Editing Taylor Hebert (section)

==Abilities and Powers==
Taylor possesses a form of telepathy that transmits and receives information via yet-unknown channels<ref name="8.4c1">In truth, when they’re quoting the scientists as saying “There’s no telepathy, it's impossible.” they’re quoting something where the scientists theorized that thought-transference wouldn’t work. Which is similar but different.<br><br>Yes, Taylor is telepathic – she transmits information via. yet-unknown channels to her bugs, who respond, and through these same channels, she gets very frequent (to the point that it feels real-time) updates on her bugs’ positions, biology/status, etc. in what’s sort of a very rapid, hyper-detailed echolocation.<br><br>Meanwhile, thought-transference is more the ‘put thoughts in other people’s heads, or take thoughts out of other’s heads and understand them.’ - [http://parahumans.wordpress.com/2012/03/13/extermination-8-4/#comment-1277 Comment by Wildbow] on [[Extermination 8.4]]</ref> that grants her total control over most arthropods.<ref name="12.1c1">Ah, but the control & organization of the bugs she controls don’t necessarily matter. She maintains absolute control anyways. The only convenience would be, say, that they could cooperate in her absence. (As opposed to black widows which have to be isolated from each other as they’re territorial enough to kill one another). - [http://parahumans.wordpress.com/2012/06/26/plague-12-1/#comment-2750 Comment by Wildbow] on [[Plague 12.1]]</ref> So although she usually controls a variety of insects, she can also control a number of sea creatures such as crabs, lobsters, and krill,<ref name="Control"/> some Mollusca like slugs and snails,<ref name="Infest-11.7"/> and can even control certain in-body parasites such as heartworms.<ref> [[Buzz 7.2]]</ref>
===Double Trigger===
According to [[Number Man]], Taylor has had a [[Trigger Event#Double Trigger|Double Trigger]], where a person triggers twice back-to-back; the sheer trauma of her first trigger causing a second one. As such, she is unable to have a [[Trigger Event#Second Trigger|Second Trigger]] to become more powerful, since she already had one.<ref>"But I'm afraid that power you're digging for is out of your reach, Weaver."<br><br>I looked at him.<br><br>"Or it's already in your reach. You can't have a second trigger because you already had one," he said.<br><br>I blinked.<br><br>"Given the signature, it's very possible you had two trigger events in quick succession. Not uncommon. The horror of manifesting your power, it prompted another trigger."<br><br>"No," I said. "There's got to be ''something''."<br><br>"If there is, a second trigger event isn't it," the Number Man said. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/10/03 Excerpt] from [[Venom 29.7]]</ref>

Had she not undergone this double trigger, her bug control would have been much cruder and less skilled, being like how [[Chicken Little]] controls birds but with insects instead.<ref>/u/Edello: [SPOILERS FOR WORM] What if Taylor...<br>...hadn’t double-triggered?<br><br>/u/Wildbow: She'd be Aiden, but with bugs. - [https://www.reddit.com/r/Parahumans/comments/7ysdpr/spoilers_for_worm_what_if_taylor/duitdjh Comment] by Wildbow on Reddit.</ref> 

Based off what has been shown of Aiden's control, this could likely mean that she'd be unable to precisely operate and her insects, instead controlling them more like a 'wave' that she 'pushes' and 'pulls' using a sort of invisible 'rally points' with the capacity to give additional orders like to attack on the way while the bugs are being drawn to the point, and likely could not control them and co-opt their senses at the same time. Additionally, any fine and precise control of insects she does have would most likely be limited to either a single bug or at least a much smaller number than her full swarm, at the cost of becoming unable to have any control whatsoever of all the other insects in range, instead of being able to micromanage and skillfully direct all the insects in her range like in the story proper. 

===Control ===
She can make her minions do things that they would not normally do, and push them to the limit where they end up harming themselves with how much effort they put in.<ref>[https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/lets-read-worm-finished.11460/page-239#post-2851377 Comment by Wildbow on Sufficent Velocity]</ref>She can make them destroy themselves to accomplish tasks,<ref>I sent the roaches after him, the PRT uniform.  They landed on him, individually squeezed into the pouches on his belt and bandoleer.<br><br>Found the keys on his belt.<br><br>Getting the keys out of the pouch was harder.  I had to be smooth, and the keychain was heavy enough that the roaches couldn’t pick it up with their mouths.  Instead, I tried lifting it up with the middle of a roach’s body, supported by the rest.  No luck, it slipped free off of the convex exterior of the cockroach’s shell.<br><br>I turned it upside down, instead, used the more textured underside to catch the loop of metal.  The rest of the roaches latched on, hauled the roach up and out of the pouch, squeezed it through the flap-covered opening, breaking it nearly in two against the metal of the ring as they drove it through the too-narrow gap.  One roach dead, but the keys were falling free of the pouch. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2012/03/20/extermination-8-6/ Excerpt] from [[Extermination 8.6]]</ref> produce so much web silk that they physically couldn't produce any more<ref name="14.4c1">[http://parahumans.wordpress.com/2012/09/15/prey-14-4/#comment-4228 Comment by Wildbow] on [[Prey 14.4]]</ref> or stinging while injecting little<ref name="15.9">[[Colony 15.9]]</ref> to no venom.<ref name="6.7">[[Tangle 6.7]]</ref> She doesn't require "organized" insects. Once they leave her range and she stops controlling them, her bugs revert to their normal behavior patterns.<ref name="12.1c1"/> However, if she has given a command to them while still in her range, she must intentionally dismiss the instruction she gave them or give them a new one, or else they will continue to fulfil their last command. This resulted in the accidental murder of [[James Tagg|Director Tagg]] when she was knocked unconscious, as her last order to 'sting him' was not interrupted by her, so her insects stung him to death without her able to stop them.<ref> - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/05/14 Excerpt] from [[Cell 22.5]]</ref>

