Editing String Theory

{{infobox_character
| Image= String Theory by Shoggy.jpg
| imagecaption = Illustration by [https://forums.spacebattles.com/posts/28669063 Shoggy] on SpaceBattles
| name = 
| gender = Female
| age =
| legal status = [[Villain]]
| relationships = [[Lab Rat]] (Rival)
| status = Deceased
| team = Independent
| general location = [[Birdcage]]
| classification = [[Tinker]] <small>''Tinker type: Doomsday (Architect x Mad Scientist)''</small><ref name="T2bla">'''Doomsday Tinkers''' (Architect x Mad Scientist) work with a set countdown before deployment and activity, constraining their options because there ''will'' be megaproject activation and activity at the deadline’s end.  Meeting megaproject goals take a higher priority not because they’re necessary for completion, but because they make or break the success of the eventual activation.<br/>[...]<br/>Architects in story include String Theory (doomsday machines) - [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_OO7evm907wyO7ledSL-obxrLvQ6XzpkuTcRqJAhZV4 TINKERS 2.0], document by Wildbow.</ref>
|web serial = [[Interlude 16.z]]
|ward = [[Interlude 10.y II|Interlude 10.y]] (Flashback)
|image=|civname=|alias=|death=|post-timeskip=|sequel=|relations=|family=|occupation=|unique=|alignment=|location=|previous team=|base of operations=}}'''String Theory''' is a supervillain imprisoned in the [[Birdcage]].

==Personality==
String Theory likely has a megalomaniacal personality, coming up with extravagant, over the top plans such as blowing up randomly selected locations in a scheme to make money and threatening to blow up the moon. Even during [[Gold Morning]], she exited the Birdcage with a grin on her face.<ref name="27.3 e1" /><ref name="27.4BG" /> When asked to minimize collateral damage, she was disappointed.<ref>“The F-Driver,” String Theory interrupted.<br><br>“Yes.  Start from there, scale ''up''.”<br><br>“Oh,” String Theory said.  “Interesting.”<br><br>“With a minimum of collateral damage,” Defiant added.<br><br>“Less interesting.  Next question'': when''?  My work is one-shot, and my best work is on a timer.” - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/08/22/extinction-27-4/ Excerpt] from [[Extinction 27.4]]</ref> She put emphasis on thinking big, wanting to make a difference in the world no matter what that difference was.<ref name="thinkbig">“I’ll tell you what,” she said.  “Before I go… a bet.”<br><br>“What?”<br><br>“Which of us makes the biggest difference?”<br><br>“What are the stakes?” he asked.<br><br>“Existing,” she said.  Her watch beeped, and she turned around.  “Take me back to my lab.”<br><br>He watched her saunter off, through the portal that opened.  He could see the scale of what she was building, saw her turn to smirk at him in the moment before the portal closed.<br><br>He was left in the animal shelter, the lights dark.<br><br>This wouldn’t do.<br><br>He ''was'' thinking small and he hated that she was right almost as much as he hated her guts in general.  Yet however much he hated her and however much she claimed to detest him, they ended up together, over and over again.<br><br>This- it had been her saying goodbye.<br><br>Couldn’t think small.  Couldn’t let the runt win. - [https://www.parahumans.net/2018/12/11/interlude-10-y/ Excerpt] from [[Interlude 10.y II]]</ref><!--
higsta
from the tinker 2.0 weaverdice doc, looks loke she's an architect x mad scientist tinker. In that case it would seem that her trigger involved a cross of two different situations:
A) Her vs society in some fashion. A large scale problem, often rife with bureaucracy. 
B) a situation that has escalated out of control, especially one due to mistakes on her part.

So yeah, I dunno, feel free to speculate on her trigger based on that. One example might be that she faked her own death (a running away from home stunt or something), and as a result found herself unpersoned by the state. Unable to find employment or shelter due to her status, she owns up to what she's done. However, the state refuses to amend her record as they don't have systems in place for that. Now she finds herself with both a criminal record and legally deceased, making things worse, triggering somewhere on the way.

