William Manton

<infobox> <title source="name"><default>William Manton</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>

Dead

</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> William Manton was a former member of Cauldron and one of the foremost experts on parahumans.

Personality

Described as being selfish and closed off because of his intellect, and covetous of those relationships he does have.

Relationships

He is known to have a wife, since divorced, and a beloved daughter.

Little is known about his wife, including whether she is dead or alive.

His daughter forms the basis of the Siberian's projection, and assuming that it is a realistic image and is not an idealized version that Manton consciously or subconsciously created, then she is relatively young, definitely post-pubescent, and possibly younger than twenty.

Appearance

Manton is around middle age. His activities do not leave him much time to take care of himself<ref name="14.1">Prey 14.1</ref> causing degradation in his appearance.

He has a tattoo on the back of each hand;<ref name="14.7">Prey 14.7</ref> an omega symbol, the mark of Cauldron, on his left, and a stylized swan on his right. The swan was used to mark victims of the Simurgh and those who stood in solidarity with those same victims, though Manton wasn't known to have been in the vicinity of a Simurgh attack.<ref>“There’s nothing in the records,” Alexandria said, “Nothing saying he was present at any of the places the quarantine protocol was put in effect.” - Excerpt from Interlude 14.y</ref> While the Simurgh was not a factor in his initial defection from Cauldron, it was a factor with him later.<ref name="Discord1"/>

Abilities and Powers

Manton is intelligent, highly observant and a trained scientist, specializing in Parahumans and their abilities.

Heavy Spoilers - read at your own risk

In a throes of grief and guilt from ruining his daughters life by giving her a vial, Manton imbibed one for himself.<ref name="Discord1">Dwood:2017 July 11 4:19 PM: Was Manton Simurghed? Wildbow:2017 July 11 4:20 PM: Manton went off rails after his daughter had a bad vial reaction and the Simurgh only factored in later, post-Hero-kill. Twei:2017 July 11 4:22 PM: Like, it's not just that he went off the rails It's how far he goes off the rails and how fast Wildbow:2017 July 11 4:23 PM: It's almost like drinking a psychically sensitive/reactive potion of dead god-virus-space-whale while in the throes of grief and guilt isn't a good idea. - Discord conversation, archived on Spacebattles</ref> After taking the Cauldron vial, Manton is able to project an image of his daughter, though naked and striped in black and white, hence her name - the Siberian. The Siberian can ignore natural forces as she sees fit, and is effectively invulnerable. She is also able to project this invulnerability to other people by being in physical contact with them, though she is not able to make Manton himself invulnerable.<ref name="26.4c1">Siberian can touch him, s/he can’t use her power on him. - Comment by Wildbow on Sting 26.4</ref> There are several other limitations. It likely takes concentrated mental effort from Manton to be able to use the Siberian.<ref>Primary swarm in first. As one singular mass, they flowed inside. The capsaicin-laced bugs joined them, going straight for the eyes. Jack reacted, as did the man, but Bonesaw was unfazed. I saw Siberian flicker. Legend noticed as well. He snapped his eyes to me, and then the shelter. The creator needs to concentrate? - Excerpt from Prey 14.7</ref><ref name="13.10 e2">“It was more like… a forcefield. Except not. A hole in reality, and it took something out of me to feed and shape itself.” - Snare 13.10</ref> His power has a range limit<ref>No. My gut told me Siberian wouldn’t operate like this if there wasn’t some link. There had to be some kind of range limit on the projection, or he wouldn’t have any reason to follow Siberian from city to city. The fact that he was supposedly in this area meant it might even be a fairly short range. - Prey 14.2</ref> on the projection that is at least 1000 feet.<ref>“Let us put some distance between ourselves and the being,” the Doctor said. “One thousand feet seems like the safest bet.” A thousand feet, I thought. “Is this safehouse even that big?” “Certainly,” the Doctor said. “William.” “Doctor,” Manton said. “I’m going to ask you to position Siberian up here. We’ll see if she can do any damage.” “Yes,” Manton agreed. The Siberian stepped forward. - Venom 29.7</ref> Tattletale suspected he could stay miles away and still manage some control over the Siberian, but stayed close by (such as when he was within range of Grue's second trigger darkness<ref>I could feel another person, someone who hadn’t been there a moment ago. A man standing in the darkness. The man strode forward, uncaring about the darkness. He caught Burnscar around the face with one broad hand, and he brought it down hard against the counter. I was dropped to the ground. Burnscar fell across me, limp and unmoving, and the man flickered out of existence. [...] It was Brian, but it wasn’t. It was colored in monochrome, with one eye open, the other half-formed. Markings in white covered his flesh, spiraling out from one pectoral, covering his chest and stomach. His hands were white to the elbow, and he was sexless. A ken doll with only more white patterns between his legs. - Snare 13.9</ref>) for voyeuristic purposes or improved control and faster response times.<ref>“The power has range. I suspect the creator can stay miles away and still manage some control, but ventures closer for voyeuristic purposes or because it offers more control and faster response times.” - Prey 14.4</ref> Presumably, Manton cannot alter or change the Siberian.<ref name="13.10 e2" /><ref>“She’s a projection. Like Genesis is, as I’m sure you’re aware. Like Crusader’s duplicates. A quirk in reality that draws from her creator’s brain to create a body complete with all the physiological substructure. Which is largely for aesthetic effect, and I’d guess it gives her real self something the brain is familiar with controlling anyways.” [...] “Man. The person who projects Siberian is male. But he creates a female body. I think it’s tied into his trigger event. Someone he lost. If I had to guess, he sought revenge for her, but something happened. A side effect of the power, or just a seriously unhinged mental state… he lost it.” - Prey 14.4</ref> Whether he can maintain the projection while he is asleep is not known. Equipment While on the run Manton used a car primarily to keep up with the Siberian projection, as it is far faster than any normal human on foot, and secondarily as protection, as the Siberian is seemingly unable to project her invulnerability directly onto Manton.<ref name="14.7"/>

