Scorn

The Scorn are undead Eliksni resurrected and mutated by exposure to Dark Ether. Having only been encountered within the Reef of Earth's solar system, the Scorn were responsible for the downfall of the Awoken.

History
The Scorn were originally Eliksni belonging to the House of Exile, a faction of outcasts based on Earth's moon. At some point, several of their members were cast out and engaged in several terrorist attacks against the Awoken and other Eliksni houses, even exterminating the remnants of the House of Wolves and seized control of a brood of Hive. Eventually, Cayde-6 and Petra Venj led a manhunt against these 'Scorned Barons', imprisoning the seven surviving barons within the prison of elders. One Scorn Baron, Fikrul the Fanatic, managed to escape.

Some time after the Taken war, Uldren Sov, prince of the Awoken, found Fikrul close to death. Having been corrupted by the Darkness, Uldren had the Taken Ahamkara Riven transfer some of his own corruption into Fikrul's Ether, the substance Eliksni depend on for sustenance. This transmutated the Ether into a substance known as Dark Ether and mutated Fikrul into the first Scorn. Pledging allegiance to Uldren, Fikrul helped him usurp and exterminate the Eliksni House of Kings before transforming their remains into more Scorn, establishing their army.

A year after the Red War, Cayde-6 and Petra Venj found Uldren and Fikrul, learned of what they had done, and imprisoned them within the prison of elders. The prison's warden, an Eliksni named Variks, interrogated the corrupted prince on the location of the House of Wolves' Prime Servitor. However, Uldren exploited Variks' loyalty to the Awoken royal family and tricked him into releasing the inmates, triggering a riot that prompted intervention from Guardians. During this incident, Fikrul located the Scorned Barons and transformed them into Scorn, before Uldren confronted and murdered Cayde-6. While the Guardians' leadership ultimately decided against pursuing Uldren and risking open war with the Reef, one Guardian went against their sanction and pursued Uldren to the Tangled Shore.

At this point, Awoken society has fallen and the Reef has degenerated into a lawless frontier. The Scorn had largely assembled on the Tangled Shore and waged war against its ruler, an Eliknsi crime lord known as the Spider. Determined to find Uldren, the Guardian and Petra entered an agreement with the Spider, where they would support his rule over the shore and he would aid them in tracking the Scorn leadership. While the Guardian hunted and assassinated the Scorn barons, Petra tracked Uldren to Earth and witnessed him acquiring a shard of the Traveller. However, the House of Dusk Eliksni interfered and prevented her from killing him.

The Guardian, united with Petra and the Spider's forces, pursued Uldren to the Dreaming City. There, they fought and killed Fikrul and pursued Uldren. There, it was discovered that Uldren's actions were due to his discovery that his sister Mara, the queen of the Awoken, had survived her doomed battle with Oryx the Taken King and was imprisoned within the lost Awoken city. Using the Light within the Traveller shard and his own Darkness corruption, Uldren opened the city, only to discover that he had been tricked. What he believed to have been a vision of Mara calling to him was an illusion projected by Riven in order to manipulate him into releasing her. Uldren was devoured by the Voice of Riven, a Taken Servitor, but released when the Guardian destroyed it and thwarted Riven's escape. Uldren was then executed on the spot, avenging Cayde-6 and leaving the Scorn leaderless.

From this point, the Scorn maintained a presence on the Tangled Shore and the Dreaming City, but continue to be locked in conflict with the Spider, the House of Dusk, the Hive and the Taken. Fikrul eventually returned, as well as his lieutenant Elykris, but they were killed by the Guardians once again (However, Fikrul warned that he would return even after this).

Description
The Scorn are former Eliksni who were reanimated after death with the use of Dark Ether. Even after a Scorn is killed, they may be reanimated again via the same process, although they deteriorate both physically and mentally with each resurrection. Unlike the Eliksni who typically maintain a 'space pirate; aesthetic, the Scorn more closely resemble post-apocalyptic wastelanders thematically, typically wearing rusted scrap metal as armour. Their exoskeletons are very pale in comparison to those of Eliknsi, while soft flesh almost seems to seep between the gaps in it. Due to the deterioration inflicted by continued ressurections, many Scorn demonstrate more dramatic mutations than others, including increased size and even a lack of a head.

According to the Drifter, Scorn blood is flammable. Although the Scorn were created from exposure to Ether corrupted with the Darkness, the Scorn are openly hostile to other species associated with the Darkness, including the Hive and the Taken (although they had an alliance with the Hive on the Tangled Shore due to one of their barons, Hiraks the Mindbender, taking a Hive Queen called Ir Anahn as his consort. This alliance likely ended once Hiraks was killed). In combat, Scorn are far more aggressive than Eliksni, almost seemingly dismissing the notion of self-preservation. This could be due to either the insanity resulting from repeated resurrections or their awareness that they can be revived after death (at the risk of becoming Screebs or Abominations).

Forces
Screeb: These Scorn have been killed and resurrected so often, they have lost all sense of sapience and become feral living bombs. Screebs rapidly crawl towards their enemies before self-detonating.

Stalker: the Scorn equivalent of Fallen Dregs, Stalkers are armed with a repeater pistol and a mace. Several Stalkers have been seen riding Pikes alongside Yaviks the Rider.

Lurker: a variant of Stalker which wields a shield in place of a mace.

Ravager: headless Scorn armed with flaming censers. Shooting the censer will cause it to explode, incinerating the Ravager and others within the blast radius.

Raider: the Scorn equivalent of Fallen Vandals, Raiders are armed with Scorn rifles, Scorn crossbows or Scorn mine launchers. They can also use a smoke dash to evade threats.

Wraith: large Scorn who dual-wield flaming torches. They typically rush towards opponents in groups.

Abomination: heavily mutated Scorn who have lost their heads, lower arms and grown to an enormous size. These mindless hulks can fire blasts of Ether at their target and slam the ground to ward off threats at close range. Interestingly, the sealed stump where the head should be seems to provide a weak spot.

Chieftain: the Scorn equivalent of a Fallen Captain, Chieftains can be equipped with a variety of Scorn weapons and can deploy totems to support their allies. Arc totems tether and trap Guardians, solar totems function as a short-range turret and void totems project shields over other Scorn.