Forum:House of Hunters

"This is only our debut. You have only just found us, and now you will destroy us? I don't think so!"

- Kaephis, Kell of Hunters to The Guardian.

The House of Hunters is a Fallen House that was only recently encountered, though it was thought that all Houses banded together to form the House of Dusk. They use lots of Vex technology in their weapons, ships, vehicles, and even soldiers. It is said that they are the only beings able to use Vex tech for their own, and it is unknown why. It is led by their kell, Kaephis, Kell of Hunters. They are recognizable by their black and gold full body armour.

The Whirlwind
After the whirlwind, Kaephis had survived the events and left the Eliksni homeworld along with all the other houses. However he was able to influence multiple ships into following him away from the Traveler rather than follow the Traveler itself. The House scoured the galaxy for years before Kaephis decided to construct the Ultra Ketch.

Kardos
As the House of Hunters explored the galaxy and slowly grew, they came across a planet known as Kardos. It was home to an alien species called the Karsch that had advanced on their own without even knowing what the Traveler was. One of the three ships in the Hunters' fleet at the time broke down and crashed into a large area of muddy plains.

Kaephis ordered Vais, Hunter Splicer to help repair the ship while Eskar, the Archon at the time, and Rhetiks went out to scout the plains.

Eskar and Rhetiks discovered a Karsch mega city far away from the fleet, and went to them for help. After attempting to communicate with the Karsch, the Karsch sent about 20 ships to help pull the crashed Ketch out of the mud with the help of Vais repairing the engines. Once the Ketch was out, Rhetiks stabbed a Karsch through the chest, and the three Ketches shot down all of the Karsch ships before leaving the planet.

As the three Ketches reached the edge of the | Epsilon Eridani system (the system where Kardos is located) they were pursued by three Karsch ships. The Ketches and their Skiffs made short work of the Karsch fighters and the weapons on the Karsch ships.

With the Karsch fighters destroyed and the ships disabled, Eskar and Rhetiks were able to board a ship with multiple groups of Vandals and Dregs. On board they encountered lots of Karsch resistance, including a mech suit that was destroyed by being stuck with multiple grenades. Eskar and Rhetiks took the ship's command bridge with four Vandals, and the rest of the forces on the ship took the engine room.

With the two areas secure, Rhetiks was able to lock the areas down and vent the rest of the ship, killing every Karsch that was on board. Eskar and Rhetiks were congratulated, and the rest of the ships were soon taken. The Hunter fleet then took the Karsch ships with them to a different system.

The Twilight Planet
After fleeing from the Karsch, the Hunters arrived at a new system nearby. They sent a ship down to the nearest planet which was tidally locked to the system's suns. The Hunters sent a ship down crewed by a Vandal named Pelskis, and two Dregs named Diskar and Ralkaa. The three Hunters set out in the planet's twilight zones, the area where the sun hits the planet but not directly, and fades off.

As the Hunters were exploring, they came up and a massive crater on the planet's surface. They deemed it the 'Twilight Crater' and explored around it's sides before calling in a Skiff to bring them to the bottom of the crater. Before the Skiff would arrive, a storm would set in. Pelskis looked around for a place to hide and left the two Dregs out in the storm after having abused them throughout the mission, which angered the two Dregs. During the storm, Diskar found a rock and hurled it at Pelskis, breaking the seals on her armour and causing her to suffocate to death.

When the Skiff arrived, the Dregs blamed Pelskis's death on the storm, and they were taken back to Kaephis's ship instead of going down into the crater. The two Dregs met with Kaephis personally, though one at a time. Kaephis ordered Ralkaa's docking caps removed as he was wrongfully docked when he was young, but Diskar was punished. Kaephis didn't like Diskar as he got Kaephis's father killed during the Whirlwind. Diskar remained a Dreg while Ralkaa regrew his arms as he became a Vandal.

The Devil Raid
While the other Hunters were exploring the new planets, Eskar, Rhetiks, and Faltris, Hunter Archon led an assault on a few Fallen ships they had found. A Ketch belonging to the House of Devils was attacking a Ketch that belonged to the House of Rain. The Kell of the House of Devil's at the time, Jarsis, was onboard the Ketch. As well as the Archon Neks.

Eskar jumped his Skiff inside the the Devil's Ketch and the Hunters attacked. They continuously brought in their reinforcements as they battled against the Devils, making their way to the bridge to draw out their Archon. During the attack, another Devil Ketch jumped into the battle and the Hunters had to speed up their assault. Jarsis began his escape, and Neks came out to defend him. Eskar and Neks dueled each other, Eskar used a double-bladed Shock Blade, and Neks used his very own Scorch Blade. They intensely fought, but in the end Eskar gained the upper hand and killed the Devil Archon while the Devil Kell escaped.

The Hunters ended up winning both the Devil Ketch, and the Rain Ketch that the Devils were trying to take. They returned to their fleet with the two extra ships.

Vex Companionship
It is unknown how or why the Hunters work with the Vex, or why the Vex work for them. They have achieved something impossible. The House's Kell, Kaephis, himself has his own Vex 'pet', Living Gate, Aphix Subjective, which he truly cares for. It is unknown how Living Gate feels about Kaephis.

The Vex serve as scouts, cannon fodder, and full force soldiers for the House of Hunters. They don't use them all the time for those tasks however. Kaephis feels like if he uses his Vex too much his house will be attacked with the full force of The Last City, and he also feels his connection with Living Gate will be ruined.

Red War
The House of Hunters was first encountered by Guardians before the Red War, but Guardians didn't take action against them until around the time before the war had started. A group of three Guardians ran their own operations against the House without the consent of the Vanguard, such as attacking bases and killing high profile members of the House.

As the Red War ran it's course, Seja, John, and Heft continued to fight against the House of Hunters. John and Heft eventually were able to kill Rhetiks at Spider's Palace in the Tangled Shore just before the end of the war.

Rhetiks's death enraged the House of Hunters, but instead of appointing a new Archon, they went to retrieve his body. They brought Rhetiks back to Huntership Krenthar-Fel, and were able to mostly repair his body using Vex technology. Rhetiks continued to serve as the House's Archon, though at that point he was more machine than alive.

Before the Storm
As part of the Hunters arrangement with the Vex, the Hunters would have to help them convert the entire system into their machines. Their main target was Earth. Before launching their invasion, the Hunters studied the planet, and they discovered the Cosmodrome and the Plaguelands. They found that the Cosmodrome and the Plaguelands were under quarantine and inaccessible to Guardians, and they discovered the presence of SIVA as well, so they decided to pick that as their location for the invasion.

Rhetiks was sent down with a small crew to scout the place out, and he was tailed by Seja. Seja reported that Rhetiks was in the Plaguelands and gathered a team to fight them. However when the team arrived, Seja was not with them. The team consisted of Wrath-5, Drakul, Gariks, and Forum:Telg A'shum.

Rhetiks knew he was discovered and lead his attackers down to the caves outside of Site 6, where he figured he could defeat them easily. Once the attackers came, he fought them valiantly. He was able to keep Drakul away from him, and toy with Gariks and Telg, but he struggled to fight against Wrath's abilities. Rhetiks was eventually able to take Gariks out of the fight by cutting off both of his right arms, and he was able to kill one of Telg's War Beasts, Rath. Gariks's wound enraged Wrath, and the death of his War Beast enraged Telg, and they worked together to defeat Rhetiks.

Rhetiks was defeated when Wrath and Telg were able to knock Rhetiks off the cliff outside Site 6 and send him falling into the caverns below. This didn't kill Rhetiks however, it simply knocked him out for a while. Rhetiks eventually climbed back up the cliff and alerted Kaephis that the team pursuing him was gone, so their invasion could proceed.

The Invasion
Rhetiks waited outside of the Archon's Forge while the Hunters prepared for the invasion. There he encountered Frames belonging to Rasputin that had been patrolling since his fight with the Guardians and their allies. He simply dismissed the threat as he knew they were no match for his Vex. Once the mapping of the Plaguelands was complete, the invasion began.

Thousands of Aphix Subjective Vex began pouring through gates in the Plaguelands, they marched through the area eliminating what remained of the Devil Splicers and the Hive that had existed there, but then they encountered Rasputin's defences. Rasputin had frames deployed their of all types and sizes, ranging from simple 6' soldiers, to 15' behemoths.

The Vex struggled to fight against the frames, and so Rhetiks joined in the fight himself. He led the charge, cutting down frame after frame with his scorch blade until they could move onto the next section of the Plaguelands. After hours of fighting, the Vex's infinite numbers were able to push Rasputin's frames out of the Plaguelands, and they began to prepare for their conversion of Earth.

Sinking City
Before the Machine Panic, Kaephis had discovered from his Vex allies that there was a massive Vex complex buried on Earth, and he immediately sent forces out to scout and possible uncover the complex. Captain Ralkaa was at the head of the scouting forces when they arrived at Earth.

The Hunters arrived over Greenland outside of a once great city that was now crumbling and falling apart, as well as it was covered mostly in snow and ice. It was unclear how big the city was, a large portion of it was buried under the snow, and the rest of the buildings were falling down. The Hunters went down to the city to find it was occupied by the House of Dusk, and soon a battle broke out. The Hunters won the battle, it did not last very long as the Dusk Fallen did not stand a chance against the Hunters and their Vex.

After clearing the city out, the Hunters began working to get underneath the ice and find a way into the Vex complex under the ice. While they were doing this, the Hunters encountered a lone Fallen assassin named Soriviks, and they used him to help clean out the remaining Dusk forces.

Machine Panic
The Machine Panic was an event occurred after The Guardian found a map of Earth in the depths of Venus after defeating Hezen, Collective Mind. The occupants of the Tower were worried about a Vex invasion of Earth and sent out Guardians to patrol all over the planet. The Vanguard personally sent The Guardian to Greenland, which was the area that was flashing on the hologram of Earth.

The Guardian arrived at Greenland and found the flagship of the House of Hunters, the Ultra Ketch. They landed at the base of a mountain nearby so they wouldn't be spotted, and documented the entire area for the Vanguard. This is the first recorded encounter with the House of Hunters, although some Guardians claim to have fought them before.

The Hunted
Soon after the Vanguard discovered the House of Hunters, they began to run operations against them. The Vanguard's goals were to push the Hunters and their Vex out of the Sinking City, and discover the purpose of the Vex complex that was once buried underneath the ice.

Kell

 * Kaephis, Kell of Hunters

Prime Servitor

 * Sevis Prime

Archons

 * Faltris, Hunter Archon (currently)
 * Rhetiks, Hunter Archon (deceased)
 * Eskar, Hunter Archon (deceased)

Notable Members

 * Vais Hunter Splicer
 * Living Gate, Aphix Subjective
 * Diskar (formerly)
 * Captain Ralkaa
 * Sekrevak, Hunter Scout
 * Ketris, Hunter Blade

Major Servitors

 * Sevis-2
 * Sevis-3
 * Sevis Prevail

Major Shanks

 * Ultra Shank

Notable Groups

 * Hunter Splicers
 * Kardon Raiders

Unique Forces

 * Shank variants
 * Ultra Shank
 * Shank Seeker
 * Endured Shank


 * Dreg variants
 * Guard Dreg
 * Cannon Fodder
 * Hunter Splicer Dreg
 * Endured Dreg


 * Vandal variants
 * Hunter Guard
 * Fury Vandal
 * Hunter Splicer Vandal
 * Endured Vandal


 * Marauder variants
 * Assassin
 * Hunter Scout
 * Endured Marauder


 * Captain variants
 * Kell's Fanatic
 * Hunter Killer
 * Captain Seeker
 * Hunter Splicer Captain
 * Endured Captain


 * Servitor variants
 * Hunter High Servitor
 * Sevis Model Servitor
 * Light Eater Servitor
 * Abandoned Servitor
 * Watcher
 * Servitor Seeker
 * Endured Servitor


 * Walker variants
 * Hunter Walker
 * Infused Walker

Vehicles

 * Huntership Krenthar-Fel
 * Huntership Faltris-Fel
 * Huntership Andris-Fel

Weapons

 * Common weapons
 * Shock Rifle
 * Shock Pistol
 * Shock Dagger
 * Shock Grenade
 * Shock Blade
 * Shock Cannon
 * Scorch Cannon
 * Null Cannon
 * Shrapnel Launcher
 * Scorch Rifle - Solar version of the shock rifle.
 * Uncommon weapons
 * Slap Rifle
 * Line Rifle
 * Torch Hammer
 * Slap Launcher - Grenade launcher that shoots slap grenades.
 * Scorch Blade - Solar version of Shock Blade.
 * Rare weapons
 * Arm Mounted Shock Cannon
 * Arc Spear
 * Dual Shock Blade - A shock sword with two blades

List of Appearances

 * | Destiny: Fall of Light
 * | Destiny: Rise of the Scorn
 * Destiny 2
 * | The House of Hunters