Myrddin

<infobox> <title source="name"><default>Myrddin</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> Myrddin was the leader of the Chicago Protectorate team. <ref name="cast-page">Cast Page</ref>

Personality And Appearance

Myrddin wears a brown robe with a cloak, and carries a gnarled wooden staff, styling himself as a wizard.<ref name="cast-page"/><ref name="8.1">Extermination 8.1</ref><ref name="17.4">Migration 17.4</ref>

He has a metal visor that casts his face in shadow, and body armor with a raised metal collar beneath his robe.

He maintains a thick, well-trimmed brown beard.<ref name="17.7"/>

Noted for being one of the most powerful heroes in the United States of America, and a long-standing and highly valued member of the Protectorate. <ref name="19.5"/><ref name="17.8">Migration 17.8</ref>

Relationships

Chevalier

Myrddin had a long time friendship with the pseudo-knight, leading into them working well together in the field.<ref name="19.5 e1"/> They had an ongoing debate on what differentiates believer and cynic.<ref name="I28x">Cockroaches 28.x (Interlude)</ref>

Alexandria

The heroine considered Myrddin a dear friend.<ref name="22.4">“I don’t blame you,” she said. “I loved Hero. I loved Legend, and Eidolon, and Myrddin. I know what it means to pass through hell together, to take a desperate breath for air, to clutch for clarity of mind, and help each other find the briefest of respite in the little things, only to plunge into that hell once more. The little jokes, the familiarity, the gestures and small kindnesses, they count for a lot, when you’ve been through what we’ve been through-” Cell 22.4</ref>

Abilities and Powers

Myrddin carried around several pocket dimensions, which he could use for a selection of dimension-specific effects.<ref name="powerlist">Myrddin on Parahuman List, bolded edit by Wildbow.</ref><ref name="cast-page"/> He is aided by making signs and words that seems to be how he categorizes and organizes his pocket dimensions. He applied his powers in versatile ways:

• He could fly, and remain unmoving in midair in the face of powerful vacuums.<ref name="17.7"/>
• He can temporarily "banish" people in a clap of thunder and a cloud of mist.<ref name="17.7">Migration 17.7</ref> He may only be able to banish one person at a time.<ref>“Banish one?” the man with the spheres asked.
  
  “Already banished their hostage.” - Excerpt from Migration 17.7</ref> This technique could banish even someone as massive as Echidna, although it seemed to require concentration to maintain.<ref name="19.5"/>
• He could summon multiple heroes with a wave of his staff by carrying them into a pocket dimension and then bringing them out.<ref name="19.5 e2">Echidna hadn’t used her power yet. She’d absorbed enough capes, but something was holding her back. I wondered if her regeneration drew on the same pool of flesh-generation that made the clones and she couldn’t make clones while healing the kind of heavy damage the Triumvirate was dishing out. Maybe there was some other drawback.
  
  The ‘shoulders’ of her lower body scraped and dragged against the sides of buildings as she stampeded through the back alleyways. She kicked a dumpster and sent it careening as she ran, brushed against a fire escape with enough speed and force that it was ripped from the brick wall.
  
  She was very nearly out of my power’s reach when Myrddin cut her off. He waved his staff and a group of heroes materialized around him. Tecton and Chevalier were among them. - Excerpt from Scourge 19.5</ref>
• He could draw a glowing symbol in the air, then detonate it, firing a blast of concussive force in the same shape as the symbol. This allowed him to target specific combatants while ignoring his teammates. Trickster speculated that this was opening a crack into a dimension filled with compressed air. He could use this power several times in rapid succession.<ref name="17.7"/><ref name="19.6">Scourge 19.6</ref> This blast could be powerful enough to push Echidna around.<ref name="19.5"/>
• Absorbed enormous amounts of matter into a sphere, which could then be launched as a hyperdense projectile.<ref>Myrddin, working with Eidolon. They stood in the center of the road, Eidolon turning the water into mist, while Myrddin gathered it. Myrddin's wooden stick was held aloft, and the mist was forming a sphere the size of a beachball at one end.
  
  Ok, I could almost buy the wizard angle, seeing that.
  
  Leviathan leaped from the roof of a nearby building, landing in the midst of one group that was still reeling from the wave, started tearing through them.
  
  The armbands remained ominously silent, even as I watched the casualties.
  
  Myrddin pointed his staff and launched that orb at Leviathan. It hit harder than anything yet, and the brute was sent flying into the interior of a nearby building. - Excerpt from Extermination 8.3</ref><ref name="19.5"> - Excerpt from Scourge 19.5</ref> The vacuum was powerful enough to pull nearby combatants toward him. He performed this trick by drawing a dark sign in midair.<ref name="19.5 e1">Chevalier and Myrddin made an effective duo. Chevalier’s power had made his armor virtually impervious, his cannonblade massive, each effectively many times as dense and/or many times as large as they should be, but he was still able to treat them as though they were the normal size. He swung his sword as though it were barely there, and when he found an opportunity to strike out with a gauntleted fist, the effect was always far greater than the hit deserved.
  
