Sarah Alder

### Cause of Death

(temporarily) Old Age and Death of the Biddies by Witchplague (Resurrected by The Mycelium)

## Character Information

### Occupation

Former Commanding General of the United States Armed Forces

### Abilities

Heightened witch abilities. Weather Manipulation, Dark Lightning, Puppetting, Pushing, Farspeech, stewardess of the First Song

## Relationships

### Family

Abigail Alder (sister; deceased)
Unnamed father (deceased)
Unnamed mother (deceased)
Anacostia Quartermain (foster daughter)

### Friends

Anacostia Quartermain, Tally Craven, Biddies, Izadora, Witchfather, The Marshall

### Enemies

The Spree, The Camarilla, Kelly Wade, Matriarch

## Portrayal

### Portrayer

Lyne Renee
Grace Beedie (age 17)

### Appears in

Say the Words

**General Sarah Alder** is a main character in *Motherland: Fort Salem*. She is portrayed by Lyne Renee and by Grace Beedie at age 17.

She was the highest-ranking officer in the Armed Forces and the longest standing leader the witches have ever known.

## History

Growing up, Alder's family was hunted by witch hating groups such as the church and the Camarilla. Most of her friends and family were killed during the persecution of witches by the Camarilla. The Camarilla greatly desired Sarah's vocal cords, but she got away when she and her sister fled Europe to escape the Camarilla and the Burning Times.

After coming to the New World and Salem Town, she was discovered as a witch and sentenced to death by hanging in the Salem Witch Trials. After witnessing the death of her sister, the trauma resulted in Sarah using her last moments to release an ancient song that made a powerful storm going against centuries of tradition. This song was meant to never be uttered. The release of the vocalizations created weatherwork and Sarah ceased to be fertile. Alder Villagers, seeing the impact of the song recognized the potential uses for her gifts.

Alder signed the Salem Accord on February 19, 1692, in Salem, Massachusetts with the Massachusetts Bay Militia. It was later drafted into the Constitution of the United States. This document spared witches from persecution but conscripted them and future generations as a military force. This agreement is binding in both legal and supernatural ways.

On the eve of the Revolutionary War, Alder and her generals orchestrated a surprise attack on British and Hessian forces. Alder used her weatherwork to end the Revolutionary War in a single afternoon. When she returned to Salem, she found The Camarilla had burned her entire coven at the stake. In her grief, she released a song that formed the Mycelium which is compromised of dead witches. It was on that spot that she built Fort Salem.

Afterwards, she began looking for new witches to join the military. She discovered many powerful witches among enslaved African Americans, and they soon comprised the majority of her early ranks.

In the early days of the military, Alder had a witch in her ranks (possibly Raelle's Collar's ancestor) who lacked talent. The soldier saved Alder's life a dozen times and Alder remembers her as the bravest soldier she's ever known.

At some point, Alder was dying and in exchange for what is now called the Chippewa Cession, the Native Americans gave her a power that allowed her to spread her age around a group of people called "Biddies." The position of a biddy is considered honorable and a sacrifice that is exalted among the witches. They accompany Alder everywhere.

Sarah was able to eventually hunt down the remaining Camarilla and seemingly destroyed them.

In 1813, after her victory in the Second Mexican War, Alder posed for a portrait in Marblehead, near Fort Salem. The portrait hangs in Memorial Hall.

During the Battle of Eupatoria in 1853, Alder and the biddies led American allies in a victory against the Ottoman Empire.

In 1861, during the Battle of Allace, General Alder and her Scourge-wielding biddies were ambushed by Prussian forces.

In 1909, a year into the World War, Alder and two biddies surveyed allied troops in Rhineland. Later that year, Alder contributed to the assault on the Eastern Front and turned the tide of the war.

Alder helped raise Anacostia Quartermain when she was a fosterling at Fort Salem.

In the present day, Alder served as the head of the Army at Fort Salem until the scheduled execution of Nicte Batan, the founder and leader of The Spree. At this time, her position was formally passed on to Petra Bellweather.