Her power designates what classifies as a "bug", and thus what she can control, during her Trigger Event based upon her understanding of the term and the human knowledge of parahuman hosts within [[the Firmament|Shard Network]]. As such, Taylor's notion of a 'bug' is nebulous and sometimes inaccurate.<ref name="discordBreed"/> Her power doesn't work on creatures below a certain size, such as skin mites<ref name="15.1c1">It’s been stated in the comments, but Taylor’s power doesn’t let her control bugs below a certain size. It’s why she can’t sense skin mites. - 
[http://parahumans.wordpress.com/2012/10/16/colony-15-1/#comment-5089 Comment by Wildbow] on [[Colony 15.1]]</ref> or nematodes, which prevents her from sensing people through the microsophic insects on or inside the human body, nor could her power affect squid.<ref name="Infest-11.7">[https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2012/06/09/infestation-11-7/#comment-2387 Comment reply] by Wildbow, [https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/worm-quotes-and-wog-repository.294448/page-3#post-14797607 archived on Spacebattles] - '''Questions''': A) Has she used her ability on snails or slugs? Probably not due to their lack of combat utility, but it would interesting as whilst still ganglionic, Mollusca nervous systems are a whole leap ahead of arthropods and annelids.<br><br>B) Trying to use her power on squid would be even more interesting as they have actual complex brains in addition to a ganglionic nervous system. If she can bypass their brains it would imply all sorts of things of what she could do to higher animals. What is the sinoatrial node of the vertebrate heart if it isn’t a very stupid ganglionic subbrain?<br>[...]<br>D) At the other end of the scale, can she pick up the signals of nematodes? They are more closely related to insects than insects are to worms, and they do have discrete nervous systems. If yes then she effectively has a ‘life radar’ as every single vertebrate has millions of the things in their gut all the time. Ditto every patch of soil and plant. Not useful offensively but would still be pretty amazing to have. Same question obviously with Rotifers, which certainly have as much brain as tapeworms and are near as ubiquitous as nematodes.<br>'''Wildbow ''': A) Yes. She can control them.<br><br>B) Squids are out of bounds.<br><br>D) Not stated outright in the story, but her inability to sense people suggests that she can’t sense/control nematodes (or dust/skin mites for that matter). Not saying it’s definitely for sure, but a probable reason would be due to size constraints. A minimum size.Not stated outright in the story, but her inability to sense people suggests that she can’t sense/control nematodes (or dust/skin mites for that matter). Not saying it’s definitely for sure, but a probable reason would be due to size constraints. A minimum size.</ref> At different times, she speculated that she could control anything with an exoskeleton or shell -- which wouldn't explain how she could control earthworms -- and that it was the subject having a non-complex nervous system.<ref name="3.1">“I used to think I could control anything with an exoskeleton or shell.  But I can control earthworms too, among other things, and they don’t have shells.  I think all it takes is that they have to have very simple brains.” - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2011/08/09/agitation-3-1/ Excerpt] from [[Agitation 3.1]]</ref> It's possible that she could control bugmen, depending on their brain makeup and chemistry.<ref name="I5c1">'''Um the Muse:''' Hmm, I wonder if Skitter could affect the various bugmen? I know that she said that it had to do with the size of the brain involved, but how certain is that?<br><br>'''wildbow:''' Probably would depend on their brain makeup & chemistry.<br><br>But I think the real concern wouldn’t be so much ‘Is it possible’ as the ethics involved. - [http://parahumans.wordpress.com/2011/12/10/interlude-5/#comment-485 Comment by Wildbow on] [[Interlude 5]]</ref> However, she could not control bug-like [[Case 53s]],<ref>'''thetntm:''' I don’t know if it was a word of god or a head cannon or something, but I remember reading that because Taylor’s power went off of her mental image of “creepy crawlers” when determining what counted as a “bug,” she could have controlled a sufficiently bug-like case 53.<br><br>My question is, could Aiden do the same, but with birds?<br><br>'''Wildbow:''' Bonesaw talks a bit in Worm 11.h about how the shard reaches out and uses hosts & hosts' connections to other hosts & the hub to suss out definitions and categories.<br><br>Aiden's (and the collective unconscious's) perceptions wouldn't include a part-bird, part-human because they wouldn't be familiar with such and it wouldn't be regularly in that initial, "Think about a bird!" instant connection.<br><br>For taylor, pulling more from the rest-of-the-world perceptions, crabs sorta kinda fall in that bucket, atlas falls in that bucket, while we aren't aware enough of skin mites or Hercules the beetle C-53 to really grok it. - Wildbow on Reddit, [https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/worm-quotes-and-wog-repository.294448/page-21#post-57716764 archived] on Spacebattles</ref><ref name="discordBreed"/> [[Breed]]'s creatures,<ref>“''Breed’s creatures.  Can you control them?''” this from Revel, taking advantage of the stunned silence.<br><br>I glanced up at the body the things had invaded.  I tailored my response so both Revel and the Undersiders could make sense of it.  “I can’t control those things, and I can’t sense them either.” - [[Sting 26.1]]</ref><ref name="discordBreed">'''Chiro:''' I was wondering as of late, why Taylor can't control Breed's parasites? Is it because they as lifeforms don't fall into the portfolio of creatures Taylor controls, or because Breed controls them already?<br><br>'''Kyakan:''' might be as simple as them not being around when Taylor's power was defining what counted as "bug"<br><br>'''Wildbow:''' Kyak has it right. Bonesaw talks about how shards conceptualize their idea of what X is when the trigger happens.<br>It's why Taylor's notion of what a 'bug' is remains pretty nebulous, including some things (crabs, earthworms, arachnids, insects) and bypassing others (skin mites, bug case 53s).<br>And it's not just Taylor- it pulls from the shard network of wider human knowledge across hosts. - Conversation with Wildbow on Discord, [https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/worm-quotes-and-wog-repository.294448/page-21#post-53539480 archived] on Spacebattles</ref> or any insects cloned by [[Echidna]].<ref>I might have missed it if I hadn’t had the bugs pressed together to contain the rats.  I ''had'' missed it already, countless times.  Wasps, hornets and cockroaches were crawling free of the slurry of flesh that Noelle had vomited into the building’s lobby.  They were attacking my bugs and any people they found.<br><br>I couldn’t sense them, and I couldn’t control them. - [[Queen 18.7]]</ref><ref name="18.8 e1">“She’s been absorbing my bugs.  She’s spitting out some, and I can’t control them.  They’re methodically destroying my swarm, and they’re hunting down people and attacking them.”<br><br>“She probably absorbed some before she even ran into us,” Tattletale said.  “And she just needs one of a given type to make copies.  I wouldn’t blame yourself.”<br><br>“Did she absorb hornets, black widows, brown recluses?”<br><br>“Maybe not,” Tattletale admitted.<br><br>“Okay,” I said.  “Because there’s homicidal hornets and spiders out there now.  Because of my fuck-up.” - [[Queen 18.8]]</ref>
At one point, Taylor attempted to distract [[Zion|a foe]] underwater by forming simulated bodies out of sea creatures.<ref name="Control">Simple lifeforms.  If there were none above the water’s surface, I’d use the ones below.  A glance above me showed one of the flying heroes above the water’s surface, watching.  Good.  We’d be able to coordinate an attack.<br><br>We were too far from the ocean floor for me to find crabs or lobsters, but there were others.<br><br>
Krill.  Two inches in length, at best.  But they were alive, and I could move them.  I could use them.  Another swarm decoy, another combination attack. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/08/24/extinction-27-5/ Excerpt] from  [[Extinction 27.5]]</ref>

She was able to control [[Atlas]], a horse-sized beetle, and have her range extended with relay bugs by roughly three hundred feet around each relay.<ref>[[Prey 14.3]]</ref> Both of these were courtesy of Panacea. Like all of her other bugs she saw them as tools, though Atlas did have some sentimental value.

===Multitasking ===
Taylor has an almost limitless ability to focus on multiple insects at once, or to focus on other things while also using her insects.<ref name="15.9">[[Colony 15.9]]</ref><ref name="11.2c1">Re: Skitter’s power, she’s yet to demonstrate the inability to control some bugs because she was focusing on others or focusing on something else. Well, there was the bank robbery, but that was Panacea’s interference at work. It’s unstated, but multitasking abilities come part and parcel with her power, as far as her facility with her power is concerned. - 
[http://parahumans.wordpress.com/2012/05/22/infestation-11-2/#comment-2181 Comment by] Wildbow on [[Infestation 11.2]]</ref> She can give general instructions, in which case she is only vaguely aware of their movements, or guide individual insects through complex tasks, in which case she is more precisely aware of their movements and environment.<ref name="4.3c1">Taylor’s power is fairly nuanced, and I guess I haven’t really elaborated enough on that aspect of things. I tweaked the sweaty crotches part of the chapter just a tiny bit, and will strive to explain a little better in a later chapter. Long story short, Taylor’s sensory input from the bugs is vastly different depending on whether she’s giving them a general ‘find your way to me’ impulse or whether she’s focused enough on them individually to have them navigating their way into somebody’s underpants. In the former case, she’s drawn her bugs in while really stressed (such as when Bitch attacked her) without really noticing she was doing it. Things are that thin, that easy to block out.<br><br>You said “not at all recognizable from the ‘human’ perspective except by a good deal of piecing together of clues.” – Except she’s got a helluvalot of clues. Even fuzzy, blurry clues add up to a pretty strong mental picture when you’ve got enough of them. When there’s also context, with Taylor knowing in advance what her bugs are doing, there’s going to be (even if Taylor doesn’t really want to) a framing of those clues in a particular way. - [http://parahumans.wordpress.com/2011/10/01/shell-4-3/#comment-196 Comment by] Wildbow on [[Shell 4.3]]</ref> However, she could be distracted by the difficulty of focusing on her insects' senses,<ref name="14.4c2">[http://parahumans.wordpress.com/2012/09/15/prey-14-4/#comment-4228 Comment by] Wildbow on [[Prey 14.4]]</ref> and by Panacea's modified insects providing contradictory signals.<ref name="11.2c1"/><ref name="3.12">[[Agitation 3.12]]</ref> 