  Not so different from Fenja and Menja, only his gear was the focus, not himself, and he was a little more versatile.
  
  Myrddin, for his part, coupled versatility with raw power to devastating effect. He had a bag of tricks and switched from one to another without hesitation. Echidna spewed a stream of bodies and gore, and Myrddin drew a dark sign into the air, suctioning the incoming matter into it. I sensed Chevalier and Tecton slamming their weapons into the nearest surfaces to avoid being pulled in, catching hold of allies who weren’t so capable. Then my own bugs were yanked toward the crevice and violently crushed against all of the other debris, leaving me momentarily blind in that area. More of my bugs flowed in, giving me time to see Chevalier delivering a series of powerful sword strikes and cannon shots at Echidna, not letting up. He paused, throwing himself into a side-alley as Noelle tried to stomp on him, and Myrddin released the matter he’d suctioned in as a condensed bullet of gore, dust, crushed bodies and dead bugs.
  
  Perhaps the strongest thing about the partnership between the two heroes was how well it accommodated others. Heroes with ranged powers were free to unload on Echidna while the other two fought, and heroes like Tecton could offer further support, destroying the ground beneath her feet. She was big enough now that he couldn’t trap her, but he could make her stumble, or bring concrete from the nearby buildings raining down on top of her. - Excerpt from Scourge 19.5</ref>
• He was able to collect the radioactive material from an area.<ref>"Myrddin caught up with me, collected all the radioactive stuff," Wanton said. - Excerpt from Scourge 19.3</ref>
• He could catch "glimpses" of how a parahuman's power functioned.<ref name="17.4 e2">“A protective power. I just got a glimpse of the idea behind it. Retribution,” the first man said. He was behind the man in armor, wearing a robe. “Her power’s based around retribution for damage done.” - Excerpt from Migration 17.4</ref>
• It was speculated he could rig some sort of countermeasure to keep prisoners from escaping long-term.<ref name="I12½">Interlude 12.5</ref>

His abilities didn't function properly on materials that had recently moved between dimensions, including his own pocket dimensions and Alternate Earths.<ref name="17.4 e2">Armsmaster sighed. “I know. Can you shift this into one of your pocket dimensions?”

“I get bad interactions if I transition something in of one of my dimensions and back, or if I take things out of one dimension and put them into another. It doesn’t compartmentalize into the dimension properly if it’s been elsewhere too recently. Whether these people and objects came from somewhere halfway across the globe or some pocket dimension, I don’t think we want to test our luck and risk something disastrous.”

Krouse startled at that. Is that what happened to me? Some bad interaction of inter-dimensional crap?

“I’m thinking white phosphor?” Armsmaster suggested. Myrddin nodded. - Excerpt from Migration 17.4</ref><ref>Myrddin sent things to another dimension. Monster has hostage? Send Hostage to a pocket dimension for a duration. This is why he told Dragon to mark the area and send help for when Krouse pops back into reality. But dimension shenanigans meant it acted differently.

- Wildbow on Sufficient Velocity</ref> Tattletale speculated that, like Labyrinth, his power might create a dimensional rift in conjunction with Scrub's blasts.<ref name="19.4">Scourge 19.4</ref>

History

Migration

During the Simurgh's attack on Madison, Wisconsin, Myrddin met Francis Krouse and Noelle Meinhardt<ref name="19.4">Scourge 19.4</ref> as well as several case 53s. He vehemently argued against escalating the protective measures when it came to containing the damage from the fight.<ref name="17.4 e1">“No,” Myrddin agreed. “This is a bad one. Too many possible avenues to cover, too much exposure time across the board.”

“We’re doubling down quarantine, and we’ll have a processing center in place shortly. The President is pushing the D.D.I.D measure.”

“It’s going to backfire,” Myrddin said. “I’ve said it before, I’ll say it now, and I’ll remind you all I said it with every chance I get, from now until the day I die. It’s going to backfire.”

“I don’t disagree,” Dragon said.

“But you’re helping to enforce it.”

“I’m following orders.”

“No offense, I like you, Dragon, but that’s the oldest excuse in the book.”

“I’m merely picking my battles.”

“If you’re not going to fight this battle, then what will push you to make a stand?”

