| Born | 1st of Kohlefest, 99 GME |
|---|---|
| Died | 26th of Wollefest, 127 GME/0 NB |
| Nationality | Vuurstahlan |
| Affiliation | The Vuurstahl Empire |
| Known for | Piloting the Harrison Armory Enkidu until it destroyed her. |
| Held titles | Gutripper (current) |
| Family | Deathkeeper Reyva Caldwell (wife) Rowan Caldwell (son) Rosa Caldwell (daughter) Lily Caldwell (daughter) |
Born in a distant Imperial colony, Gutripper Madison Caldwell’s past is unknown to all but a select few. What is known is that she appeared one day in front of the Stahlern military academy, one-armed and covered in dried blood, and demanding to be Assigned to the Military-class. Though the Board bristled at being commanded by a child, Vuurstahl, always wanting for soldiers, would not turn her away. She took to her training like a fish to water, vicious, ruthless, and unerring in her vision. It was this narrow vision that both made her an accomplished soldier and a complete social pariah, though it suited her fine.
Things changed when she was put in a unit with Deathkeeper Reyva Reynard. Finding someone who showed her unconditional affection opened her heart, however slightly, and the previously-cold Gutripper became just ever-so-slightly softer. The two were wed only a few years after they met, and the two started a small family of their own, something Madison seemed both anxious and satisfied with in equal measure.
The two were nearly inseparable… until Madison was selected as a pilot for a new Harrison Armory frame, developed by the Worldkiller for use in the war with Vruikt Barr. The frame, christened the Enkidu, was designed to amplify its pilot’s aggression, turning them into berserkers that would lash out at enemies and allies alike. The Enkidu’s effects were poorly-researched, as rushed as its production had been; the effects of its subjectivity sync caused permanent damage to Madison’s state of mind, not only breaking down all the progress she had made with Reyva, but driving her even deeper into the abyss, consumed by the pain and fury she had buried deep in her heart.[1]
Her final days came during the alchemist purge in the latter days of the war, in the city of Thavma.[2] Disabling her frame’s limiters, the burden of the subjectivity sync finally became too much for Madison, and her mind was broken, reducing her to nothing more than a savage beast that would lash out at anything around it. Forced to choose between their comrade’s safety and their own, the 9th elected to put her out of her misery, Shieldbreaker Helena Ritter running her Enkidu through with her frame’s blade.[3] With the truth of the Enkidu program being kept from the public eye, Madison’s body was left in the ruins of Thavma, and she was officially declared ‘missing in action’, until the day the 113th Company would find her Enkidu and return her pilot data to her widow.[4]
Related characters
- Shieldbreaker Helena Ritter, the leader of Madison's squadron who was forced to euthanize her when she fell to the Enkidu's fury
- Timekeeper Lucia Page, a Barrian orphaned by the Gutripper's attack on Thavma
- Kingslayer Bowen Stark, a soldier from the 113th that retrieved Madison's pilot data to return to Reyva
- ↑ "...an experimental Armory frame called the Enkidu," Reyva quietly says, pointedly looking away from Bowen. "It was big, like the Sag. Meant to be an area denial frame, some kind of sister frame to their Tokugawa. Something about it, though... it changed her. She was a lot more aggressive -- and I don't just mean in the mech. Snapped at me a lot. She never really told me what was going on, but..." (Shore Leave 2, 1/23/2024)
- ↑ Lucia shakes her head. "They were dead before the Mond even fired," she says, gaze fixed on the hand in her own. "It was the 9th Company and their Enkidu. I watched its talons tear Papa and Aina apart before my eyes. Only I managed to escape." (Shore Leave 2, 1/18/2024)
- ↑ "Because that is its nature. The Enkidu thrives on rage and primal instincts. Its pilots, bared to its energies, lose themselves to it." She gestures to the hole in its torso with her blade. "She was not felled in battle by the Barrians, nor by the Engels, or even the Mond. Madison Caldwell became no better than a beast, lashing out at friend and foe alike. She died because her own team had to put her down for their own survival." (Mission Log, 7/17/2023)
- ↑ Reyva slowly shakes her head. "Nope. Just that she was... 'missing in action'. For... fifteen years or so." She scoffs. "Like I can't put two and two together..." (Shore Leave 3, 9/9/2023)