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>
<label>Status</label><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>
The Simurgh (pronounced: "Si-murg") is the third of the Endbringers to appear.
Personality
When confronting blind spots, the Simurgh appears to favor the shotgun approach.<ref>Then she fired the guns. Hers and Kid Win’s.
The shotgun approach. Cover as wide an area as possible, cover as many bases as possible, in the hopes that something hits. - Venom 29.2</ref> According to Tattletale, the Simurgh knows she will be blind sometimes; in a fight, the Simurgh collects and stacks pieces to ideally reach a point where she has so many factors on her side that she can make blind moves and still win.<ref>“It’s not that easy. She knows she’ll be blind, here and there. She collects and stacks the pieces. At a certain point, she’s got so many factors on her side she can make blind moves and still win. That’s where she’s at now. There’s no king for us to take, no weak point to capitalize on, no silver bullet or special trick,” Tattletale said. - Last 20.6</ref>
The Simurgh refers to herself as female.<ref name ="I28" /><ref name="II19.z" />
Relationships
Her Creator
She calls Eidolon an administrator of the highest order<ref name="II19.z e4">Her creator was an administrator of the highest order, and she had been selected out of a pool of emergency resources. All of her kind had. Behemoth had been created to break stasis, Leviathan to take away resources in space and land, forcing communities into conflict as they were made to relocate. - Excerpt from Infrared 19.z</ref> and uses male pronouns when referring to her creator.<ref name="II19.z e6" /> Eidolon created her via the shard network<ref>Medium-term consequence: the shard network begins producing Endbringers that Superman can't stop that Eidolon could. - Wildbow on Reddit, archived on Spacebattles</ref> out of Eden's<ref name="reddEndbringerLite">If people start forming alliances/peace and Eden sees it as too much trouble to sabotage, then she sics an Endbringer Lite on them, and then works with the remains. - Wildbow on Reddit, archived on Spacebattles</ref><ref>Assuming that Cauldron's operatives maybe killed Eden but then just sat on their hands/died, the Endbringers don't exist, the cauldron vials aren't spread out, and there's less of the really powerful parahumans here and there who're capable of acting decisively. - Wildbow on Spacebattles</ref> pool of emergency resources.<ref name="II19.z e4" /> The Simurgh is essentially a revamped version of the "Endbringer Lite" Eden would have theoretically deployed:<ref name="reddEndbringerLite" /> Eidolon built the Simurgh with a fundamental drive to go to war against him.<ref name="II19.z e6">She had other drives. To go to war against her creator. To these ends, she created a nemesis. She made him better. He freed people, upset the system, disrupted the process, and in that, he created the chaos that would keep her simulation from being too sterile. - Excerpt from Infrared 19.z</ref>
Valkyrie acknowledges her as Eidolon's long-time opponent; two years after his death, a mere mention of the Simurgh's name would agitate his shade.<ref>The Simurgh, was the reply.
Almost instinctively, another spirit deep inside her shifted, agitated. Eidolon. David. The man’s battery was nearly spent, and the cost of replenishing it was high.
Stirred to life by the mere mention of his long-time opponent. - Excerpt from Interlude 9 II</ref> According to Tattletale, she has a real love-hate relationship with him: the Simurgh respects him despite going to war against him.<ref name="28.4 e16" />
After Eidolon's death, the Simurgh explicitly intends to recreate her creator to satisfy this drive.<ref name="II19.z e6" /> While building a cloning device<ref>“Actually, no. I had suspicions, but the Endbringer making a baby wasn’t one of them.” - Teneral e.5</ref> during Gold Morning, she hides it inside a weapon<ref>A glass tube, three feet across, seven and a half feet long, capped in metal at either end.
This will be step six in a nine step process. For now, she puts it aside, buries it in a larger weapon, forming a decorative gun barrel around the glass. The weapon will fire through other means.
The ones who observe her through cameras and with their own eyes will not report this. They lack the background to know what this tube might be, and this event will be dismissed as unimportant or they will leave it to someone else to report. The events are entered into a log, and the subjects overseeing the logs are either asleep or preoccupied. - Excerpt from Interlude 28</ref> and refers to it as being cradled.<ref>The tube is fully encapsulated, hidden.
