Characters / Abyssal Infinitum Mantle Ascendant

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Mantle Ascendant (In General)

Mantle Ascendant is a secretive enclave of Atlesian military and civilian officers who have been working behind the scenes since the end of the Great War to bring Atlas back to its old, domineering ways. They mourn what they see Atlas as—an impure and degenerate state who gave too many concessions at the end of the war. They see the rest of the world as unworthy of their technological gifts and would see themselves lording over the rest of the world as techno-despots, for the greater good.

• Expy: Somewhat of Cerberus, from Mass Effect, and they also have some traits of the Illuminati from Deus Ex.
• Government Conspiracy: They've been active in Atlas since supposedly around the end of the Great War. It's unknown who their founders actually were, but we can assume that, like the current membership, they were all members of the Atlesian elite.
• Knight of Cerebus: Their presence in the story is the first major divergence from canon in Before the Whims of Fate, which until that point had been Original Flavor in all but name.
• Putting on the Reich: They do have vaguely fascistic beliefs, but it seems that during Jacques' tenure, they've softened considerably on them, even if there are some internal hardliners and factionalization.
  • When operating openly, they tend to wear tight black pleather uniforms with sharp designs. Extremely tight, directly contrasting Atlesian military uniforms, which are somewhat looser-fitting and white.
• Necessarily Evil: The higher-ups like Jacques Schnee certainly seem to believe so.
• The Remnant: Of the 'old guard' of Mantle.
• Utopia Justifies the Means: Though with the slight distinction that they don't believe total emotional control is the way anymore, absolute control of society and totalitarianism is.
• Villain with Good Publicity: It's implied that almost all of their active members are high-ranking individuals of the Atlesian government, military-industrial complex, and military.

Jacques Schnee (née Gelé)

For Jacques, please see Solitas: Schnee Family.

Scion

I'm afraid you won't get the chance to see Blake again...

Scion is the second, cybernetic, Living Weapon created by a loose alliance between black budget divisions of the Schnee Dust Company, Schnee Future Weapons and Starhead Industrial, in order to enforce the will of Mantle Ascendant and project power against all its enemies. If Colonel Slater is Jacques Schnee’s right hand man, Scion is his closed fist.

• Blade Below the Shoulder: She has two built-in "FEHL" blades that are essentially Infinity +1 Swords analogous to lightsabers, but they're very power-consuming. She later switches to a more conventional melee weapon, a collapsable naginata.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: Implied. Then Subverted, when it's revealed that she serves Jacques willingly.
• Creepy Monotone: On occasion, always when her eyes glow red, implying it might be some sort of Restraining Bolt.
• Cybernetics Eat Your Soul: Played with, but in the author's commentary, implied to be more a case of Brainwashed and Crazy. Despite that, it also doesn't seem she uses Aura at all, relying on a Hard Light barrier for defense. She may not be capable anymore.
• Cyborg: Augmented to an utterly extreme degree, so she has more in common with a machine than a person. When she's introduced, the first trait made clear is that she breathes through her ribcage.
• Dark Action Girl: She's probably the biggest example of this in the story so far, appearing before even Cinder shows up. Combine that with her status as Hero Killer and The Dreaded, and she's got a lead on Cinder already.
• Due to the Dead: Implied. After she kills Ilia and the two White Fang soldiers, Ilia wakes up buried in a shallow grave.
• Expy: Somewhat, of Adam Jensen, but taken to an even more extreme degree. Also, a little bit of The Winter Soldier.
• Hero Killer: In her first appearance, she slays the two White Fang soldiers accompanying Ilia, Sienna, and Adam on the mission depicted in the Adam Character Short. She even appears to kill Ilia as well.
• Implacable Woman: She's like if the Terminator had a child with Adam Jensen and Kai Leng.
• Knight of Cerebus: Up until the point where she appears, during the in-universe events of the Volume 6 Adam Short, the story was mostly following the same plotline that canon did. When she shows up, and with her every appearance afterwards, the story increasingly goes off the rails, in addition to the fact that she's a very dark, very dangerous Dark Action Girl that's heavily implied to be Brainwashed and Crazy.
• Naginatas Are Feminine: After her introduction, homaging her status as a female retainer of Jacques Schnee, she switches to wielding a collapsible Naginata/Katana.
• Noble Demon: In her initial appearances, she was portrayed as a Brainwashed and Crazy Living Weapon, but in later chapters she was explored to have an endearingly dorky side and a strong sense of personal honor.
• Mysterious Past: Very little about where she came from is known, but she implies she knows Ilia had more than a professional relationship with Blake.
  • Later revealed to be an offshoot of the original Sarah B. Sousa, much like Sarah B. Sable. The main difference between them is Scion was taken in and basically adopted by Jacques Schnee.
• Power at a Price: And the price is power. Though designed as a "Hunter-killer", she has limited power reserves and is extremely dependant on M-A supplies and infrastructure, as revealed in the author's commentary.
• Shout-Out: In one of the few appearances of non-diegetic lyrics in the story, her first appearance is paired with an in-universe Theme Song that's an homage to The New Black Gold by Miracle of Sound, homaging one of her inspirations indirectly.

Colonel Jefferson Slater

I am many things, but today I am a man much like yourself, dog... A man who chooses to believe in a better world.

One of the more enigmatic members of Mantle Ascendant, implied to be a Special Operative, the same rank of Winter Schnee. Unlike Scion, he's only appeared a few times in the stories so far, mostly because, unlike Scion, he's hamstrung by having to retain a cover position in Atlas.

• Affably Evil: Ever polite, which adds to how sinister he is.
• Badass Longcoat: In his first appearance, he wears one of these.
• Blood Knight: When he fought with Adam, be demonstrated these traits.
• Dual Wielding: In every appearance he dual-wields a few different German Greatswords. One of them a Whip Sword.
• Gratuitious Belastunsch: Like the rest of Mantle Ascendant, tends to pepper his speech with it.
• Knight Templar: He believes he's doing the right thing, unlike the rest of his associates in MA who mostly use it as a pretense to gain power.
• Whip Sword: In his first appearance he wields one alongside a more conventional sword.