Editing Valefor (section)

==Abilities and Powers==
Valefor has a "hypnotic stare" - the ability to render anyone he looks at with his naked eyes<ref name=":2">Accord surveyed the situation.  Valefor was a stranger, less in terms of his ability to hide, and more in his ability to engage in subterfuge.  He had only to look on a target with his naked eye, and the fight was over.  It was no small wonder, really, that he'd styled himself after the Simurgh.  The effect was all too similar, in how the victim was often unaware of what had happened until it was too late. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/04/06/interlude-20/ Excerpt] from [[Interlude 20.y]]</ref><ref name="21.3 e">Valefor had to be somewhere nearby.  The second he got a glimpse of me, it was over. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/04/16/imago-21-3/ Excerpt] from [[Imago 21.3]]</ref> stunned and suggestible to his commands.<ref name="21.3 e1">Stranger-type capes were classified that way due to their capabilities in stealth and subterfuge. Valefor was more the latter. He wasn’t ''stealthy'', exactly, but his ability to perpetrate subterfuge was devastating.<br><br>One look, and his target was stunned, rendered eminently suggestible. A hypnotic gaze, so to speak.<br><br>He’d played up the telepathy angle before people caught on, and the costume that echoed the Simurgh was a token to that. The fact that he could leave suggestions that only triggered under certain conditions was another part of it. ‘Attack so-and-so next week’. ‘Set fire to your workplace the next time your boss pisses you off’.<br><br>Capes with powers that allowed them to compel others walked a fine line. Even without murder, Valefor was pushing that line. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/04/16/imago-21-3/ Excerpt] from [[Imago 21.3]]</ref> Although [[Accord]]<ref name=":2" /> and [[Skitter]]<ref name="21.3 e" /> implied he did not require eye contact to use his hypnotic stare,<ref>'''Fake Name:''' Hmm- if Valefor’s power is hypnotic gaze, shouldn’t people just keep their eyes closed when they think he is around?<br><br>Skitter in particular wouldn’t be hindered by keeping her eyes closed at all times, since she can use her bugs.<br><br>'''Philippe Saner:''' I don’t think it matters if you can see him. If he can see you, that’s enough.<br><br>'''Wildbow:''' I think it’s said as much earlier in this arc. That may have been a line I deleted. - Comment by Wildbow on [[Imago 21.3]]</ref> [[Rain O'Fire Frazier]]<ref>Valefor was frozen, unable to do anything to get clear of danger, while Love Lost positioned herself.<br><br>But Rain was partially blind too.  He avoided eye contact with Valefor. - [https://www.parahumans.net/2019/07/30/dying-15-8/ Excerpt] from [[Dying 15.8]]</ref> and [[Victoria Dallon]]<ref name="II5.10 e1" /><ref name="II15.8 e2">Automatic blurring, because Kenzie had tech resistant to Mama Mathers’ profile.  I hurried to turn my gaze away, because I only had tech in the one eye.  Slivers and flickers danced in my peripheral vision.  I tried to keep an eye on Valefor, and her hand slipped into my view, blurred and pointing my way.  Telling him where I was.<br><br>I twisted away before he made eye contact, diving for cover.  I slammed into the ground, classic, practiced landing, sufficient to crack concrete.<br><br>“Valefor’s here!” I called out.  “He has a jaw and eyes, and he has a squad of capes he got from the first wave!”  - [https://www.parahumans.net/2019/07/30/dying-15-8/ Excerpt] from [[Dying 15.8]]</ref><ref>I could try to locate them, guess at distance, but that put me at risk, and it meant Valefor could catch me with eye contact. - [https://www.parahumans.net/2019/07/30/dying-15-8/ Excerpt] from [[Dying 15.8]]</ref> believed he did need eye contact to use this power. [[Mama Mathers]]<ref name="II15.z e2">Particularly when her child, still suckling at her breast, had looked up at her with eyes that ''flashed'', and had asserted his will over hers.  Blessed child.  Cursed child.  