Cradled. - Excerpt from Interlude 28</ref> She goes out of her way to protect this device in the ensuing fight against Scion;<ref name="29.2 e8">He hit her, and he sent her flying through the crowd. Capes were turned into bloody smears as she collided with them, and the Simurgh was driven to the very far edge of the settlement, to the beaches at the edge of the bay. The countless guns were pulverized.
[...]
The Simurgh held one gun. A single weapon she’d salvaged and sheltered with her body and wings in the instants before Scion had attacked her. - Venom 29.2</ref><ref>“A quarantine area. That was the weapon the Endbringer was using.”
A gun. It was dark gray with a faint green speckled coating on it, where one material had been broken down and incorporated into the outer coating. There was a gouge in the side where a feather had cut the housing, but it was otherwise intact.
Over and over, the Simurgh had protected the weapon. He’d seen it, had checked the footage, had seen her go out of her way to shield it with her wings. She’d done it subtly, most of the time, events contriving to make it look more accidental than anything. - Teneral e.5</ref> however, she fails her objective as Scion forces her to lose it,<ref>The weapon had been lost in the course of the battle, and the heroes had decided to minimize contact with the thing, locking it away. - Teneral e.5</ref> and Lung destroys the infant Eidolon with the help of Teacher's precognitives<ref>He was all too aware that he could be walking into her trap. He had enough precogs around himself and, in that video, around Lung, that the Simurgh shouldn’t have been able to leverage her full power against them, but she could have put things in place, not knowing exactly who, but still knowing it would be bad. - Teneral e.5</ref> after Gold Morning.<ref>The light caught the glass, at first, obscuring the contents.
A baby. Male. With large ears and a large round nose. Not attractive, as babies went.
[...]
Lung touched a burning hand to the glass, melting it. Water steamed on contact with his claw.
[...]
The water was crimson and boiling by the time Lung withdrew his claw. - Teneral e.5</ref> Ten minutes after Lung's success, the Simurgh personally confronts and stares at him before returning to orbit.<ref>“The… incident?” Teacher asked.
“Ten minutes from now,” a student said. “He growls a bit, but there isn’t anything we can make out. He was just walking, and our camera follows”
[...]
He stepped up onto the surface, his clawed feet sliding where they were too long and wide to fit on one..
The Simurgh was waiting.
Lung was her height, bristling with scales. She looked more human of the two, pale, her hair blowing a bit in the wind, unreadable.
[...]
“She returned to orbit.” - Teneral e.5</ref> Although she makes no further attempts to clone Eidolon over the next two years,<ref>“Things are better this time,” Sveta said. “We’ve learned from mistakes. It’s a fresh start. The Endbringers are dormant, we’re finally building things without them being torn down all the time.” - Flare 2.6</ref><ref name="II8.12 e1" /> the Simurgh plans on recreating him to be her nemesis once she has merged with Titan Fortuna and set up her forced simulation.<ref name="II19.z e6" />
Appearance
The Simurgh appears as a fifteen-foot tall woman, waif-thin and unclothed.<ref name="17.1e1">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. - Excerpt from Migration 17.1</ref> Her facial features are delicate:<ref name="17.1e2"/> the Simurgh is beautiful in every conventional sense with classically attractive features such as high cheekbones, luxurious hair, and a delicate, thin frame.<ref name="28.4 e10">Beautiful in every conventional sense, in that every classically attractive feature was there, from the delicate, thin frame to the high cheekbones to the luxurious hair… horrifying in the manner it was all framed. - Excerpt from Cockroaches 28.4</ref> However, her eyes are silver, dull, cold, and empty.<ref>The Simurgh twisted in the air, staring at us with eyes that had nothing to them. One silver eye, and one perfect silver orb in a badly tarnished silver skull framed by wisps of hair. - Excerpt from Last 20.7</ref><ref name="17.1e2"/> The Simurgh's hair is almost as long as she is tall and is, like the rest of her form, platinum-white,<ref name="17.1e1"/> appearing gossamer-fine and straight.<ref name="28.4 e2">It was the hair that got me. Gossamer-fine, silver-white, straight, it blew in the wind as if each strand were a separate entity. Not in clumps or locks, but a curtain of strands ten times as dramatic as something one might see in a digitally altered hair commercial.
