"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.
Semiramis is a former villain, that is skirting the degrees of what is acceptable behind the scenes in the new entertainment industry.
Personality[]
Gained a reputation for ruthlessness from her years operating in Africa.[1] She is more than willing to take advantage of her "subjects".[2]
Relationships[]
Auzure[]
Her faction had developed a working relationship with the hero team.[3]
Appearance[]
Semiramis wears a regal ornate costume with grays and greens, evocative of marble and jade most likely. She naturally has olive skin and long black hair, Victoria thought she wore green eye contacts. Her mask, possibly latex, is a fine stone piece that naturally fits her face with a ouroboros circlet keeping it to her face. She has jewelry that furthers the snake theme with her costume similar to masonry with fine drapery accenting it.[4]
Abilities and Powers[]
Semiramis was the ability to reverse the age of people and objects. She uses this ability to keep her performers in their 'prime', but at the cost of them losing their memories of the time that has been reversed.[2]
She can also use her ability to speed up construction, and is one of the few parahumans who can do this without disastrous side effects.[2]
She has implied that if she wanted to, she is capable of bringing an entire building down.[5]
After Power Shift[]
Following the shakeup that changed many parahumans powers,[6] she could partially "unwind" a person, without affecting their memories she could :"spot weld" injuries.[7] It seems to be a later development.
History[]
Background[]
Semiramis was the second-in-command to a warlord and arms trafficker, in southern Europe and northern Africa. She held this position until her boss died during Gold Morning, when she took over.[8]
She made herself an important player in the new world, working behind the scenes in the media industry, helping produce films, music, games and more.
Post-Time Bubble Pop[]
Semiramis was present at the Lodge, when Victoria and Tattletale were investigating the cyber attack. She was questioned, alongside Little Midas, about her involvement with Big Picture and their attempts to get him into Foresight.[9]
After the Old Man was outed, Semiramis reluctantly agreed to cooperate with heroes, and even threatened local villains during the heated moment.[10]
Later, she became mired in a conflict over influence over Earth N with Little Midas and Bluestocking; The Wardens had Auzure intervene.[3]
Post-Attack on Teacher[]
Semiramis, evidently, strengthened her position by driving out Little Midas from local villain circles, she was sent Damsel of Distress and Deathchester to watch over.[11]
The Ice Breaks[]
After the event Little Midas had returned and their war resumed.[12] Later the two took a break and Semiramis and her allies assisted Wardens in their anti-titan efforts.[13] Later joining the assault on The Simurgh.[14]
Semiramis removed the recent wounds of Antares on Tattletale's behalf.[15]
Trivia[]
- Shammuramat was a real Assyrian queen and regent, who, as powerful female of ancient times, got interpreted by later civilizations in various ways. Many were often times patriarchal, thus the legendary figure of Semiramis accrued from these interpretations.[16]
- The idea that she "invented" eunuchs can be traced back to a single ancient historian, whose native society traditionally didn't allow women individual names.
References[]
- ↑ “Fill [Breakthrough] in?” [Vicky] asked. “These are people you’ve studied and followed? We know Prancer.”
“The woman is Semiramis. Named herself after the first queen of Babylon or some shit like that. Dido might have named herself after someone who chucked a shitton of treasure in the ocean, but Semiramis named herself after the person who invented eunuchs as an institutionalized thing. That tidbit comes courtesy of Imp, by the way, and it fits perfectly, because this woman used to be as vicious as salt rubbed into a wound.” - Excerpt from Black 13.8 - ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 “Player how?” I asked.
“Music production, film, online media, games, some sports but not many, but what she does is a kind of slavery, getting people into her media empire and then keeping them in. Gets them in legitimately, then pulls a turning back the clock thing. Reverse their age, let them return to a point where they’re in their prime, actresses can stay in their early twenties forever, gamers can keep their reflexes, singers can keep the voice. All wholly voluntary… but they lose the memories of the time they undo.”
