Alabaster

{{#if:TaylorBuzz 7.9|

“	Alabaster and Crusader? Probably intended as the front line, to slow the enemy down, take out the problem targets and buy time for the core group to do what they needed. Or to do what they were doing now, and occupy enemies elsewhere.	”
{{#if:Taylor| —Taylor{{#if:Buzz 7.9|, Buzz 7.9}} }} }}

<infobox> <title source="name"><default>Alabaster</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> Alabaster was a member of the Empire Eighty-Eight.

Personality

A white supremacist<ref name="II11.4 eNotHero">“Can you send me information on the victims?”

“I will. Bakuda’s victims, the three heroes-”

“Not all heroes,” I said. “Alabaster and Jotun were white supremacists.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. Files on those two groups, and the group in the bubble caught the group that snuck into The Scar. I’ll send you what others sent to me.” - Blinding 11.4</ref> and very racist to minorities on a regular basis, Alabaster is quite the brute to his victims.<ref name="playtest">Alabaster
Not a brute in the conventional sense, white supremacist Alabaster proves to be one to his victims. Flawless in appearance, his S.O.P. makes for much ugliness.
[...]
Flaws/perks/personality: Personal Code - Racist Campaign - must do something offensive to minorities on regular basis.
Hated by most - Racist
Physical Mutation - white, too-smooth skin/hair, blank eyes. - Playtest Capes</ref> His affiliation with Krieg's faction, who are relatively top-end in training and presentation,<ref name="discord eFaction" /> presumably contributes to his stylish costume and skills with firearms and dodging.<ref name="playtest eSkills" />

Weld believed he was small-time.<ref>“What do you think?”

“I think if Alabaster is potentially a part of this, it’s worth reaching out to the Shepherds. Victor and Rune from the Empire are in the Shepherds now, under new names. They knew Alabaster and they might know something about Jotun. He was small-time.” - Blinding 11.4</ref>

Appearance

Alabaster was a young man with a 'flawless appearance'. He had unnaturally smooth and literally white skin and hair.<ref name="Cast1">Alabaster – A white skinned (literally) young man who restores himself to pristine condition at set intervals (every 4.3 seconds). Initially seen as a member of Empire Eighty-Eight. - Cast Page</ref> His eyes are also completely white devoid of pupils, iris, and visible blood vessels, though this does not impede his vision.<ref name="playtest"/>

His costume has style and is lightweight.<ref name="playtest eSkills" />

Abilities and Powers

Primary Ability

At set intervals of 4.3 seconds, Alabaster reverts to a base template i.e., restores himself to a pristine condition.<ref name="Cast1" /><ref name="II12.none eTrapped">Which put him in the circumstance of being trapped, unable to do anything but think.
[...]
Another day followed, where he felt like he looked back on every decision he’d made in his life, prayed to every deity he could think of, and he realized it was possible Alabaster was in much the same circumstance. At set intervals, Alabaster reverted states, going back to the one he was in when he had entered this time-slowing bubble.

It was possible Alabaster was in the same circumstance he was, and had been from the start. - Heavens 12.none</ref> This restoration not only heals him of any physical damage, wounds, and mutations, but also of any ongoing physical, mental, or emotional effects.<ref name="playtest eAbilities">Power: 4 second rule - At the start of each of his turns, Alabaster restores himself to perfect condition, losing all conditions, wounds, damage, ongoing effects (including mental/emotional) and shedding any changes that would change his physical statistics.

Power: Immune to pain. Cannot be debilitated by pain, can harm self without making guts checks.

Power: Maintenance. Thinker power makes him more effective at maintaining and fixing gear. He can reroll craft checks, and is assumed to have a grounding in all non-niche craft types. - Playtest Capes</ref>

He is a rare example of a natural trigger<ref name=":0" /> whose ability physically mutates him.<ref name="playtest" />

Other Abilities

Alabaster is immune to pain; he can mutilate himself without issue.<ref name="playtest eAbilities" />

He also has a minor Thinker power that makes him more effective at maintaining and fixing equipment. This gives him more knowledge in repairing and craftsmanship,<ref name="playtest eAbilities" /><ref name="playtest eSkills" /> which complements his ability to stay in the fight (i.e., he would be less combat-effective if he did not know how to fix his broken gear).

Vulnerabilities

If his body received enough punishment to destroy him, if his corona faced complete destruction, or if his heart was torn out right as the loop began (which would shock the Corona Pollentia), his powers would be disrupted, and he would perish.<ref name="R1">Wildbow: Doing enough damage to instagib him would do it. Wholesale destruction of corona or utterly destroying his heart right as the loop begins would do it.

Neosovereign: destroying someone's heart won't actually kill them for 4 seconds, if you could magically do it anyways.