Artificial. - Excerpt from Cockroaches 28.4</ref>
Besides her hieght and coloring her major distinguishing features are the variety of asymmetrically and apparently randomly placed feathered wings, which appear excessively large compared to her body.<ref name="Cast1">Simurgh – A creature that appears as a freakishly tall woman with a countless number of wings fanning out from her body, some fanning out from other wings. A precognitive, telekinetic, clairvoyant with a psychic scream. - Cast (spoiler free)</ref> In fact given her body is a smooth facsimile,<ref name="II20.7">A single crack at the lattice at one shoulder widened, inching down toward one nipple-less breast. Just from the stresses.
[...]
She was blocking more of what we were putting out. Her chest gaped open, the laser had flensed away flesh, revealing more of the feather-lattice across her arm and upper body, half of her face was damaged, revealing bone like dark, tarnished silver, and her wings were, by contrast, mostly intact. - Excerpt from Last 20.7</ref> repeatedly described as being "hollow", or made entirly from carefully placed wings, which trace the outline of any body parts she may have lost in combet.<ref name="20.a"/> She often wraps her three largest wings around herself.
After seeing her face, despite having no particular feature or quality that he could point to, Trickster found it harder to ascribe any kind of human quality to her.<ref name="17.1e2">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. - Excerpt from Migration 17.1</ref> Taylor found her appearance horrifying in the sense that it was all framed;<ref name="28.4 e10" /> when the Simurgh's hair blew in the wind as if each strand was separate, Taylor believed it was a deliberate intimidating presentation.<ref name="28.4 e2" />
Abilities and Powers
Psychic Echolocation
The Simurgh continuously emits 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"/> Her "hibernation" state in orbit allows her to make low-intensity scans of the planet with this sense.<ref name ="I28">Excerpt from Interlude 28</ref><ref name="R1" /> To victims, it is usually perceived as a scream in the back of their minds, constantly changing in pitch and tone.<ref name="17.2"/> However, she was capable of keeping it inaudible.<ref name="28.4 e1">No scream from the Simurgh. At least, not one I could detect. It would fit her to keep it beyond our notice, influencing us, the sort of card she would keep up her sleeve. To make the psychic scream ‘audible’, for lack of a better word, purely for spreading fear, then use it subtly at a time when she wasn’t attacking. - Excerpt from Cockroaches 28.4</ref><ref name="R1"/>
The Simurgh exhibits precognition, perfect awareness of the immediate future, and the more she sings/scans the further it reaches.<ref name="Cast2">The Simurgh is shorter than her brothers, and sports a large number of asymmetrical wings. She possesses telekinesis, clairvoyance, precognition and a perpetual psychic scream. Seen as the most cunning and intelligent of the three, the Simurgh uses her precognition to employ long term schemes, each with Rube-Goldberg sequences of events, culminating in grave disasters and tragedies. - Cast (in depth)</ref><ref name="R1">The Simurgh is the third. She's only 15 feet tall but has a massive wingspan. The key to understanding her is her psychic 'scream' - this is basically a kind of psychic echolocation allowing her to scan her surroundings while exerting a psychic pressure to alter behavior, implant messages or create compulsions. She has precognition, perfect awareness of the immediate future, and the more she sings/scans the further it reaches. The byline for dealing with the Simurgh is that you'll probably win the fight but you'll lose the war. 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 occuring in areas she's been active. This includes laying the groundwork for major heroes to be attacked at the opening of a future crisis, or the creation of supervillains of international notoriety. She's a telekinetic capable of tossing buildings, she flies, and her scanning ability lets her borrow and copy techniques and mental powers from others - including the power of tinkers (essentially scanning Iron Man and gaining the ability to make what he can make, then telekinetically pulling together a macro-scale version of his devices from surrounding materials). - 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 to the present moment. The presence of other precognitives 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"/>
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"/> She can influence machines as well as people.<ref name ="I28"/><ref name="22.6">Excerpt from Cell 22.6</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"/>
Borrowing Powers
Although the Simurgh is normally unable to make tinker devices herself,<ref name="E.5 e2">She couldn’t make tinker devices herself. She had to copy the designs of tinkers near her. He’d found who she’d copied, a now deceased cape from Brockton Bay, and he’d found the designs.
