Arcanus

The **Arcanus**, also known as the **Arcanus Program** or the **Order of Arcanus** or simply **The Ten**, are a military junta of the NoHeads, the main antagonistic faction in The Super Babies Saga, a minor antagonistic faction in the ongoing *Sebiscuits* trilogy, and the main protagonistic faction in *The Marauder*. Mr. Stupid NoHead was recruiting men to join him in his quest for domination. As such, he endeavored to teach the ways of the Darkness to his new disciples, whom he first controlled through fear before training them to harness their anger and other base emotions. They answered to the Dark Lord first and foremost, and were led by the charismatic and intellectual Annabeth Black. It was said that individually, they could take down any mutant. While it is unknown why, the Arcanus were worshiped by the Styricat, a religious organization, decades after their permanent fragmentation, who called them the **Black Immortals**.

## History

### Origins

Following the devastation of the Battle of Golgolod and the utter fracturing of his tremendous legions, Mr. Stupid NoHead founded the Arcanus program late in 2023, promising those he deemed worthy of enlistment their desires if they joined him and the Darkness. Whether Annabeth Black can be classified as an Arcanus is very debatable, but if she is one, she would have been the very first. Whereas Black had the potential to truly master the Darkness in his eyes, the Dark Lord had selected those who would become Arcanus specifically because he felt they had no chance of becoming powerful enough to challenge him. The volatile man quickly took to recruiting NoHeads to join him in his quest for domination. As such, he endeavored to teach the ways of the Darkness to his new disciples, whom he first controlled through fear before training them to harness their anger and other base emotions. The Dark Lord selected adolescents because he believed children would be of little use and adults would already have developed ideas to do things their own way, and he also believed they would be far easier to prey on and seduce.

In the mix, Mr. Stupid NoHead encountered a girl named Rotta Hecks, who was extremely powerful, but extremely fearful of her powers. Upon introducing himself, NoHead made it clear that he had no intention of harming her, and had invited her to join the NoHeads. Impressed by her amazing power, NoHead manipulated Rotta into killing her own mother, sealing her tie to the Darkness. With the passing of her beloved parents, Rotta had no choice but to join the NoHeads. Generally, NoHead treated her more decently than his sons. Taking on the moniker of **"the Lemur"**, Rotta secretly carried out several assignments for her lord and trained with him for a full year. At age seventeen, Mr. Stupid NoHead made her his sidekick, something Rotta had been looking forward to.

Perhaps one of the most loyal recruits was Sēon Wan, who had been searching for him for months, having considered it too late to join the New Overlord Society. When Brute Gunray took him to Mr. Stupid NoHead on board the *Wasp*, the Dark Lord told him he could join if he could pass a test before him. He took him to NR-327, who attacked Seon with low-energy bullets. Finally, he threw one back via his power to control ballistics, before diving in and ripping apart the robot in a rage, passing his lord's tests. Before he began training, the Dark Lord took Sēon to the latter's home. There, he burst in and killed his parents. Sēon was outraged, and angrily turned a vat of electricity upon NoHead whilst citing he did not need to poison his own cells to give him a taste of his own medicine. NoHead, however, deflected the attack and cruelly told him if his parents meant that much to him, he was not truly NoHead material. Sēon apologized and they returned to the NoHead Base, though Sēon was still depressed over the loss of his family. He quickly met Annabeth, and while Sēon quickly developed a crush on her, Annabeth did not feel the same way and resented him. The two later became close friends, however. Throughout the mid-2020s, the Arcanus worked in the dark and brought terror to enemies of the Dark Order and helped cement the influence of their cause.

### Preparing for war

The Arcanus quickly proved to be valuable allies. Mr. Stupid NoHead seemed to value them as well, giving them several tasks. For instance, Annabeth assisted in the construction of a Robotic Monster. When Bartholomew Gales began having visions pulling him towards the light, NoHead became worried and asked Annabeth teach Gales how to use his mind's willpower to resist probing or possession. Bounties were also placed on their heads by various high-ranking officials within the U.S. Government, none of which proved any fruit.

When Annabeth learned of a fight between Qamar's mother and a group of slavers, Mr. Stupid NoHead personally deployed a large military force to Bridgeton, where he defeated Ken and discovered the latter's son. Seeing his father's death, Qamar demonstrated his reflexive telekinesis by pulling NoHead's sword out of his hand. Impressed by Qamar's potential in the dark side, NoHead abducted the younger Qamar shortly after he killed a squad of robots in order to keep Qamar's existence a secret. He endeavored to teach the ways of the dark side to his new disciple. At some point, he also recruited Kenzie Walters.

