Editing The Simurgh (section)

====Psychic Pressure and Influence====
The psionic signal of her active scream exerts a psychic pressure<ref name="reddit eSummary1" /><ref name="17.3 ePressure" /> that the minds of living beings (e.g., animals and people<ref name="17.3 eBird">No.  the back door of the house opened into an enclosed back patio with a dining room table and heavy green curtains blocking each of the windows.  On top of the table was a cage with a small bird inside.  A cockatoo or something.  The bird was standing on the floor of its home, slowly, steadily and monotonously banging its head against the raised metal lip of the cage.  Blood and bloody bird footprints joined the bird shit that spattered the newspaper that lined the cage.<br><br>''She affects animals too.  Is this what’s in store for us''?  It was unnerving to watch, to imagine that it could easily be ''him'' doing the same thing, sometime in the near future.  That steady, mindless kind of self harm.  Suicide by compulsive repetition, beating his head to a pulp against the nearest solid surface… if he was lucky.  He was a human with opposable thumbs, and there were a hell of a lot of ugly things he could do to himself if that fucking bird woman decided to push him that far.  Just as bad, there were ugly things that he could do to ''others''. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/01/10 Excerpt] from [[Migration 17.3]]</ref>) interpret as an impossibly high and drawn out scream.<ref name="17.1 eInitialScream">“That music,” Marissa complained.  “Driving me crazy.”<br><br>“Music?”<br><br>“Like an opera singer singing a high note and never stopping for breath.  Only it changes a little if I pay attention to it.”<br><br>''The scream''.<br><br>“You hear it too?”  Krouse asked.  He pressed his hands to his ears to warm them.<br><br>“I thought it was a siren,” Oliver said.<br><br>“It’s not,” Krouse replied.  “It’s in our heads.  Try covering your ears.”<br><br>One by one, they did.<br><br>“What the hell?”  Luke asked. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/01/08 Excerpt] from [[Migration 17.1]]</ref> This scream changes in pitch and tone just often enough to never settle into a pattern.<ref>The scream filled my head, impossibly high and drawn out, cold and changing just often enough that I couldn’t anticipate it or get used to it.<br><br>My teeth were clenched so hard that the sides of my face hurt. - [[Last 20.1]]</ref><ref>Before anyone could come looking for him, he grabbed a flower vase and started rinsing it out in the sink.  He tried not to think too much on the subject of what he’d seen, but was unable to break his train of thought any more than he could free himself of the steady, endless screaming in his head.  There were enough notes to it now that it almost did sound like singing.  Something a few notches above soprano in pitch, holding long notes that stretched on just enough for him to get used to them.  Then they changed, jarring his thoughts, never settling into a pattern.  It was as if it were ''designed'' to rattle him. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/01/10 Excerpt] from [[Migration 17.3]]</ref> Note that this psychic pressure is psionic in nature as her telekinesis is [[The Simurgh#Manton Limit|Manton-limited]].<ref name="II20.5 eNoFlung" />

With enough knowledge of a subject, she can evoke memories subconsciously through her posture and actions. By placing a target in a stressful environment, this can be used to cause hallucinations.<ref name="28.x e6">Frame a situation to put a target under optimal fear and stress.  Hormone secretions increase.  Manipulate situation to a position where they will connect familiar visual, olfactory and auditory cues to their immediate environment.  Place, smell, degree of stress, sights and sounds match fulcrum point.  Hormone secretions increase further.<br><br>The result is hallucinations, momentary or sustained.  Hearing sounds, seeing things, smelling something, where none truly exist.  Fight or flight response feeds need for escapism.  A hallucination serves as the first step into a daydream.<br><br>The stone is thrown.<br><br>She does this with people and the various secretions within their bodies, with machines and data, with the elements and simple cause and effect. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/09/17/interlude-28/ Excerpt] from [[Interlude 28]]</ref> She can influence machines as well as people.<ref name="28.x e6" /><ref name="22.6">Miss Militia shook her head.  “There’ll be doubts, it’s not enough.  Behemoth can generate electromagnetic waves that wipe out electronics.  Even many ''reinforced'' electronics, if he’s close enough.  The Simurgh can scramble coding.  We don’t just have to convince the public.  We need to convince the ''heroes'', and they know these things.” - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/05/16/cell-22-6/ Excerpt] from [[Cell 22.6]]</ref>