Behind the scenes, Taylor's [[shard]] handles this multitasking so that she can independently control those in her swarm. Outside of this ability, Taylor's power does not give her augmented multitasking: despite controlling multiple swarm-clones with her power, she was only capable of holding one conversation at a time.<ref>I focused on my swarm-clones, staying totally still while he worked on removing the metal end of the dart.  They were largely composed of flying bugs, but I was bulking each of the forms out as more bugs arrived, giving them a more solid mass.  I used my free hand to pop my ear-buds in.<br>[...]<br>Sierra had been coordinating everyone, trying to put people with experience in charge of people who were lacking it.  It was interesting, trying to hold multiple conversations at once with the various project leaders.  Difficult, too.  For one thing, my speech with my swarms was somewhat lacking, missing consonants, but I could still make myself more or less understood.  For another, my ears could only process one thing at a time.  I managed by talking with one or more swarm-clone while listening with one at a time.  After too many misfires and moments of confusion, I scaled down my efforts to a single conversation at once, simply standing silently by with my other selves.<br><br>I made a mental note to try to practice with that.  Exercising the range of my power hadn’t done anything for me, and there didn’t seem to be any upper limits to how many bugs I could control at once, but there had to be other ways I could train my abilities.  Multitasking was one I hadn’t tried yet.  Trying to interpret the senses of my bugs was another, though I feared it would take a more concerted effort to effect any sort of change. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2012/11/06/colony-15-7/ Excerpt] from [[Colony 15.7]]</ref> Her power can also perform actions automatically that Taylor did not intend to do. For example, Taylor was so focused on listening to a conversation that her bugs reacted to her irritation and revealed that she was eavesdropping.<ref>“Guys!”  Miss Militia stood from her chair, the feet screeching against the ground.  She raised her voice another notch.  “Look.”<br><br>She pointed at the window.<br><br>I moved my bugs to check for whatever it was she was pointing at, then stopped.<br><br>She was pointing at the ''bugs''.  They’d reacted to my irritation, and were swirling just beyond the window of the conference room, clustering on the glass surface.<br><br>“Is she making a move?”  Tagg asked.<br><br>“No.  They’re… just there.  Reacting,” Miss Militia said.  “To this.  Here.”<br><br>“She’s watching,” Tagg said.<br><br>“Watching what?  There’s nothing to look at,” Miss Militia said.  “Think about it.  What this is to her.”<br><br>“She hears,” Mrs. Yamada finished the thought.<br><br>I shut my eyes, swore under my breath.  I’d let my guard down.  I’d been too focused on what was going on inside the building, letting bugs cluster on the outside, that I’d given my reactions away.  So much for gathering intel. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/05/04 Excerpt] from [[Cell 22.1]]</ref> Her power would sometimes perform actions by habit,<ref name="24.4e1"/> when she was incapacitated,<ref>''Hey, passenger,'' I thought.  ''Do me a favor.  If I get taken out of action and you step up to fight, work on taking out Jack, alright?'' - [[Sting 26.4]]</ref> or when she was in an altered mental state,<ref name="26.2 e2">Passenger, I thought.  Been a while, trying to figure out how to make peace with the fact that you're there, that you're affecting me somehow, taking control whenever I'm not in my own mind.  I think we've made strides.  I've sort of accepted that you're going to do what you're going to do, whether that helps me or hurts me. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/07/20/sting-26-2/ Excerpt] from [[Sting 26.2]]</ref> without her conscious instruction.

===Emotions===
Taylor would sometimes use her bugs to "channel" her emotions and body language, lending her an "aura of indomitable calm".<ref name="27.3e1">I was using my bugs to channel my feelings, even with my concerns about my passenger and how it might be merging with me.  I was wearing that aura of indomitable calm, even though I wasn't sure I liked the Taylor of this past year and a half, who had been doing just that as a matter of both habit and necessity. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/08/20/extinction-27-3/ Excerpt] from [[Extinction 27.3]]</ref> This ability gives her a partial Anti-Thinker resistance, even against powerful Thinkers like Alexandria, Tattletale and Jack Slash, or Emotion-readers like Cherish. This can be seen with [[Cell 22.4|Alexandria's interrogation]], when Taylor was able to attack Alexandria off-guard as the latter was not prepared because Taylor had offloaded all of her emotional and social cues into her bugs and thus appeared calmer than she truly was.<ref>Wildbow - Had Taylor broken, raged out, in the sense of chapter one, they would have had a scapegoat for everything that happened in Brockton Bay. She could have tapped Cauldron resources and been on the alert. But Taylor offloaded all cues to her shard. She appeared far calmer and more subdued than she was, Alexandria calibrated her approach with this in mind, and things tilted off differently.<br>Wildbow - Taylor was absolutely not a killer at that stage, unless she had a reasonable target, and Alexandria presented herself as that target. Alexandria looked at Taylor, talked to her, and saw someone different. All of the profiling and information worked -against- her.- WoG from [https://forums.spacebattles.com/posts/22604409/ Spacebattles]</ref> [[Colin Wallis|Armsmaster]]'s lie-detector and [[Cherish]]'s power also had partially bad reads on her emotions, even [[Jack Slash]] can get incorrect reads on her. Even those close to her have trouble understanding her at times, even a powerful Thinker like Tattletale.<ref>Armsmaster's lie detector.<br>Cherish gets a partial read on Skitter, but extrapolates wrong. Jack remarks on this on two occasions, especially how (he feels) if the read had been correct, he could have convinced Taylor to kill Battery.<br>Powers set aside, she expresses frustration at people misreading her motivations, especially at the meeting with Accord/Valefor/the Teeth. Virtually everyone around her has trouble grasping what she's doing and why: her dad, Emma (most recent encounter), D&D, Grue, even Tattletale at times. - [https://redd.it/748ujh Partial comment by Wildbow on Reddit]</ref>

===Senses===
The sensory input from her bugs is "fuzzy" and difficult for humans to interpret.<ref name="4.3c1"/><ref name="6.1c1">Well, she can’t quite hear through her bugs. As she says in 2.6, noises break down to weird and irritating pitches that she can’t quite make out.<br><br>The one real exception to this occurs at the conclusion of the ‘Shell’ arc, where she was overhearing music through a moth. But that’s an exception, not the rule. - [http://parahumans.wordpress.com/2011/12/13/tangle-6-1/#comment-533 Comment by] Wildbow on [[Tangle 6.1]]</ref> She can sporadically hear and see clearly, but the "signal quality" is unreliable.<ref name="6.1c1"/>

Practicing doesn't seem to produce results.<ref name="14.4c2"/> However, over time, Taylor does learn to more reliably hear through her bugs.<ref name="6.1c1"/> In her last day as Skitter she was unable to understand a phone message heard with her bugs, but was able to identify it was a recording. She was only able to discern tone of voice at "rare moments".<ref name="22.4">[[Cell 22.4]]</ref> Her ability to interpret sensory data from her insects seems to increase during periods of stress that match the emotions of her Trigger Event: in one such instance, she was able to clearly see and hear everyone in a room and beyond in detail with just a single butterfly, identifying both her dad, the PRT officers, details of their appearance, what room in the house they were in, and what exactly they were saying.<ref name="20.5"/>

