Dana Gardener

Originally an Army-trained psychologist, Void Engineer Dana Gardener has become a fixture on the BCD Most Wanted list. Declared KIA over a decade ago, she’s been tied to the deaths of several Deep Universe exploration teams, and has been encountered by more than a dozen amalgams on Earth. Throughout all registered encounters, she’s seen wearing a mid-’90s Universal Suit. Constructs have also been subject to encounters with Gardener — many of their surveillance networks suffered catastrophic failure after recording her presence.

In 1996, Gardener was the counselor for the Archimedes, a Mark VII Cassini deployed by the PanDimensional Corps on a Deep Universe expedition. An unknown hostile force destroyed the Archimedes while on mission, with Gardener as the only survivor. It’s still unknown how she survived the attack that destroyed her ship and fellow crewmembers. In fact, she was assumed dead; we discovered otherwise due to word from some Reality Deviants — they encountered her while stranded on a small planet in the very sector the Archimedes surveyed. Gardener, they claimed, was retrieved from the planet by a group of Nephandi.

In encounters since, she rarely uses direct violence. The Nephandi traveling with her have also eschewed violent confrontation; her companions, who continue to remain unidentified, appear to be two NWO Black Suits, both male, and an Iteration X cyborg of unknown year and gender. Both Suits have a strong Entropic energy signature, and one consistently appears to be a corpse — pallid skin and no discernible life signs. Gardener often tells witnesses that she’s “waiting for friends,” taking the time to inform those interacting with her about the existence of creatures “from beyond the Outer Rim,” and what describes the inevitable end of humanity. To patient listeners, she offers unsolicited advice — those who’ve followed have survived everything from freak accidents to deliberate attacks by Marauders and other Deviant threats.

ETD considers her too risky to engage with, after several attempts to apprehend her have all resulted in marines either dead (if lucky) or suffering permanent psychological trauma and requiring constant supervision at DIMH (if not). Since the Dimensional Anomaly, sightings of Gardener have grown frequent. Often predicating clashes in the immediate or near future with Nephandi, her presence has become a calling card for her Nephandic amalgam. Recent reports have placed her near four Void Engineer facilities, in Dusseldorf, Marrakesh, Saigon, and São Paulo.

The only time Gardener was successfully recorded on camera was her visit to São Paulo construct in June 2013. For ten minutes and forty-nine seconds, she stood at the freight entrance of the Construct’s front business, staring up into the lens of a security camera. She then backed away slowly, until out of the camera’s view. The security team at São Paulo has no recollection of this encounter, and has requested assistance in the ongoing investigation of Gardener’s visitation.

Reference

 * Mage The Ascension - Convention Book - Void Engineers (Revised), p. 74, 75