As the strength of her signal depends on proximity, the intensity of her psychic pressure and the amount of exposure received depend on one's distance from the Simurgh.<ref>“How are we for exposure?”<br><br>“''You two are good for another seventeen minutes at the exposure you’re facing.  Twenty if we push it.  I can have a flight unit to you shortly.''” - [[Migration 17.4]]</ref> Although signal strength is the most important factor in determining scream volume,<ref name="17.4 e1" /> the more sustained exposure one receives, the worse and louder this imagined sound becomes.<ref>The screaming was getting worse.  Warbling, with highs and lows.  It snagged on my attention, making it harder to maintain a train of thought. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/09/07/cockroaches-28-4/ Excerpt] from [[Cockroaches 28.4]]</ref><ref name="II20.7 eScreamRamp" /><ref name="II20.7 eMoreEffective" /> After years of experience against the Simurgh,<ref name="II20.1 eYearsExperience">“The Simurgh!  Pay attention, even if you won’t be fighting her.  You can’t know what will happen!” Legend announced, and he was confident, assured.  If the head injury had impaired his faculties any, it didn’t show.  “Our analysis of the Simurgh comes from years of experience!  I can tell you, don’t let your guard down.  She will surprise us.  She ''will'' throw curveballs at us.  In all the times we’ve engaged with her, she has had new tricks.  Stay the course! - [[Last 20.1]]</ref> humanity came up with a system to evaluate the danger of sustained exposure via two thresholds: code yellow and code red.<ref name="II20.1 eLegendSpeech" />

When a victim passes their code yellow threshold, they become an increasing danger to others.<ref name="II20.1 eLegendSpeech" /> The stressful environment set up by the Simurgh, combined with a psychic pressure that feels worse with sustained exposure, can affect decision-making and lead to accidental mistakes.<ref>''They warn you that you’ll do things that seem callous or inhuman.  That she’ll make you do those things as one of her one hundred ways of getting to you…'' - [[Last 20.6]]</ref><ref>''The preparation material said we’d fail, we’d be whittled down, and it would perpetually feel like we could do more, if only we were at our best, while she guaranteed that we wouldn’t be at our best…'' - [[Last 20.6]]</ref><ref name="II20.6 ePushLimit" /> For example, when [[Victoria Dallon]] thought about finding out whether she killed her [[Amy|sister]] or not,<ref>Long seconds passed.  The screaming in my head was thin, faint.<br><br>''Sister''.<br><br>My sister was at the bottom of the hole.  Maybe.  All I had to do was look.<br><br>Would I be more at peace if I could verify her as dead or if I could verify I wasn’t a killer?<br><br>It made it so tempting.  But it also meant risking having to set eyes on her, which meant facing dark thoughts, which meant- - [[Last 20.6]]</ref> when something grabbed her, she accidentally hurt [[Sveta]]'s arm because she initially thought it was her sister.<ref>Something grabbed me, and my first thought was ''Panacea''.  I grabbed it back, hard, with forcefield.<br><br>The moment I realized it was Sveta, I let go, guilt washing over me.<br><br>I followed the hand. - [[Last 20.6]]</ref><ref name="II20.6 ePushLimit">Saw Sveta’s hurt, as she held one arm to a bicep, where tendrils were especially active.<br><br>“Sorry,” I told her.<br><br>“It’s fine,” she said, in a tone that suggested it wasn’t, with a faint look of betrayal on her face.<br><br>''The procedures for these missions suggest we’re supposed to avoid holding grudges, avoid blame, for ourselves and for others.  Mistakes happen when you’re pushed to your limit by a psychic scream.''<br><br>But that felt like shallow justification. - [[Last 20.6]]</ref> Authorities such as [[Legend]] recommend individuals retreat when they are between the code yellow and code red thresholds, or even earlier to play it safe.<ref name="II20.1 eLegendSpeech" /> Indeed, one strategy used against her is to rotate people in and out of her active scream range so that they can reset their exposure and take some time to restabilize.<ref name="II20.1 eLegendSpeech" /><ref name="17.2 eWaves" />

