Contessa

{{#if:Interlude 29|

<infobox> <title source="name"><default>Contessa</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> Fortuna,<ref name="29.x"/> more commonly known as Contessa, is a founding member of Cauldron.

Personality

How much her shard has influenced her personality is an open question.

She built her life, from a very young age, around making sure that Zion did not complete his cycle.<ref>Not what I’d meant. “Giving too much power to wrong people. To bullies. With powers, bullies without.”

She gave me a slightly surprised look at that. “I don’t see that applying to Scion.”

“Doesn’t.”

“He doesn’t factor? He isn’t a consideration, at the end?”

“Fighting him… always more about us than about him. Not a consideration.”

“And the person who played the biggest role in stopping him doesn’t give him a second thought,” she said. There was a note of emotion in her voice. She was gripping the gun handle tightly enough that her knuckles turned white, but her expression wasn’t an angry one.

I didn’t respond. I felt like it might have been rude to. We all had our demons, our burdens, and this was hers. - Excerpt from Speck 30.7</ref>

Contessa chose her path when she was a young girl and followed it unflinching for decades. Thanks to her power it is reasonable to assume that like her opponent she was shielded from the psychological stimulation that lends itself to maturity.

Despite being extremely powerful, Contessa does not lead Cauldron and instead acts as Doctor Mother's bodyguard and right-hand woman.<ref name="29.xe1">Easier to have an adult handling the negotiating and person-to-person interaction. Fortuna was young, and people wouldn’t be so inclined to drink a strange substance offered by a child.

[include Doctor mother]

- Excerpt from Interlude 29</ref>

Relationships

Doctor Mother

Her partner in crime. They have worked for the balance of their lives to save the world. Because of the things they've had to do she respects her as much as she respects herself; i.e. not at all.

Reputation

She is one of the most powerful parahumans in existence and is known as "her" or "the Boogeyman" to people high-ranked enough in the Protectorate to know about her. One Protectorate cape classifies her as "Thinker. Don't worry about the number. Just run."<ref name="23.02">“What’s her classification?”

“Thinker. Don’t worry about the number. Just run.” - Excerpt from Drone 23.2</ref>

Appearance

<tabber>Contessa= Contessa is a pale-skinned woman with black hair described as "somewhere between wavy and curly", worn a little longer than shoulder length.<ref name="24.2e1">She was older, but not old. Maybe my dad's age, maybe a little younger. Pretty, in a very natural way. She didn't wear any obvious makeup, and her black hair was somewhere between wavy and curly, a little longer than shoulder length. Her features French or Italian, if I had to guess. She wore only a simple black suit that had been tailored to fit her body, with a narrow black tie and a white dress shirt. What got me were the eyes. There was no kindness in them. - [ Excerpt] from Crushed 24.2</ref> On at least one occasion, she wore it in a loose ponytail.<ref name="25.5e1"/> She was pretty, but didn't wear obvious makeup.<ref name="24.2e1"/>

As a child, she generally wore a school uniform.<ref name="I27e1">May 1986, twenty-seven years ago

A strange place for this discussion.

The woman looked supremely at ease as she took a seat opposite David. The teenage girl who accompanied her was just as confident. Here and there in the little cafe, people gave them dirty looks.

The woman was black, dressed all in white, the girl wore a private school uniform and held a notebook and fountain pen. - 27.x (Interlude, Eidolon)‏‎</ref><ref name="I15.ze 1">Rebecca stirred, turning around to see who was speaking. A black woman with long hair in a doctor's get-up was messing with the IV bag. But… no name tag. And there was a teenage girl with pale skin and dark hair standing behind her, wearing knee-high socks, a black pleated skirt and white dress shirt. "You're not one of my doctors." - Interlude 15.z</ref> As an adult, she wears a tailored black suit with a white dress shirt and a black tie<ref name="24.2e1"/> and a fedora.<ref name="I18.f e1">A young woman, dark-haired, wearing a suit and fedora, with luggage on wheels. - Interlude 18.f</ref><ref name="25.5e1">The rectangular portal closed, and I was left staring at a wall. I turned to see the woman in the suit. She was tidy, her hair tied back in a loose ponytail with strands tracing the side of her face, and she held a fedora in one hand. The hat was beaded with moisture. Another excursion she'd made before reaching out to me? - Scarab 25.5</ref>

|-|Titan Fortuna= Upon broken triggering into a Titan, Contessa's appearance changed significantly. She became an enormous vaguely woman shaped figure, with her head turned skyward. She has no face, but a morass of hair-like black stone. Three large wolf heads of this same black stone made up part of her neck and shoulders. Everything below that is a jumble of images. She also has an untold amount of eyes covering her entire body.<ref>She was growing, but not in a smooth way. Rather, in staggered stages, parts of her lunged into being. A black stone wolf’s head, three hands reaching up to grasp at one another’s wrists, winding and almost braiding together in their efforts. Forking, another wolf’s head. A curl of what could have been hair or horn writ in more black stone with traces of white. More curlings and decorative growths.

Until there was a silhouette, a vaguely woman-shaped figure with head turned skyward, back arched and chest and stomach thrust up and out, ‘arms’ dangling. She had no face, but instead a morass of that hair-like, horn-like curling of black stone, like a curtain of it was draped over her head. Three large wolf heads framed her neck and helped form one of her shoulders. Everything below was a jumble, images so layered and lost in one another that they were almost pure decoration.