One in a million, among those who were one in thirty-thousand. - [[Interlude 15.z II|Interlude 15.z]]</ref> and Valefor<ref name="I4c e6" /> also implied he needs eye contact. After his defeat by the [[Undersiders]],<ref name="R1" /> his page on the [[Parahumans Online]] wiki or other records mentioned how he was a hypnotist [[Master]] who needed eye contact.<ref name="II5.10 e1">“Valefor,” I said, just loud enough for the others, Damsel included, to hear.  “Hypnotist Master.  I wrote about him in the document.  Don’t look him in the eyes.”<br>[...]<br>He couldn’t see.  His voice was his control over the situation and he’d momentarily lost it.<br><br>There had been a time he’d needed eye contact.<br>[...]<br>We’d been prepared for Valefor as he was, with outdated records and a printout of a wiki page that had been salvaged from someone’s laptop after the slow process began of rebuilding the internet. - [https://www.parahumans.net/2018/03/27/shadow-5-10/ Excerpt] from [[Shadow 5.10]]</ref>

He could use this ability to implant suggestions that trigger under particular circumstances or through direct orders;<ref name="21.3 e1" /> this included the memory of him even giving the order.<ref name="21.3 e4.2"/> Given this procedure, victims were often initially unaware they had been affected.<ref name=":2" /> Additionally, he can cancel previous orders through another spoken command.<ref name="21.3 e2">"Cancel the orders, fuckwit!" she growled, dropping on top of him.  Her knife pressed against Valefor's throat.<br/><br/>"How-"<br/><br/>She backhanded him across the face, striking him in one cheekbone with the knife handle.  "Cancel!"<br/><br/>I could sense the crowd relaxing.  People hurried away from the scene.  It took more than a minute before they were all gone. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/04/16 Excerpt] from [[Imago 21.3]]</ref> He was able to see [[Imp]] somehow; according to [[Tattletale]], he might have other senses or augmented awareness to track victims.<ref name="21.3 e4.1">She looked down at Valefor. Her tone was more serious as she said, “I didn’t think this man-slut would be able to see me.”<br/><br/>“You know his powers,” I said, glad for the change of topic. “Hypnotic stare, Tattletale said he might have other senses or augmented awareness to track his victims.” - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/04/16 Excerpt] from [[Imago 21.3]]</ref> By looking himself in the eye via a mirror, Valefor could use his power on himself.<ref name="I4c e6">“It’s hard, I know,” Elijah said.  “I had a hard time with it for the first few years.”<br>[...]<br>“I fixed it myself, after getting powers,” Elijah said.  “Looked myself in the eye, mirror right in front of me, and I told myself to enjoy it.  To like it, my own mother a mere thought away.  To be loyal.” - [https://www.parahumans.net/2018/02/22/shade-interlude-4c/ Excerpt] from [[Interlude 4c II]]</ref><ref name="II8.y e5" />

After the loss of the use of his eyes, his power seems to have shifted and given his words more weight than they once had.<ref name="I4c e7">“I can’t see anymore, Rain.  My eyes have no power.”<br/><br/>Rain nodded.  They were at the door now.  Elijah didn’t let him go.<br/><br/>“But what I say?  My words have more power than before.  All I have to do is tell you to, and you’d want it.  I could tell you to be gleeful to have the worst punishment we can offer, and you would be, because it would be in service of the Fallen and Mama.”<br/><br/>Again, the image, standing outside, wearing her nightgown, hair blowing in the wind.<br/><br/>“Like I did for Lachlan,” Elijah said. - [https://www.parahumans.net/2018/02/22 Excerpt] from [[Interlude 4c II]]</ref><!--cite elements of Lachlan behaviour. Happy Cheery guy.--><ref>Valefor had gotten into earshot, and apparently that was all he needed.<br>[...]<br>There had been a time he’d needed eye contact.  Now he used his voice. - [https://www.parahumans.net/2018/03/27/shadow-5-10/ Excerpt] from [[Shadow 5.10]]</ref> His voice power is largely unchanged from what was showcased before, but people are able to think of ways around his commands.<ref>Another compulsion.  