Following this, Fort Salem is infiltrated by the Camarilla, and with the use of Witchplague, many soldiers die. Alder, the Biddies, and Quartermain face off against numerous Camarilla operatives, and Witchplague is deployed against them. All of the Biddies are exposed to the substance, and upon their deaths, Alder ages, turning to wood in Quartermain's arms. After Quartermain, Tally, Raelle, and Abigail say their goodbyes, Alder is given over to the Mycelium. It is later seen that she is alive, suspended within the Mycelium.

## Throughout the Series

### Season 1

Alder welcomes the girls to Fort Salem and warns them about what lies ahead. She meets with President Wade and her war council to decide what to do about The Spree. She plans an attack against them, but unfortunately, it is not successful, and the Spree kill the witch soldiers. Alder grows frustrated with the minimal improvements.

On the eve of Beltane, Alder welcomes to the male recruits arriving for the honored tradition.

When meeting with the Hague, an international tribunal where the standards of war are established and discussed, General Alder becomes aware of the Tarim, a sect of witches that come from a very contested part of the world. The Tarim does not want any part in the fighting or militarization. Alder recognizes their songs as being from her family. While discussing them, one of Alder's biddy's begin to die, causing Alder to age. Alder tells the biddy as she lays dying that her sacrifice won't be forgotten. Anacostia brings in the new biddy recruit - Devon and Alder absorbs her youth.

Before Beltane, Petra Bellweather asks Alder to consider the possibility that there was a breach from the Spree inside Fort Salem and that maybe Porter didn't want to commit suicide after all, but was instead forced to. She suggests cancelling Beltane altogether to protect the witches, but Alder says she will stand by the long-time honored tradition of Beltane and that Anacostia will enforce security during the event in case. Later, Petra attempts to discuss the Tarim cell with Alder, but Alder dismisses it.

At Beltane, Alder connects and has sex with Witchfather. When the male witches prepare to leave, Alder tells Witchfather that celebrating Beltane matters despite the Spree's opportunity to attack. Witchfather tells Sarah that the lack of Spree attacks is temporary.

Alder meets with Adil - a member of the Tarim who has brought his sister Khalida to Fort Salem to treat a mysterious illness. She tells Adil to relax and enjoy Fort Salem while her healers attend to Khalida. Later, Adil comes in to talk to her. She says that his people's songs remind her of her own family's songs and she would like to learn them. He retorts that she took her songs and turned them into weapons. He prefers to keep his songs with his people as the Tarim will remain the final stewards of their songs.

General Alder interrogates Scylla Ramshorn after she is discovered as a Spree spy. Alder questions her about the Spree, but Scylla mocks Alder for serving the same people who tried to kill her. Alder tortures Scylla with illusions and induced pain. Anacostia attempt to enter Scylla's mind, but it does not work.

General Alder greets Witchfather and the male witches when they return to Fort Salem to build weapabout his fear that the humans will revoke the Salem Accord and disband the army because of the growing unrest of humans in regard to witches, mostly in response to the Spree attacks.

Under Alder's watch, the nurses again try to cure Khalida, but a groan that comes out of her mouth disrupts the environment and the biddies protect Alder. Later, Khalida has been cured and it has been called a "miracle", but Alder is doubtful.

Anacostia reports back to Alder about the Spree's headquarters so that they can track it down. Anacostia admitted that she recognized a trace of regret in Scylla's mind. Alder is dismissive and simply says that Anacostia has a soft spot for orphans.

Alder approaches Khalida and tells her that she will do everything in her power to protect her and her people. Khalida offers something in return to thank her. Alder tells her she wants to learn her and the Tarim's songs to make the world a better place. Khalida complies and sings for Alder, but it's a trick. All the plants in the greenhouse die around them. Alder collapses to the floor. Khalida then says "Our songs are not safe with you."

