Editing The Custodian

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{{Sequel}}
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{{quote|I could sense her more than before, a disturbance, agitated.<br><br>She was the one that had been enforcing the peace, keeping people contained in cells without doors.  Now… either Mantellum or the strange case fifty-threes were keeping her at bay, preventing her from seeing to her duties.|[[Taylor]]|[[Venom 29.4]]}}
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{{quote|One of fifteen children sold in exchange for power.  Sold and taken to a prison, sold and left to watch as other children went to pieces or became monsters.<br><br>And even then, somehow, seeing those horrific ends, she’d been ''relieved''.|The Overseer|[[Black 13.x]]}}
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{{quote|You might be the worst of the first generation members of Cauldron.  Because they at least seemed to think what they were doing was for a greater good.  But I’ve been around just long enough to see hints of personality in what you do and how.  There’s something there and… you don’t even try to be a force for good.|Unnamed prisoner to the Overseer|[[Black 13.x]]}}
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{{Infobox character
| name = 
| civname = No name,<ref>“Overseer,” Ingenue said.  “You’re older than I imagined you.  Do you have a name?”<br><br>“No.  Not for a long time.  Only the title.” - [https://www.parahumans.net/2019/04/30/black-13-x/ Excerpt] from [[Black 13.x]]</ref> but assigned A76<ref name="II16.1 e1">'''At Large'''<br>'''Earth Cheit, Church Capitol West'''<br>[...]
:Overseer/Custodian - A76
[...]<br>“Thanks,” I said. It was always good to get an update. The list had been twice as long on my last visit, two days ago. - [[From Within 16.1]]</ref>
| alias = The Overseer (As a member of [[the Taught]])<br>The spirit<ref name="29.4 e1" /><br>The ghost<ref name="29.4 e1" /><br>Crazy janitor lady (By [[Imp]])<ref>“Question is, is there ''really'' a crazy janitor lady?”  Imp asked.  “''Or'' is Skitter finally going mad?” - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/09/26/venom-29-4/ Excerpt] from [[Venom 29.4]]</ref><br>The ghost janitor (By [[Imp]])<ref>“''It looks like we’ve got a full-on riot here,''” Imp commented.  “''Armless dude’s good as dead, they’re splitting up the crowd, so anyone that’s not inside the circle has a few guys who can deal with the ghost janitor.''” - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/09/28/venom-29-5/ Excerpt] from [[Venom 29.5]]</ref><br><br>The Custodian Titan<br>The Liminal Titan
| gender = Female
| age =
| family =
| classification = [[Stranger]]<ref name="29.4 e1"/><br>[[Breaker]], [[Mover]], [[Shaker]], [[Master]] (Speculative)
| occupation = Warden<br/>One-woman construction team
| alignment = [[Villain]]
| status = Deceased
| team = The [[Fortuna]] network
| previous team = [[The Taught]]<br>[[Cauldron]]
| base of operations = [[Earth Cheit]], Church Capitol West<br>[[Cauldron Base]] (Formerly)
| web serial = [[Interlude 21.x]]<br>[[Interlude 27.x]] (Flashback)
| ward = [[Black 13.x]] (PoV)
}}'''{{PAGENAME}}''' is an ex-member of the [[Cauldron]] staff.

==Personality==
Considered herself duty bound to protect the [[Cauldron Compound]]<ref name="21.x e2"/> and act as warden for the people there.<ref name="29.4 e1"/>

Tried to be relatively gentle when dealing with Cauldron subjects.<ref name="29.5 e3">The damage continued outside. The Custodian pursued the group in the stairwell, harassing, bludgeoning. She separated the crowd into groups and then bulled them back, driving them towards empty cells. I was drawing my bugs back to me in stages, concentrating them on a few people at a time, trying to track what she was doing.<br/><br/>Yet even with that, I couldn’t follow it all. Flayed skin, people holding their hands against one eye, joints bent the wrong way, bleeding wounds.<br/><br/>Nothing lethal. Only punishment. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/09/28/venom-29-5/ Excerpt] from [[Venom 29.5]]</ref> Not using lethal force when actually able to.