Then and now, when I’d hit my limit, frustrated-<br><br>He reached up to my cheek, and gave it two sharp pats, audible.  “Good.”<br><br>Anger became indignation, enough to choke me, together with the irregular breathing and the nausea.  My head shook a little, my vision grew dark around the edges, and I teetered slightly.<br><br>I tipped over the brink, past the point where the use of my power was willful and wanted and at the point where it was something I had to hold back.<br><br>In surrender rather than intent, I lashed out with fear and self-admiration, and I let the Wretch loose, with Valefor in arm’s reach, in that order.<br><br>Had it been the other way around, the Wretch might have gotten its hands on the man.  But intimidation took hold, and Valefor was assisted by his manservant, who hauled him back and away.  He sprawled in the grass.<br>[...]<br>Valefor’s distraction had apparently freed people, or served as a kind of punctuation to end his ongoing commands.  I was free, even as the ‘serve’ command lingered in the corner of my mind’s eye. - [https://www.parahumans.net/2018/03/27/shadow-5-10/ Excerpt] from [[Shadow 5.10]]</ref><ref name="5.10 II ">The compulsion wasn’t gone.  It was there.<br><br>But it had abated.  I’d served the rule, but not the spirit.<br>[...]<br>“What did he tell you?” Tristan asked me.  “Orders, compulsions?”<br><br>“To serve, to help.  I helped by removing him from a dangerous situation.  I’m not all the way resolved, there.  I don’t want to run into him again.” - [https://www.parahumans.net/2018/03/27/shadow-5-10/ Excerpt] from [[Shadow 5.10]]</ref><ref>I flew away from them, trying to get a sense of how vulnerable Valefor’s group was.  I was aware he’d gotten some hooks in me earlier, but I wasn’t feeling it as much.  I wasn’t sure if the emotional shock of Ashley had shaken me of some of it, or if it was subtle in a scary way. - [[Shadow 5.11]]</ref> Further, people can resist him if they don't think he is speaking directly to ''them''.<ref name="5.10 II e3">Now he used his voice.  The trouble with a voice was that it wasn’t focused.  I could remember the cane, and the way both Nailbiter and Sidepiece had obeyed at the same time, earlier.<br><br>It worked on someone if they thought they were being referred to.<br><br>There were mental tricks I imagined someone could do.  It seemed like a noose that could be slipped, especially when he referred to people in the general.  I just wasn’t sure I could do it. - [https://www.parahumans.net/2018/03/27/shadow-5-10/ Excerpt] from [[Shadow 5.10]]</ref><ref>I saw Valefor pause for half a second, catching his breath, drawing it in deeper, and I clamped my hands over my ears, bending over, eyes shut.<br><br>Whatever he shouted, I didn’t hear anything muffled than a one-syllable word.  He had to refer to us to catch us, and now that I knew that, I could watch for tells.  If he drew in a deep breath to shout, or if he said something like ''‘You’ or “Everyone’'', I could cover my ears. - [https://www.parahumans.net/2018/04/03 Excerpt] from [[Shadow 5.12]]</ref> If [[Tristan]] or [[Byron]] heard a command, then the specific identity that heard Valefor would be affected.<ref>“Tristan couldn’t switch to me, I don’t think,” Byron said.  “When we were talking about capes we might run into last night, we theorized it was a thing we could do, that if he switched to me I might not be compelled, but he didn’t switch.” - [https://www.parahumans.net/2018/03/27/shadow-5-10/ Excerpt] from [[Shadow 5.10]]</ref> However, they could avoid Valefor's voice power by changing forms rapidly so that no one self heard the full command.<ref>Capricorn was… it looked like he was changing forms rapidfire to switch identities, so no one self heard a single whole utterance referring directly to them.<br>[...]<br>All around us, ''most'' people stopped in their tracks.  Capricorn, blurring, changed to blue armor, but he kept walking. - [https://www.parahumans.net/2018/04/03/shadow-5-12/ Excerpt] from [[Shadow 5.12]]</ref>