Alder commands a unit to attack the headquarters, but they burn to the ground and Alder asks the cadets to intercept the Spree heading towards Boston. There, the cadets win the confrontation but have to kill civilian hostages in the process, on Alder's orders.

Alder openly lies to the public on television about what really went down on the attack, where one cadet died, to protect the image of the army. She starts to lose the trust of her confidantes, including Anacostia Quartermain.

Alder, Petra, and Izadora discuss the Tarim attack and consider the possibility that the attack was not from the Spree. The Camarilla, is suggested by Izadora but Alder says she removed them years ago and that they are not a threat.

Alder reports to Adil and Khalida about the Tarim attack and tells them her plan to intervene to save more of the Tarim. Khalida says that won't be necessary because once the songs of her people are in the hands of governments, the world won't be worth fighting over. Alder tells Khalida to watch it because she's alive because of her.

President Wade gains information about Alder's recent cover-ups and decided to relieve Alder of her duties, preparing to appoint Petra Bellweather as the new general. Alder retaliated by puppeting President Wade during the announcement, making the elected official announce increased power and discretion for Alder rather than the change.

Alder blocks Abigail, Raelle, and Tally's War College acceptance after their basic training graduation because she has different plans for them - a rescue mission to save the Tarim. The group deploys together but the girls accuse Alder of many wrongdoings and demand answers. Alder says she doesn't owe them any answers but for the sake of trust she will explain herself. She explains how she has had to make many hard decisions over the years and that every decision hurts, but it is for the better good of their people.

After curing and rescuing the Tarim, the witches are confronted by the Camarilla who burn the pilots alive on stakes and tell Alder that they saved a place for her. Alder kills two Camarilla quickly and later brings down a lightning storm on them. Two of the biddies are hurt in the battle which causes Alder to weaken. Tally offers to be one of her biddies to give her the strength she needs, Alder accepts and gets her strength back. She slices an incoming Camarilla in half and thanks Tally.

The group runs to escape via helicopter. Raelle gets hurt and Abigail tries to save her. Alder must make the decision to leave them behind for the greater good of their group.

### Season 2

Raelle and Abigail are saved via a mysterious power known as the "witchbomb." Upon their return to Fort Salem, Alder fast-tracks their entry into War College. She also releases Tally from her status as a biddy, offering her the opportunity to again resume a normal life.

Sarah Alder oversees the acceptance of an important new recruit into Fort Salem: Penelope Silver, the daughter of U.S. Vice President Blanton Silver. She accepts Tally's request to personally serve as a guide for Penelope. Tally, however, begins experiencing strange visions, a result of her previous connection to Alder as a biddy. From these, she discovers the existence of Nicte Batan. Batan was Alder's former compatriot, but the two were at odds regarding Batan's strange Workings. Ultimately, Batan would go on to found the Spree.

Meanwhile, Alder introduces plan to implement nationwide testing of all women of conscription age to determine if they possess witch power. However, her plan is stymied by opposition from the top, including Vice President Silver. Meanwhile, the Camarilla begin launching a series of increasingly powerful attacks against the witches, including a powerful witchplague, and kidnapping Tally Craven, hoping to discover the source of her power. Nicte Batan, meanwhile, launches an attack that very nearly kills Alder.

Alder sends Raelle, Abigail and Tally on a mission to capture Nicte. Although the mission is ultimately successful, Alder's lies catch up to her when President Kelly Wade discovers the full truth of the matter. She states that it will not be revealed publicly that Alder is just one step removed from the creation of The Spree, but demands that she step down. The Camarilla then launch a full-out assault on Fort Salem. Alder's biddies are all exposed to the devastating witchplague, resulting in their deaths. With them no longer around to support her, Alder rapidly ages and dies. She is then given over to the Mycelium, and resurrected within it.

### Season 3

In the pastoral land of Basque Country, a group of sheep are being tended by a shepherd, who is singing to them. Suddenly, the clouds above him swirl and General Alder appears behind the shepherd, looking especially young. Stunned, he stops singing, but she tells him in Basque "Please don't stop singing on my account."