===Relationships===
As she was unable to communicate with most people given the state she is in, she was just another silent tool Cauldron used to achieve their ends.<ref>PitaEnigma: So basically Contessa refused to talk to anyone other than Doctor Mother<br/>PitaEnigma: and people outside of Cauldron?<br/>Cyrix: eeeeh<br/>Cyrix: I am unsure how and why you jump to that conclusion<br/>Mishie: Uh<br/>PitaEnigm>: Because it's a funny mental image, mostly<br/>Mishie: Wat<br/>Cyrix: thats not a very good reason<br/>Wildbow: Not refused. Just wasn't necessary. The Triumvirate would've felt like their hands were being forced if Contessa got involved.<br/>Wildbow: Doctor Mother speaking is a little less threatening & a little more organic.<br/> abyssonym: that's right, they agreed to let her do most of the talking<br/>Wildbow: They're ~surrounded~ by mostly mute people acting as tools.<br/>Wildbow: The clairvoyant, doormaker, the custodian, countless deviants.<br/>Wildbow: The slug. - [https://forums.spacebattles.com/posts/35365744/ Wildbow on IRC, archived on Spacebattles]</ref> Yet she is still able to use her abilities to communicate with [[The Number Man]],<ref name="21.x e1">“You need to narrow it down,” the [[Number Man]] said.  “Help me find the trouble.”<br/><br/>His voice resulted in an outcry, the people in the cells nearest him realizing he was there, shouting, swearing, insulting him in twenty-nine different languages.<br/><br/>He ignored the shouting, instead extending his right hand.  “Is it this floor?  Yes…”<br/><br/>He extended his left hand, “Or no?”<br/><br/>The faintest brush of air touched his left hand, so faint he might not have felt it while he was walking.<br/><br/>He turned back for the staircase, made his way down. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/04/27/interlude-21-donation-bonus-1/ Excerpt] from [[Interlude 21.x]]</ref><ref name="21.x e2">[[Number Man|He]] withdrew a pen from his pocket, spun it around one finger. The notation billowed around it, and through it, he could see the movement of the pen, the plotted trajectory, the velocity and rotation of it. The numbers clicked into place with a speed that made the rest of him, his very perceptions, seem like slow motion.<br/><br/>Here and there, there were incongruities. Painting an entirely different picture. His companion was here, near him. Bending the most fundamental rules. The Custodian.<br/><br/>In another scenario, she would have been kept here and disposed of once we’d found a way to dissect her.<br/><br/>“I know you want to help,” he commented. He wasn’t even entirely sure if he was being heard. “You see it as your responsibility. But it’s best you stay behind.”. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/04/27/interlude-21-donation-bonus-1/ Excerpt] from [[Interlude 21.x]]</ref> [[Satyrical]]<ref name="29.6 e1">Four copies of the Custodian appeared before us as we made our way into the fourth floor. Each moved slightly out of sync with the others as they moved their heads. It was only when the third and fourth moved that I realized just how they were moving their heads – raising their chins to look up.<br/><br/>“I know, my dear,” Satyr said. “How close?”<br/><br/>They didn’t respond. Instead, they disappeared. First one pair, then the remaining pair.<br/><br/>“Second floor basement,” Satyr said. “Scion is taking his time making his way down.” - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/10/01/venom-29-6/ Excerpt] from [[Venom 29.6]]</ref> and [[Taylor]]<ref name="29.4 e2">I spread my bugs out through the area. Felt the Custodian flowing through the air, a little faster than before.<br/><br/>She flew towards me, and I flinched, taking a step back.<br/><br/>She repeated the process, looping back, then charging me.<br/><br/>This time, when I took a step back, it was on purpose. She’d done it a second time because she wanted me to take a second step. And a third, a fourth…<br/><br/>“Go,” I said. “This way. Move.”<br/><br/>We ran. I focused on my swarm, spreading the bugs out as much as I could behind us and in front of us.<br/><br/>Different cells sat at the end of the hallway. Bigger cells, arranged so that they faced the opposite direction, with paths leading in, then to the right, then back into the room.<br/><br/>Two-nine-three. An empty, unlabeled cell. Two-six-five. Two more empty, unlabeled cells.<br/><br/>[[Bastard]] shook his head again, opened his mouth in an almost yawning, lazy bite. I could sense the Custodian there, brushing by the side of his face.<br/><br/>I moved the swarm to block the other inmate’s view of us.<br/><br/>“Head-” I started, but Rachel was already making her way inside one of the empty cells. She’d put the pieces together. “…right.” - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/09/26/venom-29-4/ Excerpt] from [[Venom 29.4]]</ref><ref name="29.5 e1">“That was the basic idea. But I’ll need to do something else,” I said. I turned off the effect around it, watched as it dissolved into smoke. “Custodian.”<br/><br/>I felt out with my bugs. She reached directly into the swarm, letting me feel the slow movement of her hand.<br/><br/>“Generally speaking, you think you could handle most of the ones out there?”<br/><br/>She slowly floated through my swarm. The movement of her head… was she shaking it? - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/09/28/venom-29-5/ Excerpt] from [[Venom 29.5]]</ref> each developing ways to give a 'voice' to the voiceless woman.