When a victim passes their code red threshold and breaks down, they effectively become a guided missile<ref>She really hoped nothing had happened.  The command center was vulnerable to threats like Skadi, and the latest reports were that the Titan Fortuna was getting more focused, after a spell of stillness.  If she was anything like the Simurgh, then anyone or anything could become a guided missile, capable of striking right at the heart at the command center. - [[Interlude 19.e II]]</ref> that she can use against her opponents.<ref name="II20.1 eLegendSpeech" /> The Simurgh can now place a subtle<ref name="II20.5 e1" /><ref name="SB massEvacuate" /> and long-term psychic influence that alters their behavior, implants messages, or creates compulsions.<ref name="reddit eSummary1" /> Note that she explicitly needs time for the victim to pass their code red threshold before she can get her hooks in;<ref name="II20.5 e1">The one thing that made it possible to even think about defeating the Simurgh was that it took her time to get her hooks in.  She was subtle. - [[Last 20.5]]</ref> this process does not get any faster when she goes all out.<ref name="II20.4 e2" />
<!-- use this along with the respect threads

Post-Simurgh fight, you could draw a card from a list for each player. Make 2/3rds of them blank, but include some feature cards. Make sure at least one player gets something.

*The Fool - Following the Simurgh event, little details don't add up for one player. He has a family member that didn't exist before, his apartment is in a different location, and people he expects to recognize don't recognize him. His memories were rewritten (or, perhaps, everyone else's were), and it culminates in him learning something horrible about himself, or the horrible invented detail.

*The Magus - A player finds that numbers keep recurring around him. The numbers are later paired with letters. (ie. they're to go into a storage locker, locker number is X-29) Random noise tends to supply more of the same - television static, radio crackles, rain on the windowsill. If he goes to others for help, they see different numbers and letters. Over time, it becomes a complete word. Cute-29. Cute-29. Then, all at once, it's Execute-29. If he kills someone, it becomes Execute-28. Just when he thinks it's over, the riddle is solved, for better or worse, countdowns start appearing, alien clocks that are clearly ticking down.

*The High Priestess - The player has dreams of an alien landscape, with one element or theme predominant. He can't understand the means of communication, but it's clear that there are others nearby, and they're communicating with one another. Perhaps shadowy, insectile figures in crystalline caverns communicating with pheromones. Events soon contrive to put him in touch with the aforementioned predominant theme. They rob/stop a robbery of a jewelry store, and come across legit diamonds, which they're asked to transport to evidence or carry to a supplier. While in possession of the diamonds, the character notices they're significantly stronger powerwise. When the diamonds are gone, they're weaker. Fast forward a month, and they're pushing glass shards under their skin for their power fix.

*The Empress - Over time, increased power and a Bitch-esque disconnection of one's social prowess/understanding. Faces become unrecognizable, and the simplest social situations become a riddle. Isolation in a crowd, the individual is driven mad.

*The Emperor - Sleep becomes fitful, then utterly useless - no amount of time spent with their head on a pillow helps provide rest, even if hours are spent with eyes closed, dreaming. Just when all seems lost and they're practically hallucinating, they get an opportunity to find that violence provides rest and recovery. The more violent and brutal they are, the more refreshed they feel. Up until one fight ends, and they're suddenly very, very tired, practically hallucinating again, and the person they were brutalizing wasn't who they thought it was. - [https://redd.it/2lm0vk Comment by wildbow on Reddit]</ref> 

