Worm Wiki
Register
Advertisement

Shamrock is a member of Faultline’s Crew.

Personality[]

Shamrock had no compunctions about using her abilities to cheat casinos,[1] though given her apparently religious upbringing and other-earthly origin this may be due to culture shock. She grew close to Gregor the Snail and eventually married him.[2] She admitted that she was "a little claustrophobic at the best of times."[3]

Appearance[]

Shamrock is an attractive, slender woman with red hair, older and taller than both Spitfire and Labyrinth.[4] Despite having Cauldron's stylized-c tattoo, in her case on a shoulder blade, she does not have "strange features to speak of" common for a Case 53.[5][6] Her combat gear includes a mask, a combat shotgun, and a bodysuit of skintight black leather with a green clover on the chest.[7] She also has a "more concealing" variant on this costume that is not described further.[8] In warmer conditions, she wears her mask, a pair of black yoga pants, and a green sleeveless t-shirt with a clover-leaf symbol on the front in black.[9]

Abilities and Powers[]

Shamrock possesses a subtle[10] combination of microtelekinesis and similarly small-scale unconscious clairvoyance/precognition[11][12] that gives her the ability to "affect small changes to create wider effects, essentially altering events in her vicinity".[6] Her power makes her seem exceptionally lucky.[11][13] For example, she can fire bullets that hit exactly where they need to,[14][15] land on ice without slipping,[16] and barely dodge attacks such as Scrub's blasts and a section of wall thrown by Trainwreck.[17] More mundanely, it can be used to influence the results of numerous coin flips and dice rolls,[10] and to collect lost or scattered items.[18] Because she is a Cauldron cape, it is highly likely that this power was specifically constructed to be such.

Faultline claimed precognition wouldn't work with Shamrock's power in play;[19] However Shamrock is not a blind spot for Contessa;[20] whose precognition abilities are Perfect.[21] When Contessa gave her final warning to Faultline's Crew, she defeated Shamrock without being touched once.[22] It is unknown how Shamrock's power would affect individuals such as Dinah or the Simurgh.

The Number Man confirmed Shamrock could not be located by the Clairvoyant.[23]

History[]

Background[]

Shamrock was kidnapped from another Earth and experimented on by Cauldron. She was subject number 777 and picked the name Shamrock after passing roughly a year of testing. Where her power was tested and trained.[10] Likely being prepared to be placed in some heroic team, in line with the organizations' goals.[24][25] After she had progressed far enough she was given the chance to pick her code name, she choose Shamrock.[26]

At an unknown point either before or during the events of Worm, she escaped Cauldron and found herself on Earth Bet. According to The Number Man, Shamrock is one of the only people to have escaped from Cauldron's custody.[27] After finding freedom, she circulated through high-stakes gambling rings, leveraging her power to her advantage.

Story Start[]

Faultline became aware of Shamrock with the help of private investigators in the spring of 2011 and set out to recruit her.[1]

Post-Leviathan[]

Shamrock accompanied her team when they crashed a Merchants drug party, using her power to avoid being hit by Scrub's blasts. During Burnscar's assault on Palanquin, Shamrock assisted Labyrinth in activating a mechanism that flooded the street, dousing fires.[12]

Post-Slaughterhouse Nine[]

Shamrock became romantically involved with Gregor the Snail and was with the rest of her crew when they infiltrated Madison and convinced Matryoshka to leave with them in their search for answers. After returning to the hotel room she accompanied Faultline down to the lobby, but returned to the crew's rooms just in time for Contessa's attack on the team.[22] Shamrock also attended the battle against Echidna along with the rest of her crew when Tattletale purchased Labyrinth's help opening the portal.

Gold Morning[]

In the final hours of Gold Morning, Faultline's Crew was relocated to Earth Bet. As the dying Khepri tried to rally the parahumans against the main threat, Shamrock temporarily disabled Narwhal with a single bullet.[14]

The Ice Breaks[]

Together with the Palanquin people she 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.[28] She later joined the direct fighting and went along with other C53s against Titan Fortuna.[29]

Chapter Appearances[]