The black-lightning cracks around her were intense, with more straight lines than the other disaster.

She didn’t move a muscle, if she even had muscles. But she did open her eyes. Amber eyes all up and down her body, some so small the chains of them looked like veins of gold, appearing in cracks and the centers of curls. In tumbles of blacks tone hair and open mouths. Everywhere but where a human silhouette should have eyes. Each bright in the midst of smoke and snow, contrasted by the blackness of her. - Excerpt from Interlude 17.z II</ref> </tabber>

Abilities and Powers

Contessa's power allows her to see the adaptable steps<ref>She could see each individual step, looking forward to see what it entailed. She could see it evolve as time passed, accounting for her starting it later.</ref> she needs to take to succeed at nearly any given task and execute them perfectly.<ref name="24.2"/><ref name="29.x"/> Its applications include combat, communication, social situations, Cauldron's long-term plans, and how to set conditions for trigger events.<ref>Venom 29.7</ref> Through a series of questions (see below) she is able to use it to the utmost. Though almost unparalleled in power even it has limits or restrictions. (see below)

She can default to following the path, letting her Shard take over.<ref name=auto>Torrieltar: Path to Victory comes with a sort of autopilot, right? Do we know what kind of limits that has? If, for example, a telepath was inflicting what would normally be debilitating psychological pain, would Path to Victory's autopilot help to power through that?

Wildbow: Autopilot yes (defaulting control to shard with faster-than-human processing), if her body remained functional then she'd basically move forward in a haze of PtVness. - Wildbow on Reddit</ref> Thus putting herself out of range for many powers.

When trying to persuade someone it gives her the savoir faire necessary to succeed.

As Path to Victory is All-or-Nothing,<ref name=AorN>Torrieltar: How fast can Path to Victory react to unforeseen changes?

Wildbow: All changes are foreseen, as a rule. Can't cite anything, but there's a line that sorta appears in the story, where you run into the perfects (perfect defense, perfect offense) and stuff gets fucky - and the rule of thumb is that 'unless your ability beats -everything-, it doesn't beat this'. For processing power Contessa's ability would be on this level (as with Flechette's Sting, Clockblocker's inviolability, Siberian's invulnerability). - Wildbow on Reddit</ref> the typical precognitive cannot interfere with her power.<ref name="24.2 eNotConfused">“Right, that wasn’t my second question. What I want to know is why the hell you haven’t used a power like yours to figure out how to beat the Endbringers.”

“My power is a form of precognition,” she said. “Unlike most such powers, other precognitive abilities do not confuse it. That said, there are certain individuals it does not work against, the Endbringers included.”

“Why?” Tecton asked.

“No way to know for sure,” she said, “But we have theories. The first is that they have a built-in immunity, something their origins granted them.” - Crushed 24.2</ref><ref name="24.4 c1">hitherbydragons: Only, Contessa isn’t actually going to do all of these things: it’s just that she’ll do those things _in the world where the Simurgh is doing that plan._ So her power becomes a shape, a shadow, over the set of futures that the Simurgh can build. And normally vice versa, except that Contessa’s power apparently wins.
[...]
wildbow: That is pretty much exactly right. - Comment by Wildbow on Crushed 24.4</ref> Indeed, Contessa is a blind spot for these individuals (e.g, Shamrock,<ref>Shamrock was busy giving Spitfire a tracheotomy. A fedora filled with slime was plastered to the younger girl’s face, and she was struggling weakly. Shamrock’s own face was covered in blood from nose to chin, and her efforts to administer the tracheotomy were limited as the fingers of one hand were bent at awkward angles.
[...]
Shamrock let Faultline take over, positioning the clear plastic tube that was sticking into the hole in Spitfire’s throat. She had to spit blood out of her mouth before speaking, “No. I don’t know. She came in here and took us apart in twenty seconds. We didn’t touch her.”
[...]
“Super speed? Super strength?” Faultline asked.

“No. Don’t think,” Shamrock spat blood onto the floor. She tried to stand and failed, put one hand to her leg. “Nothing I could see.”
[...]
The bloodstained piece of paper had a message on the underside.

Final warning.

-c

- Interlude 18.f</ref><ref>“Super speed? Super strength?” Faultline asked.

“No. Don’t think,” Shamrock spat blood onto the floor. She tried to stand and failed, put one hand to her leg. “Nothing I could see.”

“A thinker power. Precognition? No, that wouldn’t work with your power. Fuck!” - Interlude 18.f</ref> Dinah,<ref>Dinah Alcott was speaking, sounding annoyed or upset. She wore a nice suit-dress with a wild pattern to it, and a similarly patterned cloth as a blindfold. “You can’t trust her. I’ve run the numbers, I can’t see past her but I can see everything around her, and I can at least see things that have yet to happen that are right behind her point of influence, understand?”

“Barely,” Miss Militia said.

“Not at all,” Gary said. He was a big guy, one hand wrapped around one fist. He looked entirely out of place, like a grown man with a fear of kids sitting in a kindergarten. - From Within 16.2</ref><ref>“I made no mistakes. I wasn’t reckless. I was careful and she woke up, blinded me, and slapped everything I was setting up out of my hands, and she did it for a reason. And in every one of those eventualities I talked about? She makes it through. She’s there, after all the blind spots pass, and she leaves us to our fates, for as long as we still exist in any sense.” - From Within 16.3</ref> the Simurgh<ref name="II18.z eSilence">The silver woman was silent, but the silence spoke volumes. - Excerpt from Radiation 18.z</ref><ref name="II18.z eSmile">Finally, she decided to cede ground. To look for the answer why. Though the silver woman couldn’t reach her, couldn’t see her, a smile crept over the silver face, and wings stretched wider. She had somehow sensed the surrender. - Excerpt from Radiation 18.z</ref>). She also cannot be predicted easily with the typical Thinker danger sense: Goddess could only feel a directionless threat and inevitable doom when Contessa sent her to Earth Shin.<ref>“So it happens,” Tattletale said, with a grin. “With only a select group of top Wardens and major players really tracking what really happened. But we were talking the woman in blue. She got powers and was relocated to Earth Shin before she could… grow to full potential. Relocated by a certain secretive agency.”

“Cauldron,” Sveta said.

“Yep. She proceeded to take over earth Shin, with all other parahumans acting as her lieutenants. All other parahumans on that world, mind. No exceptions. Which the organization deemed fine, because they got to keep her in their back pocket, even while they couldn’t control her. She is, or was, a grab-bag, she found a way to pull free of her cluster, and she came out of it with a set of powers that would each be world-class on their own.” - Pitch 6.8</ref><ref>Goddess shook her head, but she didn’t offer anything specific that would clarify matters. I felt my heartbeat accelerate some, just from seeing her this concerned.

“I’ve felt this directionless threat before,” she said. “It was after I came into my power, before I’d exercised it and learned its limits. Someone came for me. A monster, but the bitch looked human. She sent me to Shin. To give this feeling a name… it’s inevitability. A doom through a nearly complete and total lack of options.”

“Inevitable doom, affecting this whole world?” Rain asked. “Hollow?”

“Hollow, with a bloody aftertaste. I’ve never felt a hollow doom before,” Goddess said. “Maybe one of you has. Figure this out, now.” - Gleaming 9.12</ref>

Questions

To get the most out of her power she asks herself various questions at the start of each day,<ref name="Que">Torrieltar: How hard is it to trick Contessa into asking her Path to Victory the wrong question?

Wildbow: Theoretically possible/doable. But if you're doing it by any measure that's blatant, you're working against the vast, fast processing engine that is her shard. Given time, she pre-asks about deception, mind control, AoE and other obstacles her power wouldn't effectively fight against. - Wildbow on Reddit</ref> and various questions before a mission to ensure success.<ref>RazorSmile:It's not rocket surgery. A sufficiently wide and dense area-effect attack will either kill her, force her to leave or, if her power has that much range, keep her from showing up in the first place.

Wildbow: Unless she, before she headed out the door, posed herself the scenario:
Contessa: "What do I need to do to come back successful from this mission?"
(Psst. Don't walk into the sufficiently wide, sufficiently dense area-effect attack. Here's a workaround).
"Goodie." - Wildbow on RPG.net</ref> This lets her keep to the path to defeat Zion and provides her with protection against masters and strangers.<ref>People began preparing to leave, gathering stuff together.

“No,” I could overhear Contessa saying, “I ask myself several questions before I go anywhere, and one pertains to strangers. Stay behind.”

Imp appeared next to her. She walked back to us with a very dejected appearance. - Excerpt from Extinction 27.2</ref>

Her power also provides her with excellent information gathering abilities provided the right questions are asked.<ref>“I can’t defeat [Teacher], spare as many of your allies’ lives as possible, and save the lives of people in the city. Not as I or my power understand circumstances, and my power understands everything outside of the blind spots that are Teacher, Valkyrie, the Simurgh, and two broken triggers that authorities aren’t aware happened.”
[...]
Imp groaned. “You’re making me look awful here. I promised these guys one hundred percent victory.”

“If you’d found me sooner, then I could have.”

“How do you know all of this if you were in a coma?” Sveta asked. “The Simurgh, who’s where, what Custodian is doing?”

“I’m finding it out as I explain it to you. I asked my power for the path to provide the explanation I need to give, that serves the purpose of filling me in on present circumstance. When you talk among yourselves, I’m asking my usual questions.”

“Like how you can avoid being fucked over by a Stranger or Master in the next day or whatever,” Imp said.

“Essentially.” - Excerpt from Dying 15.7</ref>

Restrictions

Contessa's power does not range well beyond Earth, so flying into space and bombarding the planet would do fine against her.<ref>Torrieltar: Path to Victory can predict things from alternate dimensions as well, right? How about pocket dimensions? Places outside the universe? Other layers of reality?

Wildbow: Powers don't generally range well beyond Earth's atmosphere - a conceit of setting. So flying into the empty darkness of space and bombarding the planet would do fine vs. PtV. - Wildbow on Reddit</ref> Her power is probably unable to account for metaphysical stuff outside of the shard's realm of expertise.<ref>Jakkubus: ​First, thanks for an interesting and in-depth write-up.

Second, you got me curious about fate and probability manipulators. How could she beat someone who can bend probability in their favour or even rewrite causality/fate? Also can PtV account for metaphysical and conceptual stuff?