Later, General Alder makes her way to the Chippewa Cession, where she discovers Khalida, who has been on the run along with the members of the Unit, her brother Adil, Scylla Ramshorn and Nicte Batan. Khalida had been split up with the group and they are all stunned to discover the two of them together and greatly surprised by Alder's reappearance. For her part, however, Alder offers little in the way of explanation, other than to say that the Mycelium brought her back.

Tally explains to Alder that the Mycelium took Raelle, ostensibly to heal her. Alder replies that things are worse than she thought and that they don't have much time left. "Time for what?" asks Tally and Alder tells her that they need to find the pieces of the First Song, which will heal the world and end the eternal war. Raelle asks if this means that Tally will be okay and Alder replies that this will happen if it is the mother's will.

Meanwhile, Abigail quizzes Khalida about Alder, asking her why she would trust her when she never did before. Khalida explains that she herself is a steward of one of the pieces of the First Song and that Alder is as well. She tells Abigail that she sang her piece for her and now she knows that her mission is pure. Abigail asks what if the mission puts her in danger, but she tells her that she's not afraid, that for so long it was only herself and Adil, but now she knows they'll always be by her side.

Alder makes it her mission to find the remaining pieces of the First Song and their stewards, as the battle for the world rages. Her path eventually connects her with Tally Craven, whose precognitive and sight abilities prove necessary in finding one of the stewards. The two discover the steward trapped in ice. Tally sacrifices her sight in order to preserve the piece of the First Song. In the process, Alder is very nearly trapped and killed, but she is saved by Khalida.

Alder then resumes her search, discovering that the final piece of the First Song was entrusted to the Bellweather line and within Jem Bellweather. Though the history was erased, Abigail still possesses the ability. Alder returns with all of the stewards, telling Abigail of her heritage. The group then performs the First Song, which when combined with Raelle Collar's witchbomb, transforms the world. The power of the witch Mother is disbursed throughout the entirety of the Earth in a weak form, meaning that everyone is now a witch. As Abigail, Raelle and Tally set off on a helicopter to survey the new world, Alder tells them that the Mother has told her that her work is done. She thanks them for changing the world, telling them that when people call them goddesses to make sure they live up to it, before fading away.

## Relationships

* Anacostia Quartermain - Sarah has a close mentorship with Anacostia since Anacostia grew up on Fort Salem as a Fosterling and was raised by Sarah herself. Anacostia refers to her as a mother. This relationship continues to present day as Anacostia trains new recruits at Fort Salem and reports back to General Alder and working alongside her on high profile matters.
* Witchfather - sexual relationship/colleague
* The Unit - Though they have had their differences, ultimately they all come to have great respect for each other. Before fading away, she thanks them for changing the world, telling them to make sure to live up to the name of "goddesses."
* Tally Craven - At the end of season one, Tally becomes one of Sarah’s biddies. Though the connection was severed in season two, and Tally returned to her youth, a metaphysical connection remained between the two, allowing Tally to see memories of Sarah’s past via dreams. Once this connection was further severed by Izadora, Tally and Sarah remained close; Tally often challenging the general. In season three, they are both stewards of the First Song.

## Physical Appearance

Sarah is tall with long, dark brown hair often worn in an intricate braid during her time in the army. In season three, her hair turns grey/white at the tips when the Mycelium is suffering, as their life forces are connected.

Despite appearing middle-aged, she is well over 300 years old, with the help of biddy magic.

## Powers And Abilities

### Powers

**Witch Physiology:** As a witch, Alder possesses enhanced vocal chords that are capable of creating change in the physical world by singing different seed sounds and songs, as well as enhanced ears -- as stated in *Up is Down:* eardrums with "five mallea", compared to a regular human's one, that are capable of sensing subsonic and ultrasonic frequencies far beyond the capabilities of normal humans. General Sarah Alder, both as the General of the U.S. Army and as the apostle of Mother Mycelium, is one of the -- if not the most -- powerful witche(s) on Earth.