“Ahhh,” I said. “And if they were thinking about leaving…”
“They’d lose that desire to leave along with the year or so of memories. But she does what she does carefully. Always with witnesses. Always with benefits of a doubt. She combines that with turning ahead the clock, not for people but for things. Speeding up constructions, if they’re outlined well enough, and she’s one of the few parahumans who seem like they can do that without any apparent issues. She’s thriving right now, and she’s in a position where she can cancel a contract or pull strings and tens of thousands of jobs would be affected, or a market sector would change. She has celebrities and people under her thumb who she could tell to say something or start a war on the internet and make life really hard for someone.” - Excerpt from Black 13.8 - ↑ 3.0 3.1 “There are two ongoing wars between villain factions in two locations,” Cinereal said. “The first is between Semiramis, Little Midas, and Bluestocking, Earth N. The Wardens and Foresight have discussed it and we would like to push for a stable alliance between Bluestocking and Semiramis. For those of you who don’t know, these are behind-the-scenes operators who are stepping in to fill a void after Marquis has left for Shin and Lord of Loss was arrested. Auzure, you have a working relationship with Semiramis.”
“We do,” Lark said.
“You’re up to date on who these individual faction leaders are, and what they represent?”
“We are.”
“Talk to Semiramis, then. See what it would take, and broker a peace with Bluestocking. Offer assistance in taking down Midas.”
“We can try.”
“We need better than try. We need success. All three parties know about Teacher and we need that handled. We want Midas arrested and at least temporarily shuttled to our prison world, and we want Bluestocking and Semiramis cooperating with each other and with us.”
“We’ll manage it. Can we bring in others if we need help with the actual handling and takedown?”
“Yes. Talk to the Wardens if you need help organizing that,” Cinereal said. She got a nod from Lark and moved on, addressing the rest of us - Excerpt from Breaking 14.2 - ↑ Opposite the man was a woman with a stone mask so fine that there was no gap between stone and skin- it could have been latex. It made her face look like it was part statue. Her skin was a dark olive, her hair long, black, and wavy, and she wore a lot of ornamentation with snakes, primarily ouroboros imagery- the snake eating its own tail as a circlet, as a bangle at one arm, and at one leg. Her costume was stone ornamentation with fine cloth draping from it. Gray and jade as a color scheme, down to the contact lenses she wore. - Excerpt from Black 13.8
- ↑ “You don’t have to,” Semiramis said. She sounded pissed as she addressed the room. “There will be no fight! You’ll seat yourselves or turn away and you will let them leave as the group upstairs arranged! If you defy me, if you press me on this, I will bring this building down on your heads!” - Excerpt from Black 13.9
- ↑ WildbowLRewrote the semiramis part for clarity.
Powers did change a bit. - Wildbow on Discord - ↑ Semiramis was out there, with Tattletale. As Tattletale gestured in my direction, I felt my collarbone pop. My costume shed crusty blood.
[My first thought was that it was a trap, that she was rewinding my memories as well, in a final action of regret. But I didn’t feel anything slipping away. I felt better, as the worst of my wounds were targeted.] Undoing what had been done. Giving me just a bit more strength, a bit more of what I needed.
[Which fit. Outreach, possibly final, from Tattletale. It served as a push forward, and recognition that she understood, even though she’d never be able to use words to voice it.] - Excerpt from Last 20.9, [indicates text added from the] original - ↑ “Semiramis was second-in-command to a warlord and arms trafficker in Southern Europe, northern Africa. Held her position while waiting for her boss to die, and he finally kicked the bucket on Gold Morning. She took over, and now she’s a player behind the scenes. I mentioned the categories these people cover. For her, she’s a player when it comes to culture and cash.” - Excerpt from Black 13.8
- ↑ Black 13.8
- ↑ Black 13.9
- ↑ “You want me to bring your Damsel of Distress into the villain inner circle,” Tattletale commented.
“It’s what I said on the phone. Yeah.”
“Talk me through it.”
“You can work with controlled chaos. Semiramis wants a Little-Midas-like violent subfaction to bounce off against, it’s how she operates, and I know Damsel will like Semiramis’s shtick without them being so similar they’ll threaten each other. Prancer knows her and knows her team, pretty much.”
“She’s a known quantity, sure. But she’s a mess, and she’s petty.”
“She’s looking for direction. You’re looking to expand your collective power base. She captures a share of the villains out there that the rest of you guys don’t. Her being petty is her having aspirations without having a lot of hard-to-meet needs.” - Excerpt from From Within 16.6 - ↑ Radiation 18.9
- ↑ We had capes from the corner worlds joining in, now. Semiramis’s faction. Little Midas.
Lung, apparently, was in Little Midas’s camp. He burned bright in the dark, but was only in the early stages of his transformation. - Excerpt from Infrared 19.1 - ↑ Last 20.1
- ↑ Last 20.9
- ↑ Rational Wiki gives a good overview of the more out there ones