Worm Chapter Appearances
Hive
1. Hive 5.1 Absent
2. Hive 5.2 Absent
3. Hive 5.3 Absent
4. Hive 5.4 Absent
5. Hive 5.5 Absent
6. Hive 5.6 Absent
7. Hive 5.7 Absent
8. Hive 5.8 Absent
9. Hive 5.9 Absent
10. Hive 5.10 Absent
x. Interlude 5 Mentioned
Infestation
1. Infestation 11.1 Absent
2. Infestation 11.2 Absent
3. Infestation 11.3 Absent
4. Infestation 11.4 Absent
5. Infestation 11.5 Absent
6. Infestation 11.6 Absent
7. Infestation 11.7 Debut
8. Infestation 11.8 Absent
a. Interlude 11a Absent
b. Interlude 11b Absent
c. Interlude 11c Appears
d. Interlude 11d Absent
e. Interlude 11e Absent
f. Interlude 11f Absent
g. Interlude 11g Absent
h. Interlude 11h Absent
Plague
1. Plague 12.1 Absent
2. Plague 12.2 Appears
3. Plague 12.3 Absent
4. Plague 12.4 Absent
5. Plague 12.5 Absent
6. Plague 12.6 Absent
7. Plague 12.7 Absent
8. Plague 12.8 Absent
x. Interlude 12 Absent
y. Interlude 12.5 Absent
Queen
1. Queen 18.1 Absent
2. Queen 18.2 Absent
x. Interlude 18.x Absent
3. Queen 18.3 Absent
4. Queen 18.4 Absent
y. Interlude 18.y Absent
5. Queen 18.5 Absent
6. Queen 18.6 Absent
z. Interlude 18.z Absent
7. Queen 18.7 Absent
8. Queen 18.8 Absent
f. Interlude 18.f Appears
i. Interlude 18 Absent
Scourge
1. Scourge 19.1 Absent
2. Scourge 19.2 Absent
3. Scourge 19.3 Absent
x. Interlude 19.x Absent
4. Scourge 19.4 Absent
5. Scourge 19.5 Absent
6. Scourge 19.6 Absent
7. Scourge 19.7 Appears
y. Interlude 19.y Absent
z. Interlude 19.z Absent
Venom
1. Venom 29.1 Absent
2. Venom 29.2 Absent
3. Venom 29.3 Absent
4. Venom 29.4 Absent
5. Venom 29.5 Absent
6. Venom 29.6 Absent
7. Venom 29.7 Mentioned
8. Venom 29.8 Absent
9. Venom 29.9 Absent
x. Interlude 29 Absent
Speck
1. Speck 30.1 Absent
2. Speck 30.2 Absent
3. Speck 30.3 Absent
4. Speck 30.4 Absent
5. Speck 30.5 Absent
6. Speck 30.6 Appears
7. Speck 30.7 Absent

Trivia[]

  • Shamrock's memory was not erased by the Slug. She retains memories of her life before her abduction, such as the fact that she went to a "temple-school". Shamrock also mentions that she comes from an earth that has more monarchies than Earth Bet or Earth Aleph.[13]
  • Like many characters in Worm, Shamrock took her turn as the protagonist for one of the stories many drafts.[30]

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 Interlude 5
  2. “His wife probably likes it,” Sveta said, indicating Shamrock. - Polarize 10.5
  3. Gregor and Shamrock were the last ones to exit the tunnel.

    “All good?” Faultline asked.

    “A little much,” Shamrock said. “Knowing how tall the wall is, how much pressure’s bearing down over our heads… I’m a little claustrophobic at the best of times, and that’s worse than the best times.” - Excerpt from Interlude 18.f
  4. Not quite. Faultline and Gregor, yes. I didn’t recognize the other woman, and she was too tall to be Spitfire with her mask off. Red haired, slender, older than Spitfire or Labyrinth had been. - Excerpt from Infestation 11.7
  5. It was a grainy surveillance camera image. Shamrock was in the midst of changing clothes in what looked like an underground parking lot, and, though partially obscured by her bra strap, the tattoo was visible on her shoulderblade. A stylized ‘u’. - Excerpt from Interlude 5
  6. 6.0 6.1 Shamrock – Shamrock is, like Newter and Gregor, a onetime subject of Cauldron, though she displays no physical side effects. Shamrock has a particular combination of microtelekinesis and clairvoyance/precognition that allows her to affect small changes to create wider effects, essentially altering events in her vicinity. - Cast (in depth)
  7. Shamrock was beside her, clad in a costume of skintight black leather with a green clover on the chest, her red hair spilling over her shoulders, a combat shotgun directed at the ground. - Excerpt from Interlude 18.f
  8. Faultline’s group was gathered to one side. Faultline, Newter, and the new member Shamrock wore more concealing costumes than their usual. - Excerpt from Plague 12.2
  9. Gregor and Shamrock entered from the hotel room’s front door, holding hands. Both were in their combat gear, with some adjustments made to adjust for the heat. Shamrock wore black yoga pants and a green sleeveless t-shirt with her clover-leaf symbol on the front in black, her mask dangling from her right front pocket, her shotgun dangling from her free hand. - Excerpt from Interlude 18.f
  10. 10.0 10.1 10.2 “Because we’ve been where you’ve been. These two don’t remember, they had their memories taken,” Shamrock said, “But I didn’t. I remember what it was like in there. And I get why you’re afraid.”

