This article refers to the Lyctor Gideon the First, for the cavalier Gideon the Ninth please refer to Gideon Nav.
Gideon the First, Saint of Duty is the Third Saint to serve the King Undying.
Biography[]
Life Pre-Resurrection[]
Prior to the Resurrection, the scientist John Gaius works with a crew of enigmatically named friends whose initials align with several of the names of those who later became his Saints. Given a close relationship with “P—” (likely Pyrrha) and similarly gendered pronouns, it appears likely that Gideon is the one referred to in the recounted story as “G—“.
Described by John as a fellow “hometown boy,”[1] G— was raised by his religious grandparents. He met P— long before taking a job as an engineer in John’s project to develop a way to safely cryogenically preserve living humans during spaceflight. During the project, John sends G— to collaborate with Pan-Euro Astronautics, indicating that he was probably one of the best in his field.
When the government pulls funding and shuts off the electricity in the cry lab, John becomes convinced that he somehow preserved some of the corpses they had been experimenting on. By the second day of the corpses failing to rot, G— believes in John’s miracle and moves onto the property, living out of his ute. After numerous experiments on the abnormal corpses, John discovers that he can control their bodies through a process that he later attributes to necromancy.
After advertising these newfound powers via a streaming platform, John gains a cult following. The government begins to take issue with the number of people flocking to the cryo lab to witness his miracles. When a government riot squad inevitably comes calling, P— betrays the police force to warn John and his followers. Using G—’s engineering expertise, John erects a wall of perpetual bone around the compound. Behind this impenetrable wall, John and his team become wanted criminals.
While crowds of pilgrims amass outside and the rival faster-than-light (FTL) project keeps moving up its timeline, John is asked to reanimate the corpse of a world leader. G— travels with John to secretly examine the body. Though M— and A— handle the payment negotiations, it might be assumed that as the engineer, G— manages the suitcase nuke that they acquire.
Despite John uncovering evidence that the FTL project was implementing dishonest business practices, it continues to receive funding and support as the effects of climate change worsen. Behind his wall, John becomes increasingly obsessed with figuring out how to resurrect his beloved corpses. He makes a breakthrough when a gunfight breaks out beyond the wall and five people die. John harnesses the thanergy from the deaths and uses it to kill more than a hundred other people. P— is furious with John, and G— is torn between his loyalty to John and his loyalty to P—, but it ultimately comes to nothing.
When M—’s nun and A—’s little brother discover that the FTL project only intends to take the highest bidders off-planet and abandon the rest of humanity, John decides to stall their imminent departure. Leveraging his relationship with the country whose dead leader he is puppeting, John threatens deployment of his nuclear weapon if they don’t prevent the departure of the FTL ships. They agree, on the condition that John returns the nuke. G— agrees to become a dead-man’s switch for the nuke, to ensure that John’s client will follow through on their promise. Unaware that the nuke will be armed, P— offers to go with him, but G— refuses. They fight, and P— calls him a “stupid kid.”[2] Before G— leaves, John cuts off his arm and grows him a new one. G— doesn’t protest or even ask John to explain.
Upon landing in Australia, G— is met by a horde of negotiators attempting to convince him to disarm the bomb. G— is immovable, and the city around him begins to be evacuated. Despite John’s efforts, the FTL ships launch, and in his despair, he remotely stops G—’s heart and triggers nuclear war.
Post-Resurrection[]
In Canaan House, Gideon discovered the theorem of transference ("the utilization of a living soul"), the third part of the Lyctor megatheorem.
Harrow the Ninth[]
Ten Months Before the Emperor's Murder[3][]
A few days after their return to Mithraeum, Gideon decides that Harrow is a danger to John and needs to be killed. He finds her in the kitchen, sneaks up behind her and stabs her. Harrow deflects the blow and fights back—giving herself bone claws and quickly crafting five skeleton constructs. Gideon destroys them and chases Harrow into the halls. He throws his spear and hits her, but Mercymorn stumbles upon them and puts an end to it. She pulls the spear from Harrow, heals her, and chastises Gideon for attempting to kill Harrow where she has to intervene—making veiled references to his interference with the Dios Apate Major plot. Gideon requests Harrow's sword, but Harrow and Mercymorn deny him.
