Alan Gramme, known to the public as Sphere, was a capable and benevolent tinker who dedicated his life to trying to solve the world's problems. He failed.
Appearance
As a child he had blond hair,[2] it is unknown if it darkened as he reached maturity.
Personality
Sphere was exceedingly intelligent and had a few playful instincts.[3]
He had something of a deathwish, which led him to attack powerful opponents.[4] [5]
Abilities, Powers and Equipment
Sphere's ability is described as a "tinker who specialized in sustaining life, sheltering it from outside forces; forces that included water, weather, space… and bugs." After the death of his children and wife, he changed from trying to protect others and now "was using his power to help and protect himself and himself only."[6]
He specialized in large projects.[7]
History
Background
Born Alan Gramme, a man with a happy childhood and home life.[8] After triggering he became a tinker specializing in enclosed systems, this led him taking the pseudonym 'Sphere'. He gained fame and attention as his power allowed to take up "a project to build self sustaining biospheres on the moon."[3] It is stated that "he had ideas on solving world hunger, and building aquatic cities near cities plagued by overcrowding."[3] Sphere was attempting to get all of that off the ground when The Simurgh attacked the site he was living in.[9]
In the Simurgh attack, his wife and child were killed, and the years of work he'd done to help fix the problems of the world were ruined. Alan went mad and shut himself off from the world. Literally. Sphere withdrew, crafting a self-contained ecosystem in which he could survive indefinitely, untouchable, unreachable and safe. Sphere emerged under the new name of 'Mannequin'.[10]
Story Start
He became his own antithesis.
Timeskip
While secreted away in her lab Bonesaw would grow several clones of Gramme for the express purpose of remaking Mannequin. They had none of the originals memories, their personalities were expressly sculpted to recreate the monster that he became. One version was created with his powers at a presumably much younger then Alan Gramme originally had been. and as such was not a accurate representation of Alan's personality.[1]
Trivia
- Like Andrew Norton was not an intentional homage to emperor Nortan, Sphere was not given the first name of Alan as an intentional homage to the musician Alan Menkenany.[11]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 He was muttering to himself, “Wall them in. Wall myself in. Wall them in. Wall myself in.”
“Come on, A.G.,” Bonesaw said. She reached through the structure and took his hand. “Out through the door.”
“Not a door. Trap. Safest way to ward off attackers. Used my hair, made a tripwire, tying ends together. Maximum devastation if intruder breaks perimeter.”
“Through the window, then. I’ll wall you in. Promise.”
He nodded. With excessive care, he climbed on top of the jars that were precariously balanced on one another and slipped out through another aperture in the arrangement, higher up. He stumbled as he landed.
“This way. We’ll wall you in.”
He followed obediently. “Where’s my Catherine? She’s my…”
“Your mom, silly billy.” Cognitive dissonance would be bad. He could lash out. Not that he was that dangerous, like this.
“I was going to say wife. And I have two children. They’re seven and five. Except I’m…”
“You’re seven. You’re thinking of your sisters.”
“I’m confused,” he almost mewled the words. “It hurts, so much of it hurts to think about. I- I let a lot of people down. I can feel their disappointment like… like it’s pressing in on me from all sides. I can’t hide from it and I can’t stop myself from caring. I-“
“Hush,” she said. “It all gets better when you wall yourself in, doesn’t it?”
He nodded mutely.
“Walling you in,” she said, as she put him on top of the stand. A press of the button raised the glass enclosure. She could see him relax a fraction at that.
A bit of a problem, Bonesaw mused, as the container filled with the nutrient fluid.
He was muttering to himself, “Wall them in. Wall myself in. Wall them in. Wall myself in.”
“Come on, A.G.,” Bonesaw said. She reached through the structure and took his hand. “Out through the door.”
“Not a door. Trap. Safest way to ward off attackers. Used my hair, made a tripwire, tying ends together. Maximum devastation if intruder breaks perimeter.”
“Through the window, then. I’ll wall you in. Promise.”
He nodded. With excessive care, he climbed on top of the jars that were precariously balanced on one another and slipped out through another aperture in the arrangement, higher up. He stumbled as he landed.
“This way. We’ll wall you in.”
He followed obediently. “Where’s my Catherine? She’s my…”
“Your mom, silly billy.” Cognitive dissonance would be bad. He could lash out. Not that he was that dangerous, like this.
“I was going to say wife. And I have two children. They’re seven and five. Except I’m…”
“You’re seven. You’re thinking of your sisters.”
“I’m confused,” he almost mewled the words. “It hurts, so much of it hurts to think about. I- I let a lot of people down. I can feel their disappointment like… like it’s pressing in on me from all sides. I can’t hide from it and I can’t stop myself from caring. I-“
“Hush,” she said. “It all gets better when you wall yourself in, doesn’t it?”
He nodded mutely.
“Walling you in,” she said, as she put him on top of the stand. A press of the button raised the glass enclosure. She could see him relax a fraction at that.
A bit of a problem, Bonesaw mused, as the container filled with the nutrient fluid. - Excerpt from Interlude 25 - ↑ She sought out the other clone, finding him at the far end of her lab. He was a boy, narrow, with long blond hair and a very worried expression. A complex pyramid of beakers and glass measuring cups was arranged around him. - Excerpt from Interlude 25
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Interlude 11d
- ↑ Comment by Wildbow on Spacebattles
- ↑ Snare 13.4
- ↑ Plague 12.6
- ↑ Bakuda is a chaos tinker. Somewhere in line with the field test tinker.
Blasto is an Alchemist.
Bonesaw likely started out as a Limit but breadth and depth factor in to branch her out considerably.
Cask is magi, I guess. I kneejerked a 'no', but I suppose it fits.
Chariot is closer to being a mover hyperspecialist.
Jia is a simulation architect.
Kid Win is closer to being a mastermind.
Lab Rat is more a field test tinker (chaos), working his way to valid results by experimenting on others (and sometimes himself).
Better to say Alan Gramme was an Architect, but a dramatic shift and change to becoming Mannequin made him a Combat Magi instead.
Masamune - Resource
Richter - Virus tinker
Squealer - probably Hyperspec-Architect Obsessive.
Stinger - Hyperspec (Rockets)
String Theory - Doomsday Architect
Tecton - Tectonic Templar
Ogun - Chaos Tinker-Shaker
Particulate - Disintegration/Dust hyperspec-binary.
Trainwreck - Crude bodysuit/armor combat-resource tinker & case 53. - reddit comment by Wildbow. - ↑ Bonesaw speculatesInterlude 25
- ↑ Comment by Wildbow on Reddit
- ↑ Mannequin, Alan Gramme (Turned to Glass) – Once known as Sphere, a tinker working on sustainable energy and living spaces in hostile environments, including ocean-borne cities and a moon base. Was attacked by the Simurgh, saw his wife and child die, and snapped. Butchered himself and sealed the parts in an impervious, doll-like shell, with ball joints and chains separating the sections and a loadout of various retracting blades, gases and guns. Turned to glass by a bombing run utilizing some of Bakuda’s weaponry. - Cast (In Depth)
- ↑ Comment by Wildbow on Interlude 12