* **Omnilingualism**: Due to speaking Méníshè -- the root of all known languages -- Alder is capable of speaking nearly every language. In *My Witches*, she uses this to speak with the various witches of the Hague. In *Mother Mycelium* and *Coup*, Alder speaks with -- and argues with -- Khalida and Adil using Mothertongue. In *Mother of All, Mother of None*, *just before executing Nicte, she is stopped by Tally who invokes "Rite of Proxy" -- along with several other witches.* In *Homo Cantus* -- after being resurrected by the Mycelium -- she appears in front of a young boy in Basque Country saying, "Please, don't stop singing on my account".
* **Weather Manipulation:** Depicted at a play in Salem Town in *My Witches* -- Alder's family were stewards of a very powerful and ancient song, which she used when she was about to be hanged to create a massive storm. She used this new Work -- dubbed "weatherwork" by the witches at Fort Salem -- to end the Revolutionary War in an afternoon by creating the Salem Accord.
	+ **Storm Generation**: After her title as General is revoked in *Coup*, Alder causes storm clouds and lightning to appear over the White House.
		- **Lightning Storm Creation**: In *Witchbomb*, with the help of the biddies, she creates a dark lightning storm that blows away all of the oncoming Camarilla soldiers.
	+ **Windstrike**: In *Of the Blood*, Tally sees Alder windstrike a trunk of wood into several targets. In *Petra's Favorite Pen*, she windstrikes Tally across a gap in the floor of the ice-cave -- against her will, as she refused to leave without Alder -- having her land, forcefully, but safely, on the other side of the hole just before the cave completely crumbles.
		- **Windslice:** In *Witchbomb*, Alder was able to cut a Camarilla member in half with a wave of wind.
* **Scrying**: Scrying entails obtaining information through intuition.
	+ **Remote Viewing**: In *My Witches*, General Alder is seen remotely viewing a Spree warehouse through the eyes of General Clary's daughter, projected up onto a large slice of an ancient tree.
* **Mental Pathway Link:**General Alder's health is linked to Fort Salem. When one of her biddies dies in *A Biddy's Life*, Alder begins to weaken and the trees and fruits of Fort Salem begin to die.
	+ **Age Transference:** First shown in *A Biddy's Life*, but later in *Witchbomb*, *Revolution, Part 1*, and *Cession in Session*. General Alder maintains her youth using a Working received from Native American/American Indian witches in exchange for the creation of the Chippewa Cession. Special young witches known as Biddies are selected out of thousands of girls to take on a certain number of decades of Alder's life and physically grow old as part of the process. When the Biddy passes away, her body returns to its actual age while the years and aging she has taken on return to Alder until a new candidate is found and linked to her. As a consequence of the work, she no longer needs to eat and simply lets the Biddies take on her hunger and fatigue.
* **Illusion Manipulation:** In *Mother Mycelium*, while torturing Scylla, Alder disguises an empty plate first as a plate of food and then a plate of glass.
* **Pain Inducement:** In *Mother Mycelium*, Alder uses this ability to torture Scylla to get her to reveal information about the Spree.
* **Puppeting:** In *Coup*, with the collective efforts of her and the Biddies, she controls President Wade's actions and made her grant Alder more power and discretion in fighting the Spree -- leaving her physically exhausted.
* **Pushing**: In *A Tiffany*, General Alder pushes President Wade to sign a document ordering every young woman of age to report to testing centers as a possible witch.
* **Photograph Concealment**: In *A Tiffany*, Tally discovers a photograph that Alder used Work to make Nicte vanish from it.
* **Telepathy**: Dubbed "Farspeech" by the witches of Fort Salem. In *Not Our Daughters*, General Alder uses this to communicate with Anacostia, who wards her that testing centers may be targeted by the Camarilla.
* **"Song of Grief"**: In *Mother of All, Mother of None*, Mother Mycelium pulls Ralle in and shows her Her origin -- in General Alder's past, after helping the Militia push back the British to the sea, she returned to her sister and her first covens' charred remains thanks to the Camarilla. As a result, she sings a "song of grief" for several days, giving birth to the Mother Mycelium -- every witch's soul who dies henceforth will remain within the Mycelium, including Alder herself.