==Appearance==
The Custodian's bodies are made up of insubstantial invisible air,<ref name="25.5"/> undetectable to most human senses, making her presence known through her actions and similar. Some people can sense her presence or attention easier then others however.

As a [[Titan]] she is one of the bigger ones, as her palm-prints suggest, she dwarfs the [[Titan Ophion]] by several orders.<ref name="veryangrystorm"/>

==Abilities and Powers==
The Custodian is a [[parahuman]] made of air, invisible and almost completely incorporeal. She is bound to the Cauldron complex occupying the entire structure, essentially omnipresent<ref name="27.x e1">The Custodian, as well, loomed. There but not there, filling every space in the complex, moving not her physical body, because she had none, but her focus, as if that were a concrete object. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/08/27/interlude-27/ Excerpt] from [[Interlude 27.x|27.x (Interlude, Eidolon)]]</ref> except in a few key areas.

When she manifests her powers she is shifting where her focus is and incarnating temporary duplicates of herself.<ref name="27.x e1"/> She can do this in enormous numbers, which she can either use for combat or to patrol [[Cauldron Compound|Cauldron's base]].<ref name="29.5 e2">I could feel the Custodians appearing.<br/><br/>A vast quantity. Filling empty spaces, overlapping.<br/><br/>A duplicator? I thought.<br/><br/>Like Velocity, the Brockton Bay Protectorate member who’d died against Leviathan. He’d been a fast cape, capable of outrunning vehicles, striking a hundred times in a minute. But that came at the expense of a limited ability to affect the world.<br/><br/>The Custodian was the same.<br/><br/>She was weak, standalone, barely a wisp of air. And she couldn’t turn it off. Couldn’t get back to a state where she was fully material, capable of affecting the world normally.<br/><br/>But she duplicated, combined her strength, made hundreds of herself, thousands…<br/><br/>She tore into the crowd like an elemental force. My bugs could feel the air ripple, felt prisoners get thrown into cells.<br/><br/>Felt the blood, the limbs being bent in ways that wasn’t possible, when they refused to be thrown.<br/><br/>Energy attacks cut through the open air, and she barely slowed down.<br/><br/>The remaining special case fifty-threes from the floor below started to attack, to use abilities I couldn’t quantify as sound or fire or lightning, and the Custodian let hundreds of duplicates disappear in her attempts to get out of the way. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/09/28 Excerpt] from [[Venom 29.5]]</ref> She can use her abilities to manipulate objects with heavy or delicate force.<ref name="27.x e2">He leveraged the telekinetic power, slashing his hand out to one side. The desk moved like a bullet-<br/><br/>-And stopped, no more than a hair from the wall.<br/><br/>The Custodian, invisible but to his other senses, gently set it down.<br/><br/>[[Eidolon]] hung his head.<br/><br/>Once upon a time, she wouldn’t have been able to stop him. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/08/27 Excerpt] from [[Interlude 27.x|27.x (Interlude, Eidolon)]]</ref> Serving as a viable counter and containment measure for the innumerable Deviant cases that Cauldron houses and one-woman maintenance staff.

