"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.
Tammi, also known as Rune, later Scribe, is a member of The Shepherds, and formerly of Empire Eighty-Eight.
Personality
Rune was a white supremacist,[5] a result of teenage rebellion from her immediate family (who had escaped from the Herren Clan,) leading her back into the welcoming arms of the violent clan.[4] She was pampered and accepted within the group.
On both occasions she spoke in Worm, she was vocally angry with the Undersiders,[1][6] although this may have been a coincidence. When she was younger she had issues with a stutter.[7]
Tattletale speculated that she was hoping to leave the Chosen following Hookwolf's departure.[8][6] Which she eventually did, returning to the Clans.[9]
After becoming a hero, when her past was widely revealed she was publicly silent on the entire issue,[10] later claiming that the Amnesty meant she didn't have to. She continues to display bigoted behavior if understated.[11]
She believed in the amnesty and didn't wish to apologize, believing that instead she should be given a second chance like others. This still brought her into clashes with leadership, including her own leader Moonsong[11]
Relationships
Theo Anders
Kaiser attempted to pair her with a then powerless Theo, no sparks emerged.[12]
Victor
Complicated. She considered him family but herself as more an aunt or grandma, rather than a younger sister as Victor thought so. Despite her abrasiveness, she did care for him and he cared for her.[13]
Moonsong
She respected her fellow shaker.
Victoria Dallon
They do not have much a relationship as they were brought up in opposing teams,[14] fighting each other on at least one occasion, and likely more.[15] This loathing seems to have had a longstanding effect on interactions between them.[16]
Appearance
Rune is a teenage girl[17] with long blonde hair.[3] She is naturally athletic though she could benefit from not having a perpetual sneer.[14][12]
She wears a costume designed to make her look like a magic user.[5] Her original costume featured a black and red robe.[2] After joining Fenrir's Chosen she wore a dark blue robe with a peaked hood, edged with runes.[3]
Abilities and Powers
Rune could touch an object to attune to it, after which point she had the ability to telekinetically move it.[17][2] She had to trace signatures onto the object with her power.[19] This process takes a few seconds,[20] up to a limit of 30 seconds.[19] The resultant object did not glow.[21]
Although Skitter believed she was limited to objects weighing up to a ton,[1] they could in fact weigh several tons each,[5] and she could also levitate lighter objects.[22] She was able to levitate pieces of rubble the size of trucks,[23][24] which were seemingly about her upper limit.[25] On one occasion, she was seen to break off a chunk of a building by using her power on it.[20] She was Manton limited to nonliving objects,[5] although people could ride on objects she moved.[25][24]
She is usually limited to two distinct objects, but can manipulate three or four with increasing penalties to her own ability to operate independently. Similar objects are easier for her to coordinate then disparate ones.[19][26]
Scribe has put years of work into being an effective communicator with a large vocabulary,[7] and has made substantial progress.[27]
Equipment
After Gold Morning Scribe took to using a staff to mark down the symbols she used to focus her telekinesis. It also serves as an effective impromptu surf-stick.[27]
History
Background
Rune was born a tertiary member of the Herren Clan. Her parents had broken away from the Herren Clan, but Rune's childhood rebellion dragged her back. She ended up connecting with an uncle after her parents began to have problems with their finances at the same time that she had some snags with the law. Her uncle pampered and enabled her, letting her accompany him on criminal outings that landed her in juvenile detention.[4]
As a fully indoctrinated white supremacist in the racially diverse juvenile justice system, Rune was isolated and finally triggered, breaking out in short order. Clan connections got her and her family brought to Brockton Bay by Kaiser, with monetary assistance.[4]
Story Start
Her public identity was revealed by Coil along with the rest of E88.[28] She went on a rampage alongside Purity.
She then helped the city during Leviathan's attack, helping bend a barrier formed by Kaiser into a makeshift cage to hold the Endbringer after Clockblocker temporarily froze him.[29]
Post-Leviathan
After Kaiser's death, she followed Hookwolf and joined Fenrir's Chosen. She was later wounded when Hookwolf was being recruited by Shatterbird, before Othala healed her.[30]
She attended the Meeting at Crater Lake with the rest of the Chosen, covered in barely-healed scratches and scars.[24]
She helped fight the Slaughterhouse Nine as part of Hookwolf's army.[20]
Post-Slaughterhouse Nine
After Hookwolf left with the Nine, she fought the Undersiders as part of a group including both Pure and Chosen. They were defeated and ordered to leave the city, Rune berated the Undersiders for trying to claim the entire city.[22] Tattletale speculated that she was hoping to leave the Chosen.[8][6]
At around the time of the Echidna event, Rune was among a group of Nazis operating in Boston who were giving Accord and Blasto trouble.[31] Along with Othala and Victor, Rune returned to the the clans, where the three of them were denigrated for their perceived part in the Collapse of the Empire Eighty-Eight.[9]
Gold Morning
She likely had a similar experience to every other parahuman in the multiverse towards the end.
