"There was no long-term, and trying to cling to one would only spoil it all."
This article contains spoilers regarding the ending of Worm and plot of the sequel.
Newter is a Case 53 and member of Faultline’s Crew.
Personality[]
Newter is roughly 16 years old. He tends to act his own age, even pursuing girls his own age at Faultline's club. He is generally pretty lighthearted, not appearing to be stricken by looking different from "normal" people, but has shown himself to become serious while conducting business.
He has no reservations about the recreational drugging of willing participants with his body fluids. Its use in combat is also deemed acceptable.
Appearance[]
He has orange skin, light blue eyes, dark red hair, and a five foot long prehensile tail.[2] While his hair is naturally blond with a reddish tint,[3] in the course of the novel he dyed[4] his hair blue,[5] red,[6] and later pink.[7] Newter also has a tattoo that looks like: "the greek ‘Omega’ symbol, but upside down. Maybe a stylized ‘u’" which is "just above his heart".[2]
His eyes have no whites, only blue irises that extended from corner to corner, with rectangular, horizontal pupils.[5]
Newter often walks on all-fours, since his tail makes it hard to stay upright.[8][9]
If you left aside his unusual features, Taylor noted that he was quite conventionally attractive.[10]
Abilities and Powers[]
All his bodily fluids (including sweat) contain powerful hallucinogens which can "send someone off to la-la land" in "only a few seconds".[5] When Newter brushed against some of Skitter's bugs they "dropped off the wall or out of the sky, falling to the ground, alive but stunned."[5] Skitter observed that several of the people that Newter were fighting were removed from the fight before he even touched them, leading her to believe that he hit them with either "blood" or "spit".[5] The effects lasted "an inconveniently long time"; when he wanted to provide them for recreational purposes, he'd dip his tongue into a few drops of water on a spoon, producing a diluted dose that only lasted for a little under an hour. There were no long-term side-effects, and it was impossible for someone to overdose, on even in extreme combat scenarios.[11] This deviant body chemistry extends to the point that he does not get infections from foreign microbes.[12]
Newter's altered body has other benefits. In addition to a prehensile tail, he is noticeably tougher than a normal human, able to operate with wounds that amazed a trained medic.[12]
Newter is able to leap in excess of 15 feet exceedingly fast (it is said that it takes the same time for him to leap from one opponent to another as it takes Skitter to throw a punch). He appears to move in a half-run half-crawl manner which allows him to move faster than the average person (was easily able to keep up with Brutus when he was larger than a horse).[9] He can fall 50 feet or more and land on his feet without issue.[13] Newter's speed is such that he can seemingly dodge gunfire.[14][15][16] Additionally, he has a gecko-like ability to stick to surfaces, allowing him to hang from walls[17][16] and climb them with remarkable speed.[5][9][18]
History[]
Background[]
Three years before the beginning of the story an anonymous man's life was saved by Alexandria.[19]
Waking completely empty of his past life Newter would make a home in the sewers before he wound up recruited by Faultline.[6]
Story Start[]
When the Azn Bad Boys went on a rampage Newter is seen for the first time at the villain meeting to decide the course of action the criminal elements of Brockton Bay would take.
Post-Leviathan[]
When participating in a raid against the merchants Newter went off after some papers scattered by Skidmark. He ran into some mercenaries and two young women who he knew in more colorful attire. Tattletale and Skitter were able to open a line of negotiation with him before handing over the papers.
Dealt with a visiting member of the Slaughterhouse Nine, though he and the rest of his team came out the worse for wear.
Post-Slaughterhouse Nine[]
Infiltrated Madison Wisconsin as part of the continuing investigations of the group into Cauldron.
Gave Gregor a hard time about his new relationship.
