Patricia Tannis

Background
Patricia Tannis is a researcher, scientist, and archaeologist once employed by the Dahl Corporation to unearth details about the mysterious Vault. Over the time of her research, the harshness of Pandora and the deaths of most of her teammates led to her developing some psychosis. She becomes completely deadened to violence, and her loneliness causes her to impart personality onto the audio recorder she uses to log her progress.

When Dahl pulls out from Pandora they remove their funding of her research. By then, she became completely obsessed with finding the Vault, so she turned to bandits to aid her research. After several more discoveries, she was betrayed and abandoned by the bandits and left alone. It was at this time she realized that she could not leave her archaeological camp because of some phobia she had developed. So she sent out a signal calling for Vault Hunters to help her in her quest to open the Vault.

Involvement
The player is first introduced to Tannis during the the first Hidden Journal quest in the Arid Badlands. The Hidden Journal quests, which are acquired via the various Bounty Boards scattered around Pandora, focus on recovering various data recorders hidden throughout the outposts by Patricia Tannis. The recorders contain journal entries from Tannis, most of which concern her research on The Vault and illustrate her increasingly diminishing sanity.

The player meets Tannis soon after arriving at New Haven, after learning about her dig site in the Rust Commons nearby. After showing her the Vault Key piece that was found in Sledge's possession, she sends the player out to find the other three pieces.

After the key is assembled, the Crimson Lance, led by Commandant Steele, swoop in to take the key pieces. Steele insinuates that Tannis joins them and hands in the key pieces willingly, which is never refuted by Tannis. But given the fact that the Lance throws Tannis into a cell, it seems unlikely that she actually betrayed the player, or if she did, she was subsequently betrayed by Steele. Throughout the game, Marcus Kincaid repeatedly mentions that he does not know where Tannis is getting her supplies from. As such, it might be concluded that the Crimson Lance has been supplying her throughout.

After the Vault is opened and the ending plays through, the player can return to Tannis to turn in the key for a substantial amount of money and experience.

Quotes

 * "After he left he took the artifact and punched my dog, which was part of the key. The artifact was part of the key, not my dog...
 * "Welcome to my camp, or what's left of it..."
 * "What can you do for me?" (as she greets you)
 * "I need my Claptrap"
 * "I'm looking for the artifact"
 * "I hope you last longer than the last one I hired."
 * "Incredible! With your brain, and all the hurdles that implies, you have correctly identified a piece of the Vault Key."

Trivia

 * It is speculated that the name "Tannis" comes from the Raiders of the Lost Ark, "The Tanis Digs," where the map to the true location of the Ark is hidden.
 * The name "Tannis" may also come from the Tannis Shipyards in the 2000 Relic Entertainment game Homeworld 2.
 * Tannis can also be seen from the "fish" easter egg "Fun with barrels" in Treacher's Landing (near the "You're on a boat!" achievement).