Based on the combined sensory input of large numbers of insects, Taylor can gain a very clear mental picture of whatever they're interacting with.<ref name="4.3c1"/> She can also sense the biology and location<ref name="8.4c1"/> of every bug she can control.<ref name="9.1 c1">[[Leviathan|He]] doesn’t have a conventional brain, but his system isn’t so simple that Taylor can take it over. If she could have, her power would have detected & sensed him the way it usually does bugs. - [http://parahumans.wordpress.com/2012/04/03/cell-9-1/#comment-1564 Comment by] Wildbow on [[Sentinel 9.1]]</ref> This gives her enhanced aim<ref name="26.6">[http://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/08/03/sting-26-6/ Sting 26.6]</ref> and the ability to dodge attacks with supernatural reaction times.<ref>I didn’t hear the rest.  Behind my back, Assault moved to kick one of the desks.  It went flying into the air in the same instant I threw myself to the ground.  I could feel the rush of wind as it passed over me, hurtling into a cubicle.  I scrambled for cover.<br><br>“Prescience.  Interesting,” the Director called out, as I ducked low and used the cubicles to hide.  “We assigned you a thinker-one classification, but perhaps we fell short.” - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2012/11/27/monarch-16-2/ Excerpt] from [[Monarch 16.2]]</ref> However, in environments where bugs are scarce, or when dealing with materials that they don't interact with well, her image of the area can become less reliable.{{cite}}

Taylor also receives some knowledge of her bugs' biology from her power,<ref name="14.6">[[Prey 14.6]]</ref> giving her an understanding of their limits, capabilities and the effects of adaptions such as any venom they have.<ref name="2.6">“Yeah,” Lisa raised an eyebrow, “You do know which bugs you had biting him, right?  Black Widow, Brown Recluse, Browntail Moth, Mildei, Fire Ants-”<br><br>“Yeah,” I cut her off, “I don’t know the official names, but I know exactly what bit him, what stung him and what the venoms do.” - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2011/07/23/insinuation-2-6/ Excerpt] from [[Insinuation 2.6]]</ref>

===Range===
Taylor has a limited range around, above and below her, of about a tenth of a mile,<ref>I was steamed and I could hardly focus on the lecture, as my power crackled and tugged at my attention from the periphery of my consciousness, making me acutely aware of every bug within a tenth of a mile.  I could tune it out, but the extra concentration that took, coupled with the anger I felt towards Madison and Mr. Gladly, was distracting enough that I couldn’t focus on the lecture. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2011/07/12 Excerpt] from [[Insinuation 2.3]]</ref> and later about 3-4 city blocks with a block being 300 feet.<ref>'''[https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/03/21/chrysalis-20-1/#comment-13946 Wildbow]''': She’s described her range as 3-4 city blocks. A city block is about 300 feet long.</ref> During periods of stress that are close to the feelings of frustation and hopelessness she felt during her Trigger Event, it would increase, once reaching over six and a half blocks,<ref name="20.5">It wasn’t long before I was close enough.  My range was longer, now.  Odd.  It was supposed to get longer when I felt more trapped, but ‘trapped’ wasn’t the word I would have chosen.<br><br>My bugs rose at my command, tracing over the area.  It wasn’t so unusual, that there were flies, bumblebees and ants about: the heat of summer, the humidity, the imbalanced ecosystem…  Nobody paid them any heed.<br><br>A small butterfly found its way into the house.  It traced over the glossy smooth armor and helmets of PRT officers, touched the badge on the chest of a police officer.<br><br>It touched my dad’s shoulder, moved down his bare arm to his hand.  He was sitting at the kitchen table, his head in his hands.<br>[...]<br>“Taylor,” he said.<br><br>Six and a half city blocks away, I replied, “I’m sorry.”<br><br>The butterfly and I took off at the same time. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/04/02 Excerpt] from [[Chrysalis 20.5]]</ref> which also came with her bugs responding faster to her commands<ref>[[Infestation 11.4]]</ref> and getting better at interpreting their senses, such as when she could clearly see and hear everyone in a room and beyond in detail with just a single butterfly.<ref name="20.5"/> However, these power boosts are not permanent and will fade as her feelings return to normal, and with it her Range.<ref>'''Wildbow''': The range increases aren’t permanent. - [http://parahumans.wordpress.com/2012/05/26/infestation-11-3/#comment-2233 Comment by Wildbow] on [[Infestation 11.3]]</ref> Nevertheless, her base range did slowly increase over time as she won more conflicts;<ref>Much like Taylor's achievements went hand in hand with a growth in her capability and flexibility with her power (on a blunt level like the waxing & waning max range, in terms of being able to see/speak with them, and on an abstract level, like how the shard is helping more in the background or when she's unconscious), - [https://redd.it/5ngyvn Comment by Wildbow] on Armsmaster's growth.</ref> starting at two blocks radius early on,<ref name="1.2e1">I wasn’t just grabbing every creepy crawly in a two block radius, though.  I was being selective, and I was gathering quite a few.<br><br>It would take time for all of them to arrive.  Bugs could move faster than you thought when they moved with purpose in a straight line, but even so, two blocks was a lot of ground for something so small to cover. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2011/06/14/gestation-1-2/ Excerpt] from [[Gestation 1.2]]</ref><ref name="5.5e1">I generally measured things in city blocks – I’ve never been good at eyeballing distance – and I would say my range usually sat at around two blocks. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2011/11/19/hive-5-5/ Excerpt] from [[Hive 5.5]]</ref> up to three blocks radius when she began to [[Infestation 11.2|claim territory]],<ref name="11.2e1">Generally speaking, there were two routes I tended to go. The first put me in one spot, drawing my bugs from the area. A three block radius made for a good number of bugs.<br>[...]<br>Today wasn’t one of the days my power was working double time, with double the range. I’d wanted to make sure to reach as many as I could, so I’d started drawing the arrows and words with the bugs early. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2012/05/22/infestation-11-2/ Excerpt] from [[Infestation 11.2]]</ref> and up to a base range of five blocks by [[Skitter's Surrender|the time she surrendered to the PRT]], a fact supported by her in-depth Cast profile describing her range as being nine to fifteen hundred feet around her around her time as a warlord,<ref name="Cast2"/>which would extend if she felt 'trapped'.<ref>My power's range was about five blocks.  It should have been larger, going by the running theory that feeling ‘trapped' extended my reach, but I was in here by my own device.  I couldn't necessarily force it. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/05/04 Excerpt] from [[Cell 22.1]]</ref> However, sometimes she would get increases in stressful situations even though she didn't feel 'trapped';<ref name="20.5"/> she later states that her power gets stronger when she feels either 'trapped', 'despair', or 'betrayed'.<ref>“Yeah,” I said.  “I triggered while I was in a locker.  I’ve been thinking, I get just a little stronger when I feel trapped, or when I despair, or when I feel betrayed.  My range extends.” - [[Drone 23.1]]</ref> By the time she fights [[Behemoth]] as part of the [[Chicago]] Wards in India, she mentions that her range is now a radius of one thousand, eight hundred feet,<ref>[[Crushed 24.1]]</ref> which is roughly six blocks and makes her full range at the time to be double that at a three thousand, six hundred feet diameter.

She had a temporary range boost while in the area-of-effect of [[The Yàngbǎn]]'s power-magnifying field, increasing her range by several blocks and growing, which she used to contact [[Phir Sē]] in his basement. The exact extent of her range increase under the field is not mentioned.<ref>[[Crushed 24.4]]</ref>

