Eramis, Kell of Darkness

"To my Eliksni sisters and brothers out amongst the stars, and here at home on Europa. We are the future of our kind, and we will destroy all who threaten us. Remember, Light only burns bright so long, but Darkness is forever."

- Eramis

Eramis, Kell of Darkness (formerly known as Eramis, the Shipstealer) is the Fallen Kell of the House of Salvation and the first Eliksni to wield the power of Stasis from The Witness and the Black Fleet. Prior to that, she was a former Baroness from the House of Devils having lead the united front of Fallen Houses in the Battle of the Twilight Gap.

According to Variks, she was captured and imprisoned in the Prison of Elders sometime during the Wolf Rebellion. Thanks to the mass breakout from the Prison later initiated by Variks, Eramis escaped the Prison and united the Fallen traditionalists into creating the House of Salvation and becoming a new "Kell of Kells".

She is the main antagonist of the Beyond Light expansion and later Season of Plunder.

Early history
Eramis was born on Riis during the era of peace and prosperity brought about when the Great Machine uplifted their civilization, much like the Golden Age of Humanity. During this time, she and her mate Athrys had many hatchlings together, and she was a friend of Variks. However, their world's prosperity ended with the arrival of the Black Fleet, which brought about a cataclysmic event called the Whirlwind that destroyed Eliksni civilization. Eramis was one of the few Eliksni who witnessed the Traveler abandoning her people as it left Riis to its own destruction.

Eramis survived the Whirlwind consumed with rage toward the Great Machine. Starting a new life as a nomadic Fallen of the House of Devils, she elevated herself to the position of Baroness and earned the moniker of "Shipstealer". She would later lead the Fallen charge against the Guardians of the Last City during the climactic battle of Twilight Gap, slaughtering hundreds of Lightbearers in their final deaths.

Sometime during the Wolf Rebellion, Eramis would be captured and incarcerated in the Prison of Elders by the Reef-born Awoken.

Reuniting the Devils
Vanguard intelligence on Eramis considered her the most likely candidate for Fallen reunification, describing her as trying to rally together a new House of Devils. Seven months after escaping from the Prison of Elders, a large amount of Fallen united under Eramis attempted to enter the old Tower and steal an old weapon forged two years ago by The Guardian, presumably to use the SIVA within. They were thwarted, however, thanks to a joint effort between the Guardian and Mithrax, the Forsaken.

The Dark House


Following the failed attempt to steal Outbreak Prime and the SIVA it contained, Eramis abandoned the House of Devils banner and united former members of the Devils, Wolves and Dusk Houses under the House of Salvation, with Eramis proclaiming herself as Kell. They began utilizing the Darkness as a means to destroy the Guardians and The Last City, going against the Fallen's traditional rules and ideals by willingly using and harnessing the very thing that destroyed their home. Furthermore, Eramis seeks revenge against the Traveler for abandoning her people centuries prior.

Unfortunately for Eramis, Variks would learn of her hateful plans, disappointed that Eramis had turned their shared dream of rebuilding elisksni civilization in peace on Europa into an opportunity to forge an empire for herself. Desperate to save his people, Variks had stolen one of Eramis's Splinters of Darkness and sought a means to contact the Guardians to warn them of Eramis's threat. Though nearly killed with the Dark Kell caught him to him, Variks was successful in getting the Guardian to aid him in combating Eramis and her House of Salvation. However, Eramis's use of Stasis. along with that of her lieutenants, proved too much for the Guardians to handle, forcing them to agree to work with the Exo Stranger in wielding Stasis themselves.

After enough training, the Guardians are able to take out the members of Eramis's inner circle, such as Phylaks and Praksis, growing in strength with their Stasis abilities. Hearing of her council being decimated, Eramis became enraged. Though Kridis advised caution, Eramis sought to retaliate, initially through gaining reinforcements from the remnants of the old House of Devils but after the Guardian caught wind of her plan and routed the devils before they could reach Europa, the Dark Kell became further enraged and desperate. Seeking reinforcements of a different nature, Eramis began to activate a Vex portal that Clovis Bray was studying, which would allow the Vex to pour through and overwhelm Europa. Believing that Eramis had truly gone mad, Variks directs the Guardians to stop the Vex portal in haste, succeeding in doing so after destroying Belmon, Transcendent Mind. Eramis nonetheless gained something from the massive amounts of radiolaria the portal had created.

