Kaiser

<infobox> <title source="name"><default>Kaiser</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>Kaiser, civilian name Max Anders, is the CEO of the Medhall Corporation in his civilian identity and the leader of the Empire Eighty-Eight in his cape identity.

Personality

Max Anders does not believe in Empire Eighty-Eight's ideology. Instead, as head of the organization he inherited from his father, Kaiser uses his ideological "chops" as a powerful tool to manipulate others.<ref>Actually, Kaiser doesn't buy into that ideology at all. He pretends to, and uses it to manipulate others.

One of those facts that I can't quite recall if I shared it in the story or not. So many words to dig through when fact checking. - Comment by Wildbow on RPG.net</ref> He denied Skidmark a seat at the table at Somer's Rock but was willing to give a space to Grue.<ref name="5.1 e1">He stepped up to the table and reached for a chair. Before he could move it, though, Kaiser kicked the chair out of reach, sending it toppling onto its side, sliding across the floor.

“The fuck?” Skidmark snarled.

“You can sit in a booth,” Kaiser spoke. Even though his voice was completely calm, like he was talking to a stranger about the weather, it felt threatening.

“This is because I’m black, hunh? That’s what you’re all about, yeah?”

Still calm, Kaiser replied, “You can sit in a booth because you and your team are pathetic, deranged losers that aren’t worth talking to. The people at this table? I don’t like them, but I’ll listen to them. That isn’t the case with you.” - Excerpt from Hive 5.1</ref>

He is very self-possessed,<ref name="5.2 e1"/> with every movement and action makes being calculated and controlled, rarely letting anything slip past his defenses. He's not as brave as he thinks himself, however, especially when in a situation that he does not dominate.<ref name="5.5"/>

Kayden Anders, his ex-wife, believed that he would keep his word on a promise to her despite his manipulative personality and her personal dislike of him.<ref name="I3.5">Interlude 3.5 (Bonus)</ref>

He prefers cats over dogs.<ref name="5.2"/><ref name="I26a">His father had always preferred cats, and the creatures had never been easy to bond with. This was nice. - Excerpt from Interlude 26a</ref>

Appearance

Max is a handsome man, thirty-five or so and physically fit. His eyes are a "brilliant" blue.<ref name="I3.5"/>

As Kaiser, his costume consists of a suit of elaborate armor with a crown of blades. Given the nature of his power, he creates a new costume for each occasion.<ref name="I3.5"/><ref name="5.1">Hive 5.1</ref><ref name="5.5"/> The armor sometimes gives off a scrape of blades when he moves.<ref name="5.2"/><ref>Fogbot3:I could've sworn it was said somewhere Kaiser made his own armor, so I always imagined it as really spikey and flowing. Like from the wikia " Given the nature of his power, he creates a new costume for each occasion.[1][6][3] The armor sometimes gives off a scrape of blades when he moves.[4]" . This picture is actually almost exactly how I imagined Crusader, with full plate like an European Knight.

Wildbow:Yeah. It's overlapping, branching blades forming plate mail, with a crown of blades. - WB on reddit</ref>

Abilities and Powers

Max's power allows him to create metal objects – blades, beams, bludgeons, sheets, tubes, spears, needles etc – which extend from solid surfaces around him.<ref name="I4 e1">As if in response, he picked up a letter opener and held it in front of his chest. Blades of metal began to branch out from it, each forking out into more. Slow at first, the network of metal swiftly encompassed his chest, then the rest of his body. Bars, blades, tubes, sheets of the metal found their place around him. With his power, she knew, he could bring metal to sprout from any solid surface around him, including the metal he had already created. As readily as he could bring thirty-foot spears of iron to erupt from the ground or walls, he created a finely worked suit of armor, then embellished it with blades and curling spikes. He finished it with an uneven crown of blades. - Excerpt from Interlude 4</ref><ref name="Cast1">Kaiser – Head of Empire Eighty-Eight, a white supremacist and businessman capable of causing metal to sprout from any solid surface. - Cast (spoiler free)</ref> He has a large range where he can use his powers. The blades summoned are described as iron or steel, seemingly interchangeably. He is able to summon blades from virtually any surface but it is unknown if summoning them over a metal surface is easier.<ref name="5.9"/><ref name="8.3"/><ref name="I3.5"/><ref name="List">Max Anders Kaiser Can produce metal blades, barriers or rods from any solid surface E88 - Parahuman List; bolded edit by Wildbow</ref>

His power creates a rippling energy effect as it creates metal, and at least sometimes creates a metallic grinding sound.<ref name="5.9">Hive 5.9</ref>

Kaiser can pull an astonishing amount of material into existence without regard for conservation of mass.<ref>Agitation 3.11</ref> It is usually created fast enough to injure the unwary, even when creating a column the size of an 18 wheeler;<ref name="5.9"/> although his ability proceeded very slowly when he attempted generating a massive blade 20 feet across,<ref name="5.9"/> and was noticeably slower when he summoned a thicket of solid columns of steel rather than blades to block Leviathan's path.<ref name="8.3"> Extermination 8.3</ref> He could manifest a spear with enough force to penetrate Lung's armor.<ref name="5.9 e1">“Your people… animals.” Kaiser intoned.

