High Lord Warden

"This article is about the main antagonist of Dream Girl: Ascent. For the giant mechsuit-entombed fighter, see The Warden."High Lord Sigmund Birch, Warden of the Antiverse Imperium, known as High Lord Warden or Lord Warden, is a variation of Warden-Sigma's persona and the main antagonist of Dream Girl: Ascent.

Appearance
Lord Warden shares a similar appearance to all variations of Sigma: He is a little shorter than average, with a heavy frame, and long red hair. Unlike other Sigmas, he is far more athletic, and his eyes are drawn as more mature than the bright-eyed Sigma.

Equipment-wise, he wears a full suit of Antiverse Relic Plate, with an exaggerated gorget and left pauldron, with a deep blue longcoat underneath it. His left forearm is unarmoured, and instead has a version of the Shield of Rigel emblazoned with a singular deep red star instead of the two blue stars. His left arm is entirely cybernetic, a rakadsteel, four-clawed, thruster-boosted and spinite-laced power claw known as the Augur Fist.

Despite being a darker, more militant version of Sigma, Lord Warden is remarkably unscarred before Tamera encounters him.

Personality
Where Sigma is normally a friendly and caring person, Lord Warden is cold, calculating and utterly ruthless. Except for his close friends (and even then), he views everyone else as a tool for his multidimensional conquest. While he himself doesn't do most of his work (his geneslave army, for example, is designed by Bioengineer Mondax and, except for his honour guard, is mass-produced on Terra), he is in charge of the entire Antiverse Imperium, and is very good at compartmentalising his orders and ensuring his well-oiled machine of carnage runs smoothly.

His ruthlessness is reflected in his combat fighting, yet he still shows a certain level of honour - he will not resort to killing an unaware opponent, but often strikes his first blow from absolutely nowhere and will fight with underhanded tactics.

In spite of his brutal and cold actions, he is extremely close to his brother, Lord Brockheimer, and will fight tooth-and-nail to keep him safe. The two almost exclusively fight together whenever they do, and despite Lord Warden holding a higher title than his brother, the two of them control their empire as one.

Abilities
Like all Sigmas, Lord Warden has two special abilities, both of which he uses with ruthless efficiency. In addition, he has a few special abilities that set him apart from other Sigmas:
 * Rotation: Unlike most Sigmas, Lord Warden's rotation has a black core instead of a white one, though it still shares the same field colour. Normally, with his synthetic arm, he would be unable to channel Rotation through his dominant arm, but the extremely intricate spinite lacing in the Augur Fist allows him to channel it nearly as effectively. He also has elemental versions.
 * Bulwark: Lord Warden's Bulwarks are unremarkable from any other Bulwark, but combined with Lord Brockheimer's considerable healing, makes him an extremely difficult opponent to take down.
 * Infusion/Transferrance: Lord Warden is able to absorb the powers of other beings, and likewise transfer his own or any captured abilities. This ability is only used once, to capture the dying essence of his brother to become The Architect of Annihilation.

Trivia

 * Lord Warden, alongside TFTSL Sigma, are the only two versions of Sigma to have a major role in any series.
 * In addition, Lord Warden is the only version of Sigma to be an antagonist, not only as a major one but as any other.