Worm

by John Mccrae Wildbow

Crusader, Justin – Can create ghostly replicas of himself that can float and can pass through body armor and walls. These replicas can lift him into the air, giving him a limited form of flight.

  Theo Anders – Kaiser’s son, last seen in Purity’s custody.

  Fenrir’s Chosen

  Founded by Hookwolf after Kaiser’s passing, Fenrir’s Chosen (The Chosen for short) are comprised of the more violent, hostile and aggressive wing of the old Empire Eighty-Eight. Their squads are seizing supplies that the local authorities are attempting to distribute to those who have remained in Brockton Bay following the Endbringer event.

  Menja - Current leader of the group. Menja lost her twin sister in the Endbringer attack, and now uses Fenja’s shield to complement her own favored spear. Menja has the ability to grow to great heights while simultaneously reducing the severity of incoming damage by a proportionate amount. Menja is a tall blonde who styles herself after a norse valkyrie, with ornate armor marked with wings, covering about as much skin as it reveals.

  Stormtiger – A contestant in the same underground fighting tournaments as Hookwolf, Stormtiger has aerokinesis, the ability to manipulate the air around him. He has two known special techniques: the ability to compress air into claw shaped forms around his hands and detonate it explosively, and the ability to use his aerokinesis to carry scents to his nose, giving him the ability to sniff out opponents. Goes shirtless, with loose fitting pants and chains, and a white tiger mask.

  Cricket – Like Stormtiger, she was a onetime combatant in the underground fighting tournaments. Cricket is a young woman with vastly accelerated reflexes and the ability to generate and hear subsonic noises. She can use these noises to disorient and induce vertigo in her foes or use staccato blasts as a form of radar. She favors kama as a weapon – short scythes that can each be held in one hand. Covered in small scars, she wears a metal cage over her face and keeps her hair short.

  Rune - The youngest member of Empire Eighty-Eight at present, a teenage girl, Rune can touch an object to attune to it, after which point she has the ability to telekinetically manipulate it. These objects can weigh several tons each. Rune wears a robe in black and red.

  Othala – Can grant powers with a touch, drawing them from a limited, rather basic subset, including enhanced speed, strength, invincibility and flight. Othala wears a red bodysuit with a rune at the chest.

  Victor – Has the ability to steal learned skills and talents through proximity to others. Victor retains these talents indefinitely, while his victims may recover some of what was lost over weeks, months or years. An exceedingly accomplished martial artist, orator, singer, musician, dancer, fencer, gunman, sniper, pilot, driver, chess player, go player and computer hacker, among other things. Victor wears a black-painted breastplate with a v-neck, a blood red shirt and black slacks. Since his identity was revealed, he’s decided not to wear a mask.

  Hookwolf (Left Group) - See his entry in the Slaughterhouse Nine, below.

  Slaughterhouse Nine

  The result of amoral monsters getting powers and banding together. The Slaughterhouse Nine roam from city to city in North America, commiting sensationalist and depraved acts of violence on anyone who gets in their way. The exact capabilities of the group are unknown as group turnover tends to be high and they tend to leave too much carnage and little in the way of evidence or records in their wake.

  Jack Slash – Leader. The man who will set the end of the world in motion, according to Dinah Alcott. Has the ability to extend the effective cutting edge of held knives and blades to horrendous distance, while maintaining consistent cutting power. Using this ability, he can cut through crowds or slice an enemy’s throat at any range. A capable reader of people and manager of sociopaths and other monsters, Jack Slash has managed to maintain command of the group for some time, despite a somewhat underwhelming power. He dresses rather casually and maintains a trimmed beard, and wears a belt with various knives.

  Bonesaw – If Jack Slash is the leader, the child Bonesaw is the figurehead of the group. A medical tinker, her power allows her to work with biology and the physical form, creating hybrid capes, performing plastic surgery in minutes, reviving the recently dead, transplanting limbs and creating virulent plagues and diseases. She has outfitted much of the group with safeguards and protection, including sheaths to protect vital organs, a ‘pain switch’ to allow them to ignore pain and more. Bonesaw is a cheerful young girl (no older than fourteen) with tight blonde curls, wearing no regular costume but a durable apron filled with surgical implements and pre-prepared vials.