https://forums.spacebattles.com/posts/17984008/-->

The amount of sustained exposure an individual can withstand before passing their code yellow or code red thresholds is dependent on their mental stability.<ref name="II20.4 e2">The lights came back on, bright, with a fluorescent whine that became a scream, one sound in a chorus.  Human screams came from upstairs, and my eyes strained to adjust and see what might be causing the screaming.  Was it someone on our side?  Someone hurt?  Someone who’d snapped and become hostile?<br><br>The Simurgh wasn’t necessarily flipping people to ‘red’ with a new, unprecedented speed.  This was part of any fight against the Endbringer.  In a given population, there were bound to be people who were on the edge, vulnerable, needing only the right prompt.  As she kept screaming, she kept gathering data, and she used that data to find better prompts for more people who were on a ledge, on the cusp of losing their minds.<br><br>The very second my vision was clear and focused enough to see the details in the bright white hallway, half the lights went out again.<br><br>The danger we were facing, the hazards of this particular battlefield, were those people who had been on the cusp of breaking down and who were now putty in the Simurgh’s hands. - [https://www.parahumans.net/2020/03/07/last-20-4/ Excerpt] from [[Last 20.4]]</ref><ref name="23.x c1" /> Several people in any population are already on the verge of a mental breakdown and only need the right prompt from the Simurgh to snap.<ref name="II20.4 e2" /> Emotionally imbalanced individuals (e.g., [[Noelle]],<ref name="23.x c1">This was planned from some time ago. I knew that Cody was the most affected by the Simurgh (after Noelle), as, like Noelle, he was already unstable/in an emotional state before the whole business started out. I knew he was in the Yangban, and that this would be his moment to act. As for what his action was, that was what was decided late, on little sleep. - Comment by Wildbow on [[Interlude 23]]</ref><!-- https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/06/06/interlude-23/#comment-26791 --> [[Cody]],<ref name="23.x c1" /> [[Shadow Stalker]],<ref>'''Shadow Stalker''' - She wasn't kept around because she's useful against Endbringers. She isn't. Look at that scene again. She's forced to get too close and she gets creamed. She's super vulnerable to energy in her shadow state (nix Behemoth), can't really close in vs. a fast or mobile target (nix Leviathan for the most part, Simurgh), is emotionally imbalanced (nix Simurgh) and doesn't do any meaningful damage. - Wildbow on Spacebattles</ref><!-- https://forums.spacebattles.com/posts/14174319 --> [[Taylor]],<ref>I’d been unable to participate when the Simurgh had attacked flight BA178.  When she’d attacked Manchester, I’d been barred from joining the fight by bureaucratic red tape.  I had a bad history and I was still on probation.  Too likely that I was mentally unstable.<br><br>When the Simurgh had hit ''Paris'', I’d gone to Mrs. Yamada, hoping for a therapist’s bill of clean mental health.  Or, if not quite that, then at least a go-ahead.<br><br>She’d advised me to see it as a good thing, instead.  That my participation would be another black mark on my record, another reason for people to be suspicious of me or second guess my decisions.<br><br>She’d also very elegantly avoided spelling out that she wasn’t willing to give me that clean bill of mental health.  I’d noticed, but hadn’t pressed her on it.  She would have been forced to say it straight, and I would have had to hear her say it. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/09/07 Excerpt] from [[Cockroaches 28.4]]</ref> [[Bloodplay]]<ref>The forcefield grabbed the woman by the waist, still holding her arms.  I lifted her.  She shrank to tiny size, and I shifted my grip, still holding her.  She grew again, and I didn’t lose my grip.<br><br>Her screaming became a kind of screaming-sobbing.<br><br>Who was she, and how had she been ''this'' close to the edge, that she was this badly off now? - [https://www.parahumans.net/2020/03/07/last-20-4/ Excerpt] from [[Last 20.4]]</ref>) require much less sustained exposure to pass their thresholds compared with more stable individuals. For example, [[Victoria Dallon]] after coming to terms with [[the Fragile One]]<ref name="II20.4 eSooth" /> is highly resistant because she has been dealing with her obvious weak spots for years.<ref>“Do we need to worry?” Clockblocker asked.<br><br>“Addendum to that thought,” I said.  “Fuck her, and no, it’s not working like she wants it to.  She’s poking at obvious weak spots I’ve been dealing with for years.  I can take it.” - [[Last 20.3]]</ref><ref>“I-” I started.  “I’m fucking annoyed with this.  I’m spooked about what comes next, and if we can even beat her.  But I don’t feel like she’s getting to me.  It’s distracting and there’s probably a point to it.  Put me down as a seven.” - [[Last 20.3]]</ref> Despite enduring the Simurgh's constant psychic pressure for an extended duration in close proxmity,<ref name="II12.none e1" /><ref name="II20.a eTrust" /> [[Dauntless]] successfully held onto his sanity and fought against her during her [[The Simurgh#The Simurgh's Final Flight|final flight]].<ref name="II20.a eSave" />

Emotion inducers can help thwart the Simurgh's efforts at breaking individuals and extend the thresholds for others. After [[Victoria Dallon]] gained the ability to choose what emotions her aura induced based on her own feelings and memories,<ref>“Brace yourselves, aura!” I raised my voice.<br><br>I pushed out with my aura.  It was a shot in the dark, in more ways than the obvious one, that I couldn’t see the murder pixie I was trying to slow down, but because I was reaching for feelings I’d never used before.  Fear and awe was a dichotomy I’d come to understand early on.  I’d hit my parents with it in sparring, and I’d seen the varied reactions in reality.<br><br>I could choose what emotions I put out there, now, but it wasn’t as simple as choosing from a tidy little list.  Just the opposite.  I dug into memories and the rawest, deepest feelings I had.  A moment of clarity midway through therapy at the hospital.  Moments, my thoughts wandering at night, where I’d jolted awake with a realization.  The feeling after I’d smeared my mother against a wall, and realized it was my fault.  Each of those memories was like an exposed nerve, and the screaming in my head was salt on those nerves.<br><br>I’d wanted ‘wake up’ but the feelings I dug into as I broadcasted weren’t quite that.<br><br>It ''did'' give her pause, but she was a tiny figure in the dark, in an unfamiliar environment, so it was hard for us to take advantage of her being delayed. - [https://www.parahumans.net/2020/03/07/last-20-4/ Excerpt] from [[Last 20.4]]</ref><ref>I walked her further up the stairs, and then used my aura, keeping the range contained to a matter of feet, the effect the closest thing I could approximate to calm.<br><br>“Using my aura, keep your distance for a sec,” I said.<br><br>“Your powers changed, again,” Sveta said, behind me.  “Your forcefield held your gun with you nowhere near it.  You just did something else.  Your aura…”<br><br>“Flavors of ‘rah rah’ and ‘fuck off’ in the fight earlier,” Rain interpreted.  “Then just now it was a big slap in the face of ‘holy shit’.”<br><br>“Courage, righteousness, and just now it was a feeling of realization.  I hoped it would wake her up.” - [https://www.parahumans.net/2020/03/07/last-20-4/ Excerpt] from [[Last 20.4]]</ref> she could hit individuals with courage and righteous indignation; these feelings helped them focus their ire on the Simurgh instead of ruminating on negative thoughts.<ref>Floating in the air, I curled up, knees to chest.<br><br>''Fuck that''.  I straightened, tall, eyes wide.<br><br>I used my aura.  The briefest of pulses.  A ''push'', taking that ‘fuck you’ and broadcasting it for the extra emphasis.<br><br>She was there, crouching, her wings around her.  The aura didn’t touch her.  I couldn’t even be sure she registered it happened.<br><br>But for everyone else, it was a nudge, a slap in the face, a bit of ''fuck you'' to shake them from anything they might be thinking or feeling that was similar to what I was experiencing. - [[Last 20.3]]</ref><ref>The endless loop of trying to logic my way through emotional issues and emotion my way through logic, when neither would serve.  Being caught by Ophion.<br><br>''She’s fucking with us''.<br><br>''Putting us in a lose-lose, demoralizing, psychologically assaulting us''.<br><br>Because it served her goal.<br><br>Because she needed to, I told myself.  If we could push through this, it’d inconvenience her.<br><br>''Fuck you!''  I willed.  I pushed again.  Tried to feed courage and outrage out to the crowd on a level that would serve the people who needed it.<br><br>''I’m not who I was when Ophion got me''.<br><br>I’m changed. - [[Last 20.3]]</ref><ref>Others jumped in.  Helping.  When I saw people losing courage, I gave pulses of courage.  When I saw them succumbing to the fear and head-fuckery, I gave them a taste of righteous ''‘fuck you’''. - [[Last 20.3]]</ref><ref name="II20.6 eLastQuestion" /> She can also hit individuals with feelings of calm and relief to help sooth emotionally imbalanced individuals.<ref name="II20.4 eSooth">There was someone in costume sitting on the stairs in the dark, hands over his ears, rocking a little.  I landed next to him while I waited for others, checking him over, but he barely seemed to recognize I was there.  The hallways- I checked both, and both were lit.  There was one dead body in the hallway, either a ‘red’ by Defiant’s system or a victim of a red, but no apparent threats.<br><br>I used my aura, reaching out for calm and relief and pushing it out there.<br><br>In a way, I was glad that I ''could''.  The process of connecting to the Fragile One and her origins, realizing she wasn’t the enemy and letting her connect to ''me''… it had opened doors both for the shaping of my forcefield and for my emotion control.  It felt ''right'' that the emotion control was letting me help and soothe, now.<br><br>The cape stopped rocking and looked up at me. - [https://www.parahumans.net/2020/03/07/last-20-4/ Excerpt] from [[Last 20.4]]</ref>