Her power is limited in application mostly by her attention span or cramped environments.<ref name=15.6/>

She is capable of pulling herself back into a human form, but chooses not to the majority of the time.<ref>The group walked through, two of the tinkers tapping at their equipment to turn it off, so the dimensional effects wouldn’t interfere.<br/><br/>The Overseer passed through, and the power that had gripped her and defined her form pulled at her, stripped away her selves.<br/><br/>For three, four seconds, as they passed through the glowing, arching doorway, she was a meek girl again, wreathed in tatters.  One of fifteen children sold in exchange for power.  Sold and taken to a prison, sold and left to watch as other children went to pieces or became monsters. - [https://www.parahumans.net/2019/04/30/black-13-x/ Excerpt] from [[Black 13.x]]</ref>

After [[Titan]]ification her power was scaled up, allowing her to toss whole buildings at once.<ref name="veryangrystorm">I looked, and I saw a building with handprints in it as big as titan Ophion’s head.<br/><br/>More appeared by the second.  The building was lifted up.<br/><br/>Titan Custodian.<br/><br/>She used to be weak, with ten thousand overlapping selves.  Now she’s not weak. - [https://www.parahumans.net/2020/01/21/infrared-19-6/ Excerpt] from [[Infrared 19.6]]</ref>

==History==
===Background===
The Custodian was originally a [[Earth Cheit]] native, who was given a [[Cauldron Vial]].<ref>[[Black 13.x]]</ref> 

Despite the horrendous wrong done to her she voluntarily,<ref name="R1">Custodian basically is like the guy Number Man fought in his interlude. She's a reality-breaking Case 53. Rather than get brainwashed/contained, she took on a role within Cauldron. She occupies all space within an area, but her strength is diffuse. - [https://redd.it/2fbpza Wildbow on Reddit]</ref> of her own free will,<ref name="27.x e3">Had the Doctor chosen, Contessa could have handled the entire discussion.  She would have won the argument.  Had she so chosen, she could well have framed it so that he walked away happy, content with the situation. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/08/27 Excerpt] from [[Interlude 27.x|27.x (Interlude, Eidolon)]]</ref> took on a role in Cauldron.<ref>He continued, “I know what your ''Contessa'' does.  I know about Number Man too.  Hell, we know about the ghost girl who keeps you company.”<br/><br/>“We call her the Custodian.”<br/><br/>“Is she one of your mistakes, like us?”<br/><br/>“Yes,” the Doctor said.<br/><br/>“And did you brainwash her to keep her servile?”<br/><br/>“No.  For one, she has no brain.  Is this really necessary, Weld?” - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/08/17 Excerpt] from [[Extinction 27.2]]</ref>

===Post-[[Battle against Echidna|Echidna]]===
The Custodian assisted Number Man in preventing an escape by [[Subject 3016]].<ref name="I21.x"> - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/04/27/interlude-21-donation-bonus-1/ Excerpt] from [[Interlude 21.x]]</ref>

She later provided silent invisible security at the [[Khonsu Meeting]] where a new world order was forged.<ref name="25.5">I was going to speak, when I noticed another presence.  A non-presence.  It was a shift of air currents that seemed unprovoked, affecting certain bugs when it should have touched other bugs in front or behind them.<br/><br/>The topographical sense I got from the movements of my bugs suggested a woman’s form, nude.  It wasn’t entirely gone when another appeared across the room.  The way they moved in sync- not two people.  One person, if she could be called a person; a phantom, flowing through the space around me and the woman in the suit. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/07/11/scarab-25-5/ Excerpt] from [[Scarab 25.5]]</ref> She presumably provided similar security for subsequent meetings.

===[[Gold Morning]]===
May have also been at the meeting to discuss [[Scion|Zion]]'s rampage.

Was held off by the Irregulars through the use of [[Mantellum]].

Assisted both Taylor's assault team and Vegas Dark in finding [[Doctor Mother]].<ref name="29.4 e1">No.  Wait.  There was someone.<br/><br/>Something.<br/><br/>I’d sensed it at the meeting the Doctor had arranged.  The spirit, the ghost.  So subtle it was almost impossible to notice.  The currents of the air, the faintest of traces in dust that marked where she’d traveled… all things I’d mentally dismissed.  Air tended to move.  Only the fact that this was a closed space, without any kind of air conditioning or temperature difference made the movements in the air curious.<br/><br/>Paying attention,  I could see that there was a pattern, a consistent repetition in air currents so feeble they might not have moved a feather.<br/><br/>The lights flickered back on, went out, and then settled in a compromise, the dull translucent pane of the ceiling lit up with a patchwork of  maybe two thirds dark to one third light.<br/><br/>“We’re here to help,” I called out.<br/><br/>My voice echoed down the hall.<br/><br/>“I thought you didn’t sense anyone,” [[Canary]] said.<br/><br/>“I don’t,” I said.<br/><br/>“Then who are you talking to?”<br/><br/>“I don’t think it’s a who,” [[Imp]] said.  “Try ‘what are you talking to?'”<br/><br/>“Shh,” I bid them to be quiet.<br/><br/>I could sense more movements in the air, close… no.  That was a result of Lung’s fire heating the air.<br/><br/>Further down the hall.  If I use enough bugs, try to get a sense of dimensions…<br/><br/>A head, part of a torso.  I could feel the contours of narrow shoulders, the waist.  Female.<br/><br/>She disappeared, or she became less coherent, the movements in the air continuing, but ceasing to suggest a general human shape.  Another appeared behind us, roughly as far away.  No arms, no legs.  Just a broken figure.<br/><br/>“Help me out, [[Tattletale]]?” I asked.<br/><br/>“Help with what?”<br/><br/>“The Custodian.”<br/><br/>“I’m not getting anything usable,” she said.  “Video cameras suck like that.”<br/><br/>“Right,” I said.  Louder, I called out, “We’re here to help the Doctor!  You’ve got two other groups in here, one that’s definitely hostile, angry and destructive, and another I think is worth being suspicious of.”<br/><br/>A movement, a reaction to that last sentence.<br/><br/>I explained, “Maybe they seem friendly, but they’ve got a bad history of backstabbing, making subtle plays for power.  I think the Doctor would back me up on this.  If she’s cooperating with them at all, she’s doing it with knowledge they’ll capitalize on any weakness she shows… and she’s never been weaker than she is right now.”<br/><br/>The figure turned around, briefly fading out of existence.<br/><br/>She reappeared in a way that made me wonder just how long she’d been there, a foot away from me.<br/><br/>“We’re not your enemies,” I said, holding my ground.  “I want to stop [[Scion]], and the best, easiest way to do that is to get things back into working order here.”<br/><br/>For an instant, she was in four places at once.  Then she settled on three.<br/><br/>It struck me that I’d never fared particularly well against stranger-class powers.<br/><br/>“If it helps,” I said, “I’m pissed.  [[Doctor Mother|The Doctor]] called you the Custodian, which probably means you’re the one taking care of this place.  If you’re not completely emotionless, it hurts, that they’re tearing it apart.  If you care about the doctor, I’m betting you’re worried.  Maybe you feel like I do.  You want to retaliate, but something is getting in your way-”<br/><br/>And then she was gone. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/09/26/venom-29-4/ Excerpt] from [[Venom 29.4]]</ref><!--divide this up a bit more--> Was able to contain the escaping [[Case 53]]s and invading [[Irregulars]] when [[Mantellum]] was removed.

===Post-[[Time Bubble Pop]]===
With [[Teacher]] having moved into the old Cauldron base, the Custodian has started working with him and was re-named as the Overseer.

The Overseer assisted in the project to undermine the heroes of [[Earth Gimel]] through digital means.

She fought [[Breakthrough]] and [[The Heartbroken]] during their attempt to free [[Contessa]].<ref name=15.6>[[Dying 15.6]]</ref> After failing that, she collapsed the section of the complex to prevent their advance.

At the end of the battle she retreated to [[Earth Cheit]] alongside Teacher.<ref name="II16.1 e1" />

===[[The Ice Breaks]]===
When reality broke for the second time, the Custodian was transformed into a [[Titan]]. She quickly made her way to [[Titan Fortuna]] to support her side, but was being denied the opportunity to wreak havoc there by [[Dragoncraft]]s.<ref name="II19.6">[[Infrared 19.6]]</ref> She delivered her revenge by destroying [[Colin Wallis|Defiant]]'s [[Uther]].<ref name="II19.z">[[Infrared 19.z]]</ref>

The Custodian Titan protected Titan Fortuna from [[The Simurgh]].<ref name="II20.a">[[Last 20.a]]</ref>

==Chapter Appearances==
{{Appearance/The Custodian Worm}}

==Trivia==
*Despite speculation, the Custodian has no connection to the fate of [[Manton]]'s daughter.<ref name="R2">Custodian is not the daughter of William Manton.<br/>''Aye'' - [https://www.reddit.com/r/Parahumans/comments/6kcne7/differences_between_betaleph_and_our_world/djni4vw/ Wildbow on Reddit]</ref>
*While Custodian in its modern usage refers to a keeper or cleaner one of its earlier meanings was guardian.

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