Wildbow: This is less the shard reaching for the human's definitions and more that a sufficient shock to the system (getting one's heart torn out of their chest) will affect the Corona Pollentiae. - Conversation with Wildbow on Reddit</ref>

His power does not change his position when reverting his state. For example, his power did not free him from a Bakuda-derived time bubble: Dauntless speculated that the trapped Alabaster might be in the circumstance of only being able to think.<ref name="II12.none eTrapped" />

Scapegoat's power will either misfire or backfire if he theoretically attempts to transfer injuries to Alabaster. To elaborate, either Alabaster gets injuries that carry over through loops (i.e., becomes part of Alabaster's base template) or the injuries bounce back to Scapegoat with a vengeance.<ref>Alabaster - Very likely to either instill injuries that carry over through loops (and likely get reset to normal as the base template) or just get bounced back to Scapegoat with a vengeance. - Comment by Wildbow on Reddit, archived on Spacebattles</ref>

Equipment

He carries two pistols, a concealed stiletto knife, and ammo clips.<ref name="playtest eSkills">Skills:

• Craft 4 (All, power granted, +2 to checks, can reduce amount of components used, can add minor upgrades)
• Dodge 3 (+1 to dodge melee/ranged, can reroll failed dodges to avoid staggering)
• Gunfighting 3 (+2 to shots that would be penalized, can reload/take potshots while taking noncombat actions, move and shoot without penalty, shot enemies penalize until end of turn)

Assets: Pistol x2, stiletto knife, tier 2 costume (+style, +lightweight), ammo clips. - Playtest Capes</ref>

Tactics

On seeing him in action, Taylor speculates that his standard operating procedure is to fight on the front line and act as a delaying tactic. His power enables him to occupy opponents as a relatively minor if persistent threat, while having a chance to take out problem targets. This buys time for the rest of his team to pursue their own targets.<ref name="7.10">Alabaster and Crusader? Probably intended as the front line, to slow the enemy down, take out the problem targets and buy time for the core group to do what they needed. Or to do what they were doing now, and occupy enemies elsewhere. - Buzz 7.10</ref>

History

Background

Alabaster joined the Empire Eighty-Eight in Brockton Bay, likely drawn by their ideals.<ref name="playtest" />

Story Start

As a member of Empire Eighty-Eight, Alabaster's secret identity was leaked to the press by Coil.<ref name="7.6">The images displayed on the screen were the same as the ones I had seen in the email, earlier. Max Anders and Kaiser. Kayden Anders and Purity. The blondes as Fenja and Menja. The broadcast flickered through all of them: Hookwolf, Krieg, Night, Fog, Stormtiger, Othala, Cricket, Rune, Victor, Alabaster, the Crusader… the list went on. The screen shifted to two news broadcasters. In the top right corner of the screen, there was the usual story of the moment image, showing Max Anders sitting at a table at some event, with a swastika followed by a question mark hovering above him.

“Word’s out,” Brian spoke to me, quiet. “If they didn’t know about this already, they do now.” - Excerpt from Buzz 7.6</ref> Tattletale believed he would fight alongside Purity's faction in the clashes that followed this outing.<ref name="7.7">“According to the news and my, um, inside source,” Lisa spoke, referring to her power, “Purity hasn’t stopped. She’s doing strafing runs across the Docks. She moves too fast for anyone but Dauntless or Velocity to catch, and she hits harder than both of them combined. She’s knocked down four more buildings while we’ve talked, I’m pretty sure. How long before she happens to knock over our hideout?”

Brian pursed his lips.

“And she leads her own sub-group within Empire Eighty Eight, so I’m betting that Fog, Night, Alabaster and Crusader are on the streets, doing their own thing. I dunno about you guys, but I have friends in our neighborhood. I’m very not cool with that.” - Buzz 7.7</ref> Indeed, he later fought alongside the factions of Krieg, Purity, and the Clans.<ref>Below, it seemed, there was an all-out war.

As she targeted Glory Girl, one of Purity’s blasts of light slammed into the edge of a rooftop. Debris showered down, but was deflected by a bright blue forcefield. That would be Shielder’s power at work. He fought alongside Flashbang and Brandish, and I could identify Krieg, Victor, Othala and Alabaster in their immediate vicinity. Further away were Night, Fog, Panacea, Vista and Clockblocker. - Buzz 7.9</ref><ref name="7.10" />

Battle against Leviathan

Participated in the effort to defend Brockton Bay against the Endbringer Leviathan. Alongside Jotun and Dauntless, Alabaster was thrown into the center of a time-distortion bubble by Leviathan, where he was caught, unable to make his exit fast enough to avoid being frozen in time.<ref name="8.3">Extermination 8.3</ref>

Post-Echidna

The bubble was turned into an impromptu memorial,<ref name="21.5 e1">My detour brought me around to what had become a makeshift memorial. There were flowers and the like forming a ring where a fence had been erected. In the center of the ring, an oval shape sat embedded in the ground. This was the area where we’d fought Leviathan. A time-distortion grenade had gone off, and three heroes had been trapped inside. Brockton Bay’s own Dauntless among them.