There were discrepancies. - Teneral e.5</ref> her scream can pull on nearby Tinker powers.<ref>Tattletale was caught up in a conversation with Knave of Clubs, and fell under the Simurgh’s shadow. The Simurgh, for her part, seemed to be busy building other tinker devices, drawing on the abilities of tinkers in the immediate area. - Venom 29.3</ref> As long as Tinkers stay within scream range, her scream can allow her to borrow their schematics<ref name="29.1 e5" /> and techniques,<ref name="R1"/> copy the design of specific devices present,<ref name="29.1 e5">“Way I understand it, she needs to have a tinker in her sphere of influence to borrow their schematics, or a specific device, if she wants to copy it. - Venom 29.1</ref> and collect knowledge to create related tinker tech via a Thinker/Trump sort of approach.<ref name="R2" /> The Simurgh can also choose to telekinetically pull together a macro-scale version of their devices from surrounding materials.<ref name="R1"/> If relevant Tinkers are not nearby, she can only make cosmetic changes to her tinker devices.<ref>Either way, she didn’t have schematics or anything she’d need to modify the guns.”
“Or she can modify them, and it’s a card she’s been keeping up her sleeve for the last while. I mean, it was only three years ago or whatever that she really showed off her ability to copy a tinker’s work wholesale.”
Tattletale nodded. She frowned. “I don’t like being in the dark. But that’s the gist of it. She made cosmetic changes because she couldn’t make concrete ones.” - Venom 29.1</ref>
| Tinker Devices | |
|
Her scream can allow her to pull on the perception powers of nearby Thinkers and tap into them; as long as they stay within scream range, she can then borrow those specific powers.<ref name="29.1 e6">Thinkers, too, I think she borrows their perception powers as long as she’s tapped into them. Might be why she’s attached to me. - Venom 29.1</ref> When the Simurgh was not fighting during Gold Morning, she tried to stay near Tattletale to pull on her power.<ref>The Simurgh, for the time being, came part and parcel with Tattletale. When she wasn’t fighting, she was a distance away from my teammate and friend. - Speck 30.2</ref> However, she still filters these borrowed powers through her scream: despite having control of the Mathers Giant and being in the same room as Tattletale and Victoria Dallon, she was unable to see Dinah and thus stop the Dinah-influenced Victoria<ref>“She skipped ahead. We thought we had a bit longer,” Tattletale said. “She jumped to going after Fortuna ten minutes early. We didn’t do enough for your plan.”
“No.”
I looked.
Dinah had spoken. Now she pointed, one hand held to her head, grimacing.
I looked, and I saw the syringe, empty.
I grabbed it.
There was only one valid target. - Last 20.5</ref> from disabling the Mathers Giant.<ref>She can’t see Dinah. She can’t see us if we interact with Dinah.
[...]
“That’s why I could get the syringe to the giant,” I said. “She didn’t see me to stop me?”
Tattletale nodded. “Think so.” - Last 20.6</ref><ref>This time I hit the plunger.
The veil fell yet again. This time for real.
The screaming picked up, faint at first, and then a roar. It was all an illusion. All a mind-fuck.
She was here, perched. Fucking with us all the while. - Last 20.5</ref> The Simurgh also lacks the processing power<ref>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). - Conversation with Wildbow on Reddit</ref> to borrow any perception-based powers from Contessa:<ref>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> despite perching on Titan Fortuna's shoulder during their precog duel,<ref>The Simurgh was perched on her shoulder. The video feed fritzed momentarily, and I could see faces in the crowd flinch. - Radiation 18.2</ref> Fortuna still had a hundred times the Simurgh's strength.<ref>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> When Fortuna and Contessa worked in concert to quickly execute a path without investigating it too much, the Simurgh could not tamper with it, forcing her to leave.<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.
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>
Telekinesis and Flight
The Simurgh is a powerful telekinetic capable of tossing buildings and flight.<ref name="R1"/><ref>Excerpt from Migration 17.1</ref><ref name="17.2">Migration 17.2</ref> She could strike a hundred targets simultaneously with thrown debris.<ref name="27.3">Migration 17.3</ref> She could create "decoys" out of debris capable of fooling Scion.<ref name="17.2"/><ref name="30.5">Speck 30.5</ref><ref name="29.2">Venom 29.2</ref> Her telekinesis was seemingly Manton-limited,<ref name="28.4 e4">She gave no sign she’d listened. Her telekinesis grabbed four members of the Yàngbǎn who’d gotten too close, lifting them by their costumes or by some other debris that had surrounded them.
As if launched by catapults, they flew straight up, where they disappeared into the clouds above. - Excerpt from Cockroaches 28.4</ref> but could still throw capes around by manipulating debris, cape-created material and costumes.<ref name="28.4 e4" /><ref name="17.2"/>
Other Abilities
The Simurgh has incredible durability, at least for her largest wing,<ref>“Then go get Ingenue. Let’s get this started.”
As Legend departed, Chevalier’s eyes didn’t leave the objects.
One of the Simurgh’s severed wings. The largest wing, since regrown.
Behemoth’s severed leg.
They warped space for optimal density, were unbreakable with conventional means. Scion had taken seconds to obliterate Behemoth. - Excerpt from Interlude 28</ref> and can regenerate<ref name="20.a">She was already healing. Missing wings were growing back, and her lower body existed as a series of feathers, touching end to end, or end to middle. Like she was the thinnest of lace, formed of feathers harder than steel. It gave her legs, and suggested she was hollow, where Behemoth had had a skeleton and a core. - Excerpt from Last 20.a</ref> thanks to her Endbringer physiology. Like other Endbringers, she cannot be predicted easily with the typical Thinker danger sense<ref name="II9.12 e1">“Could it be an Endbringer?” Rain asked.
“Jesus,” Byron said. “Don’t even joke. They’ve been dormant.”
“They can’t be predicted easily with danger sense either,” I said. - Gleaming 9.12</ref> and is also a blind spot to the typical precognition,<ref name="II11.4 e1">It wasn’t Jeanne who answered. Cinereal gave me my reply. “Thinkers say no. They’re either drawing blanks or they don’t like what they see.”
“Nothing specific? No details?”
“No,” Cinereal said. “But if you look at some of the other major thinker blind spots, you’re going to find yourself running into topics like Eidolon, Sleeper, the Endbringers, Valkyrie, the Island-state, the Pastor incident…”
“Concentrations of power,” I said.
Jeanne shook her head. “Complexity of power, most often. Whatever thinker powers come into play, with these cases, there’s often too many variables to fully consider, thinkers report that their powers are fuzzy, inconsistent, or blacked out.” - Blinding 11.4</ref> including Contessa.<ref>“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>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.” - Dying 15.7</ref> That said, she is not a blind spot for Titan Fortuna.<ref name="II18.z" />
History
Background
The Simurgh was the third Endbringer to appear, appearing just after the turn of the millennium. She first appeared in Lausanne, Switzerland in December 2002<ref>Interlude 24.x</ref>, and initially appeared benevolent and cooperative while psychically manipulating the people around her for three days, <ref>“So the whole world watched for something like three days, to see if she would be another Scion, or if she'd be something else. People approached, she even communicated with them some. Not talking, just gestures, I guess. Interacting might be a better word. And when we thought things would be okay, she made a move. The entire population of the city around her, with all the people who had come to talk with her and research her…” - Excerpt from Migration 17.2</ref> after which she let out her first 'audible' psychic scream. <ref>Tons of people gathered. Then she… sang? Screamed? Whatever this is.” - Excerpt from Migration 17.3</ref> Most residents of the Swiss capital, due to exposure to her mental manipulation, became violent and aggressive, attempting to kill as many people as they could and disrupt the world's resistance to the Endbringers as much as possible. This caused havoc throughout the country and the continent with wide ranging consequences. Lausanne's population was barricaded in and bombed. James Tagg was one of the people involved in that campaign.<ref>Cell 22.2</ref>
She attacked London on August 12th, 2003. It is unknown what the outcome of this event was.
The Simurgh was responsible for the corruption of Sphere, leading him to become the serial killer and Slaughterhouse Nine member known as Mannequin.<ref>Plague 12.7</ref>
She also attacked Madison, Wisconsin, in December 2009. Heroes won,<ref name="R3.1">In the aftermath, he gets a lion's share of the credit in the Endbringer defeat like Eidolon did with the Simurgh in Madison. - Comment by wildbow on Reddit</ref> but as in previous attacks the aftermath necessitated the quarantine of the city. The Travelers were created as a by-product of this attack, which set the stage for multiple other events.
The Simurgh also attacked Canberra on February 24th, 2011; the event was a Scion no-show, but a Legend/Eidolon victory.<ref>Scarab 25.6</ref> The aftermath of this attack necessitated the construction of a dome around the city.<ref>Interlude 26.x</ref> This was a factor in Canary having a highly biased trial that sent her to the birdcage.<ref name="SB234531">Wildbow:
Think of it in terms of political context, the simurgh attack on Australia being recent & rather a loss for the good guys, her being a Simurgh-alike, news & public perception turning on her, and other factors playing in.
For Canary's court case ending up an uphill battle.
People are ~scared~ of mind/emotion control. - Wildbow on Discord, Archived on Spacebattles</ref>
Post-Slaughterhouse Nine
The Travelers and the emergence of The Echidna performed their intended function, it is unknown if the resultant portal was planned. The revelation of Cauldron to the larger parahuman community and the subsequent schisms in The Protectorate was likely planned.
Prevented Dragon finding out crucial information from Panacea.<ref>Interlude 16.z</ref>
Post-Echidna
The Simurgh's use of the Travelers culminates in the near-assassination of Chevalier and Tattletale and the death of Accord by the expelled Traveler member Perdition at New Delhi. It is unknown whether the death of Behemoth was predicted, given Scion's and Eidolon's interference.
Timeskip
Attacked Paris on December 19th 2012 and accessed Earth Shin.<ref name="25.6">Paris, December 19th, 2012 // Simurgh
Notes: Victory by Scion.
Target/Consequence: see file The Woman in Blue. See file United Capes. -
Excerpt from Scarab 25.6</ref>
Gold Morning
Was recruited by the Undersiders and the Guild into the effort against Zion. Her first mission was to fight off The Yàngbǎn.<ref name="28.4">Cockroaches 28.4</ref>
Later, after her sibling Leviathan was used to punish The Elite, she upgraded him.
It is unknown if the Simurgh was involved in the creation of Khepri. She was able to fake her destruction at Zion's hands and helped to break his mind.<ref>Speck 30.6</ref>
Post-Gold Morning
Apparently, tried to clone Eidolon only for it to be destroyed.<ref>Teneral e.5</ref>
Ward
She is recorded as being inactive for the two years since Gold Morning.<ref name="II8.12 e1">“The remaining Endbringers are quiet,” Capricorn said. - Excerpt from Beacon 8.12</ref>
Post-Goddess' Takeover
Reports had it as her being active again,<ref>“This was easy,” she said. “A touch sad, but easy. You were dealing with the Simurgh.”
“She was restless but we can’t figure out what she was actually doing. It was scary but it was easy, as you put it. You can’t keep going like this. Why don’t you go back to the city and relax? Sit around in your comfortable clothes and watch movies. Go hang out with friends- I know you have a standing invitation from an old friend of mine.” - Excerpt from Interlude 9 II</ref> her intentions were unknown.<ref>There were other things. News. Status of Class-S threats…
- Sleeper; active
- Machine Army; 4.83% growth since last check, active
- Endbringers; one dormant, one active, others dead or unknown locations.
Active Endbringer. She zeroed in on that. A few mouse clicks brought her to a site that tracked the Simurgh.
The activity was only a renewed cluster of sightings. Not an attack. The Simurgh was somewhere near Bet’s Indonesia. Not flying as she’d once done, either. Floating around. Facilities and factories in the area had been repurposed into accommodations. People in the area were hunkered down, enduring life on new Bet instead of moving on to new places, leaning on some risky non-tinker tech advances. Going the sci-fi route in tackling what Bet was going through. Those same people were responsible for the flurry of reports about the Simurgh, which had led to her being flagged ‘active’. - Excerpt from Interlude 10.x II</ref>
Post-Assault on the Time Bubbles
After Dauntless undergoes a broken trigger and merges with his shard, the Simurgh approaches the Kronos Titan and begins 'whispering to it'.<ref>Heavens 12.none</ref>.