Not six paces away from me, one of Lung’s thugs let out a raw scream and collapsed to the ground. Dagger-like blades had pierced the tops of his feet mid-stride. As he used his hands to break his fall, another set of blades punched through his palms. The screams of the other thugs echoed his. He was on his hands and knees, unable to move with his hands and feet effectively nailed to the ground.

“Kaiser!” I shouted, “No!”

“Not your business, little girl,” Kaiser told me, turning in my direction.

I took an immediate step back, fearing blades would appear under my feet.

“This is wrong,” I said, as I watched a sliver of steel sprout out of the ground and rise with a controlled speed to the base of the thug’s throat. He was forced to arch his back and raise his head to the absolute limits to avoid getting a very unnecessary tracheotomy. I glanced at Lung. He was watching what was happening, but I couldn’t read his alien expression.

“Wrong?” Kaiser chuckled, “As far as I’m concerned, the moment you need to fall back on morals to argue something, you’ve already lost the argument. This is war.” - Excerpt from Hive 5.9</ref>

He was limited by the Manton effect, rendering him unable to generate metal inside another person's body. Kaiser can still shape complex structures, including walls of blades,<ref name="5.9"/><ref name="8.3"/> pyramidal traps,<ref name="5.9"/><ref name="8.4">Extermination 8.4</ref> around and near people. This also lets him give someone metal armor like he did for his sister.<ref name="I5"> Taliesinskye and Psychogecko are pretty on target. Though Kaiser’s power wouldn’t prevent him from growing armor -on- someone (which is essentially what he did when he trapped Lung in the pyramid of blades, only it was a more offensive use). - Comment by Wildbow in Interlude 5</ref><ref name="I3.5"/> He did this by creating large numbers of intricate overlapping structures which extrude from each other to form a larger whole,<ref name="I4 e1"/> linked with extremely thin connections that were then snapped off to allow for free movement.<ref name="R1"/> The Manton limit doesn't stop him from summoning blades up and through people's feet.<ref name="5.9 e1"/><ref name="R1">He can shape the metal as it protrudes, so he can make something thick and then thicker or thinner as it emerges - he creates the metal forms as a protrusion with a thin end (kind of like the parts joining a model airplane part to a mold) and creates another blade (or simply moves) to emerge such that it snaps the bit as it finishes emerging, for the creation of individual components. For rivets he creates a component shaped like a fortune cookie that protrudes through a hole and drives another piece into the middle to open it wide, or he simply grows a tall blade through.

It would be next to impossible to remove his armor unless you're Fenja or Menja or you have giant bolt cutters - only he can really do it. Removing it would involve creating blades that scissored through or crushed rivets and the joints as they grew. - Wildbow on Reddit</ref>

History

Background

A second generation parahuman that inherited his power and social position from his father. Unlike his sister, Max never really believed in Nazi ideas, but pretended to in order to assume his father's position. At some point, Iron Rain was killed, allegedly by Marquis.

Kaiser came to power sometime in the early 2000s.

As a civilian Max was a baseball star in high school and introduced Kayden Anders to white supremacist ideas.

He married Heith and had a son, Theo; Heith was killed by the Teeth in a turf war in the 'bad old days'. Later, he married Purity, with whom he had a daughter, Aster.<ref name="I3.5"/> He promoted Purity to his second-in-command when they married. When she divorced him as well, she left the Empire Eighty-Eight.<ref name="7.4">Buzz 7.5</ref>

Later, when the Slaughterhouse Nine first visited Brockton Bay, he met eyes with Jacob who would later say that he was one of the very few who did so.<ref name="I11b">Interlude 11b</ref>

Story Start

He met with Kayden Anders and convinced her to rejoin the Empire on the condition that she would become his second in command. He also promised her that he would give her the Empire in a year if she still wasn't satisfied with his methods.<ref name="I3.5"/>

Max later met with the Undersiders, Faultline’s Crew, Coil, and the Merchants to talk about how they would deal with the Azn Bad Boys. He denied Skidmark a seat at the table, calling him and his gang deranged losers he wouldn't listen to. He then agreed to the truce that Coil proposed.<ref name="5.1">Hive 5.1</ref>

When Bitch threatened to visit Hookwolf's dogfighting rings again, he asked the Undersiders if it was a declaration of war. He agreed to put the issue aside to uphold the truce though warned them that the Empire would need restitution.<ref name="5.2 e1">“You mean give you a warning I’m coming,” Bitch spat the words, “That’s the dumbest fucking thing I ever heard. Just so you know, moving to a different neighborhood won’t be good enough. You open up another dogfighting ring, I’ll be visiting that one too.”

Oh, that’s what she’d done. I glanced at Tattletale, then at Grue. I was getting the impression neither of them had known.

Kaiser spoke, “Is that a declaration of war, Undersiders? We just agreed to a truce, if you recall.” He was utterly calm, a stark contrast to Hookwolf. Hookwolf was brimming with barely suppressed rage to the point that I could picture him leaping across the room and attacking us if someone so much as dropped a glass. - Excerpt from Hive 5.2</ref><ref name="5.2">Hive 5.2</ref>

Max, Fenja, and Menja later met Skitter, Bitch Newter, Sundancer and Labyrinth at the lighthouse. He informed them that the attack would begin in five minutes before telling them to move out, taking a few steps back when Bitch enhanced Brutus.<ref name="5.5">Hive 5.5</ref>

Together with Fenja and Menja, Max then went to circle around the ABB warehouse. He created a line of blades to prevent the ABB from escaping before drawing the attention of the guards. <ref>Hive 5.6 </ref> He followed Lung and created a narrow beam which Lung avoided.<ref>Kaiser strolled in, unworried, unhurried. Lung moved like he was going to lunge for him, then stopped just in time to avoid impaling himself on the narrow blade of steel that had erupted from the ground, pointed at his heart. I wasn’t sure if it would have penetrated his covering of scales, but if I were Lung, I don’t think I would have gambled on it either. - Excerpt from Hive 5.8</ref>

Max told Skitter that he had the situation in hand, but asked her what she would do after she told him about Lung's power. He formed a barrier between Lung and Skitter before creating a block of steel to shove Lung into the ground when he tried to jump. He then created a pyramid of crisscrossing blades around Lung to trap him before directing the blade he had been forming at him.<ref name="5.9 e2">Lung wasn’t quite down and out yet, though. He started climbing to his feet, only to have a pyramid of criss-crossing blades spear up around him. Blades appeared under and over his arms, just beneath his armpit, behind his knee, by his groin, with dozens more rising above and around him. Before he could find his way out, he was trapped. Buried and hidden beneath the layers of steel. - Excerpt from Hive 5.9</ref>

When Lung escaped, he used a metal spear to throw Lung towards Bitch's dogs before using his power on Lung's men. He then used a shaft to push Lung towards Sundancer's orb and then created a spear to impale Lung. He fell unconscious after he was smashed against the wall by Lung.<ref name="5.9 e673">With the sound of swords being drawn out of their sheaths, a barrier of blades and spears rose up from the ground between Lung and I. I found traction on the asphalt with my hands and feet, and I managed to half-crawl, half run away from him.

[...]

Except he didn’t get that far. A square pillar of steel as tall and long as an eighteen wheeler speared downward from the roof, straight at him. It caught Lung in his midsection and shoved him down into the ground, hard. A few seconds later, the weight of the block of steel tore it from the section of ceiling it was rooted in. It didn’t hit anyone as it dropped down but I could guess it would’ve killed someone: I could feel the impact of it striking the ground in my bones.

[...]

Lung was limp, his arms dangling at his sides. He was still bent over, and he might have fallen face first into the tar, if it wasn’t for the spear of iron that was impaling him through the heart. - Excerpt from Hive 5.9</ref> He was carried from the battlefield by Fenja.

Battle against Leviathan

Was part of the forces assembled against Leviathan. His blades were not able to stop the endbringer.<ref name="8.3 e6">Kaiser – I hadn’t even seen him in the group – erected a latticework of blades across the front of the alley, between us and Leviathan. It wasn’t enough. Leviathan tore through them like I might tear through a wicker basket. Edged pieces of steel spun through the air and clattered to the ground.

Kaiser changed tactics, creating columns of steel instead, each three or four feet across, harder to shatter. They were slower to emerge, but they bent rather than broke.

Leviathan responded by pushing. He exerted his full strength on the barrier of blades and the columns, leaning against them. The walls broke around the base of the columns, and the pieces of steel fell. - Excerpt from Extermination 8.3</ref> He was saved by Clockblocker freezing the monster.

Despite this Kaiser was still killed by Leviathan, ripped in two. However, his death was debatably a result of Armsmaster deliberately maneuvering him into position so that the field would be clear for the tinker to use his secret weapon. This was never publicly acknowledged, but Armsmaster was unofficially incarcerated.<ref name="Cast2">Kaiser (Deceased) – Was leader of Empire Eighty-Eight. Real name: Max Anders. Could summon metal objects from solid surfaces – blades, beams, bludgeons, spears and needles. Ripped in half by Leviathan. - Cast (in depth)</ref>

Legacy

Empire Eighty-Eight would collapse into warring factions, and his own son would become a hero, diametrically opposed to the ideology that Max had used all his life. Kaiser's name still carries some respect years after his death.<ref name="26.1 e1">It was Jack, here, in the center of the plaza. The camera wobbled as someone followed him, recording. I could see shadows of the other Slaughterhouse Nine in the background. Hookwolf. Skinslip. Night Hag.

“This message is intended for Theodore Anders. Kaiser’s son. Stop the video here and go find him. Time is of the essence, I should say. How much essence and time you have available depends on how incompetent you heroes are. Hurry now, I’ll wait.”

“No need to wait,” Tattletale commented. “He’s standing right here.”

There were a few looks of surprise at that. Eyes fell on Golem. - Excerpt from Sting 26.1</ref>

References

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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= }}