Scylla Ramshorn

### Friends

Anacostia Quartermain, Raelle Collar, Tally Craven, Abigail Bellweather, Tiffany

### Romances

Porter Tippet (ex-boyfriend),Vira (former fling), Raelle Collar (Wife)

### Enemies

The Army
Camarilla

## Portrayal

### Seasons

Season 1, Season 2, Season 3

**Scylla Ramshorn** is one of the main characters in Motherland: Fort Salem. She is portrayed by Amalia Holm.

She is a playful yet dark and mischievous recruit who is not what she appears to be.

## History

Scylla's parents were draft dodgers. They moved from place to place often with other dodger families. As a child, Scylla visited a beach called Labor-in-Pain for a week and describes it as the last place she felt free. At some point, she dated Porter Tippet - another dodger kid, but ended it when she disappeared.

When she was sixteen, her family was moving across the Cession and got new identities and Scylla started school. When she arrived at her house, military police were there. Her parents surrendered but were killed anyway to make a point. Scylla was hiding in the garage and did nothing. She pledged to fight in their honor.

When the call came on Conscription Day, Scylla said the words and joined the military in an attempt to beat the army at their own game. She performed well and went into the Necro division. A year after this, she went to a Spree armory and was given a balloon and instructions. She went to a mall on Conscription Day and compelled 1600 people to jump to their deaths, but not without some hesitation.

## Throughout the Series

### Season 1

Scylla is a second year cadet at Fort Salem, in the Necro division. She meets Raelle Collar and they instantly connect. Scylla convinces Raelle to try a drug, salva, and they float high in the sky together until Anacostia catches them. Anacostia warns Scylla to stay away from Raelle.

Later on, in her dorm room at the school, Scylla is using the face of another girl, which reflects a balloon in the mirror. Then when a coin she'd charmed to drop when Raelle passes by alerts her to the approach of the latter. She burns her face and reverts to her original appearance just in time for Raelle's arrival, and they start to kiss.

Scylla continues to try and deceive Raelle and the other witches, while secretly supporting her plan from The Spree. She asks her leaders for extraction soon but they tell her to stay the course and to continue to deceive the witches at Fort Salem.

Unexpectedly, on the eve of Beltane, Porter, a male witch and former lover of Scylla, arrives and recognizes her. He is shocked to see her, knowing her past and how her parents died. Scylla sees Porter and kisses him in order to entrance him. She whispers words in his ear to influence him into jumping to his death. She later sees Raelle just before she loses consciousness after trying to link with and heal Porter.

As Raelle got hurt while trying to save Porter, Scylla is seemingly worried about her. Raelle continuously asks Scylla about her past with Porter and she dodges the questions until Scylla eventually admits having strong feelings for Raelle. This confession makes Raelle stop asking question and promises Scylla to always be with her no matter what. This is the moment when Scylla starts to question her loyality towards The Spree as she was falling for Raelle.

Scylla doesn't get an invite to Charvel Bellweather's wedding, so instead she disguises herself as a server to sneak in and then change back into her clothing. Scylla communicates with the Spree in the bathroom at the wedding; she asks questions about Raelle's safety to make sure. However, the Spree doesn't give her a trust and tells her "Bring her and no more questions." While these were happening, Tally was also in the bathroom. After finding out the truth about Scylla, Tally immediately tells Anacostia that she thinks Scylla is part of the Spree. Meanwhile, Scylla and Raelle dance and get closer. She tells Raelle "No matter what happens, I love you." and right at the moment, Scylla chooses to betray The Spree since she fell in love with Raelle.

After The Spree attack at the wedding, Scylla seems to disappear. She leaves the pin that Raelle gifted her behind on the floor.

According to Izadora, Scylla was killed in the wedding attack. However, Scylla is alive, in chains, and being interrogated by Izadora, Anacostia Quartermain, and Sarah Alder for her involvement in the Spree attack.

Anacostia tries to use whatever means possible to interrogate Scylla, who resists her attempts. Anacostia eventually brings Raelle in to make Scylla vulnerable. Scylla kisses her and tells her not to believe every bad thing they say about her and to know that she loves her. Anacostia manages to read Scylla's memories to see where the Spree armory is, as well as discovering that Scylla was the one who attacked the mall on Conscription Day.

