Mama Mathers

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<infobox> <title source="name"><default>Mama Mathers</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>

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<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>Mama Mathers, or just Mama,<ref name="I4cII e1">“Mama,” he said.

She wasn’t his mother, but it was how she was addressed. - Excerpt from Interlude 4c II</ref> is a Fallen Matriarch.

Personality

Even among her fellow Fallen she is described as "off", despite her obvious intelligence.<ref name="WDFall River"/>

She is, by all accounts, a true believer in the ideology of the Fallen, and willing to kill members who disappointed her<ref name="I4cII e4"/> and their families.

She has a extremely regressive view of gender roles, while at the same time an surprisingly progressive stance. Anyone can occupy any position within the family they want as long as they are dedicated to the "cause" and have powers.<ref name="I4cII e2">Her fingers traced his shoulder-length hair. “I told you to grow your hair long, back then.”

“Yes, mama,” he said.

“Do you remember why? Any boy of mine that does anything to catch my eye, good or bad, I have them do it. [...] The girls know it, but the boys sometimes need to learn it. I’m content to let either be my soldiers, but that requires zeal. Not everyone has it. Not everyone cleaves to their role and position. Everyone has responsibilities, and it takes a soldier to obey.”

Rain nodded again.

Her voice took on a different tone. No less ethereal, but haunting-ethereal, now. “The hair is to remind you that if you won’t be a soldier for the families, we’ll have you be a slut. We’ll get children out of you. If you fail at that, if they’re sickly or disobedient, we’ll geld you like we would any of the farm animals.” - Excerpt from Interlude 4c II</ref> Everyone else is disposable.

Appearance

Mama is a emaciated women, heightened by her thin face and long hair the bleaching has rendered frayed and silver. This gives her the presence of an old woman, looking fragile enough she could break, but to people that were affected by her power she felt 'heavy'.<ref name="I4cII e3">Rain averted his eyes, but he could see the white drape of the nightgown, the feet on the floor. She was sitting so the post and the sheer drape kept him from seeing a lot of her.

But he saw some. Her presence jumped into his head. He looked away, but it didn’t help.

Mama Mathers. Taller than him, gaunt, wispy of hair. She wasn’t old, but she had the presence of an old woman, thin enough that it seemed like she would break or crumple into a heap if struck. She stood right next to him, leaning over him. She touched his face, and he flinched.
[...]
He’d only seen her leg and foot, and she’d jumped into his head, tactile, audible, present, impossible to ignore.

Now, seeing her in full, it was more pronounced, heavier, insofar as the frail woman could be ‘heavy’. Her hair was long, bleached silver, and frayed. Her face was thin enough that it appeared older. - Excerpt from Interlude 4c II</ref> She generally wore white, as did every other close family member of hers.<ref name="6.2 e3">

Loose color scheme: white is leader/important Mathers

“Valefor and Mama Mathers,” I said.

Rain nodded, then typed. - Excerpt from Pitch 6.2</ref>

Abilities and Powers

Mama's power affects anyone who interacts with her in anyway, if they register her presence with any part of their Sensorium<ref name="6.2 e2"/> have a Dybbuk of her imprinted on them. Depending on the interaction this dybbuk can interact with the imprinted person. This dybbuk also senses things around it, allowing mama to take in information,<ref name="I4c e2"> - Excerpt from Interlude 4c II</ref> including anything provided by a power.<ref name="6.2 e2">Rain typed out his message, and held out the phone for Sveta, Capricorn and I. Vista and Foil drew close enough, and so they got a look too.

If you see mama you will start to see things.

If you hear… start to hear things.

Etc for touch/thinker senses

She can see/hear/thinker through these things

I nodded. I’d known and inferred most of that. - Excerpt from Pitch 6.2</ref> Anytime a subject mentions Mama in any way, writing her name, talking about her, even thinking about her, a phantom image of her appears in their field of view and takes in the surroundings.<ref name="R3">If you see her, she can visually appear before you. The more you look at her, the easier it is for her to appear.

If you hear her, she can speak to you. The more you hear her, the easier it is to appear.

If you touch her, she can give you the sensation of touch. The more you touch her, the easier it is to appear.

When she appears, she seems to be able to sense things around her image. Sometimes it's not her, but other things, like a sound of beating wings, spiders, or blood.

At the most basic, she appears if you refer to her by name, in word or writing. As you get more exposure to her, it happens if you think about her, if you refer to her in abstract, or if you even think about her in general, like not wanting to think about her.

If you use a thinker power? Effect is stronger, and affect things other than sight/hearing/touch. - Wildbow on Reddit</ref> It is unknown what her ceiling is for how many subjects she can affect, how the distance over which the connection is sustained, or how much information she can processes. Regardless it is enough for her to create an ad-hoc communication network between those she has affected,<ref>Shadow 5.9</ref><ref name="5.10 e1">. - Excerpt from Shadow 5.10</ref> and carry on whole conversations without needing to speak.<ref name="I4cII e4">“Rain,” she said. “Look at me [...] I will have you killed if you do not,” she said.

He looked.

He’d only seen her leg and foot, and she’d jumped into his head, tactile, audible, present, impossible to ignore.
[...]
“Why would you leave, when we haven’t talked?” she asked. “You’ve been standing there, talking to yourself.”

“Sorry, mama,” he said.

He knew how she worked, but he couldn’t ignore the apparition in situations like this, because ignoring her and having her turn out to be real was the sort of thing that got him killed.

“Everything I said to you before now, it came from within you. I saw and heard much of it,” she said.

- Excerpt from Interlude 4c II</ref>

Her power<ref name="5.12 e1">The idea of losing my mind like that terrified me, to the point I felt like my gut and my brain were bound in knots. I tried to focus that terror into a cold, rational look at what I needed to do. Mama Mathers was the biggest danger. Valefor was the second. They were Masters and Strangers, the PRT classification for those who controlled others or minions, and the classification for those who infiltrated or deceived. Mama Mathers and Valefor were squarely in the overlap between the two. - Excerpt from Shadow 5.12</ref> acts as a harsh anti-Thinker ability that allows her to keep her kin covered from snooping eyes.<ref name="R2">The Fallen are slippery, and the reason they haven't been wiped off the map is that they utilize a cell structure and have some cover from parahuman abilities. Valefor's mom in particular. A thinker doesn't want to go scanning tracts of rural/unpopulated area for missing kids if it means a chance of seeing her looking back at them. Because if they do, then they'll likely end up in a brief coma followed by a year and a half of something like being convinced the walls are bleeding spiders. She has kids with buds from the same shard and farms them out to other branches of the family in exchange for some muscle (Eligos being some of that). Not that same degree of punishment or screening, but stuff in that general vein. - Wildbow on Reddit</ref> Those with any power assisted perception of her feel for the effect.<ref name="R3">chandra381: Honestly I think Wibblebub is wasted in any other genre than horror.
[...]
Quick q: is she the same person as Valefor's Mom that WB mentioned earlier while describing the Fallen, who had some kind of anti-clairvoyant countermeasure?

Wildbow: The effect is more intense if you use enhanced perception on her. - Wildbow on Reddit</ref><ref name="R3"/>

It is known that she can rescind her connection for a time,<ref name="I5dII e1">The woman’s hand, spectral as it was, felt real as it touched Rain’s hair. He flinched, but she persisted. He remained where he was, head turned away, neck stiff.

“This was good,” Mama Mathers said. “I’ll reward you.”

He didn’t move a muscle.

“Enjoy your evening, my soldier. Tomorrow, we show them we’re not to be trifled with.”

Rain turned his head, to look for clarification, but she was gone. There was a distant sound, like a flock of birds taking off.

He’d slept on the train, but this whole scene was so surreal. She’d-

He stopped, bracing himself for her appearance. For the physical contact.

She hadn’t appeared. The sound remained. A thunderous flapping, far away.

Mama Mathers, he thought.

There was only the sound.

She’d freed him? For only tonight?
[...]
Mama Mather’s disconnected presence was like bird’s wings against the exterior of the house, rustling. - Excerpt from Interlude 5d II</ref> it is unknown what criteria are needed to reestablish it. Much like 'disconnecting' causes people to hear the sound of wings when they think of her; the effect might also tuned to cause powerful and disabling hallucinations.<ref name="5.8">Byron spoke up, “Can you take a message back to her?”

“I don’t know,” the biker woman said, sullen. “I don’t-”

She paused.

“What?” Byron asked.

“She says no, no messages. Other stuff. She-”

Her eyes went wide. She looked around, her eyes not focused on anything in particular.

The woman’s voice carried forward, but it was an inarticulate sound, one that became higher, then a warbling shriek, followed by a gasp for air with a sound of its own.

She dropped to the ground, fingers clawing in dirt, twisting like she was trying to get away from everything at once. The noises she made were horrible, and I’d heard some awful noises in my life. - Excerpt from Shadow 5.8</ref> People who are only fleetingly register her in some way are still affected if only nominally,<ref name="5.10 e2">

Looksee:

Not peeking am reporting what others saying. Precog with me says Vista says that the hostages you want are toward south end of town. Map attached.

The text had an image attached.

I flew skyward, looking.

A group. Valefor’s group, with Fallen civilians and others. The hostages.

We could figure something out.