Ward
Two years after Gold Morning Rune, along with Victor, was a member of The Shepherds under a different name,[32] instead of joining the Fallen as other capes with her ideological background did.[16]
Post-Goddess' Takeover
Following information about villains targeting those caught in time effects she was consulted about her former comrade Alabaster.[33]
Post-Time Bubble Pop
She was outed as former neo-nazi alongside Victor by Teacher, and as consequence enjoyed a enforced vacation in the Wardens Bunker.[10]
She was present during the assembly of the second team aiming for Teacher's stronghold, contributing to the discussion.[14]
Post-Attack on Teacher
A few days later she was at the briefing with a small group of Shepherds, and didn't speak up when a comment by Vessel could have led to a severe misunderstanding.[26] She later showed off her small group consisting of Vessel, Accolade and Armiger.[27]
Much later after the immediate second Shin crisis Scribe passed and her group were deployed, under Moonsong, to deal with the Shin Defense Initiative. Scribe harassed Tristan Vera during the Second Shin Crisis.[11]
The Ice Breaks
When the ice broke, Scribe was able to save her incapacitated teammates from freshly titanified Victor.[34]
Later in the fight, Scribe and her team managed to shove the Nemean Titan into one of the cracks in reality, removing him from the battlefield.[35] Scribe helped to save her team and multiple civilians from Titan Skadi later in the day.[36]
Chapter Appearances
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Buzz 7.9 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "7.9" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Rune – The youngest member of Empire Eighty-Eight at present, a teenage girl, Rune can touch an object to attune to it, after which point she has the ability to telekinetically manipulate it. These objects can weigh several tons each. Rune wears a robe in black and red. - Cast (In Depth)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Rune, for her part, wasn’t much older than Imp. Her long blond hair streamed out of a pointed hood, and runes lined the edges of a long, dark blue cloak. - Excerpt from Colony 15.3
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 Rune ( It's sad all the other Nazis had some had a background story )
Rune is a tertiary member of Othala's family - the which is part of a group that's informally known as 'the clan', or the Herren Clan. Second cousin to Othala, really. Her parents weren't so into the ideas that the family was pushing, and broke away, but Rune's childhood rebellion dragged her back, and she ultimately connected with an uncle after her parents hit some financial difficulty at the same time that Rune hit some snags with the law. Her uncle spoiled her quite a bit, encouraged her more reckless behavior, and brought her along on some stuff that ultimately got her sent to juvie. Lacking the ability to adjust or hold back in the midst of a diverse juvie population, she got segregated and ultimately triggered and broke out. Her uncle connected her to Kaiser, who brought her and her family to Brockton Bay and helped them financially (putting her in the Towers.)
The Herren Clan wants to be a serious organization, but isn't quite there. Every person they can commit to a more serious group like Kaiser, though, gives them more legitimacy and support, and pushes them toward being a stronger organization.
This creates a sort of friction within the group that has some people trying to be organized, and others pushing for more reckless violence and conflict in hopes of getting more triggers or just being seen as 'good soldiers.' Lots of talk of 'old ways', with meetings called 'moots', among other things. Other supremacist groups can join the clan through marriage, but breaking in seriously is hard, requiring years of membership, marriage to solidify the deal, having children and getting them involved, and proving one's own worth. This makes it hard for undercovers to break in. Given the number of warring minor factions, the effect drives a lot of recruitment - one family might well want to reach out to guys further south or west to bulk up their own forces and better push their own agendas. - Wildbow comments on information regarding secondary characters, reddit - ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Rune – A powerful telekinetic and white supremacist, she can move nonliving objects she touches, each one potentially weighing several tons. Dresses up as a wizard. - Cast (Spoiler Free)
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Colony 15.2
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 “Yeah,” Vessel said. She frowned a bit at the stutter.
Scribe had already been over a lot of this with Vessel and Accolade. Accolade was off to one side, smoking off his nerves from their earlier, brief encounter with the Red Queen, mostly staying quiet.
[...]
“You okay?” Vessel asked.
“I’m okay now,” Scribe said. “I think. Working on what I, um…”
She trailed off, trying to find the thread of what she wanted to say.
[...]
She floundered.
She stopped.
“V-Victor,” she snarled the word.