### Beginning of the Second NoHead War

The Robotic Monster's assault on New York City was joined by Mira and Seon Wan, who were able to drive off Sheriff Bladepoint and Zett successfully. The conflict started the Second NoHead War, sealing the fate of the Arcanus and ensuring that their loyalties lay with Mr. Stupid NoHead. During the war, they were joined by Darren Slade, but the latter eventually defected, becoming the only recruit to do so. Following the outbreak of the war, Rebecca induced X2, a clone who was searching for Rebecca Monson, into the NoHeads.

Shortly after Walters successfully captured Mayor Katie Black from New York City, Annabeth captured Ray, who had been leading the assault, and held him hostage with eighty F7 robot soldiers as she awaited Sebiscuits Cardarphen and Baby Intelligence. Knowing the Mayor was captive, the Arcanus celebrated. Arriving on the *Wasp* to attempt a rescue mission, the two latters were briefly driven back when Mira assaulted them with a whip. In the same battle, Mira also joined the team that captured Intelligence and Sebiscuits aboard the *Wasp,* although the babies exploited a weakness in her defenses during the firefight on the bridge.rounded a corner and found Annabeth and Ray. Baby Intelligence and Sebiscuits were quickly surrounded by F7 robots and Annabeth looked up. Baby Intelligence announced that they had come for the Mayor. Annabeth told him that was his business, before handing over a pickup line predicting his demise at her hands. With that, she pretended to show mercy to Ray. From there, she suddenly killed him. Almost immediately Sebiscuits and Baby Intelligence drew their swords and Sebiscuits sliced a hole in the floor after having a brief sign language argument over what method they should use to escape. They fell down into a NoHead fuel tank, the surrounding robots proceeded to take aim, but the experienced leader of the Arcanus ordered her troops not to fire in order to prevent the fuel from ignition. Leaving the scene, Annabeth boarded a nearby ship and left to the Fourth Dominion, which was unfinished. The Arcanus' party was cut short when the Mayor managed to escape the Lemur's grip.

### The beginning of the end

The Arcanus were enlisted by the Dark Lord himself to destroy the last remnants of the Police Grand Army, and would seek out, track down and capture officers who escaped Operation: Purge. The captured officers were faced with an ultimatum — usually along with torture — to turn to the darkness and join Mr. Stupid NoHead's New Order, or be destroyed. The Lemur came and informed everyone that they needed to return to Nadzvysiya, including Bartholomew Gales, who informed the Lemur of the two traitorous relief workers, suspected of being police, that had been captured by Black's robot soldiers. Indeed, he had come to truly care for her. When the Arcanus emerged out of an unregistered Spaise Matrix on Mercury, Barty landed in the base holding hands with Sēon Wan, Qamar, and Kenzie Walters. Inside, they were all surprised to find several chambers where they could settle down, have a good meal, and clean up. Eventually, Gales overheard Wan telling Black he feared Mr. Stupid NoHead had betrayed them, and tried to back up Sēon's argument when Annabeth protested. Just then, Mr. Stupid NoHead called for them in the central chamber. With a grin, Annabeth told Sēon and Barty they should reconsider, and then the two joined everyone else, who were regrouping in the chamber. Finally, Bartholomew joined them. Mr. Stupid NoHead telepathically told everyone it was safe to return to the Fourth Dominion.

In 2030, during the height of the Second NoHead War, the Arcanus assembled after Mr. Stupid NoHead learned that Baby Intelligence was abroad seeking out three scrolls that could bring about his fall from power. Together, they sought to find Baby Intelligence and thwart his mission at all costs. They stopped to rest at an outcrop, and just as they were preparing to leave again Sēon Wan pointed out a boulder he suspected the S.M.S.B. was hiding under. Black disagreed. The group headed for a nearby city, continuing their search elsewhere and in vain.

After Baby Strength was abducted, Annabeth Black ordered Bartholomew Gales to deliver her letter to him. Traveling to New York from Tsala, Gales feigned a bank robbery to rouse Baby Intelligence to action, returning to Tsala soon enough to avoid seeing Baby Intelligence in person. Gales began serving Hell Burnbottom following Mr. Stupid NoHead's downfall.Rebecca eventually met Baby Intelligence. Every member of the Arcanus gave it their all during the Battle of the Golden Gates. While the officers were dueling Bratpros on the gate, Rebecca laid the charges that were prepared by Hell Burnbottom in the culvert under the wall. In the meantime, Walters lit the previously placed bombs despite Mira's attempt to stop her and Cassidy's repeated attempts to bring her down. The ensuing explosion sent robots, officers, and huge chunks of rock high into the air, also killing Walters in the process. The falling debris brought great casualties to both sides of the conflict.