Alder gives the order to send Scylla to prison, but Anacostia has her doubts that it's the right move, thinking that Scylla might be willing to be turned against the Spree. Anacostia goes to talk to Scylla and Scylla requests to see Raelle one more time. Scylla tells Raelle she loves her and that her love was real and never fake, even though Raelle was her target.

Anacostia comes to see Scylla again to inform her that she is being picked up for jail in two hours. Anacostia suddenly frees Scylla and tells her to "hold on to the part of you that's good". She gives her a lighter and tells her to make the escape look "good". Scylla knocks out Anacostia and disguises herself as Anacostia and walks out.

Scylla escapes and goes straight to a house and says a code to enter. Scylla goes into the kitchen where a woman welcomes her back. She turns around and it is revealed that her Spree cell leader is Raelle's mother, Willa Collar. Willa tells Scylla she was supposed to bring her Raelle.

### Season 2

Scylla is working with Willa, trying to infiltrate a burgeoning anti-witch movement that is gaining power within the United States. She ends up teaming up with Anacostia Quartermain, who has been investigating her activities, but is troubled about some of the things that have been happening at Fort Salem.

### Season 3

After Raelle is taken by the Mycelium, having fallen ill and needing to be healed, Scylla tries desperately to find her. She eventually is able to meet up with Raelle's father, Edwin and together the two contact Raelle's mother, Willa, within the Mycelium. The Mycelium is healed thanks to General Sarah Alder. She along with Willa release Raelle back into the world, warning her that it is a much darker place than when she left it. Afterwards, Raelle helps to rescue Scylla from captivity by the anti-witch forces that have infiltrated the government and Fort Salem. The Unit then turns themselves in for having started a war in the Chippewa Cession, but are released when President Kelly Wade reveals herself to be alive following an assassination attempt. Raelle and Scylla then get married, having a joint marriage alongside Abigail Bellweather and Adil.

## Physical Appearance

Scylla has short, dark brown hair and is of medium stature. She has bright ocean blue eyes.

## Powers and Abilities

### Powers

**Witch Physiology:** As a witch, Scylla 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. She specialized in Necro at Fort Salem and was one of the best in her year.