    “You were in there?” Maddie asked, her eyes going wide.

    Shamrock nodded. “One moment, I was going to bed in my temple-school. In another, I was in a cell. A cot, a metal sink, a metal toilet. Three concrete walls, a concrete floor and ceiling, and a window of thick plexiglass with a drawer. You might know the kind of cell I’m describing.

    “They drugged me, then they waited until I started showing signs that something happened to me. It took them a while to figure out, because my power was subtle. When they had an idea of what I could do, they gave me a coin. I had to flip it when the doctor came. If it came up heads, I got to eat, I got fresh clothes, a shower. If it didn’t, I got nothing. I realized I was supposed to control it. Decide the result of the toss. When I got good at it, they gave me two coins, and both had to come up heads.”

    “How long were you there?” Maddie asked.

    “I don’t know. But by the time I saw the chance to escape, I had to roll twelve dice and each one had to come up with a six. And if it didn’t, if I got more than a few wrong, they found ways to punish me.” - Excerpt from Interlude 18.f
  11. 11.0 11.1 Shamrock – A case-53 (typically monstrous parahumans, amnesiac, with a specific tattoo) with no monstrous features. Combines microtelekinesis and an unconscious precognition into an effective ‘luck’ manipulation, altering outcomes on a subtle level. - Cast (spoiler free)
  12. 12.0 12.1 “What ball!?”

    Elle couldn’t tell her, not without letting Burnscar know. She could feel the ball making its way down the last slope, dropping down the far left, to where the mechanism and the lower half of the puzzle had been devastated by Burnscar’s fireball. Shamrock would get a glimpse of the ball through the hole in the wall, as it dropped down… now.

    Elle felt the almost imperceptible influence of Shamrock’s power. The woman was a telekinetic and clairvoyant on the smallest of scales, capable of making small changes and knowing how to use them to make big things happen. The ball moved a few millimeters to the left, hit a splinter of wood and bounced toward the right, spinning. It landed, and the spin of its rotation coupled with the help of an additional nudge carried the ball to the right, and down into the chamber behind the statue.

    There was a rumble, and water began pouring from the stump of one arm and the urn the statue held. It poured down around Shamrock, flooding out onto the street to quench the fires on the ground level. Soon it was only the patches of flame on the walls that remained. - Interlude 11c
  13. 13.0 13.1 :Shamrock ( Part of Faultline's crew and it seems Girlfriend of Gregor ( Good for him ) ) Good for her.

    Shamrock is one of the only individuals to escape Cauldron. Cauldron's habit was to take all of the human experiments that turned out well, brainwash them, and then place them in larger organizations to support said organizations, fighting the natural tendency for parahumans to seek conflict (and thus making forming large committed groups hard). Shamrock could well have been slated for the Protectorate, Red Gauntlet, the Suits, or even the Nemesis program (being brainwashed with an auto-lose trigger against one client who paid a good sum, so that client could get a better position and climb faster in rep). Beyond that, there's not a lot to say - she remembers who she is, and knows she belongs in another Earth, where there are no superheroes, and there are a lot more kings and queens than in our Earth. Her power looks like luck manipulation but is actually microtelekinesis and precognition/butterfly effects at work. - Wildbow on Reddit
  14. 14.0 14.1 Three more questions, rapid fire. One word each, names. The woman with the mask only heard the first syllable of each response before moving on to the next.

    She gave a command, an order, and a red haired woman in a black skintight outfit turned, aiming her gun at a wall.

    The bullet ricocheted off the wall and flew right through our group. My forcefield woman went down, and the crystals we were riding fractured, coming apart enough that we fell to the ground.

    Only the string tying me to the clairvoyant kept us together. - Speck 30.6
  15. March had been disarmed by Shamrock’s shot, the rifle broken at the wooden base just a half-inch from March’s hand, but March had other people leaning out the windows and over the vehicle. - Polarize 10.5
  16. “Capricorn’s going to be doing more stuff,” I told her. “We’d rather not chance it. Gregor would be a huge help, though.”

    “Alright,” she said, hopping down and landing on ice without slipping. Sveta was on her way back to us. “Hi Sveta.” - Infrared 19.4
  17. Infestation 11.7
  18. “Ah, Skitter,” he said. Apparently my having saved his life once and gifting him a paper bag filled with money didn’t do much to ease his wariness. He wasn’t any less guarded when he asked, “Why are you here?”