History

Background

William is known as a famous researcher into capes, and the one for whom the Manton Effect - i.e. the inability of most parahumans to affect living matter - was named after.

He worked at Cauldron for some time. However, after he went through a very ugly divorce, he tried to give his daughter superpowers using one of their formulas. It failed, and he quit and fled with stolen formula.<ref name="15.z">Interlude 15.z</ref>

Story Start

Manton is currently presumed missing. Cauldron falsely told Legend that Manton was responsible for the Case 53's having absconded with stolen vials.<ref name="I14.y">“I’ll explain for those of you who lack access to the PRT records or the time to peruse them. Siberian is not a brute-class cape. Siberian is a ‘master’, and the striped woman is a projection. I caught a glimpse of the man who is creating the projection before they retreated.” - Excerpt from Interlude 14.y</ref>

Post-Leviathan

The formula William stole allowed him to become the Siberian. His true identity was discovered through the efforts of the Undersiders and the Travelers. Though having safely followed the Nine from a distance, when his Siberian was testing Panacea his projection is confronted by the joined group and told by Tattletale that they know his secret. He dismisses and reforms the Siberian closer to his location. While the rest of the Protectorate leaves to fight the Nine's other members, Legend and Siberian continue their battle, while Manton reveals his existence to Jack and Bonesaw before hiding with them in an Endbringer shelter. Skitter finds them and attacks the trio with a swarm on insects, grievously injuring Manton.  Manton is able to use the Siberian to save Jack and Bonesaw from the PRT's second bombing. Skitter is able to attack him as he races to save them. Bonesaw cocoons him for an hour in a specialized case created with some Mannequin components to regenerate/weather the venoms.<ref name="14.10">Prey 14.10</ref><ref>Except the Nine were now covering their tracks with a dozen decoys, mechanical spiders leaving trails of bug-killing smoke, leaving me to guess which direction they’d gone. Two solid possibilities dwelled with me. The first was that they’d headed back downtown to rendezvous with Siberian. If I was drawing the right conclusions from what I’d overheard, Bonesaw had drawn together a cocoon for Siberian similar to the one that Amy had created for Glory Girl. - Excerpt on Prey 14.11</ref> Afterwards, this same casket would house Cherish.<ref name="14.11 c1">Might as well share: Siberian’s real body was being kept in a specialized case created by Bonesaw with some Mannequin components. Left in there for an hour to regenerate/weather the venoms. Relatively easy process to get him out, put Cherish in, do the surgery on her corona aurora, change some settings and seal her inside. - Comment by Wildbow on Prey 14.11</ref> He is recovered after Jack and Bonesaw return from fighting Skitter and Panacea, and is taken along with them when they deal with Cherish and leave the city with Hookwolf in tow. Cauldron had used Manton as a scapegoat for the Case 53 phenomenon when in fact they were doing it themselves unknown to everyone, including Legend.

Post-Slaughterhouse Nine

The truth about his abilities were revealed by Legend, who repeated the lie that it was Manton who was responsible for the Case 53's when explaining the Protectorate's connection with Cauldron to Gully and Weld.<ref name="19.4">Scourge 19.4</ref>

Post-Echidna

During the conflict in Boston between Defiant, Dragon and the Slaughterhouse Nine, Manton is caught in the mechanical jaws of one of Dragon's armored craft and killed.

Post-Timeskip

Was resurrected by Bonesaw as part of the Slaugherhouse 9000.

Gold Morning

Manton's clone would rejoin Cauldron, and fight against Scion.

Trivia

• Manton took Cauldron vial F-1-6-1-1, ‘Deus’,<ref name="15.z"/> the same vial as Genesis.<ref>Migration 17.6</ref><ref name="rpg.net">On the subject of Siberian's powers, there's one detail that people haven't really caught, that surprised me.
  The link is in both Alexandria's interlude and 17.6. - Discussion with Wildbow on RPG.net</ref>

References

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Slaughterhouse Nine
Leaders	King {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Jack Slash {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }}
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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= }})