With Eramis backed into a corner, the Guardian entered Riis-Reborn once more to confront the Kell of Darkness. As they proceeded, Eramis entered into one last argument with Variks, who furiously denounces all that she has committed, calling her a coward for turning her back on the eliskni chance to live in peace. Infuriated, Eramis silences the Judgment Scribe before finally facing the Guardian. Though they put up a fight, Eramis nonetheless manages to trap the Guardian in stasis along with their Ghost and destroy their Splinter, robbing them of both Light and Dark. Heeding the Exo Stranger's words to looks within, the Guardian embraces the Darkness, allowing them to break free and wield Stasis fully, sending the Dark Kell reeling. Battling against each other once more with their Stasis powers, Eramis quickly becomes desperate as the Guardian bests her forces and overcome her power, leading her to rant and rave at them.

Ultimately, despite her stasis powers, the Guardian beat her to submission. Refusing to admit defeat, Eramis attempted to rise again but noticed that Stasis began to encase her. Unable to accept that she had failed to meet the Darkness's expectations, Eramis attempted to reach out to the Pyramid but was nonetheless completely overcome with Stasis, rending the Kell of Darkness a statue. Without their leader, the House of Salvation began to fracture and flounder, as the Guardians dismantled their operations on Europa and helped fleeing eliksni. Though Atraks and Kridis attempted to continue the war against the Guardian through separate means, they too both fell against the Guardians, rendering the House of Salvation a shell of what it was under Eramis.

Broken Free
"I was not there when my House fell to ruin. Defectors joined the cowardkel Misraaks — and his worthless House of Light — and fled to the Last City. They devoted themselves to their oppressors: the Guardians and their "Great Machine." There is no greater shame. I tried to claim Stasis for my people... But I was judged. Bound. Abandoned by the same power I sought to command. Some chains cannot be broken. Or so they would have you believe."

- Eramis.

After spending almost two years frozen in her Stasis prison on Europa, Eramis would hear a voice, demanding her to gather those who would serve her and claim relics that had been lost in the Dark Ages. The Dark Kell agreed and was released from her prison. Furious over the state of the Fallen, from her broken house to the knowledge that Mithrax and his House of Light had sided with the Last City, Eramis begins her task of finding the relics by gathering those who would know their locations: the Old Crews, pirates of Fallen legend. As her name still carries great weight amongst the pirates for her reputation as the Shipstealer, many of the pirates do answer her call and begin searching for the relics.

Eramis's efforts however, would catch the notice of the Guardians after they had rescued the Spider from some of her Salvation Fallen on Europa as he was being smuggled to the Last City. Working alongside Drifter, Mithrax, Spider and Eido, the Guardian battles with Eramis's pirates and mercenaries, claiming their treasure for the Eliskni Quarter and the relics before Eramis could claim them. During their clashes, Eramis would get into heated arguments with Mithrax, expressing scorn for his decision to continue worshiping the Great Machine and siding with the Guardians while Mithrax expressed disappointment in Eramis continuing the cycle of violence though attempted to reason with her. The Shipstealer, however, was not receptive to the Light Kell's calls to back down.

Ultimately, the first pirate, Val'aug, the Brute, managed to located the first relic but failed to deliver it to Eramis as the Guardians located her hideout, killed her and claimed the relic for Eido to study. The second relic managed to be claim by Iriks, the Sharpshooter but the pirate was bold or foolish enough to think he could extort Eramis with it. The Shipstealer was not amused by this, sending Iriks a threatening message for him to deliver the relic or he will face the wrath of a power he had no comprehension of. Unfortunately for the Kell, the Guardian managed to locate Iriks's hideout and claim the relic, with Eido finding Eramis's message. The Light Scribe would claim that the power Eramis was referring to was the Witness and would come to the conclusion that Eramis had abandoned her calls for Eliksni unity. The third and fourth relics would ultimately be claimed the Guardians but Eido would find a message Eramis had left in the fourth relic that Alaaks, the Beast Tamer initially claimed: a rallying cry for the Old Crews and Fallen to rise above their current squalor, claim their "rightful place" in the Sol System and begin a new age of Eliksni prosperity, with an implied threat towards Alaaks to join her cause. This makes Eido wonder what the Witness offered Eramis for the relics.

In time, as Eramis's forces failed to gather the next relics, the Dark Kell would receive a surprise transmission from Eido, Mithrax's adopted daughter, calling for a parlay to hopefully reach a peaceable agreement. Despite her views, Eramis would respond to Eido and agree to the parlay, but warns the scribe to not waste her time. Mithrax learned of his daughter's efforts and found them foolhardy, asking the Guardian to accompany them to the meeting for Eido's protection. The Guardian agreed and met at the parlay location, a remote asteroid in the Themis Cluster. Eramis arrived and despite taking offense to the Guardian's presence, proceeds with the parlay but it becomes clear that peace isn't possible. Eido attempts to appeal towards Eramis, stating that another party attempted to claim the relics from the Old Crews but when Eramis wished to know who this party, Eido couldn't say but regardless, the relics in their hands could pose a serious danger. Unmoved, Eramis would take this opportunity to tell Eido that her father already knows how dangerous the relics are. Mithrax, still unwilling to tell Eido of his past himself, allows Eramis to regal the Light Scribe of her father's violent and brutal past, and of how he once wielded the relics, which are in reality, pieces of the dead Disciple of the Witness, Nezarec. Having become enthralled by its power, Mithrax became a cruel pirate leader and despite renouncing the relics and becoming Kell to the House of Light, Eramis claims that Mithrax will always be a killer. Eido is left silent as Eramis finishes her tale. Satisfied that she may have drove a wedge between Mithrax and his daughter, Eramis take her leave to continue leading the Old Crews in claiming the remaining relics.

Despite Eramis's efforts, the Old Crews continued to fail in delivering the relics to her and to her surprise, Eido continues to beseech Eramis to renounce the violence of the past and work towards a future where the eliskni can live in peace. Eramis, in a rare moment of gentleness, declines stating the violence she is a part of is all that she knows and its the only thing that she believes will end the conflicts the Eliskni are embroiled in. Ultimately, both parties discover that the third party seeking the relics of Nezarec is the Lucent Brood and the final relic was nearly within their grasp. However, Eido attempted to claim the relic first without violence but found herself cornered by the Hive. Desperate, the Guardian and Mithrax fight their way to Eido's position but find, to their surprise, that Eramis herself already arrived and saved Eido from the Hive. Mithrax then duels Eramis, despite Eido's pleas. Mithrax gains the upper-hand, leaving Eramis at his mercy but despite her efforts to goad him into showing Eido how ruthless he really is, Mithrax refuses and spares her. Mocking his act of mercy, claiming that Eido could've had everything, Eramis makes her escape on her Ketch, with the Guardian claiming the last relic.

Though glowering at her failure in claiming the relics and being spared by Mithrax, Eramis received one last message from Eido, asking her to once more renounce her violent cause and to "Come home," offering her a place in the new Eliksni society that the House of Light was trying to build. Eramis, while considering Eidos communique, was unable to move past all that she had lost, such as her mate Athrys and the hatchlings they had together, and, lamentably admitted to herself that there was no place for her in such a society.

Devil in the Details
Since then, Eramis would go into hiding once more but the Witness would see that she and her followers would be punished for her failure to secure the relics. As Xivu Arath worked to prepare for an invasion by corrupting the Warsat Network, the Hive War God used her Wrathborn to corrupt a majority of the Salvation Fallen while those that were slayed were resurrected as Scorn. Both would nonetheless serve Xivu Arath in her efforts to seize control over Rasputin's weapon systems.