“The f-fuck,” she asked. Victor had the ability to steal abilities in a field while augmenting his own. He’d been aiming it at her. Taking her gift of gab. “You dick.”
“Sorry,” he said. “Wanted to make an entrance, and the best entrance is the sort that kicks in the door and puts down the scariest guy in the room right away.”
“I’m not your enemen- enemy, you phimo- phimotic cock jockey.”
Victor laughed.
“Turn it off.”
“Just did,” he said. “Wanted to see if there was any sign of the old you in there.”
“You aren’t s-s-supposed to be talking to a recalcitrant ex-supremacist,” she told him. “Remember?” - Excerpt from Interlude 17.z II - ↑ 8.0 8.1 I had something of an idea that Victor, Rune and Othala were looking to leave the Chosen, so I floated the idea to Coil that he could make them an offer. - Excerpt from Colony 15.3
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 “I wanted to see if you were okay.”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re always fine. You were ‘fine’ when Coil outed us. You were ‘fine’ when Kaiser died. You were ‘fine’ when you were injured. You were ‘fine’ when we went back to the Clans and the new leadership treated us like dirt and blamed us for what happened in Empire Eighty-Eight.” - Excerpt from Interlude 17.z II - ↑ 10.0 10.1 I saw Victor- Brockton Bay native, named for his power, not because it was an actual name. [...] Rune sat at the opposite corner of that collection of Shepherds. She’d changed her name to Scribe, updated her costume by adding a brimmed hat and a crook-topped cane that she could use to write her symbols, but it was hard for me to not see her as Rune.
Two days ago, the pair of them had been outed. [...] She’d changed her name to Scribe, updated her costume by adding a brimmed hat and a crook-topped cane that she could use to write her symbols, but it was hard for me to not see her as Rune.
[...]
Rune, by contrast, hadn’t written any letter. Her silence had been damning, and I suspected that if she hadn’t already been brought here to the Bunker and firmly asked to stay here, they would have enforced it then. She was benched, and she had no friends for the time being. Nobody to talk to her. - Excerpt from Breaking 14.2 - ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 “Hey, Capricorn,” Scribe called out.
“You’re still on video, Scribe. Do you want to say something else that’s going to make you look bad in front of your superiors?”
Tristan sounded so tired.
“Heard you didn’t reconcile with Reconciliation.”
Tristan looked over at her.
Scribe touched her heart, before stating a slightly overdramatic, shaking-her-head-while-speaking, “I’m really sorry. That’s a shame. I know you were close, once.”
“He’s a good guy,” Tristan said. “Deserves everything good.”
“He is,” another Shepherd said. Not one of Scribe’s flock. “I hear good things. I wish he’d stuck with us.”
One of Scribe’s retinue leaned over to his female friend, hand cupped over mouth, whispering something. The friend laughed, and started to pass it on to Scribe.
Tristan got to his feet, and in that same second, the guy cape who’d just whispered the ‘joke’ to his friend took an abrupt step away from the wall, toward Tristan. There was a swagger to his body language, like he expected a fight.
“What are you doing?” Tristan asked.
“What are you doing?” the guy responded, emphasizing the ‘you’.
Tristan stared at him. The guy stared back.
The other Shepherd that had said something kind about Reconciliation stood off to the side, actively not looking at the potential altercation. - Excerpt from Sundown 17.7 - ↑ 12.0 12.1 “-trying to set me up with her,” Golem explained
“Ugh,” Cuff made a sound.
“How did it go?” Rain asked.
“Terrible? I mean… what did I have going for me? Fat kid, bad grades, hated everything. No interests. Certainly not sports, like my dad wanted. And she’s… what? Athletic, uh, I’m not going to lie and say she was attractive, because… god, it sounds shitty to say it, but-”
“You don’t have to qualify,” Cuff said. “The racist girl is kind of rat-faced.”
“Reminder: I’m using a camera. I’m micced. We’re probably being watched and listened to by an intern or someone.”
“She was still out of my league,” Golem said. At the same time, words appeared across the camera.
“She was not,” Cuff said. “No. Even discounting the racist stuff…”
“Sure. But as far as I was concerned, then? Zero self esteem?”
[...]
I could see how Golem’s thing about his dad trying to pair him up with Rune had started. Tristan was with some of the Shepherds. Moonsong was close by but she was busy with another conversation. Rune, Scribe, was closer. - Excerpt from Sundown 17.7 - ↑ - Excerpt from Interlude 17.z II
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 [Cinereal] tapped an area highlighted in red. “In high-risk areas, you’ll want to lead with the strongest team, switching out as injuries or weariness take hold… [...] …Faster-moving or durable capes are ideal for this rear guard.” Cinereal stated.