The Ice Breaks[]
Together with the Palanquin people he attended emergency power testing of Case 53s, arranged by The Wardens to see if any of them could be useful in the fight against the Titans.[20]
Chapter Appearances[]
Fanart Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ She couldn’t have been older than sixteen. Still, that was roughly how old Newter was, and he could hardly fault the boy for being interested in someone his own age. - excerpt from Interlude 5
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Hive 5.1
- ↑ He dyes it. He’s strawberry blond without the dye. - Comment by Wildbow in the Cast (in depth) page
- ↑ Newter – A monstrous parahuman with orange skin and dyed hair, has a prehensile tail, can climb on walls and his bodily fluids are potent hallucinogens. - Cast (spoiler free)
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 Hive 5.6
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Newter – Case 53. His powers altered his appearance to the point he cannot fit in with regular society. Has orange skin, red hair and a prehensile tail. Was living in the sewers before he was recruited by Faultline. His bodily fluids are powerful contact hallucinogens, to a degree where even the trace sweat on his hands can incapacitate someone. - Cast (in depth)
- ↑ Speck 30.6
- ↑ Newter was, by contrast, garishness. Orange skin, bubblegum pink hair, and a bright green winter coat, prowling forward on all fours, because the counterbalance of his long, prehensile tail made standing up straight and walking a pain. - Excerpt from Infrared 19.a
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 "I could catch up to them," Bitch told us, as she rode Brutus back towards our group. [...] Bitch lunged into action, Newter only a few steps behind. He half-ran, half-crawled, his tail whipping around behind him, presumably to help keep his balance. As Bitch had her dogs crash into and through the closed metal loading bay door, Newter intercepted the first few people to leave through the fire exit door on the side of the building. He leaped to close fifteen foot gaps as fast as I could have thrown a punch, moving from one person to the next, dropping each of them in an instant. [...] As he darted up the side of the building and slipped into an open window like a bolt of greased lightning, I felt Newter brush past several with my bugs. Each bug that came into contact with him dropped off the wall or out of the sky, falling to the ground, alive but stunned. - excerpt from Hive 5.6
- ↑ "They couldn't if they tried," Newter answered me, smiling. Funny, if you looked past the odd appearance – the blue hair, the weird eyes, the orange skin and the tail, he was actually a pretty good looking guy. - Hive 5.6
- ↑ He reached up to the back of the booth, grabbed a bag that sat there, and fished out a pair of plastic spoons and a bottle of water. With a water dropper he retrieved from his pocket, he siphoned water from the bottle and placed a few drops in each spoon. The final step was dipping the tip of his tongue in each drop of water.
“Lick it up,” he told the girls.
“That’s all?” Laura asked him.
“It’s enough. Any more and you might be out for an inconveniently long time. That right there,” Newter pointed to the spoon with the tip of his tail, “Is a little less than an hour of psychadelic tripping. No hangover, no side effects, it’s not addictive, and you can’t overdose on it. Trust me, I’ve tried to make someone overdose before, combat situation, and I couldn’t make it happen.”
Mary was the first to take the spoon and pop it into her mouth. Moments later, her eyes went wide, and she fell limp against the back of the booth. - excerpt from Interlude 5 - ↑ 12.0 12.1 Hive 5.10
- ↑ Newter dropped from the ceiling. The main part of the mall had only the one level to it, but the roof was arched slightly, and he was dropping from one of the higher points. I was bad at estimating distances, but what was that? Fifty feet? Sixty? He landed in a crouch, a hair behind the girl who was carrying the vial down the pile of rubble to the base of the platform. - excerpt from Infestation 11.7
- ↑ "Something about the way that one moved," Newter pointed at Jaw with his tail, "Reminded me of some other mercenaries I've come across. Don't bother shooting, by the way, I'm too quick." - excerpt from Infestation 11.7
- ↑ Newter was on the second floor, probably dodging gunfire as he moved closer to the group of people who had been in the upstairs office. - excerpt from Hive 5.5
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 "Maybe I need to get the bullwhip? Or did you forget the drills?" Newter groaned aloud. "You're on that again." "On the wall. Go." Newter leaped across the hotel room and stuck to the wall, one hand planted above his head so he could stay more or less upright, his tail curling around his lower foot. "Pain in the ass. You know I'll have to scrub the hotel walls after to get rid of the footprints before we go." "Deal," Faultline said. "The practice could make the difference between you dodging a bullet and you moving too slow to avoid it." - Interlude 18.f
- ↑ Newter was hanging off the wall by his fingertips and toes - excerpt from Hive 5.5
- ↑ Then he was gone, around the side of the building and up to the roof in heartbeats. - excerpt from Infestation 11.7
- ↑ His eyes widened as he seemed to realize she was there. “Eres an gwarra engel?”
“No,” she replied. She brushed his hair out of his face with one hand. “No an engel.” Not an angel.Interlude 15.z - ↑ Infrared 19.a
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| Blackforest • Brickhaus • Circe • Chantilly • The Custodian • Egesa • Egg • Engel • Fen • Fishy • Gentle Giant • Gregor the Snail • Gully • Grackle • Gwerrus • Hexie • Hunch • Mantellum • Matryoshka • Newter • Nyx • Peat • Sanguine • Shamrock • The Slug • Softball • Subject 3016 • Sveta Karelia • Thud • Trainwreck • Vulturehawk • Weld • Wendigo • Whippersnap | |
| Leader | Faultline |
|---|---|
| Members | Gregor the Snail • Labyrinth • Newter • Scrub • Shamrock • Spitfire • Matryoshka • Whippersnap |
| Associates | Coil † • Tattletale ‡ • Dinah Alcott ‡ |