As Eramis continued to hide, the Dark Kell would send hidden messages to the Guardians as they traversed the Seraph Spire as it was being assault by Sol Divisive Vex. Each messages, at first, were threats and insults towards them but as the Guardians proceeded further in the Spire, Eramis's tone changed. She began to confide in the Guardian and even attempt to advise the Guardian that they don't need gods like the Traveler anymore.

Further, despite her attempts to hide, Eramis continued to serve the Witness, even as her forces were corrupted and those she once knew would be raised from death. Praksis, for example, was raised as The Defiled and made to guard the Nexus Control of the Seraph Station, the central control hub of the Warsat Network. However, Eramis's tone showed that the Shipstealer was beginning to doubt her cause and grow tired with the fighting. After the Guardians succeeded in infiltrating Seraph Station and slayed Praksis once again, Eramis made a brief correspondence with Mara Sov herself. The Reef Queen attempted to appeal to Eramis on what she used to be, how they can't get back what they lost and that they have only become tired with all that has happened. Despite Mara's efforts, Eramis merely sighed and cut communications. Unfortunately for the Shipstealer, her woes would only grow as more of her forces failed against the Guardians. One failing to prevent the Guardian from acquiring the remains of Lord Felwinter's Ghost, Felspring. As a result, Eliskni traffic to House Light would rise sharply, as Rasputin would notice, leading the Warmind to believe that many Eliskni have come to think that following Eramis is no longer beneficial. In that, Elsie Bray hopes that Eramis will one day swallow her need for vengeance and see that herself.

Ultimately, Eramis discovered the virus the Guardians had planted within Seraph Station, blocking it and closing the backdoor the Guardians used to access the station, and gained access to Rasputin's ABHORRENT IMPERATIVE, a protocol that has all of the Warmind's Warsats target the Traveler in the event it ever left Earth. Desperate and with no other option, Rasputin believed the only way to stop Eramis from using the Warsats and cause untold destruction, the Warmind stated his intent to upload himself into Seraph Station and initiate his AURORA SACRIFICE protocol, which would destroy all the Warsats along with himself. Though Ana vehemently objected, she complied as there was no other way. The Guardian managed to reach the Station with Rasputin's aid and at the docking bay, they encounter Eramis herself. However, the brief skirmish between the two ends as Eramis flees to finish preparations to destroy the Traveler, sealing the entrance to the bridge with Stasis. Rasputin, however, finds an alternate route that gets the Guardians to the Bridge, where they face off with Ir Garza, Scourge of Earth, as Eramis slowly gained access to the ABHORRENT IMPERATIVE protocol.

Though the Guardians succeeded in slaying Ir Garza and managed to upload Rasputin into the station, Eramis succeeded in gaining control over the Warsats, just as the Traveler began to leave the Last City and Earth's orbit. Believing that the Whirlwind is happening all over again, Eramis was prepared to fire the Warsats, despite Mithrax's pleas, after being reminded by the Witness to let the Traveler feel her pain. Though Eramis initiated the Warsats to fire, Rasputin succeeded in causing the Warsats to self-destruct but to her shock and fury, the Traveler ceases to move, staying within Earth's outer orbit. Aghast, Eramis asks why does the Traveler not flee but the Witness answers that it merely has no place left to run to.

Despite failing to use the Warsat network to aid Xivu Arath or destroy the Traveler, Eramis continued to have her House battle the Last City, despite growing more and more weary with the fighting, seeing her people made into puppets of the Witness and hearing her foes entreaties to abandon her crusade.

Personality and traits
Once, Eramis was described as a classical Fallen traditionalist, as in being vicious and uncompromising yet possessing cunning of the highest degree. She may have once been a believer in the Fallen's old ways and had a fierce loyalty to the House of Devils. Eramis's leadership was proven when she managed to gather various amounts of Fallen of different factions under her banner to reconstruct the House of Devils and was bold enough to make an attempted theft of the Old Tower if it meant to restore her house and people to glory.