“Bring it back?” Scribe asked. ‘Rune’. Our kid Nazi from Brockton Bay, not so redeemed.
“If you can.”
The image on the screen behind Cinereal had text listing what she was saying, transcribed as fast as she said the words. One team to lead, one team to flank, one team to hold the rear and decide in a crisis if they needed to support the other two teams or run for it and take what information they had back to the Bunker.
“Let’s say we can. What then?” she asked. Fuck, I’d always kind of hated her, just the tone of voice and the way she always looked like she’d smelled a fart, like she was disgusted with everything. The costume was cute, but it really didn’t work with her overall… everything else. “Are you staying here?”
“I’m going, leading a primary team. I remained behind because my power is better at defense than offense. If we fail here, I don’t know what we do. The returning capes should do what they can to disseminate word that things have reached a critical state, while remaining safe in the bunker. You could attempt to get into remote contact with other teams, fence-sitters, and villains to mount a third operation.”
“Third time’s a charm,” Scribe said, drawing an icon in the air that fizzled out of existence. “Maybe something different.”
“Those who bring messages back can decide what’s best, based on what they found.” - Excerpt from Dying 15.1 - ↑ Buzz 7.6
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 She hadn’t joined the Fallen like a lot of the racist shitheads had after Gold Morning, which counted for a bit of something, but I felt like I needed to see more from her before I could stop thinking of her as Rune from Empire Eighty Eight.
[...]
The entire time, she was speaking in a voice that was more quiet and for her group only than anything we’d said at our table. Not that we’d broadcast it, but…
Fuck, I was being unfair, wasn’t I?
[...]
We packed up our trays and gathered the cutlery into one glass. I gave Scribe a glance over my shoulder, and saw her staring.
She rolled her eyes, her expression just shy of being a sneer, pure disdain in every account. That done, she floated away, still surfing on her magic stick. Her trio walked behind her.
Maybe I wasn’t being unfair. Fuck, I really didn’t like her. - Excerpt from From Within 16.2 - ↑ 17.0 17.1 Rune was the source of the debris that had struck us, which was rising back into the air as I watched. A teenage girl in the service of Empire Eighty-Eight, Rune was a powerful telekinetic capable of lifting nearly a ton. Several things weighing up to a ton, judging by what I saw. She hovered in the air, crouched atop a piece of building as big as a garbage truck, with more similarly sized pieces of rubble orbiting her. The drawback to her power was that she needed to touch things before she could move them with her mind, but that seemed fairly inconsequential right this moment. - Excerpt from Buzz 7.9
- ↑ She’d changed her name to Scribe, updated her costume by adding a brimmed hat and a crook-topped cane that she could use to write her symbols - Excerpt from Breaking 14.2
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 Two objects at a time, three if she devotes enough focus that it impacts her ability to manage her own movements, balance, self defense, etc, and maybe four if she really tries, gives up a lot in the aforementioned categories, and very probably has items which are easy to coordinate (ie. all roughly equal in shape and mass).
Takes up to 30 seconds to attune to each object, tracing signatures onto them with her power. - Wildbow comments on the limits to Rune's powers?, reddit - ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 Rune leaped off the rock and landed on the husk of a building that hadn't survived Leviathan's attack. A few seconds later, a large section broke off and lifted into the air. She didn't stay on top of it for long, choosing instead to gather more ammunition, moving on to other ruined walls and sections of building. - Excerpt from Snare 13.8
- ↑ Rune's power glows.
Nope. - Wildbow clearing up misconceptions on reddit - ↑ 22.0 22.1 Rune was kneeling, bleeding from shallow cuts across her face, chest, ribs, stomach and thighs. She was using her power on a scarf to bind the wounds tight.
[...]
None of them were meeting our gaze. We’d won to the extent that it was embarrassing to them.
“You’re in our territory,” Tattletale told them. “Get out.”
“You’ve taken this whole fucking city as your territory,” Rune retorted, scowling.
“Your point being?” Regent asked.
“Where are we supposed to go?”
“Leave the city, retard.” Imp said.
“You can’t just take the whole city.”
I didn’t feel like Imp and Regent were giving the impression of strength. I spoke before they could. “We already have. We fought the Nine and played a pretty big part in taking out more than half of them.” I pointed at Shatterbird, “Case in point. You took advantage of that to try to claim some territory for yourselves. Not only is that awfully pathetic, but you proved yourselves hypocrites, doing exactly what Hookwolf accused us of doing.”
“We staked out our claim. It’s our right.”
“Your right? On what grounds? Strength? We have you beat there. Did you earn it? No. I think my team has you beat on both points.” - Excerpt from Colony 15.2 - ↑ “Fuckers!” the teenager in the cowl and robe screamed, “I’ll squash you!”