===Skills===
Taylor has come up with a multitude of creative uses of her power. For example, she can produce and manipulate large quantities of spider silk, coat her insects in petroleum jelly and capsaicin to use them like pepper spray, deploy groups of bugs to create humanoid figures,<ref>I took a page out of Grue’s playbook and gathered a group of bugs together into a densely packed, vaguely humanoid shape. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2011/11/22/hive-5-6/ Excerpt] from [[Hive 5.6]]</ref><ref name="11.3">[[Infestation 11.3]]</ref> mask her movements, and clear out rat infestations. She was able to catch [[containment foam]] on glass carried by her bugs and stick it to her attackers.<ref name="10.5">[[Parasite 10.5]]</ref> She can disguise or project her voice by having her insects buzz and chirp together.<ref name="9.6c1">Pinkhair:<br>I figured that Taylor did the voice trick to disguise herself, now that she knows that Sophia might possibly recognize her by voice.<br><br>Wildbow:<br>We have a winner. - [http://parahumans.wordpress.com/2012/04/21/sentinel-9-6/#comment-1786 Comment by Wildbow] on [[Sentinel 9.6]]</ref> Over a two year period she learned how to read braille so that she could read with her bugs.<ref name="26.2 e1">The moment the wind died down, I bid the bugs to shift position, carrying the pages to me, sorting them into the appropriate order.<br><br>I bent down and began collecting the pieces of paper.  I could feel the raised bumps on the pages as I brushed them free of specks of dirt and leaves.  Each set of bumps corresponded with a letter or punctuation mark, which had been printed over the dots in thick, bold, letters.<br><br>I gathered the pages into file folders, then clipped them shut, stacking them on the patio chair.  I made my way to the patio table, bending down to collect the pages as they made their way to me.  The writing on these was different; the letters were drawn in thick, bold strokes, fat, almost as if I’d drawn them in marker.  My notes: thoughts, things that needed clarification, ideas. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/07/20/sting-26-2/ Excerpt] from [[Sting 26.2]]</ref><ref name="30.2">When the bullying had started, books had been an escape.  I’d be exhausted at the end of the day, feeling a low that counterbalanced the higher adrenaline and stress of the time spent in school.  Curling up with something to read had been a refuge.<br><br>Maybe that had lapsed when I’d become a cape.  The costumed stuff had become an escape of sorts.  But I’d gotten back into it in prison, and on some of the stakeouts.  I’d taught myself braille, so I could read with my bugs, and take in more. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/10/17/speck-30-2/ Excerpt] from [[Speck 30.2]]</ref>

She even had some tricks she wasn't consciously aware of learning. For example, she would occasionally use her bugs to cover her while she moved without noticing, making her difficult to track.<ref>All around me, PRT employees were howling in pain, their cries silenced by the lack of an audio feed.  Either the camera hadn’t picked it up, or Glenn had muted it.  They thrashed.  One reached for me, for the <em>me</em> on the screen, and I could see how I moved out of the way without even glancing at him.  The swarm concealed me at the same time, briefly obscuring the Skitter in the video from both the man on the ground and the security camera.  When it parted, she had shifted two or three feet to the left.  A simple step to one side in the half-second she couldn’t be seen, but it misled the eyes.<br><br>And I couldn’t remember doing it.  I’d never consciously added the trick to my repertoire. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/05/30/drone-23-3/ Excerpt] from [[Drone 23.3]]</ref>

Taylor had an unusually high pain tolerance, which she blamed on [[Bakuda vs. The Undersiders|her exposure]] to a pain-bomb of [[Bakuda]]'s.<ref name="29.9 e1">“Whatever,” Panacea said.  “Works for me, actually.”<br><br>Then she touched me, and the pain went away.  I relaxed so suddenly I felt like I’d suddenly become part liquid.  I’d been so tense my head wasn’t even touching the countertop, my legs and shoulders tense.<br><br>“Thank you,” I said.  “Thanks.”<br><br>
“You have a high pain tolerance,” she said.<br><br>“One of Bakuda’s bombs, way back when,” I said.  “I think it messed with my head, as far as my perception of pain.  I found out what it’s ''really'' like to feel pain, real ten-out-of-ten pain.  A part of me knew it was too much to be true, and other stuff’s affected me more because I knew it was tied with something ''real''.  Case in point, a burn is still a motherfucker.”<br><br>“Well, we’ll fix it,” she said. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/10/08/venom-29-9/ Excerpt] from [[Venom 29.9]]</ref>

Post-Timeskip, she is an exceptionally accomplished martial artist; her bug-swarm-enhanced senses enable her to react to events faster than a normal human should be able to. She can easily defeat even other experienced parahumans in hand-to-hand combat. The boost to her senses and coordination due to her swarm also allows her exceptional accuracy with firearms. Personality-wise, she is noted to be cold, distant, exceptionally driven, and even ruthless by many characters.<ref>[[Cell 22.2]]</ref>

=== [[Classification]]===
Taylor was rated by [[PRT]] analysts as a [[Master]] 5,<ref name="8.5 eClassification">“She’s a villain,” the PRT uniform cut me off, touching his way through some blackberry device with his free hand.  “Designation Master-5, specifically arthropodovoyance, arthropodokinesis.  No super strength.” - [[Extermination 8.5]]</ref> which was later upgraded to an 8. A rating of [[Thinker]] 1 was officially added when [[Emily Piggot]] deduced she could see through her bugs in a limited fashion.<ref>[https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/05/04/cell-22-1/ Excerpt] from [[Cell 22.1]]</ref><ref name="18.3">[[Queen 18.3]]</ref> Piggot suggested that this should be upgraded when Taylor admitted she came up with the plan to raid the PRT to stop [[Dragon]] and demonstrated the ability to anticipate incoming attacks through her bugs,<ref name="16.2">[[Monarch 16.2]]</ref> but she was still classified as a thinker-one after Piggot had left office.<ref name=":0">"Arthropodokinesis, arthropodovoyance," the Deputy Director said.  "She's on record as a master eight, thinker one.  The thinker classification is key here: ex-Director Piggot noted Skitter can see through her bugs' eyes."<br>[...]<br>Director Tagg nodded slowly, then rubbed his chin again.  The movement of his wrist against his armrest nearly killed the bug I had in between his dress shirt and jacket.  "Agreed.  I already informed each of my officers to treat her as though she had a two point classification in every category, or two points ''higher'' in cases where she's already received scores.  Brute two, mover two… all the way down the list.  It won't do to underestimate her." - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/05/04 Excerpt] from [[Cell 22.1]] </ref>

Later [[Director Tagg]] ordered for her to be treated as a Master 10, Thinker 3 with an additional rating of 2 in every other category; in order to make sure his soldiers didn't underestimate her<ref name=":0"/> and to authorize additional means of containing her.<ref name="SB56">Tagg slaps a '2 of everything' on Taylor because it gives full authorization for all special measures, and it's a constant reminder to his people that she's a threat in every department... [https://forums.spacebattles.com/posts/12847980 Comment by Wildbow on spacebattles]</ref>

Taylor's [[trigger event]], which involved both an environmental stressor and a [[thinker]] stressor, led her primarily [[Master]] power to have [[Thinker]] and [[Shaker]] overtones.<ref name="IRC eElements">TFS Is the fact that Taylor was trapped a reason why her Master powers act the same way as Shaker powers do?<br>soulpelt| do tell<br>Wildbow Yeah, there's overlap.<br>[...]<br>soulpelt| Taylor is needing help from being trapped in a sucky environment.<br>Wildbow Environmental stressor, thinker stressor, more thinkery shakery master power. - Conversation with Wildbow on IRC, [https://forums.spacebattles.com/posts/18251141/ archived on SpaceBattles]</ref>

===Khepri===
In order to combat the end of the world during the [[Gold Morning]], Taylor gave Panacea instruction and permission to remove the safety restrictions and regulations on her power through the Corona Pollentia and Gemma. The result of this was later known as "Khepri". Taylor's range became significantly reduced to a radius of three hundred feet,<ref>I felt the range of my power halve, as though a guillotine blade had dropped down, cutting it off.<br><br>My control began to slip.  It wasn’t so severe as the effect on my range, but I could feel it degrading.  I was aware of my bugs in a general sense, and they were moving in reaction to my subconscious thoughts, but the end result wasn’t precise.  I moved them, but getting them to stop had a fraction of a second’s delay.<br>[...]<br>My range was dwindling with every passing second, and so was my control.<br>[...]<br>I could feel Panacea working to give me that control, changing what she was focusing on.  I felt the swarm moving more in sync with what I was thinking and wanting.  But this… I could sense what was happening, feel my range plummeting yet again, the guillotine coming down.  My range had been cut down further.<br>[...]<br>''Stop'', Panacea, I thought.  ''Stop, stop, stop, stop…''<br><br>My swarm attacked her, and it wasn’t because of any conscious command on my part.  The attack was crude, more the swarming behavior of wasps drunk on attack pheromones than the calculated attack I was used to employing.<br>[...]<br>I looked at Amy, realizing the bugs were still approaching her.  I pulled the swarm away, and I felt how hard it was to move them.<br><br>I was left with the ruins of my power.  My range was maybe a third of what it might otherwise be, the control rough-edged at best.  There were bugs in my swarm that I couldn’t control, too small. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/10/15 Excerpt] from [[Speck 30.1]]</ref> making her diameter double that at six hundred, which she could extend through the use of her relay bugs.<ref name="30.3"/> While her control over insects was still present, and she could still sense their presence and have them react to her subconscious thoughts, this control was reduced in precision to an unknown extent, her bugs using more swarm tactics than her usual calculating attacks, nor could she communicate through her bugs. Furthermore, her size limit has increased, as she comments on there were bugs in her former swarm that are now too small for her to control.<ref name="30.1-1"/>