### Post-Death Powers

* **Mycelium Symbiosis**: After her death -- in *Revolution, Part 1* -- she requests that the unit return her to the Mother (Mycelium). She is later resurrected and given a new body by the Mycelium.
	+ **Mycelial Structure Creation**: In *Cession in Session*, Alder takes the stewards within the Mycelium, showing a replica of her home in Salem -- the last place she truly felt safe being formed by the Mycelium. She tells them that they will be safe there.
		- **Mycelial Body Replication**: At the end of *Revolution: Part 1*, after being returned to the Mother, she is show being re-formed -- from mycelium -- within the earth. At the end of *Homo Cantus*, Alder is shown being able to grow an exact bodily replica of herself from the Earth, emerging from a mycelial-like pattern. In *Cession in Session*, Alder was able to replicate her body reportedly 12 times at once.
			* **Resurrection**: After dying and merging with the Mother, Alder’s consciousness is kept alive within it and able to be “resurrected” by channeling it through a biologically identical body made from mycelium -- because this is not her "real body", multiple are able to be summoned even at once.
		- **Underground Mycelial Travel**: In *Homo Cantus*, Alder materializes in Basque Country, Spain. After being poisoned, Alder randomly disappears when Tally is confronted by the Marshall in *Oh, Elayne...*. When Khalida calls Alder -- in *Happy Yule!* -- she materializes before her in the Cession, and later in the episode at the ' Piimatsawin Museum ' to rescue a lost steward -- as well as take her into the Mycelium to protect her -- however she had already handled the Camarilla agents sent after her. In *Book Club*, Alder reveals herself at Fort Salem, causing a crowd of soldiers to flock around her -- Petra included -- telling them not to loose hope. She disappears before an approaching Colonel Jarrett could even get a glimpse of her, leaving him baffled. In *She Returns*, Alder appears in Madrid, Spain, where she meets with Santos. In *Petra"s Favorite Pen*, Tally asks her why they couldn't have used the Mycelium to get to the lost steward in North Germany, to which she replies, "I would have loved to, but the Mycelium is nowhere near, can't travel through glaciers".
		- **Internal Bio-Growth**: In *Cession in Session*, Alder saves the unit by burrowing mycelium into the Camarilla agents and growing a dozen body replicas from within them, exploding them from the inside-out.
	+ **Bioluminescence**: In *Oh Elayne...*, Alder's eyes turn purple and begin to glow when Elayne angers her.
	+ **Mushroom Growth (Homing Spores)**: In *Oh Yule!*, Khalida is seen giving Adil a mushroom, telling him to use it if they are ever in trouble or need her -- to which he does in *Cession in Session*. The mushroom emits purple spores that find their way back to Alder/Mother Mycelium, alerting her to save them.
	+ **Physical Invulnerability**: In *She Returns*, she is stabbed by Santos -- a manborn into the Camarilla -- without bleeding or reacting, seemingly unaffected -- having a body now composed of mycelium, instead of traditional human components.

### Abilities

* **Peak of human physical condition:** As a soldier and despite her age, Sarah is in top physical condition.

* **Expert Scourge Wielder:** At some point after the creation of the military, Alder started using a scourge in battle. She was able to quickly defeat two incoming Camarilla members after being given directions from Tally.
* **Bilingualism:** Sarah is able to speak fluent English as well as Méníshè.
* **Leadership:** Sarah is a capable leader on and off the battlefield and has singlehandedly led the United States Army for more than 300 years.