“Myrddin,” Armsmaster cut in, “Ease up. And pay attention. This is it.” - Excerpt from Migration 17.4</ref>

In the aftermath he delivered a press statement, boosting the morale and acknowledging major contributors. <ref> ‘This is a win for the good guys. Scion arrived early to put the pressure on within minutes of her arrival and Eidolon delivered the final blows, driving her off. We’re getting better at fighting these guys, and it’s showing.’</ref>

Leviathan Fight

He took part in the battle by working with Eidolon<ref name="8.3 e1">Myrddin, working with Eidolon. They stood in the center of the road, Eidolon turning the water into mist, while Myrddin gathered it. Myrddin’s wooden stick was held aloft, and the mist was forming a sphere the size of a beachball at one end.

Ok, I could almost buy the wizard angle, seeing that.

[...]

Myrddin pointed his staff and launched that orb at Leviathan. It hit harder than anything yet, and the brute was sent flying into the interior of a nearby building.

[...]

I couldn’t afford to dwell on what might have happened to Tattletale. I wiped beads of water from the lenses of my mask with my gloved hands, pushed my hair out of my face, and made a note of my bugs. There were scant few in the way of bugs that could navigate in this storm. Myrddin had banished the water from the wave, somehow, but the downpour was making the streets flood fast enough that I didn’t trust anything to crawl. No, my power was dead useless, here. - Excerpt from Extermination 8.3</ref>, but was eventually taken out of the fight.<ref name="8.5">Extermination 8.5</ref>

Post-Leviathan

Saw the scene at the hospital.

Presumably returned to Chicago, minus the potential recruit he would have had.

Post-Slaughterhouse Nine

During the Battle against Echidna, Myrddin told Tattletale that trying to open a portal to Earth Aleph was too dangerous and that they didn't know if it would work. When Tattletale asked if he said that as the resident dimensional manipulator or because he was afraid it would lead to a revelation about Cauldron, he asked her what she was talking about. Miss Militia told them to stick to the matter at hand before saying that they would talk about it later to which Myrddin agreed.

When Tattletale refused to drop it, Myrddin asked if she was a clone. Skitter told him that she almost wished she was before saying it was the real her. When Chevalier asked about why Miss Militia had attacked Tattletale, she said that Tattletale could cause a catastrophic amount of damage with her information before asking them if they had read her file. Myrddin said that he had before Chevalier asked about the information Tattletale had.

Skitter told them that she could explain and Myrddin looked towards Miss Militia. When she nodded, he raised his voice and told everyone not immediately involved in their discussion to find something else to do. Gully refused to leave, even after being warned, and Myrddin told her that they were on the brink of another conflict with an S-class threat and that she and her teammates needed to clear out. She told him that she needed to know for others like her. Myrddin told her that it wasn't the time or place before the ground shook and he noted they were out of time.<ref name="19.4">Scourge 19.4</ref>

Myrddin cut Echidna off before waved his staff and releasing a group of heroes that then materialized around him. When Echidna charged them, he used his staff to write a sign in the air that then exploded outwards to strike Echidna in the face. He then worked with Chevalier against Echidna. He drew a dark sign and sucked the stream of bodies and gore that Echidna released. He then directed the matter he had sucked in as a condensed bullet at Echidna. When Echidna tried to go after Chevalier, Myrddin helped drive her back.

Later, Myrddin caught up with Echidna before hitting her with one of his 'spells'. He went very still and started to concentrate after Echidna vanished. Sometime during the battle between Echidna's clones and the heroes, his concentration was broken and Echidna was released.<ref name="19.5">Scourge 19.5</ref>

Myrddin recovered from holding Echidna at bay underneath Legend and Alexandria before taking to the air. He snuck up on Echidna and the Eidolon clone from behind, pointed his staff at the clone, and then made it disappear. He was sent flying off course when the air the clone had compressed was released before setting himself down on the ground. When the clone reappeared, Myrddin started fighting him again. The clone tried to trap him in a vacuum and hampered Myrddin's flight with headwinds and gusts, and sharp blasts of wind that Myrddin deflected or dodged. Myrddin attacked relentlessly, bombarding the clone with explosions of energy alternating with scattered releases of whatever he managed to suck in while close to the ground.

Later, Myrddin was shoved against a wall by the clone who then pummeled him with repeated blasts of wind. The clone then got close enough to trap Myrddin in his vacuum and Myrddin gave up fighting, focusing his attention on trying to escape. The clone caught him, knocked the staff from his hand, and choked him with the vacuum. Regent caused the clone to lose his grip on Myrddin's neck and air returned, thrusting Myrddin against the wall. He then fell to the ground where the clone approached him. Skitter and Regent attempted to stop the clone, but the clone managed to kill Myrddin by stabbing him in the throat.<ref name="19.6">Scourge 19.6</ref>

Trivia

• His superhero cape identity is based on Myrddin Wyllt, the original Welsh source for Merlin of Arthurian Legend.

References

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