To contrast this, Taylor gained a crude control of nearly every sapient and sentient creature that enters within nearly sixteen feet (fifteen point nine-eight feet to be precise)<ref name="30.1-1"/> making her full range a diameter of nearly thirty-two feet. This most notably includes parahumans and, subsequently, humans,<ref name="30.1-2">It belatedly clicked.  Sixteen feet was the distance they needed to keep from me. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/10/15 Excerpt] from [[Speck 30.1]]</ref> as well as a focused sense and awareness of their bodies. This range cannot be increased through periods of stress mirroring her original trigger event, as her Corona no longer connects to the parts of her brain related to emotions or similar concepts. She also slowly began to lose control and awareness of her own body, unable to communicate directly, move as fast or as well as she used to, only able to focus and perform one bodily function like breathing at a time, and losing touch with reality. Her Shard was able to to obtain some control over her body, emotions and thoughts, and would perform actions without her conscious or reflective command in an effort to help her, trying to learn how the two can work together. All of which grew worse as time went on and the barrier between Taylor and her Shard became thinner and blurred, losing understanding of what people were saying and interpreting all actions as conflict to fight.<ref name="30.1-1">[[Speck 30.1]]</ref>

This control is not automatic, and Taylor, in brief periods of lucidity, can choose not to control someone in her range. People who are in her control are capable of feeling emotion, perform steady breathing, feeling tense and perform slight, subconscious usage of their powers like Lung; all of which Taylor is capable of sensing, along with sensing other inner workings like their well-being, where a person was sore, how fit they were, and most importantly how their parahuman powers works. Taylor can also co-opt their senses like she did with her bugs, allowing her, for example, to see and hear through multiple people. However, the people are completely unable to move despite their feelings and attempts as they are, in Taylor's words, "Waiting for instructions". Any control that Taylor does exert on them is crude, but a bit more fluid than her control over her own body at that point, allowing Taylor to give them somewhat more precise commands. This ability also causes Taylor and those she controls to suffer shared experiences; feelings felt by one bringing up different memories from each person that are associated with those emotions, and those memories being exchanged between them and Taylor, as those she controls become an extension of herself. Control and senses over their parahuman powers is more precise and efficient, though Taylor remarks in the case of Bitch that controlling her would not give her any special knowledge of Bitch's whistles or commands, or her instinctive understanding of the dogs.<ref name="30.1-1"/>

Taking command of [[Doormaker]] and [[Clairvoyant]], Taylor was able to round up and control roughly five thousand two hundred Parahumans and over ten quadrillion insects from dozens of different Earths to combat Zion, using the latter to find parahumans and insects, and to keep track of the battle across alternative Earths, and the former to open portals within her range to other parahumans so that she can control them. Taylor comments that, had she the time, she could control over ten quintillion bugs; the total number of insects on the entirety of Earth.<ref name="30.3">[[Speck 30.3]]</ref> With these she coordinated the fight with Zion while launching a number of psychological attacks against him, taunting Zion with his dead partner, and sequestering a vast number of Tinkers away to construct a form of tinkertech interdimensional battering ram to kill The Warrior's main body when his avatar was destroyed and a portal was opened to it.

Though a full list of creatures Taylor can now control is unknown, there are a number of beings she cannot that is known. She could not control Zion or the Endbringers, nor the [[Three Blasphemies]]. She seemed to be unable to control Dragon for unstated reasons. She is unable to control Imp and in fact the latter is able to get closer enough to talk to her through power keeping her hidden,<ref>I heard a voice, female, kind words, spoken haltingly, out of place in the midst of this.  I had trouble placing the memory.<br><br>[...]<br><br>Again, the voice interrupted.  Patient, almost like I was overhearing something being said.  It made for a kind of… what was the word?  A conflict between two ideas.  Dis- Dissonance.<br><br>[...]<br><br>I was preparing to go down with the clairvoyant, making sure we wouldn’t break contact even if we had a hard landing, when I heard that voice again, small and afraid.<br><br>I couldn’t place the recollection.<br><br>[...]<br><br>Again, that soft voice I couldn’t place, something to help me keep moving onward, a human sound when abstracts were becoming all too real.<br><br>[...]<br><br>I could hear the voice again.<br><br>Another person appeared twenty or so feet to my left, startling me.  My bugs moved, creating a barrier.<br><br>No.  She was a familiar face, so to speak.  A gray mask, horned, with mischievous eyes, a mouth hidden by a scarf or cowl  she’d piled around her shoulders.  She was the source of the voice.  She’d been with me, keeping me company.<br><br>Tears came unbidden to my eyes. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/10/26/speck-30-6/ Excerpt] from [[Speck 30.6]]</ref> though she was able to take control of Imp once she turned her power off and revealed herself fully.<ref>I sensed my bugs moving, shifting position without even moving a limb or wing.  Before I even grasped what was happening, I was moving.  I cut out with my knife, feeling like I was swinging madly into open air.<br><br>A girl materialized, shouting or saying something.  She’d appeared just a little in front of me, her back initially to me as I continued cutting, the actions jerky and stiff, uncoordinated and continuing long past the moment there was any point.  I could feel her body appear in my mind’s eye, and I asserted control over her. - [[Speck 30.7]]</ref> She was temporarily able to control [[Glaistig Uaine]], but she was able to escape Taylor's control by swapping the control on her over to one of her ghost projections. Finally, she did not control the [[Sleeper]], though this was not due to an inability to control him but rather because she determined doing so would be more troublesome than it was worth.

Had [[Jack Slash]] been active at the time, [[Jack Slash#Shard|his secondary power]] would be better at sabotaging her compared with the typical [[parahuman]].<ref>'''Depression-the-Game:''' Alright so, Jack Slash doesn't lose against parahumans. What about shard controlled Parahumans? Like Ash Beast or Khepri.<br><br>'''Wildbow:'''For an analogy, think of boomers trying to use an app a bizarre sci-fi megacorp designed to kill an executive officer of that megacorp's company. ''And'' that megacorp is monitoring them ''and'' they control their internet, the data they see, and you're tracking them. The boomer, for whatever reason, can't ditch their phone (In setting, it's stuck to their brain).<br><br>Because they're boomers they don't really understand the tech and a lot of it is screened off from them, right?<br><br>Boomer has an app that mail orders feral bears? "I guess we have to deliver, but let's just order some really shitty bears and have the driver honk his horn to alert the CEO, and if our boomer makes any mistakes in the ordering and isn't focused then we'll just empty the truckload of bears right in front of him."<br><br>App to get someone killed? They hook it up to your boomer's pacemaker and reserve the ability to stop his heart when his lifespan (going by compiled insurance data from up to 150 providers) is halfway up, in exchange for giving him data to call in accurate hits. He just made that install and your tracking indicates he's intending to call a hit in on your CEO? Use just the two providers that give the shortest lifespan, cut that in half, (he should be in 4 minutes, according to sketchy companies A and B? hit that button to stop our boomer's pacemaker!) Or lean on your megacorp's subsidiary companies and track what he's doing on the internet to slow him down. Mess with his head.<br><br>Utilizing a shard-controlled parahuman is getting ''deeper'' into the megacorp's control.<br><br>The way it works is that you want to rely on someone who isn't using the megacorp's tech or who isn't tracked and monitored by the megacorp. Anything else is going to see the executive officer getting a courtesy phone call and your tech guys are going to do everything they can to mess with your potential threat.<br><br>Anything else is liable to be a "Gee, why can't I use my app from megacorp to destroy a megacorp executive officer?" - Conversation with Wildbow on Reddit, [https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/worm-quotes-and-wog-repository.294448/page-24?post=91563426#post-91563426| archived] on Spacebattles</ref>