However, driven into utter desperation and ruthlessness by the Fallen's continual losses as the hands of the Guardians, Eramis has become conniving and power-hungry, not afraid to resort to infiltration and violent conquests to achieve each of her goals. Following her failed raid during Zero Hour, she broke a major Fallen taboo, gaining Darkness abilities in the form of Stasis during her journey to Europa. Eramis is a new breed of Fallen, one that is willing to use the powers of the very same enemy that destroyed her home and broke her people, in order to achieve the power and absolution that she feels the Fallen deserve.

Eramis presumably commanded at least a Skiff or probably a Ketch before her capture and was known for stealing ships for the Devils.

As the Kell of her house, she believes that the only way to save her people is to destroy the Traveler and take vengeance on it for abandoning her kind, desiring to make the Great Machine feel the pain the Eliksni have endured. Variks has stated that Eramis had always been brash and reckless but she did indeed care for her people as despite her resentment towards Variks, she joined forces with him to create a new home and future for the Eliksni. However, her constant hatred towards the Traveler and the Guardians ultimately brought her to the point of madness, especially after accepting the power of Stasis from the Darkness. She turned her people's hope for a new future into her opportunity to begin a new empire and was willing to kill members of her own kind if they were not aligned to her cause, deriding them as traitors.

As Eramis continued to her reign as the Kell of Darkness she displayed heavy traits of arrogance and megalomania, refusing to believe her way could ultimately destroy the Eliksni, the people she was trying to save. Even when she attempted to unleash a flood of Vex unto Europa, which would no doubt negatively affect the Fallen, to destroy the Guardian, Eramis believed she was in the right.

The Kell of Darkness had nothing but complete contempt and resentment for the Guardians of the Last City, believing them to be but pawns to the Traveler, ready to be cast aside like the Eliksni were. This hatred ultimately led her to underestimate the Guardian during their efforts on Europa, as Eramis's anger and frustration clouded her judgement. Further, she refused to accept that the Guardians were capable of wielding the Darkness as she did, believing her kind was more fit and worthy of Stasis.

Upon reemerging from her Stasis prison, Eramis ultimately remained bitter and angry as she was when the Guardian bested her, only now more enraged since seeing her house crippled and showing complete contempt towards Mithrax and his House of Light for siding with the Guardians and the Last City. She remains somewhat deluded in her beliefs, stating that her violence is necessary to bring an end the cycle of violence the eliskni are a part of and refuses to back down peacefully when Mithrax tries to reason with her. Further, she believes that as Kell, the obedience of her followers, including the notorious Old Crews that aligned with her, was her right. Towards Mithrax, it appears that the Shipstealer once respected him for his brutality and cruelty but is now disappointed that Mithrax had continued to worship the Great Machine and more so for siding with the Guardians, stating that his piety doesn't hide the fact that he is still a killer. Despite her bravado, Eramis is explicitly motivated by fear of what the Witness will do to her should she fail to gather the Pieces of Nezarec and she knows she cannot lie to the Witness should she fail.

In a strange twist during the race to claim the relics, Eramis would begin to correspond with Mithrax's adopted daughter, Eido. At first, she merely humored the young scribe's call for a parlay, not actually considering to lay down her arms and live in peace as Eido hoped and even attempted to drive a wedge between the scribe and her father by revealing the Light Kell's troubled and brutal past. However, doing so may have troubled Eido and indeed strained her relationship with Mithrax, the Light Scribe remains resolute in her belief that the eliskni can turn away from the violence of the past and live in peace. In a rare show of being gentle, Eramis clarifies her point of view to Eido due to being a survivor of the Whirlwind and it's possible that Eido's youth and hope reminds Eramis of the family she once had. Ultimately, however, Eramis refuses to abandon her cause and find a way to live in peace, as she is claims she doesn't fit in a world the House of Light is wishing to build, nor can she let go all that she has lost.