  Hookwolf - A onetime contestant in underground Parahuman fighting tournaments, he found his way into Empire Eighty Eight after murdering a stadium manager, then formed a splinter group after Kaiser’s death. His journey has led him to the Slaughterhouse Nine. A ‘caniform metalstorm’, Hookwolf is a powerful shapeshifter with the ability to replace parts of his body with shapes comprised of blades, hooks and needle points, all violently shuffling amongst one another. His favored form is a quadruped ‘wolf’, thus his name.

  Crawler (Turned to Glass) - An inhuman monster, Crawler is arguably the ‘brute’ of the group. A regenerator, Crawler becomes permanently stronger every time he heals, often gaining non-human attributes/augmentations in the healed tissue. He eventually became a massive creature, six legged with acid spit, tentacles and eyeballs dotting his armor plated body. Turned to glass by a bombing run utilizing some of Bakuda’s weaponry.

  Mannequin, Alan Gramme (Turned to Glass) – Once known as Sphere, a tinker working on sustainable energy and living spaces in hostile environments, including ocean-borne cities and a moon base. Was attacked by the Simurgh, saw his wife and child die, and snapped. Butchered himself and sealed the parts in an impervious, doll-like shell, with ball joints and chains separating the sections and a loadout of various retracting blades, gases and guns. Turned to glass by a bombing run utilizing some of Bakuda’s weaponry.

  Shatterbird (Missing) - Typically the one that heralds the arrival of the Slaughterhouse Nine at a new city, Shatterbird is a silicakinetic with the ability to manipulate glass at will over a wide area. She was born in the Arab Emirates and dosed with a Cauldron formula, prompting the manifestation of her powers and the deaths of thousands. Eventually made her way to London, then America, joining the Slaughterhouse Nine. She was kidnapped by the Undersiders and controlled by Regent for some time, escaped in the Echidna Arc, and is expected to have died in the collapse of Coil’s base.

  The Siberian (Deceased) - A recurring nemesis of the Triumvirate, the Siberian’s skin is striped with black and white, leaving her nationality uncertain. Her powers make her unstoppable and untouchable, with no armor protecting against her blows, no object barring her way, no weapon touching her, and no power affecting her.

  Burnscar (Deceased) - A pyrokinetic with the ability to teleport through flames. A onetime acquaintance of Labyrinth from Faultline’s crew, Burnscar has a mental side effect with her powers that make her more emotionally detached as she uses her power more. A young woman with a penchant for wearing red, she had cigarette burns dotting her cheeks and dark hair. Slain while fighting in Brockton Bay.

  Cherish (Imprisoned) – Regent’s sister, has the ability to manipulate emotions and sense emotions in a distinct enough way to track and identify individuals at a distance. Attempted to use her power in a subtle fashion on the rest of the group, only to find that they knew what she was planning. Following the escapades in Brockton Bay, she was trapped in an impervious, life-sustaining shell of Mannequin’s design and sunk to the bottom of the derelict Boat Graveyard, where she is expected to live for several thousand (or tens of thousands of) years.

  Hatchet Face (Deceased) - Onetime member of the Nine, supplanted by Cherish. A musclebound brute favoring his namesake weapon, Hatchet Face generated an aura that shut down the powers of others, allowing him to stalk and murder even superior capes with his enhanced strength and durability. Was made into an artificial siamese
twin by Bonesaw, melding him with Oni Lee to become ‘Hack Job’.

  Damsel of Distress (Deceased) - Once a small time villainess, Damsel had space warping powers, capable of destroying any matter or construction, albeit with a minimum of control. Was either forced or willingly joined the Nine, and was enhanced to gain more control, at the cost of monstrous implants in her forearms and hands. Was slain by Defiant.

  Gray Boy (Status Unknown) - Once a member of the Nine, one of Jack’s first teammates. Has been referenced in passing several times, with a measure of awe or fear.

  Travelers

  A band of supervillains that travels from city to city that undertake crime sprees and move on to a new destination before the local authorities can prepare and respond. It has been explained that the reason for their roving behavior and hunger for money is tied to a situation with one of their members, Noelle. Following Coil’s demise and Noelle’s escape, they disintegrated as a group.

  Trickster, Francis Krouse (Incarcerated: Birdcage) - Leader of the Travelers. Can ‘swap’ the locations of people or objects using a teleportation ability. The closer in mass the two subjects are, the faster and the further reaching his abilities.

  Sundancer, Marissa Newland (Returned home) - A young woman that has demonstrated the ability to create a miniature sun, hundreds or thousands of degrees in temperature, that she can manipulate at will. She has indicated some unhappiness with the group’s methodology, stating it is too high intensity and lonely for her tastes.

  Genesis, Jess (Returned home) - Has the ability to create and project solid images, essentially creating a single creature or person she can control from a remote distance. These images can have minor powers of their own.

  Ballistic, Luke (Returned home) - Can accelerate a touched object to a bullet-like velocity in a fraction of a second, from ball bearings to cars. It has been stated/implied by Sundancer that he can’t actually reduce this speed, rendering any use of his power fairly lethal.

  Oliver (Returned home) - A noncombat member of the group. He gained powers that alter his appearance and improve his ability to learn or physically better himself.

  Echidna, Noelle (Deceased) - Escaped containment from Coil’s base, only to rampage across Brockton Bay, attempting to kill the Undersiders. Became monstrous after receiving a Cauldron dosage, due to a combination of factors including a partial dose (minus the controlling agent), a past history of issues tainting her development and high physical stress at the time of the ingestion. Slain by her teammates.

  Rogue and Mercenary Groups

  Faultline’s Crew

  High-end mercenaries operating out of Brockton Bay. Left the city prior to the Endbringer arc to recruit a new member. Faultline has developed a rapport with several Case-53s – victims of Cauldron who were made monstrous. She gave them employment and security, and they’ve given her loyalty in exchange.

  Faultline – Noted as a capable leader, has a feud of sorts with Tattletale. Her power enables her to cut through any nonliving material with a touch. She is currently searching for means to extend her ability to living materials as well.

  Spitfire – Was scouted as a prospective member of the Undersiders shortly after her powers manifested, but backed off after an altercation with Bitch, and joined Faultline’s crew instead. Her powers include the ability to spew geysers of fluid from her mouth. This fluid ignites on contact with air, creating intense flame that can melt concrete.

  Newter – Case 53. His powers altered his appearance to the point he cannot fit in with regular society. Has orange skin, red hair and a prehensile tail. Was living in the sewers before he was recruited by Faultline. His bodily fluids are powerful contact hallucinogens, to a degree where even the trace sweat on his hands can incapacitate someone.

  Gregor the Snail – As with Newter, his appearance was altered when he gained his powers. Has translucent skin with some blister-like growths of shell, and is rather obese. He spent much of his early career homeless, surviving with the cash he earned as a sometime enforcer for other groups in the city and a bouncer for clubs. His powers let him create chemicals in his body and project them from his skin. His bloated body is filled with thick, tarlike fluids and a soft cartilage-based skeletal structure.

  Labyrinth – Retains the ability to manipulate her immediate environment almost completely. While this only extends a relatively short distance around her, her influence gradually radiates outward as she remains in one place for a time. One of the more extreme examples of how powers can affect one mentally, she veers between lucidity and a dissociative fugue state.

  Shamrock – Shamrock is, like Newter and Gregor, a onetime subject of Cauldron, though she displays no physical side effects. Shamrock has a particular combination of microtelekinesis and clairvoyance/precognition that allows her to affect small changes to create wider effects, essentially altering events in her vicinity.

  Scrub - Gained his powers while under the Merchants when a violent gladiatorial event forced his trigger event. Has the ability to create spheres of energy that annihilate matter… sometimes. He has limited control over this power; while he can dictate general direction and frequency, its placement is somewhat random. Once a Merchant, he assisted Faultline’s Crew in creating a portal, and has remained with the group, presumably with the idea of creating more portals.

  The Irregulars

  Formed of a splinter group of ex-hero Case 53s and others, following the revelations of the Triumvirate’s involvement with Cauldron. The group does mercenary work, with a focus on doing good deeds more than on making money, and retains loose ties to the Protectorate and Wards.

  Weld - Once the forerunner of a new phase in the Protectorate’s plan to acclimatize the public to capes, Weld was to be the ‘face’ of the more monstrous or unusual capes, taking over the Wards, with plans to eventually have him lead a city’s Protectorate team. Left the Wards following the revelations about Eidolon and Alexandria’s involvement with Cauldron. Now leads the Irregulars. Weld has metal flesh, a consequence of his ability to absorb metal and incorporate it into his biology. This renders him nigh-indestructible and gives him basic shapeshifting ability.

  Gully - Once a member of San Diego’s Wards team, Gully was repeatedly passed over for promotions to team leader, largely due to her monstrous nature. Gully is muscular to the point of being grotesque, eight feet tall, but hunched over, with distorted teeth and a severe underbite. She maintains braids that hang to the ground, and carries a shovel, though it isn’t necessary to use her earth-manipulation powers.

  Matryoshka - A case 53, Matryoshka was deposited in Madison, Wisconsin by the same incident that drew the Travelers there. Described as having a great many vertical and horizontal lines to her form, with dark horizontal lines ribbing her entire body, she can turn herself into a mess of ribbons, absorbing an individual, some of their memories and some of their appearance, at the cost of her own. This effect can be repeated, but holding on to anyone too long ‘digests’ them.

  Sanguine – A red skinned, red-haired cape, Sanguine is a case 53.

  Gentle Giant - A tall cape exceeding even Gully in height, a case 53.

  The Birdcage

  A containment facility for parahumans who can’t be held in an ordinary prison, deemed inescapable.

  Marquis – Amy Dallon’s father, an osteokinetic, capable of manipulating bones, including his and any exposed bone of his enemy. A powerful Shaker and Shifter, once leader of a villain group in Brockton Bay’s ‘bad old days’, Marquis heads a cell block in the men’s wing.

  Lung – A half-Chinese, half-Japanese individual, he was sent to prison in the East and eventually escaped, making his way to America, where he defeated and absorbed a number of sub-gangs, retaining all the Asian members. Tall and bearing tattoos of dragons up his arms, back and neck, he has a power that lets him gradually transform over the course of a conflict, gaining armor plating, enhanced strength, regeneration, claws, enhanced pyrokinesis, and other benefits. At the most extreme
end of his transformation, he is capable of trading blows with an Endbringer, though he has only participated in one such fight.

  Amy Dallon – See entry under New Wave, above.

  Glaistig Uaine - A cape that seems much younger than she is, Glaistig Uaine styles herself as a Faerie Queen, and claims that she collects the lesser faerie that grant other parahumans their powers. Whatever the true nature of her abilities, she can draw in the essence of recently dead parahumans she has come in contact with – or kill wounded or dying parahumans – and store it within herself. At any one time, she can have two or three of the parahumans she has ‘claimed’ manifest as ghostly spectres, complete with the ability to physically affect the world and use their powers.

  Canary, Paige Mcabee - A ‘rogue’, or a cape without affiliation to either the heroes or villains, Canary worked as a singer, steadily growing in popularity. Her abilities made her particularly good at singing and rendered listeners suggestible. Following an accidental use of her power, Canary was charged with aggravated sexual assault with a parahuman ability and sentenced to a life imprisonment in the Birdcage.

  Major Heroes Outside of Brockton Bay

  Scion – The first parahuman to make his presence known, and one of the most powerful. Mentioned in the first Interlude. A golden haired, golden skinned man. Has been described as having flight, the ability to flash-freeze a breached levee and the capability to stop an erupting volcano, among other powers.

  Legend – Leader of the Protectorate. Runs the team based in New York. Is one of the best, if not the best ‘flying artillery’ capes, with flight and unsurpassed versatility and power from the lasers he can emanate from his body. Among other things, his lasers can turn corners, fork into multiple lasers, pass through walls and freeze or ignite his targets. He has recently left the Protectorate’s Triumvirate.

  Alexandria – Second in command of the Protectorate. Flies and has enhanced strength, a virtually invincible body, eidetic memory, and senses emotions. The triad of flight, strength and invincibility recurs often enough, in enough variations, that it’s often referred to as ‘the Alexandria package’. Runs the team based in Los Angeles. Member of the now-disbanded Triumvirate.