Blind spots (including temporary ones) are immune to her psychic pressure; they do not hear her active scream.<ref name="II18.z eSilence" /><ref name="II20.7 eStatue">There was no scream in my head.  For the moment, for this final batch of attacks, she wasn’t fighting, she was barely trying to defend herself, and she was taking a lot of punishment.  To see it, I could imagine the Simurgh had vacated the shell of her body, and this was a Simurgh-shaped statue we were so focused on taking down. - [https://www.parahumans.net/2020/03/17 Excerpt] from [[Last 20.7]]</ref><ref name="II20.7 ePsychicImmune" /> Some powers that protect the brain can also grant immunity to the Simurgh's psychic pressure.<ref name="Reddit eAlexandriaImmune">'''Protikon:''' The difference would be whether or not powers that somehow protect your brain make you immune or not.<br><br>'''Wildbow:''' Some do, some don't.<br><br>Alexandria's power offloads processing power to the passenger, because an unchanging brain as a part of an unchanging body is a recipe for brain death. It isn't 100% effective - her brain remains her Achilles heel, but she's at the very least immune to the Simurgh. - Conversation with Wildbow on Reddit, archived on Spacebattles</ref><!-- https://spacebattles.com/posts/33939646 --> [[Alexandria]] is immune because she offloads her mental processes to her [[shard]].<ref><keyonte0> Why is Alexandria immune to Ziz, exactly?<br><br><Wildbow__> Her mental processes are offloaded to shard - Conversation with Wildbow on IRC, archived on Spacebattles</ref><!-- https://spacebattles.com/posts/19466282 --><ref name="Reddit eAlexandriaImmune" /> [[Cryptid]]'s bird forms<ref>“I’m an eight or a nine,” Cryptid said.  He gave his sash a pat.  “I have vials, including one for dealing with mind control.  Doesn’t scare me.”<br><br>“The bird one.  You could have used it already,” I noted.<br><br>“Maybe someone else will need it,” Cryptid said, narrowing his eyes at me.  He looked away.  “Works better if I have a mission in mind.”<br><br>“Nice to have in the back pocket,” I told him.<br><br>“It is,” he replied, before his ear twitched and he looked away. - [[Last 20.3]]</ref> are immune<ref>“Answer the questions, Chris,” Sveta said.<br><br>“I don’t trust the people out there.  I ''do'' trust the Simurgh’s malice.  That world she wants to create?  Where everyone’s screaming?  I can deal.  I can keep my mind intact.  A world with nobody to bother me, I can read books, comics, and catch up on old games for as long as I want.” - [[Last 20.8]]</ref><ref>The Fragile One held one of the syringes I’d had her knock to the floor in the first move.  Sveta’s, the one that was supposed to give her a body, left deliberately behind.<br><br>Poised, ready to stab Chris, and to take away his new, Simurgh-immune body.<br><br>“You think I’m scared?” he asked.  “Do you think I’m surprised?”<br><br>He reached out, grabbed the syringe, and pulled it toward himself.  The needle punctured his body.<br>[...]<br>-But he pressed the plunger.<br><br>The shedding of his monstrous form was as fast as the adoption of it had been.  Feathers began to fall away.  Pressed against him, I could feel him shrinking.<br><br>“I’ll get the immunity I need before she gets to me,” he said.  “I’m not worried.” - [[Last 20.8]]</ref> because they either detach mind from body, or detach vulnerable parts of the mind from other parts of the mind.<ref>These events would precipitate a thought, minutes after the conversation with Riley Grace Davis.  Cryptid would remember his bird forms, chosen with a bird aesthetic because they each had a form of ''disconnection'', akin to a bird leaving the world behind by taking flight.  These forms involved detaching mind from body, or vulnerable parts of the mind from other parts of the mind.<br><br>He would think he was not a part of society, he offered no helping hands and he needed none.<br><br>What if, then, the world went mad under the Simurgh’s rule?  He could remain perpetually in a bird form, disconnected from the madness.  The world would continue on indefinitely.  He was fine being alone. - [https://www.parahumans.net/2020/02/23/infrared-19-z/ Excerpt] from [[Infrared 19.z]]</ref> [[Torso]] felt fantastic when fighting against the Simurgh<ref>“Anyone else?” Rain asked, hopeful.<br><br>Torso put out both hands, all fingers extended.<br><br>“Ten,” Hookline said, unnecessarily.<br><br>“Good for you!” Finale said.<br><br>“Even with the crotch shot?” Win asked.<br><br>Torso pulled his hands back.  He swayed for a second, then put them out again, pinky finger and thumb on one black-gloved hand tucked in.  Eight.<br><br>“His skull is too thick for her to get to him,” Gibbet said, giving Torso a knock on the head.  Torso, in turn, gave her a thumbs up. - [[Last 20.3]]</ref><ref>“My team was just trying to ballpark how we’re doing,” I told him.  “Rating from one to ten.  Ten being fantastic.  One being that we’re a danger to others.  Where are you at, Gilpatrick?” - [[Last 20.3]]</ref> because of his [[All-or-Nothing]] invulnerability.<ref>'''helljack666:''' Torso is an Armor+Negate+Immortal Brute by Weaverdice Logic, right?<br><br>'''Wildbow:''' I wouldn't normally mix three together.<br>Shield rather than armor, since it's partial protection only protecting against hits to certain parts.<br>Shield x Negate. - Conversation with Wildbow on Reddit</ref><!-- https://www.reddit.com/r/Parahumans/comments/fd80aj/comment/fjg243r/ -->