The center of the bubble was as impenetrable as Clockblocker’s power, while the effects were more nebulous around the edges. Dust and moisture were caught in the sphere, obscuring the contents, all moving a fraction of a glacial pace. There was a hand print at one point where someone had tried to touch it, shifting the dust and moisture, losing some skin in the process. In other spots, less respectful people had thrown things at the sphere. Pennies, sticks. That had stopped when others had tidied up the area and the flowers had started appearing here and there.

There had been talk of blanketing the entire thing in flower petals, so it wasn’t a gray-brown egg with a neat pattern, but others wanted to leave it be, protecting it with a bubble or shelter so the rain and dust could clear away, and people who visited could see the three heroes as they were when they were caught within, in the midst of being thrown through the air, the very moment they effectively gave their lives for the sake of the city and the world. - Imago 21.5</ref> with no sign of him being freed anytime soon.<ref>A few hundred thousand years in the future, when the bubble pops. When humanity is long gone… - Comment by Wildbow on Imago 21.5</ref> Taylor refers to the trapped Alabaster as a hero.<ref name="21.5 e1" />

Early-Ward

The Wardens, the successor organization to the Protectorate, committed some resources into investigating how to rescue victims trapped inside time effects.<ref>“The Wardens didn’t ask us before they signed off on this, yet they have people devoted to idiotic things like rescuing people from time bubbles and loops. - Excerpt from Interlude 5x II</ref> After much research, they initially believed it was too risky to free them.<ref>“The Wardens were looking into those effects, as well as the ongoing Gray Boy loops,” Jeanne said. “They researched it and decided no. The same people who petitioned the Wardens then petitioned the government. It crossed my desk, but I already had some faint knowledge of what it was about. I considered, researched, and came to the decision that yes, I know a way to undo the effect. No, I won’t actually do it.”

Using her power, I thought. She could free people from perpetual torment and she says no.

“Why no?” I asked. - Blinding 11.4</ref><ref>“And you don’t know why? The thinkers can’t shed any light on this?” I asked.

“Little.”

“You’re saying you checked, you’re saying no, risky for reasons you can’t disclose. The Wardens checked, and they’re saying no, the thinkers think it’s volatile somehow…”

“Yes,” Cinereal said. “Volatile is a good way to put it. It might not explode. It might be devastating.” - Blinding 11.4</ref>

When Victoria asked Jeanne Wynn for information on all Brockton Bay victims trapped in time stasis effects and Alabaster was referenced, she immediately states Alabaster was not a hero, which Jeanne then keeps in mind.<ref name="II11.4 eNotHero" />

Assault on the Time Bubbles

He was released from the time bubble by March, and as his power caused him to fold into himself, he was cannibalized by Dauntless's shard.<ref>Heavens 12.all</ref><ref>Heavens 12.none</ref>

Trivia

• Alabaster was not a Cauldron cape, nor was he associated with Gesellschaft.<ref name=":0">WyldCard4 said:
  Is Alabaster a Cauldron cape? If so, is he one of the Gesellschaft creations like Night and Fog or a more traditional one?
  
  No and no.
  Despite link between Gesellschaft & Cauldron, don't assume Nacht & Nebel are cauldron capes. - Comment by Wildbow on Spacebattles</ref>
• Contrary to fan speculation, Alabaster's power was not related to Gray Boy's or Clockblocker's.<ref>Alabaster did not ping off of Gray Boy. Alabaster stands alone.
  
  Clockblocker did not ping off of Alabaster or Gray Boy. Clockblocker stands alone. - Wildbow on Reddit

</ref>

• Alabaster's appearance, given his white skin and hair, recalls Richard Benson, The Avenger, an old pulp character.

References

<references/>

Site Navigation

Empire Eighty-Eight
Leader	Allfather {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Kaiser {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }}
Leiutenants	Hookwolf {{#switch: former	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Krieg {{#switch: former	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Purity {{#switch: former	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }}
Members	Alabaster {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Cricket {{#switch: former	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Crusader {{#switch: former	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Fenja {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Fog {{#switch: former	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Heith Anders {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Iron Rain {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Menja {{#switch: former	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Night {{#switch: former	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Othala {{#switch: former	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Rune {{#switch: former	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Stormtiger {{#switch: former	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Victor {{#switch: former	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }}
Associates	Aster Anders {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Theo Anders {{#switch: former	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }}