Ignis Fatuus

<infobox> <title source="name"><default>Ignis Fatuus</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> Ignis Fatuus is the name given to the clone of Eidolon created by Echidna. He shared his powers and memories, but, like all Echidna clones, felt a driving desire to destroy everything his original cared about.

Personality

Upon his creation, he was unworried by the armed heroes surrounding him and was primarily concerned about being naked. His first use of his power was to create a costume for himself and Apocrypha, intentionally styling the costumes as mockeries of the originals.<ref name="costume"/> He was shown to have a sense of dramatic flair, tilting Myrddin's head up to the sky before executing him by stabbing him through the chin with a wavy-shaped blade.<ref name="myrddin">The Eidolon flickered, and a knife with a wavy blade appeared in his hand. Before Wanton could reach him, he gripped Myrddin’s mask, raised the hero’s chin towards the sky, knife held ready.

His hand convulsed, and he dropped the knife. Regent.

An instant later, he flickered, rendering his hand untouched, the knife back in position. He thrust it into the soft underside of Myrddin’s chin. - Excerpt from Scourge 19.6</ref>

He craved a good fight, similar to Eidolon. However, unlike Eidolon, he was sadistic, lacking the original reasoning behind his desire for battle.<ref name="challenge">“Craved a fight,” the words reached me despite the winds that were tearing across the battlefield. It wasn’t my bugs speaking, either. “I hoped you’d challenge me.”

Eidolon. He was echoing his sentiment from earlier, that had driven him to fight Echidna alone, except it was twisted, warped, the original reasoning forgotten.

“Do I need to get you angrier? Do I need to push you harder? I could torment you, inflict pain on your teammates until you’re forced to throw all caution to the wind and come at me with everything you’ve got. Or I could attack you on another level. Would you like me to tell you a story?” - Excerpt from Scourge 19.6</ref> He was seemingly uncaring of the well-being of his fellow clones, indiscriminately choking anyone, including clones, within the range of his aerokinetic vacuum.<ref name="vacuum">The vacuum extended roughly a hundred feet around him, the air condensing into threads that found him and flowed into his mask to sustain him. Even the clones on his side were suffering, falling to their hands and knees or running to get away. He was indiscriminate, and far more dangerous because of it. - Excerpt from Scourge 19.6</ref>

Appearance

Taylor described Ignus Fatuus's naked form as unattractive, though it was unclear whether it was caused by deformations or not. He was also described as being small and below average.<ref>Eidolon. I couldn’t tell if he was unattractive by nature or if it was just mild deformations. He looked so small, so below average. - Excerpt from Scourge 19.5</ref>

His armored costume mirrored Eidolon's - a black hood, loose black sleeves and a pale red-orange glow emanating from each opening.<ref>He’d chosen his powers, and by the looks of it, he’d dressed himself in a mirror of his other self’s costume. A costume with a black hood, loose black sleeves and a pale red-orange glow emanating from each opening. - Excerpt from Scourge 19.6</ref> Taylor speculated that his armor was just as functional as the original.<ref>The Psycho-Eidolon stood, and Miss Militia opened fire, joined by several other capes. The Eidolon was driven back, forced to flicker to recover from the blasts. Again, his armor was absorbing the impacts. It would be the best stuff money could buy, if it was a functional copy of what his other self wore, and it was healing every time he did. - Excerpt from Scourge 19.6</ref>

Abilities and Powers

Ignus Fatuus displayed a "flickering" ability much like Scapegoat's, which he used to conjure costumes and tools for himself and Apocrypha, as well as to heal injuries and free himself from bindings.<ref name="costume">The Eidolon-clone apparently wasn’t worried about the mass of armed heroes that were mobilized against him. No, his concern was being naked.

He touched Alexandria, and she flickered. When the flickering died out, she was dressed in a costume; a long white cape, a white bodysuit with high boots and elbow length gloves and a stylized helmet that let her long black hair flow free. The tower on her chest was a tumbled ruin. The ruined lighthouse. A mockery of her other self, the colors reversed.

I really wasn’t liking the implications for that flickering power. Healing, the costume… - Excerpt from Scourge 19.6</ref> His flickering seemed to be limited to one body part at a time, limiting both his healing and his ability to escape from restraints.<ref>“Ramus is, but I think the clock boy is going to die,” she said. She glanced over her shoulder at the Psycho-Eidolon. He’d broken away from Wanton, and was working on mending the damage, one part of his body at a time.

If there was a limitation to his self-heailng, it was that. It was healing by degrees, weaker against all-around damage. If my bugs could have gotten to him, that might have done some damage, but they’d have to get past his armor, which looked like the all-concealing sort, and there was the not-insignificant matter of the vacuum. - Excerpt from Scourge 19.6</ref><ref name="death"/> His other power was aerokinesis, which allowed him to create vacuums, make sounds carry, and fly.<ref>He took one step, and was carried off the ground. It wasn’t flight so much as floating. Combine that with the vacuum around him… It had to be aerokinesis. Manipulation of air. - Excerpt from Scourge 19.6</ref> The range of his aerokinesis was approximately three-quarters of Skitter's bug-controlling range.<ref>My bugs gave me a sense of his effect’s perimeter. The storm effect had a diameter of roughly three-quarters my own range, no doubt allowing him to sense where people were by the movements of the air. - Excerpt from Scourge 19.6</ref> Eidolon speculated that Ignis Fatuus wasn't affected by Eidolon's slow loss of power.<ref name="I27">27.x (Interlude, Eidolon)‏‎</ref> Skitter, however, speculated that Ignis Fatuus was enhancing his power using his variant of Scapegoat's ability, shifting through various possible states until he reached a desired state at full power.<ref name="19.6e1">The flickering. Was that some variant on Scapegoat’s power? More broad? Paging through realities to find the state he wanted to be in? Uninjured, dressed?

There were a lot of ugly possibilities with that one. Could he affect how he was accessing powers?-Excerpt from Scourge 19.6</ref> It is unknown whether either of these are true.

History

Post-Slaughterhouse Nine

After the capture of Eidolon and Alexandria, Echidna created Ignis Fatuus and Apocrypha. Ignis Fatuus was severely wounded by both Miss Militia and Chevalier while ramping up to full power, but easily recovered with a "flickering" ability. With this same ability, he created costumes for himself and Apocrypha.<ref name="costume"/>

After finishing choosing his powers, Ignis Fatuus used aerokinesis to form a vacuum around himself, suffocating anyone that was inside. The vacuum extended roughly one-hundred feet around him.<ref name="vacuum"/> Ignis Fatuus attempted to use this vacuum to suffocate the fallen capes that had engaged the clones previously, but Bitch used her dogs to drag targets out of his reach.<ref>With Rachel rescuing the wounded, the Eidolon-clone didn’t have any easy targets in reach. Instead, he turned and floated toward Echidna. Ice was chipped and whittled away by what must have been sharp blasts and currents of condensed wind, with fragments flying toward him, twisting in mid air and whipping back at the chunks of ice they’d come from, helping to chip away. Enough cracks formed that Echidna could use her two remaining limbs to leverage herself to her feet. - Excerpt from Scourge 19.6</ref>

After freeing Echidna from her restraints of ice and temporarily taking out Chevalier, Ignis Fatuus engaged in a one-on-one battle with Myrddin. After an exchange of blows, Ignis Fatuus managed to gain the upper hand and began to suffocate Myrddin with his vacuum. Despite the interference of many capes around them, Ignis Fatuus executed Myrddin, thrusting a wavy knife through the bottom of his chin, killing him.<ref name="myrddin"/>

After killing Myrddin, Ignis Fatuus was seemingly frustrated with the lack of challenge his enemies posed. He decided to attack the heroes in another way.<ref name="challenge"/> Utilizing the memories he inherited from Eidolon, Ignis Fatuus revealed the existence of Cauldron, their role in manipulating the world, and that the Triumvirate (including PRT Director Rebecca Costa-Brown) were among the founders. He also revealed Cauldron's responsibility for threats such as the Siberian, Shatterbird and Gray Boy as well as their involvement in the creation of Case 53s. It was an incredible hit to morale for the Protectorate heroes, who were only spurred into action after Skitter directly challenged Echidna.

Ignis Fatuus was finally killed by Miss Militia with a rocket launcher after being trapped by Skitter's thread, which was affected by Clockblocker's ability.<ref name="death">“Hit the Eidolon-Clone,” I spoke to Miss Militia through my bugs, hurrying to step away from Noelle’s bisected form. “Hit him hard.”

The Eidolon-clone moved one arm in our direction, only to stop short. A thread that had draped his arm was now a rigid barrier, connected to the same thread that I’d positioned between Noelle and I. He tried to retreat, only to find the thread I’d circled around his neck holding him firm.

He started to flicker, no doubt to escape. One arm free. Then another.

Miss Militia hefted her rocket launcher. Our Eidolon was already flying to Legend’s rescue as she pulled the trigger. The Eidolon-clone wasn’t quite free when the warhead hit home. For extra measure the explosion drove him against the threads that had draped his body.

If I’d been good at the punchlines, I might have thrown one out there. The best I could come up with was, Flicker that. - Excerpt from Scourge 19.6</ref>

Trivia

• Ignis Fatuus is only named in the tags of the chapters he appears in.
• The term ignis fatuus means a will-o-the-wisp - a malevolent ghost that leads travelers astray - or more generally something that misleads or deludes; whereas "Eidolon" means an idealized image or phantom of a person.
• Had Wildbow not received more donations, Ignis Fatuus would have played a larger role in the story, serving as a catalyst for Skitter to investigate the setting's lore earlier than she did in the canon storyline. Consequently, Worm would have been far shorter.<ref name="SB26">Had there been no donations, it would have been a much smaller story. I probably would have killed off Tattletale, to gut Taylor's access to information she shouldn't have and keep her more on the same page with the reader, and I would have gotten more in depth with the whole 'figuring stuff out' bit. Clone-Eidolon's (Ignis Fatuus') big speech would have made her flip the fuck out. I probably would have driven her out of Brockton Bay to just get her out there and interacting with more setting elements (with a lot more emphasis on Faultline). The story would have been far shorter. - Comment by Wildbow on Spacebattles</ref>

References

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