I guess that matches the architect x mad scientist niche, but doesn't really match the themes of her designs. Have a hand at it yourself for giggles.

Wildbow 
Solid A for the attempt, Hugsta.  I don't mean that in a dismissive/bad way- that's a good pull on the research & a good line of thinking. I don't have more expansive notes for String Theory, but yeah, we have a sense of the endpoint and general personality:

*  Large-scale hostage taker with little regard for massive loss of human life.
*  Puts her work first; was willing to lose in the fight against Scion if she was't allowed to see her work come to fruition.
*  Defaults to programming terms in regular language
*  Competitive, pays close attention to counting advantages.

Some of that may be because of her time leading in the birdcage (counting advantages), some may be because her power influenced her.

And we know some of the basic starting point - Hugsta suggested the trigger prompt.  Her vs. society on the large scale and a situation escalated out of control.


Earlier Wildbow 
String Theory was high profile in villain circles and connected.  The kind of person who goes to prison and immediately has a few people like, "Hey boss.  You treated us good before, we'll back you up."

Add in the fact she's maybe one of three contenders who could plausibly find their way out of the Birdcage.

---->

String Theory has been shown to have a fierce competitive streak with [[Lab Rat]], constantly exchanging taunts and insults toward each other and their creations. She had a condescending attitude toward Lab Rat, though it's unclear whether this was meant to be playful or mocking.<ref name=":0">“I’m not an ordinary tinker,” String Theory said.  She tapped her head.  “I’ve had four years to think, plan what I’d build if I got out.  All up here.” <br><br>“Me too, seven years of thinking,” Lab Rat said.  “Need a lab.  Not sharing one with her.” <br><br>“I wouldn’t let you, darling,” String Theory said, condescending.  I could see Lab Rat’s lip curl, but I wasn’t sure if it was in irritation or amusement. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/08/22/extinction-27-4/ Excerpt] from [[Extinction 27.4]]</ref> When working on their individual projects during Gold Morning, String Theory visited Lab Rat through one of [[Doormaker]]'s portals just to make fun of him.<ref name="so small">The inter-dimensional door opened nearby, and wind whistled in.  He made a face.<br><br>“You’re working so ''small,''” String Theory taunted him.<br><br>With more force than necessary, he plugged his machine into another cat.  The machine bucked as it kicked in, nearly throwing the cat from the table.<br><br>[...]<br><br>“What are you making?” String Theory asked, sticking her head between his elbow and his body.<br><br>He dug his elbow into her back, hard, and she squirmed her way out.<br><br>“Let me be your rubber duck,” she said.<br><br>“Shouldn’t you be building something impractically large?”<br><br>“I set my servos to build.  Tools in motion, engines heating up.  I’ll go back in… two minutes and thirty one seconds.  But I ''clearly'' need to make fun of you before then.  What can you even do with that?” - [https://www.parahumans.net/2018/12/11/interlude-10-y/ Excerpt] from [[Interlude 10.y II]]</ref> 

She had a bad relationship with [[Lustrum]].<ref name="lustrum">His voice rasped, “That’s rich, coming from the runt of a woman who keeps her location secret and hides from the authorities while her weapons do the work remotely.  I know you’re not very bright, but put the pieces together.  It’s not a one man show.”<br><br>“One woman,” String Theory said.  She looked around.  “Sad, that Lustrum isn’t in earshot for that.  It would have got me points with her.”<br><br>“You’re so far into the negatives with her that it doesn’t matter.  We have eighty people with powers here.  ''Think'' for once.  I aim to ''multiply'' that power, or at least keep it in play.” - [https://www.parahumans.net/2018/12/11/interlude-10-y/ Excerpt] from [[Interlude 10.y II]]</ref>