Valefor could use both his eyesight and voice powers after obtaining tinker-tech eyes from [[The Taught|the Taught]].<ref name="II8.y e7" /> However, he needs eye contact to use his eyesight power; despite looking directly at [[Love Lost]], he could not apply his power until she opened her eyes and looked at him.<ref>Valefor grabbed a piece of rebar as he ran, moving to attack Love Lost, while she couldn’t be sure she could open her eyes.<br><br>He swung, hitting her extended claw, rather than run headlong into it.  What followed was a short, violent melee, as Love Lost fought blind at first, swiping and lacerating chest, stomach, then arm.  She got swatted across the scalp, and this prompted her to open her eyes, maybe thinking she needed to do it to save herself.  She froze mid-swipe.<br><br>Valefor twisted around, pointing at me.  Love Lost leaped, using Valefor’s shoulder as a springboard.  I chucked the concrete at Valefor, and met Love Lost in the air.  Juliette froze Love Lost, and I had to catch her and ease her to the ground to keep her from falling in a dangerous way. - [https://www.parahumans.net/2019/07/30/dying-15-8/ Excerpt] from [[Dying 15.8]]</ref>

After Valefor commanded a visible [[Imp]] to kill her teammates, [[Regent]] hijacked [[Imp]] and had her attack Valefor.<ref name="21.3 e4" /> When [[Skitter]] was stunned and rendered suggestible by his hypnotic stare, her power still unconsciously carried out her intent to send bugs towards his eyes; [[Imp]] then stopped him from telling her to stop.<ref name="21.3 e5" /> If Valefor ordered a target to stop, and then a stumble or push moved the target later, this was enough to break that order.<ref>“Stop!” Valefor called out.  “''Freeze!  No powers!  No weapons!  No tools!''”<br>[...]<br>It was a peculiar battlefield, so many people frozen in place, the combatants on the Fallen side not wanting to break the spell by jarring anyone too much.  I hadn’t experienced it myself, but it seemed that if people were told to stop, and were set to moving by a stumble or a push, that was enough that it needed to be renewed. - [https://www.parahumans.net/2018/03/27/shadow-5-10/ Excerpt] from [[Shadow 5.10]]</ref><ref>Her power flared.  She stumbled.<br><br>The woman with Valefor said something.<br><br>“''Stop'',” Valefor said.  “Don’t do that again.  Move your hand.”<br><br>She pulled her hand away from her forearm.  There was a hole where she had dug her thumb in under the skin.<br><br>We’d talked about this, but not- not ''quite'' like this.<br><br>“You-” Valefor started.<br><br>The power flared again.  She stumbled, spell broken, and then brought her good hand around, toward Valefor.<br><br>The woman in black paint let go of Valefor and caught Damsel’s wrist, forcing it upward.  The power shot well over their heads, and Damsel fell.<br>[...]<br>Damsel had broken her prosthetic hand to make her power spark, each stumble forcing a renewal. - [https://www.parahumans.net/2018/03/27/shadow-5-10/ Excerpt] from [[Shadow 5.10]]</ref><ref>The tide had turned.  The villains that were assisting us were B-listers, but the Fallen weren’t the cream of the Fallen’s crop either.  I flew past the group, jostling people, grabbing them and letting go a moment later.<br><br>Valefor wouldn’t find his way back in time, I hoped, and the Fallen were already injured from the brief surprise attack.<br><br>A spray of cold water from Capricorn woke up everyone I hadn’t been able to reach.  The Fallen retreated, the intestine-snake snatching up two and yanking them back. - [https://www.parahumans.net/2018/03/27/shadow-5-10/ Excerpt] from [[Shadow 5.10]]</ref> When he commanded [[Colt]] to commit suicide with his voice power, [[Chastity]] used her power to remove this order by slapping [[Colt]].<ref>Bleeding from where the concrete I’d chucked had hit him, bleeding ''more'' from where Love Lost had caught him with her claws, he snarled curse words, and in the midst of them, he used his voice as a power, aiming it at her.<br><br>“Die!” he directed the words at Colt.<br><br>She stumbled back, twisted, and no doubt looked for the most convenient place to throw herself.  A jutting row of rebar spikes.<br><br>I intercepted her, tackled her, and threw my hands around my ears to muffle all sounds.  I twisted around to look, and kept my gaze below Valefor’s shoulders.  He’d stopped moving, but not because of Juliette.<br>[...]<br>I just focused on Colt, waiting to see if the instruction would wear off.<br>[...]<br>Valefor’s power wasn’t fading.  Chastity opted to walk up and slap Colt unconscious.  A moment later, she slapped Colt awake.<br><br>Reset button, it seemed.<br><br>We were alright.  Valefor was dealt with.  - [https://www.parahumans.net/2019/07/30/dying-15-8/ Excerpt] from [[Dying 15.8]]</ref>