* **Pushing:** Pushing work allows her to manipulate people’s actions through her voice, putting them in a trance-like state where they are open to her suggestions. Scylla uses this power in *A Biddy's Life* to eliminate Porter; after whispering the words "I am filled with unbearable sadness," into Porter's ear, he throws himself off the rooftop of her apartment. She also uses this on a man in the elevator of the Spree’s bottling factory -- as seen in *Mother Mycelium* when Anacostia is finally able to get into her memories -- to make him unaware of the sixth floor. In *Irrevocable*, she persuades Marcus Tooms to drive her and Willa to the Camarilla hideout. In *Book Club*, when Edwin is stopped by an officer in Iroquois territory, Scylla persuades him to leave them be.
	+ **Weaponized Pushing:** Off-cannon work which is used by the Spree -- by lacing Work within certain sounds, such as a balloon popping, anyone within hearing range will suffer from life-like delusions which manipulate victims into committing suicide. In *Delusional*, Scylla notes that this type of Work is "localized" and "takes a lot of energy to maintain"; the witch using it would need to remain close in proximity. In *She Returns*, Scylla, Mac, and the rest of the dodgers are seen passing around glass bottles, which are used -- non-lethally -- to push the cadets to recite the Oath of Enlistment.
		- **Mass Pushing:** At the beginning of *Say The Words* -- wearing an brunette-haired girl's face -- Scylla mass pushes hundreds of civilians to jump to their deaths at the mall mass-killing. In *Delusional*, she shows proficiency in avoiding and helping others to escape the self-harming delusions projected onto them by Nicte, supposedly because she is familiar with using the Work. In *Revolution*, she pushes the guards on the prison bus carrying the Bellweather unit, after shattering the windows, using "Morrigan's Whisper" to release them and leave.
	+ **Avian Pushing**: Pushing directed towards animals, specifically affecting birds -- their movements follow her will -- as shown in *Mother of All, Mother of None*, and later in *Revolution, Part 1,* her abilities have grown to the point where she was able to effortlessly control a flock of birds to loop in the air, showing off for Raelle after saving her and her unit.
		- **Animal Communication**: Scylla can communicate with birds, as she did in *Mother of All, Mother of None*. It is also a basis for her avian pushing work.
			* **"Morrigan's Whisper" (Vocal Displacement):** Inspiring herself from Nicte's usage of bats as a medium for work, Scylla used a bird she befriended, in *Mother of All, Mother of None*, to make a small group of people dance -- she named this Work "Morrigan's Whisper". Scylla also uses this work to free the unit from the prison bus at the end of *Revolution, Part 1*, having her birds fly through the bus windows, shattering them, allowing Work to affect the guards on the bus, pushing them to free the unit and leave the area. In *Oh Elayne...*, when she and Nicte realize that The Marshall is tracking their vocal signatures, Scylla has the idea to "give [him] another echo to follow" by having the crows replicate her and Nicte's voices to lead him off -- he notes that it has been decades since anyone had fooled him like that. In *She Returns*, Scylla utilizes "Morrigan's Whisper" to push Tally's truck-driver into having her driven to meet her and the other dodgers.
* **Pyro-Shapeshifting:** By holding a lighter up to her chin, she can burn away her face and regrow another person's face and body beneath. Scylla uses this repeatedly throughout the series. The most notable examples of faces she's stolen in season one include the brunette girl she used for the Spree's mall attack, and the auburn girl seen when she transforms after the mall attack and again in Fort Salem in *Say The Words*, General Helen Graves in *My Witches*, a waitress to infiltrate the Bellweather wedding in *Bellweather Season*, and Anacostia to escape Fort Salem custody in *Witchbomb*. Season two examples include a different auburn girl in *Of the Blood*, an elderly woman when out with Anacostia in *A Tiffany*, Bonnie in *Not Our Daughters* to kill Shane, and Marcus Tooms in *My 3 Dads* and *Irrevocable*. Season three examples include an auburn-haired woman in order to pose as the manager of the paper distribution warehouse in *Homo Cantus and an older, grey-haired man in order to* escape with Nicte, purchasing two tickets to the border in *Oh Elayne...*; however, the Marshall intercepts them before they arrive and their "masks" are negated by his whistle. In *Breanna's Favorite Pencil*, it is shown exactly how she steals the face of another person, which is by engulfing the person's face in flames and inhaling the smoke. The Work doesn't seem to leave any long-term harmful effects, as shown through Marcus Tooms appearing several times afterwards unharmed. In *Oh Elayne...*, while on the run from the Marshalls with Nicte, the two change their faces before purchasing two tickets to the border; however, the Marshall intercepts them before they arrive and their "masks" are negated by his whistle. In "She Returns", she wears Thelma's face to throw off the witches seeking out her and the Council.
* **Levitation:**By using Salva, Scylla can levitate several feet off the ground, as she did with Raelle in the forest in *Say The Words*.
* **Motion-Sensing Trap:** Using a coin as a medium, she set up a trap to fall over and alert her when significant movement is detected, such as when Raelle walks by her apartment in *Say The Words*.
* **Mirror Communication:** Scylla can communicate with the Spree using mirrors, as seen in *Say The Words, My Witches,* and *Bellweather Season*. She also teaches this Work to Anacostia -- as stated by Anacostia herself in *Cession In Session --* as well as Abigail, to communicate with her mother under the radar, at the end of *Homo Cantus*.
* **Life/Death Force** **Conversion (Nutrient Recycling):** In *My Witches*, when in the cemetery with Raelle, she sprouts a death cap mushroom from a bird's corpse -- converting the energy within it into a death cap mushroom -- explaining that death is more complicated than people think. In *Oh Elayne...,* in an attempt to connect to the Mycelium in order to reach Raelle, Scylla utilizes the corpse of a crow; after multiple failed attempts with the crow in the abandoned barn, she only manages to grow a small stem before Nicte disintegrates it. She attempts again in *Happy Yule!* with a little mouse corpse, successfully growing the death cap that releases black spores which she inhales in attempt to connect with He -- however, this seemingly has no effect.