==Appearance==
String Theory is a short, slouching woman with a petite build, her dark hair tied back into a braid. When she smiled, her lips pulled back into a wide expression halfway between a grin and a smile. She wears glasses.<ref name="27.3 e1">String Theory and Lab Rat stepped out of the same portal.  String Theory was short, shorter with her slouch, and petite, her dark hair tied back into a braid, her lips pulled back into a wide expression halfway between a grin and a smile.  With her glasses, it made me think of a frog, or a small lizard.<br /><br />[...]<br /><br />String Theory had made her tinker devices and then auctioned away ‘safeties’.  Not uses of the weapon or offering targets, but only guarantees that the owner of a ‘safety’ wouldn’t be one of her randomly selected targets.  The targets had ranged from gas stations in [[Indonesia]] to a filled football stadium in [[UK|Cardiff]].<br /><br />As one could imagine, there had been a high demand for her arrest. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/08/20 Excerpt] from [[Extinction 27.3]]</ref>

Her smirk was described as 'punchable' by Lab Rat and her glasses described as overly large for her face. She had very bad posture, constantly slouching and contorting herself into strange proportions in order to irritate Lab Rat.<ref name="punchable">She smirked, and it was a ''really'' punchable smirk.  She slouched and rather than straighten up to smile at him, she twisted her head so her chin craned up, looking up at him with overlarge glasses and a forced smile on her face.<br><br>Somehow more irritating than if she’d been looking down at him.  Not that he would punch that punchable face.  ''Maybe'' in the right situation, he could do something more creative.  Take the right formula, the right form, and claw that face off. - [https://www.parahumans.net/2018/12/11/interlude-10-y/ Excerpt] from [[Interlude 10.y II]]</ref>

==Abilities and Powers ==
String Theory is a [[Tinker]] similar to [[Leet]] in that she has very few limits or specialty restrictions on what she can build. Her creations worked on a countdown timer from the moment construction began, requiring careful time management and sufficient resources in order to achieve the best results. When the conditions of time or resources weren't met, her creations would backfire.<ref name="SB44">String Theory is like Leet, with few limits or specialty restrictions, but her stuff has a ticking countdown timer from the moment she starts constructing it. All about time management and having the funds/resources on hand.<br /><br />Want to freeze the Earth's oceans? Maybe doable, but it's going to take a lot of rare/valuable resources, three months of steady work, and it's going to happen 1 week and seven hours after the job's complete. Fuck up, don't have the materials, or lose track of schedule? Get out of dodge, backfire incoming.<br /><br />Except she leveraged the resources from initial threats/ransoms to ramp up and didn't stop until the authorities came down on her head. - [https://forums.spacebattles.com/posts/13678115/ Wildbow on Spacebattles]</ref><ref name="27.4" />

She claimed to be able to work extremely rapidly as a result of having had four years to design new technology in her head while imprisoned.<ref name=":0" /> As a result, she was able to complete the G-driver within the span of only forty-three minutes.<ref name=":43">“We attack in… thirty-nine minutes.  Time things for forty seven minutes from now.  Most of the combatants will be cleared from the field by then, and the rest can move to safety before you put your work to use.”<br><br>String Theory nodded slowly, “You’ll hold out for eight minutes after the initial offense?”<br><br>Defiant paused.  “Make it forty-three minutes from now.” - [https://www.parahumans.net/2018/12/11/interlude-10-y/ Excerpt] from [[Interlude 10.y II]]</ref> This was later expounded upon to be due to loaned time manipulator capes and her construction of specialized drones to do the construction for her.<ref name="time">“You’re not working at all.  We barely have time.”<br><br>“They found a way to give us time.  Time manipulators have been allotted to each of us.  If we can give a convincing elevator pitch.”<br><br>[...]“Shouldn’t you be building something impractically large?”<br><br>“I set my servos to build.  Tools in motion, engines heating up.  I’ll go back in… two minutes and thirty one seconds.  But I ''clearly'' need to make fun of you before then.  What can you even do with that?” - [https://www.parahumans.net/2018/12/11/interlude-10-y/ Excerpt] from [[Interlude 10.y II]]</ref>