[[The Graeae]] could swap body parts out so that if someone encountered Valefor with a body part (i.e. ears, eyes), he is only able to affect that body part's original owner.<ref>The Fallen guy I’d just been fighting said something low and under his breath, to Valefor.<br><br>“No.  The immunity isn’t him,” Valefor said.  “Not if the rest of them are the same.  Someone helped.”<br>[...]<br>“Where is Mama Mathers?” Rain asked.<br><br>“You should ask her, Rain,” Valefor said.  “Let her in, let ''me'' in, and pledge to obey.  We’ll let you drag these people away, so long as you stay.  They’re expendable, you’re ''blessed''.”<br><br>“How are you immune?” Tristan-as Capricorn called out.<br><br>“Friends,” Rain said.  He created blades of silver light in each of his hands.  “Found these guys while researching powers and options.  March put the pieces together about who I am and where I’m from.”<br>[...]<br>“Immune?” I asked.<br><br>Rain indicated the two capes with gray hair, a young man and woman.  Both had eyepatches, the steel-gray hair, and costumes with white and black.  Chris’ age, or a bit older.  “Dino and Enyo.  They’re multi-triggers, and they’re also twin triggers.  One of their powers is that they can transplant body parts, with some special rules. - [https://www.parahumans.net/2018/04/03/shadow-5-12/ Excerpt] from [[Shadow 5.12]]</ref> [[Cryptid]]'s Dark Introspection form disconnects the mind from body; he could put his body on autopilot or leave it with instinctive actions.<ref>“The anti-thinker measure,” I said.<br><br>“Yeah.  Guess so.  One of the Fallen with the hostages.  Valefor’s there.  My Dark Introspection form disconnects mind from body, which is great if I want to put my body on autopilot or leave it with instinctive actions, but it doesn’t stop my mind from being fucked with.” - [[Shadow 5.11]]</ref> This countermeasure against [[Master]]s was effective against Valefor, allowing [[Cryptid]] to attack him and his group.<ref>The woman in black paint moved, lunging to intercept ''another'' attacker.<br><br>Chris, leaping in.  The woman in black kept him from getting his talons on Valefor.  He was a spiral twist of feather and scaly talonflesh, with eyes and hard ridges in the mix.  His spindly talons raked and grabbed, but the woman in black was fast, strong, and possibly a precog.<br><br>He’d picked this form with Masters in mind.  Capes that controlled people.  He hadn’t been willing to say just how or why it helped, only that he was unsure how well it would work.<br>[...]<br>Fallen pushed past our people to help Valefor, as Introspection Chris tried to reach around the woman in black and scratch him.  Powers came to bear: red smoke, a snake that looked like it was made of intestine and barbed wire, sprouting spikes that crackled with electricity- Introspection Chris disengaged and leaped back as the Fallen came rushing at him.<br>[...]<br>“It’s what Dark Introspection here did,” Tristan said.    “Mind-body disconnect, right?  Looking inward, elective connection.” - [https://www.parahumans.net/2018/03/27/shadow-5-10/ Excerpt] from [[Shadow 5.10]]</ref> [[Teacher]] requested [[Scapegoat]] to transfer Valefor's self-inflicted compulsion to someone inconsequential because he didn't want Valefor's loyalties divided.<ref name="II8.y e2">“Not just him,” Teacher said.  He smiled at William.  “I want you to ''give'' him something.  You’re not limited to physical maladies, are you?  You can take mental illnesses, stresses, poisonings, parasites, take them into yourself, and then transfer them.  And, I think, you can move ''other'' things.” - [[Interlude 8.y II]]</ref><ref name="II8.y e5" />