	+ **The "Yule Song":** In *Happy Yule!*, while walking through the kitchen, Scylla notices the Yule hog lying on the counter and an idea sprouts. Using it's heart, which she buries, she states that "[they] offer up a heartbeat to Earth, to bring forth new life" -- working in a similar nutrient-recycling way as before: growing a single mushroom from a small animal's corpse -- but on a slightly larger scale. After Scylla sings the Yule Song, seemingly nothing happens and one-by-one everyone leaves except Scylla, who eventually begins to loose hope herself. However, just before she leaves, a large "R" forms in the fresh soil shaped from Raelle/the witchbomb's classic purple-hued mushrooms -- even seeming to be in Raelle's handwriting. This is the first official sign sent back from -- seemingly conscious -- Raelle to let Scylla know that she is alright, finally giving Scylla the hope that she needs.
	+ **Mycelial Network Communication**: In *Book Club*, Scylla is seen, alongside Edwin and Quinn, utilizing her ability to tap into the Mycelium to audibly communicate with Raelle from within — through a death cap she was able to grow from an opossum corpse — that connects all the way to Raelle underground. The death cap that sprouts from her window sill is identical to the ones Scylla usually creates, but with the addition of transparent mycelial leaves, apparently formed from hyphae, that vibrate to transfer the sound of their voices back and forth. When destroyed by Mother Mycelium/Willa, both death caps, the sender, attached to the opossum, and the receiver, within the Mycelium, fade away into black spores. In *She Returns*, she is seen sitting at a table with the corpses of a pigeon, a squirrel, and a fox -- stating that "no matter how hard [she] tries there's nothing but silence", noting that she "just needs to tweak the Working the right way".
* **Heat Generation:** In *Hail Beltane*, in an attempt to spoil Porter's corpse before her Necro class could open a death current and reveal her as his killer, Scylla stares at the thermometer and mutters intensely to herself, causing the room to heat up and the mercury in the thermometer to rise. In *The Price of Work*, while backing up Nicte -- after noticing them -- they boil the water in the pipes running throughout the facility, causing it to evaporate and build up pressure within, which bursts them, raining down scalding water upon the opposing Camarilla faux-witch strike force implemented at the chemical plant in the Cession.
* **Death Current Manipulation:** In *Hail Beltane*, with the help of Izadora and the rest of the class, during the precise hours that Beltane’s energy is most concentrated, the class is able to use Porter’s corpse as a medium -- a death current. "The combination of all the energy of Beltane, in conjunction with the precise seed sounds, allows for the opening of a death current." This allows them to communicate with Porter and discover the last things he saw and heard before he died.
* **Linking:** "Breathing, if you listen closely enough, is a kind of song. Our hearts beat a rhythm. Master this music, and you can become attuned to your target's life force, blood flow, organ function, even cellular composition. Linking is the touchstone of Fixing, and...often means life or death."
	+ **Scar Manipulation:** In *Bellweather Season*, Scylla creates a link between herself and Raelle so that she can communicate with Raelle, "wherever she is". This “link” shows up as a scar in the shape of an “S” in her palm -- being identically mirrored onto Raelle's hand. In *Revolution, Part 1*, Scylla sends Raelle this signal just before attacking the prison bus to let her know that she came to rescue her. At the end of *The Price of Work*, after capturing Alban Hearst, Scylla is seen attempting to send her "S" shaped scar, used as a signal between her and Raelle when they are separated "so that wherever she is, it'll reach her and she'll know that [she's] looking for her and that [she'll] never give up." It is later shown to have successfully gone through to Rayelle, however Mother Mycelium covers it up, telling her to focus on resting and recovering.
	+ **Memory Reading**: In *Mother Mycelium*, after being unnerved by Raelle, Scylla is forced to link with Anacostia, who peeks into her mind -- and eventually begins to feel sorry for her. A type of advanced Linking, that allows the user to read and view the memories of others. In *Of the Blood*, Willa asks Scylla to link with her so that she can show her what had happened, from her memory.
	+ **Sleep Induction**: In *My 3 Dads*, Scylla is seen "sleeping" Anacostia as she gets in the car after the two argue about where to take Tiffany. In *She Returns*, she and Tally team up to save the Council -- to do this, they each "sleep" a guard to begin their offense.
* **Fetch Negation:** A fetch is a supernatural double or aspiration of a person, similar to a doppelgänger, however is not a ghost, but a double of the original person. When Anacostia uses a Fetch to eavesdrop on Willa and Scylla in *Of the Blood*, the latter identifies the face-shaped specter in a wooden board on the roof of the house and uses seed #14 -- the seed of interrogation (binding clear truth), often used to extract information -- to negate it.
* **Weather Manipulation:** Dubbed "weatherwork" by the witches at Fort Salem.
	+ **Windstrike:** On Samhain -- in *Breanna's Favorite Pencil --* Scylla windstrikes Marcus Tooms across the room at the Camarilla party after Anacostia kills the Power-Dampener. In *Irrevocable*, her and Willa windstrike the guard together at the check-in point of the Camarilla hideout. After being confronted on the bus by the Marshall in *Oh Elayne...*, she and Nicte windstrike the bus window together, shattering it and allowing them to escape. Later in the episode, in a fight between her and Nicte, she windstrikes Nicte, sending her flying into the barn wall. In *Happy Yule!*, while being held in The Marshall's house, Abigail, Tally, Scylla, and Nicte all emerge from their rooms at once to attempt to surprise him with a collective windstrike; he is barely affected and notes that it felt like "a baby's cough".
	+ **Windshear:** In *Delusional*, Scylla protects Tally, Abigail, and Raelle from the storm that Abigail creates during her delusion using windshear.
	+ **Gust Front Creation:** In *The Price of Work*, while at the chemical plant, the group decides to go on the offensive; working off of Nicte's windstrike, Scylla seemingly inhales simultaneously, reversing the windstrike's direction and velocity, causing it to rapidly and forcefully expand, creating what is known as a "gust front", which unleashes violent winds strong enough to blow grown men away.
	+ **Fog Generation:** In *She Returns*, Scylla is seen ambushing the Army cadets with a thick fog in unison with Mac and the rest of the dodgers.
* **Identification:** In *She Returns*, after Thelma informs her that Milly had put something in the wasna to knock the Council unconscious, Scylla is seen vocalizing over them, stating that "[she] can wake them, but [she's] gonna need a minute" -- purportedly so that she can identify what Milly put in the wasna in order to counter/neutralize it.