In Season of the Seraph, while Eramis continues to serve the Witness, it is shown that the Shipstealer has started to grow weary and tired from the fighting and of her mounting failures against the Guardians. Her tone alone shows that Eramis is less boastful, confident and angry to more sullen and tired, overall giving the appearance of being depressed. It would ultimately be revealed that Eramis is continuing to serve the Witness despite all the pain and suffering they and Xivu Arath have done to her house, out of fatalism. She doesn't see the point in resisting anymore, having resigned herself to the choices she made.

Gameplay
Eramis fights like many of her brethren, with a Shrapnel Launcher and Stasis at her fingertips. However she tends to move around less frequently, tending to stay near the back center of her arena. Instead, she tends to not be the focus of the fight, but to be a support to her subordinates, periodically attempting to freeze the player with her Stasis Strike and Eramis' Wrath attacks, all the while softening the Guardian and preventing regeneration with her shrapnel launcher.

However Eramis can be outsmarted as she tends to fire her Stasis where the Guardian is instead of where they will be. This can be used to outsmart her by jumping and rapidly changing directions. A Warlock's healing rift can protect themselves if they're frozen, a Titan's barricade can negate her attacks, and a Hunter's dodge usually can avoid it outright. Her shrapnel launcher tends to not do enough damage to be a threat due to how far away she tends to be, but it shouldn't be forgotten as it can clean up a kill one of her Wretches softened for her, or she can use it to weaken the opponent enough for a Vandal's homing Shock Rifle barrages to easily finish the job.

Eramis is also easy to stun, a precision shotgun shell or Stasis super attack to the head can stun her long enough to get some breathing room, but don't overestimate how long she's stunned, as her slam can easily knock the opponent into more danger or off the arena outright to certain doom.

Quotes

 * "I will give these Guardians the destruction they crave."
 * "Chains! For centuries we have been bound by them! We have become pawns of our own devices. No Longer!"
 * "One by one, we will rise again. This is our future. Our enemies stand no chance against this power. The Great Machine will finally know our pain!
 * "This power is a gift, one I will share with all of you in time."
 * "Remember, light only burns for so long, but darkness is forever!"

Trivia

 * Eramis is voiced by Salli Saffioti.
 * During Beyond Light, Eramis towers over the Guardian at the average height of a Fallen Ultra. However when she reappeared in Season of Plunder, her height was more in line with that of an average Captain. Why this size discrepancy exists is unknown.
 * The unspecified entities reported on Eramis's threat judge her to be the greatest threat for Fallen reunification.
 * Due to her heist for Outbreak Perfected, it may be possible that she was also trying to recreate the Devil Splicers.
 * She is the first Fallen to use a pure manifestation of the Darkness.
 * She is the second main antagonist to be female, with the first being Riven.
 * Unlike Riven, Eramis was revealed to be the main antagonist at the beginning of the campaign. Riven was revealed to be the hidden antagonist in the last campaign mission of Forsaken.
 * Eramis is the first known female Kell to be encountered in Destiny.
 * Eramis is missing two of her eyes.
 * Eramis was thought to have been first mentioned in House of Wolves, however, this is a mishearing. Variks says something that sounds more like "Veekris" rather than Eramis.
 * As described in Bungie's National Coming Out Day post, they stated Eramis to be a lesbian due to her relationship with Athrys.
 * Both of Eramis' feet are mechanical prosthetics up to the ankle. Whether she is a double amputee or they have been replaced voluntarily, as in the case of Taniks, is unknown. The Devil Splicers similarly replaced their legs, though she is the first Fallen not to feature a peg leg arrangement.

List of appearances

 * Destiny
 * House of Wolves
 * Destiny 2
 * Season of the Drifter
 * Season of Arrivals
 * Beyond Light
 * Season of the Splicer
 * Season of the Risen
 * Season of Plunder
 * Season of the Seraph
 * Season of Defiance