Wildbow: Probably can't account for metaphysical stuff outside of the shard's realm of expertise. - Wildbow on Reddit</ref>

Contessa still needs food, rest, and sleep, or she would have to lean on her power for more minute details, making it harder for her to run background processes and long simulations.<ref>She needed food, rest, sleep, showers, or she’d have to lean on her power for more minute details, and doing that made it harder to run background processes, and long simulations.” - Infrared 19.8</ref> More specifically, if she did not take care of herself and became physically weaker, her power would break things down into a series of derivative steps to be more precise about minute details that contribute to a specific end result.<ref>“It’s not instant?” Sveta asked. “We studied her and we were sure it was instant.”

“It’s instant but it’s harder,” Five told her. “If she didn’t take care of herself and became weaker, then the power would break things down into a series of derivative steps.”

“Hypothetically, if she was fighting someone like Alexandria,” I said, “And she had the flu, hadn’t slept… she’d drop a few percentage points in execution, but she’d have a fifty step process instead of a fifteen step process?”

“She wouldn’t drop by any percentage points,” Sveta said. “If she’s fighting, she’s at one hundred percent. She would beat Alexandria.”

“But there would be fifty steps, or a hundred,” Five said. “To be more precise about foot placement, breathing, and every other detail that contributed to a specific end result. More so with simulations.” - Infrared 19.8</ref> As a fatigued Contessa needs to devote more resources to staying on task,<ref>The early part of the fight was supposed to be the crucial part, where we did as much damage as possible. I could liken it to how Contessa got fatigued and needed to devote more resources to staying on task, but again, always, this Endbringer that wasn’t brutish and noisy, not feral and animal-like, but graceful. - Last 20.1</ref> Cauldron collected people from multiple worlds instead of one world to draw less notice and reduce the labor for her.<ref>“Not in a statistically significant way. Cauldron kept it up even after the numbers came in. It drew less notice to take five people from a thousand worlds than to take them all from one world. If we’re talking about Contessa… it reduced the labor for her. - Infrared 19.8</ref>

Contessa's power does not protect her against human error as it is theoretically possible to trick her into asking the wrong question.<ref name="Que" /> However, given time, she asks questions beforehand about deception, mind control, area of effect, and other obstacles her power wouldn't effectively fight against; this significantly reduces the likelihood of being tricked.<ref name="Que" /> She also asks questions to protect her against Strangers, Masters, Thinkers, and attacks against all corners.<ref>“She has to ask questions to guard against strangers, masters, thinkers, and attacks against all corners. - Infrared 19.8</ref> That said, if Contessa does not take care of herself and gets worn down enough, there is a risk that she forgets to ask these questions or falls ill.<ref>“She has to ask questions to guard against strangers, masters, thinkers, and attacks against all corners. If she gets worn down, there is also a risk she forgets, or she gets ill.”

“Did that happen?” Sveta asked.

“Early on.” - Infrared 19.8</ref> She could also ask the wrong questions or hear the wrong things, where 'wrong' is something that takes her off of the course she was on and is a relative wrong, not a moral wrong.<ref>“What’s the worst case scenario? Why is this a weak point?” I asked.

“That she asks the wrong questions, or hears the wrong things,” Five said.

“Define wrong,” Sveta said.

“Something that takes her off of the course she was on. Relative wrong, not moral wrong,” Five said, looking at her. “Sending one of my brothers to contact Citrine and the Number Man, not anticipating that her friend might be killed as a consequence, when there would have been other ways to distract Teacher.”

Sveta nodded. - Infrared 19.8</ref>

While Contessa can execute most tasks, she has some blind spots. She cannot directly use her power on an Entity,<ref name="29.x"/> the Endbringers,<ref name="24.2">Crushed 24.2</ref> powerful capes like Valkyrie<ref> - Excerpt from Dying 15.7</ref> and Eidolon,<ref name="I27"/> and some intricate interactions of powers. She can still somewhat predict their actions by considering a hypothetical situation.<ref name="29.x"/><ref name="I27">27.x (Interlude, Eidolon)‏‎</ref> Note that Contessa is also a blind spot to her own power.<ref name="II17.y eOwnBlindSpot" /><ref name="II19.5 eOwnBlindSpot" />

She is not immune to certain trumps such as Mantellum<ref>Fog approached. A wall of it, moving down the corridor. She could see normally, but the effect on her powers was absolute. It was impossible to make out any steps that moved within the fog.
[...]
She ducked. “-have a perception blocker, [...] They’ve got a thinker, I think, they planned this ahead of time, knowing I wouldn’t pick up on their presence.”
[...]
This ‘Mantellum’ had been close enough that he should have been able to block her power. He hadn’t.

Because he’d been on the other side of the portal. The power didn’t cross dimensional boundaries. - Excerpt from Interlude 29</ref> or possibly Jack Slash.<ref>Jack beats Citrine, Siberian, Grey Boy (until interfered with by outside sources), Number Man and arguably Contessa. - Wildbow on Reddit</ref><ref name=Tie>Torrieltar: Has Contessa ever fought combat precogs before (strong ones, more along the lines of atium than the Force)? If so, what was the result?

Wildbow: Limited examples in story. I have stated in word of god that she's trumped/matched by Jack Slash, but that's a unique case and not really combat precog so much as shard-one-upmanship. - Wildbow on Reddit</ref>

Her power does not allow her to Tinker rather it gives her the ability to handle tinkertech while avoiding misfires<ref>One point to Foxtail on relevant quotes. Closest answer, really. Tinkering may be real science, but it's real science conducted by digging deep into shard senses and networks. Contessa can do this to an extent, but not to the point that she could just go full Tinker-9001. - tinker material</ref> and lets her damage or subvert it just enough for it to do what she wants.<ref>Whatever she was doing was working. When I switched my view away from the map and to Kenzie’s diagram of the facility’s infrastructure, I could see that Kenzie was making headway. I could see some messages between her and the computer console Contessa was at.

 :I cannot work with tinkertech or tinker code but I can give you the boot passwords to the server terminals.  Old data is still on the systems, heavily encrypted.
 
 :i reset & access old system archetecture in at boot lvl???
 
 :Yes.
 
 :d-  ! _ !  d- - Excerpt from Dying 15.7</ref><ref>In the midst of the Kulshedra, I could sense moving air currents.  A woman emerged from thin air, from a place cooler than the interior of the ship.  The civilians we’d rescued shrieked and backed away from her.  She didn’t respond, barely reacted.  Someone with long, dark hair and a suit.  She fixed her cuffs, then moved with purpose.

But I found myself less fixated on her than on her surroundings.  Oddly enough, I could feel a different structure behind the woman, a hallway.
[...]
Satyr didn’t speak.  He glanced at the ship.  He couldn’t see from the angle he’d approached, but the woman inside had pulled the lever, and the door at the back was slowly closing.
[...]
“Kul-,” I gasped out.

The woman turned and walked up to the ruined nose of the craft, and began threading wires together.  She didn’t even flinch as sparks flared between them.  She was measured, even patient, as she worked at fixing the panel.  When she was done, she tapped something out on the broken, unlit touch panel.

“Kulshedra, shut down,” I managed.

“Restate request.”

The pillar rose from the top of the box, freeing the upper part of the box’s door.

“Kulshedra, contact Dragon,” I tried.

“Dragon is currently unable to reply.”

“Contact Chevalier.”

“Calling.”

The woman tapped out another code, and the clamps on the bottom came open, freeing the bottom.

Yet another code typed out, and the system spoke, “Type two safety override accepted.”

The woman in the ship struck a single button.  The A.I. spoke, “Call ended.”

“Kulshedra, call Chevalier,” I repeated.

Nothing.

The woman inside typed out a final code, and the door of the box opened, releasing Pretender.

And then she spoke, and I could hear through the bugs that surrounded her.  “The Doctor will see you now.”

“Right-o,” Pretender said.  “Gotta be better than the Birdcage.”

They stepped through the gateway that led to the cool, air-conditioned hallway, and then they were gone, the butterflies in the hallway no longer in my reach.

I felt my blood pumping, roaring in my ears.  “They got him.  They collected Pretender.”

“Who?”

“Her.  The shooter’s partner.  Cauldron.”  I clenched my fist.  “Rime’s down.  We have to help her.”
[...]
Arbiter looked from her phone to Prefab.  “Dragon collapsed just before this began.  She was meeting a Las Vegas Rogue.”

“Yeah,” I said. I thought of the woman who’d been so handy with the computer. The censor, the bogeyman. They’d taken out Rime, no doubt because she could have sealed the box behind a wall of ice.

Yet they hadn’t taken out Prefab, who could have done much the same thing.

Every step of the way, every action perfect. - Excerpt from Drone 23.2</ref>

Titan Fortuna

Upon her becoming Titan Fortuna, her power changes to quickly being able to create and envision thousands of possible futures, along with the steps needed to achieve them, within seconds for any single goal she requests. She can read the details of all of them when she wills, in order to see the other details of the futures where her goal is fulfilled so to choose which one is the most favourable, then select one future Path to work towards. If both the Titan and the human Host use the power in-tandem and work together, they can concoct possible future Paths even quicker than normal.

However, the future Paths she comes up with are not every possible future, merely the ones her power's processing ability has calculated. As such, what Paths there are is dependant on this calculating ability, such as how long is spent on coming up with futures for a single goal and the aid that the Host can supply in thinking power and processing ability.<ref name ="Rad 18.z"/>

As a Titan, Fortuna only has her host, Contessa, as a blind spot.<ref name="II19.5 eOwnBlindSpot">“It’s not what I did,” Rain said, rubbing at his eyes. “It’s what I said. I sent a message, to the only person that Titan Fortuna can’t see.” - Infrared 19.5</ref> Endbringers such as the Simurgh can now be pathed.<ref name="II20.a eGuide">The Simurgh lay prone within the storm that was the Sleeper. Unmoving. That hadn’t been him. That had been Dauntless, acting with the benefit of Titan Fortuna’s sight, guiding the direction of the blast.

The storm crackled, boiled, popped, the colors taking on a rainbow sheen that somehow felt it shouldn’t make sense with the way the colors unfolded.

That would be enough to take her out of the picture. - Excerpt from Last 20.a</ref> However, Fortuna still needs time to spread her range of influence; despite being vastly more powerful than the Simurgh, Fortuna was initially on the backfoot during their precog duel because she just became a Titan and was starting from scratch. In comparison, the Simurgh spent two years preparing for her fight against the Titan.<ref name="II18.z strength">We began this fight when you broke, child, the Titan Fortuna thought, trying to communicate to the battered kernel of human consciousness within herself.