Post-Attack on Teacher
Ziz abandoned her perch for a moment after the encounter with Chevalier.<ref name="II17.6">Sundown 17.6</ref> But returned back after the threat had passed.<ref name="II17.7">Sundown 17.7</ref>
The Ice Breaks
Simurgh switched her nest from Kronos to Fortuna.<ref name="II18.2">Radiation 18.2</ref> According to the Wardens' think-tank Simurgh scrambles Fortuna's communication.<ref>"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> Simurgh had managed to outplan the titan. Their duel was interrupted by the interference in The Shardspace.<ref name="II18.z">Radiation 18.z</ref>
After ensuring her domination over Fortuna Titan, Simurgh set up Cryptid emotionally, sabotaged Dragon's efforts, and fed pieces of herself to the Machine Army. Whereas before it was believed acted to create a future where Humanity wipes itself out in three hundred years, it is shown that Simurgh is an exigency function. When control over Titan Fortuna is established she would dominate the reminding human population and farm them, creating a society of torment and perpetual violence to cultivate as much information out of the broken cycle as was possible, and preserve the world for three or four billion years until a new Entity would arrive.<ref name="II19.z">Infrared 19.z</ref> She skipped attending the Wardens' meeting.<ref>Were she to fly closer and gather information by emitting her signal, she might be able to piece together the events, but it did not matter. - Excerpt from Infrared 19.z</ref>
When the Wardens attempted an assault on her, she humored them for a while, then deployed the Machine Army to tie their forces, and went straight to their HQ.<ref name="II20.1">Last 20.1</ref> She later ambushed the leading group, that was securing the complex, killing several heroes in the process.<ref name="II20.3">Last 20.3</ref> Meanwhile, Simurgh-compromised individuals put pressure on the Wardens thinkers.<ref>“Be careful going there,” Chastity told Sveta. “Half these guys we caught were heading there like they were given orders. We’ve been holding them off but…” - Excerpt from Last 20.4</ref>
The Simurgh for a short period took over the Mathers Giant, that was used to sedate all her other victims. It allowed her to wreak a massive chaos and kill a dozen or so capes.<ref name="II20.5">Last 20.5</ref> Antares was able to turn the tide by disabling the Giant and temporarily blinding the Simurgh to the people present with Dinah Alcott's help. The Simurgh was cut in half with Precipice's blades, but escaped.<ref>Last 20.7</ref>
The Endbringer attempted to proceed with its plan to subsume Titan Fortuna. However, Dauntless, who now has the help of Fortuna's sight, guides the direction of a G-driver blast into knocking the Simurgh into Sleeper's storm; she was trapped, lay prone, and was taken out of the picture entirely.<ref>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><ref>The Simurgh was out of action. Sleeper had her. - Last 20.10</ref> She was still dealt with even after Sleeper retreated from the area.<ref name="II20.b e3">“First of all, the Sleeper is retreating. He is not an immediate danger, and we will let you know as soon as we can, if that changes.”
[...]
“The Sleeper was lured to the city specifically to slow down the Titans and was used to trap the Simurgh. Some of our best minds and strategists are confident the Simurgh is dealt with.”
[...]
“Didn’t you want to be a lawyer?” Presley asked, leaning onto the snow-dusted railing. In the distance, Sleeper’s cloud was receding. - Last 20.b</ref>
Chapter Appearances
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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
- This article includes information from a chapter that Wildbow said he would likely change later.
- Most of Simurgh's fanarts tend to seriously under-scale the size of her wings.
- "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.
- In Isaiah 6:2, above the throne of God "...were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying." In the Bible "feet" often stood as a euphemism for genitalia (Deut 28: 57) (Ezekiel 16:25). Simurgh's multiple wings and attempt at modesty might, therefore, be a reference to Biblical seraphim.
Fanart Gallery
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Image by DamienDraidecht on DeviantArt.
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Image by Beru-bera on DeviantArt.
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Image by anonymous Reddit.
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Image by DerTodesbote on DeviantArt
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Illustration by Turtle-76 on DeviantArt.
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Illustration by Liujuin on DeviantArt.
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Illustration by Saniika on DeviantArt.
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Illustration by Lonsheep on DeviantArt.
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S-Class Threats by BenswFrenefits
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Detailed piece LucyFur919
References
<references/>
| 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=
}} |
| 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= | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 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= | deceased=† | noncanon=≠ | former=‡ | unknown=* | #DEFAULT=
}} • Scion {{#switch: deceased |
deceased=† | noncanon=≠ | former=‡ | unknown=* | #DEFAULT= | deceased=† | noncanon=≠ | former=‡ | unknown=* | #DEFAULT=
}} | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||