In theory, a sufficiently powerful telepath can detect the Simurgh's psychic echolocation and also remove her psychic influence from deeply-affected victims.<ref>The key here isn't the Flash, or Superman, or Batman. What helps the Justice League get the edge is the Martian Manhunter. There is no strict telepathy in the Wormverse, and the Manhunter gives the JL a way of responding. He can probably detect the scream, and he can probably undo the damage for critical individuals. - [https://redd.it/2sju2u Wildbow on Reddit]</ref> If deeply-affected victims perceive [[the Mathers Giant]], the giant can effectively incapacitate them and keep them pacified<ref>“Not a moment’s peace''!''” Cryptid growled.  “It has to be the Simurgh.  She’s throwing roadblocks my way.  I can’t think for two seconds without something-”<br><br>“What happened?” I asked.<br><br>“My giant.  She’s nonresponsive.  I plugged stuff into her so I could track it.  She’s gone dark.”<br><br>“She’s ''dead''?” I asked.  “The very important Mathers Giant that was pacifying the capes the others were rounding up?”<br><br>“She’s ''dark''.  Now I have to stop what I’m doing, I have to-” - [https://www.parahumans.net/2020/03/07/last-20-4/ Excerpt] from [[Last 20.4]]</ref><ref>I left the room, grabbing bandages to press to my neck, along with the coagulant cream, or whatever it was.<br><br>I flew, Mapwright’s power directing me to my destination.<br><br>To the space behind the stairs, where Teacher had kept his propaganda teams.<br><br>Where the Mathers Giant was, and all of the capes that had been taken out of action and kept that way by her power.<br><br>The Simurgh was there, silent, not screaming, wings and arms wrapped around the giant. - [https://www.parahumans.net/2020/03/07/last-20-4/ Excerpt] from [[Last 20.4]]</ref> by altering what their senses perceive.<ref>Chastity looked over at me.  “-we’re taking them to the Mathers Giant.  She’s incapacitating them and shutting off all incoming signals.” - [https://www.parahumans.net/2020/03/07/last-20-4/ Excerpt] from [[Last 20.4]]</ref>