She began this two years ago, when Gold Morning occurred. It doesn’t matter that we have a hundred times her strength. She’s within paces of the finish line, and she’s no stupid rabbit racing a tortise. Nearly every action she could take brings her closer to a checkmate. - Radiation 18.z</ref>

Several interdimensional cracks manifested around the Titan after the ice broke.<ref name="II17.y eOwnBlindSpot">She watched cracks spread further.

The cracks found their next launching off point. A woman with awareness extending everywhere. Each line of awareness was a weak point, like lines scored into rock before that rock was cracked. The cracks stretched easily along those efficient lines.

The woman in the suit, now locked in place, caught by her own well of power.

Because she’s her own blind spot, like Withdrawal said, much as any of us are blind to our own selves.

She was too interconnected. Her power tied to too many things too constantly, and that power formed bridges. Connected everything, in a way. - Interlude 17.y II.</ref><ref>Where enough different strikes intersected enough times, that which lay within broke away, falling back to reveal something else on the other side. The Cheit portal was the biggest case of it. The border between Gimel and Cheit broke away, and as it did, buildings from that other Earth were revealed, intersecting with facets and slices of Gimel. Some small, some vast.
[...]
Near the portal, at the worst of it, more was falling away. Gimel revealed Cheit, Cheit revealed Gimel, and when both fell away, there was a landscape of black crystal that seemed to connect to this new titan.
[...]
At the center of that new manifestation of cracks and destruction, a purple bubble with a triangular point extended down. The icon, a stylized woman in a fedora with tie, minimalist face, marked it as Contessa. The purple served to label her as a special case. - Interlude 17.y II</ref> Fortuna would use these cracks in her paths;<ref>Step one: hold the cracks back, until the right moment, the Titan Fortuna and the child Fortuna thought in concert. - Radiation 18.z</ref> however, as these cracks opened to shardspace, a nearby Simurgh could now potentially interfere with the information Fortuna was trying to transmit to her network.<ref name="II18.9 eInterfere" /> More specifically, the Simurgh's signal could now "tamper" with paths being investigated by the Titan so that they were in the Endbringer's favor.<ref>But she had to ask: how long had the sheet been there? Had the answers been tampered with? Were there details that needed investigating?

She could check of course. The answer to that question was on the sheet. But in the time it took to find it, there could be more tampering, more details changed.

She already had the answer, that the silver woman had tampered. But where? She checked, and she found the answers.
[...]
Every route she investigated was seeded with false data, poisoned fruit, and patches of shadow that lay over the path, the far side of those patches ruled over by the silver woman. - Radiation 18.z</ref> That said, when Fortuna asked her host for help and worked in concert to quickly execute a path without investigating it too much, the Simurgh could not tamper with it, forcing the Endbringer to leave.<ref name="II18.z eQuick">The child refused to be a slave again. The Titan refused to be a slave for other reasons. But they were able to think and act in concert.

A path. One that most likely ended in a desirable outcome. To investigate too much would leave it on the table long enough for the silver woman to get silver fingerprints on it.
[...]
As if sensing the resolution, the silver woman turned and levitated herself away. Ceding the battle, or taking her own initial steps. - Radiation 18.z</ref>

Shard

Contessa's shard, which calls itself "The Eye", has an unique degree of autonomy among other shards due to an unfinished transfer process.<ref>She stood utterly alone and completely still. For all intents and purposes, she was the only one of her kind. [...] Every other gift lay dead and disconnected, fruit on the branches of a dead tree, with little in the way of parting words or guidance. Every other connection to the Loner was gone. The Pair too distant to reach. - Excerpt from Radiation 18.z</ref> When Scion examined Contessa, he "saw a shard that was not its own, but was not dead"; normally, shards from Eden are dead.<ref name="26.x">Interlude 26</ref> This may indicate that Contessa's shard is still linked to The Loner, since Eden was in the process of integrating it when she crash-landed and lost it.<ref name="29.x"/>

History

Background

Contessa was born as Fortuna on an unknown alternative earth.

When she was a child, Eden crash-landed in a vicinity of Fortuna's village and pieces of her body contaminated food and water sources. Multiple people in the community turned into monsters plunging it into a chaos. Fortuna was one of the few, if there were any else, who kept their own body.

Fortuna's trigger event included a vision of Eden and Scion's plans to sow conflict and destroy humanity, and she set about finding and killing the entity with a power that was still unrestricted. 

The entity, realizing what she was trying to do, restricted her power so that it could not be used against Entities. However, Fortuna had already seen the steps required to kill the Entity, and with the help of a woman who would later call herself 'the Doctor,' Fortuna stopped the entity from killing her and reclaiming the critical shard. The Doctor, with a knife and directions given by Fortuna, stabbed the entity in a critical location, rendering it brain dead.  

The Doctor and Fortuna founded Cauldron with the sole purpose of stopping Eden's partner entity, Scion. They harvested Eden's corpse for powers, which they granted to other people. Ashamed of the human experimentation she performed to improve the power formula, Fortuna took the name Contessa out of respect to her parents and a desire to avoid sullying the name they gave her.<ref name="29.x"> - Excerpt from Interlude 29</ref>

Through the years Contessa as served as the doctor's bodyguard, whenever they went on dangerous assignments.

