Patricia Tannis

Patricia Tannis is a main storyline character in Borderlands.

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 colleagues led to her developing some psychosis. She became completely numb to violence, and her loneliness caused her to impart personality onto the ECHO Recorder she uses to log her progress. When rebooting the ECHO network, the instructions she gives are described as being in the form of "an argument with either an invisible cell mate or a rat." From the first time Tannis is introduced, she expresses a sort of arrogance centered around her standing as a scientist, often implying that those who surround her are on a lesser intellectual level, her fellow researchers included.

When Dahl pulled out from Pandora, they removed their funding of Tannis' research. By then, she had become 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. It was at this time she realized that she could not leave her camp site because of an irrational phobia, so rather than directly conducting her search, she instead sent out a signal calling for Vault hunters to do the work. Eventually when a sleep walking incident left her outside her camp, she decided that there was little to fear and promptly proceeded to scatter the journal recordings around Pandora.

Involvement
Players are first introduced to Tannis during the the first Hidden Journal mission in the Arid Badlands. The Hidden Journal missions focus on recovering various data recorders hidden throughout the wilderness. The recorders contain journal entries from Tannis, most of which concern her research on the Vault and illustrate her increasingly diminishing sanity.

Players meet Tannis soon after passing through New Haven, when directed to her dig site in Rust Commons West. After showing her the Vault Key fragment that was found in Sledge's possession, she sends the Vault hunters out to find the rest of the fragments.

While the Vault hunters are busy dealing with Tannis' final key collecting errand, the Crimson Lance snatches both Tannis and the key fragments in her possession. The Lance commander Commandant Steele insinuates that Tannis has joined them and has handed in the key fragments willingly, which is never refuted by Tannis. Amidst the doubt over whether or not Tannis has betrayed the Vault hunters, she explains that the Crimson Lance came after her and took the vault keys, and says that Steele came up with the plan to send the adventurers to kill the bandits. Tannis says that she went along with that part because it seemed like something the Vault hunters might enjoy.

After the Vault is opened, the Vault hunters can return to Tannis (who has returned to her dig site) to turn in the key for a substantial reward of money and experience.

Tannis returns in the fourth downloadable content pack, Claptrap's New Robot Revolution. This time she has established a secluded workshop overlooking Tartarus Station. She explains that is is her secret workshop, and she is beginning some sort of project in which she could use some help. After collecting a number of components from rogue Claptraps, the project is revealed to be an android of herself, built so she wouldn't be lonely.

Quotes

 * "Listen up, mud dwellers. Skipping all the details that would confuse the lot of you, I have concluded that the Vault is more than likely genuine. In addition to this fact, which has probably burned a hole in your brain, the Vault can only be opened once every two centuries, and that time is about to arrive."
 * "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?"
 * "I need my Claptrap."
 * "I'm looking for the artifact."
 * "I hope you last longer than the last one I hired."
 * "Incredible! Using 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.
 * 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).
 * Tannis has indicated that she might be an atheist. In her first "Hidden Journal" recording she says, "If I believed in hell, I would contemplate how it compared to Pandora. Ironically such a belief would align me with these Neanderthals'."
 * Tannis herself admitted to having a hatred of music, calling it "wasteful and stupid".
 * Amidst the incoherent scribbling on the walls of Tannis' cell in the Crimson Fastness, is writing that predicts the inevitability of the 2nd playthrough, stating that the player is in a state of circular existence.
 * Throughout the game, Marcus Kincaid repeatedly mentions that he does not know where Tannis gets her supplies from. Evidently, the Crimson Lance became her source of supply.
 * Tannis also gives you the Pumpkinhead mission in Zombie Island of Dr. Ned.
 * In the message of the Pumpkinhead Mission, she mentions that she's gained 'a bit of a crackpot reputation' and was never good at cooking. She also refers to Pumpkinhead as 'Bob', continuing her habit of oddly naming things.
 * In Claptrap's Robot Revolution, her introductory dialogue is a quote from the cartoon network show, Dexter's Labratory