===[[Shard]]===
Taylor's powers are the result of receiving a crippled [[List of Shards#The Administrator/ Queen Administrator|Administrator]] [[shard]] from [[Scion]]. In its non-crippled form, Scion uses the Administrator to coordinate and control his shards such as deciding their configurations before handing them out.<ref name="26.x eScionCripple">When it knows the configuration is absolutely decided, it reaches for the last fragment it will cast off.  This one, too, it cripples, even largely destroys, so as to limit the host from using it in the same fashion.<br>[...]<br>It could see the connection to the female’s shard, the activity as it broadcast signals, reaching out to contact lifeforms throughout the area, coordinating them.<br>[...]<br>The entity recognized her shard.  The last one that had split off before the entity took on this form.<br><br>''Queen.'' - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/08/10/interlude-26/ Excerpt] from [[Interlude 26]]</ref> Unlike [[Eidolon]]'s shard (i.e., [[Eden]]'s [[List_of_Shards#High_Priest|counterpart shard]] to the Administrator) which can administrate shards,<ref name="reddAdmin">'''HighSlayerRalton:''' Taylor is Eidolon's 'reflection'. Or rather, the Queen Administrator is the High Priest's reflection.<br><br>Taylor gets to administrate bugs, because Scion damaged and limited his Queen Administrator shard before distributing it.<br><br>Eidolon gets to administrate the pool of shards Eden was reorganising when she crashed (including the power-drawing ability), because Eden was still using her Queen Administrator counterpart to do that at the time.<br><br>The kid who controls bugs and the world's most powerful superhero are two sides of the same coin.<br><br>'''Wildbow:''' Yeah, pretty sure I already confirmed this elsewhere, but this is a great summary of it. - Conversation with Wildbow on [https://www.reddit.com/r/Parahumans/comments/qhhdwy/eidolons_reflection/hicr972/ Reddit]</ref> Scion intentionally cripples Taylor's shard before handing it out and even largely destroys it to completely prevent its host from using it in this fashion during the [[Cycle]].<ref name="26.x eScionCripple"/>

After being limited, the [[List of Shards#The Administrator/ Queen Administrator|Administrator]] [[shard]] explicitly specializes in coordinating control over large numbers of smaller lifeforms.<ref>In devising the actual trigger, we actually figure this out in a way like we would a Cauldron vial. We know what the shard does, and the key thing to figure out is how that shard expresses its power and how it manifests.<br><br>The QA shard specializes in coordinating control over large numbers of smaller lifeforms. We see it in Skitter (bugs), we see it in Aiden (birds) and we see it in Chitter (rats). - Comment by Wildbow on Reddit, archived on Spacebattles</ref><!-- https://forums.spacebattles.com/posts/21336894 --> Thus, the powers that it hands out will generally have some [[Master]] element of controlling many minions.<ref>'''Dwood:''' Wildbow: can the QA shard add brute flavors to its triggers?<br><br>'''Wildbow:'''Generally QA is going to operate around the fulcrum point of being a 'controls many minions' master trigger and is going to seek out hosts that hit that note. In the most forced context, you'd probably get a 'mass/tower of rats' brute body. - Conversation with Wildbow on Discord, archived on Spacebattles</ref><!-- https://forums.spacebattles.com/posts/37436294 -->