The big pieces of rubble in the sky above drifted our way. One suddenly stopped levitating and dropped.
We were already kicking the dogs into motion, leaping to the neighboring rooftop, when the debris struck with a series of crashes that suggested the debris had punched through the roof and even the one or two floors below it. - Excerpt from Buzz 7.9 - ↑ 24.0 24.1 24.2 Plague 12.2
- ↑ 25.0 25.1 She lunged straight for the floating piece of debris. Her claws latched on it, and for a moment, we hung there, Angelica in an undignified pose with her upper body hanging onto the thing, back legs dangling.
It drifted downward, slow at first, then faster, as though Rune couldn’t support the weight of us and the chunk of building. Angelica scrabbled for a grip, pulled her body up and forward, and found the footing to leap. - Excerpt from Buzz 7.9 - ↑ 26.0 26.1 “What kind of non-English speakers?”
“Does it matter?” Naphtha asked.
There was no answer from the guy who’d called out. Vessel, from the Shepherds. He was one of four who sat at the same table, three on one side, one on the other. Scribe sat two seats away from Vessel, her elbows on the table and her hands covering her mouth. Her costume still didn’t suit her. She hadn’t joined the Fallen like a lot of the racist shitheads had after Gold Morning, which counted for a bit of something, but I felt like I needed to see more from her before I could stop thinking of her as Rune from Empire Eighty Eight.
And one of those things I needed to see was her speaking up instead of being silent when a question with that kind of undertone came from her corner. - Excerpt from From Within 16.2 - ↑ 27.0 27.1 27.2 At the other table, the Shepherds were packing up. Scribe was doing a lot of the talking, and the three others were listening. She drew something on the head of her staff, then let go of it, letting it float down and flip over, until it was horizontal. She stood on it, a witch with her broomstick, and used her telekinesis to manipulate it and help keep her balance. The entire time, she was speaking in a voice that was more quiet and for her group only than anything we’d said at our table. [...] That done, she floated away, still surfing on her magic stick. Her trio walked behind her. - Excerpt from From Within 16.2
- ↑ Buzz 7.6
- ↑ Rune and another telekinetic were working to bend the metal from Kaiser’s shaken barrier around Leviathan’s limbs and face. - Excerpt from Extermination 8.4
- ↑ He looked at his people, saw Othala hurrying over to Cricket’s side to grant the young woman regenerating abilities. Rune was hurt, the right side of her face torn up, healed only enough to close the cuts and stop the worst of the bleeding. Probably Othala. Everyone else was injured to some degree, many gravely. - Excerpt from Interlude 11e
- ↑ "I've given you my word that you'll be safe, provided you cooperate."
"Damn Nazis," Rey said. "My whole lab, gone."
[...]
The individuals in question are Menja, Stormtiger, Cricket, Rune, Othala, Niflheim and Muspelheim. - Excerpt from Interlude 19.x - ↑ They’re pretty conservative. In a lot of respects. A lot of the religious capes went to the Shepherds and will be part of the Attendant.
“Yeah,” I said. “One or two of the sketchy people from Empire Eighty-Eight, too.” - excerpt from Flare 2.2 - ↑ “I think if Alabaster is potentially a part of this, it’s worth reaching out to the Shepherds. Victor and Rune from the Empire are in the Shepherds now, under new names. They knew Alabaster and they might know something about Jotun. He was small-time.” - Excerpt from Blinding 11.4
- ↑ Interlude 17.z II
- ↑ Infrared 19.d
- ↑ Infrared 19.e
| Leader | Allfather † • Kaiser † |
|---|---|
| Leiutenants | Hookwolf ‡ • Krieg ‡ • Purity ‡ |
| Members | Alabaster † • Cricket ‡ • Crusader ‡ • Fenja † • Fog ‡ • Heith Anders † • Iron Rain † • Menja ‡ • Night ‡ • Othala ‡ • Rune ‡ • Stormtiger ‡ • Victor ‡ |
| Associates | Aster Anders † • Theo Anders ‡ |
| Leader | Hookwolf ‡ • Menja |
|---|---|
| Members | Cricket • Muspelheim • Niflheim • Othala • Rune • Stormtiger • Victor |
| Leaders | Whorl • Moonsong |
|---|---|
| Members | Tribute • Victor ‡ • Scribe • Gospel • Cue • Fishtank • Vessel • Pictor • Armiger • Accolade • Riveting • Reconciliation ‡ • Eagleflight ‡ |
| Associates | The Wardens • Breakthrough • Advance Guard |