Post-Slaughterhouse Nine

Attended the meeting of Cauldron and The Triumvirate.<ref>Legend's Interlude</ref>

Post-Echidna

Keeps the details revealed during the Echidna battle hush hush. Was transferred back to Cauldron's home base to ensure that there were no escapes, the events of the Echidna event were allowed to leak out.<ref>Interlude 21.x</ref>

Timeskip

Bonesaw when masquerading as Riley is confronted by Contessa during the time skip while the rest of the Slaughterhouse Nine are in stasis. Contessa prompts Bonesaw in her initial thoughts to betray the Nine with a conversation about the distinction between her and her passenger.<ref>Interlude 25</ref>

Post-Timeskip

Deployed effectively against The Slaughterhouse Nine-Thousand.

Gold Morning

Contessa helped coordinate Cauldron's response to Scion. Doctor Mother requested that she find three candidates for some vials that had historically yielded very strong powers, but Contessa was intercepted by attacking Irregulars before she was able to leave the facility. One of the Irregulars, Mantellum, was able to block Contessa's power, forcing her to flee Cauldron's offices and fake her death.<ref name="29.x"/>

After returning to the facility and discovering the Doctor is dead, Contessa provided Cauldron's contingency plans to Teacher and assumed second-in-command of his organization. Following Scion's death, Contessa tracked down Khepri and, after a brief conversation aided by her abilities, disabled her shard with two bullets.

Early-Ward

Had disappeared, presumably into retirement.<ref name="5x II">“This would be easier if we had Fortuna,” she said.

“She gave her all to get us this far. It would be asking a lot, for her to give us the remainder of her years. We’ll see ourselves the rest of the way. She can live her life as she sees fit.”

Jeanne privately disagreed, but she didn’t make a point with it. Not with Kurt’s younger selves in the car. - Excerpt from Interlude 5x II</ref>

Post-Time Bubble Pop

Following an attempt to stop relying on her power Fortuna was captured and imprisoned by Teacher's branch of Cauldron.<ref>Black 13.x</ref> During The Wardens' assault on the compound she was freed by Imp and Breakthrough.<ref>Dying 15.6</ref> She led them to victory over Teacher, and in the final confrontation with Teacher rejected his methods, which led to him scrapping his endgame plans and running away.

Post-Attack on Teacher

In the following days she joined Citrine as a consultant,<ref name="16.1II">From Within 16.1</ref> and subsequently The Wardens' thinker pool.<ref>Sundown 17.3</ref>

She was still recovering from the coma.<ref>“Only that Contessa is still malnourished, with slight atrophy of the limbs, it’s slowing her down. She’s also slowed down because she’s having to reset her layers of defenses. Stuff she’d ask herself regularly, to guard herself against every eventuality in the days and weeks. After her trauma of being captured during her one taste of freedom and independence, I think she’s being extra slow and extra careful. Not blind spots, but factors. - Excerpt from Sundown 17.9</ref>

Contessa retrieved a de-powered Teacher from Earth Cheit with the help of some other capes, to avoid being incapacitated by Mama Mathers-inspired traps.<ref>For other blind spots? Teacher’s tech. His portals, a lot of the cracking, and a few traps he set using tinkered replications of Mama Mathers- [...] Nothing like you’re picturing. He had tinkers scan her, copy her power, and work out stuff like… quantum tripwires, tripping when you look at them.”

“Yes. Devices that trip in response to being observed. With big flashes that stick in your vision or mind’s eye. But mostly it’s the portals. Contessa is on her way back from Cheit. She’s got a captive Teacher with her. She led a group in there and leaned on them pretty heavily to get around the special countermeasures he put in place.” - Excerpt from Sundown 17.9</ref> While passing the Cheit-Gimel portal she accidentally escalated the riot, that lead to Fume Hood's broken second trigger, which tagged Contessa herself and used her power-connections to catalyze the dimensional collapse of The City. Contessa was turned into one of the Titans.<ref name="II17.y">Sundown 17.y</ref> The Titan Fortuna would later be joined by the Simurgh.

The Ice Breaks

According to the Wardens' thinkers Simurgh interfered in Fortuna's communication.<ref name="II18.9 eInterfere">"Tattletale said the thinkers are analyzing Titan Fortuna and the Simurgh. With those two you can never be sure, but it looks like they aren’t aligned. The Simurgh is interfering with the information Fortuna is trying to transmit to her network.” - Excerpt from Radiation 18.9</ref>

Titan Fortuna, initially planning to become the new hub, was locked in the precog-duel with Simurgh and outplanned. With all the secondary and thousandary plans countered,<ref>A path that began with Auger fighting that was intended to end with her networked to all titans, ready to end this world and scattered haphazardly and limping to other stars and planets… instead ended with this silver woman in control of the network, humanity mad and savage.