Like Taylor, the [[List of Shards#The Administrator/ Queen Administrator|Administrator]] [[shard]] has a drive for control:<ref>I watched that crowd with one eye.<br><br>Some of them would kill me the second they thought they could get away with it.  Others would be scheming.  I had power, they wanted that power for themselves.  They’d take it like my portal man was taken from me.  They’d take ''all'' of it.<br><br>My hand was clenched so hard I thought something might break. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/10/29/30-7/ Excerpt] from [[Speck 30.7]]</ref><ref name="30.7 eBargain"/> it desires to dominate all [[Earths]] and control everyone completely,<ref>A doorway opened beside her.  She floated away a touch, as if inviting me through.<br><br>I hesitated, at first, because of suspicion.  I had ''worlds'' filled with enemies, worlds I needed to bring under my thumb if I was going to be able to relax for even a moment.<br><br>I forced the worries aside.<br><br>I felt another stab of that not-fear sensation.  That balking on the part of my passenger.<br>[...]<br>I stared at the portal.  A point of no return.  I could pass through, and I’d be able to take steps to get control, to carry out my plan.<br><br>-Again, that dissonance.<br><br>It was uncomfortable, distracting.  I wanted to be able to pursue my goals unmolested. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/10/29/30-7/ Excerpt] from [[Speck 30.7]]</ref> including Taylor.<ref name="30.7 eClaimTaylor">“''Because I think you have a chance to come back from this.  Not much of a chance.  Part of that rides on me.  I could help you, or I could stop you from troubling anyone ever again.  Part of that?  It’s up to you to win the fight, to take control and keep the administrator from claiming everything you have, leaving you a shell''.”<br><br>I felt a chill.  Was part of it my passenger?  Both of us? - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/10/29/30-7/ Excerpt] from [[Speck 30.7]]</ref> Similar to the typical shard,<ref>“It isn’t human, and it never was,” she went on. “Don’t expect it to have human rationales. Do expect it to have a program it follows, a set goal that may or may not be one hundred percent clear. It’s going to be somewhat predictable, but powerful enough that the predictability isn’t reassuring or an easy answer.” - [[From Within 16.8]]</ref> the Administrator shard follows a set goal<ref name="30.7 eControlMission">I needed to escape, I needed time and resources to analyze what I was up against, frame it all.  I’d stabilized, I’d stopped degrading, now I could start building- ''rebuilding'' my knowledge base.  Put everything into a context that I could grasp, with my mind working in a different way, with different priorities.<br><br>''Then'' I could take control.  ''Then'' I could eliminate the problematic elements.<br><br>''Then'' everything would be peaceful.<br><br>A mission.  I functioned best with a mission.  My thoughts and actions had always processed best when I had a mission, a ''task''. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/10/29/30-7/ Excerpt] from [[Speck 30.7]]</ref> and is intrinsically conflict-oriented:<ref>''Con- conflict''.  I could function so long as there was conflict, so long as I was creating it or resolving it.  Given the choice between paralysis and conflict, I wondered if anyone would really choose the former, committing to it over time.<br><br>Paralysis was a scary thing.  There were a lot of forms of it, and they ranked up there as far as fates worse than death.<br><br>Conflict was better.  Familiar. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/10/29/30-7/ Excerpt] from [[Speck 30.7]]</ref> it typically frames situations in context of violence.<ref>It had started.<br><br>The outcry was picked up by others.  People grabbed one another, arms were thrown around necks, fingers dug into costumes and skin.  They whimpered, screamed, shouted.  I could see tears in eyes, faces contorted in emotion.  Groups turned inward, focusing on one another, loners backed away, positioning themselves where they had space to maneuver.  Madness, hysterical, chaotic.  Grown adult and child alike, costumed and uncostumed, individuals dressed in white or in bright colors, individuals in black, they were part of the riot.<br><br>They held nothing back, emotionally.  I saw fireballs explode in midair.  People streaked into the sky, lightshows following after them.<br><br>But the yelling, the echoes of that first cry, they were what shook me, what shook ''everything''.  The only thing around us to block the sounds were people, and those people were making ''more'' sound.  Thousands echoing of that one cry.<br><br>None of this surprised me, that they’d turn on each other the moment the real threat was gone.  It was the way our species operated.  A reality that had been writ over and over again in my experiences.  I couldn’t remember the specific cases, but the lessons remained with me. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/10/29/30-7/ Excerpt] from [[Speck 30.7]]</ref><ref>I heard the voice in my ear.  It was ''trying'' to sound soothing, gentle, but it was failing.  I heard the fear in it.  That fear was reassuring in its own way.  It told me I was right.  That the world ''did'' revolve around fear and violence. That I was doing the right thing, standing guard, being ready for a fight at any moment.<br><br>The madness around me continued unabated, the shouting fading, then starting anew, picked up by others, different factions, fresh sets of lungs.<br><br>I wasn’t going to listen to the voice. Not with all of the powers arrayed against me.  it would be idiotic and foolish if I did listen, whether I understood or not.<br><br>The others, they were arguing amongst themselves, barking out insults, yelling, pointing at me.  I’d taken control of them, and that was a ''fresh'' wound. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/10/29/30-7/ Excerpt] from [[Speck 30.7]]</ref> As a result, Taylor losing herself à la Khepri and giving the Administrator more control over her actions is ''not'' a good thing.<ref name="reddit eEgoDeath">Many breakers can go permanent breaker. Shadow Stalker, for example, doesn't have any strict forces in play that forces her to conserve the breaker state or balance her living & breaker state.<br><br>But it's still bad times for those who go that route, because they're forced to or because they prefer life in the breaker state to their ordinary life. Breakers have a closer connection to their passenger than any cape, and in the course of diving deeper into their breaker state and not, for lack of a better phrasing, surfacing for air, they begin to lose themselves and the shard gets more of a say. This is, very obviously, not a good thing. We see this sort of mentality in Khepri, and we can assume something like it in Night Hag.<br>[...]<br>The breaker document includes some examples (the Atropos breaker, the consequences for death breakers in general) of ways the passenger might seep in or that life might suddenly get harder, when one lapses fully into a breaker state.<br><br>So just wanted to point out that this is a thing that happens - and ego death often goes hand in hand with it. By the flip side of that same coin, to finally get around to answering your question - ego death, momentary, partial, or permanent, would destroy the Self and insert more Breakerness into the void that's left behind.<br><br>Most of the time they rampage - Ash Beast and Night Hag and the like. But if the shard isn't equipped to take advantage of the opportunity (Cauldron shards, Eden shards in general), maybe the self comes back and you get a Grumman. - Wildbow on Reddit, archived on Spacebattles</ref><!-- https://forums.spacebattles.com/posts/35365744 --> After [[Scion]]'s death, Taylor's shard agrees to release its remaining thralls because it realizes that acquiescing here would give it more control over Taylor and grind away at Taylor's sense of self.<ref name="30.7 eBargain">I reasserted control.<br><br>Again, I tried to let my passenger take control, to set things on autopilot.<br><br>''Again'', the others began to descend.  This time, the forcefield woman remained where she was.<br>[...]<br>I’d have a harder time taking control of things in the long term, but I was okay with survival.<br>[...]<br>Others were placed indiscriminately in the crowd below me.  My swarm, returned to the place they came from.<br><br>I turned to go, and there was far less resistance.<br>[...]<br>Before it could go any further, I wrested control for myself.  Easier.  It was like it was weaker with every set of actions.<br>[...]<br>It kept wanting sacrifices in the short term.  Responding to its desires had left me feeling more secure, made the ensuing resistance weaker.  The implicit promise was that acquiescing would be rewarded with a surer footing.  Footing that I could ''use''.  There were doors open to every world.  If I could take time to heal, to build my strength.  Eating well, resting… I could move on, carry out my plan.<br><br>The question was whether the cost was too high.<br><br>It was a gamble.  I was risking myself, setting myself back.  People would come after me.<br><br>But it meant more control, and it all came down to control in the end. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/10/29/30-7/ Excerpt] from [[Speck 30.7]]</ref> Indeed, had [[Contessa]] done nothing to Khepri or someone else (e.g., [[Defiant]]) had the final conversation with Khepri and then that individual failed to, as an example, kill/place Taylor in a coma, Taylor would have fully lost control: the Administrator would completely subsume Taylor's mind and then resume its plan to put everyone under its thrall.<ref>'''Wildbow:''' What's the context of the Colin talk though?<br>[...]<br>Or subject, or how do you lead from that to an ending?  Do you have him shoot her two times to be sure she's dead?<br>Or dead/in a coma?<br><br>'''Kaisheng21:''' i guess<br>well in the hypothetical where i were writing worm, which is just mad to think about<br>i'd have taylor just sorta fade out from accumulating brain damage<br>and colin's there holding her hand<br><br>'''Wildbow:''' It's not really brain damage though. And he'd need an inspector-gadget style robo-arm to hold her hand because her revised QA power is still active at that point.<br>[...]<br>She doesn't fade out so much as she goes full Khepri again.<br>[...]<br>Or rather, Taylor does fade out, but simultaneously, QA fades ''in''. - Conversation with Wildbow on Discord, archived on Spacebattles</ref><!-- https://forums.spacebattles.com/posts/93419616 -->

[[Scion]] refers to Taylor's [[shard]] as Queen<ref name="26.x eScionCripple"/> or the administrator shard.<ref name="I26e1">The female with the administrator shard had long since fled, covering the retreat with her small army of lesser lifeforms, more traps snapping into place in her wake. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/08/10 Excerpt] from [[Interlude 26]]</ref> [[Contessa]] similarly calls this shard the administrator.<ref name="30.7 eClaimTaylor"/> [[Glaistig Uaine]] refers to Taylor's shard as queen administrator.<ref name="25.5 eQueen"/> She also claims that this shard was on par with [[Glaistig Uaine#Shard|her shard]] as a [[Shard#Noble Shards|noble]] along with other shards such as those possessed by [[Amy_Dallon#Shard|Amy]] and [[Eidolon]].<ref name="27.4 eOtherNobles">“You view us both as queens, Faerie Queen?”<br><br>“I do.  But let us drop the titles when we talk.”<br><br>“Okay… Glaistig Uaine.  Anyone else?”<br><br>“There are others who stand shoulder to shoulder with us, but queen is the wrong word, Administrator.  The champion, the high priest, the observer, the shaper, the demesnes-keeper.  Why do you ask?” - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/08/22 Excerpt] from [[Extinction 27.4]]</ref><ref name="Ciara">“The ''high'' priest,” Glaistig Uaine admonished me.  “You and I may be doing without the titles, but we mustn’t offend the others.”<br><br>“Right,” I said.<br><br>“As for his role, well, you should know.”<br><br>“I should know?”<br><br>“Yes.”<br><br>I could only think of one powerful individual who was on a par with the others she’d named.  Contessa and Glaistig Uaine were easily twelves or higher on the power-ratings scale, and I could look to others with powers in that neighborhood to figure out who she was referring to.  Panacea, Labyrinth…<br><br>Which raised two questions.<br><br>Why the hell was I on that list, for one thing?<br><br>And was Eidolon the high priest?  He was the only one I could think of to fit the role. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/08/22 Excerpt] from [[Extinction 27.4]]</ref>

[[Chevalier]] sees Taylor's power as a bright glowing membrane or network of cells surrounding her person, with an uncountable number of tendrils extending out. These tendrils were only made distinct by highlights rushing down them as she gave conscious direction to her bugs.<ref>His eyes settled on Weaver, surrounded by the nimbus of her power, which glowed with an intensity that surpassed any and all of her teammates.  When she stepped forward, it was like she was pushing against a curtain, only it was a membrane, a network of individual cells, each with tendrils extending out, so thin he couldn’t make them out, except by the highlights that seemed to rush down them as she gave conscious direction to her bugs. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/06/22/interlude-24/ Excerpt] from [[Interlude 24.x]]</ref>