He attempts to murder her fourteen more times, but each time he is stopped by another Lyctor on board or John himself. As he has made a pact with "an authority [God has] no power to gainsay"[4] the Emperor will not put a stop to the attempts, but as the Emperor would clearly be displeased with anyone who allowed Harrow to be killed, all the Lyctor's aboard are duty bound to stop any attempt they witness. They are left in a high stakes stalemate.
Nine Months Before the Emperor's Murder[]
Gideon the First returns from his unnamed mission to find John, Mercymorn, and Augustine eulogizing the corpse of Cytherea the First. He announces that the Seventh Resurrection Beast is at the rim, its brain already submerged in the River, and that it will be at Mithraeum in under ten months. John and Mercymorn attempt to deny the possibility, but Gideon cuts them off insisting it is true. He asks John simply to choose: stay and fight, or run. Surrendering, John decides that must follow through on the choice they made when recruiting new Lyctors and fight.
Four Months Before the Emperor's Murder[]
As the Resurrection Beast draws nearer, Harrow and Ianthe are left to each others company as the "adults" delve into complex planning. One night after training, Harrow stumbles on Gideon kissing the corpse of Cytherea. Though they are alone in her crypt, Gideon makes no attempt to harm Harrow and commands that she leaves. It is likely that at this point, Gideon's body was actually animated by his cavalier, Pyrrha Dve (it is noted that his voice sounds different, and the eyes are not seen). A while later, he comes into her rooms using his thanergy void abilities to crumble her extensive wards. He finds her in the bath and launches his spear at her. She dodges and fights back with the bone in her body, which he also begins to strip away from her. She uses her teeth to gouge his eyes, and Gideon retreats.
John asks Harrow to make dinner for everyone, and she obliges. At dinner, John serves her mediocre attempt at soup which is filled with Gideon's least favorite vegetables. As they discuss her soup, Harrow explodes Gideon with her own marrow she has cooked into the soup. John freezes everyone with his necromancy and chides Harrow. She pleas that he protect her from Gideon's attacks, but he only asks her when she last slept. At her response, he heals Gideon and sends everyone but Mercymorn out of the room—instructing Ianthe to put Harrow to bed. Augustine leaves with Gideon, offering him a cigarette. As Harrow leaves, Gideon salutes her with his cigarette.
One day, Gideon receives a formal dinner party invitation from Augustine. He lays out a fantastic feast—candles, white linen, silver cutlery, and a many-coursed decadent meal. They feast and drink for two hours, all becoming quite drunk. Gideon is less than enthused with this event, and keeps mostly to himself and even attempting to commiserate silently with Harrow. Augustine and Mercymorn begin toasting to lost friends which leads to an argument over their cavaliers, Cristabel and Alfred. Augustine turns to the toast to Pyrrha, Gideon's cavalier, which angers him. Ianthe redirects the toast to enemies and Augustine toasts to Commander Wake, and Gideon storms out of the dinner.
At some point between his departure and Harrow's, he (or his cavalier Pyrrha) sought out Cytherea, currently animated by the revenant of Commander Wake. Wake stabs Gideon's body through the heart, and he looses consciousness. he does not truly come to until John finds him and Harrow, as briefly during this time Pyrrha has control of his body. She tries to ask wake about why she brought along the ba(by) 19 years ago, and tells Harrow that fresh blood wards will keep her safe from Gideon. John, Mercymorn and Augustine arrive and question Harrow. Gideon has no memory of her version of events, and seemingly no memory of any events between his departure from dinner and waking in the incinerator room. - this perhaps suggests that Pyrrha has been in control for most of the time since leaving the dinner.
