they left on the condition that he would not use the Darkness in any way that was considered evil. With this take of leave, he called himself Saphix, as a memento of his burdens.

The Darkness and Salvation
"You wanted to find us without any hesitation, and for that we shall gift you with our power."

- The Darkness as it converses with Saphix

As Saphix moved on to find the Darkness, he realized that the Darkness wouldn’t be on Earth, and asked his Ghost to show him where a Jumpship was. His Ghost was able to locate one on a small abandoned village where a corpse resided in. Surrounding it were numerous piles of Vex technology and pieces. Using these Vex parts to fix the ship with the ghost’s guidance, they left the corpse to its infinite slumber and went to the stars above.

During their trip, Saphix received a vision through his ghost. It spoke of distant skies and a dark wasteland, with millions of red eyed warriors and himself in front. He dismissed the vision, but it gave him the final piece to the puzzle, a way to find the Darkness. This would eventually lead him to Europa, a small desolate moon where traces of the Darkness were located. Once he made contact with the frozen ground, he scoured the moon to find something that would help him. Unfortunately there was no sign of any physical manifestation of the Darkness. However when he was about to leave, a Crux of Darkness manifested in front of him, granting him a gift from the Darkness. Once Saphix was able to get his hands on a Splinter of Darkness, he left feeling satisfied with the existence of the Darkness.

Capture and Infection
"This was the day I was reborn. The day I became stronger."

- Saphix recalling his infection

After retrieving his new powers, he returned to Earth and commenced a raid on a small settlement. With his ferociousness and bloodlust, Saphix killed almost everyone in the small village, and left a large ice structure as a sign. While his Ghost noticed that Saphix became more unstable, he did not acknowledge it, nor did he help when Saphix was injured. He would then depart to Mercury, a Machine World. His presence would attract the attention of the Vex, and they sought out a plan to capture him. Due to his Ghost’s ignorance and Saphix’s mental instability, he would be captured by the Vex.

Saphix would be the subject to multiple tests for Guardians, including the process of injecting radiolaria into the dark Guardian. The Sol Divisive would call him a demigod of the Darkness, while the Vex collective that captured him called him a mere guinea pig. In all of these incidents, Saphix would retain his consciousness, and would instead grow more stronger from the radiolaria. However, the radiolaria in his body began to turn his arms into mechanical limbs, which would later have the Vex watching Saphix coughing violently. Saphix, now gaining some benefits from the radiolaria, such as increased intelligence, would use his Ghost as a constant healing factor for him by ripping it apart and using its parts to control the radiolaria. This would result in the Darkness containing and changing the radiolaria, turning it into a darker form of the substance. With the infection crisis solved, Saphix would plan his escape.

In a turn of events, Saphix found out that he could control the nearby Vex by focusing the Darkness to manipulate the radiolaria. He would master this ability to the point where he wouldn’t need to focus to control the Vex. Saphix would then escape, taking a few Goblins and Minotaurs as his defense while taking out the Mind that planned his capture. After this predicament, the nearby Vex stopped attacking him and followed his orders, as they viewed him as a stronger Mind, effectively breaking out of the Pattern. With this done, Saphix would instead stay and expand his new territory and army, planning a massive attack...

The Infinite Forest
"Did you think it was the right thing to let it go? It wouldn’t have mattered. It’s only a mere echo of the actual threat."

- Sagira and Osiris talking about Saphix and his Mouth

Prior to the attack, Osiris was focusing on slowing the Vex collective from taking complete control over the Infinite Forest. While his reflections were exploring the many simulations, some of them reported a strange collective of Vex attacking the Collective and taking control of the simulations. Osiris was intrigued, as the only other Collective that attacked other Vex were the Sol Divisive. He was then communicated by the Mouth of Saphix, and addressed itself as responsible for the recent events revolving around both Osiris’ and the Collective’s loss of their simulations. When asked of it’s purpose, it replied with a search for salvation. Osiris then asked if it had a grasp of the Darkness. It acknowledged it, but did not fully answer his question. Osiris then asked for a reason of taking the simulations. It merely replied with a question on his goals. Osiris was able to leave, but was asked by Sagira if he should’ve killed it. He replied that the Mouth was merely an echo for the true threat, and continued on his exploits.

As Saphix took more control over the simulations, it was attacked by a simulation of Dendron, Root Mind. He destroyed it with a number of Cyclops, but salvaged the remains for a project. By the time he returned to his own simulation, he was attacked by Panoptes, and through the use of his Stasis abilities, overwhelmed Panoptes its sheer power and wit. This led Saphix to believe that he wasn’t safe and so desired the need to leave.

Time of Stasis
During this part of Saphix’s life, he realized he could not win against Panoptes without causing a large disturbance. Calculating a solution, he encased himself in a Vex time loop created from the remains of a simulated Dendron. He hid himself inside a cave of Mercury, and remained so for decades. It was only with the intervention of a Guardian that freed Saphix. Saphix would then bring thinking for his return, and for the future of the Last City.

Strengths and Weaknesses
Unlike other Guardians, Saphix is able to use the powers of the Darkness to his own desire. Unlike others that embraced the Darkness, Saphix has mastered and embraced the Darkness, and can attack at a surprisingly fast rate. He specializes in using this power for unorthodox and sometimes brutal methods, going so far as to force them to remain conscious as he experimented on them. Those who faced him in battle have experienced frequent pain in the mental plane, disorienting them and ending with a deadly kill. He can also be incredibly agile, climbing to the top of Felwinter Peak in a span of 90 seconds. Along with this he leads an entire coup of Vex known as the Oxian Almighty.

While Saphix lost his connection to the Light, he still has traces of it inside his body left by his Ghost’s remains, however it does not seem to function the way other Risen use their Light. Although with the exponentially increasing amount of Darkness lurking within him, it is unclear if Saphix is truly acting on his own will. This left a strange phenomenon to occur, where the Light and Dark seemingly combine.

Arsenal
When he’s not using the Darkness, Saphix attains the use of a Temptation’s Hook in order to launch frequent and dangerous attacks. Saphix is fond of swords and daggers, often seen examining various blades.

With the addition of the radiolaria infection, Saphix is also able to use the Slap Rifle and the Torch Hammer. With a limb of the Vex, Saphix’s strength doubled, enabling him to destroy an object with the mass of a truck.

Other Stasis hunters maintain the use of frozen kamas in order to unleash devastating attacks with precision. Saphix uses this to create large shards and sharp gauntlets of cold. Using this he can both launch these shards while overwhelming the enemy with fatal hits.

Trivia

 * Saphix played the recorder once. It did not end well.
 * Saphix is sometimes seen watching the simulations of the Infinite Forest, and rarely being seen manipulating them.
 * Saphix loves eating Jello.
 * The House of Eon mention Saphix as the “Bearer of the Darkness”.
 * Saphix is not known by many due to his absence, but he has interacted with Eris Morn once.