**Abilities:**

* **Willpower:** Scylla is able to resist the army's attempts to get her to reveal information on the Spree, including Anacostia's mind reading.
* **Peak of human physical condition:** As a former soldier, Scylla is in top physical condition.

## Equipment

* **Salva:** During her time at Fort Salem, Scylla used Salva to levitate with Raelle.
* **Lighter:** As part of the Spree, Scylla uses a lighter to shapeshift.

## Quotes

> "Live a little!"
>
> Scylla to Raelle in Say the Words

"Don't say anything, I need to get this out of me before I freak out and shut down and run away. I like you, okay? I have feelings for you, and they're not something I'm used to having ... not something I'm used to dealing with. I'm a dodger, which means no attachments. Because things go away, we go away.

I haven't learned to get past this, but I'm trying."

Scylla confessing her feelings for Raelle in Hail Beltane.

## Trivia

* Despite stating that her family history is not on the stone that shows it, the fact that Scylla possesses a medal and is a cadet at Fort Salem contradicts this. In order for her to have a medal, the army would have had to have knowledge of the Ramshorn family for her to receive the call on Conscription Day.
	+ It is possible that she was lying or unaware of this fact.
	+ It is also possible that the army removed recognition of Scylla's family after her parents dodged, but kept their birth records.
* Scylla maintains a facade of a remorseless mass murderer around people she doesn't trust. Deep down, she questions her choices both out of guilt for the death she caused as well as fear that Raelle would stop loving her if the fixer knew the sheer amount of senseless deaths she has participated in.

## References

1. ↑ 1x01: "Say the Words"
2. ↑ 1x02: "My Witches"
3. ↑ 1x03: "A Biddy's Life"