The Simurgh

<infobox> <title source="name"><default>The Simurgh</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>

The Simurgh is an Endbringer.

Appearance

The Simurgh appears as a fifteen-foot tall woman, waif-thin and unclothed. Her hair is almost as long as she is tall and is, like the rest of her form, platinum-white. She has a variety of asymmetrically and apparently randomly placed feather wings, which appear excessively large compared to her body. Parts of her are described as being hollow, or made from carefully placed wings, which serve as replicas of the absent body part. Her eyes are a solid gray, described by Krouse as seeming cold.

She wraps her three largest wings around her, nominally to preserve her modesty, although Krouse doubts, after coming close to her, that she has a sense of modesty at all.

Abilities and Powers

The Simurgh possesses a psychic 'scream' - a type of psychic echolocation that allows her to scan her surroundings while exerting psychic pressure to alter behavior, implant messages, or create compulsions.<ref name="R1">Comment by wildbow on Reddit</ref> Her "hibernation" state in orbit serves to allow her to make low-intensity scans of the planet with this sense.<ref name ="I28">Interlude 28</ref>

She has precognition, perfect awareness of the immediate future, and the more she sings/scans the further it reaches.<ref name="R1">Comment by wildbow on Reddit</ref> She sees the past in a similar manner, and can focus on a single target for faster information, but is blind in the present. Future-viewers obscured possibilities from her sight, as did Eidolon and Scion, and certain other powers. She could see things that were otherwise obscured by looking at people's perceptions of them, or otherwise observing their consequences, as well as by predicting their most likely course.<ref name ="I28">Interlude 28</ref> To victims, it is a ceaseless scream in the back of their minds, changing in pitch and tone with every minute.

She uses these scans to make long-term predictions of behavior and activity (in the order of months and years) to turn human beings into rube-goldberg devices, with whole streams or strings of horrific events occurring in areas she's been active.ref name="R1">Comment by wildbow on Reddit</ref> She can influence machines as well as people.<ref name ="I28">Interlude 28</ref><ref name="22.6">Cell cc.6</ref> Her scan allows her to borrow and copy techniques and mental powers - including Tinker powers - and then telekinetically pulling together a macro-scale version of their devices from the surrounding materials.<ref name="R1">Comment by wildbow on Reddit</ref> Unlike Leviathan, her macro-level control can also be finer, such as controlling falling snow into a decoy to escape Scion.<ref name="I8">Interlude 8</ref> With enough knowledge of a subject, she can evoke memories subconsciously through her posture and actions. By placing a target in a stressful environment, this can be used to cause hallucinations.<ref name ="I28">Interlude 28</ref>

The Simurgh is also a powerful telekinetic capable of tossing buildings and flight. Like all Endbringers, she is immensely durable and strong.<ref name="R1">Comment by wildbow on Reddit</ref>

History

Background

The Simurgh was the third Endbringer to arrive, appearing just after the turn of the millennium.

The Simurgh first appeared in Lausanne, Switzerland in December 2002<ref>https://parahumans.wordpress.com/category/stories-arcs-21/arc-24-crushed/24-x-interlude/</ref>, and acted benevolent and cooperative while psychically manipulating the people around her. Most Swiss, due to exposure to her mental manipulation, became violent and antagonistic, attempting to kill as many people as they could and disrupt the world's resistance to the Endbringers as much as possible. Switzerland had to be quarantined and most people had to be mass-eradicated. Director Tagg was one of the people involved in that campaign.

She attacked London on August 12th, 2003. It is unknown what the outcome of the fight was.

She also attacked Madison, Wisconsin, in July 2009. It is unknown what the outcome of the fight was, but it necessitated the quarantine of the city. The Travellers were created, which culminated in the near-assassination of Chevalier and Tattletale and the death of Accord, along with the emergence of Echidna and the revelation of Cauldron to the parahuman community.

She also attacked Canberra on February 24th, 2011, which was apparently a loss for the defending heroes, as the aftermath necessitated the construction of a dome around the city.

Quotes

"She seemed human, but fifteen or so feet tall, waif-thin, and unclothed. Her hair whipped around her, nearly as long as she was tall and platinum-white. The most shocking part of it all was the wings; she had so many, asymmetrical and illogical in their arrangement, each with pristine white feathers. The three largest wings folded around her protectively, far too large in proportion to her body, even with her height. Other wings of varying size fanned out from the joints of others, from the wing tips, and from her spine. Some seemed to be positioned to give the illusion of modesty, angled around her chest and pelvis." Migration 17.1

"She turned to one side, and Krouse could make out her face. Her features were delicate with high cheekbones. Her eyes were gray from corner to corner. And cold. There was nothing he could point to, no particular feature or quality that could help him explain why or how, but seeing her face made it harder to ascribe any kind of human quality to her. If he’d been thinking she had a sense of modesty before, he didn’t now." Migration 17.1

Trivia

"Simurgh" is a benevolent, mythical flying creature. It is sometimes equated with other mythological birds such as Arabic Anqā, Persian Homā or Turkic Kerkés, Semrug, Semurg, Samran, and Samruk.
"Ziz" is the third creature in what can be called an Abrahamic trinity of beasts. As Leviathan is first among the creatures of the water, and Behemoth is first among the creatures of the land, Ziz is first among the creatures of the air. This serves as a larger clue to the Endbringers constructed nature that they deliberately tap into these belief structures.

References