Namrask

Namrask
Biographical information
Other name(s):	Akileuks VIP #0013
Homeworld:	Riis
Species:	Fallen
Gender:	Male
Political and military information
Affiliation:	House of Devils (formerly) House of Salvation (formerly) House of Light

Namrask is a Fallen from the House of Light who left the House of Salvation. Regretting the past atrocities he committed in his lifetime, he sought to escape from them by becoming a weaver in hopes that no one remembered his past.

Biography

Early life

Whilst the early life and identity of Namrask are unknown, he lived on Riis alongside his race who were described as peaceful gardeners. The Eliksni were once graced by the Great Machine and with its blessings made many advancements as an interstellar civilization. They also matured to the size of Captains as Ether was plentiful. However, this changed when the Witness and its Black Fleet brought a "whirlwind" of destruction that destroyed their prosperous society. Namrask witnessed the horrors it brought and watched the Traveler flee.

Many revered Eliksni warriors, such as Chelchis, Kell of Stone, stood before the "maw", but fell to Oryx; a student of the Deep. When Chelchis fell, the Eliksni were struck with feelings of hopelessness and rage and many were forced to abandon their homeworld. Namrask was among the most prominent of Eliksni who ordered his fleet of ships to follow the fleeing Great Machine. However, in their desperation, Namrask abandoned many ships on Riis that had many hatchlings. He was also aware of Eramis sending her mate Athrys and their children to a different star system but did not care as he abandoned the Houses who were unable to make war. He relentlessly pursued the Great Machine across the vast expanses of space and many ships rallied behind Namrasks' fleet of Ketches. This period of space flight lasted for centuries and is collectively known as the Long Drift.

However as the Long Drift persisted, the high-ranking Eliksni neglected their old customs and adopted new means of survival. They established a new social hierarchy where disgraced Eliksni were docked into subservience and Ether rations were reduced among the population to starve them into social control. The Eliksni no longer held their past roles of being builders, caretakers, physicians and negotiators, but instead turned into warriors and scavengers. Namrask was instrumental in helping make this an Eliksni law where basic workers such as farmers, healers and weavers were reduced to the labor of a Dreg and forced to steal what they could with a pistol and a knife.

The Smokesword

Reaching where the Great Machine had fled to, Namrask would finally arrive at the Sol System, with each of his ships separately beginning their own wars against Humanity in anger and favor for the Great Machine, which had floated above the Humans. As for Namrask, he would take the name, "Akileuks", an Eliksni transliteration of the name of the legendary Greek hero Achilles, whose name meant "woe to the enemy", as well as the epithet "Smokesword". Using these names, he took part in the significant events that the Eliksni, now Fallen, had led, with one notable event being the Burning of London, where he had partaken in the slaughtering of numerous lives and burned down several of their gardens and structures. Among the surviving witnesses, Lakshmi-2 had seen the killings with Akilueks being at the front of it.

As time passed since the Battle of the Twilight Gap, Akileuks would begin noticing the degradation of his kind as the slaughtering continued, witnessing the rise of the Devil Splicers on Earth and then on the Reef, the evolution of Fikrul and his compatriots into the undead Scorn. Horrified at what his people were becoming, along with growing resentment for the mistakes he made and it coming back to haunt him through the Guardians, Akileuks would attempt to abandon it all and discard his name so that no one would remember who he was before. Eventually, he would attempt to become a weaver, hoping to create a new life identity for him to live by.

The Empty Weaver

"Watch me. When Eramis is done conquering our enemies, we must know how to make things."

— Namrask

Sometime later, Akileuks left the Tangled Shore at Eramis' invitation, arriving on Europa under the assumed identity of Namrask, a weaver. He was placed into a group of House-Winter Dregs and was implored to fight with House Salvation by Phylaks. Namrask refused, citing the self-destructive traditions and transformations the Eliskni have undertaken since the Whirlwind. Instead, he weaves cloth for his camp, giving his skills in exchange for a constant supply of Ether.

Running low on supplies, Akileuks travels to Riis-Reborn, begging House Salvation to show mercy on him and his Dregs. Variks meets him at the gate, citing his cruelty during the Dark Age when refusing his requests. However, Variks offers a deal: He will send word of Akileuks's pleas to Mithrax, Kell of Light, in exchange for weaving new cloth for Variks.

Following Variks' call to arms, Guardians of the Last City arrived on Europa, resulting in the supposed death of one of Namrask's companions, Yriks. His group of Salvation refugees eventually comes into contact with Eido, but briefly reconsiders escape after realizing Guardians allied with the House of Light may recognize him. As he and his group make a break for safety in Asterion Abyss, the Vex attack them, killing Eoriks, Oeriks and Turrha. Namrask moved to shield hatchlings with his body, ready to die if only to buy them some time to escape, but Misraaks arrived along with a Guardian just in time to rescue them.

In House Light

"Weaving is a little like splicing. Splicers work in metal and flesh, not warp and weft. But the goal is the same: to nurture life with art, and nurture art with your life."

— Misraaks, to Namrask

Misraaks took the survivors to the House of Light's refugee camp in the Last City's Botza District. Namrask was reluctant to share his past with the Kell, afraid he would then have to tell the humans, and asked if he could instead serve the House as a weaver. One day, Lakshmi-2 stopped by his stall, recognising him as one who took part in the Burning of London. She confronted him about his past, asking if he felt freed by his rebirth as Namrask, and told him she had not forgotten what he did as Akileuks and that she never would.

About a year later, he was invited by Ada-1 to her workshop. She showed him the Synthweave Loom and gave him a bolt of synthweave to practice on as a gift from one weaver to another, confessing she too had needed to reinvent herself after the Black Armory's forges had been lost. The two ended up working together making both Guardian armor and textiles for civilians, human and Eliksni alike.

During the Invasion of Earth, after helping Ada-1 to adorn a Warlock with new gloves, he gave the latter some clothing to help the Eliksni civilians on the run from Shadow Legion.

Personality and traits

Once, Namrask was just as brutal and barbaric as most of his fellow Fallen when the Eliksni first arrived within the Sol System, being particularly dedicated in reclaiming the Traveler from Humanity. It's even been suggested that Namrask is one of the Eliksni responsible for the present-day behavior of many Fallen Houses, having been present during the assault on London years ago, and before that, he left countless hatchlings to die during the Whirlwind. However, seeing his kind and their ways deteriorate following the appearance of the Devil Splicers and the Scorn, Namrask begins to grow remorseful of his past atrocities and resents the current self-destructing ways of the Fallen. Since taking his new name, Namrask had renounced violence and took up the life of a weaver yet he is nonetheless afraid of others should they discover his past.

Despite his refusal to take up arms again, Eramis once found him as one of her more promising candidates who could wield a Splinter of Darkness but Namrask refused, having seen too much bloodshed over the course of his life. Not to mention seeing what the Darkness does to its wielders. It was ultimately this refusal that actually saved his life when the Young Wolf came to Europa and started killing off Eramis' lieutenants and subordinates. Further, despite his wishes to atone, those who are aware of his past identity, fully resent him as both Variks and Lakshmi-2 are not so quick to forgive him for his actions in the past, with Variks believing him to be beyond redemption for abandoning hatchlings to die during the Whirlwind. His presence in the House of Light is also why Lakshmi refuses to believe the House of Light is really as benevolent as the Fallen in it claimed it to be.

List of appearances

• Destiny 2: Season of the Splicer (First mentioned)
  • Season of the Haunted (Mentioned only)
  • Season of Plunder (Mentioned only)
  • Season of Defiance (Mentioned only)
  • Into the Light (Mentioned only)
  • The Final Shape (Mentioned only)
  • Episode: Revenant (Mentioned only)
• The Hidden Dossier (Mentioned only)