### Weaknesses

* **Biddies:** Alder's main weakness is her Biddies, if one dies then Alder will slowly return to her actual age unless another takes the dead biddy's place. If all or too many are taken out at once, then she will age so rapidly as to be beyond saving.
* Tally Craven

## Quotes

> Welcome to Fort Salem. It is a solemn day, much like the day some 327 years ago when I made a deal with the Massachusetts Bay Militia. My terms were simple. Honor me, make a place for me and my kind and we will win your wars. That was before we were even America. All of you have answered the call, just like your mothers and their mothers before them. You are the daughters of ancient lines. You are called to greatness. You have bravely pledged to serve and defend this great country. I assure you, dark days await us. We live in a time of ancient hatred and emerging threats. We will need all of you to meet what's coming, and we will meet it. With storm and fury. You are among your own kind. Take comfort in it. Find strength in it. A blessing on all of you, a blessing on this place - this witches' place.
>
> General Sarah Alder's welcome speech to the new cadets at Fort Salem, Say the Words

> That soldier I was telling you about saved my life a dozen times. While lacking certain hereditary advantages that you and I are both blessed with, while having the audacity to be born to an undistinguished line of combat medics, that 'shitbird' happens to be the finest soldier that I've known. Selfless. Brave. Loyal beyond measure.
>
>

> General Sarah Alder to Abigail Bellweather, Say the Words
>
>

> This is on you, private. You bring that girl around until she's right.
>
>

> General Sarah Alder to Abigail Bellweather in reference to Raelle Collar, Say the Words
>
>

> I never needed the Hague's approval for my actions. I simply extended the invitation to accept my rulings.
>
>

> General Sarah Alder to Witch Father, Mother Mycelium
>
>

> We've never needed words. All these years, we've just always known. And now that I need the words, they won't come. I don't know how to do this... any of it... without you.
>
> You do. Daughter.
>
>

> Anacostia Quartermaine and General Sarah Alder, Alder's last words before dying
>
>

> Thank you for changing the world, my daughters. When they call you goddesses, make sure you live up to it.
>
>

> Sarah Alder's final words of the series
>
>

## Trivia

* Despite being the metaphorical 'mother' of all American witches, Alder does not have any biological children. It is revealed in episode 2 of season 1's "After the Storm" that she was rendered infertile as a side effect of the initial release of her song in Salem.
* In the historical canon of the show, Alder replaces many figures in U.S. history and was a part of several historic events.
	+ In addition to the Salem witch trials, the show's historical canon also confirms that Alder was present during the Crossing of the Delaware River, a key event during the American Revolutionary War.
	+ She replaces George Washington on Mount Rushmore.
	+ She replaces Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill.
	+ She replaces President Abraham Lincoln on the Lincoln Memorial and it is called the General Alder Monument.
* Alder's service medals, while potentially differing from present-day American military service awards, can be recognized as the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal, the Joint Service Commendation Medal, the Air Force Commendation Medal, the Joint Service Achievement Medal, the National Defense Medal, the Iraq Campaign Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, and the Air and Space Capmpaign Medal.
	+ Her Defense Meritorious Service, Joint Service Commendation, and Air Force Commendation Medals each have an added device to the ribbon, typically denoting a second awarding of those honors, while her Meritorious Service Medal has two devices added to the ribbon, typically denoting a second and third awarding of that honor.
		- The Defense Meritorious Service Medal typically portrays a laurel wreath surrounding a pentagon overlaid with a bald eagle, wings upraised. Alder's version of the medal instead has a heraldic bald eagle in place of the normal medal, similar to the heraldic eagle of the Great Seal of the United States but without the shield or other elements typically found in the Great Seal.
		- Likewise, the Meritorious Service Medal typically portrays six rays issuing from the top of a five-point star overlaid with a bald eagle, wings upraised, standing on laurel branches. Alder's medal instead does not have a medal, but a smaller metal piece affixed to the ribbon, possibly a small bell.

## References

1. ↑ Season 1, Episode 2 - "After the Storm" - Infertility @ 4:15 - 4:16
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Mother of All, Mother of None
3. ↑ Revolution, Part 1