### Endgame

Hell Burnbottom was killed during the Battle of Yellowstone, and Gunray took up his mantle of ascendancy. Displeased, Black made a deal with the evil Lord of the North. Sometime later, Baby Intelligence once found Elixir of Protease on his travels. During the Battle of the Western Field, he was a part of the Ninth Guard along with his friend Cassidy. When the Ninth Guard arrived, they were intercepted by the Rattvisa Gang, who were accompanied by Baby Intelligence. Running past the latter, he killed Rattvisa B by pinning him onto a rock and killing him with an application of telekinesis (possibly telekinetic crush). Rattvisa D grabbed his arm. Gales punched his face, grabbed him by the back of his neck and pinned him to the ground. He was intercepted by Dean Rattvisa, who had identified him as the instigator of the attack and assailed him, shooting his sword arm and disintegrating it, at the cost of his bashing her forearm hard enough to bruise it. When the gang fled after the battle, Gales chose to continue his allegiance with Cassidy. However, Cassidy was killed at the hands of S.M.S.B. member Lindsay Kellerman in retaliation for murdering Crodela player Indiana Shaffer. Apparently disheartened by this, Gales sought out Annabeth Black along with the Lord of the North, the two arrived together. When Baby Intelligence arrived to challenge the Lord of the North, thinking it would lead him to Annabeth Black, who was nearby, Bartholomew Gales began arguing aggressively with the Lord of the North, calling his failure to kill the S.M.S.B. Grandmaster and stand his ground confronted by Anthony Ruth embarrassing and demanding that he speak to Black with respect and not leave out anything that transpired on the Western Field. The Lord of the North however had insisted that Baby Intelligence's survival was a minor setback, furiously noting that Gales was acting hypocritical.

 File:Bartholomew Gales dies.jpg
Refusing to allow the Lord of the North to speak to Black in such a manner, Gales shouted at him to silence himself; to which the Lord of the North then grew impatient with him and chose instead to kill Gales mid-sentence, felling him with a Death beam. As Gales' corpse dropped onto the ground, the Lord of the North told Black Baby Intelligence was on him and he could try again. During the Battle of the Eastern Field, the Arcanus were devastated and slain.

### Legacy

"*The Dark Lord is summoning the gods to reshape the universe by his side. Until you stepped in. No brutal punishment is sufficient to atone for your crime. You have killed Mother Nature, you have killed the Gods, and for that, you must be slain in thy turn.*"
―Unidentified clergy[src]
Although the Arcanus were defeated for good, their legacy would continue to be felt in the decades that followed its extinction — more specifically, their crimes, less so than their power. The demise of the Arcanus left what remained of the Order, which was not much, vulnerable, leading to its irreversible fragmentation. The Knights of Mae, a band of dark warriors who served Mr. Stupid NoHead's former liege L'smae, in the same time period, would have been prime candidates to become Arcanus in previous generations if they could have been tamed.

The Knights of Plague, the government that rose from the ashes of the Dark Order following its fall after the Unity, made good use of the Elixir of Protease, based on what had been creatively innovated by the Arcanus, to extract information from their prisoners.

Although the S.M.S.B. was successful in defeating the Arcanus, they did not manage to exterminate them completely: the spirit of Bartholomew Gales was kept in secret by the clergy of the Styricat, who worshiped the Arcanus as deities. They considered the Ten to have helped Mother Nature (or Annabeth Black) create the universe, though it is rather unlikely they knew what her name was. Gales' soul was awakened in a ceremony, during which Lindsay Kellerman and Centauri were nearly killed by the disembodied Gales, but the timely arrival of the governor Savannah van Dukas resulted in the crippling of Gales' soul.

## Organization

### Roles and power

A high-ranking title within the NoHeads, the Arcanus were a junta of the organization that coalesced around Mr. Stupid NoHead. Most of them were underage (though Cassidy was the only Arcanus who was under the age of ten). Arcanus were mainly tasked with enforcing NoHead doctrine, eliminating threats such as rebel factions and government sympathizers. Their nature, objective, and membership were kept secret from most other branches of the NoHeads.

As agents under the command of the Dark Lord himself, Arcanus held a high status in the NoHeads and had discretionary authority to commandeer and command NoHead assets required to complete their mission, while all officers were to obey their orders. Hence, Arcanus followed their lord's commands first and foremost, and he treated them ruthlessly. At his command, they worked against Mr. Stupid NoHead's opponents, the police and eventually the S.M.S.B., through espionage, murder, and battle. The young mutants' other, more spontaneous activities included Fobble torture and murder for fun, property crime, and plotting the eventual overthrow of the U.S. government and replacing it with the reorganized Empire of the NoHeads.