A path that began with the host Valkyrie being made Titan, intended to end with the network largely complete, the silver woman dead, and the scattering due to happen in ten years… instead ended with the silver woman in control of the network, half of humanity deranged and fighting the other half. To investigate why took time that the silver woman could use to gain purchase elsewhere. [...] She saw a thousand more paths that ended with the silver woman ruling, despite the fact the silver woman had a fraction of her strength. - Excerpt from Radiation 18.z</ref> the shard part of titan resorted to the guidance of the human part and Fortuna decided to postpone the ending of The Cycle.<ref>The child refused to be a slave again. The Titan refused to be a slave for other reasons. But they were able to think and act in concert. [...] Step one: hold the cracks back, until the right moment, the Titan Fortuna and the child Fortuna thought in concert. - Excerpt from Radiation 18.z</ref>

Following The Firmament bombing she led Ophion and Nemean to the Earth Shin portal. She skipped the most of the fighting with defending capes by initiating further dimensional collapse using the massive burst of titan-body regeneration caused by Legend's full-power barrage.<ref name="II19.4">Infrared 19.4</ref> It shortly produced The Flowing, The Impaler, The Custodian, Drillbit and Pouffe Titans.<ref name="II19.5">Infrared 19.5</ref>

Rain was able to deliver the message to Contessa through The Firmament. Shortly after that Fortuna either ordered her Titans to stand down or stopped commanding them, and went dormant herself for a while.<ref name="II19.7"/> However, one of the predestined cracks still reached Valkyrie, turning her into a Titan too.<ref name="II19.6">Infrared 19.6</ref>

Breakthrough visited Contessa's seat of power inside the Shardrealm,<ref name="II19.7">Infrared 19.7</ref> they received a series of visions regarding the nature of the Eye and the previous cycles,<ref name="II19.8">Infrared 19.8</ref> and were warned about the Simurgh taking over Titan Fortuna and summoning more Endbringers with the help of Titan Valkyrie and Eidolon's shade.<ref name="II19.9">Infrared 19.9</ref>

Titan Fortuna prepared defenses against the final attack of The Simurgh, with four drill-titans being ordered to destroy the segments of the The Shardspace.<ref>The Titans had gathered and stood as a defensive line, spaced apart like each one’s position mattered on some fundamental level. Four of the Titans had powers that drilled, dug, or carved. Titan Amenonuhoko, Titan Auger, Titan Drillbit, Titan Ghast. All four Titans were tearing up the crystal landscape below them, aiming for specific paths and locations. - Excerpt from Last 20.a</ref>

Contessa and Antares struck a deal. Fortuna received Dauntless under her control, allowing her to defeat The Simurgh, while Antares got means to recover Riley Davis, the parahuman plague, and distant capes through Titan Valkyrie.<ref name="II20.a"/>

Titan Fortuna proceeded with with her attempt to end the Cycle early,<ref name="II20.a">Last 20.a</ref> but was put into a stalemate by the deployment of the parahuman plague. It took the majority of available parahumands and their data hostage, and the distribution of the decision to heal them to the hands of unpowered public, who would perish if Fortuna attempted to leave. Thus forcing her to yield.<ref name="II20.b">Last 20.b</ref> Three titans, including Fortuna, immediately "crumbled" after that.

Fanart Gallery

<tabber>Contessa=

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  Image by Lonsheep on DeviantArt
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  Image by YunYunHakusho on Reddit
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  Image by lonsheep on Reddit.
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  Contessa by BirdLover_01
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  (left) Illustration by Pabel and Nine
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  Illustration by CPericardium
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  (left) Illustration by Cpericardium
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  Illustration by CPericardium on deviantArt
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  Fanart by Superwhiteys on Tumblr
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  Fanart by Superwhiteys

|-|Titan Fortuna=

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  Titan Fortuna by Lucyfur919

</tabber>

References

<references/>

Site Navigation

Cauldron
Leader	Doctor Mother {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }}
Members	Alexandria {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Balminder {{#switch: former	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Contessa {{#switch: former	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • The Clairvoyant {{#switch: former	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • The Custodian {{#switch: former	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Doormaker {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Eidolon {{#switch: deceased	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= }}) • Hero {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Legend {{#switch: former	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • William Manton {{#switch: former	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • The Number Man {{#switch: former	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Pretender {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • The Slug {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }}

Titans
The Kronos Titan {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Titan Eve {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Titan Fortuna {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • The Nemean Titan {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Titan Arachne {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Titan Oberon {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • The Ashen Titan {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Titan Skadi {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • The Ophion Titan {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • The Strange Titan {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Auger {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Titaness Amenonuhoko {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • The Flowing Titan {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Drillbit {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • The Liminal Titan {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Pouffe {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Valkyrie {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Morgana {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Yakshini {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Ashoka {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Ghast {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }}

S-Class Threats
Endbringers	Behemoth {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Leviathan {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • The Simurgh • Khonsu {{#switch: unknown	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Tohu {{#switch: unknown	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Bohu {{#switch: unknown	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }}
Titans	The Kronos Titan {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Titan Eve {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Titan Fortuna {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • The Nemean Titan {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Titan Arachne {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Titan Oberon {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • The Ashen Titan {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Titan Skadi {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • The Ophion Titan {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • The Strange Titan {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Auger {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Titaness Amenonuhoko {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • The Flowing Titan {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Drillbit {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • The Liminal Titan {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Pouffe {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Valkyrie {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Morgana {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Yakshini {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Ashoka {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Ghast {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }}
Groups	The Slaughterhouse Nine {{#switch: former	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Three Blasphemies • The Machine Army
Parahumans	Ash Beast {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Echidna {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Khepri {{#switch: former	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Nilbog • Pastor {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Scion {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Sleeper • The Tower {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }}