Night Hag

{{#if:VictoriaBlinding 11.11|

“	Night Hag had been a Slaughterhouse Nine member once upon a time. She had also made that choice, but more to shirk her humanity, to revel in her altered state.	”
{{#if:Victoria| —Victoria{{#if:Blinding 11.11|, Blinding 11.11}} }} }}

<infobox> <title source="name"><default>Night Hag</default></title>

<image source="Image"></image> <image source="image"></image> <group><header>Basic Information</header> <label>Civilian Name</label> <label>Aliases</label> <label>Gender</label><default>Unknown</default> <label>Death</label> <label>Age</label><default>Unknown</default> <label>Post-timeskip</label> <label>Ward start</label> <label>Relations</label> <label>Family</label></group> <group><header>Professional Status</header> <label>Occupation</label> <label>Classification</label> <label>Unique Features</label> <label>Alignment</label>

<label>Status</label><format>

Deceased

</format>

<label>Location</label> <label>Teams</label> <label>Previous Team(s)</label> <label>Base of Operations</label></group> <group><header>First Appearance</header> <label>Worm Debut</label> <label>Ward Debut</label></group> </infobox>Night Hag is a member of the Slaughterhouse Nine.

Personality

Night Hag chose to remain in her Breaker form indefinitely, rejecting her humanity as she reveled in her altered state.<ref name="II11.11 e1">There were the consequence breakers. There was no limit to the time they could spend in the form, except for the penalty waiting at the end, heavy on their mind. It could be tied to any of the other drawbacks. Things like pain, of a magnitude and duration related to how long or how much power was expended while breaker, or madness, or having one’s mortal body age at a hundred times the rate while in the breaker state. Vista had just mentioned a breaker she’d been friends with, a magenta cat, that had missed her opportunity to turn human too many times, and had decided to stay in the form rather than face the consequences waiting for her.

Night Hag had been a Slaughterhouse Nine member once upon a time. She had also made that choice, but more to shirk her humanity, to revel in her altered state.

If my enemy here was a consequence breaker, then there was nothing I could do except play an extended game of chicken, seeing if she would give up out of fear the consequences had grown too heavy. - Blinding 11.11</ref> Although she formed a strong rapport with her shard,<ref name="Reddit1">Night Hag transmuted her environment into a special material by 'infecting' it. The longer she stayed still, the more the infection spread. The affected area would slowly regenerate after the fact. If she was destroyed or killed, she could reform herself from any lingering infected ground. A breaker who decided never to go back to her usual form, she formed a strong rapport with her passenger. With her secondary benefits of not needing sleep or food, she could hunt prey for days or weeks as they tried to flee. More often, she would control the area, cut off retreat and then slowly break and maim her foe, starting from the extremities and moving towards the vital functions last. - Comment by Wildbow on Reddit</ref> by staying too long in her Breaker form she experienced a form of ego death. This loss of self gives her shard more control over her actions, similar to Khepri or Ash Beast; her shard takes advantage of this opportunity to rampage.<ref name="Reddit2">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.

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.
[...]
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.

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.

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>

As she does not have to eat or sleep in her altered state, she can hunt fleeing prey for days or weeks. More often, she chooses to control an area, cut off retreat, and then slowly break and maim her foe—she starts from the extremities and moves towards the vital functions last.<ref name="Reddit1"/>

Appearance

Night Hag is a dark-haired woman with skin as white as chalk. She wears a black dress that seems to spread out and merge into the surrounding landscape. When Jouster cleared away the smoke in Hyde Park to reveal the Night Hag clones, everything within 15 feet of them appeared to be covered in a crumpled-looking black cloth.<ref name="26.5 e2">The Night hags, by contrast, were women, dark haired, dressed in black, with skin as white as chalk. Their dresses seemed to bleed into the surrounding landscape, so that everything within fifteen feet of them was covered in that crumpled-looking black cloth. - Sting 26.5</ref>

She shatters into thousands of black shards when killed or destroyed. When she reforms from lingering infected material, it distorts and reconfigures itself into a new Night Hag.<ref name="26.5 e4">The women practically disintegrated as the bullets, flames and other projectiles made contact. Their bodies shattered into thousands of black shards.

Moments later, they emerged from the landscape. One park bench distorted and reconfigured into a new Night Hag. That Night Hag was summarily slain, and reformed herself out of a nearby patch of grass. - Sting 26.5</ref>

Night Hag has an ordinary human form; however, she chooses never to go back to it.<ref name="II11.11 e1" /><ref name="Reddit1"/>

Abilities and Powers

Night Hag is a Breaker who transforms into an altered state in order to access her powers. In her Breaker form, she can transmute her surrounding environment into a special material by 'infecting' it. The longer she stays still, the more the infection will spread. However, the affected area will slowly regenerate after she stops.<ref name="Reddit1" /> Her power’s reach is shallow; she is most effective with materials that stand above the ground's surface.<ref name="26.5 e5">Location possession, in a way, but it was shallow. She was most effective with materials that stood above the ground’s surface. - Sting 26.5</ref>

If Night Hag is destroyed or killed, she can reform herself from any lingering infected ground.<ref name="Reddit1" /><ref name="26.5 e4" /> That said, it is possible to kill her permanently.<ref name="26.5 e7" />

As a Breaker, she has no limit to the time she could spend in her altered state,<ref name="Reddit2" /> except for the penalty to her human form that depends on the time spent in Breaker form.<ref name="II11.11 e1" /> Night Hag is a Noctis cape, meaning that a secondary benefit of her altered state is not needing sleep or food.<ref name="Reddit1" /> Although unused, she can return to her human form by drawing all 'infection' back into herself.<ref><Ridtom> But it also can't be moved by her power, yet she [Cinereal] can somehow cover herself with it?
<Ridtom> And also somehow draw the matter into herself in order to deactivate her Breaker power?
* ThalAI has quit (Quit: Connection closed for inactivity)
<Wildbow> Divebomb a location, spread ash in radius around impact site, bury foes, operate within radius of ash to rinse/repeat.
<Ridtom> Ah, I was overthinking it. But still, her being unable to move the ash, but still being able to draw it into herself?
<Ridtom> Isn't that kind of contradictory?
<Wildbow> More a night hag thing. - Conversation with Wildbow on IRC, archived on Spacebattles</ref>

History

Background

Presumably had a natural Breaker trigger; she left behind her human form and never looked back.

Post-Echidna

Night Hag was recruited into the Nine after the attack on Brockton Bay along with Skinslip and Damsel of Distress.<ref name="I25">The individual cases opened, and slowly but surely, the members of the current Slaughterhouse Nine stepped out. Jack, Hookwolf, Skinslip, Night Hag. - Interlude 25</ref>

At the end of June 2011, the Slaughterhouse Nine attacked Toybox and appropriated their technology.<ref name="22.2 e1">“Yes,” she said. “And they struck one target after Boston. Toybox.”
[...]
“The Slaughterhouse Nine attacked them at the end of June,” Miss Militia said. “In doing so, they appropriated all of the tinker technology and all of the tinkers that were staying with the group. See page thirty-six and on.”
[...]
“The Slaughterhouse Nine attacked Toybox, taking the group’s devices for themselves, and they disappeared. We suspect they used Dodge’s devices to exit into a pocket dimension, and by the time we’d found a way to follow, they’d exited elsewhere.” - Cell 22.2</ref> Shortly after, Night Hag entered cryogenic sleep with most of the Nine.<ref name="22.2 e2">I stared at the laptop. It was still on the last page. Glace.

“Cryogenics,” I said.

“Stasis,” Miss Militia agreed. “The pressure grew too intense, with Defiant and Dragon’s pursuit, they weren’t recovering from losses fast enough. They’ve gone into hiding, and we think they plan to wait.”

Wait, I thought.

“How long?” Clockblocker asked.

“We can’t know for sure,” Miss Militia replied. “But if they’ve put themselves in a cryogenic sleep, they could wake and resume their normal activities days, weeks, months or years from now. Depending on the resources they have available, they might well emerge with clones of their current members at their side.” - Cell 22.2</ref> Despite being a living member of the Nine, Bonesaw still made clones of her.<ref name="26.5 e1">“She’s covering the area with her smoke,” I spoke, over the channel. “You need to clear it.”

“On it. Cover your eyes!” Jouster hollered.
[...]
And in the midst of the crowd, there were the enemies, simply standing and observing. Nyxes, Psychosomas and Night Hags. - Sting 26.5</ref>

Post-Timeskip

After waking up from cryo-stasis,<ref name="I25" /> Night Hag and several of her clones participated in the Slaughterhouse Nine-Thousand rampage. Four of them were killed by Contessa and the Number Man.<ref name="26.5 e7">It was Contessa, accompanied by the Number Man. Both held guns.

She shot one of the afflicted, then walked past the other, ignoring him. She opened fire in the fog. One clip, each shot aimed and measured, fired with a peculiar rhythm. One, then two in rapid succession, one, then two in rapid succession. She reloaded with an almost casual ease, then slid the gun into its holster.

The Number Man had her back. He fired into the darkness three times.

It took two minutes for the smoke to clear.

Two Nyx dead. Three Psychosomas. Four Night Hags. - Sting 26.5</ref>

Gold Morning

Every copy of Night Hag, save a hybrid with Nyx, was seemingly destroyed prior to Gold Morning.<ref>I found members of Bonesaw’s Slaughterhouse Nine. Clones who’d fled, or who’d been left behind, lurking in dark corners, or simply hiding. A Mannequin, two Damsels that were keeping each other company, a Night Hag-Nyx hybrid, and a Crawler-Breed hybrid. - Excerpt from Speck 30.4</ref>

Post-Goddess' Takeover

Victoria Dallon brought up Night Hag in the past tense when thinking about Consequence Breakers.<ref name="II11.11 e1" />

Fanart Gallery

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  Illustratrion by Graffic1 on reddit.

References

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Noctis Capes
Defiant • Doormaker {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Dragon • Gasconade • Mama Mathers • Miss Militia • Night Hag {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Noctis {{#switch: unknown	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Weld

Slaughterhouse Nine
Leaders	King {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Jack Slash {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }}
Members	Bonesaw {{#switch: former	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Breed {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Burnscar {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Cherish {{#switch: former	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Chuckles {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Crawler {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Crimson {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Damsel of Distress {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Gray Boy {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Harbinger {{#switch: former	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Hatchet Face {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Hookwolf {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Mannequin {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Miasma {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Murder Rat {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Nice Guy {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Night Hag {{#switch: unknown	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Nyx {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Psychosoma {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Screamer {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Shatterbird {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • The Siberian {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Skinslip {{#switch: unknown	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Winter {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }}
Bonesaw's Hybrids	Hack Job {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Laughjob {{#switch: unknown	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Murder Rat {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Nighty Night {{#switch: unknown	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Pagoda {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Snowmann {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Spawner {{#switch: former	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Tyrant {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }}
Clones	Damsel of Distress II {{#switch: former	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Damsel of Distress III {{#switch: former	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Harbinger Clones {{#switch: former	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} (Harbinger I {{#switch: former	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Harbinger II {{#switch: former	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Harbinger III {{#switch: former	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Harbinger IV {{#switch: former	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Harbinger V {{#switch: former	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }})