Ibex

Ibex
Basic Information
Pronouns	he/him
Titles	Candidate of Righteousness Executive The Fisherman
Aliases	Attar Rose
Place of Origin	Autonomous Diaspora
People	Human
Connections
Af­fil­i­a­tion(s)	Liberty and Discovery Automaticorps Righteous Vanguard
Re­la­tion­ships	Righteousness Liberty and Discovery Maryland September (ex) Jerboa (brother) Aria Joie (successor) Orth Godlove Kobus Vicuna
Meta Info
Season	COUNTER/Weight
Game	Stars Without Number Microscope Kingdom
Player	Austin Walker
Debut	COUNTER/Weight 09: This Month of Ours

“

People like you starve to death, eventually. Because you’re so alone. Because no one wants to be near you. People like me would starve to death, except we move towards new people all the time.”

– Ibex, "Three Conversations"

Executive Ibex, also called Attar Rose, is the Candidate of Righteousness.

In Stars Without Number he is mechanically the Seductress.

Appearance

Ibex is a dark-skinned black man. His face cast is CEO Tristan Walker. He typically wears a red buttonless suit which has been compared to that of the Illusive Man from Mass Effect. As a point of pride, he keeps himself well put together at all times. He favors a floral scent, presumably attar of roses. Ibex appears fairly youthful, but is in fact the oldest Candidate in the sector by the beginning of COUNTER/Weight.

In "A Splintered Branch, A Ringing Bell Pt. 1" he has grown a beard and walks with a cane. He is seen wearing a dark red suit with black lapels and gold cuff links over a buttonless white dress shirt.

Personality

“

Ibex is could [sic] probably be the best kisser in the Golden Branch, but because he wants to be #1 so badly he'll only ever be #2.”

– Austin Walker

Ibex is confident and forward-thinking, with grand ambitions for the star sector. His self-assuredness comes off as charming to some, and violently aggravating to others. He's good at making himself, and his manipulation of others, seem necessary.

He knows more about animals than most people in this era, and has a tendency to use animal metaphors.

He is a real fucker.

History and Involvement

Spoiler warning! This summary contains major spoilers for the entirety of COUNTER/Weight due to Ibex's involvement with many major plot elements. Tread carefully!

Pre-COUNTER/Weight

Ibex thinks of himself as having come "from nothing".

For a time Attar Rose and his then-partner Maryland September rejected the Autonomous Diaspora. Together they helped found the September Institute in the wake of Service leaving September. After uncovering the remains of an Apostolosian mech there, they appropriated its technology to create anti-Divine projects, including the beginnings of Voice, and launched research into the nature of Strati. A few years before the Golden War began in earnest, he left Maryland and became Ibex, the Candidate of Righteousness.

Towards the end of the Golden War, he joined the Kingdom despite no one wanting him there. He was eventually forced out onto Vox, and spent the next ten years building a power base on the planet for the Liberty and Discovery Automaticorps.

After some point after becoming a Candidate, Ibex gave the September Stratus program a copy or portion of Righteousness. This both furthered the Voice project and allowed them to develop artificial Strati that would be of no danger to him. He subsequently deferred any direct involvement in the running of the September Institute to Twelfth and a small paramilitary group he created (under the guidance of Liberty and Discovery) to oversee operations.

COUNTER/Weight

Ibex is first introduced in "This Month of Ours", where he is sent ahead of Automaticorps smugglers to meet with Diasporan and Apostolosian residents of Coral. Natalya is seen writing a message to him warning of Rigour's rise in "A Candle in the Sun", but as she sends it to him via September, he does not receive it. At the end of the Iron Choir mission, Cass receives a threatening message from Ibex warning them to stop interfering with the Liberty and Discovery Automaticorps (which Ibex later explains was created and sent automatically by Righteousness).

Ibex's rising power soon prompts Orth to bring the Chime into Jace's memories, leading to them experiencing the events of the Kingdom game. While they do so, Ibex and Righteousness officially form the Righteous Vanguard from the factions they'd previously been influencing. As the Chime leave for September, hoping to find something there to stop him, Ibex lands his fleet on Counterweight, and the Vanguard quickly rallies a popular movement, ousting Grace's forces within the month.

In "Three Conversations" AuDy and Liberty and Discovery open a portal with Righteousness, which allows Ibex to join them on the Kingdom Come. Most of the Chime is not happy to see him, and Mako ends up punching him, which makes it clear that this Ibex is one of a series of lifelike robotic facsimiles of himself. With the aid of Righteousness, he can operate them simultaneously while his original body is hidden safely in a bunker, possibly on Glimmer. Ibex asks the Chime to recover Maryland September and removes Righteousness from Mako's head, theoretically allowing Mako to use his fogging abilities on him. After Ibex and AuDy sense Rigour on the planet below, he also asks the Chime to find out what they can about Rigour.

Ibex decides to swallow his pride and speak to his enemies about the rise of Rigour. He spends considerable political capital aiming to build coalitions to stop it. However, with the September Incident delaying the confrontation, the Righteous Vanguard loses momentum, angering Righteousness. Ibex soon decommissions his robot bodies and hands Righteousness over to Aria Joie. He remains in hiding for years, emerging only during the gala in "A Splintered Branch, A Ringing Bell Pt. 1". While there, he speaks to Orth, to ask him to make sure he is remembered as Attar Rose, and to Aria, who he warns to be wary of Rigour both politically and personally.

A few weeks after the gala, Ibex notifies other people of importance in the sector that the door to September is opening; he is there himself in the former body of Liberty and Discovery, and is the first to encounter Liberty as it flees in Detachment's chassis through the open door. Liberty attacks and continues on, rendering Ibex's mech nearly immobile just before the first wave of Rigour's forces emerge — including the surviving Maryland September from the clone vats, who impales his cockpit with her blade, killing him.

Relationships

Righteousness

In the beginning of his career as a Candidate, Ibex is viewed as having the upper hand in his relationship with Righteousness, to the point of being called an Executive by the public rather than Candidate. He thinks of Righteousness with antagonism, calling it "a fucking vulture." As time passes, Ibex seems to be losing ground. Austin describes Ibex and Righteousness during "Three Conversations" as "one [consciousness] that’s in contestation with itself," and Ibex clearly believes that the robotic body doubles he's using at this point are a sign he is succumbing to Righteousness's influence. He also seems to struggle against Righteousness's idiosyncratic notion of what is right, needing to alter his thoughts and behavior to keep from aggravating it.

Maryland thinks the shape of Ibex and Righteousness's relationship is strongly influenced by Ibex's view of Divines, saying "Righteousness overwhelms Ibex because [it’s] Righteousness, or it says it is, and that’s enough to convince a man like him."

Maryland

They were partners, and left their respective cultures together to live on September and bring in corporate support for their projects. Five years before the end of the Golden War, when Ibex was about to become a Candidate, Maryland asked him to stay and live with her on September, but he chose to continue on his path with Righteousness instead. Afterwards, they split up; their relationship was amicable enough at the time that she asked him to help with her research and he visited the Institute several times afterwards.

When Ibex sends the Chime to September, he still thinks well of her, saying very normally that "a lot of those people [on September] deserve to die, probably. But not Maryland." On the other hand, Maryland has become pretty critical of him and his enmeshment with Righteousness and seems resistant to any kind of nostalgia. She refuses his request for her to leave September and refers to him almost exclusively as Ibex, not Attar.

Orth Godlove

When they meet during the Kingdom game, Ibex thoroughly manipulates Orth into giving away his power as captain. Orth is so self-effacing that Ibex compares him to a dog. Later in life, Ibex actually thinks Orth's position as a bureaucrat in the CCT is beneath him, but Orth can only respond to his presence by physically turning away. At the gala in the finale, they dance together, and Ibex asks Orth to ensure he is remembered as Attar Rose and not only as Ibex. Orth indeed ends up writing a posthumous biography of Ibex entitled A Righteous Man: The Life and Death of Attar Rose.

Liberty and Discovery

Ibex, Liberty and Discovery became friends after his ascension to candidacy, as Ibex confided in them and listened to their advice. He was aware of their decision to change bodies and he messages them right away when they come back online. Although AuDy had unknowingly killed his brother, he is glad to see them again and takes their thoughts very seriously.

Jerboa

Quentin is Ibex's brother and at least 10 years younger than him. Liberty and Discovery have a memory of watching Ibex prepare a salad for Quentin while apologizing that it wouldn't be as good as Maryland's, so he must have spent some time with Ibex and Maryland while they were together. Ibex also attended his high school graduation with Liberty and Discovery.

This section contains spoilers for COUNTER/Weight 29: Three Conversations.
Click here to reveal.

Ibex's plan was not for Quentin to become a Candidate, but unfortunately Quentin looked up to him enough to copy him and become Candidate of Detachment. Jerboa eventually sides with the Hands of Grace. Nonetheless, when he dies he calls out to Ibex, because Ibex had promised to come if he needed him; Ibex arrives, too late, in the Seventh Sun.

Kobus

After being kicked out of the Kingdom onto the planet Vox, Ibex practically raises Kobus (Dre calls him Kobus's "adoptive older brother"). This makes it easier for him to manipulate them, Loyalty, and the Lux Vox Data Research Center.

Trivia

• An ibex is any of several species of wild goat; the name of the animal is not pronounced the way Ibex's name usually is.
• Attar of rose(s) is an essential oil extracted from rose petals.

Quotes

“

"A tuba?" He laughs, "All that heft is bluster. Loudness for the sake of." He smirks, "Now, a clarinet..."”

– Austin Walker, on twitter

Appears in

• This Month of Ours
• The Glimmer Incident: The Executive Enters!
• Crisis! (A Solemn Vow Above the Sea of Counterweight)
• The Order of Things
• The Broken Branch
• You Can Call Me Captain (intro)
• Do You Have Room For Me? (sort of)
• An Animal Out of Context
• A Special Kind of Warmth
• Three Conversations
• Another Facility Among Trees (intro)
• A Knock at the Door (in flashback)
• Everything is Temporary
• A Splintered Branch, A Ringing Bell Pt. 1
• A Splintered Branch, A Ringing Bell Pt. 2