Two Months Before the Emperor's Murder[]
One night, an emergency alarm goes off throughout Mithraeum. Mercymorn has spotted the Seventh Beast and raised the alarm, shuttering the windows of the Mithraeum and beginning a lock down. Mercy screams over the comm, having accidentally looked at the Beast and fallen victim to its psychological effects. Augustine pronounces the Beast early and sends everyone back to bed.
One Week Before the Emperor's Murder[]
As the battle draws nearer, the residents of the Mithraeum meet to discuss battle strategy. Mercymorn outlines the plan of attack—tiring the Beast out in the upper levels of the River, and then dragging it down and into the stoma when it tries to flee. Gideon suggests they push the Beast down to the lowest levels of the River immediately to make their battle shorter, but Mercy counters with the example of Ulysses the First's death. Similarly, she counters Augustine and Ianthe's arguments and suggestions with failures from previous battles. In the end, Mercy's strategy wins and each Lyctor is assigned a direction of the Beast (save Harrow and John). Gideon is assigned the northern most point of the Beast.
The day of the Resurrection Beast's attack, Gideon makes one last attempt to kill Harrow. He corners her while she visits Cytherea's empty tomb and demands that she draw her rapier, but Harrow stops to question why he is bothering to kill her when she will be murdered as soon as the Resurrection Beast arrives. He does not truly explain but instead warns her to end her own life before going into the River and admits that this was not his idea.
The Night Before the Emperor's Murder[]
Gideon is on Mithraeum waiting to do battle with the seventh Resurrection Beast. The Heralds begin their attack on the Mithraeum in the East quadrant, and Harrow and Ianthe are hit with the worst waves of psychological attack from them. The Heralds continue their attack on Mithraeum for almost an hour as the Lyctors wait out the waves of fear in darkness. The Emperor gives instructions over the comm, and the Lyctors prepare to descend into the River.
Gideon stays in the River engaging Number Seven long after Mercymorn, Augustine, and Ianthe have pulled out and returned to their bodies in the Mithraeum. He is joined by Matthias Nonius, Ortus Nigenad, Protesilaus Ebdoma, and Marta Dyas. Though they nearly take the beast, Gideon the First is killed and Number Seven flees. Pyrrha Dve surfaces and takes control of Gideon's body.
Appearance and Personality[]
Gideon is described as:
"His frame carried nothing but muscle. He was sinew over bone. He was a walking tendon. He had a raw, stretched look to him like an idiot's construct, bones that had been slippered in meaty fibrils to keep them moving. A metabolized, contracted striation, without fat, from rib to stomach. [...] You beheld a blunt brown face, skin too close to the skull, all shabby defeated features with its lineaments more temporalis muscle than anything else. His skull was a bumpy, knobbled, close-capped thing, hair shaven nearly to the bone. This hair gleamed a dull and unappealing russet, like a vague and bloody shadow on his head."[5]
Gideon the First is an serious and reverent man, taking the name "Saint of Duty" very literally.
Possessions[]
- Rapier: Gideon’s rapier is relatively plain, with a basket hilt and a fraying red ribbon tied to the pommel.[6]
- Spear: Serving as his offhand, Gideon’s spear has a razor-sharp point and can retract into its bone haft when not in use.[7]
- Ute: Pre-Resurrection, G— owns a utility vehicle, which he lives out of after he moves onto the cryo lab property. John’s inner circle uses the ute to transport corpses to different locations for various experiments.[8]
Relationships[]
The Emperor[]
Augustine the First[]
Mercymorn the First[]
Harrowhark Nonagesimus[]
Wake[]
References[]
- ↑ Nona the Ninth John 5:20
- ↑ Nona the Ninth John 1:20
- ↑ In Harrow the Ninth, this period of time is clearly marked as "Ten Months Before the Emperor's Murder," despite seeming to make little chronological sense.
- ↑ "Harrow the Ninth," Act II, Ch. 20
- ↑ "Harrow the Ninth," Act I, Ch. 9
- ↑ Harrow the Ninth Act V, Ch. 50
- ↑ Harrow the Ninth Act II, Ch. 19
- ↑ Nona the Ninth John 5:18