Her Driver weapons were extraordinarily powerful, capable of significantly injuring and even potentially killing [[Endbringers]]. As a result, the Endbringers coordinated their appearances so they would never face her devices in combat.<ref name="R93">Not going to happen in any incarnation of the Wormverse, or Behemoth would be built stronger to counteract (Or, as in the case of String Theory, Endbringer cooperation/timing would keep her from ever being able to set up a proper hit). - [https://www.reddit.com/comments/49fd14/ Wildbow on Reddit]</ref>

===F-driver ===
The F-driver, short for "Firmament-driver," was a powerful weapon created by String Theory. Not much else is known about the weapon other than that String Theory threatened to use it to knock the moon out of orbit.<ref name="27.4BG" />

=== G-driver===
The G-driver was a weapon designed for combating [[Scion]]. It was an upgrade of the F-driver, hence its name G-driver. The name was also meant to stand for "God-driver."<ref name="27.4BG" />

The G-driver was operated remotely from a laptop during the [[oil-rig battle]]. It fired at Scion through one of [[Doormaker]]'s portals, and targeting was further refined from the laptop using coordinates provided by [[Number Man]]. Due to the mechanics of String Theory's power, the firing time could not be changed and was set down to the second.

In operation, the G-driver's payload shot a beam that resembled a bug zapper. The shot was able to fling Scion out of the atmosphere, although it failed to damage him in any meaningful way.<ref name="27.4">[[Extinction 27.4]]</ref> The G-driver was incredibly destructive, being shown to destroy an area of a city a fifth of a mile wide with a single shot, pulverizing the buildings into small chunks.<ref>An area of the city a fifth of a mile wide and a mile long was pulverized.  Buildings were driven into ground, and broke into chunks no larger than a human head.  The wavelength of the beam let those chunks lift up for a fraction of a second before the next wave of the beam thrust them down again with the same force as before.<br><br>The Simurgh was almost, ''almost'' out of the path of the beam.  He clipped her, and she reoriented, pulling out of the way even as she was hurled back and down.<br><br>Much of the lower body she had been building broke away from the force of the impact.  A wing shattered.  The remainder was lost in the plume of smoke that rose from the tract of land he had blasted.<br><br>Dauntless, too, was in the path of the beam.  He had his shield, and he was rooted into the ground in a way that resisted being thrust away with the kind of power that could push a moon out of orbit, but the grazing hit still demolished one of his arms, tore out a chunk of the Titan’s side. - [https://www.parahumans.net/2020/03/28/last-20-a/ Excerpt] from [[Last 20.a]]</ref>

==History==
===Background===
String Theory auctioned off "safeties" to people who would be guaranteed not to be one of her random targets. Her target locations ranged from gas stations in Indonesia to a filled football stadium in Cardiff.<ref name="27.3 e1" /> By 2006, she was making threats online of locations she could destroy, including government buildings, landmarks, and nuclear sites.<ref>[Scharader] [...] "[phooey] doesn't know what they're talking about. The plants are designed to weather interruptions and this is no exception, but people need power." <br />[...]<br />Snowfall [...] "You could try making that argument in Earth Aleph, but here there are too many factors to consider. We aren't out to hurt anyone but there are others who might be."<br />[...]<br />It may also be that Snowfall is referencing String Theory, who made comments online in 2006, naming things she could blow up, including government buildings, landmarks, and nuclear sites. - [[PHO Sunday]], [https://redd.it/gcvvlv FEY seizes reactors, leaving Millions without power]</ref> At the time of her incarceration, she threatened to knock the moon out of orbit with her F-driver, although this was not disclosed to the public.<ref name="27.4BG">“What ''was'' that?” Vista asked.<br><br>“G-driver,” String Theory said.  She lowered her fists, then fixed her lab coat and glasses.  She turned around and gave us a smug, superior smile.<br><br>“''Which is?''” someone else asked.<br><br>“Upgrade of the F-driver.”<br><br>“''The Firmament Driver,''” Defiant explained, over the earbuds.  “''At the time of her arrest, String Theory was threatening to use her Firmament Driver to knock our moon out of orbit.''”<br><br>“And we didn’t hear about this because-”<br><br>“''Morale'',” Defiant replied, as if that was explanation enough.<br><br>“Would have done a lot for ''my'' morale to know we could do that,” Clockblocker said.<br><br>“In case anyone was wondering, it’s G-driver for God-driver,” String Theory said.  “Obviously.” - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/08/22/extinction-27-4/ Excerpt] from [[Extinction 27.4]]</ref>

At some point in 2009,<ref name="27.4" /> she was incarcerated in the [[Birdcage]]. She became a cell block leader.<ref name="16.z">All in all, there were twelve cell blocks with leaders.  That meant that there were eleven leaders with eleven lieutenants arriving.  Acidbath, Galvanate, Teacher, Lab Rat and Gavel were leaders of the cell blocks on the men’s side of the prison.  Lustrum, Black Kaze, Glaistig Uaine, String Theory, Crane and Ingenue were the female leaders.  There were other cell blocks, but twelve was generally agreed on as a good number.  It left room for discussion without too much chaos, and it left enough cell blocks leaderless that they had elbow room to do business elsewhere. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2012/12/27 Excerpt] from [[Interlude 16.z]]</ref>

===[[Gold Morning]]===
She was released to participate in the [[oil-rig battle]] in an attempt to gather more manpower against Scion. She was instructed to create a weapon that scaled up from the F-driver. As she was working, she inspired [[Lab Rat]] to finally think bigger, driving him to create his transformation serums.<ref>[[Interlude 10.y II]]</ref> She constructed the G-driver, which managed to knock Scion into orbit but failed to deal any meaningful damage. String Theory died when Scion shattered the oil rig.<ref name="27.3">[[Extinction 27.3]]</ref><ref name="27.4" />

===[[Ward]]===
The G-driver was appropriated by [[Dragon]] and [[Colin Wallis|Defiant]]. It was installed on one of of the [[Dragonflight#Marduk|Dragoncrafts]].<ref>G-driver charging.  1:59:03<br /><br />Borrowed tech.  Dragon had taken it and revived the project.  He had integrated it into this model of the Marduk.  He’d fired it five times today alone - [https://www.parahumans.net/2020/03/28/last-20-a/ Excerpt] from [[Last 20.a]]</ref>

==Chapter Appearances==
{{Appearance/String Theory Worm}}

==Trivia==
*In one of her visions, [[Roulette]] saw a reality where half of the moon was gone. This is likely a reality where String Theory successfully delivered on her threat of firing the F-driver at the moon.<ref name="PRT29">"You know you're having a vision, then?"<br /><br />"Not usually. It's like dreaming. Sometimes you can figure it out. I use cues. Sometimes I notice colors are off, or there's some big part of the world that's different, like, half the moon is gone. Then I have a moment where I'm like, 'Yeah that isn't right', and 'duh, my power'."<br /><br />"Half the moon? [[Roulette|You]] work from alternate histories?"<br /><br />"I think I work from alternate histories to alternate futures, but I dunno. The power testing guys always say different things when I see 'em. Like I said, my power screws around at my expense. There's usually a point of contact or something so it's close. It's never, like, crazy different. Same people, same place, things moving in the same direction." - [[PRT: Department Sixty-Four|Department Sixty Four]], [https://forums.spacebattles.com/posts/13103274 PRT Quest thread i p29]</ref>
*The name F-driver is short for "Firmament-driver." The word [[Wikipedia:Firmament|firmament]] refers to the heavens, potentially referring to how the F-driver can drive the heavens (the moon) apart with its power. 
**The name G-driver, short for "God-driver," most likely derives from the name of its predecessor. It serves as a step up from the F-driver, shifting from targeting the heavens to targeting 'God' himself.

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