Although some organizational members of the NoHeads appeared to have been fanatically loyal to Mr. Stupid NoHead, most (if not all) of his recruits, however, served him out of loyalty. Hence, none of them were willing to join Poe Ledsa in the Sword of Masculinity. In turn, even though Mr. Stupid NoHead valued the services they provided, and spoke as though they were a family, he saw them as no more than particularly efficient servants.

 File:Lord of the North and Gales.jpg
The members of the Arcanus held a mutual relationship with each other. Many had to work together on occasions where they were up against bigger threats. Bartholomew Gales worked well with Cassidy when they headed the Ninth Guard, proving to be cooperative allies. Mira had a mutual friendship with Kenzie Walters and always toasted to the death of every individual they hunted with a drink made on the city of which they found them. Barty befriended Rebecca when he became an Arcanus, or at least, she was nice to him. In 2027, Gales informed her of his lessons in Mind resistance, despite Annabeth Black forbidding him from telling anyone the truth, indicating the two probably trust each other. However, he never mentioned the end of their lessons, probably because it embarrassed him. However, being youthful users of the darkness, the Arcanus became power hungry and a sense of competition grew between them as they show signs of mistrust to one another. On a similar note, most of them worked well with the Lord of the North, who had made a contract with Annabeth Black, yet Gales had several quarrels with him. Like very few others, Gales showed absolutely no fear of the evil mutant, which ultimately led to his death.

### Skills and equipment

The Arcanus were enhanced through the power of Mr. Stupid NoHead. Even after he fell, the Lord of the North remained particularly difficult to slay, for any weapon that struck him would be destroyed. They were surrounded by an aura of terror, which affected all living creatures; their aura called the Winds of Ebony could be toxic to those hapless enough to come near them. In a mild form, the Winds of Ebony could cause a brief period of unconsciousness, accompanied by nightmares, and a state of agitation upon being woken. This fear the Ten inspired was one of their greatest strengths. Still, if an enemy was strong enough so to resist their aura of dread, then the Arcanus (with the exception of Annabeth) had little real power over them individually. Although the Arcanus primarily favored exoblades, they could also use batons, pistols, and rifles for intimidation tactics.

The Arcanus used Elixir of Protease for purposes of torture and homicide, and there also was Elixir of Protease on Deliverance, the sword of Annabeth Black. Elixir of Protease is a liquid substance taken from the Mindless whenever one of them perish. Protease is a type of enzyme that catalyzes the breakdown of protein and is usually harmless and is found in plants such as mango and pineapple, which is said to help with digestion, but when a certain ritual was performed over it, along with the offering of a blood sacrifice, it became a deadly, caustic poison. It ate away anything living or previously alive, and if the poisonous effect was to be stopped the wound is stated to never regenerate or heal even with the help of a cosmic entity. Since all living things contain protein, a solution of mixed proteases will destroy any living or formerly living thing that contains the right types of protein. Strangely, the Elixir of Protease left everything else with which it came in contact untouched, because protease is not corrosive on its own.

The Arcanus dark trooper unit was used by the Arcanus, featuring a large handheld assault cannon and two shoulder-mounted seeker missile launcher racks that were hidden under the suit's shoulder plates when not in use. They were issued additional grenades and bombs, and wore black armor providing superior protection against enemy fire. Some were deployed in the City Volcano in 2030.

## Known Arcanus

* 1 - Annabeth Black (leader)
* 2 - Wallace Blanks
* 3 - Mira
* 4 - Sēon Wan
* 5 - Kenzie Walters
* 6 - Rebecca
* 7 - Bartholomew Gales
* 8 - Cassidy
* 9 - Qamar
* 10 - X2 (formerly Mikey, then Abby Gellar)

## Trivia

* Whether Annabeth Black is an Arcanus (despite spending a good deal of time with them) is disputable. She was recruited before the coming of the group and had special privileges and responsibilities. Annabeth was referred by D. Isaac Thomas as Mr. Stupid NoHead's lieutenant, suggesting that she may be the second-in-command of the NoHead organization. Indeed, she has demonstrated great talent in combat and leadership skills and has been, in the past, trusted with many important things by her master. Similarly, the Lemur and Hell Burnbottom seemed to be lieutenants of Mr. Stupid NoHead. All three were allowed to give subordinate NoHead orders and were never punished for "friendly fire".
* It is unknown, though likely, that Darren Slade was briefly an Arcanus.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `TM`
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `S2`
3. ↑ Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `ROHB`
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 *Sebiscuits: Dawn of Transcendence*
5. ↑ *The Super Babies: The Blabberish Singer*
6. ↑ *The Super Babies: Revenge of Hell Burnbottom*
7. ↑ Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `AEG`
8. ↑ *Agents of the S.M.S.B.: Age of Innovation*