    I pointed at the unconscious Bryce. “An errand. Didn’t mean to get in your way. I only grabbed the papers as a spur of the moment thing, and because they would’ve been ruined if they’d just drifted all over in there.”

    “That wasn’t much of a concern. One of my teammates is collecting the papers as we talk, and I expect she’ll find nearly all of them. The ones that she could find with some luck, anyways.” - Excerpt from Infestation 11.7
  19. “Super speed? Super strength?” Faultline asked.

    “No. Don’t think,” Shamrock spat blood onto the floor. She tried to stand and failed, put one hand to her leg. “Nothing I could see.”

    “A thinker power. Precognition? No, that wouldn’t work with your power. Fuck!” - Excerpt from Interlude 18.f
  20. 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
  21. “My power is a form of precognition,” she said. “Unlike most such powers, other precognitive abilities do not confuse it. - Crushed 24.2
  22. 22.0 22.1 Shamrock was busy giving Spitfire a tracheotomy. A fedora filled with slime was plastered to the younger girl’s face, and she was struggling weakly. Shamrock’s own face was covered in blood from nose to chin, and her efforts to administer the tracheotomy were limited as the fingers of one hand were bent at awkward angles.
    [...]
    Shamrock let Faultline take over, positioning the clear plastic tube that was sticking into the hole in Spitfire’s throat. She had to spit blood out of her mouth before speaking, “No. I don’t know. She came in here and took us apart in twenty seconds. We didn’t touch her.”
    [...]
    “Super speed? Super strength?” Faultline asked.

    “No. Don’t think,” Shamrock spat blood onto the floor. She tried to stand and failed, put one hand to her leg. “Nothing I could see.”
    [...]
    The bloodstained piece of paper had a message on the underside.
    Final warning.
    -c
    - Excerpt from Interlude 18.f
  23. A partner to the Doormaker, capable of granting clairvoyance, seeing whole other worlds at once. It left most subjects incapacitated for a week after use, and it overrode any other perception powers.

    No use to the Number Man, but essential for Cauldron in vetting universes and finding individuals. Most individuals. There were some, like the Dealer, and triple-seven, who’d escaped. - Excerpt from Interlude 21.x
  24. Cauldron's habit was to take all of the human experiments that turned out well, brainwash them, and then place them in larger organizations to support said organizations, fighting the natural tendency for parahumans to seek conflict (and thus making forming large committed groups hard). Shamrock could well have been slated for the Protectorate, Red Gauntlet, the Suits, or even the Nemesis program (being brainwashed with an auto-lose trigger against one client who paid a good sum, so that client could get a better position and climb faster in rep). - Comment by Wildbow on Spacebattles
  25. She was at the cloud-level when the door opened. She stepped into the brightly lit corridors of Cauldron’s testing laboratory and strode down to the cells.

    Thirty cells, filled with subjects. Thirty-one now. The cells didn’t appear to have doors, but the individuals within were all too aware of the dangers of stepping beyond the perimeters of their cells, or of trying to harass Alexandria as she strode by.

    Only two-thirds of them were monstrous, affected by the formulas. Others would go free with alterations to their memories. Some would have fatal weaknesses inserted into their psyches, reason to hesitate at a crucial moment against a certain foe. - Excerpt from Interlude 15.z
  26. Maddie glanced around, then nodded. “When… when they tested you, did they give you a name?”

    “They gave me a number at first,” Shamrock said. “I couldn’t use my real name or they’d punish me. When I passed a year of testing, they let me pick a codename. I picked Shamrock.” - Excerpt from Interlude 18.f
  27. No use to the Number Man, but essential for Cauldron in vetting universes and finding individuals. Most individuals. There were some, like the Dealer, and triple-seven, who’d escaped.

    [...]

    “That’s two escape attempts in two weeks. We had three in the last four years before that, only one successful,” he said. - Excerpt from Interlude 21.x
  28. Infrared 19.a
  29. Infrared 19.4
  30. Lucky Girl: Shamrock. I can note it’s only around here that the setting started coming together with a place for each of the major players. - Comment by Wildbow on Prey 14.8

Site Navigation[]

Case 53s
BlackforestBrickhaus • Circe • ChantillyThe CustodianEgesaEggEngelFen • Fishy • Gentle GiantGregor the SnailGully • Grackle • GwerrusHexieHunchMantellumMatryoshkaNewterNyxPeatSanguineShamrockThe SlugSoftballSubject 3016Sveta KareliaThudTrainwreckVulturehawkWeldWendigoWhippersnap
Palanquin
Leader Faultline
Members Gregor the SnailLabyrinthNewterScrubShamrockSpitfireMatryoshkaWhippersnap
Associates Coil Tattletale Dinah Alcott 
Advertisement