White flickers danced in the corner of my vision. I looked away, but they persisted. Like the motes of dust in my eye, but akin to snowflakes.

If that was their anti-thinker measure, which might well be Mama Mathers, then even the thinker-esque advantage of having a bird’s eye view was enough to give them an in.

I grit my teeth.

I’d seen the building Looksee had marked on the map. - Excerpt from Shadow 5.10</ref> this can still be enough to blind deafen and distract people.<ref name="5.11">Don’t spend too long looking, Capricorn. They’ve got a fucky-”

I saw the camouflage distort as he brought his hands to his head.

“-power,” he said.

I thought about the visual ‘snow’ and it flared back into existence at the lower right corner of my eye.

“The anti-thinker measure,” I said. - Excerpt from Shadow 5.11</ref><ref name="6.2 e2">The whispers I heard were indistinct, but they came with a return of the white snow in my vision, moving in my peripheral vision and creating shapes that weren’t really shapes, like the way faces could seem to stand out from a pile of leaves or the light and shadow in a cloud. - Excerpt from Pitch 6.2</ref>

Restrictions/Drawbacks

Her power can affect some technology, although does not transfer through it.

Hallucinations do not persist while Mama is unconscious. Emotional attacks, and possibly other similar effects can effect her through the connection.<ref name=5.12e2>I changed course, flying back to where I’d been. I continued down the street. I was putting the bulk of the lopsided engagement behind me, passing by Rain, by two twenty-ish capes with steel-gray hair, and that meant I could fly faster. I kept my eyes on the people and goings-on behind me.

I found what I was hoping for. The screaming, just briefly, changed. The aura extended through the hostages to Mama Mathers, and she affected the hostages in turn. I had a sense of my range, and through that, I had a good sense of her location. - Excerpt from Shadow 5.12</ref>

History

Background

Joined the Fallen and presumably founded the Mathers family. Had several children from multiple different fathers, such as Valefor and the one who called himself Lionheart. She also traded children to other branches in order to get firepower back.<ref name="R2"/>

Post-Echidna

Her son, Valefor, attempted to claim Brockton Bay for the Fallen.<ref><Interlude 20.y</ref> Elijah failed and was blinded by the cities warlord, Skitter, in the ensuing battle.<ref name="21.3">Imago 21.3</ref> It is unknown how she reacted to this.

Timeskip

She lost another of her sons in a more permanent fashion<ref>WD Lincoln</ref>

Mama, along with other Fallen group leaders, sent out several family groups throughout the North America after she heard about the End of the World prophecy.<ref name="WDFall River">WD Fall River</ref> In order to prepare for it.

Gold Morning

Presumably participated, willingly or otherwise.

Early-Ward

With the amnesty Mama found herself in Earth Gimel with a large collection of fallen.

She was mentioned as one of main villainous influencers in the new multiversal human society.<ref>“What about the ones who are hooked into bigger groups?” I asked.

“That gets more complicated, and it’s less about the places to watch and more about the names to keep an ear out for,” my dad said. “Marquis, Goddess, Lord of Loss, Mama Mathers, the Crowley brothers, Deader and Goner, Barrow.”

I knew the names and I knew where they were situated. No big surprises there. I nodded to myself. Marquis. So casually mentioned. - Excerpt from Glare 3.5</ref>

Mama had an interview with Rain were she made sure he kept the faith and that he was staying the course with his project to kill his other trigger mates.<ref name="I4cII e5">“It’s been years,” she said. “You only think about me a few times a day. I thought it was time we were reacquainted. You have your mission.”

“I’ll kill my cluster.”

“And be a loyal soldier. Think of me,” she said. “If you don’t, you know what will happen.”

“Yes mama,” he said.

“Allie. Your aunt and uncle. Erin, her family. And you won’t see me. You’ll see other things.” - Excerpt from Interlude 4c II</ref>

She was a major factor when the Fallen compound came under attack.<ref name="5.12">Shadow 5.12</ref> She was captured, escaped custody, and was captured again.

Post-Fallen fall

She was being isolated in undisclosed location.<ref>Beacon 8.4</ref> Later she was freed by an unknown side.<ref>Time is of the essence. In a day, things might be too far gone. Your Mama Mathers, Rain, is gone. They’ll find out soon. - Excerpt from Gleaming 9.2</ref>

Fanart Gallery

• Error creating thumbnail: File missing
  Illustration by Uberpigeon on reddit
• Error creating thumbnail: File missing
  Illustration by FunkyTK1

Trivia

• Wildbow had Mama Mathers planned for a while.<ref name="R1">Not sharing Valefor's mom's power, as she's interesting enough I want to keep her in my back pocket. - Wildbow on Reddit</ref>

References

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